I learned that seasonal employment is not limited to college kids wanting to see the world. For many, it is a way of life. Many choose to work for part of the year with hardly any expenses if any at all. They seek out places like Coldfoot where the food and housing is free. They’ll work 4-6 months a year and then vacation for the remainder in places like Hawaii or Mexico. It is a very nomadic lifestyle full of single-serving friends. At the same time, it is a life with few worries. Bills are a rarity for many of these people. For others like myself, it is an opportunity to broaden my experiences through seeing new places and meeting a unique group of people. And then there are those who are “finding themselves.” Those who have experienced a rough time in their life or wish to start anew by seeking reason through nature. The diversity of employees coupled with the incredible land and wildlife makes for an unforgettable experience.

My home for the summer, which I may or may not miss living in

Saying goodbye to all of the people I spent so much time with was as hard as you can imagine. Luckily, sites like Facebook exist that will allow me to stay in touch with everyone. Cory and I wrote our names in the saloon where many before us had visited and left behind their names and origins. The saloon today is inactive. It is rumored that the camp lost the liquor license after suspected prostitution. Now, it is simply a piece of Coldfoot history. It’s hard to find a place on the wall where there isn’t a name, a town, and a date. Hundreds upon hundreds of people from all over the world recorded their visit to Coldfoot in the saloon. Even the Ford Cold Weather testing team took a visit!

The saloon in all its beauty

Our goodbye message and names in the saloon

Chad, the camp manager, hosted a going away party for Cory and me. There was quite an impressive turnout! A few of us stayed up until breakfast! I wouldn’t have it any other way. I couldn’t ask for a boss better than Chad. His job at Coldfoot is an important one and he did it enthusiastically and professionally every day. If you ever find this blog Chad, I’d like thank you again!

The crew on one of our final days

On my final flight out of Coldfoot, I was fortunate enough to fly in the co-pilot’s seat. One of the props failed to start at first. I thought it was a sign and that I’d be stuck in Coldfoot. The view of the mountains was obscured by clouds but flying right up there next to the pilot with all of the instruments was something else.

I arrived in Fairbanks Sunday evening and walked part way to the hostel until someone from the NATC office gave me a ride the rest of the way. The hostel was particularly interesting that evening. There were people from Austria, Israel, Belgium, and all throughout the US. I even met someone that had lived in Saco, Maine where my sister used to live. I played a few games of ping pong with a younger guy from Austria. He recently graduated from The University of Edinburgh in Scotland. We talked economics and he discussed his plans for the future. Later on in the evening, I was cooking myself some dinner in the hostel kitchen and a long haired middle aged gentleman came into the kitchen decked out in camo gear. He talked about his life and he reminded me of the type of person you often see work as seasonal workers. He retired when he was 29 and since then has traveled to every continent. He showed me a necklace he had with turkey talons and he told me that’s what he uses to keep away “Barbie.” I didn’t understand what he meant by that but he explained that he meant women who were gold diggers that might be scared of such a primitive piece of jewelry. Very very strange guy. Speaking of strange, later on that evening a couple of Alaskan natives who appeared to be in their 70s, stumbled into the kitchen evidently drunk and asked for a piece of the pizza that I had just cooked. I obviously refused. They were falling all over the place. They eventually fell asleep on the deck of the hostel, hiccupping as loud as can be. They weren’t even staying at the hostel. A lot of times, the residents of the dry native villages come into Fairbanks and have their fair share of substance abuse. They clearly had more than a fair share.

The next day, I got in touch with David Offer, the former editor of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal, the newspapers that serve the Waterville and Augusta areas. He is now a professor at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. He had known my grandfather who worked 50 years at the Sentinel. He took me out to the Silver Gulch, a local Fairbanks restaurant. It was very nice. After dinner, he and his wife then took me to the airport where I waited for my 1AM flight. From then on, it was Fairbanks to Seattle to Denver to Dallas to Boston! I arrived in Boston at around 10:30PM the same day where my sister waited to drive me home. Unfortunately, they lost my luggage along the way. I filed a claim and they Fedex overnighted it to me here in Waterville. It was a relief that I received it in the mail so soon. Props to American Airlines for the quick recovery!

