Alaska 2024

[jimnyc]

Gonna try a few from Talkeetna on tiny phone and keyboard! Having so much fun in Wasilla, Anchorage and the Iditarod and now out to cabin!

[jimnyc]

14645

[jimnyc]

Rick!

[jimnyc]

Ceremonial start to Iditarod 2024! Have a few short vids when back. Was freezing and my butt forgot gloves on Saturday!

[jimnyc]

Btw, wanted to see Iditarod for many moons now, so bucket list item now checked off. But have many left, so don't shoot me!

[SassyLady]

Heard you saw Dallas start the race. Too bad he had his dogs attacked by that moose.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/5-time-iditarod-champion-dallas-seavey-kills-and-guts-a-moose-that-got-entangled-with-his-dog-team/ar-BB1jkDIB?cvid=c3f123c9fc2347c2b217d804be3ad72d&ei=108

[jimnyc]

Ok, I'm back! :lol:

Rick made me walk back home, took a while.

Actually, just meant to be away a few days on a mini vacation from posting and things festered. That and my addiction to youtube.

I thought Gunny would reach out and get a hold of me, you know, make sure I'm not dead in my computer chair. Only took him 6 months before he gave a crap! :thumb: And apparently prodded on because someone else asked about me. Fuck*r!

So I just saw that photo above of Rick drinking the fireball. Boy was that a long day and evening. Not embarrassed to admit that I was hammered when we arrived at the cabin. We unloaded and maybe had another shot or 2. Then Rick wanted to get back on the 2 machines and head down river a bit. As soon as I hit the sunlight I realized I was seeing 6 of everything. No bueno and we turned around. After sitting for a bit, may have hade a little more. Rough night.

Also crashed the machine heading through the woods... turned it over going too fast around a curve and hit my head on a tree! Broke the cage on my gopro. I think Rick got a kick out of that one. But I was ice and warm, and drunk, and felt no pain! :laugh:

Ok, give me until tomorrow and I'll go through what I missed and try to get back up to speed.

Oh, and Sharon gave me an awesome present! A piece of fur from about every damn animal there is in Alaska!

And yes, that was all 6 months back, but my memory came back a tad when coming back to this thread.

And thanks to Mr. P for being the one to to ask Gunny about me. Not that the old bald Marine would ever think of me on his own. :dunno: :coffee:

[Gunny]

Ok, I'm back! :lol:

Rick made me walk back home, took a while.

Actually, just meant to be away a few days on a mini vacation from posting and things festered. That and my addiction to youtube.

I thought Gunny would reach out and get a hold of me, you know, make sure I'm not dead in my computer chair. Only took him 6 months before he gave a crap! :thumb: And apparently prodded on because someone else asked about me. Fuck*r!

So I just saw that photo above of Rick drinking the fireball. Boy was that a long day and evening. Not embarrassed to admit that I was hammered when we arrived at the cabin. We unloaded and maybe had another shot or 2. Then Rick wanted to get back on the 2 machines and head down river a bit. As soon as I hit the sunlight I realized I was seeing 6 of everything. No bueno and we turned around. After sitting for a bit, may have hade a little more. Rough night.

Also crashed the machine heading through the woods... turned it over going too fast around a curve and hit my head on a tree! Broke the cage on my gopro. I think Rick got a kick out of that one. But I was ice and warm, and drunk, and felt no pain! :laugh:

Ok, give me until tomorrow and I'll go through what I missed and try to get back up to speed.

Oh, and Sharon gave me an awesome present! A piece of fur from about every damn animal there is in Alaska!

And yes, that was all 6 months back, but my memory came back a tad when coming back to this thread.

And thanks to @Mr. P (http://www.debatepolicy.com/member.php?u=14) for being the one to to ask Gunny about me. Not that the old bald Marine would ever think of me on his own. :dunno: :coffee:So on one hand you go off on one of your larks and lose track of time and it's understandable, but me getting used to it and thinking nothing of it is not?:slap:

Let's recap: Rick's in the hospital and his machine is busted up, again. Destroy anything else on your "little break"? Need full body armor when you come around:poke:

[jimnyc]

So on one hand you go off on one of your larks and lose track of time and it's understandable, but me getting used to it and thinking nothing of it is not?:slap:

Let's recap: Rick's in the hospital and his machine is busted up, again. Destroy anything else on your "little break"? Need full body armor when you come around:poke:

Rick took me riding on some huge lake, I think Big Lake or something obvious like that. There were long stretches to ride but had to be careful as their were crossroads cut out for vehicles. So one minute it could be smooth sailing and then you have to go down a slope of snow, across the 10-12 foot road, then go up a mountain of snow on the other side to get back onto the snow. I know, I know, you're laughing already.

