Exploring Possibility of an Investment Roundtable Conference in Alaska

[AudubonB]

MODERATOR EDIT: ...Being a thread in response to a discussion begun Saturday, 11 January 2020. Thread will be locked until posts made in the Main Thread are ported over to here. (This thread is now OPEN)

I only have a data set of 1 so please know it is biased. But I have been so impressed with that person that I feel inclined to comment. TMC has a very distinguished Professor Emeritus as a long-time member, and he has been an unwavering TSLA Bull with a more sustainable vision for the planet guiding his investments. @Intl Professor has been, and continues to be one of my absolute favorite TMC posters. He joined TMC when I was just lurking after our first investments in TSLA in 2013, and he was one of the catalysts for me to eventually join later simply to be able to converse with him and others here. TMC has helped improve the timing of our investments over the years, for which we are very grateful. I would like to recognize here that was in part due to @Intl Professor 's enthusiasm bringing me closer into the circle. And I would also like to recognize how important it is to embrace and hang on to that vision for a more sustainable Planet that @Intl Professor shares to help ride out the FUD and the manipulation, for each TSLA Long - no matter how small their investment - is helping to make the Planet a better place for future generations.

Cheers @Intl Professor - may our paths cross for some very enjoyable conversations over suds at a Round Table somewhere soon. And may we raise a toast to all of the rest of the wonderful people here on TMC when that long-overdue day finally comes.

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands of who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

 

[Paracelsus]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

This is an extremely generous and exciting offer, @AudubonB ! Please add my wife and I to the list of people that would commit to attending and helping in any way possible. We would be glad to plan on sleeping in our Sprinter van or in our tent if we take the motorcycle to make as much Lodge space available for others. I will likely be working in Prince William Sound on and off through the year but look forward to locking in dates on the calendar for much more important activities.

Response: One of the many challenges will be finding a time slot that works best for as many as possible...all bounded by when we can host it.

 

[Pezpunk]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

I’d be excited for a meetup, but could it be somewhere a bit more central, and warm?

Response: It could not possibly be more central. After all, Paxson is the Center of the Universe, and that is easily proved: EVERYWHERE else is equally distant. QED. And as far as warm? There is no place more affected by global warming than the high Arctic tundra. So we are warm by definition any historical standard.

 

[imherkimer]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

Fabulous! I’m in! I’ll start planning

Response: Brave soul to start planning before we have....

 

[kbM3]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

I’d be interested. Is there more to do than hunting/fishing?

Response: And more than, you also mean, Roundtabling?
Hunting is not in the summer; our fishing is limited in that because we are smack-dab in the heart of the most prolific and sensitive sockeye salmon spawning grounds, those are off-limits even to us. But the Arctic grayling fishing ranges from excellent to superb - just remember to bring ultra-light tackle for these fellows.
Some good lake trout fishing in our adjacent lakes; the logistical challenge is getting a boat to reach them in mid-summer.

For other activities,
* we maintain the largest fleet of e-bikes in Alaska; all are Pedego; either mountain bikes or fat-tire bikes, superb for our trails and for reaching our glaciers.
* kayaking on our Class 1-2 (in midsummer) river or nearby intercalated lakes
* easy-access, safe* tundra hiking *In 25 years, no one's been eaten yet.
* See our website for possibilities and more info. To reduce risk of mischief, am not listing it here but it's on my profile

 

[Green Pete]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

Is this an open invitation? Or aimed at a particular group here? I mean that sounds amazing. When? Where? How long?

Response: This is not an invitation; it is a fact-finding questionnaire-type thread

 

[Artful Dodger]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

I'll be at the next one after the Supercharger Network reaches you. The Trans-Canada route was built out in <6 mths, plus I think the Yellowhead route will be next covering from Saskatoon, SK thru Jasper, AB to the coast at Prince Rupert? Then its a ferry to AK.

Elon also did say they plan Supercharger coverage for the Alaska Highway. Personally, I want my 1st trip to Alaska to be in a Tri-motor Cybertruck. I hear there's some nice Lodges up there...