This is likely my final post. I would like to thank everyone who read my blog this summer especially those that made my camera replacement possible. I have met a lot of great people through writing this blog and I’m very glad that I took the time to record my journey. I hope that I inspired readers to visit Alaska or even travel a bit more! I know that my experiences this summer have prompted a desire to travel more frequently. Farewell Alaska and farewell whileinalaska.com!

P.S. I haven’t forgotten about the picture gallery. It will happen, trust me!

The coldness has already set in. I awoke to a temperature of 27 degrees Fahrenheit in the tent the other day. I imagine that it will only get colder from here. My sleeping bag is rated at 20 degrees so as long as it doesn’t sink below that, I have no worries! For the Coldfoot veterans, they are unphased by these temperatures. I am no stranger to cold weather either being from Maine but for it to be this cold in August, that I am unfamiliar with. The Alaskans reading this are probably laughing that I even consider this cold as they experience well below zero throughout the winter.

I was reading the Fairbanks Daily News Miner the other day and on the front page, I saw a man who I had met at the Anderson Bluegrass Festival. At this point of my stay in Alaska, I am not surprised at such a coincidence. It’s the only state I know of where you can recognize someone you met in a span of hundreds of miles. Anyways, this gentleman, Brent Sass (sic?) frequents Coldfoot and recognized George at the festival. We chatted with him for a bit and enjoyed the company of the puppy sled dog he had with him. The article he was featured in discussed his participation in the 2009 Quest Sled Dog Race. It named him as one of the contenders along with Lance Mackey, of course. Mackey’s father essentially founded Coldfoot. Tyler, a bus driver for Princess Cruise tours also mentioned that he saw us at the festival. Small small world.

Dall sheep hunting season started this week. It’s evident as droves of hunters have made Coldfoot their headquarters for all necessary material things. A hunting guide, Dan Wetzel leads a group of hunters into a camp on the North Slope. Wetzel originally did birding tours throughout this area but as the economy suffers, he switched up his occupation a bit. He also originally brought hunters through the Arctic on horseback but canned the idea as hauling horses was an expensive process. On this particular tour, he brought along Mark, one of our guides (the marathon man) to help pack camp for them. I am not a hunter myself but it’s intriguing how much these hunters pay to bag their one Dall sheep that they are allowed. I imagine that it’s mostly the experience that accompanies the hunt that they are paying for. Long story short, Wetzel is quite the guy. He is always around camp socializing and preparing for his trips. In fact, the other day he borrowed a pair of wool socks from me. It’s quite the operation they are running. It’s my understanding that Dall sheep are very tasty eating. That’s one animal that I have yet to sample here!

Eleven days from today, I’ll be departing Coldfoot for Fairbanks where I’ll be flying out at 1AM on the 25th of August. I have so few days remaining here but I am confident that I have seen all of the sites that I wanted to see. From now on, it’ll just be smooth sailing. Although it’s been surprisingly busy here. Last week, we had our biggest day of the entire season. It was our only full day of full occupancy, all 81 rooms. I plan to make my final trip into Fairbanks (other than my departure) on Wednesday evening. I think this will be a solo trip and for only a single night.
That’s about it for now! Will keep you updated per usual.

Last week, we had a ping pong tournament. It was very official for Coldfoot standards. We even had an elaborate bracket. Ping pong has become the official sport of Coldfoot. Kickball has faded out, apparently. Cory and I have been playing a lot and we’re getting pretty good or at least better. Cory even advanced to the finals. Ian, the chef is quite the ping pong guru and we figured that he would take the crown. He ended up handily beating Cory but his comeback was worthy enough to celebrate. I think we are going to try and make this a weekly thing.

Our “Ping Pong Table”

In other Coldfoot happenings, Mark hosted Philosophy Friday last week. It was essentially a forum for a host of different world issues. I attended for an hour but became tired of the argument. It seemed every topic of discussion encompassed the central argument between the right and left. A fair amount of coworkers here have had experiences that have driven them to become very socialist minded. Many have lived and volunteered in third world countries and their experiences have shaped their overall beliefs. Others argued for the sake of free market capitalism. I’ll likely attend the next Philosophy Friday simply to listen to the interesting experiences of our coworkers.

