fbpx

Month: July 2018

The Teachings of John Juan

“Ok, you must be Chris.”  He was 30 minutes late, but it didn’t seem to bother him.  “So today we will be doing fish identification.”  Circa 2011 I had ended up working in the Virgin Islands on a government project.  I quit my job in the middle of the design phase and had agreed to Read More

Lessons from Alaska

I’m writing this as our first month on the road – and our time in Alaska – draws to a close. We are currently in Tok, a ‘town’ 90 miles from the Canadian border. Every place we’ve been to over the past four weeks has been so beautiful, it didn’t occur to either of us Read More

Denali

For reasons unknown to me, I regained feeling in my foot somewhere between the Toklat River and Polychrome Pass.  It had been cold, rainy, and gray for the last twenty four hours.  Ever since an incident in my late teens that involved underage drinking, the police, and a barefooted 1 mile sprint, my feet were Read More

Week 1: Homer to Denali

We’ve been moving for a week now.  It’s Monday, July 9th.  This morning we boarded a train from Anchorage to Denali.  It feels a bit strange to skip ahead this early in the trip, but the forecast is projecting 25-40 mph winds and hellatious rain over the next few days.  Riding and camping in that Read More

Bears are just introverts

More than at any other point in my life I have recently been asked what I am most afraid of. Fortunately, I’ve given the various ways I might expire a good deal of thought, so I am able to answer, merrily and without pause: “Bears!”. Having spent most of my life in England, where the Read More

Ferry Part II

I woke up at 3:00  in the morning on Wednesday, June 27th,  to go to the bathroom.  It was still light out.  When you’re this far north, the sun never really sets.  It dips below the horizon, but comes right back up.  At 5:30 the boat’s PA system announced that we would be able to Read More

Ferry Part I

We landed in Homer on Friday night, June 29th, around 8:30.  After the first few days on the boat, I was ready to get off, but by the time a week had passed it was starting to feel like home.  The gentle rocking from side to side coupled with the brisk ocean breeze and the Read More