Drilling on the ice to check thickness

                                  

 The guys will be traveling over 65 miles over the frozen tundra and rivers.  I hope the rivers are frozen and this video makes me happy to see that they are prepared and planning.  This is a video of Barney testing the thickness of the Takotna river.  Please visit You Tube: Wild Alaskan Adventures and watch their videos.  Just copy and paste this link. 
                                                 https://youtu.be/dX2miUI-TdQ

Video showing dump box and grizzly

Here is a video of George showing the dump box and grizzly  They need to weld the dump box to the skid so it won’t slide off going up the mountains.  Here is the link for the video:
                                             https://youtu.be/7MznM3a8b-Y

Problems with Big Bertha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKEh_UWioOc&feature=youtu.be

Problems with Big Bertha the dozer.  Still looking for a name for the excavator.  I will let George explain it on the video.  -12 today and George says he is fine.  Remember, he has his -60 degree boots. 

My Soon to Be Mountain Man

Here is my soon to be mountain man husband boarding his flight to Takotna.  Now you can see his handy dandy backpack he loves.  The new news today is we have Bruce volunteering to go on this adventure.  He will help get the heavy equipment to the Fourth of July Creek site and then he will go on to the Moore Creek gold camp that is 4 miles away.  Moore Creek has produced a lot of gold and several years back a first time metal detector found a 9 ounce nugget.  Good deal huh?    

Breaking through the ice while blazing the trail

Here is where Barney broke through the ice going over Ganes Creek in Alaska. I don't think that is a good sign but Barney is a great bush pilot and Iron dog racer and a bear hunter so I doubt this raised his pulse. Barney has probably had 20 years of experience with this stuff and with his and George's combined years of experience it probably still totals 20.

Finally some good news with some bad news

Finally some great news. Barney made it to the site!  I haven't found out who went with him but it's probably Rick.  They are a tough bunch.

Barney said it took about 8.5 hours to go 130 miles round trip on the snow mobiles. He said there was a lot of snow in the higher country but hopes it won’t slow them down too much. Barney said he got stuck 2 times because of the deep snow. Then he said this: THE ICE GAVE WAY UNDER HIM WHEN HE WAS CROSSING GANES CREEK but he was going fast and didn’t drop in the hole. I have to get to the bottom of this folks. A bull dozer and excavator maybe goes 5 MPH right? Ice Road Trucking gives me a bad case of tachycardia. I can’t stand to watch that show but I can’t stand not knowing if they made it. Keep reading and I will keep you posted.

Breaking News

Breaking News- George and Dave’s Alaskan Adventure has yet another hitch.
If you have been following their story, you will remember George and Dave have survived getting lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness trying to find their gold claim for the first time. They survived their scary chopper rides and flying in a plane with a vise grip for a handle and some “decorative” duct tape. They’ve been stuck and stranded; they faced down a mama bear and her cub. They’ve had ...challenging landings their first years. Then came the forest fires threatening their camp and tin shed condo. Then the bears that tore up their campsite and ate the 4-wheeler seat. They made it through the cold and the rains with no real heat source; no bathroom, no real showers. Yuk and yuk again. Still, they loved their adventures and laughed themselves silly even naming their “frequent flyer” bears. Did they learn anything? Yes siree they did. Things change, plans change.
So now for the breaking news: George just got word from Barney that all flights are cancelled with Pen Air because they are having “plane problems.” Better to find out now rather than later, right? Now George is stuck in Anchorage till Friday. He called Alaska Air Transit, another small company, and after a few hours they called him back and said they could get him out Friday. So now George is going to rent a car tomorrow and get the pump and supplies. If this is any indication of what’s to come I’m going to start drinking. I need to know of a nice wine that goes down smooth please.
(The picture is from George's motel room. Sucks to be George huh?)

Quick Update

March 15, 2017-  Quick update

Here are a few pictures of the wildlife George has seen so far.

I got a call at 11:00 PM last night from our soon to be “mountain wilderness man” telling me he made it.  He was happy and excited to tell me about his chicken dinner with mashed potatoes and green beans on the Alaskan Airlines.  They know a way to a man’s heart.  So here is the plan with already a few hitches: Barney, his pilot, was delayed getting his plane to Anchorage for its 100-hour maintenance and checkup yesterday due to high winds in one of the passes he has to fly through from Takotna to Anchorage.  Ditto that for today also.  So, George is still in Anchorage tonight and will fly out at 9 AM tomorrow for McGrath on a little puddle jumper plane.  Then Barney will fly to McGrath and pick George up and then he will attempt to take his plane to Anchorage if the wind Gods give him some relief through the mountain passes.  Hitch number 2:  I just found out that James from Hawaii isn’t coming.  I am worried his wife saw my blog and shook some sense in him.  Obviously, I didn’t shake George hard enough. 

