Tim on our new four wheeler
Five weeks ago at the end of August Kaitlyn and I purchased a 2 seat four wheeler from Anchorage on Craigslist. We’ve already wrote about that in an earlier blog post. Since then, I (Tim) have been working to get that four wheeler to Togiak. There are two ways to get items to Togiak, 1) send it on a barge and 2) send it by plane. Barges are the most affordable way to transport things, but they only happen a couple times a year. We decided to just ship the four wheeler by plane (which is what most people do). When it got to Dillingham, we were told that the plane that usually brings out four wheelers wasn’t big enough for the one we bought. This meant we needed to find another way to ship it. After hunting around a bit we found a guy with a bigger plane who would ship it for $1600. That’s a lot of money to ship something 67 miles. We decided to hold off to see if something else comes around. Luckily, we found out that the community next to us, Twin Hills (they are on the other side of the bay, about a 1 min plane ride) was planning on purchasing a bunch of fencing and we could fit our 4 wheeler on the plane they chartered to bring their stuff out. It was a lot cheaper. There is a problem though, the pilot wouldn’t bring the four wheeler to Togiak. So, he dropped it off in Twin Hills and left. This left us trying to figure out how to get it to Togiak. We asked around and found a guy that was willing to pull out his boat to go get it. His boat wasn’t too big, only 18 feet. Somehow, he got the 900 lb four wheeler in it and brought it across the bay. We had to literally drive it out of the boat. It was crazy. After all of that, we got it here.
Our new four wheeler is the talk of the town. For one thing, the previous owner put an aftermarket exhaust on it for better power, however, it also sounds like Harley Davidson, which is cool for a while until all the village is mad because of all the noise. I’ll be switching the muffler soon. Secondly, it’s gigantic! The previous owner also put monster tires on it which makes it look even bigger. Thirdly, the 2nd seat makes it longer than any other four wheeler in town. We took it out on a Sunday drive today out on the tundra and have realized that out there off trail is where it really shines. Those huge tires are awesome off trail and the powerful motor really helps from keeping the gigantic beast from getting stuck. All in all, Kaitlyn and I had a lot of fun with it.
This week was picture week. When the photographer comes, everything stops, because he is the only professional photographer all year. The community will come and take family photos, seniors take their pictures, and the students get their school photos (of course). Kaitlyn and I participated and took family photos and individual staff photos. Hopefully, they turn out better than last year.
Our new four wheeler is the talk of the town. For one thing, the previous owner put an aftermarket exhaust on it for better power, however, it also sounds like Harley Davidson, which is cool for a while until all the village is mad because of all the noise. I’ll be switching the muffler soon. Secondly, it’s gigantic! The previous owner also put monster tires on it which makes it look even bigger. Thirdly, the 2nd seat makes it longer than any other four wheeler in town. We took it out on a Sunday drive today out on the tundra and have realized that out there off trail is where it really shines. Those huge tires are awesome off trail and the powerful motor really helps from keeping the gigantic beast from getting stuck. All in all, Kaitlyn and I had a lot of fun with it.
This week was picture week. When the photographer comes, everything stops, because he is the only professional photographer all year. The community will come and take family photos, seniors take their pictures, and the students get their school photos (of course). Kaitlyn and I participated and took family photos and individual staff photos. Hopefully, they turn out better than last year.
Kaitlyn joined a group that was started by our neighbor (and fellow teacher) called “The Rural Alaska Sewing Project”. Our neighbor was able to receive a grant to buy 6 sewing machines for this. She invited members of the community to come learn how to sew and quilt. It’s a pretty neat idea. There were about 10 people there ranging from middle school students to community members to fellow teachers. They are currently making individual quilts and they plan on doing different projects every few weeks. We’ll keep you posted on it’s progress.
