4 wheeling on a remote Alaskan island

[larrie]

Was on a flight once from Lagos Nigeria to Amsterdam. We stopped in Kano Nigeria for passengers and fuel. Unfortunately there was no fuel. To meet the minimum fuel requirement we had to stop in Rome Italy for fuel. Have always wondered what that cost. Probably a couple of tickets.

[arctictraveller]

Well, I got my van, sorta. Actually it's a 2008 E250 with just 33K miles, it's a compay van, and it's a piece of crap. It's looks pretty much new, but the steering sucks. You can be in a turn and let go of the wheel, and it just keeps turning. Drivning in a straight line is a chore as it want's to wander around all the time. Then there is the noise. It's a cargo, and the next time I drive it, I'll have ear plugs. I had no idea how noisy they were. It sure makes my apreciate my GTRV, but at lest I'm not totally van-less.

Anyway, If you ever wondered how they pull miles of wire onto utility poles, the trailer in the photo has a couple miles of rope on it. The rope is attached to the back of a truck, pulled out, when the get to a pole, a crane lifts the ropes up to pullys placed on the insulators, then the truck drives to the next pole, pulling more rope. Once a mile or so of rope is out, it's attached to the wire, and the rope winches pull it off of spools back towards the trailer. The trailer is anchored to a large dumptruck filled with rock as an anchor, and hydraulic pressure gauges monitor the tension on the rope as it pulls. If it hangs up, the pressure goes up and they have to drive the line to find the snag. So far they have about 4 miles of poles installed and about a mile of wire strung up. Sorry about the crappy photos, but it was really cold and I was in a hurry to return to my warm office. (and aparently I was standing on my head at the time I took them).

[daveb]

I would have jumped at a job like that 20 years ago.

[gcvt]

Any new photos or updates for us Jeff?

[arctictraveller]

Originally Posted by gcvt

Any new photos or updates for us Jeff?

There has been a lot going on at this project, but my phone's memory is full and I have not been taking a lot of photos. Never the less, I'll get some up. Meanwhile, we had our first full blown winter storm last week, with winds in the 50's and 60's. I had to run the crew boat through the storm a couple times, and if you remember the opening scene from The Deadly'st Catch with water over the top of the boat, that was us but with a smaller boat in smaller waves. We had over 3 inches of rain in 36hrs, with most of it coming in an 18hr period. We have had a couple new landslides, with two of the old ones getting bigger and threating our new road. The wind was strong enough that the dock lines tied to the landing craft snapped the bullrail, a 12x12 timber, but fortunately, not all of them broke. We had a polebarn frame built out of even bigger timbers, attached to cement footers, ready to install prefab trusses, but at about 0100, it came crashing down on top of one of the trailers. I rode the 4wheeler up the mountain to see how bad the seas were and to decide if I wanted to make a run in the boat, and damn near died when a gust of wind tried to push me off the road and down a cliff. I was steering full lock left, and getting pushed to the right, I felt pretty stupid for being there,and in a slab sided van, I'm pretty sure it would have gone over the edge. On the beach, I had a large box of lifejackets wedged into the trees, and it took off for somewhere far away, never to be seen again. The worst part though is that the weather makes the guys pretty grumpy. We have been trying to construct a floating log ramp, but the weather has really slowed progress. Friday, at noon it was blowing hard again and we decided to call it a day for safety reasons. The guys were all ready to go home immediately, but the seas were marginal for a trip to the beach, and this didn't make anyone any happier. About an hour later it calmed down a bit and I made a run for it, and now I'm holding down the fort till Monday. Meanwhile, I've decided I have to get out of here. I was not hired to manage this job, and it's been pretty tough. Fortunately they have hired another foreman who starts in December, so I told my boss I will be leaving the first week of December for a Dr's appointment in Wa. I don't plan to return until Jan either. When I come back, I'll drive the van to Prince Rupert in B.C., catch the ferry to Ketchikan and then take another ferry to Prince of Wales Island. Finally, I'll have my van..............

[arctictraveller]

And a few more photos. I've haven't seen a lot of bears in the last couple weeks, but they are still around. My hope is that they are now looking for a cozy wintertime hole in the ground, and I still see a herd of goats when I get a chance to drive to town, they seem to live near the road. Yesterday, I was on the beach when a Martin came hopping down the rocks, he came right up to me, sniffed the air and ambled off. I would have gotten his photo, but it was raining hard and my touchscreen wouldn't respond. An hour later I discovered the little bastard had gotten into the wheelhouse of the landing craft and devoured an entire bag of trail mix. Fortunately, he didn't crap all over and I was able to close off the vent he came in through. Fun, fun, fun................

[86Scotty]

Man, life up there is no joke!

[arctictraveller]

Our work site was once a little town, built to support a copper mine at the top of the mountain directly above camp. In 1904, there was a tram bringing ore from the top of the mountain down to sea level. Being as it's Sunday, I thought I would explore a little and look for any remains of the old mine. It didn't take long to find lots of old equipment in the woods. Anyone care to guess what the large thing is with all the cylinders sticking out?

[rallypanam]

Never a dull moment!

[86Scotty]

Engine block?