Lonesome Dove

If you haven't heard, there's a mountain blowing it's top up here, about 100 miles south of Anchorage. Actually, I didn't know about it until Evan Scroggs filled me in a while ago from back in Boone. And then I forgot about it and had to be reminded again this week by another North Carolinian. The volcano is Mt. Redoubt; a 10,197 foot peak that's been active for quite a while now.

This photo of it going off was taken a few years ago, supposedly it's been too cloudy to get clear shots of it this time; but, yeah, you get the picture. Over the last four days Redoubt has sent ash as high as 60,000 feet in the air. Flights all over Alaska have been canceled, and the eruption is even disrupting international travel as far away as Europe. Surprisingly, we haven't seen hide nor hair of the volcano here in Sitka. There have been southeastern winds all week - providing the region with plenty of snow and ice courtesy of the Canadian Rockies, but no ash from Redoubt.

It's strange how, generally speaking, out of the loop Alaskans are. I mean, as far as world, national, and even state news goes, I don't have a clue about what's going on. There's no TV, static radio, a principally local newspaper, and two locations in the sphere of 100 miles I can pick up the Internet. Folks are more independently minded up here than any other place I've ever been. They just don't seem to pay attention all that much to what's going on "out there" - as long as it's not affecting them, of course. I don't really see this mindset as being a product of self-consumption as much as self-sufficiency though. In the paper, the other day, the cover article was on the announcement that Gov. Palin refuses to take any of the Obama bailout money. That very evening the bars were full with celebration; late into the night rounds were bought and toasts offered up. It was near as joyful as Alaska Day.

An interesting place this Alaska is. A lonesome dove.