Note well...




The ALCAN diary, Episode 2, The Wait

The ALCAN diary, Episode 2, The Wait

See episode 1, the beginning, posted yesterday.

Not knowing if AAA would send a tow truck or when, I started to prepare for a long cold night on the ALCAN.  I arranged the front half of the rear compartment so I could sleep in it and Donner in his passenger seat bed. I tried sleeping in the front seat twice before with zero success, once on a deserted peninsula in Newfoundland in 2002 when the electrical system faulted late one rainy cold night and then again three years before this 100 miles down the ALCAN when tent camping was not permitted within 50 miles of Destruction Bay because of bears.  In the rear, I would be able to lie down, but in about seven square feet of space. I then decided to make Donner's his dinner before it got really dark.  

Before I had time to make Donner's dinner, an old truck pulled up from the south and the driver rolled down his window, prompting all three of his small dogs to leap on him and bark and yap away at the intruder, Donner. As it turns out, one of the passersby had alerted someone in Destruction Bay about me, and that person called the truck driver, Ron Eddington, who runs the local towing service, but is also a mechanic.  Ron, a grizzled 64-year old who has lived and worked in the area for 30 years, jumped out and listened to my story of what happened. " It's you fuel filter," he said, and quickly got under the Defender to verify it.  He called an associate, Charly Ekland, who had one and would stop by in the morning to deal with it as it was too dark to work on it now.  Ron then said he had lo leave to help a woman 10 miles north whose wheel was broken.

Not too long after that, a RCMP vehicle rolled in from the north. Kim, the supervisor of the Beaver Creek unit, got out with his wife Fran.  He had been off duty but then was called to check on the woman 10 miles up the highway whose wheel was broken. Someone must have alerted him to my situation.  We discussed the situation and, while Fran kindly took Donner for a walk, he assured me that Ron would return to deal with my situation, including towing me to his tow yard a few miles down the road in the abandoned resort and garage.  I then told Kim I was going to make Donner's dinner and he and his wife left. But not for long.

I noticed the lights of Kim's patrol car standing still for a few minutes  on the crest of the hill I had come down hours before. Then I saw his vehicle turn around and come my way again.  He and Fran got out of the vehicle and approached me. "You probably should not make your dog any food, he said, and get back in you car. There's a huge grizzly coming down the Hiway this direction a few hundred feet up the road."  When an RCMP officer in the Yukon calls a grizzly huge, you can bet it's huge, so after the three of us talked quickly about my preparations, Kim headed back in the direction of the grizzly, telling me he was going to try to scare it away. It was now dark.

I loaded everything including Donner in the Defender, got ready my bear spray and whistle, put on my safety glasses, and placed my "brief case" over my window and sat there quiet and motionless for a long time.  After 30 minutes or so, I assumed the grizzly passed or Ron succeeded in scaring him away.

Not wanting to waste car battery, I turned off all the light in the Defender but turned on the warning flasher when I heard a vehicke coming.  It was only then that I realized that both  of my brand new LED headlights had two or more of their seven lights out. Nice, huh?  As before, all of the few cars and trucks that came by stopped to see if everything was okay.

At about 10:30, a  tow truck pulled up from the south. AAA had come through. But since they tow to the nearest garage only, and I had no idea where that was and what I would do when I got there after midnight, and since Ron was sure he knew what the problem was and had a solution, and would tow me to his place for the night, I took a chance and sent the tow truck on its way, thereby exhausting all my free tows for the year with AAA.

About 30 minutes later, Ron's tow truck with his trailer attached with the car of the woman whose wheel had broken on it whizzed by me so I guessed he would be back for me soon. I pulled my sleeping bag over me in the front seat against the cold and tried to get some sleep. By this time, traffic was non-existent on the ALCAN.

Shortly after midnight, I heard a truck pull up from the south and woke up. It was Ron coming to tow me.  But he was in his old truck again and not  his tow truck and there was no trailer attached to it.  Apparently, the belt on his tow truck had broken and he was going to pull me by his tow rope to his tow yard, several miles down the steep hill. i would have to stay in the Defender and steer and apply  the brakes, he said.He moved quickly with minimum instruction to me. .He attached his tow rope, told me to get in my vehicke, and started to pull. I had forgotten to turn the ignition on and so could not steer, and started to flash my lights for him to stop as the Defender came within a few feet of going over the steep drop off on the edge of the narrow shoulders. We corrected that and got on our way again down the cold, dark, empty ALCAN.

Not much farther down the road, I noticed thst Ron's truck was getting ahead of the 10 feet that his tow rope was. Then I saw the end of his tow rope slipping away from me.  He had attached it to my winch cable and the cable severed his rope.  Fortunately, I had my own tow rope in my off-road recovery bag, so we attached that and  got on our way to Ron's tow yard, just a few miles down the ALCAN, the only thing on the ALCAN between Beaver  Creek, 82 miles to the north, and Destruction Bay, 36 miles to the south.  I guess it was my lucky day.

We arrived at Ron's yard after 12:30 and Ron unhitched the Defender feet off the ALCAN.   Little was exchanged between us. Ron was exhausted and I was too. He told me that he and Charly would be by in the morning to replace my fuel filter and get me on my way. His last words to me were, "get ready because it's going to be cold  tonight."

I rapidly closed up the Defender, put Donner in his front bed, covered him with my summer sleeping bag, clumsily climbed from the front seat to Donner's 7-square foot bed in the rear, got into my winter sleeping bag fully dressed, braced for a very uncomfortable night, and tried to get some sleep.

To be continued.






Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 53, Friday, September 30, Whitehorse

Day 53, Friday, September 30, Whitehorse

Spent the day working through the numerous tasks of orienting myself to my home for the foreseeable future....getting cash, checking in at the visitor's center, finding a gas station, locating a place to shower and do laundry, scouting out the grocery and hardware stores, checking out possible hotels, renewing my rental car, visiting the Wolf Creek camp down the alcan where I will have to move tomorrow, looking for a place to recharge my iPad  since my rental car does not, etc.  Also concentrated on the routine I will follow so as not to waste time each day.  Thank goodness the sky has been clear because doing these things in rain or snow would not have been fun. The temperature during the day gets to about 50.

I also visited Travis, the owner of John's garage, to tell him that I ordered all of the suspect parts for deliver next week.  Then I got the bad news. It's none of those things. It's the engine. Something about the cam shaft going haywire and blowing out something or other in the engine meaning I need a new engine.  Lots of luck finding an engine up here quickly.  We are talking weeks now, not days.  However, I am determined not to abandon the Defender here and will think about my options over the next several days since the different options are not especially easy or attractive.

I will not spend any time trying to figure out what went wrong. I do know this, though. I have treated that magnificent machine with kid gloves since the very beginning.  This didn't happen as the result of negligence or oversight on my part.  I also now know that that red check engine light that came on after I had the distributor replaced in Quebec was trying to tell me something more than it is time to check my emission controls, which is the only thing it signaled the two times before when it came on over 23 years. The mechanic did find, however, that the ignition coil was wired incorrectly.  Oops.

In light of the bad news, I spent the rest of the afternoon stocking up on some miscellaneous supplies, an alarm clock, since I cannot waste iPad battery using that, and because I cannot use daylight up here to wake me at 7 since there is no daylight until about 8, a thermometer for obvious reasons, more propane, and an electrical cord I can take into the local Starbucks or Tim Hortons to charge the iPad.