Mark, the host of Philosophy Friday walked a marathon along the Dalton a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday, he decided to run a full marathon. It seemed like a rather spontaneous decision for such an arduous task. He completed it in 3 hours and 36 minutes. That’s around 8 minutes per each mile! Quite the feat. It turns out that at the beginning of the season, he lost his iPod. Well, remember the iPod that I found a month or so ago? It wasn’t the one that he lost but I ended up giving it to him. I know how it feels when you lose something so expensive so I thought it would be a nice gesture to let him have it.

Thursday night, Kevin, Cory, and I decided to climb Coldfoot Mountain. That same day we experienced the biggest hail that I’ve ever seen.

Hail on the porch of our tent

It continued to rain into our hike. Coldfoot Mountain is the largest peak in the area, topping out at 4,380 feet. It’s no Mt. McKinley by any means (20,000 feet) but it’s somewhat comparable to Mt. Katahdin, the biggest peak in Maine. The only difference is that this mountain does not have any trails whatsoever. We initially planned to tent out close to the top. We each carried packs around 40 or 50 pounds. Cory and Kevin borrowed large packs that weighed a lot more than mine. We each had a tent and a sleeping bag along with extra clothes and food. We started out the trip around 7:30PM having to cross a river. We crossed in the same spot that we normally cross when we go swimming. Rather than have soggy clothing, we stripped down and carried our packs on our heads. It was cold but not unbearable. We made it up to first ridge where we laid our packs down. The next and final part of the climb was steep and very rocky. None of us are in the best shape of our lives so our legs became very sore by the final ascent.

Taken from the top. Coldfoot Camp can be seen close to a mile below us.

We made it to the top where a large AT&T tower stood to handle communications for all of Coldfoot and Alyeska. By the tower was a very rudimentary helipad. It’s rumored that a few coworkers who had climbed this mountain last season were climbing the tower and a helicopter flew down and demanded them to descend the mountain immediately where a trooper would be waiting for them! We didn’t stay very long on the top. By the time we got down to where our packs were, we decided not to stay the night. We didn’t bring enough water and we were very thirsty. The descent wasn’t too bad but it got a bit dark (yes, it’s finally getting a little dark here) and cold towards the end. We were all very tired and just wanted to get back to camp where we could have a nice glass of water. When we made it back to the base, we had to cross the river again. This time we did it in our clothes. It seemed 10 times harder to cross. I don’t know if the pants made it harder or if it was the fact that my legs were shot. We completed the walk back to camp in our soaked pants. At this point, the air temperature was in the 40s. We arrived back at camp around 1:30AM after 6 hours of hiking. We scurried for food. Jason, the cook who I mentioned packed me an egg for the Atigun Pass trip that he deliberately didn’t hard boil, brought out an actual hardboiled egg for me. I suppose he figured that I deserved it this time. We wanted to stay up till 6 when breakfast started but we only made it until 3. That’s no surprise to me.

One month from today, I’ll be flying back to Boston. I have a feeling that August is just going to fly by. Cory and I have our 3 day break this week (Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off). We are trying to switch that to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so we can make the Andersen Bluegrass Festival. Does anyone know much about it? We may have to hitchhike from Fairbanks to the event. I shall keep you all updated on the coming events.

We had originally planned to go for a fishing trip down at the Yukon River Camp but it would have been too much of a hassle to get down there especially since we weren’t positive we would find a boat. We then opted to attempt hitching to Dead Horse Camp in Prudhoe Bay. Prudhoe Bay is on the North Slope just a matter of miles from the Arctic Ocean. The trucker traffic appeared bleak Wednesday night quite possibly due to the overwhelming amounts of smoke permeating the highway. That plan also fell through. We spent Wednesday and Thursday playing ping pong, reading and relaxing. I would have liked to have done something more exciting and productive during those days but things don’t always work out.

Yesterday, we started out at 6AM to Atigun Pass, the only tour that I had not yet been on. It’s a about a 70 mile drive up the Dalton in a tour van. Cory, Kevin, Jen, and I joined two older ladies in the tour. The view up until the pass was typical and nothing out of the ordinary. However, we did catch a glimpse of Sukakpak Mountain, one of the larger peaks in the Brooks Range. We ascended the Pass and the view was incredible. We passed waterfalls and valleys and when we reached the top, we all got out of the car to get a better view of our surroundings. The temperature was around 40 degrees, about 20 degrees lower than back at Coldfoot. On the way back, we stopped at Sukakpak Mountain again. The kitchen packed us sacked lunches which we had ordered the night prior. I had requested a hardboiled egg along with my tuna sandwich. Jason, one of the cooks, thought it would be funny not to boil the egg at all. Well everyone else though it was funny but me! I got yoke all over myself! In the parking area of Sukakpak, a couple were breaking down their tent and preparing to get back on the road. They had cycled all the way from Anchorage, averaging 50-60 miles a day. Yesterday was their 16th day on the road. I would love to do something like that someday. I can see myself coming back to northern Alaska someday to ride the Dalton. While tour cycling is not always fun and games, it’s satisfying enough to meet daily mileage goals and most of all, to see and hear nature up close and personal without the noise restrictions of a vehicle. We concluded our three day break last night by organizing a whiffle ball game. A fair amount of coworkers turned out and it was a great time like always.