Cheer!

Response: Stand in line. Me first.

BUT - As I have written in the "Alaska Hwy" thread in the SpC site (somewhere; don't recall where) there is, if not movement, at least the beginnings of some twitchings regarding SpCs in Alaska. Trust me....I'll be keeping all abreast of any real news. And I've put a CT on my order list....am really ready to ditch the F350.

More seriously: it isn't at all far-fetched to hold off on this kind of conference until the SpC network reaches here. We'll see!

 

[SW2Fiddler]

I'll be at the next one after the Supercharger Network reaches you.

And Starlink...

Response: My understanding is that Starlink might be active in Alaska first.

 

[abasile]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands at who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.

That is a very kind thought! Around 18 summers ago, we greatly enjoyed camping and hiking all around the road-accessible parts of Alaska. We flew in with our camping gear and put over 1500 miles on a rental car, plus some ferry miles. We bumped into old friends at the Anchorage airport, who upon seeing all of our gear supposed that we were moving to Alaska! Response: Oh - you travel with a 2 year-old too, do you?

I have vowed to myself that our next trip to Alaska will be by Tesla, as I've mostly lost interest in traveling on jet fuel or via ICE. @Artful Dodger has a nice idea - a Cybertruck trip using to-be-constructed Superchargers. Even without Superchargers, a tri-motor CT ought to be able to make the trip. In any case, I hope that we won't have to wait too many years for SCs on the AK highway! Even if some long distance SC routes such as the mid-section of the Trans-Canada or the AK Hwy see only light use, the marketing benefits are quite substantial.

Response: Driving to AK in a long-range Tesla is possible right now, it's just not feasible. And possible only during the summer tourist season. You have to spend at least one week to hop between the last SpC in Edmonton to here, and even that is with team-tag driving. You're spending more time slow-charging than you are driving, and even there you are at the mercy of RV campgrounds (thus the "summer only": they're not open in the off-season), and most of the ones you'll find are limited to 30-amp charging. Ugh.
SO - the only sane way to get to/from AK with a Tesla is via the AK State Ferry System, from Bellingham WA to Anchorage. A very fun trip, 'tho spendy.

 

[AudubonB]

(This post is confusingly here because of the platform's rules about what happens to order when posts get moved from one thread to another. This should, of course, be the first post in the thread.)

A big thank you to @The Accountant for the detailed explanation as to how, in a responsive organization, a CFO can exercise control over the upstream processes and doesn't just manage the downstream data.

And now, Mod ON:

I am going to emplace a small, controlled thread in the Sticky section "Exploring Possibility of a Roundtable Conference in Alaska". I have it on good authority that Lord Vetinari will be channeling his sternest Charles Dance with respect to any chit-chat found there.

I'll port over to that the responses that have been given here.

 

[AudubonB]

...Being a thread in response to a discussion begun Saturday, 11 January 2020. Thread will be locked until posts made in the Main Thread are ported over to here.

 

[AudubonB]

Thread is now open.

 

[gene]

Quasi-serious question: Were I to set aside a few days this summer at our Lodge to host such a gathering, any show of hands of who to some probability of reality would like to attend and could make the trip? If you ever have wanted to get to Alaska (again, for some of you), maybe this could create the right incentive. So far, the only member we've hosted has been @gene.
Time's short here, as our book fills fast and we've precious few multi-day blocks where we've good availability remaining.

PS: Very nice post about a very nice person.

I would absolutely love to make such a visit, but I kinda' got roped into a cross country drive with wife and child from here in California to NYC. Not my cup of tea. I have done the drive to Alaska and Canada's arctic via the Dempster all the way to Tuktoyaktuk several times. LOVE IT! Not yet have I made that drive to the arctic in a Tesla, though an 84 year old fellow from Orange County has just last summer.

I can recommend Audubon's cabins. Wonderful location. Late in the evening, nearby I was able to watch beavers building their dam. There is plenty of grizzlies and moose around as well. Audie serves great meals as well.

