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Tim's Journal:
Today was Sunday, which is our day off, so I slept in until 10 A.M. We
sat around and talked over coffee then Gilbert Barr (the Mayor) stopped
in to announce that he could see our barge out on Kotzebue Sound.  On
closer inspection through binoculars the ship proved to be the Greenpeace
ship Arctic Sunrise. The same ship visited Deering last year and its crew
interviewed village residents trying to record native observations with
regard to climate change. This year the ship has returned to share its
findings with village residents. The entire village was invited to tour
the ship at its moorings two and a half miles out in the sound. Greenpeace
sent out one of its Zodiacs and met us on the shore by the river to ferry
us out to Arctic Sunrise. Pretty soon the ship was almost completely Deering,
including dozens of small children and a dog. We had a tour of the ship,
saw displays and a video. The ship's galley provided snacks for everyone
and even a cake for little Rebecca Jones who turned 10 today.
The Greepeace vessel Arctic Sunrise.
 At
5:50 P.M. we went over to Alvin Iyatunguk's and Bonita Barr's house where
we met Stephanie and Corrine Barr and Robert and Denise Iyatunguk. The
eight of us along with five young children sped off on 4 four-wheelers
onto the Tundra for the mining Ghost town of Utica. What a great trip!
We saw Musk Oxen in the wild, three decaying mining dredges, beautiful
scenery and the decaying ghost town of Utica. Utica was a bustling town
in its heyday, and although it was abandoned over twenty years ago, you
get the feeling that people just left yesterday. Equipment sits around
everywhere and at least looks as though it could start right up. The machine
shop is wide open with all of its tools and the parts shed still has bins
full of parts.
A muskox grazing.
 The
whole trip was fantastic and we didn't get home until 10:30 P.M. After
we returned from the trip we returned Delores Barr's Honda four-wheeler
that we had borrowed for the trip. We stopped into help her and her husband
Gilbert Barr (the Mayor) photograph their collection of Pleistocene ivory.
We used the digital camera that we have for this web page to photograph
his exquisite collection of Wooly Mammoth tusks and molars. Although he
has collected hundreds he had us photograph only the best three or four
dozen. What a sight!
Some of Mayor Gilbert Barr's tusk collection--Pleistocene
Wooly Mammoth ivory.
AARON'S ADDENDUM:
 Today was packed, even though we didn't get up until 10:00 AM. The barge
is here, which also means our four-wheeler is here. When Greenpeace came,
we all took a tour of the boat. It was so great to actually see Greenpeace
in action after seeing them so many times on TV, sending them stuff in
the mail, and hearing about them in the news. So far on this trip we've
heard conflicting views on global warming; the people in Barrow said there
is no conclusive proof
of global warming while Greenpeace argued the opposite point. But after
Greenpeace's convincing empirical evidence it was hard to disagree with
them. They say that they went down to Antarctica and the people there
said that they had to re-map the Ross Ice Shelf because so much ice has
melted. They were even able to steam in farther than they've ever been
able to. While we were on the boat, a whale was spotted by the villagers
and they took off in pursuit, right in front of the Greenpeace boat, but
they were unsuccessful.
Tim in an old gold dredge.
 Then
we were out on an amazing tour of the countryside. The aura of gold was
prevalent as we passed abandoned dredges, ranches, and even whole towns.
As the sun was heading towards the horizon, it cast a light on the landscape
that made all the pictures I've seen of gold-mining days seem to come
alive. I really like Alaska.
The ghost town of Utica.
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