It was almost if I was anticipating something like this before I left because I moved all my appointments at home back 10 days to mid-November and moved more cash into my bank checking account to cover this exact contingency.  I also retired my lightweight jacket in Anchorage for a heavy duty winter jacket my brief travel companion Stefanie picked out for me. Good planning, but bad luck. However, I will deal with this like all the other big problems in my life, and then move on.

I intend to camp out while here no matter what the weather, and keep the rental car to provide transportation for chores in this spread-out city, a mobile kennel for Donner since I cannot park him on the street while I run errands, a place to charge my battery chargers, and a place to warm up. however, at some point I may have to bite the bullet and move into a pet-friendly hotel and give up the rental car.

The good news in all of this is that I am prepared experientially, physically, mentally, logistically and financially, more than most would have been. And I have no deadlines that cannot be changed.  I did not hope for this, but it is now mine to handle, so I will.  My hope now is to get back on the road and finish my planned trip so I can achieve my number one goal, get home safely.

Sorry for any errors in this message.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Whitehorse...Donner all bundled up for the Yukon cold

The temperature at night is hitting the mid 20s but inside the tent it is slightly higher.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Days 48-49, Abandoned Resort Village now Tow Yard on ALCAN

The Defender was parked here just off the ALCAN for almost 36 hours waiting for a 200-mile tow to Whitehorse, Yukon. Donner, in the meantime, enjoying his usual breakfast, oblivious to the crisis.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 53, Friday, September 30, Whitehorse, Yukon

Day 53, Friday, September 30, Whitehorse, Yukon 

Just some random notes...

Temperature dipped in high 20s last night but I was toasty warm in the tent. Thank God for Northface's great tents.  

I am still experimenting with the new routine I have to go through with these unexpected layovers.  Probably half the day is spent on the chores that need to get done.  For instance, if I will drive away from the camp, I need to empty the contents of the tent into the rental car just in case some mal-intending person walks off my stuff, especially since I am alone in this camp.

The rental car I have does not charge my batteries very well despite its two USB ports.  Perhaps one percent an hour.  I need to figure out a solution.  As a last resort, I will move into a Days Inn and turn the rental car in.  So, some of my postings will be brief. In the meantime, the mobile phone gets top priority, then the iPad, then the camera.

Weather here has been splendid so far.  Thank God for that.  

On the agenda for today...renew rental car, get gas, get cash, buy needed supplies and food, visit the auto shop, recharge batteries, etc. Mundane stuff but critical here.

I will stay at this camp one more day before moving to another camp.

Found out there's a ferry from Skagway to Washington State on the 17th. That means I will have been delayed almost a month, but I guess that's the way these things go.

More later when I get battery.




Ed and Donner, from on the road

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The ALCAN Diary - Episode 1, the beginning

The ALCAN Diary - Episode 1, the beginning

Day, 47, Saturday, 9/24, Alaskan Hiway ALCAN)

Today started out beautifully, a good night's sleep in a marvelous, isolated, empty forest camp (Wolf Trail) just short of the ALCAN, crisp cold air, eventually sunny sky, and a lazy drive down the ALCAN to our next camp on the way to Haines to catch the ferry south on Thursday.  My hope was to stay at one of the wonderful camps in Kluane Park in Destruction Bay, 210 miles distant, although three years ago they would not permit tent camping within 50 miles due the the unusually large presence of Grizzlies.  I was hoping for better luck this time, especially to avoid having to sleep in the cramped Defender, which I had to do three years ago for the first and only time.

At the risk of repeating myself, the drive on the empty ALCAN was nothing short of splendid, punctuated only by a few abandoned gas stations or accommodations. The first signs of any large presence of civilization showed up 90 miles down the ALCAN, and that consisted of two gas stations, maybe a lodge or two, and the headquarters of the RCMP, at least that I could see. I gassed up (always a wise thing to do at every opportunity on the ALCAN) and moved on.

In addition to watching the beautiful scenery unraveling before my eyes on both sides of the road in an uninterrupted queue, and the road itself, I was particularly interest in whether the Yukon camps along the way would be open.  The three or four I passed were not.  At just after 5:00 p.m., two hours before the sun would disappear behind the tall mountains, I pulled into some of their gated entrances anyway to see if there was a good place to bivouac for the night.  There wasn't, so I moved on, intent on reaching Destruction Bay, more than 70 miles away.


Just before  6:00 p.m., exactly 50 miles from Destruction Bay and just inside the grizzly zone, the Defender started to inexplicably slow down.  Then it started sputtering, even backfiring. Then it was okay for a few miles.  That sequence repeated itself a few minutes later.  At this point I knew I had a problem.  My hope was to make it to the next outpost of any civilization, Destruction Bay, so I slowed the engine down so as not to make matters worse.  When it happened a third time, I pulled the Defender over to check to make sure I did not forget  to put the gas cap back on, which can cause problems like this. It was on. But when I got into the Defender, the engine had died and it would no restart. It was about 6:00 p.m., one hour to sundown, 38 miles from Destruction Bay, in the middle of nowhere, make tgat cold nowhere.

The Defender had stopped just over the crest of a hill, so I let it glide downhill about 100 feet more and off on the narrow shoulders more to give oncoming cars the chance to see me.  Beyond the shoulders were steep drop offs of about six feet and beyond that no place any brave soul would dare to pitch a tent for the night.

The first thing I instinctively did was to get out of the Defender and place three reflective emergency triangles on the highway.

The next thing I did was to pull out my satellite phone and then try to get a connection by wandering up and down the highway looking for the sweet spot holding the phone high above my head looking like someone divining for spirits. Donner, in the meantime, was tied to the Defender so he would not think I was engaging in some new play for him and interfere.  After I got a satellite connection, I called AAA, but the connection was lost twice and so I had to re-establish the connection each time, which took valuable minutes to do so.

The third time I called, as bad luck would have it, I got AAA's most incompetent representative, so I hung up.  I called back a fourth time a said to the new rep, "I must speak quickly before I lose my connection. II am in a dangerous situation on the Alaskan Hiway 38 miles west of Destruction Bay.  Everyone is okay but my car will not start.  Here is my AAA number.(I read it to him.)   Send a tow truck as soon as you can."  He assured me he would send a truck but did not know when as service is limited in thst area and the distances vast."

Several times during these calls, several cars or trucks came by and most stopped and asked if I needed help.  I assured them that I was okay and that AAA would come through and sent them on their way.  I could see the pity on all their faces, except the truckers, who were most kind, but probably used to these scenarios. Some people asked if I needed anything, and I took water from one couple, although I had enough, just in case.  No one, however, offered advice on where I might have the Defender towed to, which told me there might not be anyplace. 

To be continued when I get more battery.

Sorry for the errors and ambiguities. I don't have battery left to edit. 


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Day 51, Thursday, September 29, Whitehorse camp on Yukon

Got a great night's sleep last night... almost 10 hours.  That fresh cold air does wonders for one's health.

Spent several hours this morning ordering replacement  parts that might be the Defender's problem so Travis, my mechanic, can have them right away.  Three are coming from the US (ignition coil, distributor and condenser, and fuel filter) and one from England (mass air flow sensor).  I never cease to be amazed at how proficient I can become in autos when these things happen.  My hope is that they will be here by Tuesday so Travis can install them on Wednesday and I can get on the road Thursday.

