Yes, I really did live in North Pole Alaska! I graduated from North Pole Jr./Sr. High School (they have long since dropped the Jr./Sr.) . My graduating class had 16 people in it, but fewer than that actually showed up. We exited the stage (yes, with our diplomas) to the movie theme music, by the same name, The Sting (you know, Robert Redford). I spent a year at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and got my degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Arizona (so yes, I do know how to make Reindeer and a sleigh fly).
I had a great time in Alaska. I learned to fly in a Taylor Craft (T-Craft), which we affectionately called the River Rat (that's dad 'red' in the picture). I have flown by the Brooks Range, seen the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), been in lots of white outs, experienced ice fog (at -30 degrees F, that's below zero, a lot of things freeze) and dug my mother's car out of a snow bank in -75 degrees F (now that's really cold). I've seen the ocean frozen, walked on water (okay, it was across the Chena river and it was frozen at the time), a moose with her calf in the middle of the forest (big forests Alaska has), bald eagles, and swarms of mosquitoes that looked like a blue hazy pulsating cloud from a distance (until they swarmed around you!). |
I've heard tale of mosquitoes attacking unwary drivers going down the Alcan highway. They would riddle a truck and camper with holes until they could get a good hold of it, and then take it to their lair! Moose were know to be captured and carried away as well. Remember, everything is bigger in Alaska, even the tall tales.
I used to work at what was then called the Star of the North Bakery and Cafe. I made the donuts! The Alaskan glazed were cut out with a coffee can, so you can imagine how big those were (it's true!).
Not even the USAF can chase me down (especially when they anchor their jets in concrete). This is a F-106 Delta Dart. Guess who's father used to fly these. |
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Yes, I was in the USAF ROTC program. That is a T-38 that I am by. No, I didn't get to fly it, but I did fly a T-37 "Tweet," and a C-130, and a number of USAF simulators (F-106, F-16, and a Blackhawk). |
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