6/3/92 at least for a few more minutes. About 35 miles south of Albany Oregon. Finally found some sleeping weather, the temps are in the mid fifties. Last night in the Sacramento Valley they were in the eighties at this hour. I still find it is easier to get warm then cool, you just can't take enough off.
     Took a short detour on a old overgrown logging road just south of Castle Crags. Managed to find a nice spot for a view of the crags and Mt Shasta. The mountain is still impressive this time of year with it's deep mantle of snow and glaciers. First caught sight of it's glistening summit from a little north of Red Bluff about eighty miles off. The first time I ever saw the mountain was from over two hundred miles away while sky diving in the early seventies.
     Finally started the journey Tuesday evening after taking the ferry to San Francisco and returning on BART. Took Patty with me and stopped by the US Geological Survey Office. Looking at the topographical map of Mt Sanford I don't see any way to make the summit without doing the glaciers. I don't think I have enough faith( or stupidity) to do the glaciers without a rope buddy. Maybe I'll get lucky and find somebody while I'm up there.

6/4 White River campground and the road to Sunrise are closed. Living in trailhead parking at White River campground. White River is a light chocolate milkshake laden with dirt from the swift glacial run off. Rainier has a much more snow than the last time I was here in September of 87. Mount Rainier National Park is a close second to Yosemite in my book. Definitely number two on my list, probably followed by the Grant Tetons. (we're talking National Parks).
     Temperatures are supposed to be in the forties tonight, maybe I'm moving north too fast. Dark around 9:30.

6/6 for 6/5 Late log entry got kind of blitzed last night. Took a 2.6 mile hike up two thousand feet to Sunrise. Wish they gave distances in time like the Swiss. 2 hours up 1 hour down, beautiful view of Rainier. The whole trail is constant uphill through a deep forest, part of the Wonderland trail that completely encircles the mountain. Saw two deer. Maybe my third favorite National Park is the Redwoods, Rainier's forests are almost as pretty. Took route 420 to Yakima the part near Rainier reminds me of Switzerland with the lush green, snow capped peaks and winding roads. Stopped at a bar called The Boondocks, met a guy named Joe who worked 5 years in Yosemite. Ended up drinking with him at his place until about two. Don't think his girlfriend appreciated it. He had to go to work at 4 AM and he made it, I sure couldn't have, getting too old.

6/6 Finally in Canada. Accidentally ended up going to Seattle from Ellensburg instead of up 97. Oh well no big deal. Immigration wanted to see the color of my money and customs took a quick look in my truck and camper. I declared the 30/30 a six pack of beer and two packs of cigarettes. Saw a sign advertising cigarettes at over $5 (Can) a pack, think I'm going to have to quit. Gas is about $.519 (Can) a liter. Got off the road and I'm between the road and the railroad tracks just past "Leaving Spuzzum Come Again". 1200 miles in four days.

6/7 Like their American cousins Canadian trains are lacking a caboose. The rails are busier, probably because of the rough terrain of British Columbia and the lack of freeways. Saw what looked like a marmot along the tracks, but I'm only at 500 feet of elevation.
     The road north from Hope follows the Fraser River Canyon. It has tunnels which remind me of Switzerland and rainbow bridges over gorges that rival Highway 1 and Big Sur. After Boston Bar the scenery becomes a little more desert with sparser forests and sage brush. North of Cache Creek the forests become fuller again and the terrain is more rolling with lightly snow capped peaks off in the distance. The roadside is dotted with little lakes and small settlements.
     Paid 53.9 for gas in Cache Creek with 10% off for American money. Got a real shock when I bought a six pack of beer and a pack of cigarettes in Quesnel, $14.20. It was $7.95 for the Bud brewed by Labatt. The Export A cigarettes must have been six something, not sure about taxes. Definitely have to quit both. Staying at Ten Mile Lake Provincial Park. ($9.50 a night). Usually wouldn't use a fee area but wanted to check out the park system. Besides it's Sunday and quit driving after seven or eight hours. Camped a little after six.

6/8 Prince George is a good sized city. The area around it reminds me of up state New York or Vermont with its lush green countryside and forests of evergreens, popular and birch. Don't think there are any maples around, haven't really looked that closely. The city is civilized and the women are definitely bi-pedal in locomotion. (lots of shorts and short dresses). Went to a bank and got Canadian dollars at about $.85 which is slightly better then the 10% off I've been getting at gas stations. Gas at Prince George is $.559/l and cigarettes $5.90. At the Post Office the closed windows have signs reading "Next Wicket Please". CBC Radio is mostly news and information and CBC TV reminds me of the Disney Channel. Most the small towns have highway signs telling you the frequencies of the local radio stations. They vary between one AM only to several FM stations. In some areas I haven't been able to find any TV or Radio.
     Prince George is on the Fraser River, but the river is much slower than down lower above Hope. The road BC-97 had come back or followed the river most the way. From Prince George the route climbs away from the Fraser River, over a pass down past some granite mountains and onto the eastern slope of the Rockies. By the time it reaches Dawson Creek the country side is rolling foothills or forested high plains. When the talk about the great north woods they must be talking about B.C. about the only gaps in the great forest are man made or fire damage.
     At mile 154 of the Alaska Canada Highway (Al-Can) my truck had an odometer birthday, it turned zero. I pulled over for the night and celebrated with a twelve pack of Bud I had picked up in Dawson Creek for a mere $17.95. Between the beer, cigarettes and gas this country is going to break me. Fill ups run about $75. Auto Propane is half the price of gasoline I wonder what kind of mileage a propane powered vehicle gets? I went to Dawson Creek because it is mile zero of the Al-Can but on the way back I think I'm either going to cut the corner at Fort St.John or try the other route from Watson Lake to Prince George.
     I though it took a long time to get across Texas, this is my third night in British Columbia, could be in the Yukon by tomorrow night (less than 500 miles to Watson Lake). Some of my staples such as milk are still semi-reasonable at Dawson Creek at about $2.40 for 2 liters( Extremely reasonable when compared to some places I have been such as Guam). White bread $.89 a 570 g loaf is definitely bearable.
     Averaging about 350 miles a day at 55 mph. The speed limit has usually been 90 kph (54 mph). Even in the states I only do 55 mph in 65 mph zones. Have come over half way and 2000 miles in 6 days. I diverted for almost 2 days to Rainier and Yakima. In the old days I used to do 3500 miles in a little over three days, but I'm not as young as I used to be and I'm in no hurry. Eight or ten hour days are better than 20 or 22. The road is starting to head back up into the mountains and I'm presently at about 3500 feet in the rain. It's a little after 11 PM, still dusk and the temperature is in the low 40's. (low 70's in the camper).

6/9 Rained all of last night and most of today. Only made it 278 miles today. Still have 11 days left so no real rush. Thought I was heading back into the mountains but it was only a pass. The road to Fort Nelson drops back into the forested marsh lands than after the city it climbs back up through some 4000 foot passes where there are actually some treeless mountains. Stopped at Dan's Neighborhood Pub at Fort Nelson and had a BUD ($4 plus tip). Business was slow so the barmaid and the waitress were washing windows. I believe that the barmaid was trying to tease me, and she did a good job of it. Don't believe anyone could unconsciously do such a provocative job of washing windows. They were a couple of beauties. I have seen quite a few good looking Canadian chicks. Really hated to limit myself to one beer.
     Saw a couple of cows today. One was crossing the road and the other was drinking from a nearby river. First time I have seen moose ala natural. Stopped at Muncho Lake Provincial Park for the night at a litter basket. Took a 2 hour after dinner hike. 45 minutes along some gravel roads and the rest back cross country. Did a good job of navigating, hit back at Free Bird exactly. (decided to name the rig since it turned zero. Was thinking of Motorized Shopping Cart or Prairie Schooner). Looks like the Glaciers haven't been out of the area for more than a few thousand years. There is a lot of small boulder moraine that the vegetation is just getting a start on. You can easily see where there was hundreds of feet of ice not that long ago.
     It's after 11:30 PM and the orange isn't quite out of the sunset yet. Saw a lot of moose signs on my hike. A whole lot of moose shit everywhere and a lot of eaten trees. The area is recovering from a severe fire and except for scattered dead trees there isn't anything over 30 feet tall. The moose seem to like the lower branches and bark from pines that range from 10 to 20 feet. At first I thought the males were scrapping the bark with their horns while eating but closer examination showed the bark was chewed off starting a few feet from the ground and extending for a couple of feet. The tips of lower branches around a quarter inch in diameter also seem to be popular as well as some non pine branches about the same size. I always though moose grazed on grasses, evidently they eat trees.
     Midnight temperature 38 degrees. Daytime high was about 48. Having trouble with the heater, it keeps going out. Still not bad in the camper (low 60's).