We returned to work today. It was a really slow day. Our fellow coworkers usually get a large amount of visitors on our days off much to our delight. In fact, they had to deal with a rather messy situation the other day. A middle aged woman had a bit too much to drink in the bar and fell on the towel rack. The morning after, they found her all bloody laying on the floor of her room. Holland America wouldn’t allow her to reboard the bus so our camp manager took her all the way down to Fairbanks to get her to a hospital. Talk about a trip gone bad! Our fellow lodge cleaners decked themselves out in protective suits and cleaned up the bloody mess.

Like always, I’m in awe as to how quickly time is flying by. As they say, time flies by when you’re having fun. It’s July 11th, less than a month and a half away from our return back to the East coast. A week after I return, classes begin. It shall be interesting to return to a land of lesser mosquitoes, actual night time, and heaps of schoolwork. Unfortunately, I’m still working out the whole camera cord situation. Until I find one I can borrow, the pictures will be on hold.

While the evening was packed with excitement, there was also a bit of unease and confusion. Right upon arriving at the event, we heard news that two of our coworkers had left for good. A waitress and a maintenance worker decided to pick up and leave Coldfoot without telling anyone. Not only is it disrespectful and inconsiderate to leave without submitting a two weeks’ notice but rather disheartening that they would leave without even a goodbye to their coworkers whom they spent so much time with over the past couple of months. Although this is my first seasonal job, it is my understanding that such an occurrence is common in this type of workplace. For many, the work is temporary and they feel unattached and unobligated to stay. If I were to offer any advice to anyone considering a seasonal job, especially at Coldfoot, definitely think a fair amount about before making such a drastic decision as leaving. I have to be completely honest, within a few weeks of being here; Cory and I considered heading home early. The work was tedious and often unexciting. And after being at school, we wanted to simply relax at home in our own beds with our families and friends. We spent an extensive amount of time discussing the situation and we came to the realization that we didn’t have the right mindset. All we thought about was home. We weren’t as open minded as we should have been and sometimes just downright pessimistic. We stopped and thought about how lucky we are to be here. Sukakpak picked 35 of us out of over 300 applicants. Since we changed our mindset and realized that we are in a very special place, we grew closer to our coworkers, attended more tours, explored on our own, and even began to have fun on the job. It may sound silly that it took us that long to realize that we’re in a unique special place but sometimes when all you think about is home, you miss the simple things. I’m not trying to say that you should force yourself to like something you don’t, I’m saying that sometimes you need to step back and think about the reason you chose to work at such a place. At the time, it’s easy to not realize that the nature of such work can teach you a lot about yourself. I’m confident that I’ll look back someday and be glad that I worked at Coldfoot for the whole season and it’s not far off to say that it will be a life changing experience. So the lesson is: before you quit, start thinking more positively and be more grateful for the unique position that you’re in.

The other night, a fellow Twitter follower stopped by the camp on his way to pick up a friend who had hiked a portion of the Brooks Range. Ken (@sdoownek ) came into the café to say hello. It’s always great meeting those you typically only interact with online. In the rare case that any other followers take a trip up the Dalton, definitely stop in to say hi. Also, a gentleman who recently toured Coldfoot on a Princess Cruise found my blog and sent me a little comment a few posts back. It really makes my day to see this kind of thing.

Today is our Friday. After work, we begin our 3 day weekend. We’re considering going down to the Yukon River Camp to do some fishing. Our camp manager told us that we might have a chance of hopping on a boat and fishing independently on the Yukon River. We later spoke to some Yukon employees and the chances of that happening are looking slim. However, they said that there is a “mountainman,” as they called him, who lives by the camp and is always looking for people to accompany him on fishing trips. It would be a tossup whether he’s around or not so we are going to do a little more investigating before embarking on such an adventure. As always, I shall keep you posted on the happenings of Coldfoot.