Which brings me to the next thing I did today.  My ferry from Haines AK to Prince Rupert left this morning without me. The next ferry to Washington state is October  18th, which I will take if I am here until then.  But thinking I would be on the ferry to Prince Rupert today, I booked a BC ferry to Vancouver Island for October 7th.  With what little information I have to go on, I decided to change that to the 14th since there was one spot left.  I hope the Defender is on the road before then. If the Defender is ready by next Wednesday (unlikely), I will drive the 475 miles on Thursday to see if I can get on that sold-out ferry on the 7th.  If not, I will spend a week in Prince Rupert for the ferry on the 14th or drive the three days to Vancouver. This of course depends on which route I plan to take home and that I have the Defender at all to drive home. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Now that my required chores for the day are done, I will work on some delayed postings, the latest saga and the Dalton and Denali Diaries.

I took Donner to a wonderful local vet here yesterday to get some deworming meds. His bout of loose stools continues so it must have picked up a parasite along the way. If it's not one problem, it's another. But I do believe there is a solution for every problem.

The camp I am in tomorrow closes so I will move to Wolf Creek park 14 k up the road.  It too closes tomorrow but they permit bivouacking in the off season. Fortunately, I am prepared for winter camping.

VINCERO, VINCERO, VINCERO.

1L-Uijol johpg zov!!


Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 51, September 28, A camp on the Yukon River in Whitehorse, Yukon territory

I settled into a camp on the Yukon River in Whitehorse for what could be a long stay whip the Defender gets repaired. I am now just getting time from the chores of orienting myself to my new situation and hope to send a posting tomorrow on the recent saga since the only thing on my calendar for the foreseeable future is to wait. I also need to work up the Dalton and Denali Diary, without a doubt the highlight of the trip, if not all my trips, which I shared with my brief travel companion, Stefanie. 

When you read the posting on my recent saga, you will think I am writing a thriller novel. Unfortunately, I am not. This is one for the books.

It's cold and dark, so I am turning in.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Tuesday, sept 27' Whitehorse

Very briefly, there has been a change of plans.  I had a Defender malfunction on the Alaskan Hiway  Saturday night and had the Defender towed 200 miles to Whitehorse just now.  It looks like I will be here for a while until parts can come in.  Everything is okay.  Although this is not what I hoped for, I am prepared.  More about this ordeal on my next posting tomorrow.

Ed

Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Jeannie's Java..see below posting





Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 48, Sunday, September 25, On the road to the ferry in Haines

Started the long drive home yesterday on the Glenn and Ruchardson Hiways to the ALCAN and then on to Haines where I hope my wait list status is elevated.  If not, we drive the added 1250 mikes to Vancouver.

What an absolutely wonderful drive it was in splendid weather, which helped somewhat  to distract me from thinking about the absence of my equally wonderful travel companion of almost two weeks. Snow peaked mountains all around us, lakes, rivers, turns, twists and hills at every bend of the long empty road, fall colors bursting all over as if in a fireworks display to celebrate my trip so far.  I had forgotten how beautiful this drive was.

I stopped more than usual along the way because I simply could not resist.  Photo op signs were posted every few miles, and they were correct.  

I was looking forward to some rhubarb pie at Jeannie's Java at the intersection of the otherwise empty Richardson Hiway, where I stopped in 2000 and 2013, but she had run out.  Sadly, she told me the owner of the land is evicting her to sell the land for more money.  Greed trumps joy here too.

I was planning to make the ALCAN last night and camp on the Tok River, but after I just missed coming close to a huge moose 10 feet away from me at dusk, and after I discovered that my new hi-tech headlight is out, I decided to bivouac at a wonderful deserted camp on Eagle Creek. The temperature went to freezing, but the crisp air, cloudless sky, countless stars, silence and absence of all human light except my headlamp provided a different kind of warmth that made up for the cold.  Besides, inside my Northface VE-25 summit tent, it was probably warm enough to sleep in my lightweight tent, but I didn't dare.

If anyone else was somewhere hidden in the camp and reading this blog, I hope you didn't mind hearing the endless sounds of Luciano Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma  wafting through the forest last night and this morning.  VINCERO, VINCERO, VINCERO, he belts out, and that is precisely how I feel about this trip.  What joy it has been and, for nine days anyway, fun.

The Defender took more than 30 turns to start this morning, where it usually takes 3 or 4.  Funny thing was that, even in this deserted, cold place, I didn't care.  One thing I have learned well on these trips is that there is a solution for every problem, and people around to help in a bind, if you can find them that is.

Donner is recovering from his maladies nicely.  And what joy it is for me to see this magnificent dog run free in the forest, after his having been chained for four years in LA backyards.  If I could read his mind, I'm sure it would tell me, I WON, I WON, I WON.


Long Lake on the Glenn Hiway.  Irresistible.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 47, Saturday, September 24, Leaving Anchorage, 8700 miles

Just leaving Anchorage now to start to long road home, although I think I am entitled to call the road my home.  Thrilled to leave this city as it is the worst I have encountered for its roads and some of the drivers. 

I dropped my brief travel companion,Stefanie, off at the airport last night, and now I must re-acclimate myself to solitude.  My guess is that with the conditions I will have to face, that should not be difficult as there will be no time for or place for feeling alone. But the memories of the brief encounter with my companion will surely suppress any emergent thoughts of being alone for a very long time. That's how good that experience was.

Donner clearly showed signs of withdrawal after nine days with our guest, but he is happy to be riding shotgun again, albeit with a new collar on to prevent him from licking a problem that developed under his front leg.  He is also experiencing a bout of runs, that I hope a visit to the vet here cured.

Today we head to Tok on the ALCAN, and then down to Haines, where I hope I can improve my wait list standing on the ferry to avoid the 2200 mile drive to Vancouver.  We'll see.

The road beckons.

VINCERO 


Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Day 45, My Dalton and Denali travel partner

Day 45, My Dalton and Denali travel partner

As many people know, with few exceptions, I travel alone, whether those trips be simply tours in foreign countries, heavy backpacking trips deep into the wilds of Alaska and Kamchatka (Russia), or my long road-camping  trips, the latter when I am accompanied only by my beloved dogs. I just find that mode of travel more difficult, more exhilarating, and more rewarding, especially because of the many people I meet along the way in brief encounters.  In fact, on my road trips, there is no room in my Defender for an extra passenger given that my only passenger seat has been removed to provide an extra bed for my dogs.  

To put matters in clearer perspective, the mantra  on my trip patch makes it abundantly clear that "solitudinem" (solitude) is one of the four hallmarks for these trips, and I try hard to keep it that way.  So, some might have been surprised to see, without any prior warning, a travel partner parachute in for the two most important portions of my current trip, the Dalton and Denali drives, like a deus ex machina in a Greek play, but to heighten the drama, not  to end it. Well, since i wrote separate postings on Donner and the Defender, let me add one more about that mysterious travel partner, whom I just dropped off at the airport to fly home.

Before I tell you about my brief travel companion, a 24-year old medical student named Stefanie from Germany who is touring the US and Canada on holiday, readers may recall that I extended an invitation on this blog to any reader willing to fly to Alaska to share this experience with me if they were ready to put up with the dirt, mud and cold that the northernmost drives promised.  No one took me up on my offer, and who could blame them? So I invited some people I met along the way.  Then, on day 34, just as I reached the point of no return and finally confident I would make Alaska, I ran into Stefanie and her friend Kira at a pull off in Jasper.  She impressed me so much during our brief 10-minute encounter that when she told me she'd be going Anchorage about the time I would be in Denali, I extended the invitation to her, too. The enthusiasm on her face was like none I had seen before, and we left it at that.  The road beckoned, so we parted.  Another brief encounter on the road that melted quickly into a memory.

A week later, as I got internet for the first time in days pulling up to the Yukon River ferry at Dawson City, I checked my emails and found one from Stefanie asking if the invitation was still open. I wrote back that it was and invited her to join me on the Dalton Hiway, too.  She never actually accepted my Dalton offer, she just showed up in Fairbanks 48 hours later to join me just a few hours after i arrived and had set up camp. Then the adventure started.

