Must be Global Warming....

[AlaskanGuy]

Well, I came here years ago on purpose...lol... I am a retired computer nerd, originally from montana, and always wanted to go to alaska as i was always a fisherman and hunter.. Back in the early 1980s, the rich and famous crowd started moving in to Montana where i lived, fences got put up, and you couldnt get to the good hunting and fishing places. I was an information technology director and I saw that a job came open for a small hospital in Sitka, so I grabbed the job, and started my love affair with Alaska. A few years later my last son was born, with autism, and I needed to give up the time demanding exec job in favor of something that would allow me to focus time on my son. My wife at the time couldnt deal with him and his lack of communication, and life in general, so I became a single dad, with a special needs son. So I took a huge pay cut, and started living a subsistance lifestyle, living simply, and learned that folks in remote places really depended on each other, and were way more accepting of folks that were different. I had heard through networking with other special needs kids parents that cordova was a special place, and there were other kids and parents that had some special kids... So I bought a 49 ft yacht with 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, and we went to cordova. Once here, my son really came out of his shell, started to talk, and made friends for the first time, and I knew that this was where god Needed me to be.... We lived on that boat in the harbor for about 2 years until we got a land based place to live. And that is how we got here...lol. I met AlaskanGurl before we came here to cordova, and asked her to marry me, but she said no a couple of times, but about 6 months after i arrived, she showed up to my surprise, with a ring in her hand, and dropped down on one knee, and asked if I would still have her... That was many years ago... Soooo there you have it.. That is how i got here....

AG

[357cyrus]

Unfortunately the chance of winning a gree card for a German is about 4%.

I'd take those odds any day! With a wonderful wife who I wouldn't trade, who happens to hate the snow, my chances are lower than 4%!

[357cyrus]

Awesome story AG.

[akuser47]

Thanks for sharing your uplifting story.

[mr surveyor]

AG, that's a heck of a life story you have there. I spent my entire life wanting to see Alaska and last July my wife and I finally made the trip to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Not actually part of the scheduling of the trip, but we actually spent my 60th birthday doing a glacier hike. I think I took 600-700 pictures in six days, and not a single one had poor subject matter. From what I understand, there's at least 3-4 months of the year in Alaska that us Deep South lowlanders would find comfortable ..... if you can avoid them buzzard sized mosquitos.

I would love to make another trip, but between the expense and my growing disdain for traveling (I don't even like to cross the county line anymore if I don't absolutely have to), it probably won't happen in this lifetime. Alaska is certainly one of God's gifts to the human eye.


JD

[AlaskanGuy]

Thanks guys...

Yea, with all it beauty, alaska is not for the timid... As you can see by some of the pics, the winters can be very very trying... I have seen snowfall bases of 30 ft, and the wind... Drifts in places over 100 feet tall. What some of the lower 48 folks call hurricanes, are just another weekly storm here, with perfectly formed spinning lows comming in from the gulf of alaska, packing winds of 100 mph +, you need to choose a different lifestyle...

Lets talk about reloading for a sec.... The folks in the lower 48 get upset about the ammo and component shortages.... Well, you cant ship powder, or primers or loaded ammo into alaska from the lower 48, no how, no way... The only way you can get powder and primers, is to make a trip to anchorage alaska, buy everything you can get your hands on, and i mean everything... And then charter a bush plane to bring it back.... Last year, when i did this in october, i flew to anchorage, rented a car, and drove 600 miles to every mom and pop gun store, every wallmart, every sportsman warehouse in the state, and bought everything I could lay my hands on for 3 days... Ended up finding 70lbs of all kinds of different powders, and about 20k primers, but no 209's were to be found... I chartered a plane and brought it all home, to the tune of about 2500 bucks... There is no Ffl dealer where i live in alaska to get gun stuff and such. You learn a lot about reloading, casting, making your own primers, and powder living this way out of necessity. In order to use my shotguns and muzzies, I had to learn how to rebuild 209 shotshell primers with regular pistol primers... Maybe I will post this some time. I also learned to make my own black powder, and how to obtain the chemicals to do so on my own and refine them... Maybe I can post this also sometime... I also learned to be an archer, and how to make my own arrows, and archery equipment... None of it was easy to learn, but some of it was dang fun.... Got a mean ole stump you need cleared from the back 40, well, you could rent a dozer, or you could dig it out with a backhoe, or try to cut it out with a chain saw and several chains, or... You cold blow it up with some home made black powder by making a couple 6 inch plunge cuts with a chain saw, fill them up with homemade black powder, attach a 30 second homemade fuse, and have a BLAST.... He he.. Tell me that aint so much fun it should be illegal...lol

If you guys want and ere is interest, And its ok with the Ranch Dog, i could post some write ups on how to do some of that stuff... He he...

AG

[Ranch Dog]

...And its ok with the Ranch Dog, i could post some write ups on how to do some of that stuff... He he...

Of course it is okay! Great stuff!

[Fyodor]

Please do, that all sounds very interesting.

[akuser47]

Yes those write ups would be very interesting. I would love to read about it.

[scotland]

Awesome pictures and stories AG! Making me cry though. I'd move up there in an instant if I could get the wife to go. Maybe some day. But I am interested in anything you can supply.