AK NIMROD

JUNO GRL- WELCOME BACK HOPE YOUR TRIP WENT WELL AND WAS FUN, I WONDERED WHY YOU HAD NOT BEEN ON LINE. I NEW YOU WERE GOING SOUTH BUT DID NOT RELIZE FOR HOW LONG. HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE NICK NAME QUESTION BUT YEA " FERRET BOY" WOULD WORK [>:] GEE I WONDER WHO MIGHT BE DESERVING OF THAT.[]

ArcticBowMan

Well, we survived our journey. We hit 15 states in 7 days all together. First was Alaska of course, hung out with the ABA crew Saturday. Saw Lilhunter, SEAK, Nimer, and a bunch of other guys I' d talked to before, but had never met. We flew out Saturday night to D.C. and got in Sunday morning around 6am and met with 6 members of the board from Maryland and their families for breakfast. I brought them all ulus, some moose and caribou meat, and some crude oil from Prudhoe. We spent half the day up in Maryland, then drove down to Hampton, next to Va Beach, and spent the day there with my wifes disfunctional family. We were more than ready to leave Monday morning, but didn' t get out the door till after 10:00am. We headed straight through Virginia to West Virginia, and just outside of Charleston we met up with Christine B. and her son Ian at the Cracker Barrel and spent about 2 hours with them. After that we plugged through Kentuky, then Indiana, then Illinois, and got west of the Mississippi about 30 miles outside of St. Louis, and finally knocked off at a Days Inn around 2am. 980 miles in the one day of driving with a late start and a long lunch.

We were up around 9am and got packed up and on the way out of Missouri and into Kansas, we saw all these Cabelas signs. [8D][8D][8D] Too cool! I finally get to look at the actual store instead of a catalog. All I can say is WOW! I was very impressed with the displays they had, both wildlife and merchandise. They had a large cafe called the Yukon Cafe, and we had buffalo, venison and caribou for lunch. It was all done up in an Alaskan theme too, go figure... I should of got a discount. I ended up buying a new fleece camo vest with a wind liner in outfitters camo, and our daughter fell in love with some turkey decoys, the blow up kind, so I bought her a set of two hens and a jake. [&:] I got my shot glasses, which I' ve been collecting for years now, and Tammy drug me out of there before I could do any more damage. They had all the camo furniture and our daughter found a little Advanatage Timer kids seat that she didn' t want to get out of. That' s my girl! [:-]

We headed south to Wichita to stay at my cousins for the rest of the day, and on Wednesday, we were planning on heading through Colorado, but the Interstates got shut down due to the snow. We waited it out all day Wednesday, and changed our plans Thursday and took I40 through Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and into Arizona on Thursday. Put 1300 miles on that day. We stayed with my grandpa just north of Phoenix all day on Friday, then headed up to Vegas on Saturday. We got an apartment lined out, found day care for the kid, took care of all Tammy' s skewl stuff at UNLV and got the truck put in storage all by mid monday. We got back on the plane Monday night and got back to Fairbanks Tuesday morning at 3am. Tammy had a bio lab at 8am to 11am, then two - hour and a half long classes after that. She was wrecked when she came home! We went 3,050 logged miles, and then added some around town in Virginia and in Vegas, so a total of about 3,300 miles driving is what we guess. Don' t know how many air miles, but I just added 500 this morning coming back up north. [X(]

I just flew back up north to some new nightmares at work, so I' ll be spending the weekend dealing with those.

juno grl, I didn' t bet any for myself, but SEAK told me to place a bet for him so I did. One dollar in the slots and he gets a triple bar, double bar, double bar and wins 10 bucks. Lucky dog. I got his cash up here, just need to catch up with him. My wife managed to have 25 dollars disappear into the slots however. I' m just not into betting my money, guess I work too hard for it. I' d rather save up my money for hunting.

I heard SEAK had a close one on the highway to Girdwood. He weaseled his way out of that like a smooth ferret. I' m sure his barometer readings were through the roof!

Enough rambling for now...

AK NIMROD

VBM- WELCOME BACK GLAD YOU MADE IT BACK SAFE AND SOUND. SINCE SEAK WEASELED LIKE A SMOOTH FERRET MAYBE HE SHOULD HAVE THE ADDED NICK NAME OF THE " FERRET BOY" . [>:][:-] HE WAS LUCKY HE DID NOT GET HURT IN HIS INCIDENT. GOT MY WIGGY' S BIVY SHELTER YESTERDAY WOW I REALLY LIKE IT, IT WILL MAKE MY SHEEP HUNT EASIER.

juno grl

VBM--So, um, guess where I was last Friday, with some extra time on my hands waiting at the airport. Yep, you guessed it. Phoenix. Too bad I didn' t know you, Tammy, and Amber were there--we could' ve met up for lunch!

Nim--I was in AZ for work, so unfortunately spent the entire week inside a windowless room for 9 hours a day. I was ready to get home! But all in all, the business stuff went well. Just wished I' d had time to get out and play some!

ArcticBowMan

Too funny juno grl, small world, isn' t it? We never did make it down to Phoenix, but hung out about 50 miles north in Surprise, AZ. Pretty nice weather on Friday, but they said it had been raining for weeks prior, and this was the first time they had seen green on the desert ground in years.

I' m sure Nimrod or SEAK told you about their shinanigans at the airport when they picked us up in Anchorage. Your little VBM is taking off, thanks alot![:@]

I got back to work yesterday to a crashed system, broken instruments and a maintenance guy for a roommate until Sunday... and I thought I was going to get some rest... yea, right.[&o][&o][&o]

The rug burns are getting worse on my butt from dragging arse all day.[]

juno grl

Those Hooligans! I mighta given them an idea.

Phish-On!

ABM/VBM - I' ll take your word for it on the rug burn situation (not a pretty picture)![] Sounds like your mad dash across country would have been a killer - now that you are back to work you can get rested up.

Juno Grl - I understand that someone caught a King salmon last week off the rocks out at Manila Cove on North Douglas. Might just be an " urban legend" - but my spies are checking it out. I guess Spring must be here, garbage bears are back on the job, and rumors of catching Kings off the beach. . .you think? There were robins " bob-bob-bobbing" along beside our patio this morning (driving our two cats crazy). We have the hummingbird feeders all spruced-up and ready to go!

I DID see a nice blackie out in the field on the east side of Switzer Ck (on the upper side of the Old Glacier Highway) one evening late last week. It sure had a pretty hide, nice and shiney - no visible rubs. Must have been eating left-over quiche or somesuch?

juno grl

Phish--did you see that it' s supposed to get cold again? I think by Wednesday night, the low temp is supposed to be 18 degrees. I personally want spring to hurry up, but know that SEAK wants it to hold off a little so bear hunting is good in May.

It' d be interesting to see what your spies come up with on the King Salmon. The closest I came to seafood this weekend were the 13 little scallops that some friends and I found yesterday while we were scuba diving. At least I got to swim under water!!

bearhuntr

I read all these posts and it makes me want to move to Juneau. I think I need to find a plumbing job down that way.

ArcticBowMan

Don' t fall for their antics bearhuntr, they make it sound like a utopia, but Juneau is really the ghetto of Alaska. Nothing but hoodlums, criminals, gang members and I heard reports some are from California! []

Actually, it really is a nice town and I wouldn' t mind moving down that way either. If my wife finds a job in her field down that way, we might be living there in the future, but only time will tell.

juno grl, did you send me an e-mail a while back? For some reason I had lost all of my archived e-mails and I recall looking to respond to one from somebody, just can' t remember who.

Oh yea, SEAK missed a fox last night... but you didn' t hear it from me![&:][&:][&:]