As I wrote earlier, if I had been writing this blog as a novel, I could not have created a more perfect companion for the two most adventurous parts of this trip than Stefanie.  We were inseparable  almost 24 hours each day for nine intense days and never once did a negative word appear on either of our lips or negative expression on our faces. 

Stefanie was not only a joy and fun to have around, but she took on without being asked more than her share  of the numerous arduous daily chores in road camping, setting up the camp, loading and unloading the Defender as she climbed up onto the roof rack as if she had done it a thousand times before, shopping, preparing the meals, grooming the Defender, and, most helpful, driving the Defender, the first person I trusted to do so.  In fact, she took to driving the Defender on the treacherous Dalton and Denali roads as well or better than I, navigating that magnificent precision machine so adeptly I never once doubted my confidence in her. 

The words from her  I heard the most were, what can I do to help?  

The bond between us became so strong that once when she took a walk alone, the first of only two times we were briefly apart, she returned after only 10 minutes and told me, I missed you.

We became so familiar with each other's minds that at a Barnes and Noble bookstore in Anchorage, when she asked me which of perhaps 75 classic books on display in front of us she should take with her for her flight, knowing also that she reads at the rate of 100 pages an hour, I selected War and Peace, and she told me that that was exactly the one she was thinking about.  

I taught her that mental Day Of Week calculation I developed and she quickly became only one of three of the hundreds I taught to learn it immediately.

Stefanie thanked me repeatedly for the invitation and told me often how lucky she was. But I was the luckier one.  Having met her, I like myself better than before.

 I could go on for many lines more, but I think you get the picture.  Stefanie's only peccadillos that I might have seen were her penchant for cleanliness even on road camping trips, her insistence on my adhering to our schedule and my driving precisely, and her inability to distinguish between my talking to myself so I do things right and my talking to her, all of which actually enhanced the trip for me.  

In return for all of the above, she got an adventure that she will remember for a lifetime. I, in turn, got a trip that was heightened significantly by a smart, fun, personable companion with whom I shared this experience.  

Watching the expression of joy on her face as she basked in the adventure was more exhilarating for me than the incredible experience that was otherwise unraveling before my eyes and churning under the wheels of the Defender as it rocked, rattled and hummed over the rough, often muddy or snowy roads in some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet.

As I watched this young woman live and appreciate this experience to its fullest, and listen to her stories about her family, it occurred to me that the only source of her goodness could be her family, her parents and her younger siblings, two sisters and three brothers, and how they live their good, wholesome lives.

This entire trip was filled with nothing but adventure for me from the start, but I know which one I will remember for a very long time because of a young woman from Germany who took an incredible risk because she trusted me. I, for my part, made sure she will never forget it.

Only two photos of Stefanie appeared on this blog so far, and those were all of her in road or camping garb.  So I lifted (below) with her permission one of her Facebook photos so you can see the everyday Stefanie.  What an absolutely wonderful companion she was.

Another brief encounter on the road, now a memory.

The road beckons.

Ed, from the Anchorage airport.
Vincero, Vincero, VINCERO




Ed and Donner, from on the road

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Give me a ring, will you


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Day 44, pm, September 44, Anchorage

Now that the Alaska Marine Hiway has graciously extended my stay in Alaska, I spent some of today in wet Anchorage mulling over my rather limited options.  I was originally booked on the September 24 sailing from Skagway to Bellingham Washington, which would have gotten me to Vancouver Island on  October 1. Although one piece of my three legged journey back to the lower 48 is still up in the air, here is what the tentative plan looks like.
- Stay camped in Anchorage until September 24 or 25
- Drive to Haines on the 24th or 25th, less than 1000 miles, arriving in Haines 2 or 3 days later
- Camp somewhere in Haines until September 29
- if I can get a spot on the ferry from Haines (I am number 1 on the wait list), take the ferry to Juneau
- leave Juneau by ferry on the 30th to Prince Rupert BC
- Camp somewhere in Port Hardy until October 5th, if any campgrounds are still open
- leave cold, wet Prince Rupert  on October 5 by ferry to Port Hardy at the north end of Vancouver Island.
- Arrive Port Hardy on October 6, five days behind schedule, so to speak.

The silver lining in this new itinerary is that it gives me and my travel partner, Stefanie, of nine wonderful but intense days a chance to have a gradual separation instead of an abrupt one, Donner will not have to be locked up in the Defender on the ferry  for three straight days, we get to sail the significantly better BC ferry for half the trip, and I end up at the north end of VI, saving me three days by not having to drive two ways for me to do what I wanted on VI.  I can also use the extra free time to rest up for the long ride hone and get some reading done over the 10 new days added to my journey  en route to Vancouver. 

Since I only brought one book with me, I visited Barnes and Noble today to stock up on a few more books to read in my cold wet tent during my layovers.  I also got the Defender serviced at Jiffy Lube to deal with the problem with my rear differential lock. I also had breakfast with Stefanie at a cafe in Anchorage to avoid having to set up my tarps to make breakfast in camp.  Although my eating in restaurants is prohibited by one rule of mine or another, Donner understood.  Back at camp, I spent some time talking with another hardy road camper, Jim, who is also tenting with his dogs up here.

This daily schedule is not exactly what I was hoping for, but this is what these trips consist of from time to time, problems and solutions.  Unfortunately, these issues sometimes push the just-passing great adventures into the distant pass, but I hope to reignite the memories when I get back on the road in earnest.

Tomorrow I will finish packing up, have breakfast somewhere in Anchorage, and take Stefanie to the airport in the evening for her flight out of Anchorage, bringing her unplanned, surprise nine-day adventure to an end.  Donner will then get his front seat back riding shotgun, and I will lose someone to spell me driving the Defender and a marvelous travel partner.  I just hope that this blog gave you at least a glimpse into what the two of us experienced on the Dalton and Denali roads, the two magnets that pulled me to Alaska. I put out an open invitation for anyone to join me, and she did, and is happier for it.

Ed and Donner, from on the road

VINCERO 

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Day 42, Wednesday, September 22, Anchorage

Sorry for my few words, uncharacteristic of me.  But here's a posting to think about.

We are in Anchorage now, and I spent the day cleaning the Defender, replacing my now-retired fall jacket,  retrieving some critical things from Fed Ex and planning my trip south, followed by a wonderful dinner at Orso's with my surprise travel partner, Stefanie, before we go our separate ways after what  can only be described as an exciting and intense eight or nine days. Who's counting?  While planning the trip home, however, I discovered that my ferry to the lower 48 was cancelled, with little hope of an attractive alternative.  Nice, huh?  Driving the 2195 miles or more to Vanciuver is an option, of course, but the Defender needs a break. We'll figure something out.

This break is a good one for me because it gives me a chance to think about all that has taken place and to put everything in some kind of perspective, albeit one that will be in draft form, subject to visions and revisions.  I do know one thing however, and that is that I will emerge as a changed human being when I return.  This trip has been nothing short of extraordinary, full of twists and turns, natural beauty and human beauty, problems and solutions, memories and hopes, and most of all, the constant companionship of my beloved Donner. I just wish I had the ability to commit what I feel into words.

That's it for tonight. It's late and raining, so I need to turn in, a happier person that when this day started.

P.s. 1L...Jxjmm xjojx jmmxj ojxjm mxjo!



Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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The Denali Diary...Days 38-43, Thursday-Tuesday, September 15-20 revised

The Denali Diary...Days 38-43, Thursday-Tuesday, September 15-20

THIS POSTING HAS NOT YET BEEN EDITED OR PROOFED.