My camera cable seems to have gone missing. I think someone may have taken it by accident. Until I find another, this post will be pictureless. I’ll try my hardest to get them uploaded later this evening!

The River Spot

A Few People assembled early in the night

Like I mentioned, we have yesterday and today off and quite possibly Saturday but I won’t know until the schedule is released. Every three weeks, we get three days off. I just completed my third full work week so we’ll see. I think we may try to hop on a Wiseman tour today since Cory hasn’t seen it yet. If not, we want to go to Marion Creek, which is about 5 miles away. We would need to get a ride there from someone unless we decide to run or walk. We hear there are some great waterfalls. Hopefully, we can see some wildlife as well if we can keep the decibels down. If we make the trip, I’ll obviously write about the journey and take lots of photos. However, I’m rather limited as far as picture storage capacity goes since my memory card still hasn’t arrived.

I had a nice conversation with a coworker last night about his life in Mexico. He has lived in Nexpa, Mexico seasonally for the last 20 years. Nexpa is in southern Mexico where he says there is a large indigenous population and the only tourists are surfers. He’s 48 and has surfed his whole life, growing up in California and jumping from Cali to Hawaii to Mexico in the winters to several national parks in the summers. He never has any elaborate plans, not even a set place to live when he travels to Mexico. He camps for $2 a day, lives with fishermen, or rents a hut on the beach for $100 a month. Every day is a surprise and he wouldn’t have it any other way. To me, that is the utmost level of freedom. His employment is temporary and yields nothing but adventure, traveling to a new state every season living in the most beautiful spots in the country. The lifestyle is not for everyone but I personally think that it’s a genuine way to travel. Arranged resort vacations are expensive and you often don’t see the true way of life in the area you are visiting. Trapped inside a tourism bubble, it’s usually an artificial representation, a fabricated land of consumerism. I see it every day with the Princess and Holland America cruise tours that pass through here on a regular basis. Everyone gets off the bus and does the same routine every evening then in the morning they are herded back onto the bus in a seemingly inhumane fashion. They don’t really engage with true Alaskan people while they are here, they rarely see wildlife and they are likely paying close to $1,000 for the whole ordeal. It’s the independent travelers who make their way up here in their own cars, traveling hundreds of miles, going their own pace, and seeing whatever they want along the way that experience the true Arctic. Hey, I can’t speak for everyone but just keep this in mind when you are booking you’re next vacation. A little adventure and uncertainty never hurt anyone.

I finished Lance Armstrong’s book, It’s Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life Tuesday night. It’s really an amazing story of Lance’s recovery from cancer and comeback to cycling. He fought slim odds of survival and to the amazement of many came back to win the Tour de France multiple times. He is indefinitely a physical anomaly, able to fight off lactic acid on long intense rides, but his determination and competitiveness have proven to inspire cancer patients and athletes alike. As soon as I finish my review of A Whole Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the World, I’ll write up a little review of Lance’s book.

Next on the list: Meltdown, A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts will Make Things Worse by Thomas E. Woods Jr., a New York Times Bestselling Author and Senior Fellow at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute. I also received 4 magazines in the mail today, subscriptions that were being sent to Wheaton. Before leaving for the semester, I had my mail forwarded here to Coldfoot so I could keep getting my magazines. I received June’s issue of Entrepreneur magazine and three weeks worth of BusinessWeek. The mail doesn’t make its way to Coldfoot very briskly but we’re fortunate to even have a post office up here in the middle of nowhere. I’ll have tons of reading material for the rest of the summer.

I’ve never really asked but if anyone has any questions or suggestions, feel free to give me a shout either via comment or e-mail at Worcester_theodore@wheatonma.edu

That’s all for now, folks.

Remember the iMax film crew I mentioned the other day? We offered to move them into the North Inn in the newer more spacious rooms and they gratefully accepted. We brought them in a TV as well. I think we made their day as they happily shared more Alaskan IPA. While I’m on the topic of film crews, the “The World By Road” crew that I mentioned yesterday pulled up in their Toyotas on their return from Prudhoe Bay. I talked again with the crew and they mentioned that they were featured in the Fairbanks Daily Miner. You can see the article here.

