Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Tanaga Project

Ready for Action!
Open for Business...

The project


Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Full Circle?

Eight years ago Scott, Michael and I arrived in Anchorage towing a travel trailer after a year of exploring the country (Gretchen joined the Coast Guard shortly after we arrived). A few months after we got here Stephanie and Brian got married. We had bought our condo from a developer and were promised that it would be move in ready by May. Hah! next joke - we were able to move in September 6th. We didn't want to waste money on an apartment we would only live in for a few months so we kept living in the trailer at the Golden Nugget RV park. During that summer Scott went to Adak to work on a UXO project and I started school to become a nurse.

So here we are in 2009 - Scott is back in the Aleutians on a UXO project - I'm working as a nurse and we are living in an RV - and just today I moved it (with the help of some friends) to the Golden Nugget RV park...and next month we will start on a cross country journey.

The more life changes the more it stays the same.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tanaga Island

Scott has been out on the Aleutian chain working since the 1st part of July - he is on an island called Tanaga which is two islands west of Adak. In other words it's truly the middle of no where. Up until yesterday there wasn't internet for the crew - there only contact with the rest of the world was satellite phones and an occasional letter (because of weather the helicopter might not fly for 4-5 days). We were able to talk on the phone twice a week for about 5 minutes.

Yesterday they were able to get internet - but only for email (Scott was amazed they got that much). I thought I would copy and paste part of the letters he has sent me - and then when he gets home (hopefully around August 24th) we will post some pictures...

During WWII they had a small base here for about two years. They had a runway and a good size camp. There were lots of machinery and equipment that was left and of course hundreds of barrels. This team that is here now is doing “investigation” to see if there is enough contamination to bring out other clean-up teams. They might be here for a few years.

We are all sleeping in tents - so I took a roll of duct tape and went to each tent and numbered the doors. So now they don’t have to say “I’m in the second tent from the end on the ocean side” or something to that effect. At least my tent is well recognized, I took some scrap red tent material that was lying around and cut out a two foot red cross and duct taped it to my white door. There is no missing my tent/room/clinic.

While I was walking around I heard one guy talking to another saying, “I’m w/ AT&T but I should still be able to pick-up roaming.” I assume he was taling about his lack of cell phone bars, I didn’t have the heart to stop and say, you have to have a cell tower to have your phone work…