6/10 I decided I'd eaten enough dirt for the day. Off the road by 8 PM at Teslin Lake Campground. Decided to give a Yukon Park a try, cheaper than the one in BC, this one is only $8 a night (Up to $50 fine for failure to register). Some bad road since Fort Nelson at one point the AlCan turned into a one lane mud road. From Fort Nelson to Watson Lake the speed limit dropped from 90 to 80 and became more and more winding with broken pavement and gravel. After Watson Lake and the start of the Yukon Territory it went back to 90 kph and the road was good for a little while until it went terrible with a lot of gravel and construction work. The dust plumes were choking and visibility was poor. Last time I was in New York they were complaining about a law that was just passed which requires you to turn on your headlights if you turn on your windshield wipers. In the Yukon it's the law that you always have your headlights on. Sometimes the gravel surface was in good enough shape that you could do 80 or 90 on it, and at others you were spinning you wheels in mud to keep going. The propaganda the State of Alaska sent me claimed the road was completely paved, maybe at one time but winters are rough and constant maintenance is required. They are also improving sections which is no improvement while they're doing it.
     One place I need to avoid on the way back is Fireside which is south of Watson Lake (bought $20 worth of gas to make it to Iron Creek at only $.849/l). Except for one other place where I spent $.68/l gas has been under .60/l. In the States gas prices always end in a point nine, here they vary tenths between stations instead of full cents and in many multi-station towns all prices charge the same (collusion?)
     British Columbia was a welcome green change from California which is already turned its summer yellow, but I was starting to get tired of the constant forest except for the two Provincial parks which finally showed some rock and snow. The Yukon has been a little more my style with snow capped peaks always looming nearby. The forests are still thick and rich on the lower slopes but seem to be more coniferous and an overall darker green. The lakes are still plentiful and the Teslin is a particularly large one. When I pulled in the temperature was in the high 60's.
     One thing nice about Canadian Parks is free firewood, but don't get caught taking any out of the park. At ten mile lake it was split, at Teslin it isn't. I need to carry a small ax. I'm smoking like a fiend. The last pack was $5 but the two before that were a little higher. ($7.50 and $8.00). They have something ( I believe national) called G.S.T. which is similar to our sales tax. It is usually included in the price which is nice but applies even more broadly than our sales tax to even include services. They still have the same problem as California now has with which foods or snacks are or are not taxable. Drinking Molsons Canadian Lager because the last place I bought beer didn't have any American labels. The 12 pack I bought in Dawson Creek lasted me until this afternoon. I've got a little over a hundred miles to get to Whitehorse the Territorial capital of the Yukon ( A city of 20,000 which is huge compared to what I'm used to lately). From there only about 300 miles to the Alaska border.
     Just watched the sun sink below the low horizon at the end of the lake. It was 11:12 PM PDT and my compass reported its demise due west. I imagine it should be rising not far from where it set within four hours. It's hard to tell direction up here. You can't face east for the sunrise and west for the sunset. The magnetic declination is probably horrendous so you can't depend on a compass (the declination is not even given on my Alaska topos). There is a third quarter moon that should be full by the time I'm inside the circle. I wonder if it also fails to set like the sun will. At that time sunrise and sunset will be at the same time and in the same position in the heavens.

6/11 A short day of about 250 miles. Only drove about 5 or 6 hours with a couple hour lay over at Whitehorse. Haven't seen so much civilization since Prince George. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory and has a population of 20 thousand (Prince George about 60 or 80K). At the government run liquor store Bud was $13.60 a twelve pack and the cigarettes around town ran $4.99 a twenty five pack. Stopped at the Roadhouse Saloon and enjoyed the rustic atmosphere (Bud $3.25 a bottle (3) + $1.25 tip). The place had a pool table but what I liked was the old thick plank floors, which definitely weren't in any shape for dancing, and the old movie posters. Most the movies were from the forties or fifties and they were all based on Jack London stories. They even had a new one for Disney's White Fang. Did some grocery shopping which included a cross rib roast for jerking. ($5.49/kg which is about the same as the bay area if not cheaper).
     Although the Yukon had shown bare and snow covered mountains that I hadn't really seen much of in British Columbia most of them are probably going to be very light in snow on my way back in September. Out of Whitehorse and heading for Haines Junction I finally got to see some of what I really consider mountains (If an earthly protuberance doesn't have snow on it year round I consider it less than a real mountain). At Haines Junction the AlCan turns north and follows the eastern slope of the St. Elias Mountains. The eastern slope is about 6000 feet above the 2000 foot road and definitely has east facing glaciers. In a gap you can see a couple of the ice field mountains which are twice as high as the ridge along the Alcan. Like the Sierras most of the snow is dropped off the Pacific on the west facing slopes. The St Elias is the highest mountain range in Canada and include 19,524 foot Mt. Logan (highest point in Canada). They also contain the largest alpine ice fields in the world. I can guarantee there will never be a road through them except maybe in some far fetched science fiction future. Wrangells - St Elias National Park in Alaska continues down the range as Kluane National Park in Canada. I would like to do some climbing in them except I wont do it without a rope partner because of the glaciers and ice fields.
     I Stopped for the night about halfway up Kluane Lake which is about 50 miles long. The lake used to drain south a few hundred miles to the Gulf of Alaska until a recent glacier cut off that route. Even though the glacier has receded it now drains into the Yukon and takes over ten times as far to reach the Bearing Sea. I saw a sign with nothing but a beaver on it. I had seen one or two similar signs back down the road and wondered what they meant, I assumed it meant a trail head. I followed a small rocky road up a glacial moraine until it dead ended a few miles off the Alcan. The moraine is hundreds of yards wide but the river is just fast moving rivulets of mud. Not having a topographical map of the area I would name it the chocolate river because it's the color of milk chocolate. At one point I had a choice and picked the road on top of a levee of moraine. Turned out to be a mistake because the river had cut away the levee and I had to back up for half a mile and take the low road more to the side of the moraine (just wasn't wide enough to turn around and besides was a little hairy in spots).
     My race against the sun to summer is doing pretty good, 2900 miles in nine days with nine days left and only about six or seven hundred miles to go. I hope there is nothing wrong with the pipeline road above Fairbanks or I'm going to have to divert a couple of days back into Canada and go up the Dempster Highway towards Inuvik to get inside the circle. I'm planning on wasting a day tomorrow and following the moraine up on foot through a mountain gap I can see. Hopefully there is still a glacier this moraine came from. It's after eleven as the sun is setting. I doesn't really get dark anymore, just twilight. I've been trying to shift my internal clock so I can be up at sunset and sunrise. Time for dinner. For some reason I get CBC TV on channel 13 real good here, I don't know why but Newharts on.