As background, i had visited (is that even the right word to use?) Denali three times before.

My first visit was in July-August 1992 on my first trip to Alaksa, a grand tour arranged by myself that in iuded my first of two visits to the McNeil River Brar Sanctuary. I spent thee days backbacking in Denali, around Moose Creek. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, at times during my stay, i was probably one  of the closets humans to the hapless Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) in his last days.  Not a pleasant thiught 24 years later.

My second visit was with Sonntag in 2000, just after our jiurney up the Dalton Highway, a trip that was featryred in the cover stories of two National Geographic magazines in January 2002 and May 2010.  I lucked out in being bke to strung together three separate one-day camling permits into the three consecutive nights reauired to drive into Teklanika Camp, some 30 miles into the park. One of the few memories i still have of that trip is as soon as i drove onto the first expansive view of the Denaki valkey, Sinntag, who was paralyzed, pushed himsefl up go the sitting positon in his front seat bed of my Defender and just looked out the front window in absolute awe of what spread before his eyes.

My thrid visit was in 2013 with Leben and Erde on the return route of iur trip to the Artic for the second time. I was fortunate to have won (well, actuakky, secured from Craiglsit) two permits to drive the Denali road in my own vehilce in ghe days after the parked closed, and camp at Teklanika Campground again.  Two days drving yhat 90-mile road were not eniugh, I told myself, and I will return, i pormised.

In planning my jorney to alaska this year, perhaps my last, the principle purpose of which was to return to the site just north of Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway where i scattered Sonntag's and Kessie's ashes in 2001, i decide to try to win a permit tomdrive the Denali road one more time. With the help of some friends and rekatives whi entered the lottery with me, and who were invuted to drive the road with me if i won, we won fiur permits, one of which ingave away to a famiky in Anchorage. I also secured a five-day camping permit for Teklanika Camoground earky in the year just in case i won a permit for any (or all) of the days of the drive.

So, there I stiod with plans to drive the Dalton highway beyind parallel 68 and Atugun Pass, thress paases to drive the Denali Road on Seotember 16, 18, and 19, and a camoing permit for Teklanka Campground for September 15-20. I just needed to get to Fairbanks by evenjng, Seotember 11 to accomplish these things just in time to catch the Seotember 25 saiking of the ferry Columbua from Skagwayy to Bellingham to head home from there.

The earkier postings on this blog recount in detail the reasons for the six-week delay in getting this trip underway, the unexpected 10-day layover in Queveb due to a Defender malfunction, and the adventure, beauty, trials and trbulagions invokved in with the 9000-mile journey to make Fairbanks at 5:00 p.m. on Seotember 11, right on schedule. 

The earlier psotings on this bkog also recohnt in some detail how ny travel companion Stefanie, a smart, young woman named Stefanie  from Germany toruing Canada for the summer, came to join me and Donner for ghe Dalton and Denali legs of ghe trip, so i will mot releat any of that here. Nor will i dwell any more on what a fanstatic travel partner she was, as i have written much abiut that alresdy.

What follows is the diary of our five days in Denali that Stefanie and i worked upmjointky together.  We both agreed that we exoerienced the adventure if. Kifetime and could never find the words to descibe it so that people would even get a glimpse into what took place. Every single momeng was special, seizing and overloading all our senses. The jiynghat i experienced just staring at Denali in her speldor, watchjng Donner run free, or watchjng Stefanie dirve or sit on top of my Defender or eating s'mores cor the first time, and so ju h kore, are now part of my mental DNA.  When Stefanie arrived she told me ghat she had trouble responding to people when they asked her how her trip was. She said she just tells them great. That one word is like a speck of sand in a desert cop aured to what we both experienced in Denali. That's how awesome those cays were.

With these thoughts in mind, here is our humble complete diary of our time there...

Times are approximate...people and animals are real.

Thursday, October 15...

Up at 7:00. Good weather. Low 30s. Defender started slowly, but started.  Off to he showers, at last. My first one in a long time. Wonderful.

10:00 broke camp. got Defender serviced at Sears. Service guy told me my mass air flow sensor is broken, whatever that it. I will order a new part. He also told me how to start cars in cold weather. Just attach another battery to you battery. Sounds simple. 

Stocked up for Denali at Fred Meyers. Stefanie suffers from OSD (Oliver's Stomach Disorder), "Please, sir, may i have some more," so we had to stock up more than usual. Also stocked up on graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate for Stefanie's introduction to the world of s'mores.

Stopped at FedEx to pick up some more patches and one other important items that Mike retrieved from my condo in DC, e.g., toy for Donner, etc. The parcel was not there. The FedEx rep told me she would forward it to Anchorage for me, which means we will have to stop Anchorage after Denali. Stefanie's flight is from Anchorage anyway. I need those patches as i am running out. Donner needs another toy as he his mutilated that poor squirrel Mike gave him before we kept. I need whatever else is in that parcel.

3:30...on the road to Denali after Stefanie reminded me that we were supposed to leave by noon. No big thing, i told her.  Beautiful drive all the way. Drove by the Stampede Trail entrance just before Denali, where the hapless Chris McCandless saw his last vestiges of civilization three months or so before his sad end, my first trek into Denali, and one month before Stefanie was born.   Odd coincidences of life.

Stefanie practiced my day of week technique to much of the drive. She is one of my best students.

I also taught her the only camp song i remember, Green Grow the Rushes Grow, but she gave up.

We listened to Pavoratti singing Nessun Dorma many times, a song we both liked and agreed would capture our experience together, vincero, vincero, VINCERO. I heard her humming it as often. 

We shared the driving for much of the trip. I cannot believe how well she drives the Defender. Those Germans sure know how to drive.

5:00... Mountains, valley, cold and strong wind. We are approaching Denali.  

5:30 gassed up in Healey. Need to take three 5-gallon jerry cans of extra gas to cover our time in Denali since Defender gets 225 miles to a tank and each extra gallon gets me 75 miles, 550 miles in total. Denali Road is 90 miles so 90x2x3 equals 540 minus the 120 we do not have to drive into and out of the park two days from Teklanika, so we should be okay.

6:00 arrived at Denali. Both of us are excited. Donner too with all the new smells everywhere. Picked up our road permits. Then picked up our campsite permit from same attendant as 2013. Also picked up five bundles of firewood, one for each night, weather permitting.

6:30...at last, the road into Denali. I am in disbelief that not only did i make it right on schedule but that i had three passes to drive the road thanks to 28 friends and relatives, that Donner is with me, and that i am sitting next to a woman i met less than two weeks before for 10 minutes about to spend five more intensive days with her.

The beauty of Denali unfolded eivht before our hiurs minutes into the drive. Stefanie saw a big moose almost right away, one of the animals she came to see. She had never seen one before.

7:30...Teklanika Campground at last. Like seeing an old friend.  Looked around for best availble site, took number 8. Great site. Set up two tents (one for storage) on nice grassy area just beyond the gravel parking spaces for the site. Unloaded Defender of everythjng not needed on Denali road; started a fire and had pleasant dinner.

11:00 taps (lights out) 

1:00 my job was to crawl out of the tent each night into the cold to check to see if the northern lights were running wild as Stefanie had never seen them. No luck tonight.

Friday, October 16

7:00 Reveille. Cold, below freezing, absolutely beautiful day. Lucky us.

8:00 formal breakfast on our patio with green and white checkered table cloth for us, not Donner this time: muffins, oatmeal, yogurt and muselex, bananas, orange juice, treats for Donner.

