The Arrival

When we arrived at the mine it was all that I had expected and more. There were trees covering the entire property except for the three large ponds and the tails from last year’s destruction.  There was a large cabin on top of the highest hill surrounded by thick pines and birch trees. There was also three feet snow on the ground that had been tracked up by a couple of occupying moose that had spent the winter protecting the place.

After taking a quick tour of the new equipment unloaded some of our gear into the cabin. It was a great to see a soft bed and a warm shower. Despite the great road trip a warm shower was long overdue. We cleaned up and headed out to the priesthood session of general conference. It was great to take a spiritual break and focus on the real job at hand.

Like all meetings where you listen to a prophet of God there was an overwhelming spirit however this meeting seemed to hit a little closer to home now that I was close to 3000 miles away from my family. When listening to each of the speakers I felt an overwhelming need to step it up as a father. This was rather convenient not that I was far from being in a place where I could fulfill this calling.

The last of the speakers was Henry B. Eyring who I feel speaks directly to one’s soul. He spoke about eternal families and what a father needs to do to ensure an eternal family.

“Let me suggest four things you can do as a priesthood father to lift and lead your family home again to be with Heavenly Father and the Savior.

First, gain and keep a sure witness that the keys of the priesthood are with us and held by the President of the Church. Pray for that every day. The answer will come with an increase in determination to lead your family, in your feelings of hope, and with greater happiness in your service. You will be more cheerful and optimistic, a great blessing for your wife and family.


The second imperative is to love your wife. It will take faith and humility to put her interests above your own in the struggles of life. You have the responsibility to provide for and to nurture the family with her while serving others. That can at times consume all the energy and strength you have. Age and illness may increase your wife’s needs. If you choose even then to put her happiness above your own, I promise you that your love for her will increase.


Third, enlist the entire family to love each other. President Ezra Taft Benson taught:


“In an eternal sense, salvation is a family affair. …


“Above all else, children need to know and feel they are loved, wanted, and appreciated. They need to be assured of that often. Obviously, this is a role parents should fill, and most often the mother can do it best.”¹⁰


One way for you to reproduce the successes of Father Lehi is by the way you lead family prayers and family time, such as family home evenings. Give children opportunities to pray, when they can pray, for each other in the circle who need blessings. Discern quickly the beginnings of discord and recognize acts of unselfish service, especially to each other. When they pray for each other and serve each other, hearts will be softened and turned to each other and to their parents.


The fourth opportunity to lead your family in the Lord’s way comes when discipline is needed. We can meet our obligation to correct in the Lord’s way and then lead our children toward eternal life.”


                                                                                                                        Henry B. Eyring


It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed to spend the next six months with the family rather than living like a cowboy in the last frontier. As you could only imagine the wife and kids were thrilled that I had a change in heart. I ended up spending a couple of days touring Alaska but ultimately returned to Utah for my daughter’s birthday party on April fifth.


We are now going to live the family dream of moving to the country. My wife and I have spent the past two weeks preparing our house to rent and we have our eyes set on a great Victorian house in Sanpete County. I will continue to update the blog with updates of our adventure however rather than gold digging you may see a little more of country livin.

Work or Play?

Here is a short clip of some of the fun you can have when working on a gold mine. I can honestly say that if you have ever been stressed out at work go push over a tree and you will never have an issue making it into the office next Monday. As for my brother Justin, this is his office every day and I now see why he always has a smile on his face.

The Arrival

So we rolled into Fairbanks late Saturday morning after a long long long drive through Canada. The best part of the drive ended up being the last 400 miles of Canada that took us through steep mountainous terrain completely covered by snow as well as rivers that seemed to have iced over late last century.

Before leaving Canada we ran into a rather large herd of bison that were bedded down just off the highway. That is the majority of the buffalo were off the road. We just about smacked one of the bulls that had decided to make its bed on the shoulder of the highway with his head just slightly in the lane of traffic.

