October 18 - “Welcome Winter, I guess”

Guess what we came home to after going to the karate rumble (or whatever they call it when the participants get to wail on each other)? Two massive limbs from one of the sycamore trees were on the ground, and another one was hung up in the tree on its way down. Those will be a pain to cut up. At least I have a sawzall. Someday I’ll get one of those small electric chain saws that fits on an extender pole.

Obviously, the wind has been really strong. And cold. Did I mention the wind chill was 43 when I got up? And my arthritis pain in my back and both thumbs really intensified. Welcome Winter, I guess. 

I spent most of my afternoon watching college football. Chris, on the other hand, did something more productive. She napped off her jet lag. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ says, We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Father, thank you for a day to crash. We needed it. Amen. 

October 17 - “Cut loose”

Chris has been cut loose. The physical therapist officially gave her the old heave ho after the session yesterday. She still has a boatload of exercises she is supposed to be doing four times a week, but she no longer has to spend $55 to let a therapist watch her exercise. Woohoo!

We made a few stops on the way home. Sadly, however, not celebratory. We just returned some shoes to Academy and picked up a prescription at Randall’s. 

The exciting errand came after lunch (which, by the way was a nice steaming bowl of Chris’ shrimp gumbo). We headed over to Walgreens. Why in the world go there? Why, to get our picture taken, of course. And why did we need our picture taken when we just spent two weeks taking pictures? Well, so we can be prepared to take some future long-distance excursions. I mean really long distance.

Walgreens is the closest place to get passport photos taken. Don’t get me wrong, we haven’t been traveling without one. But ours was scheduled to expire next year.  Time to renew. And with a “professional” photo (and $260 for the two of us), we were eligible to renew online. If all goes well, we should be good to go again by the first week of December. Now we just need to decide where …

‭‭John‬ ‭6‬:‭35‬ says, “I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.”

Father, thank you that Chris has reached the next stage of her recovery. Amen. 

October 16 - “Restored routines”

Welcome back to the heat. We woke up to a rather warm task facing us. We had to mow and edge the yards. Those weeds sure do a good job of growing when you leave them alone for two weeks. The temperature was only 84 with a wind chill of 85. At least we weren’t flirting with those 90’s. 

We also had a few suitcases full of dirty clothes. Chris got started on those right away as well. The other two things on my long list of three? Mow, groceries, and renew our passports. The passport thing requires us stopping in at Walgreens for a proper photo. Beyond that, we should be able to renew it online. I understand that’s faster than in person. We’ll see. 

But first … Walmart. We had to restock just about everything. Oh, and we HAD to get a pot of flowers to put on the front porch next to the pumpkin we HAD to get to put next to the pot of flowers. Phew!

‭‭Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ says, Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive.

Father, thank you for restored routines. Someday we’ll get there. Amen. 

October 15 - “On to Galveston!”

After spending a week and a half together, we said our goodbyes and I love yous to the Winkles. Time to load up and make the final leg of this wild and insane journey. On to Galveston!

We made our usual stop at Buc-ees. Bathroom break and quick lunch. We both opted for their chicken salad in one of those little tubs. Goes great with crackers. Except …

When I opened mine I suddenly saw movement. Yes, movement. From within the product. I tracked it with my Sherlock Holmes sleuthing skills. Sure enough, there it was. My chicken was attempting to get revenge on those who tore off his feathers and shredded his body. He didn’t go without leaving behind … a flea. That was certainly a first for me. A flea in the chicken salad. 

I took it back inside and showed it to the cashier who sold it to me. She was appropriately grossed out. She immediately called her supervisor. I chuckled when he arrived. Mr. Supervisor looked to be 15 or 16 years old.  He heard the situation. Didn’t even look at the poor little critter. Just slammed the lid back shut and stormed off, promising to replace it. 

He did return right away with my replacement. It was with great fear and trepidation that I opened that one. A thorough inspection came up empty, thank goodness. Gotta say, though. My appetite wasn’t what it had been. 

We used the last bit of our off-Island moments to stop and see Cailyn. She told us all about her job at Starbucks and her applications to colleges. Ah. Being a high school senior is a tough time of life. 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46‬:‭10‬ says, Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations,exalted on the earth.