More interesting visitors pulled into Coldfoot today but this time via air. AT&T workers landed in a chopper today right in front of the Inn. We knew that AT&T would be coming to do some work up here but we didn’t know that they would be landing in a privately rented helicopter. A few AT&T trucks accompanied the chopper. Yesterday, the chopper flew up to Coldfoot Mountain where they were servicing the Alyeska communications tower. The workers complained about the dogs barking and asked to be moved to the other side of the hall, or “even numbers only” as they put it. We joked that we’d rent out our tent for half the price of the rooms in the inn.

In other news, a gentleman asked me on Twitter today to write a guest blog post on his travel website. He wants me to write “52 Reasons to Travel to the Arctic.” His website, 52perfectdays.com is filled with articles written about travel destinations worldwide, usually involving the number 52. I’m not really sure of the significance of that number. I may be interested in doing it. It would keep me busy and may be useful to tourists wishing to travel up to mighty Arctic. I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this project.

After work yesterday, Cory and I went for a run on the Dalton. We ran from mile marker 175 (Coldfoot) to 177 and back, a total of four miles. The trucks passing by weren’t bad I suppose. There was an occasional sandstorm and flinging rocks but nothing serious.

Coldfoot from a side view

I figured that I better start working out since the cooks and bakers here are spoiling us. When tour buses visit Coldfoot, usually 4 or 5 times out of the week, the cooks are working hard at preparing gourmet meals of shrimp, steak, fish, you name it. All of the coworkers can help themselves to these same meals that the guests eat. And the desserts, that’s a whole different story. Ever since the baker arrived, the pHD seeking professor, there have been decadent treats staring me down every evening like toffee bars, peanut butter bars, cheesecake, the list goes on. This post is making me hungry but you get the point; exercise is needed here at Coldfoot unless obesity is desired. However, I think about 7 or 8 of the 35 employees here are vegetarians so a lot of the lunches are catered to these herbivores.

Like I said, nothing really interesting has happened of late aside from work but I would hardly call that interesting. I do have to say that I miss the night. I can’t say that the constant light has put me in the mood for any late night bon fires. Sometimes it’s funny thinking of the usual summer commodities that don’t make their way up to Coldfoot. No sandy beaches. No bike rides (would still love to get a mountain bike up here from Fairbanks!) No swimming pools. No family barbecues. No sleeping in for hours. I think it’s safe to say that this is the longest I’ve ever gone in my life without these crucial components of summer. But when I look around and see that I’m surrounded by snowy mountains and miles of desolate unscathed land sometimes it makes it worth it.

Until next time, enjoy the post.

Monday, I met a film crew that will be staying here at the Slate Creek Inn. They are filming an Imax Documentary on caribou. They were here a couple of weeks ago but they’re back and here to stay until the filming is completed. The documentary is going to be filmed from a plane chartered out by Coyote Air, a small bush plane operation running out of the Coldfoot airstrip.

Not taken by me. I wish it was.

The crew asked for a TV since they had one in their room on their last stay. We immediately told him we’d hook him up, especially since he would be staying here for quite some time. We brought one over to him but the camp manager made us take it back because guests are given the choice of staying in the CoHo where there are TVs in the rooms or staying in the Inn with a private bathroom but no TV. The producer returned a look of dissatisfaction. In all fairness, they are likely paying thousands to stay here all month at a nightly rate of $200+. He so eloquently put it: “So I have to choose either a shitter or a TV? What if I want to watch TV while I’m on the shitter?” He generously gave us an Alaskan India Pale Ale for our efforts, definitely worthy currency for the Arctic.

There has been a recent influx of new coworkers. Today, Jennifer arrived, a professor of criminology and PhD candidate from San Diego. Also, a few days ago, Joe arrived from Seattle. He brought his dog, Francis. He put her through a service dog course so he can keep her in his tent and take her throughout camp without any restrictions. She’s very well trained and I would certainly consider putting my dog through a similar course, if or when I ever have my own dog. Overall, we have a very diverse population of coworkers here at Coldfoot. From world travelers to professors to ex-corporate honchos like Jackie, an MBA holder and former higher up at AT&T and various aerospace companies. A large portion of the coworkers come from the Midwest but there are a couple from Florida, a few from Cali and a few that call the road their home, the seasonal employment vagabonds. Aside from Cory and myself, there are only two other east coasters. It’s a real tight-knit group and everyone’s stories have been intriguing.

