Excited - cuz I'm a dreamer

[darin]

Today I applied for a job in Alaska - thanks NT for your pics. :)

Won't know for some time - but it's a promotion, 3 year assignment w/ return rights back here to MI.


Hopefully the adventure happens! :)

[SassyLady]

Today I applied for a job in Alaska - thanks NT for your pics. :)

Won't know for some time - but it's a promotion, 3 year assignment w/ return rights back here to MI.


Hopefully the adventure happens! :)

Well, you will definitely get your request for snow!!! Good luck!

[Noir]

Careful, that's awfully close to Russia ya know, I hear you can see it from your window on a clear day ;D

[darin]

actually...would see stuff like THIS on a clear day...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/3149880928_58bbae9c20_o.jpg

:D

[hjmick]

I love Alaska.

[Kathianne]

Today I applied for a job in Alaska - thanks NT for your pics. :)

Won't know for some time - but it's a promotion, 3 year assignment w/ return rights back here to MI.


Hopefully the adventure happens! :)

Best of luck! Keep dreaming, that's where things happen.

[Mr. P]

By chance would you be interested in an unused Winchester 70 xtr 7mm mag. It was my dad's who was heading for Alaska, unfortunately he passed away before he could get there. I'm thinking of selling it. Just thinking.

[NightTrain]

Hey, cool, DMP!

Where to? Ft. Rich or Ft. Wainwright?

[darin]

Greely. Otherwise known as BFE.

:D

Mr.P - no, not particularly...thanks

[NightTrain]

Ft. Greely. Yep, been there & done that.

It's right outside of Delta Junction, it's one of the Missile Defense sites now.

Well, if you can.... change your deployment to Ft. Rich. I don't care for the Greely part of AK, lots of tundra, scrubby trees and "holy SHIT it's cold!" kind of weather.

[darin]

Not a deployment, NT - a job. Am army Civilian.

[NightTrain]

Oh, gotcha.

Last time I was there was last winter in mid Feb. My co-worker and I finished up our job in Delta at 5:00 on a Friday, gassed up the big Chevy 502 pickup we were in by 5:30 and hit the road. I drove the whole way on those icy, snowy, moose-filled highways and we rolled in Wasilla at 11:00 sharp. That would have been a great timeframe in the middle of summer with dry roads.

My co-worker, however, refuses to ride with me anymore when I get that "I gotta get home" look. Last time in Homer, she stayed the night at a hotel instead of riding back to the valley with me.

[darin]

I love stuff like that - Thought about the fun I can have in my Subaru up there..the extreme driving...Love it.

:D

Well, I won't know for weeks if I'll even make a list to get an interview, so it's still a pipe dream - but for a 3 year tour, the promotion, and the adventure of it - I'd jump in it.

[NightTrain]

Being from MI, I assume you know already about winterizing your rig for extreme cold - you will see minus 50 or lower out there.

If you get the job, it won't be too far to come down and go up to the cabin with us on our adventures there... it's about 300 - 350 miles north of Wasilla to Greely.

[darin]

I'm actually 'from' seattle area...been in MI a year. But...I laugh at cold. Until i turn blue. I'm good with it. If I get the job, I'd pay to get my wife's truck (F150 SuperCrew 4x4) and my Subaru winterized. Would sell or store my mazda.

Whatsit take around Greely to not-live-poor? cost of living up there terribly high? I'd get a lower base pay, then 21% on top of that, tax free, as COLA - that'd compensate me for the reduced pay easily. Still, are we talkin $6/gallon gas, etc? Because it's considered an overseas tour, I'd also get Commissary rights - which sells things at 5% over their cost. Would likely get free housing, too.

And it'd be an HONOR to hang out; as long as you're fine (and I know you are) with kids being there, too. hehe :)

[NightTrain]

Well, Greely is all by itself, Delta Junction is a few miles away but it's a tiny little town. Your closest city is Fairbanks, which is right at 100 miles away from Delta Junction, so about 120 or so from Greely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Junction,_Alaska
http://www.ci.delta-junction.ak.us/

I never liked Delta Junction much, it's kind of a sprawled out little town and kind of dumpy. There's a sizable Russian community there, and some kind of oddball religious community there as well.

But, I have met some typical Alaskan people there that are cool - and if you're based on Greely then you'll have plenty of good people around you & the family.

South of Greely is a town called Paxton, and that's where the Arctic Man race is held every year. I've attended it a few times and always had a blast. Some of the spectacular wipeouts I've seen there are the stuff of legend.

http://67.131.251.172/

There's great fishing around that neck of the woods, and lots of wildlife.

I personally have seen it minus 65 for a week straight in Fairbanks, and that's brutally cold. I don't mind the cold as much as I do heat, but that kind of cold gets your attention.

[darin]

Thanks NT - been doing some googling...Would be a pain in the butt for a few reasons, but overall, I'm sure I'd take the job if offered. Lots of stuff to change - car stuff, getting used to certain laws, etc - that kinda stuff.

But...:) Would be awesome.

[SassyLady]

Thanks NT - been doing some googling...Would be a pain in the butt for a few reasons, but overall, I'm sure I'd take the job if offered. Lots of stuff to change - car stuff, getting used to certain laws, etc - that kinda stuff.

But...:) Would be awesome.

Is your family excited about moving up there? Or would you go it alone for awhile?

[darin]

They're excited, although there's no guarantee of anything anymore. :(

[SassyLady]

They're excited, although there's no guarantee of anything anymore. :(

It's great to have a family that is excited about new adventures, and to have a dad/husband that has access to a career in different parts of the world is great. I hope your dreams come true, dmp.

[Abbey Marie]

Careful, that's awfully close to Russia ya know, I hear you can see it from your window on a clear day ;D

You know, I heard that she never actually said that.

[Mr. P]

You know, I heard that she never actually said that.
You are correct. The quote goes to Tina Fay on SNL.

[Pagan]

actually...would see stuff like THIS on a clear day...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3107/3149880928_58bbae9c20_o.jpg

:D

No thanks, I don't mind "visiting" snow but living in it for "months" out of a year doesn't appeal to me ;)

http://www.alaska-in-pictures.com/data/media/21/unalakleet-church_4574.jpghttp://icons-ecast.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/a/alaskanbear/18.jpg

[NightTrain]

No thanks, I don't mind "visiting" snow but living in it for "months" out of a year doesn't appeal to me ;)

This is why the winter months rock.

This is me jumping my sled up in Fairbanks.

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss293/NightTrain70/RickJumping.jpg

[darin]

Semper Gumbi. If 3 years in AK gets me where I need to go career-wise, AND provides an excellent chance for my family to explore this great planet, it's win-win. :)

[NightTrain]

Yeah, it will definitely be a grand adventure for you. And don't let my personal views of the Fairbanks region darken it up for you just because I much prefer my area of Alaska. It's still Alaska and it has a LOT to offer.

[NightTrain]

Semper Gumbi. If 3 years in AK gets me where I need to go career-wise, AND provides an excellent chance for my family to explore this great planet, it's win-win. :)

Nice work making me look up wtf the Gumbi part meant. I like it.