To Build or Not to Build: Starting the Process in Unalakleet, AK

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A design from Firstday Cottage that may be our Unalakleet House

To build or not to build, that is the question.  Though the situation we are considering is far less weighty than what young Hamlet wrestled with, it is filled with almost as much uncertainty.

            Building is not a new concept to us as we have built one house already as well as a couple outbuildings.  While in Galena, we literally built from the ground up as friends taught us to put in pilings, mill sills, run plumbing and wires—the carpentry came from earlier experiences and by reading a book.

            The game in Unalakleet is completely different though.  Whereas we had multiple friends who had physically built their own homes in Galena, we are somewhat pioneers here.  There are a couple of guys in town who do it for a living, but not really anyone who starts from foundation and sees it through to the lights going on and the toilet flushing.

            Multiple barge runs stopped in Galena each summer and when we built our house, 16 cents per pound was the base barge shipping rate.  Gravel was less than $100 per dump truck load, and sill log sized trees sloughed off the banks and were easily harvested with a chainsaw, snow machine and sled in winter.

            We have transitioned to a very beautiful place with some of the best fishing in the world, a tundra full of berries, good trapping, decent hunting, and family close by… where fewer than a handful of barges arrive each summer, most freight is moved by air, trees 8-10 inches across the butt are considered large, and a load of gravel is measured in thousands of dollars.

            Maybe that is the reason we have struggled to get information on the process and figures to budget from.  Myra and I believe it is important to help others through our experiences and so starts this strand of posts.  We are not sure if a completed house will be the end result of this journey, but maybe someone can learn from our successes and failures and be better off for it.

            Teacher housing in the Bering Straits School District has come a long way since the time I found a sock frozen to the inside of the closet wall in our trailer house we rented from them after first getting married.  It still leaves a lot to be desired though too—there is no room to build a shop, I am struggling to find garden space, we refer to the puddle where we park our car and boat while on trailer as Lake Superior, we have nearly zero storage space, and have neighbors literally on the other side of two of our four walls.  The plus side is that we have not had to purchase a cable package as long as we are good with what the neighbor across the one lane road from us is watching.

            Our little family has a lot going on right now though as we plan for a possible build in Unalakleet, work on upgrading our plane, and looking at a future build in Michigan.  Unlike Buying Alaska, our budget is dictated by reason and a limited income.  Not being licensed contractors nor wanting to hire one means banks are not an option… trust me, we tried on the first house.  Honestly, we found we like the freedom that comes from not owing anyone any money anyway.

            At some point as we figure out the budget for this build, we may discover that what it costs to put in a driveway here would go much better toward our build in Michigan, or would go a long way toward the plane we are shopping for.

            As we move forward in this process, I’ll stay as transparent as possible.  Otherwise it does no good for anyone.

            We continue to say in our house that there are two ways to gain wisdom: by learning from those who have gone through similar experiences before, and by, sometimes costly, experience.

            Hopefully we can share a little wisdom that we gain through both means.

Kenton Moos and I setting rafters on our first house build. It was also a Firstday Cottage design.

Determining our mission and a plane to fit it

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We have had our little Tripacer for around six years.  It has been a great plane, but as a lot of our flying friends predicted, we have kind of outgrown it and are ready to move on.

            Originally, when we considered selling, it was to downsize to a smaller plane (hard to imagine if you have ever been in a Tripacer) just to stay in aviation and to play around with locally.  However, in crunching numbers and talking with our mechanic, we decided we would like to stay with a 4-place (room for four passengers).  Ellen is getting bigger all the time, and if our next plane is going to be truly used on a regular basis, needs room for the three of us and maybe a fourth person on occasion.

            So, a 4-place was the starter for a development of our mission.  With the Tripacer, we have done all airport to airport stuff, and we continue to see that as the major part of our flying.  If we had a tail wheel, we would probably do some off-airport stuff, but more than likely we will use the next plane to sight see from the air, visit friends in neighboring villages, and go to Fairbanks for medical, shopping, and to visit our older daughter trips.  We are also thinking about doing some back-country airports like Serpentine Hot Springs by Nome.

            For most of that, a plane with a tricycle gear makes the most sense.  They are generally easier to manage in a crosswind and as a consequence, cheaper to insure.  At one point, we were considering a Cessna 170 or 180.

Do you recognize this Cessna180 with Owen, one of its biggest fans, standing next to it?

            “Planes with 2’s on the end are cheaper,” a taildragger friend pointed out.  “If you can get away with keeping the wheel on the front instead of the rear, you’ll save a lot of money.”

            When we bought our Tripacer, we lived in the dry interior of Alaska.  Wet, windy days did not happen all that often and rarely at the same time.  It was a great climate (other than trying to stay warm while flying) for a tube and fabric airplane. 

            We now live on the west coast of Alaska where wet, windy days are the norm.  I hate the idea of my tube and fabric plane getting beat around by the elements.  Though aluminum skinned airplanes are not impervious to corrosion, being surrounded by a material that is slower to oxidize and more effectively keeps out moisture is attractive to me as I think back to watching my plane go toe to toe with the wind coming right off the ocean 200 yards from the tiedowns.

