[at-l] Final Thoughts fromMudbutt

[fosterp599 at bellsouth.net]

Jan,
Thanks for posting Mudbutts reports.  It was almost as good as being there.
First Pilgrim
Foster Parsons
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jan Leitschuh" <janl2 at mindspring.com>
To: <at-l at mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 6:42 AM
Subject: [at-l] Final Thoughts fromMudbutt


>
>
> "Well, it is time to send one final missive from the Arctic Circle and I 
> can't
> tell you how sad that makes me!  I came here with so many fears that 
> turned out
> to be completely unfounded.  Fear of really tiny airplanes, fear of cold, 
> the likes
> of which I have never seen, fear of careening through the woods on a snow 
> mobile,
> and millions of other fears.... is my gear good enough, am I good enough? 
> That
> is the big one....
> Well, I learned a great deal this week and turns out that, like most 
> adventures,
> a big smile and a willingness to laugh at yourself will get you very, very 
> far!
> And I have come very, very far.....
>    After getting up this morning, I decided to forgo the long underwear 
> under my
> jeans cause I was getting on a plane soon and would be indoors all day. 
> Then Melissa
> and Brian asked if I wanted to go say good bye to the dogs.  It was only 
> 23 below
> so why not?  :)
>
>     (and just for the record, I was told that it got down to almost 30 
> below last
> night so I think that is officially the coldest temperature that I got to 
> experience.
> That is ok....I don't need it to be any colder!!!)
>
>    So we walked through the village to Max and Rachels and before I knew 
> it, I
> was being jumped on by lots of happy sled dogs.  It was great and I don't 
> even
> mind that I seriously smell like wet dog...and I mean SERIOUSLY.
> On the way back my eyes were watering due to the wind and little balls of 
> ice kept
> appearing on my face.  Brian said, "Hey Anna...look at Melissas 
> eyelashes!",
> and they were frozen!!  It looked very pretty with them all covered in 
> white frost.
> When I reached up to rub my eyes, I discovered that mine were frozen too, 
> and then
> when I reached back to brush my hair off my neck I felt these long stiff 
> things
> sticking off my head!!  Turns out that I didn't quite get my hair dry 
> after
> my shower and yep....my hair was frozen!  I think it is time to go home.
>
>    The rest of the morning was spent thawing out my legs, packing and 
> saying goodbye
> to the wonderful people that are here.  Linda and Dan who are the owners 
> and who
> treated me with such kindness, Marcello, who watched me dig myself out of 
> way to
> many snow banks and who, come to think of it, was the reason that I ended 
> up in
> each and every one of them!!  :)  Robin, the mouthy, irreverant chef who 
> kept me
> laughing for three whole days, and Soh, the wonderful young guy that took 
> me out
> for my first view of the lights and offered my cappuchino every morning. 
> These
> people were kind to me, patient with me, and in a very short time became 
> very dear
> to me.  I will really miss them!
>    I will leave you with a few short tidbits that I learned that I think 
> you will
> find cool.......
>
>    1.  First off.....the cold.  Believe me when I say to you, it is not 
> that bad
> cause it is a dry cold.  Seriously!!  Stop laughing!!!!  I learned that if 
> you have
> good gear and dress well, it is really no big thing.  Of course, it is a 
> constant
> that you always have to deal with, and I imagine that living here is a lot 
> more
> difficult than living anywhere warmer, but it is do-able nontheless.  :) 
> And as
> for myself, Despite all my jokes about landing in snow banks and lying on 
> my back
> to see the stars...all of which I did.....I was very, very respectful of 
> the cold.
> And because of that.....it wasn't so scary.
>
> 2.  Did you know that we are so far up North that any satellite dishes 
> that you
> see are pointed towards the ground!?!  How wild is that?  And there is no 
> doctor,
> but there is a nurse and if you go to her little building, there is a 
> giant satellite
> dish that connects her to Fairbanks so that the Doctor can examine you 
> over the
> air.  Cool, huh?
>
> 3.  Everything here is on permafrost, with just a thin deposit of soil on 
> top, so
> no matter how far you bury the water lines, they would still freeze 
> quickly.  So
> water is always in motion.  They have loops between buildings and they 
> have copper
> wire that twists around the pipes.  If they have to, like when it gets to 
> 60 below,
> they can heat them up, but it is VERY expensive.  And quite a few folks 
> here have
> outhouses rather than indoor plumbing.  Needless to say, no matter how 
> difficult
> potty issues could get on the AT, it could not compare to having to visit 
> an outhouse
> in 60 below!!!
>
> 4.  I thought I would see a ton of high-tech clothing here....Gortex and 
> such, and
> I thought for sure, that I wouldn't see blue jeans!!!  But the locals 
> dress
> just like us!!!  These Alaskans can heat a building fabulously, so it 
> wasn't
> unusal to see folks in jeans and tee shirts while in their houses.  I even 
> saw a
> few in flip flops!!!!!
>
> 5.  I am officially a horrible person cause while I was here I not only 
> ate Bullwinkle,
> but I also ate Rudloph!!!  Yep....moose and reindeer and let me tell 
> you...that
> reindeer sausage was GOOD!
>
> Well, that about wraps it up and I am going to head into Fairbanks to see 
> what there
> is to see.  I will be flying home tomorrow and am looking foward to seeing 
> my dog
> and cat!!!  I will see you soon!!!
> Love, Anna aka Mud Butt
>
> "When all is said and done here at the ending of the day, I look out on 
> this
> world and it still takes my breath away..."
> "Robin's Song" Small Potatoes"
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