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Goodbye to the Guidi's

uniquejt

Updated: Aug 3, 2024


Monday morning, July 22 had to come eventually and we all knew parting would be emotional. I knew when we first talked about Dana and Jeff coming up this summer, they would be a great fit with Sean and Kathy and we'd all have some excellent adventures during the two weeks they spent with us in Alaska. Without a doubt some wonderful memories were made during our time together.


To facilitate the necessary return to Anchorage, we strategically camped close enough to get their RV back to the Great Alaskan Holidays in less than an hour. Their flight out of the airport was scheduled for 2 PM. Because traffic on the Seward Highway can be slow due to the limited number of lanes and the possibility of an accident, we all departed from Williwaw Campground around 9 AM and drove back up north. Sean, Kathy, Karen and I proceeded to the local Costco, Walmart and O'Reilly's for needed supplies for the coming weeks. From there we drove north to the Glenn Highway east through Palmer, Chickatoon and along the Matanuska River to Victory Bible Camp.


Victory Bible Camp (VBC) was suggested to us by Jay and Laurie Johnson, a SOWER couple we met and became friends with in Florida while working at Camp Lake Swan. They live in Glennallen, Alaska and knew VBC had RV hook-ups and might accommodate us for a couple of nights. We called the camp from Anchorage and they graciously opened their facilities to us for a donation only.

In 1941, several Alaskan missionaries met together and discussed the benefit of gathering yearly for a time of spiritual refreshment. One of these missionaries, John Gillespie along with his wife Nadine, had developed a desire for beginning a Christian camp with the the purpose of “seeing people come to Christ and others dedicating their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.” An extensive prayer list pinpointed the requirements for a camp and conference site, including such priorities as a lake surrounded by high ground, good water supply, and accessibility to a main road. Each item was found in a site on Index Lake.



Alaska was then a territory, so it was necessary for bills to be introduced in the U.S. Congress to make the purchase of the first 80 acres possible. Finally founded in 1947, Victory Bible Camp began its legacy of being a place where young and old could come and experience God in a beautiful, mountainous setting.


Located 95 miles northeast of Anchorage, Victory has grown from the original 80 acres to over 400 in this beautiful valley between the Talkeetna and Chugach mountain ranges. The campus has also grown over the years to include facilities that can accommodate as many as 300 people. With the dedication of Miracle Lodge in 2003, Victory now has a central dining and office facility located at the heart of its campus.


Not only did we have full hook-ups but they included a beautiful lake front view out our back window. We decided to stay two nights, recharge the battery banks and get some laundry done. Around the lake and camp are multiple types of wildflowers along with the wildlife. While flying my drone I observed a beaver and loon in the lake

As we're sitting outside enjoying the waterfront view, we get a text from Jeff. Their airline flight was canceled apparently due to the CrowdStrike Internet outage. As CrowdStrike immediately explained to customers and the world, the problem was not a cyberattack but an error in the software update. Because the bug was in CrowdStrike's Falcon platform update for Microsoft Windows, computers using other operating systems (e.g. Mac and Linux) were not impacted. But Jeff and Dana were booked on Delta Airline which was affected.


In fact, Delta Air Lines is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Aviation Consumer Protection as the airline scraps hundreds of flights for a fifth straight day after a faulty software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike took down Microsoft systems around the world.


Jeff and Dana were able to get a hotel room for the night in Anchorage and eventually flew out the next day on Alaskan Airlines. An unfortunate ending to their wonderful trip, but they made the best of the circumstances. I wish they could have stayed another week and avoided the hassle.




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4 Comments


shanklin
Aug 08, 2024

Cyndi Shanklin here, I have your blog saved on my desktop, but not yet on my laptop which I've been using almost exclusively. Will get this set up on it so I can catch up on your adventures. Loved reading about the Lu-Lu Belle and the Victory Bible Camp. Blessings, CS

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uniquejt
Aug 19, 2024
Replying to

Cyndi, so nice to hear from you! Glad you are enjoying our adventures. How's life with you? We'll be back in So Co end of September; we look forward to seeing you at Living Roots! Karen

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gail.0718.conrad
Jul 30, 2024

Sorry to hear they hit caught in the sifter snafu. It was quite the story on the news. Jenny and Nic and family were flying back from Oakland in the middle of it all, but no problem with Sourhwest!

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uniquejt
Aug 19, 2024
Replying to

Glad the Schneiders didn't have a problem on Southwest! KT

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