Father, be with Cailyn as she wades through senior year and college applications and ask the drama that comes with a real job. Amen. 

October 14 - “Redefining Early”

Let’s redefine early. We were up and at ‘em at 2 a.m.  we had to be at the airport for check in by 4:30. That meant loading up a luggage cart with the Winkles (there was only one left. Hard to believe. 2 in the morning and all the carts are gone? I think 3 people had a cart sleepover).

Our hotel shuttle guy got us to the airport in plenty of time.  We got our luggage checked and headed for the breakfast place - North Pole Coffee Company. And we had to wait for it to open. Of course. But it did, and we had plenty of time to get our bacon, egg and cheese English muffin.  Chris had the same, minus the bacon. 

We got all loaded up with little fanfare. Totally full flight, so we weren’t the only crazy people signed up for an early morning flight. Oh! There was a slight delay. They had to de-ice the wings. Let’s go South!

Aaaand … Chris maintained a personal record streak on a few counts. First, as we were loading our luggage onto the cart in the hotel, she misjudged her step distance and crashed into it about midway up her shin. That caused a balance snafu, and she went down. Well, not exactly down all the way. She shifted her weight, twisted around, and ended up sitting down on the cart. I managed to get my arms under her shoulders so she didn’t put a lot of weight on one in particular. After a good cry we got her up and finished loading. 

And then …  as she has on just about every major trip we have taken, she managed to squeeze in a bout of sickness right at the end. Except this time she did it on the plane between Fairbanks and Seattle. To her immense credit, she “kept it all contained” in the tiny little bag “provided in the seat back in front of you.”  The flight attendant was very kind. She provided a much larger very thick plastic bag. She didn’t touch it or anything, though. She also brought a cold wet compress for Chris’ neck. Oh, and a lady in the seat behind us passed forward one of those little handheld fans. That led to the flight attendant telling the pilot to turn down the temperature in the AC for the whole cabin. Whew. After all that, we made it into Seattle on time at 10 a.m. (local time). 

We had about an hour to kill there, so we got Chris a Sprite and some crackers. I got a cup of clam chowder (I’ve had much better) and some tea. 

Finally the time came to board for the final leg of our flight journey. We still have the trip back to Galveston to deal with, but that’ll just be a matter of Chris flying low as the pilot of the car. By the way … no “issues” arose on the flight to Dallas. On the ground at 6:07 (local time). 

We saw a beautiful Western Sky Light Show on the way back to the Winkle’s house. Great “Welcome Home”!

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭7‬ says, The person who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence indeed is the LORD, is blessed.

Father, thank you for this whole week of experiences. Bless the Winkle’s and the Huntley’s. Amen. 

October 13 - “Oh well. Old school.”

We finally reached the last day. No more Northern Lights chasing. No more Ryan and Aimee following. No more Arctic Circle gazing. Just time to pack up the suitcases. Why today? Because our flight is at 5:36 this morning. Yawn. 

We did the usual breakfast. One different item. Sausage patties instead of corned beef hash. Cary had all sorts of difficulties with the waffle maker, even after the lady sprayed it with their Pam-like anti- stick ingredient. 

While we were standing in line, a little girl about 3 years old and wearing a tutu, noticed this old man here (aka … me). She stared for a very long few seconds. I realized I was being watched, so I grinned and waved back. She cautiously, without breaking eye contact with me, tugged on mommy’s pant leg, pointed at me, and whispered, “Santa.”  I added a quiet, “Ho!Ho!Ho”. And waved again. She shyly grinned and ducked behind mom’s leg, and they walked away. Cute. 

We all put our heads together to try to figure out how to get some lunch. The big ordeal? None of us had the faintest idea what we were doing. Kay Lynn braved the deepest waters. She actually waded through the DoorDash system and made the order. Then came the next hard part. Divvying up the cost. We got the math down. But actually getting the money to The Winkles took some figuring. We tried to install Venmo. Couldn’t get it to pick up my friends list. Oh well. Old school. We’ll give them cash. Or maybe write a check. 

We spent a few hours downstairs around a table hashing out what were the best and worst experiences of our time in Alaska. Gotta say … the bestests way outperformed the worstests. 