            Our budget is also a limiting factor.  My dad has yet to win the lottery, and if he would just stop stalling and do it, choosing a plane would be much easier.  As of right now, we are around $50,000 or, more realistically, just south of that for an airplane budget (this factors in the sale of the Tripacer).

            We have considered a Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser.  Readers who have any knowledge of old Pipers already see some problems with this plane in regards to our mission.  It is a 3-place (would work for most of our flying), tail dragger, tube and fabric aircraft.  Most people, when they see them, automatically think they are super cubs… for good reason.  The Super Cruiser was an intermediate step between the J-3 Cub and the PA-18 Super Cub.  They cannot legally haul as much as the Super Cub, do not have flaps, but have very similar performance other than that.  They can get in and out of a lot of places, but part of this is because they go everywhere slowly. 

Gunnar Johnson's PA-12 Super Cruiser

I dream of winter flying with skis, but don’t see my job changing in such a way as to allow me enough flying time in the winter to legitimize such a purchase.  A good example is also hard to find in Alaska as they have all been so highly modified and put through the wringer that good ones go for high prices.

We have also considered a Cessna 172.  When most people think of general aviation aircraft, they are picturing a Cessna 172.  It would offer a little more elbow room than our current plane, does have a skin made of aluminum, and there are a lot of them out there.  However, for the price, they perform so much like a Tripacer that we might as well stay with our Tripacer.

Those words could start some fights, but when we were shopping for our first plane, we did a lot of comparison shopping between Tripacers and Skyhawks and came to the conclusion that the Skyhawk, when equally equipped, was heavier, slower, and had less useful load than a Tripacer.  I don’t really want to down talk Skyhawks.  Some of my first hours flying were in Skyhawks, but I found they just were not my cup of tea, and I preferred a Tripacer.

The 182 is a plane that I really would like to consider, but the price for a decent one places it out of our price range this go around.  It is on a list of planes that Myra and consider forever planes should we get a chance to upgrade one more time after the next plane.

In the midst of trying to determine what plane would fit us, our mechanic recommended looking into Cherokee 140s.  They are four-place, fixed gear, low wing, all metal Pipers that come with 140-180 horse engines.  Piper only made 140 horse models for a short time before going up to the 150 O-320 Lycoming.  There is an STC that allows for an upgrade in horsepower by changing the cylinders out for a slightly greater displacement to bring it up to 160 horse.  Along with a power flow exhaust that is available, they can be good performers and cruise between 10 and 20 knots faster than our current Tripacer.

Our current plane has an O-320, and they are great power plants in that parts are plentiful, being a four-cylinder makes them good on gas, and they are performers.  The 180 horse is an O-360 and though I am not as familiar with them, hear good things.  We considered a Cessna 170 with an O-360 being our engine of choice in that plane.  The O-360 would not mean much of an increased fuel burn if any.

The examples of Cherokee 180s that we have come across have a high price tag though for what the plane really is.  I found a low time Cherokee 180 (little over 200 hours on an engine that is 2000 TBO), but it was also rebuilt in 1997.  10 hours a year is not exactly what I would call a healthy plan for any engine in order to keep oil flow going and corrosion down.  The seller was asking $40,000 in essence making it truly a $60,000 plus airplane after rebuild… might as well look at a Cessna 180 or older Cherokee 6 at that price.

Myra is currently planning on working on her license and would be looking for a plane that is a forgiving trainer.  Many pilots have gotten their wings in the little Cherokees with their  Hersey bar wings.  The constant chord wing makes it very stable in a stall.  Some would say too stable as it is so gentle that it does not make for a good training tool for what “most” planes do when they stop flying.

            In this way, the Cherokee 140 is very similar to the Tripacer.  Rather than a crisp break at stall, both of these planes have a tendency to mush and sink.  During my check ride, the tester was not satisfied with my power on stall as I jerked the yoke back into my lap and made the plane drop its nose with a clean break.

            “Hey, take it easy there,” he criticized.  “Do it again and instead of jerking it back, gently pull back on the yoke until you reach the stall.”

            “Okay,” I said feeling like I actually knew something for once during the day.

            I slowed the plane, configured it for the maneuver and then slowly pulled back on the yoke resulting in a depressing mush.

            “Yeah… do it your way,” he reconsidered.

            Stalls are a joy to learn without the pant-changing fear of dropping a wing like in a Cessna 150.

Myra standing in front of the 150 she used for some flight training... also happens to be the same 150 used in the reality show, Flying Wild Alaska

            This same wing design allows for the soft, impressively perfect landings that the Cherokee is supposed to allow even for newer pilots.  This would be another confidence builder for Myra while she learns and considering at least one of our daughters, if not both, will be in the plane with us on cross countries, the smoother and safer the landing, the better.

            There is no perfect plane out there that will fit everything we will want it to do, but as of right now, it looks like we will be searching for a decent example from the smaller Cherokee family of Pipers with hopefully an O-320 160 horse or O-360 180 horse.

Cherokee 180: Might our next plane be in the Cherokee family?

Would really like your input.  Is there a four-place plane that we should be considering and why?