So I kinda slowed down enough but then reached the upward portion too quickly and panicked as I thought I was gonna flip the machine (and Rick was in his truck just to the left of me, so didn't want to let him down or look stupid again) so the panic was to apparently floor the damn thing. Well now I shot up that dang slope like a missile into the air. Came down and she was still floored for a second before I finally let up. Somehow the machine came down hard but then forward and the skis landed properly. Rick thought I did good, but there was 0 skill involved there and pure luck from a dummy.

That was all after he had me start the machine by yanking on the cord while she was cold. It had trouble the first few pulls but when she finally started it was night and day in how hard I had to yank it and I found myself falling backwards, and then sure enough, fell off the back of the trailer and onto the ice. Thank God no one saw me! Well, Rick did, but he was silent. :laugh:

[Gunny]

Rick took me riding on some huge lake, I think Big Lake or something obvious like that. There were long stretches to ride but had to be careful as their were crossroads cut out for vehicles. So one minute it could be smooth sailing and then you have to go down a slope of snow, across the 10-12 foot road, then go up a mountain of snow on the other side to get back onto the snow. I know, I know, you're laughing already.

So I kinda slowed down enough but then reached the upward portion too quickly and panicked as I thought I was gonna flip the machine (and Rick was in his truck just to the left of me, so didn't want to let him down or look stupid again) so the panic was to apparently floor the damn thing. Well now I shot up that dang slope like a missile into the air. Came down and she was still floored for a second before I finally let up. Somehow the machine came down hard but then forward and the skis landed properly. Rick thought I did good, but there was 0 skill involved there and pure luck from a dummy.

That was all after he had me start the machine by yanking on the cord while she was cold. It had trouble the first few pulls but when she finally started it was night and day in how hard I had to yank it and I found myself falling backwards, and then sure enough, fell off the back of the trailer and onto the ice. Thank God no one saw me! Well, Rick did, but he was silent. :laugh:

I imagine a lawn chair and cooler of Corona is the right way to watch the Jimbob show:laugh:

So how are those workouts coming along?:poke:

[jimnyc]

I imagine a lawn chair and cooler of Corona is the right way to watch the Jimbob show:laugh:

So how are those workouts coming along?:poke:

I think the chair and the Corona is what you give Jim to protect your interests.

Instead, we break out the Fireball before we even got on the river to head up to the cabin. And stopped often to quench our thirst. Good thing the 'ol police don't monitor the trails way the hell out there.

Next day we chilled most of the time and enjoyed steak and king crab!! And of course more Fireball, but this time we stayed in the cabin.

I was playing name that tune by recording music and sending out the clip to the other folks from the east coast that were there a few years back with me. We played it then, so I was reliving it. Wasn't until Rick told me at like 9:30 or 10 that it was kinda late back home and was a work night for the rest of them. I then realized it was like 2am for all of them. I felt horrible, really did. So I only sent a handful more of recordings before I called it quits for the evening. :dancer:

[Gunny]

I think the chair and the Corona is what you give Jim to protect your interests.

Instead, we break out the Fireball before we even got on the river to head up to the cabin. And stopped often to quench our thirst. Good thing the 'ol police don't monitor the trails way the hell out there.

Next day we chilled most of the time and enjoyed steak and king crab!! And of course more Fireball, but this time we stayed in the cabin.

I was playing name that tune by recording music and sending out the clip to the other folks from the east coast that were there a few years back with me. We played it then, so I was reliving it. Wasn't until Rick told me at like 9:30 or 10 that it was kinda late back home and was a work night for the rest of them. I then realized it was like 2am for all of them. I felt horrible, really did. So I only sent a handful more of recordings before I called it quits for the evening. :dancer:

So you don't contain your damage to your immediate area, huh? :laugh:

[hjmick]

Who's the new guy? This "jimnyc" joker?

Comes in here out of the blue acting like he knows us... like he owns the place...


<smh>

[NightTrain]

When Jim got here, I wanted him to ride the machine he was going to be using somewhere mellow, to get the feel of it and to get his 'sea legs' under him so to speak. Last time I had him on Sharon's 440 Trail, which is a comfortable but docile machine that doesn't give any surprises - 440cc isn't powerful and the machine is for cruising hardpack trails.

This time I put him on a 700 RMK, Rocky Mountain King, which is a very powerful machine built for breaking trail up the sides of mountains. It's a high performance 700cc liquid cooled engine, and the machine is designed to be somewhat tippy to carve in deep snow with instant neck-snapping acceleration when you want it. The track is very deep lugs to move a lot of snow, and every bit of weight has been shaved off it for maximum lightness. It's a super fun sled to ride, but you need to know a little bit about it before heading off into the woods.

My concern was winding through the woods and accidentally blipping the throttle and rocketing off the trail on a corner and hitting trees.

