Heya Las,
Cool you and your wife lived up here for ah few years. I just came up from my dry cabin on the Tanana, half hour outside of Delta. I still alternate between building boats in Delta Junction, and working jobs in the surrounding villages.
I rock ah fat tire bike round the village all season. Usually in the evening, I'm blastin round town on the bike.
I also run a dog team in the winter months. Keeps it simple: No gas or parts or car insurance or ATV or snow machine. The Malamutes go through 300 lbs of shifish and 20 lbs of rice per month. But, they will eat anything. That fish, is the fuel.
I can't take pride in a fancy, expensive material object that uses internal combustion. Running them dogs up the Noatak this spring, man what ah wild run! I was lost in the blizzard and high winds with no GPS.
Those Malamutes were all like confident lil homing devices. I was 1/4 mile from town, and still didn't realize where the heck I was! Just trust the homing pigeons! I do take pride in my bloodline though, I've been building dog team for six years. Gonna run them in the Kobuk 440 this year, just for the scenery. They are 4 times the size of a race dog, so 8mph pace is all i can keep, against the sleek 9.5 mph huskies..........
It is hard living up here without a boat though, as a boat builder. This place is water-world! Once I finish out my orders for the year, I'm gonna have to build a good boat for up here.
I do feel bad for a single mother in town, who gotta feed kids when the AC be chargin $100 for a 25 lbs turkey, or $8 for some milk. Some of em can't get trips to town for a costco run. Rough times man.
