It has been a long time since I had the time available to do a long piece here. I have explained our internet situation, and we spend so much time at the school that I am often loath to stay there longer just to write. At the same time, this feels so nice as a change of pace. It makes me anxious for the advent of true broadband in these parts, which is supposed to be approaching soon.
I am sitting in the lobby of Bethel Regional High School, and it is a little after 9 pm. We have concluded the second round of the junior high school speech competition for this school year. We have another day of competition tomorrow, and a dance here tomorrow night. I got to do some judging tonight, and thought that was pretty pleasant. My kids are wandering around the school somewhere, but I can summon them with a text message, and they have open time right now. We will start getting them ready for bed at about 10 pm.
We were chartered to come over here at 9 am, but the weather out here can be very tricky at this time of year. Our site secretary is also the agent for the small airline that we use for school travel. When he hadn't come for us by about 9:30, I went over to his office. He informed me that there was a weather hold in place for Bethel. No surprise, really. There was a fair amount of fog about, and that is often a complicating factor in Delta air travel. What it meant from a practical standpoint was that I ended up teaching my reading class while wearing insulated bib overalls. It was a little warm, but not bad overall. I also had on a pair of Swedish running shoes with carbide spikes in the soles. They come in handy for the ice that has already formed on the boardwalks, but they are not gym floor friendly. I was looking in at my PE class when Joe came down and said that the plane was coming.
I took three of my students over here. I am not sure why more of them don't want to come. It is a pretty low-pressure contest as these things go, and the kids seem to be having a ball over here. The four of us piled our bags into a trailer, and we hopped into the trailer or on to the four-wheeler and rode out to the airport with Joe. It was an adventurous ride-I knocked over one of those orange construction cones with my foot on the way. I have always wanted to do that. We loaded into the plane, and the pilot told us as we got under way that the ceilings were tricky still at Bethel. We apparently were cleared to take off, but we might have to fly around a little before they would let us land. No problem.
The plane took off into a bracing wind. We got a little sideways, but not bad for out here. The crosswinds can be a bear in SW Alaska. As had been suggested, we headed upriver, and pretty quickly banked off to the right and back over the tundra "behind" Napaskiak. As we flew over the myriad sloughs, creeks, and pothole lakes that are typical features of this area, I thought of what a shame it is that my job and probably my own laziness keep me from seeing more of this. I resolved to begin doing things differently. Who knows, maybe I could get an invitation from someone to go out to the tundra sometime. It occurred to me that we would need to take the snowmachine out this winter and explore more-gas prices be damned! Meanwhile, we came back around and saw our village from the air. Several times. Several more times. I seriously began to lose track of how many more times. The glory of the tundra was beginning to fade with repetition. Still we flew onward.
Onward in a circle, that is. Sometimes, I would think that we were on a tantalizingly different heading, and that this would be the time that...but, no, that was not to be. I kept looking to the back seats to see how my students were faring. At first, I thought that we were going to have a need for multiple airsickness bags. Although I did pass them back as a precaution, they were not ultimately employed.
The flight from Napaskiak to Bethel is a short one. We can see the control tower of their airport from the runway of ours. We can stand there and watch planes take off and land. The trip usually takes about five minutes.
One hour and fifteen minutes after takeoff, we ultimately landed at Bethel.The longest five-mile flight that I ever took. There was such a backup that it took us close to ten minutes to cross the main runway to come to the terminal. But when we did, there was good old Ross waiting to pick us up. He was helpful like he always is, and reminded me again of what an asset he is to the Lower Kuskokwim School District. We made it over to the District Office, and we have been hanging out ever since. I have gotten to see some familiar faces that I have not seen in a while, and even munched pizza with our superintendent in a judges meeting. Two of my kids have made it into the third round for tomorrow, and for some reason, they entrusted me with the keys to the place. I locked up the high school tonight. I just hope that no one gets sick in the middle of the night, because I have the keys to the van as well.
I am laying on an air mattress in a science lab classroom as I finish this piece. We have another full day tomorrow, including a dance, and then we return to PKA on Thursday morning. It is a nice break, and a chance to spend some time doing something a little different. Just what the doctor ordered. That, and maybe another steam this weekend. A guy can dream....
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