Jul 16, 2019 - Dramamine After All?

It is late and my brain is overworked so this will be short - and no pictures. I thought today might be an easy day with possibly a return trip to Denali, but it turns out my boss had different ideas about flying a monitor out than Trent and I did. I thought Trent had talked to him about our decision but apparently not. So when I told Pete I was concerned there were some remote areas without any monitors and I was working on wording to address that on my outlook, he said if there were places that needed monitors I should fly them out there....

Jul 15, 2019 - Day 6, I think....

If I am counting correctly (a big "if" at this point) tomorrow with be my midway point on this assignment. The fires have died down quite a bit and I was wondering whether I might even leave early but instead I am getting a trainee - my first! Well actually my first official one. I've done some training unofficially for 3 people so far. It will be good to have help with some things but on the other hand, none of my time will really feel like my own. And in the meantime, the monitor at Denali has quit working so someone (Me??? the trainee???...

Jul 14, 2019 - MMMmmm...Lava Cake

Whew... today has been a little bit slower. I think it is a combination of less smoke (thanks to rain and cooler temperatures) and a few people staying out of the office on Sunday. Apparently SOME people get days off during fire duty. Ha! Not me! Seriously, though, I do think some people were off today which means fewer questions get channeled my way. Our building is on an army base but the building itself is for the Alaska Inter-Agency Coordination Center for Wildfire, and about half the people who work here are full-time employees. The...

Jul 14, 2019 - Mines, Musk and Mutts

Tuesday, We moved the 60 miles or so to Mtn View RV Park in Palmer. Low and behold, we saw that Marvin, Lee and their wives (from Klutina) were here as well. We had a nice visit with both. We caught up on a little shopping and some errands. We also toured the Musk Ox Farm here. Interesting critters and we learned that they were nearly extinct in the US by the 1950s. Restoration efforts were first undertaken in 1954 by a gentleman from Huntington, VT (close to where we used to live). About a decade later he moved the operation to Alaska. On...

Jul 13, 2019 - Weekend? What weekend?

Once again I find that this job makes it almost impossible to keep track of what day it is. I am starting work at 6:00 here in the hotel because it allows me to publish the smoke outlook earlier in the day than if I took time to drive to the office before doing it. So I got up, worked a couple hours, grabbed some yogurt and fruit from the hotel breakfast room, drove in and worked a couple more hours before getting on a conference call at 11:30. Several people were missing from the call and someone remarked that maybe they weren't...

Jul 12, 2019 - Just BREATHE

Well today was an improvement in several ways, the most significant of which was air quality. We got some drizzle that lasted all day. Rain is nature's air scrubber and the improvement was quite noticeable. The rain is not enough to put out any of the very large, very hot fires but it is enough to knock down their growth for a day or two, giving everyone a break from the worst of the smoke. It was enough to improve our air quality from very unhealthy to "just" unhealthy. It was also pretty chilly. I have a jacket with me but didn't wear it...

Jul 11, 2019 - Settled In

Every day I look forward to writing my journal entries and think of entertaining things to write during most of the day, but then my energy runs out and my creativity goes with it. Anyway, here is somewhat of a recap of things I've been too tired to write. This has been my third consecutive REALLY LONG day. On Tuesday I left home at 3:30 am Eastern time, traveled from home to Fairbanks, then worked 5 hours. That is at least as hard to do as to believe. The hardest part yet was that the 5 hours of work time included learning how to do some...

Jul 10, 2019 - Homer

We made it to Homer Alaska today, the Halibut fishing capitol of the world. Although I wanted to stay on the Spit, there was no room so we are at Ocean Shores RV park. We have a view of the Bay and Access to a beach. We ate at Fat Olives on the first night and had a Carnivore Pizza. I'm here to tell you they have great Pizza here. On our first full day here we went Halibut fishing. We were on a boat for four fisherman, and fished for Halibut and Salmon. We caught our limit of Halibut, two Silver Salmon, three Pink Salmon and four Rockfish....

Jul 3, 2019 - Cooper Landing Kenai Peninsula

Made it to Cooper Landing today on the Kenai/Russian River. There is a big fire that has been burning for a week and a half and this area is in the smoke danger zone. Marci is using a breathing mask to filter the air and the sun has trouble penetrating the smoke at times but for the most part it's not that heavy at ground level. We leave here tomorrow morning, the smoke has been a constant. We went trout fishing on Kenai lake and down the river one day and I have fished the Russian River a couple of times. We have Sockeye in the freezer so...

Jul 2, 2019 - Fish On - Fish Off, Klutina River Update

Quick fishing update We’ve had a lack of phone and Internet connections again but that was expected. Fishing (actually – catching) has not been that great this year. After having a stellar year in 2013, we had high hopes. The weather has been warm – I mean HOT (high 80s and 90’s up to 95!!! That has caused the Klutina Glacier to melt faster than usual resulting in high, fast, turbid water filled with huge trees, root balls, branches and other debris. I have had to cut my line when snagging a tree branch. The current is running 10 mph or...

Jul 2, 2019 - Denali National Park

Day 46, July 2 Arrived in Denali National Park around lunchtime. Set up the trailer in a really nice site in Riley Creek Campground and Dianna wanted me to get the TV on so she could watch. Sorry dear this is a national park so no hookups. You will have to wait until I can run the generator, between 4 and 8 PM. Riley Creek is near the entrance to the park. We will be here for 3 nights then move to an interior campground. Teklanika campground is at mile 29. We will be there for the final 4 nights. You can drive the park road to Teklanika but...

Jun 30, 2019 - Fairbanks AK

Day 43, June 29 The forecast for today says it is going to be another hot one with temps in the upper 80s. This morning we took the doggies to Creamers Field just north of town. It was a dairy farm that is now converted to a wildlife refuge mainly for migratory birds. When we arrived there was around a hundred sandhill cranes in the front field but they were a ways in the distance and not good for a photo. After dropping in the visitor center we started walking one of the trails but Dianna got tired a couple of hundred yards down the trail...