It has been a busy couple of days. It’s over 80° and it feels so good. Things are starting to get moving up at work. And this morning I got to experience my first real traffic jam since coming up here. It was caused by a moose. Of course!

Early on I learned that you never doubt braking on the highway. The guy three cars up might be a jerk trying to mess with traffic, or he might be trying not to mow down a moose. The moose doesn’t care what’s coming at him, he’s just going to do his own thing. It’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid hitting the moose. This morning someone hit the moose. Traffic was at a standstill, backed up for a mile. It took us an extra fifteen minutes to get in to town. Tragedy, I tell you!

The cool thing is that the meat won’t go to waste. The troopers have a list of people to call to pick up the carcass. Any meat that isn’t ruined will be shared out by whoever can pick it up first.

Now for work. The staff housing unit has arrived and been set up. My assignment this week has been to clean it. This is a man camp unit that spent years up on the north slope. From the outside it looks like trailer houses set side by side. Inside there’s a really nice commercial kitchen, washrooms, a common room, and nine bedrooms. Yesterday I scrubbed down the kitchen. Today I cleaned the pantry and four bedrooms. This is a job I can do. It really isn’t too dirty, except for the road dirt that got in everywhere when it made the trip down the Dalton.

And now for the concerning bit. Heading home there was smoke on the horizon. We saw a helicopter with a bucket headed towards a nearby water source. Later there was a string of three airplanes that flew past the smoke column and back towards town. Farther north of Fairbanks there is a wildfire. I don’t know anything more than that, but after Oregon’s fire season last year I can’t help but want to pay attention.

I am not too worried. Basecamp is set next to a firebreak and it looks like they’re trying to get a handle on this fire early. I’d hate to see anyone’s property go up in flames, but I will be okay no matter how this goes.

So there’s a brief update on my eventful day. I hope yours is even better.