I just spent an hour in my cold tent writing a profound posting for the blog and the iPad deleted it when I went to insert a URL. I don't have time to reconstruct it now, but will try during a break tomorrow. The bottom line is that after a wonderful drive of more than 350 miles on empty roads, we made it to Dawson City just before sunset. We are now camped right on the Yukon River across from Dawson City. Tomorrow we will take the Top of the World Hiway to Alaska and then on Monday, head up the Dalton Hiway beyond the Arctic Circle to my beloved Brooks Range. If I thought the scenery so far was out of this world, I have seen nothing yet compared to the Dalton and, of course, the reason for the trip, Denali. After that we head home, more than a month away, by way of the west coast Hiway, Yosemite, and the wide open road across the USA.
As I pulled up to the ferry ramp on the Yukon River, I checked my email and found a nice note from Stephanie, the young German woman I met with her friend Kyra in Jasper a week or so ago. She was wondering if anyone took me up on my invitation for one of my blog readers to join me on the Denali drives and if not, she asked could she come? No one had taken me up on my invitation, and of course she could join me, I answered before I lost internet. I caught the small ferry over the Yukon and set up camp, and after a few brief email exchanges with Stephanie giving her options, she emailed me back saying that she would be arriving at the Fairbanks airport at midnight on Sunday (two days later) so she could join me on the Dalton Highway to the Arctic too. That was it. A few short emails after a 10-minute meeting in Banff and Jasper on the highway and this young woman was about to join me for two weeks on an adventure that she would probably remember for the rest of her life. What a brave, adventurous woman she is. I don't think I ever met any woman that adventurous, even my uber- adventurous British friend Fiona I met in the outback decades ago.. Even my telling Stephanie that this trip would be cold, wet, muddy and probably dangerous did not deter her.
More to come tomorrow, time, battery and Internet permitting, and iPad not screwing up. Destination tomorrow, Alaska and Moon Lake camp on the Alaskan Highway.
Boy, is it cold here in this tent. And I am not even in Alaska yet, let alone the Arctic. Brrrr. Make that BRRRRR.
Photo shows the Defender enjoying the site of the Yukon at our cold campsite for the night.
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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