WAITING FOR THE BARGE

July 24, 2014

Now we are waiting for the barge.  It was going to cost…wait for it… $20,000 to barge it up from Bethel to McGrath.  Operative word is: Was.  Now it is only going to cost $10,000 to barge it from Bethel to Takona.  What a deal!  Sounds good when I put it like that, huh.  That’s a 50% savings folks.  It will take 9 days and it is 440 miles of river.  If this doesn’t make it on the barge this year, it will put them a whole year behind.  Sounds like an episode right out of Gold Rush doesn’t it?   Is does make one a little anxious to invest all of this money on a hope and a prayer.  That reminds you of Todd Hoffman huh?  So we are waiting. 

So far the dozer doesn’t have a name.  Maybe they’re waiting to see if it causes them some grief to know if it will be a male or female name. 
  

We bought a dozer

July 22, 2014: We bought a dozer

Well, our miners are the proud owners of a huge D7 CAT.  Dave found it in Bethel so they only had to ship to Takotna.  Takotna is about 20 miles NW of McGrath.  Now they will have to walk it in this winter which is only a mere 35-40 miles through the wilderness, through the snow and ice and across frozen rivers.  Oh yeah, our scouts think they are going to go and help with this.  Keep in mind Dave is a Floridian. 

During Davie’s shopping spree, he bought some tin and plywood for their addition on their condo. Forgot to tell you about that.  They need some more room to sleep more people.  Dave also bought some sluicing material and some tubing so they can make a grizzly.  Their pilot, Barney, is going to make the needed lumber with his saw mill.  The plan is to take this in in March on a 10 x 40 foot skid.  The dozer will drag it in.  I know you are asking yourself, what does all this cost and are they getting enough gold to pay for it.  All I will tell you about that is…who knows.  All I know is, mama still needs a new pair of shoes.  Their test came back good and they feel they can take the next step.  So stay tuned.  When I get those shoes, I will let you know. 

Chilkoot Pass This is a link to a video that is very informative and has lots of old pictures of this historic event. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dcsYMTyZcE. The Klondike gold rush began in July of 1897. Miners came back from the Yukon showing off their bags of gold. So the stampede began. It is very interesting to read the routes and journeys of regular folk that knew nothing about mining, Alaska weather or how to prepare for an adventure. Lots of lives were lost and a lot turned back. In 6 months 100,000 started and only 30,000 completed the trip to the Yukon. There were several routes and the most common was by boat to Skagway, then over the Chilkoot Mountain. They had to have a year supply of food so sometimes they had to go up and down the mountain 40 times. After that they had to hike 14 miles to Bennet Lake. Then they had to build boats for the 500 mile trip to Dawson City. This is truly amazing just to see what these people went through.

Yellowstone Adventure

July 18, 2014

Well today turned out to be quite a day.  We started out early and decided we would go to Yellowstone on our way home.  George decided this was a good day to let me drive.  Mainly because he got up too early and was tired.  I asked if he thought the mountains was a good place for me to learn to pull a 39 foot 5^th wheel.  He let me drive on 4 lanes for about an hour the other night but kept telling me “no” when I asked to drive again on the 4 lanes.  So here we are at the top of this mountain and I’m looking at the narrow winding roads thinking, “Really?  You won’t let me drive a four lane and you want me to learn here?”  I asked, “Do you really think this a good place for me to learn to pull this 39’ fifth wheel?  Guess what he said?  “You’ll be fine… it’ll be ok.”  So here I was, going through the mountains on a narrow road going down down down.  I didn’t really climb as much as I was going down.  They were the typical winding roads through the mountains with no guard rails and steep drop off.  The perfect place to learn you know.  But obviously George was right.  I did ok because I’m living to tell about it.  I pull into a gas station in Livingston just outside of Yellowstone to get gas.  I walked Toto while George got gas.  We left and went down the road and decided to get something to eat at a McDonald’s.  That when we saw we had been backed into.  Lot of damage to the backend.  Sooo we went back to the gas station and called the police and filed a report.  We found out they keep videos so the cops said they will look at it and call us tomorrow.  We lost 2 hours with that but we still went on to Yellowstone.  As we entered we didn’t have a clue what we were in for.  We didn’t notice any RV’s going in so we asked if we could bring one in and she cheerfully said, “Oh sure, lots of people bring them in.”  So no problem right?  We got in and after 10 minutes I’m looking for an exit.  Well guess what?  It’s a big frickin’ loop and no place to turn around with a 39’ 5^th wheel.  So once again, we figured; if old people could do it we could too.  So on we went.  I have to say it is truly one of America’s best wonder.  It is beautiful and something you should put on your bucket list if you haven’t already seen it. 
Here's a picture of George and I with our little dog Toto.  I took lots of pictures for him while he was driving.  I wouldn't let his eyes wander while he was driving but we did stop quite a bit. 

