Bob Wright does not seem to have the drive to live in Tanana his entire life as his father, Charlie, does.
YUKON MEN came back for a new season on Discovery Channel last night, and the town is as cold and uninviting than ever.
I mean no disrespect to the people of Tanana when I say that; they seem to be good, solid, hard-working people. And, obviously they love their way of life, living off the grid and depending on their own skills and the kindness of neighbors to survive. But, I suspect most viewers probably feel much like I do: I love to watch, but find myself asking, “WHY do they live there?”
The people of Tanana live just 60 miles from the Arctic Circle—it’s cold up there, in other words, and more than just a bit isolated. They spend their entire lives just preparing for the opportunity to survive, and never seem to get anywhere—the ice-breaking, snow-digging, and log-splitting just never ends. Most of us work hard so that we can reach a place in our lives where we can have a little rest. But, when your hard work is all going into basic survival, “rest” will never be part of the equation. Some people, like Stan Zuray, left the lower 48 for this lifestyle, but as they get older, perhaps they are going to find that “retirement” off-the-grid doesn’t mean exactly the same thing as it does in urban, even vastly rural, areas in most of the U.S.
Not the life for most of us, I imagine—and probably will not be for many of the younger residents of Tanana in the future.
Charlie Wright is one of the leading residents of Tanana—the “go-to” guy of the town, “Mr. Fix-it,” the man with the plan. But, his younger son, Bob, is not following in his footsteps, and does not appear to be relishing a life digging in snow and cutting out huge blocks of ice just to get a drink of water.
Who can blame him?
This season of YUKON MEN should be a good one, but with a different vibe: Will Tanana, not just its individual residents, survive in the long run? Or will the lure of an easier life elsewhere be too much for a younger generation to resist?
Stay tuned for this season of YUKON MEN and find out!
Yukon Men airs on Discovery Channel on Sunday nights at 10/9c.
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Image: Discovery Channel
