Hey from Alaska

[Baradium]

Well, it's been a good while since I've had time to even think of talking to anyone.

I'm in Fairbanks, Alaska right now in ground school with an airline up here, and enjoying every bit of that. Don't know final dates yet but I'm looking for a place to stay long term and a vehicle to get by with for now (rental cars are $$$ ).

Had to say something about the fact that it seems like 67-72 Chevy and GMC pickups grow on trees here. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but it really does seem like every other house has one in the driveway. Which is a good thing, because I won't suffer quite as much withdrawl. I'm selling my diesel scout (and the panel truck project that never really got off the ground) and the '70 pickup is the folks' for good (which means it also doesn't have to be sold at least).

The big crewcab still isn't moved, which puts me in a position where I can't bring my gas scout up here with it since it isn't reliable, which gets us to me having to find a vehicle up here for cheap until I can.


So, does anyone even remember me anyway?

[LUV2XCLR8]

Originally Posted by Baradium

So, does anyone even remember me anyway?

YES, You own that big ass 4 door dually scout thingamabobber
and btw a big TN Welcome back, you haven't missed very much.

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

YES, You own that big ass 4 door dually scout thingamabobber
and btw a big TN Welcome back, you haven't missed very much.

Thingamabobber, I love that word.

Thank you.

So far the worst part is that there's only one place in town that serves sweet tea. And not only are they not really all that good at making it (although it's alright), but it's about a $15 meal! Their barbecue was top notch though (although they didn't even know what brunswick stew was!). On the salary I'll be making, I don't see much sweet tea in my future for a while unless I make it myself. At least up here they don't have a sales tax (nice change in relation to the 9.75% in TN).

Finding a vehicle might be annoying too. So far in the ads there are only two likely candidates... a ford and a dodge... Ford is a crewcab and is a little above my means until I have money in hand for the diesel scout though. Dodge is more in the price range I should be spending in (ford is $2000 asking, dodge is $1250 OBO), but the Dodge is... well, a dodge, and I don't have any experience with Dodges. It's an 86 W200 with a 360 and auto tranny. Talking down to $1000 even would be right around what I need to spend for a vehicle and give me some breathing room (then I don't have to rent a car and can hopefully still afford rent somewhere before money comes in from the scout).

Anyway, there're my whinings and ramblings. There are 3 of us in the class that might go in together on a place if we find one. That would give a better chance at finding a place that devided three ways would be somewhat affordable.

Albiet, with the stress points (including not knowing when I'll be able to really start), I'm still very excited and happy to be here.

[chevy_fatman]

Welcome back!

[krue]

Welcome back.

[HeavyD]

Congrats on the groundschool thing..I always wanted to be a pilot but my eyes suck. Hey, are the trucks up there all longboxes or does the occasional swb pop up?

[Baradium]

Originally Posted by HeavyD

Congrats on the groundschool thing..I always wanted to be a pilot but my eyes suck. Hey, are the trucks up there all longboxes or does the occasional swb pop up?

Thank you. Are your eyes correctable to 20/20? How about surgery etc? Aviation might not be as far away as you think and it's never too late to start.


Havn't noticed short boxes, but havn't payed attention overall either. Saw a '68 wrecker today... there's a GMC across the street from where I'm staying. I'll keep an eye out for short boxes. There is a higher proportion of C20s and C30s up here (and K20s), so short boxes might be less common just for thta reason (no short box 20s and 30s). I'll see if some of the c/10s are shorts for you.

[HeavyD]

I ask every year about lasik etc..but my eye dr. says the technology is not yet developed to fix my football shaped eye (as he described it). I tried to be a fireman, cop, and numerous other things and my sight pretty much messed up my chances for those jobs. Hopefully I can get them done at some point because my good eye is becoming weaker from compensating for the poorer eye. Even with goggles my poor eye is 20/40, and that is a generous rating. I have yet to go for a checkup this year so who knows what will happen this time.

[Palf70Step]

Welcome back to the board. Is it spring up there yet?

[68 Stepside]

Sheesh, thought you were long gone. Good to have you back man.....if you can hold out on a vehicle for a little while, do yourself that favor and find something you'd really like to have.

[97silv5.7]

welcome back this is the time of year its always daytime right?

