A friend asked me awhile ago to write a blog entry on the differences between living in "town" and living in the Alaska Bush. The first difference I suppose is that any place on the road system is considered "town" and every place else is the Alaska Bush. Not sure who came up with that term or why...maybe because we live in the woods with trails as roads, which would be the 2nd difference. A road here is not your typical paved avenue or highway, but is a roughly worn trail. Port Alsworth is unique in that its two main "highways" are runways, with trails in between for foot, 4-wheeler, and yes, automobile traffic. Nothing is over 2 miles away so biking or walking has been my transportation of choice. Over the last few years more and more residents having been barging in trucks, SUVs, and the like. There are no roads to the villages on Lake Clark, so in order to get anything here is must be barged or flown. The barge only runs during the summer because the lake freezes over making it impassible.
My grocery "runs" have actually been quite uneventful so far. My dad flies to town most weekends to see my mother in Anchorage and she loads him up with my groceries. Waiting a week in-between grocery shopping isn't much different from living in town except that when you start cookies you better make sure you or your neighbor have all the ingredients! Neighbors are great. I never really got into the whole neighborly thing in any of my other residences, not sure if its because we were never in one place long enough or if it is just my personality, but here the whole community are your neighbors. I hear the winter is full of great community activities, game nights, ice skating, festivals at the school, etc. I have only been here to visit during the winter a couple of times when I was very young. I don't remember much except that every time I went outside I'd have to wear my snow clothes or else I'd freeze sitting on the 4-wheeler going to church or wherever. I'm sure I'll be learning a lot of the town vs bush differences in the months to come. Fall brought enough of its own.
The bears travel through our village on their way to winter hibernation in their caves, so I had to walk around with either pepper spray or a handgun in case I happened to run into one. My dad found one in our driveway in the dark on his way to work one morning and flipped a quick U-turn back to our cabin to sound the alarm. There was quite the clamor among the boys living here :)
Mostly I find living here to be quite peaceful. I have so many great memories here from our time spent here during the summer months that it already feels like home. "Town" is great; I definitely miss the ease of shopping and coffee drive-thrus ;), but here there is a sense of refreshment that "town" never gave to me. This has always been my "happy" place and moving here I was afraid that would change. So far, its only become better. I love waking up to the mountains singing His glory day after day and being awed as the Lake changes daily. Camping trips and days spent in our cabin are the highlight of my childhood, now its become my life, my home. Blessed does not even come close to describing how I feel about this place. It is a slice of Heaven on Earth, a breath of fresh air amidst our fallen world. I pray daily that I do not become immune to its beauty or take advantage of its unique landscape.
BTW, Jordan is home! He had a great time and can't wait for next season. Thank you all for your prayers. I hope you'll get to enjoy his stories one day, but for now I have to tell this one...His first client in Canoe Bay was a cop from Texas and was after a big one (aren't they all??). After 10 days of 50mph winds and non-stop rain the weather broke and they saw one to their liking and went after it....long story short it wasn't a great shot and the bear ran off into an Alder patch never to be seen again. Jeremy flew in 2 guys from base camp to help look, no luck. Unfortunately for the client once he draws blood his hunt is over. The winds picked back up, so the pilots couldn't pick up the 4 people in Jordan's camp or even fly over and drop off extra supplies. Their food supply started running low and right before anyone got too worried they found 9 crab pots washed up on the beach filled to the brim with live crab! They feasted like kings for 2 days, then the day the crab was gone and they each had a top ramen pack left the weather broke again! They got back to base camp on day 16. "I wonder how many of our disappointments have been answers to other people's prayers. I'm sure somebody else was upset over losing those. Interesting thought." (Rebecca Herd). I am sure glad someone's lost crab pots became Jordan's manna from the sea. What an incredible story and testament to His character. He is good, He will provide, He will get the glory, and He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (Eph 3:20-21).
