West US

[hick]

[hick]

[hick]

[hick]

[hick]

[hick]

[SKkin]

Here are some no comment shots:

1st one...Into The Wild. That magic bus still sitting in the same place?



The rest are some beautiful pics jimbo. Thanks.

[Luigi]

Top class.

Cheers Hick.

[hick]

1st one...Into The Wild. That magic bus still sitting in the same place?

As far as I understand the actual bus is due to be removed this year. Too many yayhoos running out there unprepared and getting into trouble. That bus is a replica (from filming) in Healy.

The river is too high in Spring to make a realistic go of it.

[SKkin]

That bus is a replica (from filming) in Healy.

Convincing replica. Is that a beaver shot in post #152?

Like that plaque too...Grizzly friggin Adams.

[SKkin]

Top class.

Imagine that shot without all the lights, poles, signs and wires etc., etc....still stunning scenery though.

I could live like that...I think.

[tomcat]

I could live like that...I think.

...happiness among the snowflakes?...

[katie23]

Thanks for the pics & stories, hick. Keep 'em coming.

Had to read again about the movie Into The Wild - forgot the details since it's been years since I watched the film. The protagonist backpacked all over the US after graduation, in search of himself/ meaning of life (?) etc.... and it was done in the early 90s, pre-internet days.

Got me thinking - how would that fare with today's millenials? They would probably be updating their social media accounts or blogging/ vlogging (complete with drones) as they searched for the meaning of life...

Hey Hick, you got a drone? Would make great aerial vids up there

[SKkin]

...happiness among the snowflakes?...

Absolutely! I love cold and snow...except when I have to drive in it for a living.

[tomcat]

...*cough*...that was a political reference...

[hick]

Is that a beaver shot in post #152?

Indeedly And just for you.

Hey Hick, you got a drone?

Got 2 Gopro Karmas. We're getting better. Haven't had time to upload footage yet. On a halibut boat (Homer) tomorrow the entire day.

[OhOh]

Halfway, what's the return south's plan?

[hick]

Most likely work in Anchorage till late Sept./early Oct., buy the jeep and take wife down the Cassiar Hwy (CAN), rerun Pacific C Hwy, on south to Ecuador. Will take some planning and prepping, but I'll have all summer.
After that? Maybe get a teaching gig in S or C America, Afghan, Saudi, UAE or teach a year in the Alaskan bush? Undecided

[Norton]

Cassiar Hwy (CAN)

Nasty weather that time of year on east side of rockies. Enjoy.

[SKkin]

Wow! What's up with the suicide rate in Alaska(and the western US in general)? Too much solitude?

From:

Mapping the rising tide of suicide deaths across the United States
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.3e52b62ace81

The latest study bolsters those findings with a much more granular look at suicide rates in every county in the United States from 2005 through 2015. "The highest [suicide] rates across the time period were seen in parts of Alaska, Arizona, northern California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North and South Dakota, Oregon, and Wyoming," the study found. By contrast, urban cores in the Northeast had some of the country's lowest suicide rates.

...*cough*...that was a political reference...

My political reference radar is getting glitchy...

[OhOh]

Too much solitude?

Aren't those the in-the-bag POTUSE voters? If so is it the cacklers hoods or THE LORDS?

[SKkin]

Indeedly And just for you.

Thank ya very muchly...I'll take beaver shots any way I can get them.

hick...In light of that WP article ^^ do the people you've dealt with there in AK seem pretty well adjusted? What do you think is driving that reported increase in the suicide rate in the bush?

[tomcat]

What do you think is driving that reported increase in the suicide rate in the bush?

...the bush...

[SKkin]

^the bush has always been there though...maybe there ain't enough wimminfolk.

[hick]

Well Eso, I've certainly met and assisted a number of disturbed individuals in Anchorage. Mainly homeless vets and deformed natives. Other than that and based on a relatively small sample, the people I've met and had discussions with say they've traveled far and wide yet wouldn't live anywhere else. The white (true) alaskans are overwhelmingly easy, calm, collected and centered, imo.