Author Archives: melaniecogswell

I’m a Midwest girl. I’ve never thought of myself that way before. But an hours long drive through middle America made me realize the truth of it. I’ve seen mountains—imposing, beautiful, majestic. I’ve been in the ocean and the Arctic. There’s no end (literally—the known universe is about 93 Billion Light Years wide; more onContinue reading “Midwest Girl”

3,400 miles. 60 hours of driving. Two border crossings, three dogs and approximately 999 pounds of stuff. The trek from Fairbanks, Alaska back to Kansas City, Missouri began at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. There were some ice and snow packed roads, and a snow flurry or two, but for the great majority ofContinue reading “Oh, Nokuy!”

“What do you mean, ‘It’s going to be 37 below tonight?!?’” “Celery is $2.48 a bunch?!? “Is your car plugged in?” These, like so many other questions you never expected to ask, all seem to elicit the same response: “It’s Alaska…” As you would probably expect, things are different here in the 49th state. It’sContinue reading ““It’s Alaska…””

Like most everywhere in the world, December in Fairbanks is full of familiar things–carols and sparkling lights, shopping, baking, gatherings and get-togethers and lots and lots of food. There were some memorable differences–temperatures that reached into the negative 30’s for starters. “Will it be a white Christmas?” said no one in Fairbanks. Ever. And moose!Continue reading “December in Alaska”

Home to Kansas City for a visit! Two weeks of family time and welcoming the newest grandchild. Unadulterated bliss. Well, maybe a little adulterated. The flight from Fairbanks departed around 1:00 a.m., so it had been a long day by the time I arrived in Kansas City at about 4:00 p.m. A quick ride toContinue reading “First World Problems”

In Which I Travel to Kansas City, for All the Best Reasons On October 29th we welcomed Bookman Ames Greenlee, son of Josh and Angela, brother of Lua and our twenty-fifth grandchild. I got to go back to Kansas City and be there when this beautiful 9 pound, 9 ounce baby boy made his entranceContinue reading “Overflowing”

Yukon Home! For the first time on our trip, the roads on the last day of driving weren’t dry and clear. Thankfully they weren’t terrible, and we made it safely to Fairbanks on Monday, October 14 at about 1:30 p.m., weary but grateful. 4000 miles plus of safety. The first few days were busy withContinue reading “Yukon Home!”

Our fifth day of driving went very well, until it didn’t. In Aubrey’s words, her truck “said no.” It was still drivable after the weird sound, and we made our way to the local Chevrolet dealership, where we learned that her engine would have to be replaced. Along with the right front wheel well, andContinue reading “A (Very Expensive) Bump in the Road”

I’m a fan of road trips. Granted, my typical MO is to pack the year’s worth of magazines I haven’t managed to read and then promptly fall asleep sitting up and continue to not read them. But this one was pretty extreme, even for me. Over 1,000 miles from Valdosta, Georgia to Kansas City, MissouriContinue reading “Road Trip? Alpaca My Bags!”