9:15...on the Denali road, although Stefanie  reminded me that we were supposed to leave earlier. No big deal, i said.

On the road over the course of the day, we saw at least six grizzlies, numerous Dahl sheep and mountain goats, a rabbit, squirrels, an eagle, and an unknown mammal, but we knew there were far more out there hidden by the thick brush that unfolded for miles before our eyes.  Just knowing that they were out there in this protected Eden was enough to cheer us up, although  conditions for these animals can only be described as harsh.

11:15 or so. Finally, Denali in full view. Wow. Just a slight cloud cover at her peak, teasing us.

Stopped several times along the way to take in the views. At one stop, two kind Anchorage residents, Shaun and Jessica, gave us some home-prepared smoked salmon. Out of this world.

At every stop, people admiring Donner and/or the Defender. Nice dog, they say. Or nice rig.  

After noon...reached wonderful Wonder Lake and had lunch overlooking the lake.  Lots of unwanted gnats as unwelcome guests. I went for a walk with Donner by the lake and when i returned i could not find Stefanie. I eventually found her sitting on the Defender's roof rack, the first person to do so ever. She admitted that she was spying on my activities, including taking a selfie of myself.

3:00 or so. Moved on from Wonder Lake. Decided to pass up the final 10-mile drive to the end of the road at Kantishna.  That drive itself is less interesting than the rest of the road and contains essentially a cabin housing a museum about gold rush days and the formation of Alaska's Interior. The main reason people go to the end of the road is to say they have been there. I know the feeling.

Passed by the spot i was dropped off by the camper bus in 1992 when i started my backpacking trek by Moose Creek. I think i recall where it was. 

Stef and i shared the driving on the Denali road. Except for putting it in reverse gear, she was a very able driver.  I will admit that She took the the parts of the road with the steep drop-offs on our right a lot better than i did, driving within inches of the no-shoulder drop-offs of perhaps one thousand feet in places.  I opted to drive more in the center of the road and take my chances that way.

The only music we played was Pavarotti's Nessun Dorma, an aria we discovered we both liked. From Puccini's Turandot. Vincero, Prince Calif sings at th end, I Will Win.

8:00 p.m....arrived back at Teklanika. Found note from camp host telling us we cannot camp on the grass so we had to move tents. We just carried them to new location. No big deal.

Dinner on our lovely patio...soup, etc. Stef experienced s'mores for the first time. She got hooked on them. My first time in many years. We started using dark chocolate. Much more sophisticated.

Full moon tonight. Absolutely spectacular view of the moon in the clear dark sky. It was enough to light up the otherwise light-less camp. Boy, did we luck out
10:00 in tent. We talked for a long time. Overcast outside for probably no northern lights tonight. We both agreed that this was the best day of the whole trip due to the absolutely beautiful weather. This was my sixth time in Denali and the best. Maybe because there was someone here to share it with me, although Sonntag, Leben and Erde and now Donner would all quickly admit that the smells were out of this world.

1:00 i got up to check if any northern nights. None.

Saturday, September 17

8:00 reveille (up and out)...

No permit to drive the road today, only military.

Set up the tarp over the picnic table just in case it rains.

Weather just foul today. Pity poor folks who have a permit for today.

Table cloth breakfast again today. Special day.

Had some difficulty figuring out these new safety jerry cans. Master Sargent Tony came along to help.
I gave him the empty gas can. A coveted commodity here in Alaska apparently.

The day was a welcome relief. First since my respite in Quebec. I spent the day organizing, Stef reading the Lost Symbol, Donner sleeping, sniffing, and looking out for mal-intending dogs.

Stef decided to take a long hike.  I could not go because dogs are not allowed on trails and i cannot leave Donner. Fiftenn minutes kater she returned and said, "i missed you." I answered, "i missed you too." That's how much we bonded in five days.

Weather did not clear up at all.

5:00 early dinner...the usual ...v8 juice, sou,, bread and cheese and s'mores.  

In tent early...talked for a long time about our lives.

No northern lights watch tonight. 

Sunday, 9/18

7:00 reveille (up and out)
Breakfast, the usual.
Weather very bad.
Today is the second permit day for us.

9:30..0n road. Stef, forever punctual, said we were supposed to leave by 9:00. I said, no big deal.

Weather was so bad today that we only drove to the Eilisen Visitors Center. 

Snow in morning.  A dusting, but it changed the landscape entirely. Weather improved later.

No views of Denali at all. But it was interesting seeing Denali in this wardrobe because this is a major part of the weather here. Only 1/3 of visitors get to see Denali.  Good thing we had three permits.

Most interesting animal viewing we saw today was a mother and her two cubs just a couple of hundred feet away.  Seeing such things in the wild is an experience beyond understating unless you witness it. We become part of the world of three animals.

Donner continues to get high praise from people, especially the kids. For instance, Eliza with her mother Elizabeth from Anchorage could not get enough of Donner. She earned a coveted On the Road patch for that.

Saw several bears today and caribou.

Had lunch at Eileen in the Defender. Finished off Shaun and Jessica's delicious home-prepared salmon. Delicious. Wished they had a permit for today.

Back at camp by 7:00... Donner under the tarp. Worked out just fine. No s'mores tonight. Stef not feeling well, headache. But she refused to not help with the camp chores, although i wish she had. I sure lucked out in running into her.

8:30 in tent early due to weather.

Monday, 9/19

7:00 reveille. Breakfast under tarp.

9:20 on the road for third drive. Stefanie said we were supposed to leave by 9:00. I said, no big deal.

It looked like another storm was coming today.

On the way to Wonder Lake we saw a set of big antlers in the brush but nothing more.

Drove to Wonder Lake and had lunch there again. Weather started to turn nice again. Saw Denali in full view. Not many cars on road; probably many decided to forget it with bad weather in the morning.

On way back from Wonder Lake, we save the big moose with the antlers again. Also saw not too far from him a mother moose with her calf.

Stopped off the the final Denali viewing spot and met Megan who also could not bet enough of Donner. she fell in love with him, just as i did a year ago. She wanted to take him home with her.

Took our time driving back to camp, taking turns at the wheel. Neither of us wanted to leave this spectacular place, the views, the animals, seen and unseen, the drama, the camp. We wished it could continue forever. Every single moment of this entire trip was special, memorable. How often does that happen in life?

7:00 arrived back at camp. Justin and his friends stopped by to admire the Defender. I told him to take a good look, as long as he helped us break camp, which he willingly did. 

Stef stopped off at a lecture on Ice Age Animals in Denali, the second time we were apart the whole trip. Never once during our eight days constantly together was there a negative word or expression between us. We both lucked out

8:15...Stef returned from three lecture. Dinner. S'mores afterwards.

After dinner, we both stopped by Justin's camp for some stories.

10:00 in tent. Both of us sad this in ending.

No northern lights tonight.

Very heaving winds during the night. Blew the tarp poles down.

Tuesday, 10/20

7:00 reveille (up and out)

Breakfast, broke camp.

10:00 on the road to somewhere, to be determined later, maybe Talketna?  Stefanie said, we got off earlier  than i expected us to.  I said, no big deal

11:10... We exited Denali. This adventure ended.

Notes...

On the  road south, we decided to try to make it to Anchorage that night to drop Stefanie off at at hostel, and then i would get on my way the next day to catch the 9/25 ferry from Skagway to Bellingham.

The next day i learned that the Columbja ferry broke down and that the only option was for me to take the 9/29 ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert and a BC ferry from Haines to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. I decided to stay in Anchorage until Saturday and drop Stefanie off at the airport on Friday.

