I am sitting here in Ft. Wainwright thinking back to when I first got up here to Alaska. Stupid Private Weston, fresh out of basic training with the US Army. First duty station, Ft. Aintright, errrmmm, I mean, Ft. Wainright. The most cold I had dealt with prior was out at my grandfathers in northern Minnesota where we hit -40 something for about a week. Well it hits -60 here. Cold enough for you? Try this on for size, wait till it hits -30 or better and go running for 15 minutes, get inside and don't wait for your teeth to warm up and drink water, and feel every one of them split and crack. Or how about this one, put a cup of water in the microwave and get it boiling, take it outside and toss the water in the air and watch the water evaporate before it hits the ground, Last but not least, and my most favorite, go running for the same amount of time and scratch your eyebrow because it is itchy, and accidentally wipe the damn thing off your face.

Watched em happen? LOL, yep. Been unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of one of them? Luckily enough no.

Well I am on the threshold of getting away from Alaska. Don't get me wrong, I love this place, but like I have said previously, I would rather have come here on my own terms.

Shortly here I am off and on my way (what an odd literary expression I chose) back to the "lower 48" another "sourdough", getting away from the Alaskan cold. I am leaving here for Ft. Bliss Texas and I have a good group of people that are convoying through Canada. I am the only one without a truck of SUV, but I have made this trip before (on my way up here) and I am not worried at all about it.

I REALLY hope to be able to get some great photos on my way down to Texas, though only time will tell.