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dear alaskan drivers

Dear Alaskan drivers,

I know that this is Alaska. I have lived here all of my 23 years of life. I know that it is nigh-unthinkable to live in this state without a vehicle to call your very own. I know that public transportation is a joke.

I know that Alaska is a very large state. The largest, in fact, yet with the smallest per-state-population. I know how everything is spread so very far out that using feet as your only mode of transportation is not only silly, but completely unreasonable.

I know if you even consider walking to the corner Quick-E-Mart on a winter evening, you may get halfway before your eyelashes freeze to your eyeball and you sleep that perfect, everlasting sleep. I know. I have felt it.

But that does not mean that everyone drives any and everywhere they need to go. Some people take walks. Some people ride bikes. Sometimes for leisure, sometimes for necessity. Sometimes around the block, sometimes to the other side of town for some milk.

Crazy, I know, but Alaska wouldn't be what it was if it weren't for these crazies.

Now the next time you don't remember that you share the city and state with other vehicles, miscellaneous fauna, and, yes, even people not surrounded by two tons of steel, you might just run into or over another human.

And we will not feel sorry when the next thing you hit is a bull moose that totals your precious H2.

Hoping your pipes don't freeze,
Valette