Livin' it Up

Last Saturday, after a long day of work, Grant came by our cabin window on his snow machine and smiled really big, which told me he wanted to take me somewhere. So I ran out to warm up my snow machine, went and threw some warm clothes on, and went back outside. We were riding the 3 miles over to the abandoned village. It was Grant with his youngest son on one machine, Grant’s older son and a friend on a machine, and I was driving with a little 8 year old boy that wanted to go along for the ride. My snow machine has no shocks at all, which makes for a bumpy, wild ride. Plus, after the 2 blizzards, there are snow drifts everywhere, some over 6 feet tall. So you have to go fast in order not to get stuck. On a snow machine with no shocks and lots of snow drifts, you fly up off the machine like riding a bull at a rodeo. It’s important that you hang on tight - I’ve been thrown off 5 or 6 times and it can be a rough experience. There are no handle bars on the back “seat” for the kid to hold onto, so needless to say, I was a little worried. I told the kid to hold on tight because it was going to be a rough ride! But these kids have grown up riding snow machines and they are as comfortable on them as cowboys are on horses. 

Anyway, it was a fun ride, no one got thrown off, and we stopped periodically to look for foxes and other wildlife. Grant was leading, and I saw him stop up ahead and get off, but nothing was there. I had imagined there would be these old shacks, but there was nothing except for a wooden cross in the snow. Grant said the people of Newtok use to live here, but they had lots of trouble getting supplies there due to the terrain, so they relocated in 1959 to where we are now. When they lived there at the abandoned site, they still lived in sod houses. I wish I could have seen what it looked like back then! I hadn’t thought of bringing my camera, but there was nothing really to take a picture of. But I did bring my GPS, so I marked the spot so I could find my way back if I go again.

We headed back, this time with more luck of spotting wildlife - we saw a beautiful white ptarmigan walking probably 50 feet away and we stopped to watch it. It snowed the entire time, and my goggles broke on the return trip. So it was pretty crazy trying to see where I was going. As soon as I could, I ordered new goggles online. I hope they get here soon. But until then I’ve make do with duct taped goggles.

Our basketball team hasn’t been able to play games for 2 weeks because of the weather. The first time it was too cold to travel and the next cancelation was due to a blizzard. I don’t know yet if we’ll make those games up. 

As soon as my camping gear gets here I’m headed out - the planes have been on weather hold, but it’s gotta let up sometime. Please pray for safety and smart decisions on my part!