Family Hunger Genealogy

© Copyright Todd Neel

9/12/2024 Thursday –

If you’re sitting at home right now with a furnace, instant electricity on-demand, Wi-Fi internet and all kinds of magical things to happen at your heart’s desire with the push of a button, enjoy! If you have seemingly infinite hot and cold running water (or the illusion of infinite), a toilet with a roll of all the toilet paper you need (and more under the counter), soap to wash your hands, and a dry towel – I say to you: Enjoy it! Please don’t take it for granted!

It’s early morning, and I’m sitting in our camp trailer (named “Joe’s Place” – thank you, Joe and Penne B.) at Savage Creek Campground in Denali National Park, Alaska!

It is beautiful! I don’t take the beauty and the silence for granted.

The propane heater works only sometimes – this morning it doesn’t work. And it’s cold! I don’t know how cold, or at least I can’t find out quickly. I had my cell phone turned off, so I had to boot it up to be able to push some buttons and read that it says: “40 degrees.” But where is that temperature taken? Is that from the last place I was within range of a cell phone tower? I just know it’s cold getting out of my sleeping bag, and when I turn on the propane furnace, it’s not working this morning.

As I type this on my laptop, which has limited battery life, I stop to proofread what I wrote and have to sit on my hands to warm them up before I type anymore.

Later, after some organizing, I put my Stansport non-digital combination thermometer/compass outside to get an accurate reading – hmmm, how about that? It agrees with my digital cell phone reading of 40 degrees F. What a wonderful world!

I asked and got consistent comments from local people that 40 degrees below zero, and sometimes 60 below, is common here in Alaska in winter.

I get information as to why the river beds are so wide and braided while there is just a small shallow stream of milk-colored water meandering back and forth (“ … because of ice blocks coming down during spring break up … keeps the vegetation from growing in the riverbed …”). 

(Below is a photo of a wide braided riverbed and gravel bar later in the trip – imagine it during spring break up!)

The Savage Campground Ranger knocked on my door last night and asked me to turn off my generator. She said: “It’s way past 8 pm, quiet time. Please turn off your generator and close the back of your pickup truck because there are chemicals in there.” (My spare propane tank was visible in the back of my truck.) My Authority Buttons got pushed, and I bristled with reaction, wanting to get snarky with her, but I held my tongue. It was 8:10 pm – WAY past 8 pm. I just said: “Sorry. Thank you.” I probably didn’t sound sincere or grateful, as I wondered about her social life, early psychological development, and attachment issues. I hypothesized why she wants a job correcting other people all the time.

So this morning, in the cold as I was heating water to make coffee, I get dressed by putting on four layers over my t-shirt, including my ski coat. On my head goes my ski hat, and I go outside to read the sign to confirm that guests can only run generators between 8 – 10 am and 4 – 8 pm. It was 7:30 am, so I meander around the campground, listening to other campers chop wood, slam their doors, and occasionally look up for ravens screeching to each other in the treetops. That campground host should talk to those ravens!

Why do I not like campgrounds? Let me count the ways!

Just a note: It is now later, 10:10 am. I got warm with the generator running for a couple of hours, which powered the electric heater, and I realized I had broken the rules as the generator was still running ten minutes past the Rule-Time of 10 am. It’s supposed to be off, dammit! Where’s that park Ranger to hold me accountable? I go out and shut it down before the Ranger comes back to scold me. We’ll see how long the warmth of Joe’s Place lasts before my fingers are too cold to type on my laptop. (Battery on laptop is good at 82% right now).

At about 11 am, my fingers are too cold to type with the generator off, and I sit with my hands under my thighs to keep them warmer as I proofread my writing again.

Damn! I am grateful for my furnace at home! I miss it!