Work Kamping has it's ups and downs

Hi Everyone;

As you can see this is the 3rd post in one month, I must have alot to say this month.

We are in Tok and getting ready to head into Canada, so no cell service and internet may be spotty for the next couple of weeks. This post is more about what just happened to us than anything else however.

We just got disappointed by our summer employer to the tune of over $3000. He came up with some bogus excuse not to pay us our "agreed" upon end of season bonus. We could not believe what he did! We bail him out at the beginning of the summer and do better than he expected all summer long and then he won't pay us our bonus. Lots of words have flown over the past several hours and several emails have gone out. I don't know what to say, as workampers you really have no recourse in a situation like this. This is the "down" of being a workamper. That an employer would cheat people out of their money is unbelieveable to me. Maybe I'm too trusting or just stupid. At any rate, we worked hard for him and got nothing for it. Let this be a lesson to everyone, GET IT IN WRITTING!! People can not be trusted anymore.

The more I know people the more I like my cats!

We will barely make it back to the lower 48 and won't be able to do any of the planned side trips now, so we will probably be back in Seattle sooner than planned. See you all soon...

Twice in one Month, Amazing

Hi All;
Once again, thinks have changed. Like I said we were being talked to by one of the WH resorts and have decided to join their "volunteer" staff for the winter. We will still be leaving tomorrow and heading down to the lower 48. We don't have to be there until the 1st of Nov. so we will probably not "rush" through any of the stops.
We will be staying in St. David for the winter and hope that we get to see everyone while we are there. I would rather be moving around and seeing folks but this is not a bad deal since some of the kids are in Tucson and we both like the St. David area. So, if we don't see you along the way down, let's hope we get to see you while you are staying at St. David.
As of tomorrow we will have spotty internet service and no cell service so if you don't get a response right away, don't fret, we are having a blast in Canada. See you all soon.

So Sept. brings changes

Hi All;

As usual, nothing in our lives is written in stone, thank goodness. We have changed the date that we will leave Healy, Ak to the 22nd of Sept. That allows for all the housekeeping staff to get out of here ahead of us. We will be going from here to Fairbanks and Tok then over to Watson Lake, YT. Then it's down a different route than the one we took up, we are going to take the Cassiair Highway down to Prince Geoge. We wanted to go on the ferry and take the inside passage down but the cost was WAY TOO MUCH. It would have cost over $5k to do that, we can travel down the highway for half that. It's really too bad too as we thought that would be a great treat to finish off this wonderful trip. Oh well, life goes on and maybe another time.

At any rate we are going to be in Seattle for about 2 weeks and then it's heading south for warmer climates and less rain. As of this entry we are going to stop in Portland and visit with the kids for a few days, then we are going to stop over in Coos Bay and visit with that set of kids. I also need to make a run to Kerbyville and get some burl pieces to work on. Then it's off the Pahrump, Nv for a few weeks. We have been contacted by a Western Horizons park that is looking for assitant activities people and if they decide to have us do that we may have to cut some of our stays a little shorter since we may need to be at the park sooner than we had thought. For now no plans to "hightail it" to anywhere.

So now the news from the Denali Park Hotel. We still don't know if they are going to ask us back but I have pretty much decided that I don't want to come back to Healy. (Notice that I say "I" for the first time in this entry, Pam is still thinking about it and we all know what that means) We would both like to come back to Alaska and if we do I think that we would probably try to get a position somewhere down on the Kenai Penn. We really liked it there when we visited and would like to spend some more time there. At any rate, we shall see. It's been alot of fun here and we have enjoyed the things that we have gotten to do. I will share a picture or two with you but most of you have our "Flickr" address and there are more there

.

The first image is a "clear" view of Denali (Mt. McKinley), that day I got several shots of the mountain including from the "south", this is a shot from the North side of the moutain. The second shot is from our Glacier cruise of one of the glaciers (Surprise Glacier) calving. It was very cool (no pun intended) and the sound was very loud. Hope you enjoy. For those folks who are missing some of the pictures that we are taking, I'm going to put a package together with them and send it out to everyone. If you get to see us in person, I have some fantastic shots to show and would be happy to share them.

So this is my entry for now. I will try to get another one up before we leave so that we can keep everyone up to speed with our continuing saga and journey through life. Let us know what you think and hope to see everyone soon....

At least once a month isn't that bad...

Hi All;

Once again I find myself apologing for my tardiness in posting here. It just seems that our time moves so fast and the next thing we know we are into the next month. For those of you who are interested, I have a "tendative" plan of travel set up with emphasis on the "tendative" part.