The next day we to a quick stop to fill the tanks with seven buck a gallon gas and to tour one of the best places in Canada, “Toad Lake.” This was the home of the largest hat collection on the Alcan Highway. Yes you heard that right the largest collection of HATS…. Just like it sounds it was not all that amazing however we did manage to see a large number of elk just outside of that fine establishment.

The next leg of the journey took us past destruction bay which ended up being the worst road conditions along the Alcan Highway. Although we were in no major rush Matt still insisted on racing down the road just as fast as his slipping tranny would take him. There were a number of times along this stretch of highway where Matt slightly misjudged the ramps in the highway which resulted in an airborne 35’ trailer. Although we survived the ordeal the trailer will require some minor repairs.

Just short of the border we decided to catch a bite to eat at one of the small town restaurants called Shotgun Betty’s. We all were a little hungry and we had some Canadian money to burn before crossing the border so we took our chance at some good old hometown cooking. The place looked nice however a vagabond we had been following down the highway let us know that there was only one person running the place so we would have to be patient.

Around 10 minutes after seating ourselves and pouring our own water we were greeted by Betty…. Honestly just picture a small town Canadian gal named Betty and you would be pretty close. I am sure if she could Betty would have greeted us with a cigarette hanging slightly off her lip with ashes falling into the food she had just brought to another unsuspecting customer. Justin and I were quick with the order having plenty of time to prepare beforehand. Matt hesitated just slightly throwing old Betty off her game. At that point she had enough (shoot it had been three seconds already). She quickly told Matt to hurry up she had food cooking in the back. Matt told her the name of the burger and Betty left without giving him any options of sides with the meal. Matt learned quickly that you just don’t mess with the small town Canadian Betty.

When we finally made it to our destination after we took a short rest in the good old US of A. It was a little unnerving because we had pulled up to a gas station and our vagabond friend Wayno was just behind us letting us know he had checked with the owner and we could all camp out back at no cost. Despite Wayno’s innocent smile we did not invite him into the trailer to sleep.

Trouble at the border

So we began day two just shy of the Canadian border with a goal to hit 800 miles before we docked for another night's rest. We cruised up to the customs window with big old grins on our face completely unaware of what was in store for us. Matt, just joking, told me to ditch my jacket because I looked like trouble. I didn’t listen and before you knew it we had become a victim of red neck racial profiling by the border patrol.

The border patrol asked Matt a couple of things questioning integrity. Matt must have looked guilty grinning from ear to ear because we were soon told to pull the truck forward for an inspection by the officers. We pulled the truck up to door three and it opened revealing four heavily armed officers and an ex-ray machine that looked more like a Mexican taco truck. We pulled the truck and trailer slowly into the garage as the door slammed shut behind us. We were told to slowly step out of the vehicle and to remove everything from our pockets. The interrogation began with questions about guns we owned which freaked Matt out because he didn’t know if he had any registered in his name. Instinctively Matt started to pat down his jacket which appeared to the officers like he was looking for a long lost pistol. The officers didn’t seem to like his nervousness and my ill-timed sense of humor so they escorted us into a room with glass windows where we spent the next 15 minutes watching the officers search every nook and cranny of the truck and trailer. All I could think about was how glad I was that I decided to leave the guns at home.

We managed to make it through losing nothing more than our pride. Justin and Brady on the other hand ran into a little trouble. Apparently you can bring in a bow and arrows with razor sharp tips however small squirrel hunting blow dart guns are not allowed. Justin lost his weapon of choice and I was looking a lot better leaving my blowgun behind with my four year old. Brady on the other hand was not so lucky. Because of good times in the past he was not allowed into the country. Unfortunately we lost one of the crew as he turned around and made the 600 mile trek back to Salt Lake City. He will now be flying up to Fairbanks to meet up with shortly after we arrive.

We made some good time after being held up at the border. Our goal was to hit Grand Prairie before we called it a day and despite the rain and the snow we still managed to make it into town before 11:00 pm.