Possible Winter Visit - Want Opinions (Anchorage, Valdez: loan, closing, prices)

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by SityData

The most spectacular display of the Northern lights I have ever seen was when we lived in GlennAllen. I woke up at about 3 am and went to the living room (for a smoke) there outside the window were the green errie looking trails and designs descending down into the yard it moved all around and then just slowly floated up and away. I was mesmorized for about 15 minutes. It just looked so UFO-ish! Erie and stunning at the same time.

The odds of you seeing the northern lights improve significantly the further you are away from the coast. There is a lot of overcast in the Anchorage and Mat-Su Valley area. Until you get north of Talkeetna, or east of the Matanuska Glacier, about 100 miles from Anchorage in both cases.

[Moose Whisperer]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

As far as keeping gear in your car in winter, it may be overkill, but I do it here..

I certainly don't see it as overkill. I keep a full set of gear in my car during the winter months, including overalls, boots, jacket, blanket, sleeping bag, tool kit, and survival pack. Of course the emergency drinking water packs freeze solid by the end of October until sometime in April.

Also, for travel in company vehicles, our winter travel procedure requires a full set of arctic gear to be carried from October 1 to May 1 for travel to field locations. It's also suggested for travel on commercial airlines and rental cars, and mandatory to be within reach inside the cabin of small crew change planes and surveillance helicopters (the pilots are instructed to turn anyone away without their arctic gear).

[ShipOfFools42]

^ Well, you live in Alaska. I meant that it might be overkill to keep as much stuff in your car as I do, because our winters really are mild. We get some snow, and it gets cold and windy, but it's not like the northern US unless you get above about 4500 feet. Once you're up that high, the weather is like you're in a much more northern location. But then, I do spend a lot of time in places that are that high in elevation, so I believe it's a good idea. It's come in handy before.

As far as the Lights at Glenallen, I've been told Glenallen is a lot like the interior, weather-wise. So it would stand to reason that the Lights would be better, right?

[SityData]

I honestly do not know. Although I have seen the Northern Lights many times all over Alaska. I have always had to look up into the skies to see the display. I have never seen it descend and dance all over the yard like that then rise and dissappear off into the darkness.

I recently saw an image of northern lights taken from the space station and it was pretty wild looking also.

[ShipOfFools42]

^ The one from the space station was on page 12 of this thread. It's right here.

[losttechnician]

Hey Ship,

I will chime in again about the CDL thing. I think it is a great idea, but totally forgot to give you more info the other day when I was voting for it the first time...

Many of the community colleges around my part of Texas have truck driving courses to train to a CDL. Might there be some in your neck of the woods?

Whatever you decide, good luck!

[ShipOfFools42]

Hmmm, never looked into community colleges. I'm 99% sure the one I go to currently does not have a truck driving school, but some of the other ones might. I feel like I read about it recently and there are a couple of places near here that will train you. At this point though, I think I'm probably going to go for the pilot's license, if I were to only do one or the other. I'll probably get both at some point, but I enjoy flying more than driving, which is saying a lot, so I'm gonna try and go that route. I figure in Alaska, if I have a Natural Resources degree and a pilot's license, I could probably find some work that involves the use of both, which would be ideal. Like being hired on to fly out to remote locations and check sensor stations and water quality and all that good stuff. And as far as earning my Alaskan flight hours, I will just earn those as I go if that's going to be a prerequisite for a job. I have seen some jobs that want that, but I won't be fully certified by the time I get there, so at least my commercial certification will be earned in Alaska, which will give me plenty of hours.

I knew the first time I flew an airplane that it was something I would be doing, at least recreationally, for the rest of my life.

[tigre79]

I'd think most government jobs that require remote field work will have someone else taking you there. Maybe not all, though. I'd get a CDL. Heck, I've thought about it myself. You can drive trucks or work for the state. I have a friend who works for DOT up at the pass, doing regular road work in the summer and plowing snow in the winter (need a CDL to drive loaders on the roads). Sounds like a heck of an interesting job, and pays well besides. On the other hand, I have a friend up here who's a pilot, a flight instructor, and an airplane mechanic and is constantly trying to find decent-paying work. Don't know if that's typical, but a CDL sure sounds like a better bet to me, at least while you're trying to make flying pay off.

[ShipOfFools42]

^ Yeah, it seems like I hear these stories fairly often, and you know, I can't figure it out for the life of me. I hear from people that Alaska needs pilots like crazy, and then you hear from different people that it's impossible to get a job flying. Maybe it's because so many people fly, I dunno. But that's really cool, the work that your friend does. I would love to plow snow in the Pass! Can you imagine, getting the whole place practically to yourself AND driving a tractor?! I mean, that's a cool job! And if it pays well, that puts it ahead of a lot of others, too.

You guys are so very helpful. I think that it will be a lot easier right now to get funding to get CDL-trained, so that's what I will probably go for. But yeah, I have not flown my last holding pattern; I'll be training to fly as soon as the income is good enough to support it. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later, because that feeling of freedom is unmatched!

[blueflames50]

Originally Posted by ShipOfFools42

^ I would love to plow snow in the Pass! Can you imagine, getting the whole place practically to yourself AND driving a tractor?! I mean, that's a cool job! And if it pays well, that puts it ahead of a lot of others, too.

welllllll there are people on the forum who have plowed for a living in AK and I sure hope they jump in here....lets see...when you spend hours trying to find the truck then shovel out the driver who got swept off the road by an avalanche, plow with a road-grader/truck and have no idea where the road is due to the blinding snow and dark with headlights only illuminating about 6ft in front of you, some idjit has abandoned their car in the snow drifted road and you can't go forward and have to back the plow rig up for miles as there is no place to turn around....I've heard some of the stories an watch the color drain from their faces as they tell it years later....takes a certain type of person, maybe you are one of them!