• 21-Sep Lv. Healy, Ak; Arrv. Delta Junction
  22-Sep Lv. Delta Junction; Arrv. Destruction Bay, Yk
  23-Sep Lv. Destruction Bay; Arrv. Whitehorse, Yk
  24-Sep Lv. Whitehorse, Yk; Arrv. Jade City, Yk
  25-Sep Lv. Jade City, Yk; Arrv. Mezaidin Lake
  27-Sep Lv. Mezaidin Lake; Arrv. Kitwanga
  28-Sep Lv. Kitwanga; Arrv. Prince George
  29-Sep Lv. Prince George; Arrv. Cache Creek
  30-Sep Lv. Cache Creek; Arrv. Fall City, Wa
  19-Oct Lv. Fall City; Arrv. Portland
  22-Oct Lv. Portland; Arrv. Rogue River
  23-Oct Lv. Rogue River; Arrv. Fernley
  24-Oct Lv. Fernley; Arrv. Pahrump


• The rest of this is TBD
  From Pahrump to Ehrenberg
  From Ehrenberg to Winterhaven
  From Winterhaven to Indio
  From Indio to Casa Grande
  From Casa Grande to St. David
  From St. David to Las Cruces
  From Las Cruces to Sierra Blanca
  From Sierra Blanca to Boerne
  From Boerne to Rockport
  From Rockport to Abita Springs
  From Abita Springs to Robertsdale
  From Robertsdale to Huntsville

From here on, and actually from Pahrump on is still up in the air and subject to change at any given time. Alot depends on whether we are going to work in Alaska next summer or not. I'm inclined to believe that we will probably not come back up here, which is sad in a way but not so bad, since I can check Alaska off my "bucket list". We both would like to come back and see a bit more of the state and do a few more things but we will see what happens. For now we are not planning on coming back up here.

I did want to add a picture for your enjoyment, this is a Least Weasel, and a neighbor of ours. He/She lives under one of the buildings near our rig. The Least Weasel is the smallest carnivor in NorthAmerica and very ferocious. We just think of him/her as cute. They are only 10 inches long and eat the Snowshoe Hares that are all around us.

Been Awhile, Sorry...

Sorry to say we are remise in posting... It's been a busy time here in Alaska. I will say that we are having fun but it's been very busy. Pam is working on putting a large amount of pictures up on a site called "Flickr". When she has the site setup and the pictures added she will let everyone know. I got a new camera for my birthday and I'm having a great time taking pictures with it. I got a Nikon D80 since my old 35mm was a Nikon and I like their products. Besides, I only had to buy the body because I already had lenses that would work with it. At any rate both Pam and I have been taking lots of pictures and we want to share them with you so she is fixing the "Flickr" site for you to view them.
Time to talk about this winter... Pam and I have decided that we will be heading south for the winter. We may be coming back up here to work at the hotel again next summer, that is to be determined. The owners are discussing that possibility. However, we got to figuring it out and it would cost us just as much to stay here for the winter as it would to go south and come back up, since we would really like to be warmer than 25 to -40 this winter we have decided to go south. So, we will be leaving here around the 18th of Sept. and heading down. I have a Dr.'s appointment on the 15th of Oct. (that may change) and then we are free as a bird (at least so far) from that point on. We are considering working this winter if we are going to come back up here for the summer, if not returning to Alaska=no winter work. If we aren't going to return, and we would like to so that we can see even more, we will probably hang around the southwest for a few months and then start heading east. It's getting to be time for us to try the east coast for awhile.
At any rate, still lots of things to decide before definite plans are made. The only planning I'm doing right now is when I'm going Halibut/Lingcod fishing in August and which direction we will go when we leave here in Sept.. It's a matter of whether we go down to Anchorage and then head out of Alaska from there (different route to Tok is all) or whether we just go to Fairbanks and do the same route we did when we came to Alaska. Some of the decision will be determined by the weather. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and hope that we get to meet up with all our friends when we get back to the lower 48. I promise to keep you up to date as to what is going on as it happens or at least within a few days of it happening.

Animals and Sunsets

We've had all sorts of visitors (animal-wise) and enjoy seeing them all. Here are some of our animal friends.


Mamma Moose and calf Red Cap Finch at the bird feeder

Black Cap Finch above Red Squirrel Bird - at least he thinks he is....

Baby Snowshoe hare in one of the rooms Snowshoe Hares are all over the place!!


A mother moose and her twins came to visit one day and Rick grabbed the camera!

and last but not least, a GORGEOUS sunset (about 12:20 a.m.)

Behind the trailers Mount Healy in the sunset glow


firey ski, about 1 a.m.

Our Days at Denali Park Hotel

It's hard to believe that June is almost gone!!! We've been working hard, but playing at the same time. Here's some pictures of the crew that we work with relaxing and enjoying the season.

The pictures below are taken at a campfire with all of us, including the Golden Retriever - Chewy. Some of the girls had never been to a campfire and never had S'mores, so we all had alot of fun!!

By the way, these pictures were taken from 11:00 p.m. to about 1:00 a.m.

Rick chatting with friends in WA state. L to R - Rick, Lyazzat, Eva, Mariela, Mariya, Rob, Simona, Alina, Jo, Don, and of course, Chewy

Rick and Lyazzat- she's from Kasastan Lyazzat, Eva, Mariela, Mariya, Rob, and Simona

Alina, first time for S'mores! Eva, Mariya, and Rob

Simona, Alina, Jo and Don Lyazzat, Eva, Mariya, Rob, and Simona

This is a movie of some of our fun, enjoy!!!

Lyazzat and Alina are from Kasastan. Eva, Mariela, Mariya, and Simona are from Bulgaria, and Rob is from Colorado. Jo is from New Mexico, Don is from Florida, and then there is us....

Below, inside the office having a staff lunch of Salmon!! (these pictures are daytime, unlike the ones above that were nighttime.....