[Baradium]

HeavyD: They have a "braces" thing for the eyes too, like a contact lens that changes the shape of your eye. Check with your doc on that as well to see if that can do anything. I met a guy at the flight school who was getting his licenses and he was legally blind when he started the treatment... when I met him he had like 20/10 or 20/15 vision and was just wearing "retainer" contacts to keep his eyes in the same shape. I don't remember how long he was going to have to wear the "retainers."


Palf: Spring? What's that? I think it got to freezing today, maybe. High tomorrow is 40 IIRC though. Granted, 30 degrees here feels more comfortable to me than 60 in GA. A lot drier cold. However, one of the guys with me in ground school said "I never thought I'd pray for -10 degrees." That is, praying that the temperature would get that warm each day while he was in Bethel, Alaska over the summer. Also known as "the place where cars go to die." (Bethel has no road access, only air, and maybe water. People ship in cars for the 1 mile of roads they have, when they are done with fixing the car they just push it off into the tundra and get a new one shipped in).

Fairbanks is supposed to get cold in winter... going to have to see how that goes.

TJ: I tried to PM you a while (8 months?) ago and never could get ahold of you :p Good to see you're around. As far as vehicles, right now I need something so I can stop with the rental cars. A cheap truck will pay for itself in savings on rentals in a few months easily. However, you have a point. I found out today there are some savings I had that I can access now, so I'm going to put that in the bank account to use while I'm getting stuff together. Might be enough to let me get a diesel pickup and not worry as much about that dodge. How that would work will depend on how long it'll take to process stuff into the bank. But at least I have a little more breathing room than I thought I had.

97silv: They are gaining 6 minutes of daylight a day right now, an hour a week. Right now it's almost 10pm, it's not still light out, but it's not close to dark yet, like a twilight. By middle of summer I believe that it never really gets dark, only really dim... means I probobly won't have a chance to see the Northern Lights until winter (still havn't seen them).

[97silv5.7]

Ive always wanted to see the northern lights gotta be an amazing site

[Baradium]

Well then, sounds like you need to stop by and visit this fall/winter then!

The Japanese have nonstop tokyo/fairbanks flights in the winter from what I hear. They believe that the northern lights are an aphrodisiac (spelling?)

Anyway, holler if you decide to visit. Don't know where I'll be living yet to know if I'll have sleeping space, but might be able to help with transportation some at least.

That offer applies to anyone here, remember to give me advance notice though so I can see about maybe not working during that period...

At least just stop by and say hi if you come all the way up here!

[Yukon Jack]

Good to hear from you again!

[barn9]

Good to see you back on the board man! Best of luck, and don't forget to take some pics of that country and it's wildlife if you get a chance, just for those of us that will never get the chance to see it.

[Canadian694x4]

Originally Posted by barn9

Good to see you back on the board man! Best of luck, and don't forget to take some pics of that country and it's wildlife if you get a chance, just for those of us that will never get the chance to see it.

Good To See You Back On The Board. I Agree With Barn, Get Some Pics If You Can...Would Love To See Pics Of "The Place Where Cars Go To Die" Too. Makes Ya Wonder What Kinda Treasures Could Be Buried In The Tundra Up There Eh?

[Baradium]

As far as short bed pickups.... saw I think 3 yesterday since I started looking, two of them were 4x4s. And then there's a 4th that is a 2wd short step sitting in a lot like it's not used anymore.

I've seen a few long bed 4x4s too, I think only two of them were 3/4 tons though...

Originally Posted by Canadian694x4

Good To See You Back On The Board. I Agree With Barn, Get Some Pics If You Can...Would Love To See Pics Of "The Place Where Cars Go To Die" Too. Makes Ya Wonder What Kinda Treasures Could Be Buried In The Tundra Up There Eh?

I'll try to get some pics at some point, especially once I actually get on the line and flying. I'm interested to see what it looks like there too

As far as never seeing it, save some money and take a vacation some day! A lot of people do it each year.

Also... I kinda bought the ford... talked them down to $1200. Needs a new windshield so will be $1500 with that. Transmission is weird but I think it's an electrical issue. If it'll last a year without a rebuild I'll be happy. I figure for the price and it being a running diesel it's worth a little risk. Not very pretty, but no rust that I could find (just dented). Not much rust up here.

As soon as I commit to this truck I finally notice the two binders at a used car dealer 3/4 ton 4x4 with a plow and a travelall. Probobly just as well, ford won't need emmissions and hopefully will still be reliable (which might be a joke...)

But yes, 67-72s all over. A lot of 4x4s of all kinds here.