JD.....thanks. Back in the day most every picture that I took was a slide. I've got a ton of slides stored away that are slowly fading away to nothing (sadly & unfortunately). These were just a few photographs that I happened to come across while searching through boxes for some climbing gear. I set the photographs on a cardboard box and snapped a picture of them with my cellphone.....
Alan.....I thought the same thing which is why I tested out the name. Tanner didn't pay much attention to it but then he likes to ignore his name as well.....he's always on the move. Actually neither of the dogs paid much attention to it nor to me either for that matter.....all they want is to wrestle & swim all day long.....
Riversdad.....yep.....
Sierra Valley.....those memories are so important & special to me.....I wouldn't know how to even come close to explaining what it all means.....thank you.....
tgil.....it's been decades of it.....
ITTOG.....thanks. Hey I'm curious if you've seen YouTuber Andrew Muse ? I ask because he built his own truck camper and I think you might enjoy watching his build videos. Actually everyone that likes Golden Retrievers & truck campers, and outdoor activities should check his VLOG out. He was actually a member here on XP but.....for reasons I can't imagine why.....members here seem to have ran him off with hateful comments.....
Arjan.....thanks.....Trapper has been an amazing addition to our little team. I've really taken notice at how well she is fitting in. I can see & feel her comfort level grow by the hour. Dogs have such a positive effect on man.....I can't imagine living without at least one.....
MORE ALASKA BUT NOW I GO REALLY REMOTE.....
One might think that living at a remote homestead in Alaska should just be remote enough for a young traveler but actually it wasn't. And then there was also the issue with needing some income. I had been taking short term jobs wherever I happened to stall during my travels.....that was back in the day where we didn't have Patreons to help fund our travels.....
I can recall it like it was yesterday.....it was probably 7 a.m. or so and the new to me boss man says if you can be at the Anchorage airport at noon you can have the job. Apparently a crew chief was a no show so the vacancy that I had hoped & applied for was actually given to me. I scrambled to find a friend to keep my dog (which very, very sadly I would never see again) and to find a place to store my rig, and I got it done, and so it was that at noon I was on an airplane headed into the Alaskan bush to work.....
I flew over lands so beautiful that day.....I had no idea such beauty even existed.....
Never again would I ever in the remaining years of my life have another job as spectacular as this.....there were no roads here.....no cell phones nor internet (it was the 70's so.....). There was no contact whatsoever for us worker guys with the outside world.....
We spent months living here at a lakeside lodge.....working along pristine lakes & rivers, on mountain tops with views that went on forever & ever and deep down into valleys and everywhere we went was filled with wildlife such as sheep, moose, grizzly & black bear, and wolves.....we typically worked 16 hour days.....7 days per week.....
The mode of travel here was either by helicopter or by foot. We had a float plane too but that was typically only used when the lodge owner flew out for supplies. Several evenings during that engagement when we knocked off early, the lodge owner would take a few of us out and we would fly out to view the Alaskan bush for many more miles & miles.....it was sensational .....
We were young and crazy back then.....there was nothing we couldn't nor wouldn't do.....
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