February 3, 2020 - Monday morning
30 degrees/ partly cloudy skies/calm winds
Pentoga Road

It's time to take the usual quarterly break. This time of the year, the days are mostly the same and my writing content is getting monotonous. There're only so many ways a person can make repetitive snow related activities sound exciting.



Yesterday was a non event. I walked for seven miles and was able to enjoy what little sun shown during the day. Thick clouds and heavy wind soon replaced what had been a beautiful beginning. 

Sargie and I took our usual drive and entertained ourselves by looking for the daily winner of the Icicle Challenge. 

We came home, covered up with blankets, and watched not one, but two movies. It was just one of those kind of days. 

After reading the directions on the caulking tube that its contents would harden down to -35 degrees, I postponed crawling up on the roof to fill any questionable nail holes.

Lazy. Just lazy.

We sporadically watched last night's Super Bowl. I was happy to see Andy Reid's, Kansas City Chiefs, win. Andy's been in the coaching business for many years and he's deserving.

I'm going to delay my walk this morning in favor of assembling the snow shield for the new snow blower. I brought the box in the living room yesterday and dumped the contents onto the floor, but never quite got around to assembling the thing.

Seems to me that Sargie might appreciate the snow shield out of her living room sooner rather than later. When it comes to an in-home shop, the girl has little humor.



We've got several errands to run today in Iron Mountain. Sargie's boys and families will be here next weekend and no doubt, we'll be preparing for a house filled with lots of noise, love, and laughter... oh, and a couple of dogs.

Meanwhile, it's time to take a break and recharge the writing batteries. If the present is anything like the past, I'll get itchy fingers over the next few days and will be back sooner rather than later.

I've begun working on a manuscript, both as an introduction to my hiker's blog and also, what I hope will be, a introspective book. I'm going to attempt to tie in my past life's challenges, family and travel, with a never ending wanderlust for adventure while hiking the Appalachian Trail as seventy year old man.

A look back threaded into modern day, if you will.

For those who have encouraged me to write an "Alaskan book," my travels and life in great north will be woven throughout the manuscript along with events that took me to Alaska combined with those that I'll be experiencing as a senior hiker on the trail. Thanks to my good friend, Eileen, I have each and every manuscript from my Alaska days, both in the arctic and in Southeast. She copied my daily blog for years, never missing a day. 

For example:

October 28, 2002 – Monday

Fairbanks Airport

Fairbanks, Alaska - Getting ready to fly out to Kotzebue, via Nome

I was up early this morning after it occurred to me that I’d forgotten to write my newspaper column that was due in yesterday.  I usually write them on the weekend to be emailed on Sunday.  Publication is Wednesday night, so that doesn’t give them a lot of time to prepare.  I’ve been doing it for so long now, well over twenty years, that the editors know the column will be coming, it’s just a matter of time.  I didn’t get a panic-stricken email, so I guess I’m not in the journalistic doghouse yet.

I just spent time in the gift shop here at the airport looking at books by various authors about Alaska and Alaska adventures.  You know, I have to be honest; I’ve had as many or more adventures than a lot of those people.  I really hadn’t planned to write anything for publication, but looking at what those people have written, I’ve got a better source and more to talk about than many of them.  Oh well, maybe someday when I retire and have the time.  Right now, it’s all I can do to write daily.  I’m glad I have this outlet though. It allows me to put many thoughts into print.  When I re-read what I’ve written, I often find that I come up with solutions to problems, or in writing, it makes me feel less lonely.  I think as much as I’m by myself, almost all the time, this is an outlet for company, even if it I am creating my own company.

I had a colleague ask yesterday how I do it, going out and living/working alone in the wilderness for days at a time.  

He said it would drive him crazy.  

I replied that I may be already there. 

You know, I don’t really know why or how I do it, but I know I'm most comfortable when I'm by myself.  As I told the professor, I think it’s because I’m content to live in my own skin.  I believe there were a lot of years in the past that I didn’t like me, and now, for many reasons, I’m very happy who I am and what I’m doing in life...  

To be continued

And there are, literally, thousands of blog entries from over the years.

Meanwhile, in the UP, there's a snow shield that needs assembling.

See you in a day or ten.

After all, man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Our local ski hill is doing quite the business