6/12-13 After over 3000 miles, over 10 days and under 1000 dollars I finally reached the Alaska Frontier. The sun set at midnight but that was California time. It was only eleven O'clock Alaska time and if you take off for daylight savings only ten O'clock. It's presently 2 AM ADT and the sky still has the glow of sunset or maybe sunrise, the glow is pretty much continuous so it's hard to tell. Stopped in the Husky Lounge in Tok, some nice looking women around, and a few so so. ($2.75 a Michelob). The next store liquor store was a definite improvement over Canadian prices. (cigs $2.50, Bud $5.25 a six, and Mich $5.85 a six).
     The road north of Kluane Lake to the border was in terrible shape with a recommended limit of 70 kph, and that's if you're lucky. The highway in Alaska is a joy with a limit of 55 mph which is easily manageable. The American customs was a piece of cake. They took my drivers license and waved me through in about five minutes with minimal questions. Presently a little past Tok watching all night TV on the Alaskan Satellite Project. Still don't understand how you can see a geostationary satellite this far north. Last night CBC went off the air at 2 AM. Canada reminds me of the US when I was a kid. A little more old fashioned and laid back.
     I went 2 hours up the Chocolate River this morning and took an hour and a half getting back. I only gained 600 feet in elevation so I figure the river must go back farther then I thought to get to its source. I did get to where I could see a heavily snow capped peak and passed a couple of snow fed tributaries draining out of rocky side basins. When I could I stayed in the moraine but occasionally I had to climb in the steep forest. There were some areas which had one to two foot deep moss which felt weird climbing on. An ice ax helped on the times I had to leave the river bed it isn't just for snow and ice. The detours were so time consuming I began fording the braided riverlets. They were about knee deep and fast. The ice ax came in handy again on the downstream side to help probe and reinforce my footing. The river kept trying to wash out the rocks and gravel under my feet but the wettest I got was too my crouch. After my feet became soaked I decided to turn around. The temperature was in the sixties so I wasn't worried about hypothermia but wet feet are soft and blister easily.
     At Kluane Lake I stayed up until five in the morning and the sun hadn't risen yet. I looked like it was trying to behind a low ridge of mountains at about 45 degrees to the right of where it set. Even if the sun was down for five or six hours it was not very low below the horizon because darkness didn't fall.

6/14 I don't know why Oprah has hunks from Alaska looking for women on TV, from what I've seen a Chief Charlie's, Fairbanks is a regular meat market. First evening in town and I've been to a quite bar (Flannigans) a stripper joint (Reflections ($2 cover)) and a meat market (Chief Charlie's). The bars close at 4:30 or so and open again around 6 or 8. (no wonder Alaska has the highest alcohol/person consumption rate in the nation. I also imagine the long dark winters have something to do with it.
     Woke up with the closing of Reflections, drove about 20 miles south towards Denali and slept some more. The road to Livengood is so so. Livengood is just a highway maintenance facility and a couple of shacks. I'm about 80 miles north of Fairbanks and wasn't sure about gas since I've started my second tank. A Fairbanker who asked for air for a leaking tire at the Livengood Maintenance Facility and was told to buzz off told me there was gas at the Yukon River. I let him use my little compressor for his tire. The last sign I had seen had said no services for 110 miles but I wasn't sure if they meant on Alaska 2 or the Dalton Highway. I went up far enough to see that the Arctic Circle is 126 miles. Got rained on a little today for the first time since B.C. around Fort Nelson.
     Called Jr from Fairbanks for his birthday earlier today, also apologized for not calling my father for fathers day next Sunday. Gave Aunt Helen "It used to be said that the sun never sets on the British Empire, but for at least one day in my life the sun isn't going to set on me. Put my watch away, but had to pull it out to check the time because I have no idea of the time (12:15 PM). skeeters are hanging outside of my screen door, haven't really ad any problem with them, but than again haven't been hanging outside much. Only put repellent on once during an oil change. Usually if I'm out doing things they're not around or I'm moving around enough that they don't catch up with me much. They vary by time of day, come out more at what's supposed to be night time (actually when it cools, presently mid 50's). Of course also depends on near by water around.
     I think Livengood is anti-social because they're sitting on a gold mine. All I've heard for hours is a constant engine, probably a dredge on Livengood Creek. Haven't had a chance to pan yet but I hope to inside the circle as well as other places.

6/15 I have reached the end of my road. From this point on travel is restricted by permit only. After almost exactly thirteen days and over 3700 miles, I am 97 miles inside the arctic circle.
     The Dalton Highway, although not paved, is faster than some parts of the Alcan in Canada. The speed limit is 50 mph and you can actually do it or better some of the time. At others 40 or 45 is comfortable. Most roads I've been on announce steep grades of 6 or 7% on the Dalton they're 10 or 12%. The nearest settlement is Cold Foot which is 36 miles south. Paid $1.750/gal for gas at the Yukon, but they have you by the short hairs because the nearest other gas is either 111 miles south or 120 miles north. It would have been nice to get to the arctic ocean (225 miles to Prudoe Bay) but I didn't try for a permit and I hear the road really goes to pot above where I'm at. I also think you have to have legitimate business to get a permit.

6/16 I was very impressed when I first entered Alaska by the beautiful glacier capped mountain ranges. The St Elias - Wrangells continued the ice field mountains into Alaska and the Alaska range continued where they left off. There is basically a huge high white ridge of mountains that separates interior Alaska from the sea. From Fairbanks I could see some extremely glaciated peaks, but I don't think I've seen Denali yet. I expected the area around the Yukon, and especially extending north from there, to be marshy arctic tundra but instead it was heavily forested rolling mountains. About 20 miles below the Arctic Circle the forests thinned out and sparsely vegetated open land became more prevalent. I thought I was starting to get above the tree line in latitude, but here I am over a hundred miles north of there and there are still plenty of trees.
     The Brooks Range is the northern most in Alaska. About 40 miles north of me there is a pass over 4000 feet which leads to the north slope and down to the Arctic Ocean. There are some peaks in the range that reach over 9000 feet but the ones around me appear to be in the area of 5 or 6 thousand, if that. Due to a combination of high latitude and high elevation the trees don't reach the tops. The ones that are soil to the top don't have trees but rather green grasses and short vegetation at their acme. Some of the rocky summits have small amounts of snow clinging in narrow vertical chutes. Even though hundreds of miles farther north then the Alaska Range the Brooks aren't even half as tall and are farther from the heavy snows of the Gulf Of Alaska. I don't imagine nearly as much snow reaches them from the colder Arctic Ocean. This area seems to always be at least partly cloudy with rain showers. Probably because of the confrontation between the warmer air of the interior and the Arctic air from the north. Temperatures have been in the low 60's today.
     Started watching the sun at midnight last night. It bounced along the northern horizon from west to east for an hour and set behind a mountain at about 1:15 and when I went to sleep at 3 it hadn't reappeared yet. I don't think I'll see 24 hours of sun here because the mountains are in the way. If I move south to diminish the effect of the mountains on the horizon I'll probably drop below the circle. I would like to get up into the pass up the road but I don't have the permit to travel it, although there doesn't appear to be a check point just a sign.
     Walked down about 3/8th mile to the Middle Fork of the Koyukuk River. Walked under the pipeline, the address of the creek I'm on is 1063603 (each support structure has an unique distance sequenced number on it). The sections are connected with a plastic boot and the supports have some kind of radiators on them. The river looks possibly fordable, or swimmable if it's too swift and you get knocked off your feet. Would have liked to see the rivers a month or two ago. The beds are huge and show recent erosion although now there are only shallow swift remnants of the river in its glory. The color is cloudy but not as bad as my stream which is spewing darker richer mud into the river. Found what I believe are bear tracks down in the mud by the river. Either that or a barefoot man with size 14 feet who walks on the balls of his feet and has long toenails. Also found what I are either wolf tracks or that of a large dog. The woods are full of moose shit. I'm wearing a Bowie knife but really don't feel like carrying the 30/30. The Bowie is just for committing Hari Kari if I run into a pissed off bear.

6/18 Broke down and came to Cold Foot last night. closed the only bar in town at eleven. Managed a hangover at five when I woke up this morning. Not bad for only four hours drinking. Met a guy named Pete who is a Fairbanks native. He's washing dishes at the Cafe for $6/hr plus room and board. Beers were $2.50 a can and managed to help drink them out of Bud. I had to switch to Coors for the last couple. Pete told me that the north shore oil field are drying up, I thought they were still going strong and expected to continue strong for years to come. The radiators on the pipeline supports are to keep them cool so they don't melt the perma frost. The reason the pipeline takes weird zig zags at times is also because of the unstable earth. There were a few women in the bar last night, highway maintenance workers I presume, I've seen quite a few of them as flagmen and still others operating heavy equipment.
     Pete said that Eagle Summit on the Stresse Highway was a party spot for the solstice. It's a considerable distance below the circle but unless I get to the north slope and the weather improves I wont be seeing the 24 hour sun anyway.

