Business Trip- Alaska Style

I survived my first village trip today and I even used some of my survival gear that I keep stashed in my backpack! The matches that I picked up from the Irish Pub/Restaurant that we took refuge in during a thunder storm in Chicago that I accidentally had in my carry-on were used to light someone's cigarette when their lighter wouldn't work.  Prepared for everything! (Hopefully I won't have to use my emergency thermal blanket or meal replacement bars if I get stuck in the winter somewhere).  As for "business attire" I wore my new Bogs boots, jeans, and had rain pants and rain jacket packed in my backpack "just in case". 

Alaska is a very "just in case" state.

It was the first time I had seen Alaska outside of Bethel (and the Anchorage airport), because it was either dark or cloudy when I flew in.  We took a boat down the Kuskokwim to get to the village and two things really stood out to me:  1) the river was huge and 2)  we passed by nothing but fish camps and wilderness for half an hour.

Being off of the road system makes commuting interesting. You either have to take a plane or a boat to the villages in the area.  Bethel is part of the YK Delta area, and is part of the Lower Kuskokwim School District-one of the (if not the) biggest school district in the country in terms of area.  So when I went on a trip with a consultant to the tribe in Kwethluk and someone from the economic development office we took a small fishing boat. 

This was our "commute":

The river is pretty big.  All of the fish camps we passed were just structures completely off of the grid:  no running water or electricity.  Just a roof over your head and some drying racks for fish.

After passing nothing for miles and miles, all of sudden houses and boats started popping up along the shore.