My Adventure to Alaska

One man, one car, one incredible journey

[countryriding]

[mattalaska]

Time for an Upgrade

Hey followers and random passersby, I've decided it's about time to upgrade my camera equipment. I'd like to be able to own my own lenses instead of having to rent all the time. If you like what you've seen and want to help me out you can go here to donate: My Indiegogo Campaign 

It's been an interesting summer since my last post about Arctic Man. I've accepted a job offer and moved to Anchorage. It's definitely different down here. On the bright side I'm closer to the mountains and hiking trails. I'll have some new pics coming in the next few days. We got some termination dust on the tops of the Chugach Mountains!! Winter is coming. Hoping to pick up a sled sometime this winter so I can get out and get some great pics!

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I made it to Arctic Man this year. Then came back without breaking any bones! Here are a few of my favorite pics.

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First pic is the bottom lift at Alyeska Ski Resort near Girdwood. Middle pic is of the lift earlier in the day. Last pic is from the very top of the resort. A friend and I left about 9:30 or 10PM Tuesday and arrived in Anchorage around 5:30AM. Slept in the truck until 7:30 in a parking lot. Then had breakfast at IHOP and drove the other 45 minutes to the resort. Road conditions were similar to that of the picture of the chair lift. It cleared up later in the day and was like that on and off. Total vertical rise of about 3200 feet. The lifts service 2500 feet. We head back tonight. This place is way better than ANY resort east of the Mississippi River. Not a whole lot of snow though so not everything was open. Going to Red Robin for supper!!!

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Looking southwest from Murphy Dome.

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Happy New Beginnings

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a good new year! My life has been interesting for the last few months. Since the end of October that is. Sorry no pics at the moment as I'm typing this from my tablet. But I just wanted to full you guys in on what's been happening. As of October 23 I am no longer an employee of Northland Aviation. I spent the last 2 months of the year partially sulking but also praying about where I'm going. When I first got let go I was actually kind of excited about it because I know God has something better for me. As time went on I began to get a little nervous as I think most humans would. He has however blessed me with amazing friends and family. When you go through the hardest times  in your life you find out who really cares for you. I had a good Christmas despite being unemployed. New years was pretty good as well. I had applied at a few places. However, none of them worked out. Finally a friend of mine told me I should go apply at Beaver Sports. So I did. After a couple weeks of back and forth they finally said "Yes we'll hire you." My first day was January 2. I'm now the official ski technician there! It doesn't pay near a much as the other place but hey, it's income! I work on skis. Install bindings, wax skis, downhill and cross country as well as snowboards. I've passed the tech certification exams for Marker bindings, Rossignol, and Salomon/Atomic. You don't need to be certified for cross country or snowboard bindings. Just downhill. It's actually a lot of fun to work there. The people are really cool and it's a lot more relaxed than the last place. People bring stuff in to be worked on and I get it done as fast as I can. Usually same or next day, most of the time. Haven't really been flying much. I've been struggling with my ground school for my instrument rating. Which I could've had done in my time of unemployment... So I could use some prayer in that department. Besides that life is going pretty good. Church is going well. Still attending and running sound for Community Covenant Church. Also leading the men's bible study. We just finished Crazy Love by Francis Chan. And on that note, I have to be at work in about 7 hours so I'm going to bed!

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Took a friend flying earlier this year. That's a wrecked plane from the WW2 era I believe. It's located about 20-30 miles south of Fairbanks. The mountain in the distance is Denali. aka Mt. McKinley.

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Hey folks! I've had a super busy summer! Update coming this weekend with LOTS of pics and a video! Stay tuned...

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Cleary Summit hike. It was -30 degrees.

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The end of February marked my 30th birthday. The end of March marks my one year anniversary in Alaska. March 22nd is the day I arrived in Fairbanks. It feels like it's been a lot longer and that's a good thing! I've done so much. Even if it isn't everything I had set out to do when I got here. Still attending and running sound at Community Covenant Church (aka C3). I've survived my first winter in Alaska. Gotta admit I'm going to miss the snow when it's gone. But I'm glad it will be back next year. 

 I finally started my instrument training to get my IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) rating for my pilot's license. That has been going very well. God is definitely seeing me through that. I have no doubt in my mind God has given me the ability to fly an airplane well.

 Survived the "evil" -50 degree weather. In all honesty, it's not that bad as long as you are dressed for it. Yesterday Fairbanks set a record for fastest diurnal temperature swing. In 11 hours the temps went from -24ish to +30. It is now not supposed to drop back below zero for, well, good. We'll see what happens. It was 40 today though.

Went ptarmigan hunting a couple times over the winter. Even caught some too. They're small though. Can't make a meal for 1 person even with 2 birds. Sorry I don't have any northern light pics yet. I've either not had my tripod or it's been around midnight during the week when they're out and I need sleep. Flying takes a lot out of you mentally. 