Yesterday, two guides went up to Barrow, the northernmost town in North America. The tour that goes up there is very sought after. Cory and I want to go up very badly. There is a tiny high school there with a state of the art turf football field. A philanthropist donated a large sum of money for the school to build the field. Apparently, the team, not the winningest squad, jumped into the Arctic Ocean after their first victory.

Home playing field of the Barrow Whalers

Anyways, when the guides came back, our camp manager got a call from the company owners chewing him out, saying that coworkers aren’t supposed to go on these tours to Barrow even if there was available space. The increased weight adds to the fuel costs. Needless to say, it caused some tension and discomfort for the guides that went up as well as the manager. Cory and I are very disappointed that we will not get to see Barrow but understanding at the same time since fuel costs are rapidly rising.

Sometimes I get bored when making beds, folding laundry, or doing other monotonous tasks that the work day calls for. When that happens, I start brainstorming crazy things. Today, I thought of an iPhone App that could potentially be somewhat amusing. For all those wage slaves out there, the WageWhore version 1.0 (decent name, right?) would allow you to tap a start button and the app would begin calculating your daily earnings to the cent in real time. The app would allow you set your wage, state’s income tax and overtime option. For example, you work 16 minutes and earn $10 an hour with a 10% income tax, the app would output $2.40 for your earnings so far in that day. It’s a simple concept and I’m sure it’d be easy to code for an iPhone app developer.

This is what it would look like.

It’s more of just a fun thing than a useful tool. But I beg the question; would it alter your work ethic? Or drive you to set a more definitive goal of how long you want to work in that day to earn a certain amount? Or would it simply make you realize that you just slaved 15 hellish minutes making a few beds for only $1.72 and you’ll have to work another hour 45 minutes, or make 9 more beds to afford a movie ticket or a cheap meal at a restaurant, or in Coldfoot standards, a single beer. If someone steals my idea, at least share the final product with me!

I was also pondering today whether putting a phone in every room in the inn would increase the sale of phone cards sold at the camp store since I believe there are already jacks in every room. As a businessman, it would be worth a trial. The result could potentially yield a higher profits and happier guests. If there was indeed jacks in every room, acquiring and installing phones would be simple and affordable. Although, I’ve found that demand for items up here at Coldfoot is extremely inelastic. If you want something whether it’s a place to stay or a Hershey bar, the only place within a 6 hour drive that you’re going to find it is at Coldfoot. It’s the same concept as any rest stop along the highway except 10 times more extreme due to the absurd remoteness. Rooms are over $200 to stay in virtually a trailer. Gas is almost $4.00 a gallon. Truckers pay $10 for a shower like I mentioned in the last post. If anyone complains, a staff member is quick to defend with the fact that it costs so much to ship items up here, not to mention the fact that Coldfoot is powered by a diesel generator. I think most people understand or at least they should. However, I personally think that the company should invest some capital in infrastructure. For $200+ nightly, guests should at least be able to look at something more appealing than a trailer, watch TV, or make a call home in the privacy of their room. I suppose it’s hard to justify, not to mention very expensive to make such renovations, when it wouldn’t really substantially increase profits. Guests are going to stay here whether it’s a trailer or a nice log cabin, simply because they don’t have anywhere else to stay. I’m not even sure whether monopoly is the right word but it’s certainly an interesting business model and economic concept.

Cory and I both have tomorrow and the next day off, the same days we had off last week. They have been giving us the busiest days off. It’s very nice and I’d like to think it’s not coincidental. Tomorrow they have over 40 rooms to do. We have 0. We are considering a big day hike Friday. Stay tuned for pictures.

Today was my day off but the schedule here doesn’t really matter apparently. Our “lead cleaners” consulted with the camp manager today and they now have the power to veto the schedule which is made up by the owner of the company. Speaking of the camp manager, we watched Office Space last night. We finally nailed it… he reminds us of the waiter at Chotchkie’s. Whoever made that comment on that post about Office Space, I thank you! Not to mention, it was great watching it again. Great movie!

Anyways, I will have worked 9 days before my day off. But everything is just awesome since it’s “Pat your Coworker on the Back Week!!!!!”

