The problem with being an optimist is that you are wrong probably half the time, despite your hard efforts. Let me explain.
As readers know, last Tuesday, after considering all options based on the information I had, some of which I now know was wrong (e.g., the Alaska ferry schedule), I decided to order a new engine to be shipped here to Whitehorse and wait for it be be installed here. With a firm delivery promise of eight days, and two days to install the engine, that would have put the engine here today, installed by Friday, just in time to catch the October 17 ferry from Skagway and move on before the snows come. However, that was not allowing any slack so I settled for catching the once-weekly October 24 ferry, in effect, the last one I would want to take, and I must take the ferry to Washington State and not drive.
Well, wondering what time the engine would be here today, we called UPS. they said, when we said eight days, we don't count weekends or holidays, and even though the engine was in the USA on Monday, Canada's Thanksgibing holiday, they apparently didn't count that day either. To make .matters worse, they plotted a path of 5300 miles from NY to Salt Lake City, then to Edmonton AB and finally to Whitehorse instead of the more direct route of 4000 miles in the north. So, as I write this, my engine, having traveled 2400 miles over 8 days, a pace slower than my own to get here even with my 19-day respite in Quebec, is still sitting in a warehouse in Salt Lake City Utah, with 2900 miles to go by the circuitous route UPS sent it on.
Because each week's delay costs me almost additional $2000 in expenses (car, room, gas, etc.) and involves more difficult driving conditions to get home, I simply must get the October 24th ferry out of here with the Defender running or not running, or fly out of here without the Defender and deal with it in the future.
There is one option I drove around town today exploring. If the engine weighs less that 350 pounds AND a qualified mechanic has certified that it is not dangerous cargo (in other words, all traces of gas used in testing have been purged), the uber-customer-service local Yukon Airline will fly it on its Monday evening flight from Edmonton to Whitehorse, and it would then go Travis at John's Auto for four days to install it, ample time for me to catch the October 24 ferry with time to spare, avoiding the likely problematic weather conditions on White Pass into Skagway.
I will deal with this kink in my plans like I have dealt with the others, figure out a solution, figure out how to avoid it in the future, snd move on. VINCERO, as Prince Calif would say.
In any event, I have my work cut out for me these next few days.
What I find interesting is that this trip has been full of big challenges day after day, all of which have been met with solutions, a positive frame of mind, and people willing to help. But the two times when that did not happen, big corporations were the obstacles, last night AT&T on a much lesser matter, and now UPS. The people in these companies are all hard working, good, well-intentioned people, but it's the corporate polices that frustrate them from helping people the way they would if they were doing this on their own. I know that because I see that excellent customer relations at work here in Whitehorse every day where the people are in effect the companies and what you get is nothing but total satisfaction from every inquiry you make. I had forgotten that that was the way it once was. Since I have been here in Whitehorse, I have yet to place a call and hear some robotic voice say, "Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed." In fact, I place very few calls. Instead, I drive a few blocks to the offices and deal with the people directly and get 100 percent customer satisfaction. I never left an office here once without getting my inquiry answered or directed to someone who could answer it.
Other than this, today was another splendid day in Whitehorse. Donner had his usual quota of walks, and I followed my new schedule closely. They say snow is coming on Friday, so I need to prepare for it.
Because I will have to divert my attention back to Plan A and more into Plan B, I may have to reach out to a few readers with a request for some help on three research tasks for my trip from Seattle south then west to DC to save myself some time. My guess is that each task will take three hours, time I would have to take away from, say, Donner's many well deserved walks. He has been a champ during this lay-over of more than two weeks already.
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