6/19 Picked up a hitchhiker, David, at Cold Foot and gave him a ride to Fairbanks (257 miles). He's canoeing down the Yukon and left his canoe at the Dalton Highway crossing. He started last year at Whitehorse and wintered in one of the villages. He had been climbing around in the Brooks Range. He's a 25 year old kid from Massachusetts and has already hiked the entire Pacific Crest Trail and some of the Appalachian. His guitar fell off a cliff so he wanted to go to Fairbanks to buy a new one. I decided I had seen enough rain and I wasn't going to see what I wanted anyway. Yukon Dave was heavy into music and he told me something I hadn't realized about the Allman Brothers Band, that was that the Eat A Peach album (which included a painting of a peach truck on the cover) was released after Duanne Allman had died by running his motor cycle into a peach truck. Talk about poor taste exploitation.
     Checked out The Badger Den that Pete had told me about (between Fairbanks and North Pole next to Fort Wainwright) Also hit the Comet Club (for the second time, $2 Buds) and Flannagans($3 Mich's). Got blitzed and blew about $40. Slept in the Bently Mall parking lot again(the Safeway is open 24 hours). Was out by around nine o'clock, I think. Down $1400 in 17 days, half or more on gas. I need to slow down my spending. Heard somebody outside in the parking lot saying my vehicle had been to the Arctic because the mud all over the back isn't the type around Fairbanks. He went around to the front and announced California. My back plate and taillights are not discernible through the heavy coating of dirt. It had been raining all the way down to Fairbanks while I was gone and the roads getting back had been very muddy and slippery in some places. The people I had been talking to at the Badger Inn confirmed that it's almost always raining in the Brooks Range. I finally rolled out of the vehicle at noon, still hurting slightly.
     Richard the bartender at the Badger Inn or his co-worker (name unknown to me) told me the reason they don't sell any beer to go at Cold Foot is because of the villages. The native villages have voted to be dry and they don't want you bringing beer into them. I was told you can get a very good price for it but god help you if you get caught. They have a sign at the bar in the Arctic Acres Inn saying no alcohol beyond this point. I was also told they don't sell cigarettes at the Yukon crossing because the owners are some kind of fundamentalist that don't believe in them.
     Found an area of town that has half a dozen or more ball fields, some picnic areas and a trailer sanitary dump with a source of potable water. It's near the home field of the Alaska Goldpanners (semi-pro baseball), a large community center and the Fairbanks Curling Center. I had seen several other indoor curling rings in Canada and Alaska, they seem to be popular in the north country. A short way down the road is Alaskaland which I assume is some kind of amusement park.
     Picked up some more topographical maps of the Wrangells-St. Elias area at the Federal Building. They included a couple of more 16000 foot peaks with plenty of crevasses in the glaciers. The only rock routes that go near the summits are too steep for ice and snow to accumulate which make them not much better then chancing the glaciers which still have to be dealt with at the very tops. I still think my only hope is going to be to run into somebody in the area.

6/20 2 AM Blitzed again sitting behind the Comet Club, believe this is my Fairbanks bar, cheapest bar I've found and real people. The bar closes at 2 and I'll never get used to stumbling out of a bar at closing time in the daylight. The consensus at the Comet Club was "Lose the Bowie Knife this is Alaska". The best idea is a 44 Mag Pistol with a belly or shoulder harness, easily accessible. If a grisly gets a hold of you he will turn you over on your back and go for your belly. You don't want anything on your back you can't get to such as a slung riffle. They can cover 40 yards on a charge in just a few seconds and are amazingly quick on the attack. The odds of an attack are slim but increase with the amount of salmon in the rivers (which increases the number of bears and varies by the season, of course they take longer to get farther from the ocean). The bears will sometimes lay up above the snow level to get away from the mosquitoes and other bugs. Black bear attacks are usually more fatal where a grisly will often maul you until you wished you had died. The Wrangells-St. Elias area is dangerous because the rivers are close to the sea and salmon. I was also warned that a female moose with a calf is more dangerous than a female bear with a cub. Another bit of information I picked up was a bear likes to have it's prey make noise when it's mauling it. Personally I believe there is much less a chance of a bear attack then falling into a crevasse while traveling alone on a glacier. It was recommended that before I hike in an area I should definitely inquire about the bear situation. It was also been pointed out to me that a 30/30 isn't the most effective bear or moose riffle. One bright point is there is no waiting period to buy a gun including a pistol, but then again I'd have the problem with Canada going south if I picked up a hand gun.
     I bought a pair of Golden Days suspenders from a extremely large busted woman called Ricki (actual name is Ricarla). She is the manager at the nearby Regency Hotel but during the 2 weeks of Golden Days she dresses up as an 1800's dance hall girl and is known as Miss Ricki. During that period they go around with a traveling cage and arrest you if you are not wearing a Golden Days button. They'll take you from a bar, a public street or even your job site. It is supposedly a party time during the two weeks and includes a parade and other festivities. This year it runs from July 10th till the 24th. I might hang around the area until then. The celebration is in honor of the man who discovered gold at Fairbanks. I had always heard of the discovery at Nome and the Klondike but hadn't realized that Fairbanks was also involved with the Alaskan gold rush. One of these days I'll get around to putting my gold pan to use.
     Like most of my life, my social life seems to be revolving around the bars, which is very common in this north country. I had been told by one of the bar dwellers that it's either in the lower 48 or the Anchorage area that one out of ten cars on the road after working hours is being piloted by a drunk driver. In the Fairbanks area it's one out of three anytime of the day. The legal limit is .10 and the cops are starting to come down hard like everywhere else in the country. One guy told me that the Canadians wouldn't let him cross out of Alaska because he had picked up a DUI.
     I'm presently on the Chatanika River about 60 miles northeast of Fairbanks going towards the dead end at Circle on Alaska 6. I was going to stop at Eagle Summit tonight for the summer solstice but it is presently overcast and raining and I might just stay here tonight. The road was paved for about 45 miles but its dirt and gravel from here on out and I just got some of the mud and dirt off my ass end. It has been raining hard enough to do more than just settle the dust.
     About 7 PM the sky is clearing and the temperature is up from the low fifties to about sixty. I'm drinking up the last of my beer and smoking my last cigarettes. Still think I'll stay here tonight the hell with Eagle Summit. I really want to get free of drugs and do some real soul searching and find a direction for my life. I miss the nine months of sobriety I had managed to achieve and the six months I once made it without cigarettes. The sobriety period was somewhat of a farce because within a month I had substituted grass for the booze. I would still like to be free of all of it, but I don't want to become a religious fanatic to do it. I had started to gain a faith but lost it when I fell off the wagon in March. Faith pretty much goes against logic which I have lived by most of my life. I wish I didn't have such a addictive or habitual type personality. I still have pre-school habits I wish I could break (buggers for example).
     Since I've been up here the people I've told I'm into climbing have been warning me against McKinley, the mountain has been taking quite a few lives this year, most of them experienced climbers. I doubt I'd be in any shape to attempt angels twenty but I still have to see the mountain as close up as possible (the roof of North America). I like the lush green of the Fairbanks area but I'm really looking forward to when I get down to the high mountains, then watch me waste a bunch of film.