 

We actually got lost and didn’t know where we were in relation to the SE exit.  We saw all sorts of wildlife and crazy people, literally dozens, out of their cars trying to get a good shot of what appeared to be a grizzly.  They couldn’t have been more than 20’ from him in the trees and the roads were jammed.  I think I will look up exactly how many people are injured every year in Yellowstone.  I will also check to see how may go over the edge.  I have to say it was pretty tense.  It was 10 PM and we were ready to get out of there.  George was tired and when that happens, the Mario Andretti comes out in him.  I was pretty free with my warnings.  7% grades and no shoulders, narrow winding roads in pitch black and a tired driver.  No more midnight sun for us.  He’s going down one hill and comments, “hmm, this won’t go into 3^rd for some reason.”  I asked if it was in “tow”.  Oops!  I have to say I’m clutching the door handle and watching the road.  He always says everything is fine so those words never phase me.  I’m a backseat driver is full gear now and I don’t care.  It doesn’t matter how many times he says, “I see it,” or “I got it,” or “its fine”, I just can’t keep the words from coming out of my mouth.  I even told him he might as well give up trying.  In my opinion it seems to have worked because here I am writing all of this. 
 

Every RV Park was full, but we are seasoned boon-dockers and we don’t mind.  No use paying when all we are doing is going to bed.  We stopped earlier at a Flying J’s for a shower which is all we needed.  We have our refrigerator and battery lights and water so we were fine.  Weather is great.    

 

Cemetery in Dawson

Cemetery in Dawson George and I drove around Dawson City away from all the touristy places and found some old dilapidated buildings and the old cemetery. After going to the museum and reading about the Chilkoot pass and all the people that died and turned back; I was curious to know what the life expectancy was. Again George stayed in the car but I found their life stories so interesting and I wanted to follow them from the time they arrived to their death. I spent probably 30 minutes wondering and reading. It brought tears to my eyes to see all the young men from all over the world searching for their dream and dying at such a young age. Their families and friends so far away and probably never really knowing what happened. There were so many infants. They had to live in tents when they first arrived. Then the crude cabins had to be so cold. The graves were marked with an old wooden marker that was almost weathered clean but someone had gone in and remarked the graves with white crosses. This is such interesting history and thank God someone preserved their names and what they could.

Indian Creek Mine

July 9, 2014  Indian Creek Mine… best gold concentrates around

George and I headed to Girdwood south of Anchorage to pan for gold.  We stopped at Indian Creek mine for a tour.  They weren’t currently mining this mine anymore.  We asked where their concentrates came from and you won’t believe it.  The owner said he would guarantee their concentrates were the best around.  He said they come from Moore Creek!  Are you following that?  Moore Creek is just 3 miles from George and Dave’s site.  This guy is a partner in Moore Creek.  We couldn’t believe it.  Alaska is so vast and here we met their neighbor.  In fact, George remembers meeting him on their first visit to Moore Creek.  He was waiting to fly out.  We sent a text to Dave and marveled in what a small world it is.  And yes, we tested their concentrated and they were mighty fine as George would say. 

Palmer Museum

July 8, 2014 

George and I went to downtown Palmer to tour the museum again.  One of the volunteers was an original colonists and still lives in the home her mom and dad built in 1935.  Her family came from Minnesota and she doesn’t really remember any hardships on the travel up.  She just remembers playing.  The other volunteer said she and her husband lived at Independence mine back in the 40’s before they shut it down.  Her husband was one of the miners.  It is so remote and was fascinating to meet someone who actually lived up there.  She said it wasn’t really bad living there.  She had a new baby to keep her busy.  She would order her groceries on Tuesday and someone would bring them on Friday.  By car it took us about 45 min.  I can’t imagine what they went through.

 

Later, our friend Merve came by from Kansas.  He is on his way to Fairbanks to do some dredging but we couldn’t convince him to stay the night.  He had a friend in Eagle River he was planning to stay with.