Here is some boring info for most readers including me but I think the gold miners will enjoy this technical stuff.  Before the guys can leave they have a plan.  I can’t believe I just said that.  Here it is:  Barney is going to spend a 10-12-hour day on a snow-go run to bust a trail.  No worries here because Barney was one of the top 10 finishers in the Iron Dog Race.  We have already replaced wise ol’ James with Rick.  Rick was on the first 2 attempts at getting the dozer and excavator into the site.  (Rick must be a die-hard or he didn’t get the same memo James got).  While Barney is eating, snow blazing the trail, George and Rick will be cutting some holes in the excavator track to prevent snow build up and reduce the risk of coming off track.  Also, Barney said he wanted to weld the “dump box,” that sits under the grizzly, to the skid.  Then they are going to put the 500-gallon tank of fuel it the dump box and center it.  Apparently, the box with the grizzly on top tended to slip during the previous attempts when going up the slopes.  The mere fact that these guys have a plan will make me sleep so much better tonight.  Yet there is more:  When Barney takes his plane to Anchorage he is going to pick up a pump to pump fuel to the dozer and excavator and check on a fuel additive.  Our son in law, Jason, told George they needed to put something called “Power Source” in the diesel fuel to keep it from gelling up in the sub-zero weather.  WHAT A DEAL!  Now all I have to do is sit back and hopefully say, “their plan came through”.  

Finally George is in flight to Alaska

March 14, 2017

OMG, I thought I would never get this guy launched.  George is the best electrician, gets things done around the house but can he pack or plan a trip?  Noooo.  George and Dave made plans to meet in Chicago and fly to Anchorage together.  I was a little jealous with all the planning that went into that plan.  Dave always gets all the attention.  But alas, as you know Dave had to have an overhaul on his hip so that left George heading east to Chicago to go west to Alaska by himself.  Did he change his ticket after knowing his partner wasn't going or finding out there is a major storm shutting down airports?  Nope.  I took him to the airport and after dropping him off at 9AM, he gets his ticket changed but the catch was his flight didn't leave till 1:00.  Back to the Airport for me as my bed was waiting for me to collapse.  As you can see, I finally met my goal.  George is all excited and loves his new back pack and he does sport it well.  As I am writing he is on his last stretch to Anchorage.  His flight went from Wichita to Denver to Seattle and now onward to Anchorage.  1st phase complete. 

Less than 1 week till take off

March 8, 2017

To see pictures and videos please check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thegoldprospectors/

For some reason I can not download videos on this blog. 

Well we have less than a week and George will be taking off for Alaska.  Did you notice I didn’t say George and Dave?  Yep.  I found out that Dave just had a hip replacement; maybe 2-3 weeks ago.  I asked how in the world Dave was going to be able to drive the heavy equipment or straddle the snow mobile.  This is when I found out that Dave will not be going.  Sooo… here is what I have found out as “the revised” plan.  Our pilot, Barney, who has experience in everything will be coordinating their expedition.  He is a true Alaska wilderness man and can drive heavy equipment plus he has great piloting skills.  He has also just finished the Iron Dog race and came in 10^th place which is quite a feat so I am very comfortable with Barney in charge.  The temperatures drop below 0 at night and he does have great survival skills.  Now we have George who is overcome with gold fever and insist that he can drive heavy equipment.  I have to tell you I have never seen him on a piece of heavy equipment except maybe when they bought their dozer and only for a photo op.  Should I be worried?  Next I find out that we have another crew member coming in from Hawaii.  It has yet to be disclosed weather he has heavy equipment skills.  Should I be afraid?  Well I am.  Is George afraid?  Not at all.  What have I learned from this?  If you have a bad enough case of gold fever you can do… a n y t h I n g.

February update

This is a video of our bored gold miners waiting for their plane

February 14, 2017

It has been a long time since I have posted any news and long overdue.  George and Dave have big plans coming up in March.  They will make another attempt to get their heavy equipment to their site.  They will have to walk their Dozer (Big Bertha) and their excavator (waiting for a name) in from Takotna to their site 60 miles through snow covered tundra and hopefully frozen rivers.  For the last 2 years we have been dealing with El Nino and now we finally have La Nina to help make it a little easier to get in.  I would give a lesson but I am so far behind. These guys are not the Alaskan mountain men you see on TV and I have to say, I am a little concerned.  Last attempt to get the equipment in was very dangerous and scary because they broke through the ice on one of the rivers.  Right now, the temperature is 17 degree and the highs are getting up to 24 this week and we have a month to go.  I read that La Nina is short lived this year so I am worried that March might be a little too late in the season.

So I am the planner of the family and George is the fly by the seat of your pants or willy- nilly as I call it.  The guys are going to walk their heavy gold mining equipment in to their site in sub 0 weather so I decide to ask George what he has prepared.  Oh yeah, he is ready.  He has his -60 degree boots and his thermal insulated Columbia Coat and 1 pair of insulated pants.  I ask if he has any snow mobile gloves.  Click click…I order a nice pair.  I ask if he has a hat to cover his face.  Click, click again.  How about goggles?  How about snow pants?  He has never gotten snow down his back before so he didn’t think he needed any now.  I don’t think he has ever driven a snow mobile.  Hand warmers, extra pants… Click click click.  I love Amazon.   

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Valentine Update

February 14, 2017

Happy Valentine’s day!  Speaking of hearts I should give you an update on George’s heart.  He was diagnosed last February with A-fib.  He ended up having an ablation last June.  He still has occasional A-Fib but is still working full time with his electrical business.  I think they wired him to work more because I am still waiting for the retirement and travel phase of our lives.