The barge with all our years worth of groceries and supplies arrived this past Sunday (8/31). The girls had been saying ever since we arrived "When is the barge going to get here? I wish the barge were here. I want my bunny blanket, I miss my blanket. I can't wait till we get my new bike on the barge, etc." Well the day came when the barge came chugging down the Yukon river, arriving about 2 weeks after we loaded our belongings ready to be shipped out at the barge office in Nenana. The barge doesn't take that long to get down the river from Nenana, however they don't leave as soon as you load it into the fish totes. It usually takes them about 3 days to get to Galena after leaving Nenana. The girls were pretty excited as they love unloading the barge stuff!
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Inland Barge Service with our belongings and many others' belongings.
You can see the girls and some other guys watching as it pulls into the river's edge by the landing. |
This year I was on my own for barge shopping. Ross was commercial fishing until right before he had to leave the boat to start teaching here in Galena. He basically got off the boat, drove to Anchorage, flew to Galena, and started in-service the next day. Needless to say he did not have any time to help with the yearly shopping, so it was up to the girls and I to "GET ER DONE!" Our first year here in Galena Ross and I did the barge shopping together. The next year my parents drove the ALCAN Higway with me from Montana with some of our belongings and helped me do the barge shopping before flying back to Montana. Last year I hurt my leg so Ross was left to do the barge shopping on his own. So I guess it was my turn to do it on my own with some little helpers of course! Just wanted to show you pictures of the year my parents helped me so you can get a picture of what most years are like. This year we had a lot less as I over bought after the flood, not knowing what we had and what was ruined by the flood. This left an abundance of outdated food on our shelves for this year. Hey we live in the bush, we are use to eating expired food! I was thankful that we didn't have to get quite as much this year.
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Aubrey and I showing off our muscles, two years ago after driving our belongings up from
Montana and shopping for our food, and loading it in the container. |
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I think this picture is so funny of my Dad and I.
You can tell my Dad is like, "Do I have to pose for this shot?" |
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| Two tired gals after loading this container |
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| This year we only loaded 4 1/2 fish totes instead of a container. Hope it costs a lot less shipping wise. Shipping in these totes costs 14 cents a pound versus about a dollar a pound if freight is flown in by plane in the Winter. |
We left Montana at 8:00 P.M., after saying goodbye to family. This is usually hard to do, knowing it will be pretty much a year before we see each other. This year was a little easier though as most likely we will be going down for Christmas. The girls did great on the flights (they LOVE flying)! We arrived in Anchorage shortly after midnight. Our good friend, Josh Muehlenkamp, who we taught with in Metlakatla came and picked us up so we could spend the short night at their house. Josh and Carolina were so kind and watched the girls the next day even though it was on both Carolina's and their daughter's Birthday. I later found this out and felt bad but thankful for good friends who help out even after years of being apart and even if it is their special day. So thank you Josh and Carolina! The girls said they want to go back to your house again!
Anyways, I barely slept with everything on my mind, got up and shopped till I dropped into bed at 1:00 at night. Got up and shopped for different clothes items for the girls and finished up grocery shopping. I then drove to Wasilla where our good friends, Todd and Kim and their kids, live. We also taught with them in Metlakatla. Josh, Carolina, and their kids also came and brought our girls with them a little earlier in the day. This is the first time we had all been together since we all taught in Metlakatla nearly 8 years ago. It was good to be together again, but sadly I had more shopping to do and a lot on my mind so I was a little distracted.