6/22 Forget hiking towards 12 mile summit, it's 40 degrees, raining and the wind is blowing hard. Good hypothermia weather. At least the wind blew away all the hordes of little vampires that have been hanging around my windows. Ran out of propane and the heater died about 7 AM, I waited until I was down out of the wind before I changed tanks (Fairbanks price $10 versus about 6 or 7 in Vallejo). The clouds at the 86 mile pass were just above road level and when I got to Eagle Summit (mile 108) it was in the clouds with very limited visibility so I didn't bother stopping. My ankles are driving me crazy and the little varmints also managed to get me around my knees and ass. If you wear enough layers of clothing that they can't get through you usually sweat to death, but not today.
     I made it to Circle City on the Yukon, 160 miles from Fairbanks, at about 10:30 AM. The road narrowed and became slower at Central, about 34 miles short of Circle City ( where gas is $1.60/gal, I bought $20 worth and a six pack of Michelob and (2) packs of Marlboro cost me over $13). Most the road was a speed limit of 50 but I prefer doing 45 mph. After Central I kept it to between 25 and 35 depending on road conditions. Central has a roadside park with the sign "Welcome To Central Park". There is a cut off at Central that goes to Circle Hot Springs. I had to pass a grader who had done one side of the road which left me driving with a row of dirt under the middle of the truck. Luckily I had enough clearance. Most the time you drive in the middle of the road if it's narrow or with you drivers wheel in the driver wheel rut of on coming traffic if the road is wider. You only get in your lane near the shoulder for on coming traffic.
     I still haven't seen a bear yet but I'm not complaining. I watched a Nature show on PBS last night about the grizzlies which claimed they are not as vicious as sometimes portrayed but they aren't teddy bears either. The one thing you don't do with a bear is run because if you do you then become the prey. You are supposed to walk calmly away keeping your eyes on them. About the only time you are usually in danger is if you surprise one or come across one of their food larders( They bury left over prey for latter). It is recommended that you clap your hands, sing or make some kind of noise as you are traveling through the woods. I've got that covered I talk to myself a lot. You aren't supposed to approach them or they may think you are challenging them. I've heard of wounded bears circling back into camp latter to attack their assailants. One of the guys at The Comet Club told me you always carry six shots, five for the bear and one for yourself.

6/23 It was chilly yesterday except down by the Yukon, presently it's 1:30 AM and the temperature is in the low 30's. I am going to hate to see what happens to the night time temperatures when it starts getting dark. Took an evening sleep a few miles east of the 66 mile house. Today I have to get some things done in Fairbanks, such as laundry and grocery shopping. I also want to get my bicycle in shape and ride around downtown. I hate driving the truck around downtown areas.
     I walked around checking out the area when it was still crisp and the mosquitoes weren't out. It turns out I'm where Faith Creek empties into the Chatanika River. There are short roads on either side of the Streese Highway (pronounced similar to geese) on the east side of the bridge over the creek. They are both deserted and go a short distance before they end at the creek. I wanted to make sure I wasn't on somebody’s doorstep. There was a slight glimmer of ice on the beaver ponds nestled near the water junction. The beavers had been busy, they had constructed three dams I found as well as cutting down half the forest in the area. It looks like they hung it up at the whistle yesterday, there was a twenty five foot tall poplar only half chewed through. About the largest they were taking were five or six inches in diameter. I had to cross over one of the dams, I wonder if anyone has ever been attacked by a hungry beaver, besides at one of the local bars such as Chief Charlies.
     I was done with my walk by the time the sun crested the nearby hill at five. I still wish I could see the sun make its west to east transition across the northern horizon, but I'm too cheap to fly to Barrow. It should have done it when I was inside the circle up on the Koyukuk River but the Brooks Range was in the way. The midnight sun will just have to do. Ardean, a girl at The Comet Club, told me that one of the back alley winos downtown had asked her the time. When she replied ten o'clock he asked "day or night". It's pretty hard to tell the difference even sober.
     I finally stopped at the pipeline display just north of Fairbanks to read the information provided (4th time by it). The support structure address was 2376041. They explain how the oil out of the ground is about 150 to 180 F and how they have to worry about melting the permafrost which most the pipeline is constructed on. Over half of the 800 mile length from Prudoe Bay to Valdez is buried and where it isn't feasible because of the soil and permafrost it is supported above ground. The pipeline is four feet in diameter, not continuing insulation and when full holds 9 million barrels of oil. Constructed between 1974 and 1977 it took well over a month to initially fill. The radiators I had been observing work on the same principal as the refrigerator in my camper. There is anhydrous ammonia in the support columns which vaporizes with the heat and then cools and radiates it's heat through the aluminum cooling fins. When it's buried it's buried with zinc ribbon which oxidizes before the half inch steel pipe and helps prolong it's lifetime. Because over highway and animal crossings it is sometimes buried in places where there isn't stable ground, in these cases, especially in the southern area, refrigeration is provided to protect the fragile permafrost. The occasional zig zag pattern above ground is to help handle the extreme expansion and contraction which occurs in the -80 to +80 F temperatures and each support allows the pipeline to move left or right six feet.
     I ran amok in the downtown area this afternoon. Hit the Midnight Mine, Elbow Room, Polaris Lounge, Savoy, Cottage Bar, and the Mecca Bar. I even dropped about $10 on a round for some bar hogs, and there was only one semi good looking big mouthed one I was even remotely interested in. After taking a several hour nap I'm ready to go again, I'm getting as bad as the Romans used to be. I finally found where the villagers drink that being the Savoy, Cottage and Mecca.
     My second wind isn't as good as it used to be, retiring for the evening at 4 AM, besides Cheap Charlies was dying (found out it wasn't Chief Charlies). I spent a few hours at the Reflections checking out bearded clams. Dam I could use a woman, but I don't trust the easy market in these times. A nice looking babe asked me to dance at Cheap Charlies but wasn't too impressed with the fact I haven't danced in a whole bunch of years. I just don't know how to twirl them around. Oh well a piece of ass would have been nice but I think I'm looking for more, but not yet.

6/25 The clouds dropped to less than a thousand feet overhead and it rained lightly last night with the temperature around 40. I'm at a little over two thousand feet and I was planning on climbing a couple thousand feet up to the top of a nearby green treeless ridge to check out the view. Unfortunately it's still in the forties and the clouds haven't lifted much. There's no point in climbing because there wouldn't be any kind of view. I'm willing to spend a week here waiting for the weather to improve, the Alaska Range is notorious for prolonged bad weather. Climbers on McKinley have been trapped for weeks at a time.
     It seems that the clouds raise up in the early afternoon. It looks like that by about 6 PM the clouds are up over 6 or 8 thousand feet, which does me very little good when my photo target is over 20,000 feet. This cloud level is very similar to what I saw last evening when I arrived, but I need better to see the real mountains (as well as doing a bit of climbing).

6/26 I climbed the nearby ridge which wasn't as nearby as I thought it was. Everything seems larger up here when you try to hike or climb it. What I had thought would have been about 2 hours and 2 thousand feet of elevation turned out to be 3 1/2 hours and 2400 feet (6 hour total). At 4700 feet I could see that I was surrounded by snow capped mountains, with some higher ones off to the east and west. I still either couldn't see, or didn't recognize McKinley. How do you hide a twenty thousand foot mountain?
     This time of the year the bears our out and they're hungry, they're always hungry. The salmon aren't this far up the rivers yet and the blueberries aren't even close to ripe. The bears live on ground squirrels, moose calves and an occasional hiker who lucks by at the right time. In the sparse forest, which creeps up from the valley floor, I found two herbivore skulls, less antlers and lower jaw. Once I got above the spruce into open grasslands and deciduous trees lining small washes I found where a bear had rendered the earth with its hind feet while digging in for traction up the steep slope. At one thicket I smells something foul and changed my route to avoid the area. I wondered how far I had to get up the ridge to get above bear country and was answered when I reached the summit. About 100 feet below the top I found half the upper leg, knee and lower leg of a of animal. The fur remained from half way down the lower leg to the cloven hoof. I guess hooves aren't good eating. On the highest point of the ridge I found a chewed antler. I could just see a big grisly sitting in a patch of wild flowers, picking his teeth with the antler and surveying his domain. The kill must have been from last year because they are just starting to grow this years antlers, but none the less a I almost got laryngitis on the trip down. There is no way I'm going to accidentally surprise a bear, he can hear this idiot babbling to himself a mile off.