So I took Jim to Big Lake, which has plowed roads on it during the winter, and they crisscross all over. We unloaded and I drove the truck on those plowed roads, and Jim zoomed around learning the RMK and it's quirks. Something every beginner does is when you begin going up a hill and the skis start going up it, you naturally shift forward and your arm/hand hit the throttle harder than you intend.

On Sharon's 440 Trail, that didn't matter. On the 700 RMK that means the skis will launch off the snow, the machine wheelies, and most likely you'll get stripped off the machine onto your ass as the sled rockets forward. It's something everyone quickly figures out - you have to anchor your right hand against the handlebar to prevent that. And it's something that you can't verbally warn against; you have to learn it by doing it. I wanted a wide open lake with no trees when Jim learned it, because trees are expensive. :laugh:

So, yeah, Jim went down the side one of the many plowed roads, crossed, and learned about instant throttle response when he started up the other side. I watched as the RMK went vertical, and he rode it out like a pro. Caught some pretty good air on that, was a shame I didn't have the camera ready.

I really struggled to have energy while he was here, but couldn't. Before we would have been zooming all over the place, but I just couldn't muster it. Turns out my right coronary was 100% plugged and the other two weren't much better, so in reality I should have been in the hospital. It was a fun trip, but could have been much better. The next one will be.

[Gunny]

Who's the new guy? This "jimnyc" joker?

Comes in here out of the blue acting like he knows us... like he owns the place...


<smh>

:laugh:

[jimnyc]

So you don't contain your damage to your immediate area, huh? :laugh:

Oh, absolutely not! Put a little liquor in me and it's time to get everyone involved, no matter where they may be or what time it is! :)

[jimnyc]

Who's the new guy? This "jimnyc" joker?

Comes in here out of the blue acting like he knows us... like he owns the place...


<smh>

You guys all run the place whether I'm here or not! :beer:

This place is like "Cheers" for our little group, where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came, you wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. :beer:


:laugh:

What the hell you laughing at? Hey, if/when we have our next Alaska trip - ya gonna be in finally?

[jimnyc]

It's a super fun sled to ride, but you need to know a little bit about it before heading off into the woods.

My concern was winding through the woods and accidentally blipping the throttle and rocketing off the trail on a corner and hitting trees.

I really struggled to have energy while he was here, but couldn't. Before we would have been zooming all over the place, but I just couldn't muster it. Turns out my right coronary was 100% plugged and the other two weren't much better, so in reality I should have been in the hospital. It was a fun trip, but could have been much better. The next one will be.

And then the next day, Rick took me off to the woods where I proceeded to do that blipping too hard on the throttle around a turn and rocketed off sideways and into a tree. :coffee:

[jimnyc]

Ok, so...

Between my usual "ups and downs" dealing with bipolar and the mania shit, then medicine changes, I have been all over the map in the past 8 to 12 months. Nothing whatsoever to do with anyone here or any other reason. It's tough enough to deal with the weekly highs and lows and I sure don't need any assistance in screwing myself up.

So a little bit of a shitty physical and I've been in worse chaos since. The physical showed slightly elevated cholesterol, but more importantly was the stage 2 hypertension & extremely low sodium levels in my blood. No easy way to fix the issues - but there was the more I read about it - my medication I have been taking for years was the likely cause of all of the above. Pristiq & Trileptal together were a double whammy. So it was a VERY quick titration period of lowering the medications and then killed them off entirely. The weaning off the medication was less than 3 weeks, and then after the final dosage of the Pristiq, and anti-depressant, the brain went into withdrawal mode aka discontinuation syndrome. My brain has been skipping for about a month now. All kinds of crazy side effects from this starting with dissociative disorder where things don't seem real and you feel like you are in a dream world. But then the shock like feelings within your brain, fatigue and anxiety, confusion and then of course the insomnia.

I've been on these damn meds for like 20+ years now, so my side effects will be worse than most I would imagine. It's possible that my body/brain has changed enough in age that I'll be for the better once this one last phase is complete. But it's also possible that things stay shitty. Who the hell knows. :dunno:

But I didn't just make a conscious decision one day that I didn't want to post anymore. I still enjoy politics when not angry about them! I still love everyone here of course. no particular issues or problem other than dealing with me. And I KNOW what that can be like! :laugh2:

[jimnyc]

So, about that trip...

I climbed a small tree near the cabin and took this shot of the 2 snowmachines.

https://i.imgur.com/8EcwgKoh.jpg

This one required much more effort and a taller tree!

https://i.imgur.com/Hk2l0olh.jpg

Had to go clear across the Talkeetna River and partially up the mountain for this one

https://i.imgur.com/K8Wh2oeh.jpg

Up closer on the cabin

https://i.imgur.com/LiKSmxEh.jpg

This was in Hatcher's Pass

https://i.imgur.com/eA1VndGh.jpg

[Kathianne]

Wonderful pics!

