If people did not sometimes do silly thing, nothing intelligent would ever get done

Ludwig Wittgenstein

This is turning into a little journal of travels. But somehow I always envisioned it being not only travel but ideas, thoughts and a bit of personal philosophy. Maybe boring, I guess. But it is what I am.

Thus a quick recap of life since returning from Tanzania, Africa. That still remains an amazing trip. Some folks return to africa over and over, and I understand. It was fascinating and one sees things when traveling, overlooked in every day life at home. I, of course, would return on that trip, but there is so much out there and other places beckon. There are 53 very different countries in Africa. I am thinking many folks want to travel to Alaska. Well that is my home, and after nearly 50 years there, I still find it fascinating, and have not come close to doing what there is to do. Jeanne and I have discussed possibly moving to other places, but each time the community brings us to stay. It has its downsides, but it is home. Thus now a recap of past 6 months in alaska.

Hence, again on return from Africa I endeavored to find the joy in home. And we did. Immersed in the ski jumping community, as volunteers, as well as the middle school ski races. It was a busy spring. I did receive my certification to become a national certified ski jumping judge. Whoppee. Not sure what that does, as next national meet I attend is next February, the junior national ski jumping championships. Only one judge allowed from our alaska division, and I have been promoted to “chief of hills”. That means if the hills are not perfect and all the water, electricity, snow, grooming, and physical facilities are not perfect, it is my fault.

Jeanne had surgery on her foot from a long standing problem which was greatly exacerbated while in Africa. It was a rough 6 weeks of non weight bearing, and we have 3 flights of stairs at home. 5 of 12 people on the Africa trip had surgery on return. Only 3 were exacerbated on that trip, 2 were after trip falls.

In April, Zak, the head coach and ski jumping administrator went on a preparatory ski, climbing trip in the mountains behind Alyeska, the downhill ski area where I spent a fair amount of time. He was preparing for a climb and ski off the summit of Denali, in May. When I returned to town from skiing, about 3 pm I got a call that Zak had set off his emergency SOS button on the inreach device. That is major! Turns out the third person down set off a huge avalanche. Brandon tumbled down over a thousand feet, over two cliffs, and somehow did not get buried. He only had a major shattered femur. It required a military high angle rescue, hoisting the litter into the hovering helicopter. It changed a lot of the spring, and summer. Zak and Nate had to ski out.

Summer began and our friend Natasha, one of the ski jumping coaches, asked to go on a river trip with us, as she said we always seem to have such fun and she had never been on a multiple day river trip. Well that is easy to arrange. Zak was scheduled to go but work things got in way.

A mutual friend in Seattle met a traveler, biking and surfing his way from Ushuaia Argentina to Deadhorse alaska, on the north coast and arctic ocean. She quite kindly encouraged him to look me up when trip done. He stayed with us for a week and we thoroughly enjoyed showing off alaska. He has a great video link on Utube called “kooks on bikes“

The summer solstice ski jumping camp was held the week of summer solstice, and was a great event, despite the main water line blowing out on an upgrade we did in the spring. Nothing like being up on the hill trying to figure out how to repair the line quickly, while some 150 people from all over North America are below watching you wondering when they can jump again. The kids were great and seemed to have fun. Kids are kids! On solstice, most of the rules and coaching go out the window, and we turn them loose to jump until 1 am. It is just fun. Ok, Natasha did say no going down backwards.

A great one day bike trip 1 July with zak and Natasha. 23 mile (40 k). Johnson pass trail a few days before it gets too overgrown to ride.

Then the river trip. We were planning on the chulitna river and taking 4-5 days, but we needed another boat for safety as just our raft and Natasha in a packraft is not enough margin of safety. Hence we invited Craig and Cyd, who were just returning from a river trip near fairbanks, and had done the chulitna the end of may with family. Craig and I have known each other for nearly 40 years and done numerous river trips together. They live in Utqiagvik, the farthest north point in the United States. Craig is the preeminent biologist about bowhead whale biology. When they come to anchorage I thoroughly enjoy sitting down with Craig with a scotch in hand and discuss the latest in universal discoveries, or scientific explorations. What has the James Webb space telescope discovered, what is the meaning of life, where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket.

Thus we began camping at the put in of the river on the 4th of July for a departure on the fifth. The morning of the fifth Craig and I would spout out some river rules to Natasha who was new to river running. Always have things tied in, in case of a flip, if you get knocked out of boat never be downstream of the boat, and on and on. We were having fun. As we left and I pushed off into the river, I I explained to Craig “this trip we are going to discover the true answers”. And Craig had purchased the fireworks for nightly entertainment, to prove the point.

40 minutes into the trip an avoidance of a log log jam caused Natasha to come out of her packraft, and Craig was also out of his boat floating. I was able to get a throw line to Natasha, and got her in our boat, but when we rounded the corner where Craig had floated, with Cyd in their boat, the entire floatable current went into a log jam. Cyd was in the boat, but Craig was gone.

Jeanne, Natasha and I managed to get to a sandbar, avoiding us going into the logjam where Cyd was sitting. We somehow managed to get Cyd off their boat and to our sandbar. Natasha and I worked trying to move their boat with a z drag pulley system, to no avail. There was no sign of Craig. I finally punched the SOS button calling for help through the satellite emergency system. The state trooper helicopter arrived an hour and half later, helping to get us to a safe place on shore, then taking jeanne and Cyd back to cars. Natasha and I with two troopers walking out the kilometer back to road, a heinous 75 minute trek through thick brush, water, mosquitos and horror. Our summer and lives were changed forever. Craig was found 11 days later on a sandbar.

At the memorial in Utqiagvik, Natasha asked before I spoke if I could make it without crying. I said a 60% chance, but I did not even make it through the first sentence. After the memorial numerous of us went out on the beach and had a bonfire watching the midnight sun. (Utqiagvik is 71 degrees north, way above the arctic circle.)

Over the summer there were various reminders of the event, as if we needed that. Various people would find some of our items along the river, and return them. We lost both our rafts but currently most gear has been returned. My friend Geoff and I went into a burger joint in Anchorage and happened on a person who knew of our event. She was heading up a conference, and Craig was to be the lead speaker at a conference on intertidal activity along the arctic, the week after our return.The conference was cancelled. All my questions remain unanswered, and the fireworks are saved for new years.

August found us back with ski jumping, hosting about 15 kids from British Columbia, Canada. They came for a week as their jumps were not at their training level. great fun, and a welcome diversion from our minds. Showing off alaska.

Alas, also in august my 100 year old aunt in Illinois was hit by a car while crossing a street. Jeanne and I went back to Illinois, and despite the reasons celebrated her life with my cousins. She was awesome, and I confess I liked her following this blog. She always had some comment. The last of that generation, for our family.

Now September and currently sitting on a plane again heading out. We departed at 11 am from anchorage, scheduled to arrive Seattle at 3:30 pm, departing at 5:30 pm for Doha, Qatar, a 14.5 hour flight, arriving 6:30 pm tomorrow evening. This is the same flight we took in February, but this time we spend 18 hours in Doha, then fly back to Istanbul, where our current trip starts. We arrive there at 6:45 Saturday evening. It is now Thursday.