6/28 On the fourth day I didn't have to go looking for McKinley it found me. I looked out the window of the camper and it was there, at least most of it. It was in the direction I had decided it had to be. I climbed up the small dirt road to the top of the hill for an unobstructed view. It wasn't on the ridge I expected it to be on, it was the ridge. Eighty five miles away and eighteen thousand feet above me it's summit was still partially masked by clouds. I sat for over an hour but the summit skirted in and out of the clouds never completely visible. At times I believe I was able to see the true summit and part of the eighteen thousand foot Denali Pass. With my telescope on it's lowest power (15X) I could clearly see the massive amounts of snow and ice covering most of the mountain. It's definitely one bad mountain.
     It's a little after ten and the sun is setting behind the nearby ridge. It was a beautiful day with the high around 80, mostly a high clear blue sky with a light wind. The temperature is still 70 and the mosquitoes are out. They haven't been bad around here at all especially during the day when there are more flies than skeeters but overall not much trouble with bugs like in the Brooks Range. Another improvement is that the nearby creek is clear cold and drinkable with little or no suspended dirt. The sun disappears a little after ten but the sky doesn't take on the color of sunset until well after midnight and by three it's showing the colors of sunrise. For a couple of hours it's dusky enough to drive with headlights on, if you prefer, but I still haven't seen a star out yet, probably will by the middle of July.
     Hiking is strange on the deep springy bed of moss and wild flowers(loess?) you sink in up to half a foot and it's a slight effort, kink of like walking up a sand dune. It also grows into small hummocks which can take an ankle if you slip off wrong. If I ever paint a picture of Alaska it's going to half to include moose shit, which is everywhere, but I still haven't seen one in the area. I guess talking to yourself keeps moose away also. I cleaned up the bike and took a three mile trip to the top of the hill on the other side of the creek and back. Ran out of milk with dinner and put the last little bit of my smoke into the spaghetti and meatballs, I guess the margarine won.

6/30 Got drunk last night at the Houston Lounge and it cost me a pretty penny, about 6000 worth. I even got a free beer from the barmaid it only cost me $28. I bought a round for the bar, I really like most Alaskans. Like Californians they are usually are originally from somewhere else but seem much friendlier. Again I heard bear stories and that I should carry my gun in the woods.
     I wandered around downtown Anchorage for a few hours. I managed to stay out of the bars and to get some money from a First Interstate ATM. Unfortunately I have my PIN for my B of A accounts memorized by 4 letters and 2 numbers. It seems that the letter to number relationship is not standard or in some cases doesn't exist on the keys at all. That's probably why I got an incorrect PIN message when I tried in Fairbanks. Luckily I have an account I can access with a PIN of 4 numbers and there's about ten grand in it.

7/1 I slept at the end of the Turnagain Arm of Cook's Inlet on the way to Seward. There are a couple of glaciers in the area and like the rest of Alaska the scenery is beautiful. I haven't been able to park off the main roads very far. At night most the roadside turnouts are full of campers and motor homes. There seem to be more Alaskan tourists with their campers and Winnes then out of staters by far and away. I imagine they enjoy getting out and about in the short summer season. I would just like to find a good off highway road without traffic, but I don't think they exist. It would be nice if I could find some old logging roads like I use in the Sierras.
     I've been somewhat bored and definitely lonely lately. I hate sitting in a bar getting drunk just to find somebody to talk to. I usually always over indulge and become what I hate. "The thing I hate about drunks is that they give drinking a bad name"(W.C. Fields). I don't like how much freedom you have to give up in a serious relationship but I don't like the loneliness either. There is still a huge hole where Patty used to be. I would try living with her again if I thought she could change some, but you can't change other people they have to change themselves and besides I'm not to proud of myself in the old relationship and am not sure how much I'd be willing to change to try and make a new one work. There's a saying it is better to have loved and lost then to have never have loved at all. I'm not sure that's true. Having never loved you don't feel the hurt of missing something you once had.
     I sat down at Seward for hours in the camper. It sits at the end of a fjord and has a small fishing fleet, mostly of charters I think. It's a very pretty place but to crowded for me. The whole Kenai Peninsula has been some of the prettiest area of Alaska. Ragged snow and glacier covered peaks with deep glacier carved valleys and lakes. Unfortunately it's too close to the quarter million people in Anchorage and the town and roads are teeming with people. At the end of town there is a narrow gravel potholed road which goes on a ways towards the ocean end of the fjord. I tried pulling off there for the day but the constant nearby traffic was driving me crazy. I can see why the road is in such bad shape. Some people think its a race track. I don't see how some of them can travel it so fast with out destroying their vehicle.
     I ended up going back past Moose Pass (about 30 miles from Seward, 100 from Anchorage). Moose Pass has a roadside waterwheel which drives a large grinding wheel. There is a sign which says something like "Moose Pass is a quiet little town if you have an ax to grind, grind it here". I saw one guy sharpening his knife on it. I found a tiny pull out I backed into. There are still cars going by about twenty feet in front of the truck but the camper door opens onto a wooded hillside and there's no room for another vehicle. Probably the best I'm going to get around here. There's a trailhead just down the road I might check out. I haven't been on a trail since I left Mt Rainier. I still don't feel right carrying a gun so probably will just take my chances. Some people at the Houston Lounge pointed something out to me, which was that even if you are stomping through the woods making noise a female moose or bear is not going to avoid you if they hear you between them and their young.

7/3 I crawled out of bed around noon and after breakfast took a two hour hike on the trail. It starts near the Trail Lake fish hatchery and follows along the side of the lake away from the road. It's about 12 miles to Johnson Lake but I only followed it out for about and hour. I was hoping it would gain some altitude but it stayed down near the lake. The roads and trails in Alaska seem to stay as low as possible, if you want to get up where you can get a long view you are on your own and the route usually isn't as tame as it looks from a distance. I surprised a beaver who jumped in and swam up the lake a ways. He swam back by after a few minutes.
     I decided a day was long enough without beer and drove the couple of miles to Moose Pass, besides I decided I had too many neighbors at the nearby trailhead parking. How can somebody who is anti-social around strangers, except while drinking in bars, fail to be lonely? Moose Pass has The Moose Pass Inn (the only package store), the Moose Pass Lodge (had two beers) and Estes Brothers Store (bought a pack of cigarettes). The store matches ,which came with the cigarettes, invite you to stop by and talk to Ed, the longest living resident since 1921. Alaska has package stores for booze. Sometimes there will be one connected with a grocery store or bar but they are always in a separate room. I've seen them where you pay at the same counter but the counter serves two directions and you can't get from one area to the other without going outside. I tried to buy beer from the wrong side in Circle and had to walk outside and come in a different door.
     I ended up going about 20 miles or so up the road and found a small side road which got me a little farther off the main road then I had been the last couple of nights. I can still see and hear the main traffic but it's not as bad as the last site I chose to stay at. The road forks off into several short dead ends, one of them has a bulldozer parked blocking it with a sign claiming "Active Mining Going On" and I could see a silver slip stream type travel trailer down towards the river. It seems to me that everybody and their brother is going to Seward for the fourth, I think I'll end up going back to Anchorage. Just to see if it's empty.

7/4 I found out why there had been a high revving dirt bike running around at about 1 AM. Three kids made a camp back towards the main road. I ran out if cigarettes so it was time to leave by noon. At the end of the Turnagain Arm there is a train loading area which also claims there is a ferry. The end of the arm is shallow mud flats and I could see no way there would be a ferry. It turns out that you load your vehicle on the train and it takes you through the mountains to the sea which isn't far. From there you can take the Maritime Highway across Prince William Sound to Valdez or down to Seward on the ocean side. There is also a sign nearby at Portage stating 7 miles to Portage Glacier cruises which also must be on the sea side of the narrow isthmus. The road probably goes to another railhead. I didn't realize how close to being an island the Kenai Peninsula is but the narrow isthmus is still more than 7 miles across. I don't feel like loading on the train although it carries RVs as well as cars. I am presently about 15 miles from Anchorage, along the road heavy with Fourth of July traffic, planning on finding a bar to get drunk in. One thing I'm starting to get used to is that a sign on the road or a spot on the map doesn't really mean there is much there besides a building or two.
     I learned in Fairbanks that Alaska is divided into borough rather then counties. They have first, second and third class borough. Third class has no fire protection nor police except for maybe the state troopers if they have roads. In the 1980 census Fairbanks had a population of just over 22,000, I was told in the Comet Club that the Fairbanks area now has about 80,000. I'm not sure how big an area they were talking about, probably at least the Fairbanks North Star Borough, maybe also the Southeast Fairbanks Borough which covers a large area including Delta Junction and Tok. The Anchorage Borough still probably has half the states population and only takes up a few percent of the land, if that much.

