I get all kinds of big ideas. I tell myself to keep up on this blog as a record of what I’m doing in my life, but then everything seems too mundane to write about or else I’m so deep in the middle of it that I forget. Or it could be I’m in places without internet to upload anything. So what I do upload is usually to Instagram because then my mom will see what I’m up to.
I started this post on July 13, a week and a half into an adventure driving bus for fire crews. Then I got stalled due to lack of internet and mental bandwidth. I know, not the best reasons, but life has a way of flowing on.
This post started life as a photo dump with planned captions. I will just add to it. Enjoy!
Late June there was a lot of smoke in the air, first from a wildfire down near Delta Junction (100 miles south of Fairbanks) then from fires much closer. The Minto Lakes fire got started northwest of Fairbanks and was working its way up along the Chatanika River. Transportation was needed to get fire crews out to where their work was. A friend of a friend knew a guy who needed drivers. He has a fleet of buses that he supplies to the Forestry department, but they can’t go out without drivers. I had the qualifications and the ability to say yes to the opportunity. The first crew assigned to me spent time on structure assessment, then one evening got the call to respond to a different fire. There were plenty of dry thunderstorms to spark off more spot fires. This one was not easily accessible, so once we arrived as close as the bus could get we had to wait for logistics to work out how to get them there. This photo was taken at 2am, when the crew finally bedded down to get some rest. The next morning a helicopter came to fly them to where they could work the fire. The thunderstorms didn’t stay completely dry. We had some good, thick, wet clouds come up. Later that day there was a big, heavy storm that blew over a few trees and soaked the crews. I missed it because I was on another adventure, delivering a second crew to the spot fire.The first crew I took got in by helicopter. The second crew were able to access the fire from the far side of the Fort Knox gold mine. We drove 10 miles through to get them to where they needed to be. That haul truck is so big that we drove in a single wheel track. What is a four lane road to normal traffic is a two lane road to them. It was a pretty cool experience. My accommodations weren’t fancy, but I was comfortable enough. In the morning I would fold up and stow my bedding and the crew could fill the cargo cage with their gear. I never had to worry about getting rained on.This was the main campfire at the drop point where I was stationed. Most crews had their own sites, but this one served the smaller groups like the dozer crews, medics, and single fire trucks. I love the way they set up this firepit. It made it easy for multiple people to cook their dinners at the same time, and there was almost always a pot of hot water available. Skip forward a month into August. Sunset rainbows are awesome. I wanted to make a joke about how there probably is gold at the end of this rainbow if you are willing to do the work, but then I realized that isn’t a joke. It is a simple truth. Back to the regular job… This is a taste of the good life. The last Saturday before we welcomed guests we had a staff only sunset cruise in the Haglund. We bumped our way up the fire break to the top of the ridge in this beast. There we had smores, beverages, and good conversations while the sky lit up. A wind storm made trail maintenance necessary. It was a great reason to go out and make sure that nothing would get in the way of guest adventures. Fortunately there was only one tree across the trail. I do love watching the sky up here. Sunsets are the best. This was just a couple of days ago. Staff did another after hours ride along the trails. Look at that fall color! Enjoy it while it lasts because the snow is only a few weeks away. Riding along the pipeline you don’t want to be overheight to make the turn. This was today. I should have been able to finish the quilting on this one this morning, but I managed to break my last two needles. Such aggravation! I’m determined to finish both this and the green version before the end of the year.
That brings me up to date for now. There’s a lot that I might have missed, but I tend to live in the present so I probably won’t go back unless I get a good enough reason to.
I’ve started another notebook journal (again) and I’m hoping it will help me develop some ideas that make it out of the notebook and onto the website. So hopefully that means more content for people to enjoy and interact with.
The biggest secret I have found to a successful camping trip is making sure you can sleep comfortably. Really, if Mama doesn’t sleep then nobody is going to have a good day. I know some people can sleep anywhere they close their eyes. People like that are probably fine with one of those thin sleeping pads. I get the feeling that those pads are primarily for insulation so that the ground doesn’t suck away your body heat. Other people are more like the Princess and the Pea. I was miserable on the floor at sleepovers when I was 14. It has only gotten worse over the last 30 years.
Sleep
Cot, Air Mattress, or Sleeping Pad
Sleeping Bag
Pillow, Blanket, and Sheet
Only you can know how far you need to go to get the right level of comfort. No matter how careful you are to clear your tent site of rocks and pinecones, there are always lumps and bumps under the floor. If you go ahead with the area rug, that helps for sleeping straight on the floor, but most adults end up needing something more. Air mattresses are very popular. Bring a pump or be prepared to do crazy things to get your kids to inflate the thing. And be prepared to patch it at some point because I guarantee it will spring a leak. I have given up on air mattresses because I hate waking up with the sensation of being eaten by the thing while laying on the ground. Others I know swear by them.
I have traveled with a twin mattress in the back of my truck. A friend brings the memory foam topper from her bed. Covered with a double layer of fitted sheets and folded in half it did a pretty good job of letting her get her rest.
Big cot on the left, smaller on the right. A table for phones, glasses, and water bottles. Plenty of room for luggage and the food box underneath.
Nowadays I use a folding cot. It’s TwinXL and works beautifully. I sleep well, it gives me storage space underneath, and I can make my bed in the morning so that my tent doesn’t look like a disaster zone. One drawback is that cots are not the best for couples. And although they do make cot/air mattress combos in a queen size they are squeaky enough to wake the dead.
I bring my own pillow from home. Even if it gets kicked to the floor it smells right and makes me comfortable. Same with the big fuzzy blanket. On cold nights having the fuzzy next to my skin makes me feel warmer. The sheet may seem odd, but if you camp someplace really hot it’s nice to have something to cover up with that doesn’t roast you. And then the other bedding is there for when it gets cold.
Yes, something to remember: camping exposes you to the elements. It gets surprisingly cold at night. It can be gloriously hot during the day. There is no heating or AC to regulate your environment and that is good for your body. You do need to prepare. For myself, I bought a sleeping bag that is good for freezing temperatures. If it is too hot, that is what the blanket and sheet are for. By 3am you will likely appreciate the heaviness of a good sleeping bag, unless you are one of those people who needs a window open and a fan on in the middle of an ice storm. I’ve bundled up and still shivered through the night.
But here’s the thing, when you’re camping you don’t have to worry about alarms. The sun will come up. Your bladder will drag you out of bed if the kids don’t. Somebody will need to make the coffee. Maybe you drag your blanket out to wrap up in your chair so you can sip that first cup by the fire while the world wakes up. Who cares if breakfast isn’t on schedule? The entire point of getting away is to let your body and soul rest and reset. Let it happen.