Gluten Free Tortillas (How To)

            My family is gluten free… kind of.  Myra discovered a number of years ago that she was allergic.  She was experiencing flu-like symptoms and was often very groggy in the evening.  At the recommendation of an acquaintance who was allergic to gluten, she stopped eating gluten for a short period of time and discovered that her symptoms went away.  Any time she eats gluten now, her head gets stopped up, she feels groggy, and not fully herself.  So, no gluten for her.

            Ellen is currently struggling with eczema, which it turns out half of the population of kids in Unalakleet have gone through as every parent has a story of battling itchy kids.  Gluten can be a possible irritant as it can cause inflammation.  So, she is now off gluten.

            Dad… well, Dad does not feel like sitting in a dark closet eating toast by himself, and though I am not entirely off of gluten (the school had left-over cinnamon rolls the other day that called my name from across the hall), I have greatly reduced my intake.  In doing so, I have lost almost 15 pounds, and Myra is very supportive of the idea of me never eating gluten again.  I guess those eight pieces of bread I ate every day spread across three meals and snacks had an impact on a body no longer swimming distances measured in miles.

            So… gluten free.  For a baker who is used to traditional whole wheat and white flour, gluten-free flour can be a lot like working with wallpaper paste.  It acts nothing like its red-headed step-sibling (sure feels like the correct title in a world going gluten free): gluten flour.  It has none of the binding, malleable characteristics that gluten gives to flour. 

            Though store-bought gluten free products are getting better than the cardboard that was originally sold and labeled gluten free, they still have a long way to go.  Corn tortillas from the store have never been what I would call palatable, and gluten free flour tortillas might as well be just titled what they really are: rice cakes.  They are brittle and flavorless.

            I used to really enjoy making whole-wheat tortillas before my family stopped digesting them.  The whole-wheat made for a great texture, and the flavor of the fresh tortillas straight from the pan were such that a little butter and they could be eaten by themselves.  I went into a mini-mourning when we decided to take Ellen off of gluten.

I just throw it all in together

            It was worth one more try, and that is when I stumbled across this recipe:

            2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (We use Pamelas)

            1/3 cup Crisco

            2 ¼ t yeast

            ¼ t salt

            1 C water

Our kitchen power tool

            A stand-up mixer is not necessary for this recipe, but we have one, and so why not.  It is like my power tool for the kitchen (insert Tim the Toolman Taylor man-grunt here).  I put all of the ingredients into my mixer bowl at once and gradually beat them together at a low speed with the paddle attachment.  As the mix becomes more moist, I increase the speed on my Kitchen Aid to 2 or 3 and allow it to mix until it clumps into one large ball around the paddle.

Dough should be clumped in a ball once fully mixed.

            At this point, I preheat my skillet on medium low heat.  No oil is really needed in the pan as the Crisco aids in keeping the tortillas from sticking.  In this go around as I cooked these tortillas, Myra had added some olive oil to the pan to cook what we were going to use for a filling before discovering I needed the pan.  I left the oil in.

            We have two pieces of circular parchment paper that we just keep below our sink.  They are our tortilla parchment papers.  I found a round pot that would fit easily into our skillet, traced it onto the parchment papers and cut them out.  They help me size the tortillas for the pan, and with the gluten free flour that can sometimes be sticky, they help me to press out the tortilla without sticking them to the rolling pin or the pot bottom (I have a redneck press system that I like).

            For the pan I am using, I take and make a ball of dough a little larger than a golf ball and definitely smaller than a racquet ball.  I place the ball in the middle of one of my parchment paper rounds, flatten the dough a little with my hand, and then place the other parchment round on top.  I then use a pot (the same I used to make the parchment rounds) and press the dough with the pot and my body weight.  I shimmy the pot a little in a circular turning motion to aid in pressing out the dough.  This makes a perfectly round tortilla.  If it is not as thin as I would like, I go over it a couple times evenly with a rolling pin trying to keep its round shape.  I do have a tortilla press that permanently lives in our cupboards and never comes out.

I used the pot for a pattern for my parchment paper rounds and then as a tortilla press

            I peel one of the parchment papers and then place the tortilla dough side down into the pan while still stuck to the other piece of parchment.  As the tortilla cooks, it will release itself from the paper which will easily pull away. 

            I cook the tortilla around a minute per side (experiment with this as too done becomes less malleable… they don’t take long to cook and so I have never accidentally eaten a raw one).  Fresh off the pan, they are malleable, and way better flavored than their store-bought counterparts.

Finished product

            Left overs, if we have any, are put into a ziplock once they are cool, and placed in the fridge.  I have never tried freezing them, but guess it could be done the same way.  Honestly, with a three-year-old who steals them off the plate as soon as they come off the pan, storage has never been an issue.  Sometimes we make a batch of dough up and place it in the fridge in a airproof container uncooked, and then pull the dough out and fry up fresh ones as needed.  We have left uncooked dough in the fridge for a week with no problems.

            We have used these tortillas as taco and burrito shells, enchiladas, quesadillas, and just spread butter on them and eaten them hot.

            A whole-wheat gluten filled tortilla they are not, but for those who can’t digest gluten, that is precisely the point.

Tortilla thief