On to Anchorage

The morning started out a tad busy as I still had to pack for my trip to Anchorage. Before leaving, I also wanted to post up a few more flyers for our Bread/Cereal class in 3 weeks. So after packing the suitcase, I took the flyers and briskly walked (also a good way to get some exercise at the start of a week I know will be spent sitting around for much of it) into town. There were some gusty winds and little snow pellets coming down. The way to town was against the wind, so that meant pulling my jacket hood far out in front and looking down to try and get some shelter from the storm. After posting a few more up, I turned back home -- a much more comfortable walk with the wind at my back.

Upon returning, I took my suitcase over to the airport to check myself and the bag in. And then I drove back home to grab some lunch before returning to the airport for the boarding. It's a little different here, as you can tell. The airport, for one thing, is a 5 minute drive -- and heavy traffic means we might encounter a few other vehicles on the roads... And since there are just two daily flights serving a community of 3,000, the airport has no services. In fact, there is no waiting area past the security gate. Once past security, it's straight onto the plane. So if there are bags to be checked, passengers here arrive early, check the bags in, then go back home until boarding time.

For whatever reason, the flight was packed, both to Juneau, and then to Anchorage. I was seated up front to Juneau, and then all the way in the back for the segment to Anchorage.

Approaching Anchorage, I could see the ocean -- filled with ice floes. I'm pretty certain this is the farthest north I've ever been.

Once the plane stopped at the terminal, the back door was opened for the crew to service the beverage carts. And with it came a blast of near-0 degree air. And since I was seated in the very back, that meant it got really cold, very quickly. Those of us in the back were soon seeing vapors from our breathing. Yes, it is colder here. Petersburg is almost tropical compared to Anchorage.

What I found interesting is that because Anchorage is so much farther west, the sunset is nearly an hour after Petersburg's. However, sunrise is past 10 a.m. So it looks like there is about an hour less of daylight at this lattitude than there is in Petersburg this time of year.

Dave Brown from Wrangell was on the same flight, and after we picked up our baggage, we looked around, then at one another, and wondered, who was going to pick us up? Dave called the Conference office and was assured someone would be found to pick us up. After some time, Dan, with whom I will be sharing a room the next few nights, finally found us and took us to the Conference office.

Dan is a Bible worker in Kodiak. He's been there for about nine/ten months now. Prior to Kodiak, he was in New Mexico. A bit of a change, I would think.

For the first time in over 3 months, I was on top of a freeway. And saw Lowe's... And shopping centers... And snow measured by yardsticks.

We had a wonderful dinner, which was followed by some get-to-know-one-another games. There was a game a little like musical chairs, except that the person without a seat had to say something about him/herself and everyone for whom the statement wasn't true had to find a new seat. The one left standing would then have to say something.

There were a couple of games based on Gestures. A rhythm game where the leader would say a category, then everyone else in the circle would have to name something from the category, in time, without skipping a beat.

There were "prizes" which were given out, but not enough for every person to have one. The evening ended with an adaptaion of the white elephant gift exchange game. I did not end up with anything.

The actual meetings begin tomorrow morning.