Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
Way up north, (North To Alaska.)
North to Alaska,
They're goin' North, the rush is on.
North to Alaska,
They're goin' North, the rush is on.

Okay, so those are the beginning lyrics to Johnny Horton's classic country hit, "North To Alaska", but they sort of apply to people looking for work in Alaska.

My wife and one of her friends are planning to go to work in Alaska, of all places, very soon. She's already been in contact with Peter Pan Seafoods via telephone and email. I explained to her the ordeal she's going to putting herself through if she does this, but she thinks she can handle it.

They would be living in a bunkhouse with a bunch of other people and will probably be dealing with people who snore, people who don't bathe as often as they should and people making noise when they need to be sleeping. It kind of reminds me of the old military barracks I had to stay in for the first few years of my military career.

There are some advantages to this type of work. You can make a great deal of money in a relatively short period of time — it's seasonal work. You work and you sleep and not much of anything else. They furnish 3 meals a day, give you 3 work breaks per day and they even do your laundry every week. It's fast and furious and not for the timid or people who don't really want to work.

The pay isn't very good, but you may be working up to 100+ hours per week. The potential is to make as much as open-road truck driving, which is something I'm acutely familiar with, having worked at a trucking company for more than 4 years.

Personally, I hope she changes her mind. I would like to have her back in the Philippines before her birthday in August.