Going 70 under the Northern Lights, I drive to pick up Margie; Logbook is now a weekly blog
Very early this morning, about 1:00 AM, I was driving the Ford Escape across the flats, headed for Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage to pick Margie up. Above me, the northern lights were dancing in a great blaze of green, yellow and blue, with tints of red thrown in here and there every now and then. I thought for a bit about stopping somewhere to take a photograph, but I have kind of made a point to document the roaded parts of Alaska from a moving car and so I figured I would just stick to the car formula. There would be plenty of people out there carefully photographing this same display through cameras held steady on tripods.
Plus, if I stopped somewhere for a minute to take a picture, that minute might become an hour and then Margie would be standing out waiting for me in freezing weather, which, coming from Arizona where it had been 104 at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport when she boarded her plane, might have been kind of hard for her to bear.
So, doing 70, I pointed my camera out the window and knocked off about 30 frames, shutter speed very slow. After I was done, I realized I had left my lens cap on, so I took it off and knocked off a few more frames. That's Pioneer Peak to the lower right.
I picked Margie up just a bit before 3:00 AM and headed for Wasilla. The aurora had disappeared. Then, all of a sudden, about half-way home, the lights flared up in a gigantic arch that reached up from the western horizon, spanned the entire breadth of the sky and then dropped down to the eastern horizon, behind the mountains. Dawn was taking over in the sky but even so, the arch glowed in electric brilliance and stood out dramatically.
I had never seen anything quite like it. I raised my camera to the windshield and knocked off about five frames. I knew I had something great, but then I discovered I had put the lens cap back on and so had taken no pictures at all. I took the lens cap off, but just like that the auroral arch had faded away completely. There was no sign of northern lights in the sky. That dramatic flare of arch had lasted little more than an instant.
Then, as if to say, "we're not quite dead yet!" the lights put up a small charge to create this little glow, which lasted maybe 20 to 30 seconds and then disappeared.
We didn't get to bed until a bit after 5:00 AM. We both felt like hell for a good part of the day, but I took a little nap a bit before 4:00 and then at 4:30 drove to Metro and bought two coffees. I drank mine in the car and she drank hers right here.
I wouldn't say we turned into sparks of fire, but we both felt quite a bit better after that.
And now I am going to convert this blog to a weekly. I've just got too much to do. Tonight, for example, I was really rolling on my Kivgiq Uiñiq and I probably could have rolled right on until 2:00 or 3:00 AM, but I broke away a bit ago so I could post this before midnight.
So that's what I'm going to try to do - put up my weekly post just before midnight every Wednesday. At some point a year or two in the future, if I ever master my situation and figure out how to do this right, maybe I'll again make this a daily blog, or a five day a week blog.
Or maybe a twice a week blog.
Who knows what I will do?
I sure don't.
Margie just called. She's going to bed. I think I will stop now and go to bed, too.
Reader Comments (9)
Welcome home Margie! Hope you had a wonderful visit with your family and got those bones thawed out! We missed you. Bet I know some boys who will be glad to see you! A big guy too. :-)
I'll miss your quirky, charming posts if you go to once a week, and you know what, you will, too, I think. How long does it really take to write a few lines? I suspect you are feeling "Time's winged chariot hurrying near" because you are working hard on the photos, but a little break for some logbook every day or two might be the freshening you need.
See you on Thursdays!
Mrs. Gunka - those boys are coming out Saturday and then they are going to stay here for most of next week as both parents are traveling to different bush communities for their jobs. Lavina tells me they have been asking about gramma every since she left. Yes, it has been very nice to have her around these past two days. I feel like a bachelor so much of the time, between my travels, her babysitting and now this recent trip of hers.
Wendy, no doubt I will miss it, but I am really under the gun even more than my blog makes clear. I've got close to 400 pages of work on two different projects, one mostly photos, one mostly written, I must complete between now and June 30. It doesn't even feel possible to me but I have been in such situations in the past and have always got it done, by working long, long, long days and sleeping very little, but I am older and more broken down now and it is tougher, I thought about stopping altogether until but decided to try once a week.
Michelle - thank you and I look forward to having you drop by.
Bill, whatever you do will be appreciated. That second photo of the highway and north lights is incredible.
Best wishes with your projects -- hoping they gather themselves together in good time.
Thanks, Wendy. They will. They must and they will.
Bill-
I enjoy whatever you have time to share and am glad you have set aside a few minutes/hours each week to continue to do so.
Dealing with this older-and-more-broken-down thingy in my own life makes me especially appreciate your efforts to keep a weekly post going.
Some days I about wear out my old arthritic fingers reaching into my pockets for endurance, resolve, and energy - things which I always found in great abundance in years past. Not so much anymore... :-)
Sending best wishes for successful completion of your paying projects!
Will miss your daily post and the boys.. but you sure made up to it by sending Jobe's pic! Hugs