Finally we retired to our rooms to crash out, make sure everything is packed, and eventually have a bit to eat. Oh! I did locate one last critter to add to our fold. A beautiful, white Arctic Fox. I know it used to be Cailyn’s favorite animal. So now we play host to Falafel Fox. Welcome to the family. 

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭23‬:‭16‬ says, My innermost being will celebrate when your lips say what is right.”

Father, please ride with us on our airplanes today. Amen. 

October 12 - “Cold feet in Coldfoot”

The big news for the day was our trip to the Arctic Circle and beyond. We were on an eight-seater airplane to get us to Coldfoot. Fortunately, all 6 of our Texas company were on the same plane (along with our new friend from Germany, Decleff). Unfortunately (?!) Coldfoot had had around two feet of snow the night before. 

A good deal of the way our pilot, Bennett, had to navigate through clouds, so there really wasn’t much scenery to look at. I’m pretty sure our resident Texas pilot dude, Larry, was probably geeking out and maybe wishing he was in the driver’s seat. 

When we landed we had to be guided through the snow by a bulldozer. Bennett did a masterful job, though, and we were soon deposited at the Frozen Foot Saloon for lunch. 

And what a feast it was. Chris had a huge bowl of beef stew. I had some tater tots and a turkey club sandwich. Actually, it was more like two of them. But it was good. Especially the bacon.  We had time to take some pictures. Got one in front of the Coldfoot post office. Oh, and the whole time it was snowing. They had already had nine inches, so this was all bonus. 

Next we hopped in a van to begin our journey south. We got to say hello to the camp’s racing dogs. We weren’t allowed to touch them, though. All business hounds. 

Our tour of the entire town of Coldfoot took all of ten minutes, and that’s including the five minutes with the sled dogs. From there it was time to hit the Dalton Highway, home of the infamous Ice Road Truckers. We did see a few big rigs, but they were few and far between. And we averaged between 22 and 30 mph over the potholes and gravel and slush and ice and snow and in general, really rough road. Basically, think one gigantic rumble strip.  

We didn’t see many critters. The bears were all asleep. The alleged Bullwinkles were “too shy”to come out. We did see a bird. Looked like a raven. And an owl and a white hare. 

Speaking of birds, when we stopped at the famous Arctic Circle sign, our new guide Mike passed out tiny pistachios. Not for us to eat, though. Each of us held one up in our hand. Suddenly, an army of Canadian Jays swooped down. One landed on each hand and took up the nut. Pretty cool photo op. 

At this point we changed vehicles from our van into a full sized bus. We combined with a few other vans to fill it up. Our new guide was Mike. Mike liked to talk. He drove us quite a ways back towards civilization. 

There was an issue just before we stopped for dinner. All the gauges on the bus just stopped working. The bus didn’t stop, though. We made it all the way into the Yukon River food stop. We already had a sack lunch, so the eating part didn’t take long. After dinner some of us walked down to the Yukon River. I may or may not have touched it. If I did touch it, I would say it was pretty cold. Cary and I posed together for a pic. Our ladies stayed behind. 

Next stop was just a ways down the road. It was a great photo op with snow-covered trees behind us. Of course the bus lights provided the front lighting. Amazing. 

We made another stop in an effort to see some of the Northern Lights. They were up there, but it was pretty cloudy. Our iPhones did pick up a little. Chris got a few faint pictures with her phone. It’s tough to get excited about this when you have seen what we have seen. 

A few miles up the road, however, we did stumble upon a pretty good splash of the lights. Mike found us a safe spot to stop and let everyone take a bunch of photos. He was rapidly approaching his driving limit, though, so we had to hit the road. 

We met up with another driver after a while. Mike had reached his limit. The plan was for the other guy to do some more chasing of Northern Lights. However … Mike offered the opportunity to bail on the new guy and call it a night with him. Our six jumped at the chance. 

As it was we made it back to the hotel by around two instead of the 4:30 or 6 on the original schedule. We set an alarm for nine so we wouldn’t miss breakfast. On to bed. 

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬ says, Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.

Father, bless Mike and his family. And help him as he learns to live with a cat. Amen.