7/6 for 7/5 Ended up getting falling down drunk and driving to boot, luckily not very far and with no mishaps, but still a big mistake. I guess I'm just as stupid as I used to be. 5th Avenue is one way into downtown and 6th is one way out. 4th seems to be where many of the downtown bars are. I remember The Panhandle, The Avenue, and about three others. There were a few loud drunken native women and a drunk white man named John Beasly, I was running with a cute young native girl until I said something to piss her off. All you have to do is buy them drinks and they love you no shit. I think I must be part Indian because I seem to have as much trouble with control of alcohol as many of them seem to have. I got propositioned by two chicks in a car, they offered me a salt and pepper twosome. I turned them down, I was too drunk to find my dick and I didn't trust them. The Panhandle had Schlitz for $1.50 but I only had one, it used to be my beer 20 years ago but it taste like shit to me now. In Anchorage the bars close at 3 AM which surprised me after the 4:30 or 5 closing time in Fairbanks. I have no idea how I managed to drive, had to I couldn't walk.
     I woke up in a furniture store parking lot around noon. I spent the day in a parking lot at a Sears/Carrs Mall watching TV and trying to recover. At Carrs (chain of grocery stores) I managed to get my B of A card to work on an ATM. They had the correct letter to number keypad. I now have my PIN memorized by strictly numbers. My Home Fed card wouldn't work probably because it's not a major bank and the lines aren't always open. It has failed the last two times I've tried it. Hopefully the B of A card will serve all my needs, I really don't need any money until I go back through Canada but I might as well start building little by little I had dropped to $1400 out of the $3500 I had started with.

7/7 Last nights neighbors are gone but I've picked up four new ones. A member of one of the parties just walked by with a roll of shit paper in his hand. The people up here are just as bad as most the people California, they throw their trash around and don't bother burying their shit. When they bother to burn their trash they leave the un burnable objects in the fire pits. There are a lot of areas I've seen with new and long rusting heaps of the byproducts of our industrial civilization. Day three on my new wagon and I'll probably be out of cigarettes by tomorrow.
     The water out of the King is probably drinkable but the water from the Matanuska is useless. I found a road on the other side of the bridge which appears to go up the King a ways. I walked up it for about a mile and turned around. If I didn't have the camper I might give it a try. It is narrow in places but I've plowed down roads just as narrow. Unfortunately there are some spots where I think the camper could cause me to topple over and others where I'm not sure I have enough clearance.

7/10 I decided that if I only had a sort period to live I would smoke and drink and since no one knows how long they have I might as well. I drove a few miles to a lodge and bought a pack of cigarettes. Had to retrace my steps to recover the cover to my refrigerator, luckily I found it. I stopped in Glennallen where they had minimal groceries and no bars or liquor stores. I ended up backtracking out of town to The Brown Bear Rhodehouse and having three or four. Met a lady from Vegas who is living in TOK, she invited me to stop by mile 119 first driveway on the left. Besides being 150 miles from TOK I forgot to ask her "going which way". Started to get into my usual asshole bull shit, but luckily I had enough control to bail out, the lust of my life worked in the kitchen but wore a ring. Bought a 12 pack at an out of town liquor store and retreated to a pull off where I had some TV reception including the Alaska Satellite Television Project. I'm hoping for the clouds to rise so I can see the upper part of the Wrangell Mountains.
     The Brown Bear Roadhouse has a sign on the door "No Guns or Knives", I guess it goes with the country. One of the guys who works or frequents there, not sure which, was talking about land near there on a lake with road access going for ten thousand dollars an acre. The land prices up here are definitely not what I had expected. The BLM supposedly lets some land loose occasionally ,possibly even for homesteading, but it isn't any way accessible. The people up here don't like the Park people, they are only now treating them with a detached chivalry. Like in most the western states the feds have control of too much of the area and the locals don't like it. The thing I don't like, either that or just don't trust the feds for, is that although they claim they are managing the land in the peoples interest I can see politician making money from it, if not now then eventually. Even they don't I see all kinds of bureaucratic overhead eating into the people quote land. (They of course need use fees, private exploitation, and tax money to help in the efforts). The park service has all kinds of new vehicles and a large overhead budget to protect the peoples interest.

7/11 According to their figures someone dies of a bear attack on an average of once every three years. This must be a good year because a six year old boy was killed and partially eaten by a brown bear on the peninsula yesterday. Maybe the bears natural food supply is suffering this year. I have heard reports that the salmon weren't running as well this year as in the past.
     It seems the only places where things are reasonably priced are around Anchorage or Fairbanks. I just paid about a buck fifty a gallon for gas and decided not to buy a box of Mr. Salty stick pretzels because of the $4.85 price tag.
     2:30 AM + Mark is almost as strange as I am (the final bartender), unfortunately I had no plans of being drinking this late ( another total lack of control).

7/19 The last few days have been pretty much in a drunken haze. I started yesterday after the parade at about noon. It seems like half of Fairbanks is in the Golden Days Parade and the other half watches. Actually there were about 115 entries involving about 2000 people and it lasted for about an hour and a half. It is probably the first parade I have watched in over 20 years.
     A joke going around town ...A bear walked into a bar and asked for a beer. The bartender told him "we don't serve beer to bears in this bar". The bear then walked down the bar to a woman, drank her beer and then ate her. The bear then again asked the bartender for a beer. the bartender replied " we don't serve beer to bears in this bar who are on drugs". The bear asked him what he was talking about... he wasn't on drugs. The bartender replied sure you are that was a bar bitch you ate.
     Lefty finally came through for me with a little taste of grass, enough for a few small bowls. Guy turned me onto a couple of hits but I was too drunk to really enjoy it. I was drinking Jack Daniels with a Masters Chemist, shooting darts with Paul and generally making a drunken fool if myself. In other words I pretty much acted like many of the other drunken characters that seem to live there. I went through about 80 bucks which included a 30 dollar round for the house. I pretty much fitted in with the hard drinkers and was accepted by many of them as they would a local. Many believe I'll be back. In a short time they will forget me but I think it will be longer before I forget them. Characters like Walter, Lefty, Shorty, Ike, Hal, AJ, and others. Unfortunately it is the same lifestyle I have been living for 25 years and would like to change. If I moved to Fairbanks I would be living in the bars.
     AJ was supposed to bring me a small sample of black bear sausage but didn't show up Saturday afternoon. I was supposed to wait around today till noon when the chemist was going to stop by the bar and bring me up with his family to his cabin. I wasn't feeling well so didn't hang around. The bar was still closed when I left at about nine AM. I was going to check out Alaskaland since I found out it's free but didn't get around to it. I heard it's supposed to be historically interesting with examples of Alaska's past. I'm presently about ten miles from Delta where the pipeline crosses the Tanana. I think I'm going south to Nebesna from Tok Junction. Walter told me I should go to Valdez and take the ferry, the train and roads to Homer but presently I'm planning on being in Canada by August. I'm not even sure if I'm going to hit Eagle and Dawson.
     Summer is beautiful up here but I'm afraid of trying a winter. Some of the people claim they like them more than summer but most agree they are too long. Many work places have plug ins for the car block heaters. One guy told me he left his car running for eleven hours one time because he didn't have a place to plug it in. If you turn a vehicle off for a couple of hours at 50 below you'll never get it started again. The hard part is when the sun starts rising in spring but everything is still frozen for months yet. A lot of people like to get out around February for a while. The only way I'd try a winter is with a job otherwise you have a good chance of going crazy from cabin fever or end up living in the bars.
     I learned that a snow machine will travel over open water with enough velocity. The record is something like 8 miles. Air boats are popular because they can be used year round on water, ice or snow. ATV's are used in the summer but are a little cold in the winter. Many snowmobiles have heated hand controls and a wind screen where an ATV doesn't. I've heard of a guy melting his gloves on an exhaust pipe of an ATV trying to keep his hands from freezing at 60 below. Some people like the fact they can get around better in the winter. In the summer the land is sometimes to boggy to get across with an ATV or four wheeler.
     I've been on the road for 48 days and have gone through $2800. my target has been $50 a day or $30 a day not counting gasoline. Not counting gas the bill comes to about $1750 or about $36 a day mostly bar bills. If I could lay low for a week or so I could get even again. I always have a built in cost of $30 a day for Patty. It's going to be another grand yet for gas to get back to California. I have $2200 which is going to have to last me the rest of this trip.