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All the Muehlenkamp, Hokins, and Tulloch kids. We were together, minus Ross,
for the first time since teaching together in Metlakatla. |
We visited for a while, I pried a pet rabbit from my dog's teeth and it lived (sad story with a happy ending, but too long to tell here), we said goodbye to the Muehlenkamps and Kim took me to get apples, grapefruit, carrots, and potatoes which I would be putting on the barge in hopes it would make it down the river in good shape. Dropped into bed again around who knows what time, but late. Got up, said good bye to my sweet friend Kim and her kids and drove about 6 hours to Nenana, driving our Suburban and enclosed trailer. We passed through a downpour shortly before getting to the barge and it started to sprinkle several times while loading our things into the fish totes. We stopped and prayed several times that it would not rain and God held the rain back. The girls were great help here as well. They packed things that were probably too heavy for them to pack and put up with their stressed and grumpy Mom who thought is was going to rain on all our stuff. What a relief it was when the 4 1/2 fish totes were loaded and I could say the dreaded 2 days of shopping for a years worth of supplies and the day of driving and loading were done or so I thought....
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Look at those tough girls! Marina was helpful by holding Vallie while
the older two girls helped me by packing things over to where I was loading the fish totes. |
....but I forgot we still hadn't eaten dinner and it was nearly 9:30 at night and we still had a 45 minute drive to Fairbanks where we would be staying. I scrounged up what I could find from what was left from lunch and we ate as I drove. I tried to drop off the trailer once we got to Fairbanks where we winter store its but couldn't find a place to park it and had to wash Vallie's bedding she had peed on. So by the time I got to bed it was about 2 AM. Mackenzie woke up at 5 A.M., throwing up. Wow, that wasn't very much sleep!
My plan was to do some winter clothes shopping and to get our fresh groceries to bring out as our luggage during our day in Fairbanks, but we were all wiped out and I was DONE with shopping. I decided we needed a break and just needed to enjoy the day so we went to the park instead. Guess I will just order things online and hope they fit, although God has provided most of the Winter things I needed to get at a few Garage Sales here (Garage sales hardly ever happens here, so thank you God for providing). Mackenzie started feeling better and the girls enjoyed some time just chillin at the park, then we went and got our fresh stuff later in the day.
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| Marina rode the carousel... |
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| and climbed to the top of everything she could... |
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| while Aubrey and Mackenzie played Miniature Golf. |
Two weeks later...
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| The barge arrived!!! |
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| The barge carries everything...fuel, propane, trucks, sewer tanks (the big cylinder tan thing), oh and don't forget the alcohol supply for the store and bar for the year. I say this with sarcasm because our first year alcohol was given priority over our belongings so we didn't get our stuff till nearly October! |
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| A new truck (for Galena) coming off the ramp and onto dry ground |
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| Our fish totes finally were unloaded off the barge. |
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| Now it is time to unload them. Thankfully we had Ross' help this time! |
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| The girls and I packing groceries into the house. |
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| We better not forget these special little treats in the bottom of the tote! |
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Having fun in the empty tote. We used the visqueen as a type of tarp because sometimes
the river water comes up on the barge deck and gets into the totes. We learned the hard way our first year when some of our food got wet. |
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Mackenzie's the can hauling machine! She had a bunch of cans she
was hauling in her shirt and holding her shirt up with her teeth. |
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| Just a glimpse of some of the barge stuff... |
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| piles like this are all over our house until they find a final resting spot in a storage area. You would be amazed at where you can find storage space when you have to store a year's worth of supplies. Our bed is built pretty high so we can store things under it. Most houses here have quite a few pantry shelves. |
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| The girls adjust easily and find a little space on the table to eat. They put up with it because when the barge comes.... |
It's like Christmas in August!
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| 5 of the Grapefruit didn't make it, but we have been enjoying the rest! |
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| Aubrey enjoying her new bike. The fat tires make it able to be ridden on snow in the winter. |
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| Even Vallie is enjoying her new dog bed! |
I guess those 3 days of craziness were worth it as now I have almost everything put in a storage spot and now I don't have to go shopping till next summer!!! Most women would be sad, but I don't like shopping all that much, so it is actually kind of nice to get it all done and over with in a few days, even if it is exhausting. Now we will only go to the store here in Galena for eggs and occasionally a $21 gallon of ice cream if we are splurging!
