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. 

A HITCH IN THEIR GIDDY UP

One of my reasons that I try to keep this blog is to encourage and inspire everyone.  George and Dave have had quite an adventure and they are always talking to people who say they would love to go to Alaska.  I say to everyone: Follow your dream.  Everything starts first with a thought; so think of your dream. Then like headlights driving in the night, just start your car and drive.  Like your car lights, you can’t see your final destination but still you drive knowing you will get there and you enjoy the ride along the way.  Just as your car breaks down during your trip, George and Dave have faced some wild and crazy adversities.  Some funny, many scary but they kept going.  Their trip this year will be delayed due to health issues for both of our gold miners.  It seems their timing is impeccable because without any planning they both are out of commission at the same time.  Dave and his wife just returned from vacation a week or so ago and they both have been deathly ill.  Since Easter, George has been battling some heart issues with a condition called A-fib.  He has been in the hospital for 1 procedure after another and I know he has been disappointed he never had that iconic nurse with the big boobs and short white uniform delivering a soft and healing touch with a bed bath.   Instead he’s been cardioverted (shocked) twice with no resolve, donated vials of blood and is sick of IV’s and a shaved groin with everyone in his “business.”  His heart cath was great and showed no butter in his veins (George loves real butter).  Our latest hospital adventure was a heart ablation.  This is where an electrophysiologist (Doctor) maps out his heart and goes in through the groin with lines that go to the misfiring cells in the heart and burns an area to create scar tissue around them to stop the A-fib.  George never complains but those straw sized sheaths they inserted in his groin would make anyone shiver.  It’s not that he doesn’t feel pain; he just doesn’t look.  After his trauma with a foley catheter I know he would rather be in Alaska dealing with the bears than go through that again.  So now at breakfast with the guys every morning, on his days off from medical procedures and appointments, George has been like every other “old person” that talks about their medical issues instead of gold mining.  He’s chapped that his record is ruined because he now has to takes medicine for the rest of his life.  The guys will cancel their airline tickets and reschedule for August.  I don’t really want to keep a blog on this adventure but what I want for everyone to take away from this is that we never know what the future holds so again I say: Follow your dream. 

10 days till the Gold Miners take off 2016

Sorry for the delay in posting. I didn't post because there just wasn't much going on.  They missed getting their heavy equipment into the site again this year due to El Nino.  The rivers didn't freeze solid this winter due to El Nino again.  It was a tragic winter with the news media warning to stay off the rivers but several Alaskans still lost their lives trying to cross.  I have to say it is frustrating to have our equipment sitting 60 miles (as the Eagle flies) from their site for a second year.  You might reread their harrowing experience trying last year.  They almost lost everything in one of their river crossings including losing their own lives.  Their were several close calls.  When you think of what the old gold miners went through in the olden days and the lack of equipment, you might think these guys are just whining, but I guarantee it has been a long hard road.   Our gold miners are getting ready for their annual migration.  I'll call it the goldcation when they get to the mother load.

  George and I did go to Portland, Oregon to the GPAA.  Here we are happy because I have designed so many T-shirts and products and I just know I will make more marketing these than the guys will make mining gold.  Yeah, well that smile turned to tears for me when I had to reload the truck for the long trip home.  I guess it paid for our trip and we did do some great site seeing and visited some museums along the way.  But I lost my bet. 

 We met some well know gold miner celebrities and I snapped this staged pic of Jim Thurber (From Gold Rush) and George.  I think Jim is asked for a picture so many times he goes into his trance pose automatically.  You can see George was excited and thought he was in the presence of gold mining royalty.   

 Now, this is gold mining royalty in my book.  The guys from Ice Cold Gold, Jesse and Josh Feldman, were at the show and they were so personable.  They are even too young to even be my kids but they were the cutest and nicest gold miners you will ever meet.  I tried to get them to go to George and Dave's claim to do their next show.  Cross your fingers and hold your tongue just right and who knows.  This is Josh and I.  That is a true legit 35 ounce chunk of gold.  And guess where it came from?  Just 4 miles from George and Dave's site at Moore Creek.  35 ounces!  Holy moly.  That's a dollar bill in my right hand.  The nervous guy in the background is the keeper of the nugget and he cancelled our transaction. 

                                      
Our next celebrity came all the way from Nome.  Steve Pomrenke from Bering Sea Gold.  He was asking questions about George and Dave's heavy equipment not because he was interested in their adventures; but  rather to rattle off his vast knowledge of bull dozers. 


                                     
                                   
These are my favorite guys to hang with.  They are the Wilson Brothers.  They had their booth right next to ours and they are the sweetest and most caring gold miners I have ever met.  Since George and I were novices at gold shows, these guys gave us pointers and support when times were slow.  We love them.  Also my maiden name is Wilson so I am sure we are related somehow. 
  

 If you faithfully read your Gold Prospector magazine then I don't need to tell you who this is. 
He is history.  Boo Coo and George, Buzzard, Massie are responsible for all this modern day gold rush.  He is