Last Days of Alaska
On Thursday morning we woke up to a flat mattress. It was the 19th of July. This had been going on for the last 10 days or so. There were close to 10 pathces in it at this point. It took me an hour to get out of bed. Our tent was over a small
The Denali Highway
After Denali National Park, our next stretch was The Denali Highway. This was slated to be the most desolate section yet. The road runs from Cantwell (about 35 miles south of the park) for 135 miles to Paxson. Most of it is moderately maintained dirt with a few sections of chip seal and asphalt. We
July Expenses
Here is a summary of our expenses for July. I won’t post these every month, but perhaps whenever we enter a new place and it seems interesting to do so. We were significantly above our initial budget, although Alaska and the Yukon are likely to be some of the most expensive places that we go
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
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
Setting Sail
After 3 weeks back in Detroit, we’re finally on the move in a way that is starting to seem real. We flew out at 6:30 Friday morning. After a not so unexpected late night of burning meat and celebratory beers we made it to the airport with just enough time to stand in the security
Logistics: Food
One of the most common questions we’re asked is “What are you going to eat?” Anybody that knows Soph and I knows that food is very important to us in terms of health and as a way to connect with others. The idea of being consigned to wangling our provisions from rural Alaskan gas stations
And God (Dan Gilbert) said “Let there be cornhole!”
This is literally just a bunch of pictures of various cornhole boards downtown. I like to imagine Uncle Dan taking a few hours off from being the Leviathan of Detroit to show up at a relative’s house that he doesn’t really like for a 4th of July party. At said party he notices that all
Hustling Harder
Sunday morning I had planned a bike ride with an old friend. This is one of my favorite past times in Detroit. We moved away about three years ago and things have changed. The city has filled in with feral hipsters and aging millennials who’ve adopted the David Beckham hairstyle as the last do they
Chris’ Spanish cheat sheet
A big goal of this trip is learning Spanish. We actually make a great team in communicating. Soph is much better at listening, and I am much better at talking. Imagine that. Combine our brains and we can actually get quite a bit done. I wanted to make a sheet with some of the more