Dysfunctional In-laws

Many of you may have recieved this in an email from Debbe. I thought I’d throw this up on the Blog for your reading pleasure so we can post comments to Kevin as well

I thought I would write and tell you some of the stories Kevin has told us so far on his Alaskan Adventure. He doesn’t have Internet but is keeping a daily journal that he will upload when/if he ever gets back to town.

It was definitely cold when he arrived in Fairbanks. Mind you, he had no warm clothes with him. He was under the impression that Donny would take him to WalMart to get clothes.  Not so much!! Luckily we had bought him 2 “Under Armour” shirts right before he left. So he got off the plane with tennis shoes and a sweatshirt hoody.  Donny assured him that he had “stuff” at the mine.

They spent the next day or so in Fairbanks hauling lumber that Donny had processed at the mine. They were waiting for the ice bridge to freeze again so they could get the trucks across the river. When they could finally leave town Kevin was driving a big rig. He has never done that before. He told Donny he didn’t even know how to shift one of them. Donny told him he’d learn! He had him drive in a circle a few times and then they left! The ice bridge was barely able to support them. They were in water! And then they crossed a small lake that wasn’t completely frozen!

A nice surprise awaited them at camp. NO POWER! The generator had broken. I’m not sure of all the details. They must have had some power at the cook house so that’s where they slept at first.

When they were fixing the generator Kevin got a taste of Donny’s “no fear” policy. They were working with diesel, gas, starting fluid, etc and Donny lit up a cigarette! Kind of freaked Kevin out!  Then he had to don a rubber suit of some kind and climb down the well. I guess it had frozen and he had to break the ice and fix the pump. Oh, Donny did give him some boots… but no coat…  Yesterday  one of the Bombadier snow cats needed a new ski. They jacked it up, but they were doing it on a sheet of ice. Once it was up Donny told Kevin to get under and put the pin in. Kevin said he wasn’t very comfortable climbing under something held up by flimsy jacks sitting on a sheet of ice. (DUH!) But Donny called him a name that hurt his ego and he climbed under to salvage his manhood. Sure enough, the jacks slipped and the thing came down on him. He wasn’t hurt badly. Just bruised and little cut on his back.  When they finally got him out he was very verbal in telling Donny he wasn’t going to be doing that again.

Right now they are logging. The ground is still a solid sheet of ice. The plane can’t even get in. But they can’t get out now as the ice bridge won’t hold them. They are stuck! I get the impression that Donny isn’t real safety conscious. There is one other guy there named Josh. He has been there before. He and Kev are doing the chokers while Donny pulls the logs out. He has a tendency to take off before the boys are out of the way. This is not stuff a mother wants to know!!!

Food and water…. Let’s just say we girls would not be happy! The only food they have right now is what they can shoot. Right now they have a moose carcass hanging up. Donny uses a saws all to hack off the head and limbs and then whacks off some meat to go cook up. Kevin says it really weird. But Donny doesn’t clean anything up so the wolves are coming in to get the “pieces”. I’m not entirely sure why, but something happened to the food supply. All they have is the meat, nothing else right now. Kevin said they found some salmon in the freezer last night but he refused to eat it. He said he didn’t know how long the freezer might have been down and was afraid it was bad. This could be because of what he found out about the water….

Coming from Montana where the well water is heavenly he had no thought to check his water… UNTIL… he was sitting there and looked in his glass and saw little creatures swimming around. NO JOKE! He totally freaked out! Donny told him that they just used whiskey to kill any parasite that might get into your system. Kevin began doing science experiments to see what killed the little buggers. He is hoping that he doesn’t have parasites in his system now. He is boiling and filtering all his water now.

They are sleeping in the trailer now, but there isn’t enough power to run the heaters. He is using the little heat packs you put in your boots to sleep on to get warm.

He does get cell coverage in a few spots. Last night he found one that was only 2 miles from camp.

You might wonder if he is having fun… He loves it!! He sounds happier that he’s been in a very long time. The 12 hour days are good for him.  He is excited by everything.  Below is an email he was able to send. If you can drop him a line at Kevinrussell@gmail.com. He would love to hear from everyone. He can retrieve them from his phone I think.

Still alive much to my surprise really, I am working with a crazy old man. I have a blog/journal with  lots of pictures that  I have been keeping updated nightly. But weather conditions have made it impossible to get close to town.  I will send it out asap. I only have a few of your emails in my phone and hope it sends out. If you do get this, I am doing well! Sore, cold, sick, blistered, bruised…

This is the most welcomed misery I can think of.  Most might think that statement does not make sense, but seeing what you can accomplish at the end of a 12 hours day is worth every ounce of discomfort.

I miss home, but know that I will appreciate it that much more when I am there after this adventure.

Write me when you can!