Author’s note: I wrote this in November of 2022, when I was heading to a long-term substitute teaching job in Tanana, Alaska.

There comes a time in most travel episodes when all the careful planning and organization go out the window, and the traveler is reduced to shoving items in wherever they will fit and hoping for the best.  This recently happened to me, and my three heavy bags which would soon be on their way to a rural Alaskan village turned into a hodgepodge of clothing and groceries. I was mindful of the fact that the small airlines will sometimes ask you to prioritize your bags in case they won’t all fit on the same plane as you.

The new me, the not shy one, has engaged in several activities that would have been unthinkable to younger, dedicated wallflower me. First, while waiting for my taxi at the Fairbanks, I cheerfully pulled open my largest suitcase, withdrew my snow pants and gloves, and wriggled into them. Next, when I arrived at the small air carrier’s front counter, I moved to the side and opened all three of my large bags, did a little rearranging, and pulled out my lunch as well as the home-grown potatoes and carrots that I have been schlepping all over the state. I would hate for these lovingly nurtured vegetables to freeze at the eleventh hour, thus rendering them disgusting to the palate.

By the way, the potatoes are happy as clams, while the carrots are just a little bit rubbery. I have carefully followed the advice on the online garden mavens, and have not washed either. When I get where I am going, I will clean the carrots and store them in the refrigerator in a jar of water. The potatoes, self-sufficient as they are, will stay encased in Southeast Alaska dirt until I am ready to eat them.  I am telling myself that this is an experiment, and if my vegetables should spoil it will not be the end of the world.

Where was I? Oh, right.

These events, as many events do, remind me of my dear Aunt Helen, who was, among other things, an expert at wrapping presents. Christmas and birthday gifts from her looked like they had been professionally packaged by Miller and Rhodes. I asked her about it one time, and she explained that the secret lies in the corners. “Fold your corners carefully,” she said, “and make sure your creases are sharp and straight.”

That’s good advice, and worthy of a broader application. My aunt was a world traveler, and I can’t imagine her ever losing her cool. I like to think that she would be pleased with me, as I from time-to-time fling open my suitcases and unself-consciously straighten up my corners.

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For your further edification: Here, in Tanana, Alaska, is the loneliest, coldest gasoline pump that I have ever run across. It was thirty below at the time I took this picture, and it kept freezing up. That’s the Yukon River in the background.