The Turkey Bomber

(Side Note: Our generator is running today to power the washer, so I'm taking advantage of it to write a few posts. Below this one is a post about wash day at the creek during the summer. For those of you who don't know, our inverter died, and we can only have electricity when the generator is running. Since we have to charter a plane to fly gas out here, it make for very expensive internet time. So, until we get another one next time I go into town in a month or so, I won't be able to post much.)

I know that Thanksgiving is long gone, but since this is a blog about life in the Alaska bush, and since I wasn’t able to blog during Thanksgiving, I thought I’d write about it now. First, I’ll give you a little background, and then you’ll understand the title of this post. (Pictures at the end) 

We live way off the road system. The only way to get into town is by chartering a small plane, and then it has to land on the lake about ¾ mile from our cabin. Thanksgiving comes during the midst of freeze-up, which is when the lake is beginning to get a layer of ice, but it’s not yet strong enough to support a plane.  Our lake is deep and has lots of warm springs, so it’s later than most in freezing up. Since most lakes in the area begin freezing around mid-October, and ours doesn’t usually have safe ice until around early to mid December, there’s about a 6 – 8 week span in there when we can’t get a plane to make a shopping trip or get mail even if we wanted to.  

We also live way off the power grid. I must either can or make jerky with all of our meat, except when we get fresh meat during the winter when the temperatures are consistently well below freezing, which is usually from the middle of November until sometime in March. No electricity to run a freezer. A propane freezer, and the propane to run it are out of our range. This means that there’s no way for us to have a turkey or any fresh meat for Thanksgiving.

Nevertheless, this year, like all the other years since we moved to the bush, The Turkey Bomber made our Thanksgiving dinner complete. There’s a wonderful man and his wife who live on the road system about 50 miles or so from us. Each year, a few days before Thanksgiving, they purchase about 40 large, frozen turkeys. He loads them into his little bush plane, flies around this part of Alaska, and airdrops turkeys to families like ours who would not otherwise be able to have turkey for Thanksgiving. He’s known around here as The Turkey Bomber. What a blessing he and his family have been to ours.

The first picture was taken as he made his run over the lake and was about to toss the turkey out the door of his plane. This year the weather prevented him from flying until the day after Thanksgiving, but it was still a fun day for us. Chuck drove the snow machine with Zeke riding up front with him. Jed and I rode to the lake in the sled pulled behind the snow machine. The boys sledded down the steep hill while we waited for the “turkey bomb”. He dropped it right beside a hole in the ice. Chuck walked out with a sled to fetch the turkey. The ice was about 4” thick --- fine for walking, but not for a plane to land.  We tied the sled to the snow machine sled and came home. Part way home, the boys wanted to walk and pull the turkey themselves with their little sled. It was a fun day for all of us.

Flying low, getting ready to drop the turkey out of the plane.

Chuck pulled the sled out onto the lake to fetch the turkey.
The lake ice wasn't thick enough for a plane to land, but
there was enough for people to walk on it.

The boys watched as Chuck got the turkey to the bank of the lake.

 Wish I could adjust the picture sizes better. The one below is beautiful, but when I make it the next size larger, it's huge and runs off the page.

Alpinglow on Mt. Foraker and Mt. McKinley was beautiful as
we were leaving the lake to head home.



Our dog loves to chase us. Chuck and Jed were riding on the
snow machine, I took this picture as Zeke and I were
being pulled in the sled behind the snow machine.