Well, I guess we actually don't have roads.
The village of Grayling is about 350 miles away from the nearest road that connects to anything, so a 4-wheeler and snowmachine (snowmobile) will do the trick. Grayling itself only has two small roads out of town - one to the dump and one to the airstrip. Besides the dirt and gravel roads between homes, the little general store, post office, and school, there's not much use for something with wheels.
During the winter, the interior of Alaska really opens up. Once the Yukon River is frozen solid and there's snow on the ground, there aren't many places you can't get to with the right equipment. Thanks to our amazing ministry partners, we now have a very capable snowmachine and 4 wheeler to get us around.
We'll be using the snowmachine to travel between villages when we're able. As soon as the river is frozen, we'll be using it to start hauling firewood as well. Our house will be heated with a wood stove, as well as heating oil. But wood is much more economical since there are trees everywhere; it just takes a lot more work!
One form of transportation we don't have yet is a boat. In the summer, the Yukon and surrounding sloughs operate as a water highway between villages. This is also the tool of choice for fishing (duh), and for hunting moose who like to hang out in the marshy sloughs. We'll learn what the locals do as far as boats during the end of this season, then probably start looking around for one in the spring.
This sure is a whole different world than what I'm used to from growing up in Southern California.
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