The good thing though is that Cory and I both have next Thursday and Friday off. We are planning to go to Fairbanks for the weekend and maybe get a cheap hotel. It’ll be a nice little vacation and i’ll have signal on my iPhone… a big treat for sure! I must sound so deprived of technology. It’s partly true but the time i’ve spent here outdoors makes me forget about text messaging, WiFi, and iPhone apps.

I wanted to mention in yesterday’s post but I guess I just forgot. When we were turning over the rooms yesterday in the Inn, 5 out of 33 (15%) of the rooms tipped us. The lowest tip was $0.75 and the biggest was $5.00. Do any readers work as housekeepers? Is this a normal amount of tippers and a usual spectrum of tip amounts? I’ll try to keep track of tips, it might be interesting!

A new coworker, Lewis from Arkansas joined the lodge cleaner staff today. It’ll be nice to have another helping hand. I’d love to keep writing but it’s steaming hot up here in the Coldfoot office. Never thought i’d be saying that above the Arctic Circle. Stay tuned, will write again tomorrow!

Today, we had another long day of cleaning. I guess you just have to get used to hearing that! We started out at 7 A.M. today to help the guests load their luggage back onto the bus. It was rather entertaining watching the old couples. My favorite was the woman I spotted in a velvet green jumpsuit and leopard print fanny pack. That motivated me to work the rest of the day. Actually, I really got a kick out of the woman who complained that her room was haunted. We had a maintenance guy come in and bless it for her!!!

Anyways, I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that I put up a book list page. It’s essentially just a list of the books that Cory and I are going to be reading this summer for entertainment and enlightenment. I ordered my camera this morning before work. I managed to get the same model as I had before on eBay. I told the seller to ship it to me via USPS Priority but he had already mailed it through UPS. It’s going to take forever to get here since our UPS goes through Air Arctic (a plane service). I’m hoping that it doesn’t take anymore than 2 weeks. Also in today’s news, I made it into the Coldfoot gym to do a couple of sets on bench press, pull downs, and upright rows. I haven’t been in the gym for at least a month. It’s amazing how much strength you lose in such a short amount of time. I hope to try and regularly go to the gym here, regardless of how little equipment they have.

Well, I promised that Cory would write about his journey up here so here it is without further ado, Cory Limberger:

Hey guys this is my first time posting, I’m so glad we get to share this adventure with you!
In this post I’ll just sum up my travel up to Alaska and my arrival at Coldfoot. My trip got off to a rough start, the plane that I was set to board was having technical troubles of some sort so it got delayed by enough that I was going to miss my connecting flight to Denver. The airline had to reroute my flight. Much to my surprise the new route actually got me to Alaska 6 hours earlier!

This meant that Michelle one of my employers/coworkers was able to pick me up and drive me to Go North Hostel where I would be staying that night.

I had no idea what to expect from a hostel. I was pleasantly surprised. I got a bed and bedding, a power source, free WiFi and a heated room for 23 dollars a night. Go North also had a kitchen with a refrigerator, stove and sink. All of these little amenities were really appreciated. After I had checked in at Go North I walked back into town, which was not more then a half mile away. When I walked into town it was around 10 PM but the sun was still shining bright! This was really new and interesting to me. It didn’t feel like it was late at all.

In the morning Michelle picked me up at the hostel. She had come with Clifton, one of my coworkers. We went to a hotel to pick up Tanishia who would also be flying up to Coldfoot that day. After that, we went to get all my paperwork done and my drug test. After that we loaded everything on to a small plane and we were off. I flew into Coldfoot with 4 DOT workers. The flight was a really neat experience. We did not fly too high and I was able to see many of the mountains pretty clearly. Upon arriving at Coldfoot I was greeted by George and Ted. We moved all my stuff into the tent and then Ted showed me the ins and outs of life up here. I was looking forward to a couple days of getting my bearings and getting used to life up here…Unfortunately my Coworker Sadie had other plans and I was told that I was going to have to clock in to work at 8 AM the next day!

Work today was not too tough, we had to clean out the rooms of 33 guests that had stayed the night before. This was pretty straightforward and I really like working with my coworkers. I’m really excited to go on a tour of some parts of Alaska, which as coworkers we get to go on for free.

We will check back in tomorrow, on our supposed day off but we both know that won’t happen. As always, thanks for reading.