Week 8: Walk down memory lane.

Sunrise: 3:41am
Sunset:  12:17am

Tek Flats.  Very green.  :)

Week 8 began, as usual, with riding the bus.  It's gotten late enough into the season that we aren't really seeing much wildlife any more.  Most of them have escaped to higher elevations to escape the heat.  Yes, 60 degrees qualifies as HOT for the wildlife.  We did see a wolf chase a ground squirrel right next to our bus, which was pretty epic.  :)  After we reach the EVC, we had almost an hour to wander around.  Usually during this time I at least walk around and breath in the fresh  air, but that day, I napped on the us.  Much needed.

Monday and Tuesday were spent going through more data (story of my summer...) and preparing for my field day on Friday.  Had to do some early preparation because I spent most of Wednesday and Thursday with an old best friend in Fairbanks!  We were inseparable in 5th and 6th grade, so it was nice to get 2 days with him.  :)

Flowers at Polychrome

The main reason I went up there was to attend a memorial service with my friend.  I didn't know the young teen who had died, but I went nonetheless.  The service, to my surprise, was being held on Eielson AFB. - My childhood home.  I hadn't been there in over 10 years, but as we crossed the newly built gates onto the base, I was still flooded with a thousand memories.

There's an amazing sense of community you experience on an air force base that can't be described and can't be felt anywhere else.  Not that I've experienced at least.  Beyond the community, there's always a constant presence of pride, also.  Not in an egotistical way, but in a pride for your community kind of way.  Pride for the air force.  Pride for the F16s, A-10s, and other planes.  Pride for your country.  Pride for red, white, and blue.  Pride in what it meant to stop, take off your hat, put your arm over your heart, and stand tall during the star spangled banner.

I liked living on Eielson AFB.  And it was nice to see at the memorial service that all the teens there, despite living in a somewhat rural and disconnected environment, seemed to embody community and the sense of pride.

After the service we drove to officer housing where I used to live.  We passed my childhood house, the playgrounds we all used to spend hours at, moose lake, and some other old buildings.  It was nice.  and at the same time, made me sad.  When I moved to VA, things changed.... everything changed.  Especially that sense of community and pride.  And the weird part is, there are probably more people I keep in touch with from  my time at Eielson AFB than I do from my High School in VA.  I wouldn't change my time in VA.  It shaped me into who I am today.  But if I had been able to finish out my high school years at Ben Eielson Junior Senior High School in Alaska, well, I wouldn't have minded that much either.

Anyway.  Friday was a field day.  Switched out the 2 sound stations as usual, though I don't have pictures uploaded yet.  I had started the day early anticipating it taking forever.  It did take a good while, but not nearly as long as I thought.  I had some excellent motivation to move faster though from a mob of mosquitoes... Haha.  Oh-well.  One of the stations ran perfectly fine.  But the other, well it somehow appears that I have zero data whatsoever from it.  Quite disappointing.  Another tid-bit to make my supervisor, well, you know... not happy.

"What's the difference between God and Fighter Pilot?  

God doesn't pretend he's a Pilot"