Barge Shopping

If you live out in the bush like we do then the only way to get groceries out here is by plane and by barge. Getting your food mailed out here on the plane is very expensive so we choose to go into town(Fairbanks) to shop for our years supply of food, drinks and anything else we will need for the next year coming up. This takes a lot of planning and thinking. Do you know exactly how many cans of Chicken, cream of mushroom soup, or how many pounds of flour or sugar you use in a year? Or many rolls of toilet paper, tubes of tooth paste, containers of shampoo do you use? What about the number of diapers your kid will use for a year and what diaper size will he be in a year? Chips, sodas, coffee, dog food, powder sugar, tea, koolaid, soap and everything you use everyday or even don't use everyday such as oil for your car, water filters, and wood screws, we have to buy it now and ship it out. I am glad I have the experience of doing this with my parents. The only difference between shopping for Galena and shopping for Zambia is Mom and Dad shop for 4 years during their 8 months on furlough and we have 2-3 days to shop for a years supply and then pack it. Either way you make lots and lots of lists and spend lots and lots of money. I just hope I haven't forgotten anything!

Keith had been in training in West Virginia and on his way home, the boys and I met him in Fairbanks. We arrived on Sunday and shopped Sunday and Monday and drove to the barge on Tuesday. Our first stop was SAMS, with 7 carts full of stuff people look at you really weird. but then they look for a different line because it will take about an hour to check out with all that stuff.

At SAM's our carts in the back. They let us load in the back with that much stuff.

How much Oatmeal do you need for a year?

After 7 hours at SAMS, our next stop was Walmart. After 6 hours there the boys and us were exhausted, but God held off the rain till we had everything bought and loaded into the safety of our U-Haul trailer. Then he let it Rain and gave us a rewarding double rainbow, one of the BRIGHTESS I have ever seen! It was so big we could not even get it all on one picture.

On Tuesday we drove the hour drive to Nenana, where the barge loading is done.
We rent a Connex box that the barge will deliver to Galena.

I love the packing part. I love finding places to put everything so it will fit.
It makes me feel like I am working a giant puzzle and I love puzzles.

Something you might not think about buying is soil but our soil is really bad here in Galena so we have to bring stuff to mix with the soil to give it nutrients. This is for next season.
My Mom and Dad must have taught me right because we had space left. We actually bought more and brought it down on Thursday. Our only worry would be everything shifting. But I think I packed it well enough to not have the fear. =)=) Here's hoping. I will post pictures of it getting to Galena later.=)