 

[FrankSG]

This sounds pretty awesome! It'd depend on details, and I'll likely be moving and have some life stuff going on during the summer, but for now I'll keep an eye on this. I've only been to the US once and never to Alaska, so it'd be an awesome opportunity to visit that part of the world, and to meet fellow Tesla enthusiasts.

 

[Paracelsus]

Thank you again for your efforts to try and make something like this happen @AudubonB - and thank you for the separate thread for this discussion. My wife and I will do our best to arrange our schedule to support any of the dates that might work for you. I am psuedo-retired now, and she has fully retired. In the summer months our typical 'big-crunch' is the 1 1/2 acre garden we subsist off of on our homestead here in Idaho, and making sure we put enough kokanee in the freezer between projects and trips. Collectively we have lived in Alaska for about 40 years and have worked in Alaska off and on for another 10 years or so - mostly for Alaska Dept of Fish and Game, and NOAA/NMFS...........but always anxious to get back, and can't think of a better reason to make a motorcycle trip up the Alcan than a TMC meetup. If all is a 'go' and our schedule gets crunched for other reasons, we should likely still be able to make a very quick trip up in the Sprinter RV. It is quite used to 16 hour days on that road. Either way, we are glad to sleep in the van or in the tent as I mentioned to make as much room for others in Lodging accommodations as possible. And if there is anything we can help with please do not hesitate to ask. And if it can't happen, we would still appreciate the chance to stop by on one of our trips up north for a Roundtable discussion over suds with you.

Are you in the immediate Paxson area?

 

[AudubonB]

Unfortunately, in every sense of the word, we ARE Paxson. To those of you who do not know this - and it is no stretch to believe that is 100% of anyone who reads this - Paxson is one of the very oldest non-native settlements in all Alaska. When I arrived in the mid-90s, there were a little over two dozen humans living in what we somewhat jocularly call the 'downtown' area.

Now, Jenny, Gus and I comprise its sole inhabitants. Nearest - in 'suburban' Paxson - is one couple 7 miles to the south. There is one more family 16 miles south and then the first town is Glennallen, 80 miles. To the west its 42 miles for one more couple; to the north there is a lodge 42 miles away; after that it's Delta Jct. at 80 miles.

And that is why we say we're at the center of the universe.

 

[Jovian]

If it's within reasonable distance of an airport I would likely attend (current car won't make road trip and don't know if I can take that many days).

 

[Paracelsus]

That is news to me. I frequently traveled through there in the 90's hauling fish for lake stocking programs and always admired the 'community' that was there at that time. Previously I had lived and worked at remote Alaska salmon hatcheries only accessible by boat or float plane, so I thought Paxson was just about the right size, it had world class grayling fishing and even a few lakes where you could catch lake trout with a fly rod nearby (a real novelty anywhere else)....and it even had a road! That was tall cotton.......Alaska style. I can certainly understand and appreciate your attraction for that area.

 

[Rammstein]

Sounds interesting. How much and when?

 

[Big Earl]

I’d be very interested in attending a round table gathering in Paxson, depending on timing. I’m a small retail investor who is eager to learn more and discuss investing, Tesla and sustainability. Alaska has also been on my to-do list for years and is one of five states outstanding on my list of states to visit. Work doesn’t provide enough time for a full road trip with no Superchargers north of Squamish, so I’d probably take the ferry from Bellingham. Do you have charging facilities available?

Edit: I just visited what I believe to be your sustainability page and see that you’re utilizing an off-grid solar system. I assume this is insufficient for EV charging, but I see utility poles feeding the lodge and gas station at the “downtown” intersection. Is EV charging (240 volt power) available there or perhaps at the DOT facility?

Speaking of the gas station lodge building at the corner, what’s the deal with it these days? Satellite and street view imagery range from it being for sale to it appearing to be occupied and open to the public. Is this a potential overflow space if you sell out?

Response: Re-read my comments on our being the sole residents. Lodge is worse than defunct: it's a vandalized shell of an eyesore. All DOT employees commute 80 miles from north or south.
We have very limited charging ability currently - 30A max.