Last trip to Bethel-Ducks Unlimited

Any more?? This is fun!

 Friend, Ross, needed help with the banquet for Ducks Unlimited. So, we offered to do what we could, and that turned out to be cleaning up the Lion's Club kitchen after they cut up 300 pounds of prime rib! That's a lot of meat!

 We helped a bit before hand, and were treated to a fabulous meal and were able to watch the variety of auctions that took place. I had never seen so many guns in one place!

Spotless!

The boss!

Old friends!

 The next day was extremely foggy so we waited awhile hoping it would clear. It came and went, and we decided we best give it a try as the trail was very well marked. But first we needed some groceries at AC. I'm wolfing down a doughnut....

 Doesn't the new coat go well with the matching gas can? Getting around Bethel can be tricky. We needed to get gas for the ride back, and it is much less expensive than in the village. So we left AC.
Some parts of Bethel you leave the road and there are trails through backyards, across ponds and parks.

 Other places you need to ride on the road. This trip we had to cross several streets and many were already bare pavement. This street here we could navigate fairly well keeping off to the side. There are several collisions between snowmobile and cars as once you apply brakes there is some sliding action....

 Crowley is a big name in Bethel. I understand they own quite a bit, including those large tanks in the background.

The biggest ah ha moment for me up here has been the dependence on fuel. I could say that too for the "outside", but up and out here it is everything.

In our village we are now being rationed 5 gallons per day per family because our one large tank has about two feet of fuel left. No one can deliver the fuel with everything (the river) getting soft. This fuel is also for heating.

Many in the village are heading upriver to the spruce forests to get wood for heating (and steam baths).

 

 Trying to hold another doughnut while I gas up....

We had a bit of an adventure going home. It was very foggy still and when we finally found the trail if was straight forward. But, we could not find the trail out of Bethel. We would play leap frog, one goes ahead and spots a marker, and waves the other on. It was humbling.