During our three-day stay in Anchorage, Stefanie and i both agreed that we had just experienced one of those few experiences in life that we will forever remember and be unable to describe to others.  Every single moment was memorable. And for me, it was not just the views, the roads, the drama, the animals, seen and unseen, in their own habitat, but the companionship of each other. Stefanie lucked out because she just happened to meet for 10 minutes on the road to Jasper a guy with his dog in a Defender heading up the the Dalton Highway in a week with three permits to drive the Denali road and a permit to camp at Teklanika who just happened to have a portable extra seat in his Defender and no one wanting to accept his invitation to join him. I lucked out because it was she on that highway in Jasper and she wanted to take the risk for an experience of a lifetime, which she got. Most important, we both got a friend for life, bonded by an unforgettable experience. One of those special things in life we all hope for.


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Day 33, Saturday, September 10 Dawson City Yukon

Donner pretending he is the sheriff.  But he was the one who got run out of town for misbehaving with the locals, dogs that is.
I 


Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Day 33, Saturday, September 10 Dawson City Yukon

Donner pretending he is the sheriff.  But he was the one who got run out of town for misbehaving with the locals, digs that is.



Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Day 33, Saturday, September 10, Top Of the World Hiway connecting Dawson City with Alaska

A 150-mile dirt and gravel road with very steep drop offs and no guard rails.  What a spectacular Hiway, which rides the crest of one mountain after another, giving you vistas far in the distance. Wow. And to think the best is yet to come.

Three years ago on this Hiway, one of the wheels on Leben's wheelchair, which was transported hanging from my roof rack ladder in the rear , fell off unbeknownst to me. I drove all the way back to Dawson City, ordered a new one FedExed to me in Fairbanks, went to the small hardware store and bought a wheel barrel, removed the wheel and used it on Leben's wheelchair till we got to Fairbanks.  As I said, there's a so,union for every problem worth solving.




Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.


Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Day 33, Saturday, September 10, Top Of the World Hiway connecting Dawson City with Alaska



A 150-mile dirt and gravel road with very steep drop offs and no guard rails.  What a spectacular Hiway, which rides the crest of one mountain after another, giving you vistas far in the distance. Wow. And to think the best is yet to come.

Three years ago on this Hiway, one of the wheels on Leben's wheelchair, which was transported hanging from my roof rack ladder in the rear , fell off unbeknownst to me. I drove all the way back to Dawson City, ordered a new one FedExed to me in Fairbanks, went to the small hardware store and bought a wheel barrel, removed the wheel and used it on Leben's wheelchair till we got to Fairbanks.  As I said, there's a solution for every problem worth solving.

I will cross post a photo from that 2013 trip here soon.




Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.


Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Day 33, Saturday, September 10, Top Of the World Hiway connecting Dawson City with Alaska


A 150-mile dirt and gravel road with very steep drop offs and no guard rails.  What a spectacular Hiway, which rides the crest of one mountain after another, giving you vistas far in the distance. Wow. And to think the best is yet to come.

Three years ago, driving on this magnificent dirt and gravel Highway, one of the wheels on Leben's wheelchair, which was transported hanging from my roof rack ladder in the rear, fell off without my knowing it. I discovered that only when I sopped for a break to walk my dogs. I drove all the way back to Dawson City, ordered a new one FedExed to me in Fairbanks, and then went looking for a replacement in this small town of 2000 souls.  In the small hardware store, I saw a wheel barrel for sale, bought it,  removed the wheel, and had the local NAPA shop affix it  to Leben's wheelchair, and it worked, until we got to Fairbanks and retrieved the new wheel at Fed Ex, that is.  As I have often said, there's a solution for every problem worth solving.




Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Days 38-43, September 15-20, DENALI, THE GREAT ONE

We're back. Sorry for our silence these last few days, we had no internet facility. 

This is just a brief posting to let you all know that we just completed the Denali part of our journey until I can post the more detailed  Denali Diary in a few days.

I cannot even begin to summarize in one sentence what our individual or joint impressions of these last five spectacular days are.  To say that they were magnificent would be either an understatement or a lie,maybe both.  The Denali Diary I will post later will be nothing more than a recounting of the schedule we kept, but it will give you a glimpse into how Denali warps both time and distance.  The photos I will post will offer little for you to appreciate the consummate beauty and breadth of this spectular park, home to the greatest mountain in North America.  If ever you have the chance to visit Denali, don't hesitate the seize the chance, as one young German woman named Stephanie did, and is a better person for it, as am I.

Although this is a short posting, I really do want to thank once again those readers who entered the Denali Drive Lottery for me, allowing my to experience this great nature once again.  

We are leaving Denali as I write this and will camp near Talkeetna tonight. Tomorrow I will drop off our new friend and travel partner Stephanie in Anchorage, where she will begin her long journey back to medical school in Germany.  Donner and I will then head south 1000 miles or so on the Alaskan Highway to Skagway, where on the 25th we will board the ferry Columbia for the five-day cruise to Seattle.  There I will decide how to get home.  I will try to stay current with my postings.

This trip is only half over as of today.  To be sure, the best part is behind me, but on these journeys, there is no such thing as a bad day if we are all safe at the end of it.

P.S.  Donner's world expanded enormously during this Denali part of our trip. He had no idea that there are so many smells  to catch his nose, so many dogs to keep out of our campsite, and so much canned salmon to consume.

The Defender did its part to get us where we wanted to go and back again.  In return, I cannot even begin to count the number of admirers it picked up on this part of our journey and certainly all 42 days.

The party in front of Denali.



Ed and Donner, from on the road
P.S...I apologize and take full responsibility for all typos, errors and ambiguities in this message.  I do not have time to edit or even proof my messages.  Please do the best you can to interpret what I wrote.
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Days 34-36, Sun.-Wed, Sept 11-14, Dalton HiwayARCTIC (turnaround time) Dalton Highway Diary


Just got internet for first time in days.
Just so everyone knows, Donner, Stef and I have just returned from an absolutely extraordinary adventure up the Dalton Highway and back. The three of us are safe, albeit cold and muddy, but not hungry. Our goal was to make to it just above 68 parallel beyond Atigun Pass to the spot where I scattered Sonntag's and Kessie's ashes in August 2001 at parallel 68.33. It was the same spot where In August 2000, the NG photographer took the photo of me and Sonntag heading into the tent in a snowstorm.








As some people know, that spot was a major turning point in my life, which is why I had to get there, but not by taking unnecessary risks.

Here is a diary of that absolutely extraordinary  adventure.

Sunday, 

Midnight. I picked Stefanie up at the  Fairbanks airport, just minutes from the Chena River Camp, where we spent the night without incident.

Monday 

Morning, up early, set up the Defender with a seat for Stefanie and loaded extra gear into Defender .  Defender has never been so packed with stuff, but everything fit neatly and Donner  adjusted nicely to his one bed.

Went shopping for supplies for the journey up the Dalton, which promised to be cold and muddy from the rain . We overstocked on food because Stefanie confessed that she is always hungry. Loaded up on extra cans of gas since gas stations are very far apart, like 250 miles in one case. remind me to tell you about 2013.

11:00 ...on the road to Dalton highway 80 miles north of Fairbanks.

12|:30...at last, on the Dalton, Ed for 4th time, Stefanie's and Donner's first time.  Rain made the road, very muddy.  There are only two ways to take Dalton, in dirt or mud, today we had mud. Stef played on the iPad North to Alaksa, although I reminded her that we were already in Alaska and there was not much more north left to go.