[jimnyc]

I don't think I posted these here? But I wanted to upload one video and it lead into a few.

I suck at flying this thing, but I didn't crash at least! This is my drone leaving Rick's property and out over the Talkeetna River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSX2leOoPJQ

Rick finally arriving!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX1R1aGra9E

Loaded up on the streets, cut through some guys yard and off and up the Talkeetna River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsYiZj2Buyg

Found some trouble going through the woods. Damn tree had fallen across the trail overnight. No bueno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75d3VT4ZwWg

Was messing around on the machine outside the cabin on the river. This gives a good look back onto the cabin property and around a quick circle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxZ5yTIxnAw

Loaded up and leaving Talkeetna and back to Wasilla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoIuRFFUcyo

This is in slow motion of course. :laugh: This was at 5mph, imagine flying through the woods and having something go wrong and hit a tree or roll down the side?

So as Rick was saying about just blipping the throttle a little on this machine... makes it do some ornery things if you aren't ready for it. Damn thing threw me off and my head / Gopro hit the tree on the left. Damn broke the Gopro camera cage right there and had to get a new one. Got disoriented and couldn't find the kill switch as she was laying sideways, and then could barely lift that damn thing. You try wearing all that damn clothing and those heavy ass but warm boots, and then step off into the deeper snow to the sides and try to push up to lift. Had me gasping a bit there. Some funny shit looking back at the video tho!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv5GixsMvmo

[NightTrain]

Those vids turned out pretty good! I didn't know you were recording for the Tree-Bouncing incident, lol.

Yeah, the reason that you couldn't get her started after lifting it right-side-up is because you let it idle when it was on it's side, and they'll flood out when that happens. Hitting the kill switch ASAP and getting it righted is the ticket there. But when that happens, giving it full throttle and pulling the ripcord will get them to fire right up again.

It's a shame the camera doesn't do justice the hills that we climbed leaving the cabin - they're very steep but you don't get a sense for that watching the vid. But you can hear the RMK working, that's a pretty good clue.

I can't tell you how many hours I spent on that exact trail on those hills as a kid, trying to get old shitty snowmachines up that trail to get to the supplies we'd had flown in on the lake up top back in the early '80s. We had all 4 of us kids pulling that POS Yamaha while Dad worked the throttle.... "One, Two, Three, PULL!" Moving that machine 10" at a time. Move, grab, do it again. For hours on end... God, it sucked. I re-live that every single time I blast up that particular trail, and marvel about how easy I've got it now with modern machines and how much they've improved. It's literally the difference between a Yugo and a Ferrari.

My back hurts just thinking about those days. The work we put in to accomplish simple tasks was incredible.. I don't miss it.

[jimnyc]

Those vids turned out pretty good! I didn't know you were recording for the Tree-Bouncing incident, lol.

Yeah, the reason that you couldn't get her started after lifting it right-side-up is because you let it idle when it was on it's side, and they'll flood out when that happens. Hitting the kill switch ASAP and getting it righted is the ticket there. But when that happens, giving it full throttle and pulling the ripcord will get them to fire right up again.

Wasn't one of my more proud moments. At least you were 1/4 mile away from listening to my misery. My first thought WAS to hit the kill switch (you see my hands all over under the dashboard there feeling for it. Then I wanted to rush and get back on the trail and caught up but my lungs and muscles were telling me otherwise.


It's a shame the camera doesn't do justice the hills that we climbed leaving the cabin - they're very steep but you don't get a sense for that watching the vid. But you can hear the RMK working, that's a pretty good clue.

If I had kept turning my head to the sides folks would have seen the mountain gaining altitude, and the roll down the side getting higher and higher. Wasn't Mckinley, but no way I would have wanted to give it a roll off the edge.


I can't tell you how many hours I spent on that exact trail on those hills as a kid, trying to get old shitty snowmachines up that trail to get to the supplies we'd had flown in on the lake up top back in the early '80s. We had all 4 of us kids pulling that POS Yamaha while Dad worked the throttle.... "One, Two, Three, PULL!" Moving that machine 10" at a time. Move, grab, do it again. For hours on end... God, it sucked. I re-live that every single time I blast up that particular trail, and marvel about how easy I've got it now with modern machines and how much they've improved. It's literally the difference between a Yugo and a Ferrari.

My back hurts just thinking about those days. The work we put in to accomplish simple tasks was incredible.. I don't miss it.

That's why I couldn't barely budge that downed tree until you came to help and lifted it off the trail - you had a lifetime of practice while my life was practicing avoiding such scenarios!

And nevermind moving the supplies - that story you told me about tracking a moose for miles and then doing the dirty work and then having to lug her back to the cabin with your Dad. I think you said it was up and over the mountain directly across the river from the cabin.