BIG DAY: Return to Civilization, Part II

We arrive in Bettles about 5:30 p.m. - a good 4 hours after the others.  Glenda tells us how the plane was loaded with lumber and building materials for a remote lodge - where the plane went before it picked us up.

Glenda greeted us and escorted us to the "Bunkhouse" and associated real bathrooms and showers!  A shower feels good after 11 days without one.  Then we joined the rest of the group on the porch of the classic Bettles Lodge.

The sun shone on us, most of the mosquitoes were behind a screen, and we had beer and real food served to us on a plate!  Luxury!  The cards are out and we're all holding our ears from the noise.  The refueling station is where you see the red and white crosshatch.

Not only that, we had entertainment.  There was a forest fire (started from the town dump, a typical problem in Alaska) in Allakaket.  The planes in the picture on the left are fire fighting planes new to Alaska, Fire Boss AT802.  The plane can and scoop up 800 gallons of water in a minutes and then dump it on the fire.  The three planes flew in so the pilots could have dinner.





Unfortunately, I don't have a picture, but various helicopters landed to refuel.  Helicopters were delivering scientific parties to study road conditions between Bettles the Dalton Highway, through Bettles, and all the way to Ambler for Governor Parnell's "mining road."  (The short article here will fill you in if you're interested.  More on this later when I tell you about the Dalton Highway in later posts.)

By this time, Bettles was running out of aviation fuel.  Time to get some more!  Just fly it in!

It was 8 p.m. before the fuel plane showed up - flown in from Fairbanks by the Everts Air Fuel company.  But you have to remember it is the second longest day of the year - not only that, but above the Arctic Circle the sun never sets anyway.

I thought this was a DC-3, but it's a C46 as identified by a classmate of Mary Louise.  

Mary Louise took a picture of the logo on the side of the plane which we all appreciated.  After that, ML wandered around the planes and helicopters talking to all the pilots and fuelpeople. Luckily she didn't get run over.








By this time it was getting late and it had been a long day.  Ashley was the first to peel off to bed, followed by Bob and Glenda.  Mary Louise had Joey on the ropes in an exciting game of gin rummy, but he escaped with a win.  I was a woeful last.

The mosquito ridden "bunkhouse" without opening windows was a bust.  Half of us pitched a tent in the yard sometime well after midnight to get some sleep.  At least you don't have to have a headlamp to set it up.  So much for civilization.

What a great day.  I'll leave you with another great airplane, the DeHavilland Beaver.  Production of this plane ended in 1967 - and there are still lots of them flying.  Alaska wouldn't be the same without the Beaver workhorse.  Here it takes off from Malemute Fork with 2 rafts, 4 adults, and lots of gear.   Get out your earplugs.  See you later!