 In another week, I'll be down at Arctic Man! This time for the whole week. www.arcticman.com Can't wait to go riding some more. And if I'm lucky, maybe I'll sell my sled while I'm down there. Then I can fully concentrate on my flying.

"The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." -Proverbs 16:9

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Two of the three sisters. Mt. Hess (left), 11,940 feet; and Mt. Deborah (right),12,339 feet. Took this picture from Ester Dome to the west of Fairbanks.

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Hey peoples, 

 So, it's been a little while since the last time I posted anything! Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! I've survived the darkness and -40/-50 temps. The days are starting to get longer. There is still a chance of the temps dropping back below zero. They apparently always do. It's 2 above as I write this. I've got more pics but they're on my camera and I'm lazy. This is from a quick hike I took on a hill beside town called Ester Dome. We got a dump of snow, about 18 inches in one night. I did get the sled out and go riding a lot. New years eve I rode from about 10AM to 4:30 PM. Talk about a workout! Who needs a gym when you can ride that fat off! I'm still loving it in Fairbanks!

  Skype with the family for Christmas was a little different, but I got a new toy thanks to my Christmas bonus from work. I got an Asus Google Nexus 7 in 32GB flavor. The big screen made it easier to see than my cell phone. 

 I did make contact with a ministry called This Generation Ministries. They're about suicide prevention in Alaska, which is huge. They have a summer camp that they do for kids, among other things year round. Right now it's run out of the founding pastor's house, but they're looking for a permanent facility. I found out about them through work. They were canvasing the airport for their fundraiser dinner they were having. It was really good. My boss sponsored a table. It was held at Pike's Alpine Lodge. 

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It's been a crazy summer here in Alaska. Finally remembering to update this thing! The top pic was taken right outback of work. There was a storm that moved through and the sun came out behind it to produce the picture you see above. The aircraft pictured actually belongs to a couple of missionaries who serve in Huslia, AK.

In July I drove down and visited my friend Tom and went salmon fishing. Him, his wife and I all limited out on Sockeye salmon. Which means we caught the maximum legally allowed, three per day. I'm hoping to make it an annual event and go camping at the fishing hole down there from now on. It is a 4 hour drive from Fairbanks to Glennallen. We were fishing at the mouth of the Klutina (Kloo-tee-na) as it dumps into the Copper River.

August was a good month. Did a little more hiking. Got my car paid off!! Kind of excited to get that off my chest. Just have to pay off my snow machine and I'll be debt free!! Work is still proceeding along. Definitely still new at the job. But I'm slowly but surely getting better. Speaking of snow machine: I finally got my trailer back over to my house. I had parked it at a friends house while I had the tongue replaced. The original tongue was thin and wore the bolt at the hinge down. I had the 1/8" square tube replaced with 1/4" steel square tubing so it should last the life of the trailer now.

Now that September has started, fall is definitely in full swing and almost done. Everything is yellow and green up here, as there are only birch and spruce as the majority of trees here. You get reds and oranges when you get out in the tundra from the foliage out there. Not quite the calico colors from Ohio. It's still beautiful though! The last few days it's dipped below freezing at night. We may have snow by October if this keeps up. Everyone's talking about an early winter. Normally it doesn't snow until October.

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting!

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"Full of splendor and majesty is his work, and his righteousness endures forever." ~Psalm 111:3

This was at Grapefruit Rocks, north of Fairbanks off of the Elliott Highway. The time is somewhere around midnight. You can see the sun is still a little ways above the horizon.

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The above pic is a link to the photos I took with my real camera on the way up to Alaska. Enjoy!

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The above picture was from when I went to Arctic Man. That is my friend Jon on his Arctic Cat snow machine. As you can see, you don't just sit on a snow machine, you control it by climbing all over it. It's quite the workout! There was a glacier a little ways from the race course that we took our sleds up. If you click on the pic, it will take you to a photo album of the pics I took at Arctic Man. Facebook was kind enough to get them out of order... the pics of my friend riding his snow machine actually happened after the race pics.

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Due to popular demand, here is an update. The above pic is where I work. Northland Aviation Services. The truck's name is Old Blue. It's been almost 3 months now. Since days are still kind of stressful. Still making rookie mistakes every now and then. But it's not too bad. It's definitely not even close to the same thing as Preferred was. Preferred was more like an office job, this is more like NAPA for airplane parts. Not the same. Life otherwise has been good. Running sound at my church Community Covenant Church, aka C3. Haven't felt a need to go church shopping. Quite amazing I think since it was the first and only church I've been going to since I got here. The second Sunday I was there, they didn't have anyone to run sound, as all the normal sound people were out of town. So I got to run sound. That was Easter. Talk about jumping right in!