Busy Exploring!
Despite the very long silence here, I haven’t died since retiring from bus driving a few weeks ago – I’ve just been out having fun. The Outback is getting a good workout (to the right, crossing a creek on the Alsek Road), the Canon Digital Rebel an even better one (after editing, almost 2,600 images added to my collection in the last month), and my body has broken into a sweat a few times too (most recently, following a 6-mile horse trail ride at Emerald Lake on foot, taking pictures). Part of my wandering has been due to a 2-week visit by Cathy’s parents, which put us into major tour mode – about 3,000 km added to my car’s odometer.
Part of the silence has been because there has been so much going on that I’ve had a hard time putting 3 coherent sentences into a string. Not just in my life, but in the North generally (maybe Outside too, but I don’t pay attention to or care about that). In the visitor industry, the new cruise bill just passed in Alaska has prompted lengthy and often heated discussions over at CruiseCritic. Locally, the WP&YR/HAL announcement of regular train service between Carcross and Skagway next year may have significant positive benefits to the village if handled properly (unlike the situation at Dawson, which has basically gotten screwed by HAL). Living 100 feet from the tracks, I’m thrilled with the idea that 2 trains a day will be going by the cabin. Carcross’ best years were when it was a railway town, and with rail service added to our $3 million infrastructure funding and first-ever elections coming on October 19th, we just may be going back to the days when saying you were from Carcross didn’t prompt a negative reaction. For Cathy & I, things have come together in a way that confirms our decision to build our forever home on the cabin property as soon as possible (next summer?), and we’re finally down to just a handful of potential plans now for a ca. 1500 sq. ft. main house and a ca. 500 sq ft. guest cottage for my kids and their families.
Airplanes have been a life-long passion, and having to sell “Whiskey Delta Mike” when I moved to the Yukon didn’t dampen it all all. A couple of hundred of the photos I took in recent weeks have been of aircraft, and I’ve begun an aircraft album online.
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