12.30.  I got out of the Defender, opened Stef's door, and said, you drive.  She is the first other person ever to drive the Defender.  I could not believe how skillful she was at driving it.  We split the drive from there on. I had never been a passenger in my own vehicle before. What a new experience.  

1:30 arrived Yukon River Cafe for gas and the most delicious Salmon burgers this side of the Yukon, maybe the other side too.

2:3O back on road.  Cold, rain.  Overcast.  Foggy.  This is the Dalton. You never know what you will get, so you make the most of what you have, and we did. While experiencing the Dalton on clear day is amazing, experiencing it on an overcast day is equally if not more intriguing.  The only more dramatic experience is to experience it in snow, which we were about to get.

6:30. Arrived at Arctic Circle . Snow on the ground already and in the air. Decided to bivouac there in a nice little campsite right there, despite the no camping sign.  Rain and heavy wind all night made for tough sleeping.  We poked our heads out of tent at 1:00 a.m. hoping to see northern lights but too overcast. Stef was worried  that the wind sounded like voices, just as I think I see evidence of civilization when I am driving, but what I see is trees and tundra in various shapes and colors. Once I see two tall yellow trees in the distance and mistook them for. MacDonalds. God help us.

Tuesday, 

up at 8 to Reveille from the iPad, no snow, but we heard reports of snow up and down the Dalton.  On the muddy, cold road by 9:30 to go as far as we can without taking unnecessary risks, hoping for the best. Puzzled, though,  why no trucks on road from the north.

11:00 arrived in Coldfoot for gas, and bowls of the most delicious Lentil soup north of the Yukon. Got cautious reports about the Dalton over Atigun Pass.  I was assured by someone that the snowplows were at work clearing it and that  we could make the pass in the Defender despite the snow there now.  

Noon...Got back on road at 12:00 .  Drove through Wiseman, a thriving community of hermits. Very odd place.  Very odd. On the road, Snow, not too bad.  Road drivable.

2:30 reached the very peak of Atigun pass around parallel 68.10, only 50 miles from our goal after 7552 miles of driving, at the point on the pass considered by many to be the most treacherous because it is the highest point, and therefore the coldest,  features both a sharp almost U-turn at the crest of the mountain and a long steep slope on its southern side, part of it without guard rails, as if they would do much good for a vehicle skidding into it. There was absolutely no problem climbing the pass in the Defender despite the light snow, until the last quarter mile or so. Then, the snow suddenly picked up to almost white-out conditions, the Defender's windshield started to freeze up instantaneously, and as we reached the top of the pass, a mysterious fog set it. Instead of proceeding on down slope to start our descent to the North Slope and our goal, just a few miles to the north, we stopped and got out of the Defender onto the cold, windy, snowy steep bluff. After discussing the risks of continuing, Stefanie and i both agreed that the last few miles would be risky, so, despite being just minutes away from our goal, we turned back, agreeing that the mission was an unqualified success, not in spite of but because of our decision.  

Without our knowing it, the cold that greeted us to the top of the pass turned the steep road into a sheet of ice. As soon as i turned the Defender around and started downhill, heading for the right side of the road so i could straddle the ditch on the way down, the now-icy road took control and sent the Defender skidding off to the right, fortunately the non-drop-off side, into the deep ditch that borders the road and the one foot of snow shoved there by the snow plows that had preceded us earlier in the day. The Defender was hung up on the sloped snow bank heading into the ditch. It was totally immobile, unable to move forward or in reverse. I put the Defender in low gear, turned on the air locker and locked both the front and rear differentials. I then tried to back up off the inclined bank but with no success. I then decided to straighten the front wheels and drive forward and drive into and through the ditch, hoping eventually to steer back onto the road, but straddling the shoulder and ditch to the give the tires some traction if the road was still icy. I had that much confidence in the Defender. It worked. After perhaps ten feet, the Defender emerged back onto the road. Stef was elated, and so was I, but I have no idea what Donner was thinking.

As soon as the Defender got back on the road, it found the road still completely icy and what happened before happened again and we slid right off into the snow banked ditch.  I repeated the extrication procedure again, and the same thing happened. And it happened again, and again, and again, five times altogether. I was trying to get the Defender below the ice line before haul-road trucks came barreling around the partially-blind turn at the top of the hill, but the dirt road concealed the ice, like black ice, only brown. One truck did fly by, fortunately in the center of the road, but the driver probably reasoned, smartly, that it was more dangerous for him to stop to help us. I understood entirely.

Only after that fifth attempt did the Defender find itself on just dirt and it held the road beautifully for the rest of the drive off the pass.

While this saga was going on, i assured Stefanie several times that everything was going to be alright, and i was sure it was going to be. The worst case scenario was to have to winch the Defender out of the ditch or put on the chains. Or even leave the Defender and set up camp on the crest of the hill until help arrived or i could extricate the Defender from its unwelcome parking place. We had to do none of that. The Defender came through nicely, although no other vehicle would have. 

Incidentally, i just had the front differential lock that got us out of this mess installed weeks before i embarked on this trip. Good thinking.

 5:30 made it back to Coldfoot for gas.

7:00 made it back to our cozy camp at Arctic Circle and set camp again there in the snow. Had a nice dinner on our cold wet veranda .... Hot vegetable soup, New England clam chowder, while Donner dined on his usual cans of a Salmon and rice.

10:00 pm in sleeping bags by 10:00 (Stef and Donner by 9).  Woke up at 1:00 am to see Northern lights, but nothing, too overcast.

Wednesdsy, 

8:00 Reveille. snowing.  Cold.  Defender took 15 turns to start.  Hmmm,.  But is started.  I can always count on it.

9:30 on the road to Fairbanks, 200 miles distant, 120 over Dalton. Overcast,  Snow, mud, cold, trucks, big trucks,  some really big trucks. I mean big. Lots of nature all around us, and lots of intrigue.  Ah, the Dalton in its fiercest costume.

11:30 We stopped for another  Salmonburger at Yukon River Cafe.  Better than Monday's.  Then headed south to the end of this Dalton Adventure. How sad. 

3:30.., reached end of Dalton Highway.  I turned to Stef and asked her that with the cold, mud, and everything else that spelled adventure whether she was glad she had accepted our invitation and the expression on her face told it all.  A big wide smile.

5:30 arrived at Chena River Wayside camp, where we stayed Sunday night, but it closed for the season one day early. Too cold, we were told.  Too cold?  Found refuge for the night in the pleasant RV camp down the road, where I had camped in 2000 and 2001. To Stef's delight, they had showers. To Donner's delight, he got four cans of salmon. To my delight, I achieved what i set  out to accomplish, with not a minute to spare.

One final comment . I have been on the road for for 36 days and have had some pretty darned exciting times.  But nothing comes close to the experience of what just happened.  As for our new travel partner, Stef, If I had been writing a novel, I could not have created a more perfect travel companion.  Who would have thought anyone could drive the Defender as well as she does?  Who would have thought anyone would be so bold as to even want to do what we just did? Who would have thought anyone existed who could tolerate Donner and me for 24 hours a day for so long?  I guess it took finding some 24-year old medical student from Germany to make those things happen.

Tomorrow we leave for five days into cold but beautiful Denali, after which the Defender gets pointed south to head home by way of Yosemite and all other places north in between.

There will be no postings for the next five days or so as we head into Denali as there is no internet.  Perhaps I will send sat phone location postings to learn how to use the sat phone.  Those postings will explain where we are. After we return from Denali, photos of Denali will flow.

Photo is of the three travelers at the Arctic Circle.  More photos to follow soon.

Ed and Donner, from on the road
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