I’m glad January is over. I was so distracted by the mess in the news that I didn’t know what to write. I want to keep that stuff mostly out of the story of me, but I can’t promise it won’t creep in sometimes. I just want to understand it enough to form a position and I don’t think I’m there yet. I’m going to leave it alone.

This is what we woke up to this morning. Not so bad by normal standards up here, but a bit more than we’re used to. At least we have heat this time! The Toyo is working hard and keeping the temperature above freezing. With the help of the propane heater it might get above 40. I’ll take it.

Fortunately it was far warmer at -7° on Saturday. I was given a slot for Chris and I to join the 6 hour Snowmachine tour at work. Now I can tell my guests on the shuttle exactly how much fun they’re going to have. It sprinkled snow all day, even when the sky cleared a little. We were all bundled up to the point Chris said he felt like a burnt stay-puff marshmallow man. It kept us warm enough. At the halfway point we got to sit around a fire drinking hot coffee and tomato soup and eating grilled cheese sandwiches warmed in the coals. Then it was another couple of hours back to Basecamp.

If you already haven’t figured it out, I am a huge proponent of taking on new, challenging experiences. This was exactly that. I don’t know if our guides fully understand how satisfying it was to conquer the hill by the pipeline. They hear it all the time, but being young men I don’t think they understand it. Coming up to that point I had been nervous going above 15 mph on the snowmachine. To go up the hill you had to hit at least 18 to have the necessary momentum. I did it and after that it was easy to cruise at the faster speed. I even enjoyed popping over the bumps.

But here’s the craziest thing of all. As much as I enjoyed the ride and the new experiences, I loved seeing traces of my work everywhere.

I drive the shuttle. At most I spend a half hour at Basecamp each trip unloading and loading luggage and stuff. I bring down dirty laundry and bring back the clean. I joke that half of my job is professional scavenger hunter. I get texted a list and try to acquire everything before I have to pick up the next passengers. Saturday I saw my acquisitions everywhere.

There was the bread, yogurt, and bagels on the breakfast buffet. The hangars for the snow suits. The chimney in the Arctic Oven tent with the propane stove. The snow suits themselves were boxes that came to the shop and I brought up in my van. I have spent most of the season feeling disconnected, but being there I see that I have a hand in almost everything. Even when I drop off luggage now I notice the lemon scent Pinesol that I bought because the store was out of regular. It is so satisfying.