7/21 I think I fucked up royal. I pulled off the road down an embankment but didn't realize the steepness of the angles. I don't know if I'll be able to get back up. If I didn't have the camper or I had four wheel drive I wouldn't worry as much. I'm more worried about rolling over than losing traction because I could always get winched out. I think I'm going to take everything out of high storage on the starboard side because that's the way I would roll. If I can lower my center of gravity a little it couldn't hurt. I might as well enjoy the rest of the day and make the attempt tomorrow. I pulled down a narrow, relatively flat, dead end road a hundred yards or so.
     I tried to get down the Nebesna Road but it was closed. The ranger told me it had been raining in the area for a week and the road was washed out in three places. I don't need any rain because the steep embankment to the road is deep soft gravel. This ones got me worried.
     Hiking around I found another way to the road but it doesn't look easily do-able to me. It's length is badly overgrown and it is also bogy in spots. It's only advantage appears to be the angle up the final embankment to the Tok Cutoff. If it wasn't swampy in places and I had a chain saw it would work. I'm parked between some 12 or 15 foot diameter sections of used drainage pipes in a large gravel flats. There are signs of some people driving down here but I doubt with a camper. There are also the tracks of various sized moose and a shod horse or two.

7/22 Yesterday afternoon 1200 foot Mt. Drum cleared and I also got some partial glimpses of the huge 14000 foot Mt Wrangell in the distance. Mt. Wrangell is hot and some areas which were under 800 feet of ice 20 years ago are now void of snow. The mountain still has a tremendous glacier pack. It wasn't until almost midnight when the nearby (35 miles) 16000 foot Mt Sanford's summit cleared.
     I arose around four or five to find Drum and Sanford clear but the more distant Wrangell missing. Getting back up the grade to the road turned out to be a piece of cake and I then drove south past Indian River. I saw a moose swimming across a small lake but was unable to get a picture. By seven the upper 5000 feet of Sanford and the summit of Drum had already been obscured by their own clouds. The day is going to be pretty clear but that doesn't include the glaciated peaks.
     Decided to head for the border Louise. Concept... are dreams your mind compressing, restoring and re-evaluating data or is it you interpretation of reprogramming from an external source (The creators or controllers)
     The border was amazingly easy. I didn't have to show ID nor the color of my money. I wasn't even asked how much beer, cigarettes or cash I had with me. She was more interested in weapons and salable items. I declared my 30-30, bowie knife, and bow. Thank you, have a nice day.. no search involved. The border station is 20 miles into Canada and after another 10 miles I quit for the night at six. I have CBC TV and a lot of mosquitoes. I'm sure I'm not going to Dawson but I'm still not sure of Haines or Skagway which would involve more border crossings.
     The last figures I heard in Fairbanks was 42000 for the city and 72000 or 82000 for the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The city has typical building codes but you can put up just about anything outside the limits. Most the people I talked to who lived in the city also have at least one cabin outside somewhere. One of the Patty barmaids has a place out in Central near Crabb's Corner. I met Crabb at the Comet and he seemed a little put out I hadn't stopped at his place. I had heard in Glennallen about a shoot out in Central but picked up much more at the Comet.
     Some neighbors in the backwoods had been feuding. A DEA helicopter had landed at one of their places. They sent them to their neighbors who ended up getting busted for growing pot. Other things escalated the conflict until one evening at a bar just down from Crabb's gunfire broke out. A (Sue) woman supposedly gave guns to her son and boy friend. The boy friend shot the neighbor woman four times, the victims husband got his gun and killed the boy friend and shot the son in the arm. Sue then purportedly sprayed the bar with 60 rounds of semi- automatic gunfire. The wounded woman's husband is in jail and Sue is walking the streets, but has been told to keep away from Central.

7/23 When I was talking to AJ at the Comet I found out some things about the animals and hunting in Alaska. You can take three black bears and one moose bull a year. Every three years you can take a Grizzly by area permit. You can kill a bear anytime in self defense but have to report it immediately and can't keep it. They never allow you to take moose cows like you can does by doe permit in the lower 48. The chewed antler I found near Cantwell was probably done by raccoons and the missing tree bark in Canada was probably done by starving rabbits in the winter. A lot of people prefer to carry a short 20 gauge shot gun with slugs for bear defense.
     I only drove for a couple of hours and then pulled off along Lake Kluane at Congdon Creek (the same place I called Chocolate River on the way up). They are working on the washed out levee road but told me I could hang around as long as I didn't dump any gray water or sewer tanks. They said they have been having problems with that around here. I never pay that much attention to my gray water I haven't considered it to be a major pollutant but rather more of a biodegradable byproduct. I may have even dumped here the last time. The levee road has been repaired where the old wash out was but has a new larger one which keeps me from getting quite as far as last time. Also the roads up from and down to the lower road have changed due to the ongoing repair efforts. The creek seems to be flowing a lot lighter than a month ago and its main channels have changed more towards the levee on this side.
     The rivers and creeks in the north country are still wild and therefore have huge rocky or silt filled flood plains. For years trees may grow to a fair size only to fall when the main course changes or floods caused by ice or log jams take them out. The wide river beds are usually filled with silty sand bars and washed out dead trees which tried to grow to close to the rivers constantly changing course. There are some wild rivers left in the lower 48 but by the time they reach the wide flat valleys they have usually been dammed to control flooding of expensively developed lands. Up here nature still runs it's course. I would love to see them during their spring swollen glory.

7/24 Yesterday I walked an hour up and down the creek bed. Today I was going to spend four or so hours climbing up the nearby mountain to see what I could see. I changed my mind clouds were covering the higher elevations and I felt like hitting the road. I think the prettiest part of Canada, or at least the Yukon, is the area from Haines Junction to Lake Kluane. That's probably because I like glaciated mountains. Someday I would like to see the Ice Field mountains from the top of the ridge along the Alcan. If I were to come back to the area it would probably be by taking the ferry from Washington to Haines, then driving the hundred and eighty miles or so up to Haines Junction.
     I stopped at Whitehorse for groceries and maintenance items for the truck. I tried calling NY but got no answer. I managed to keep out of the bars and didn't buy anything for the road. Day five of the latest wagon. It will probably last till I run out of smoke which will probably be tomorrow. I'm already halfway through my first pack of Canadian cigarettes and have two more ready to go. Seems lately I can only quit one out of three instead of two.

7/25 South of Whitehorse I stopped and did an oil change. All the old oil fit in the 4 liter jug some of the new oil came in. Unfortunately I put the container in the nearby trash receptacle, I wish there were drop off points for used oil where you didn't have to pay to get rid of it. Some other people had done oil changes in the area but just left there shit laying around on the ground. I am only slightly better. Just before the change someone stopped and did a survey on me. She was interested in disposal of trash, gray water and black water. The use of campsites and off road pull offs such as gravel pits.
     I drove down the road to Teslin Lake campground but this time I parked along the road in front of it. Around one in the morning some stars came out faintly. About what you would expect to see from a heavily lighted city area. These are the first stars I've seen in well over a month. They weren't out in the area of Teslin Lake when I came through on the way up. By two a moon had risen to wash most of them out and then clouds covered the remaining few. This morning it was raining and I drove south for an hour or two trying to no avail to get out of it. About 160 miles south of Whitehorse is where they are improving the Alcan with a 20 million dollar project. That is where it had turned into a mud rut on the way up. The road had been improved only slightly and with the days rain it worked out about the same. Luckily it was only for a few miles.
     On the slow going stretch from the border to Kluane Lake I had gotten over 9 mpg out of a tank of gas by averaging less than 45 mph. The road from Haines Junction down to the mud pit south of Whitehorse is in good condition and with the higher speed my last tank netted me 7 mpg. I don't think I'll reach Watson Lake before I have to refuel. I hope I don't have to pay too dearly in the boonies.
     After a short China Beach marathon, only two episodes, dishes and a sponge bath it's on to Watson Lake. I've decided to forget about the $50 a day average and push on or I'll be probably still be in Canada when then snow falls.

7/26 Well the wagon lasted almost 6 days, I got blitzed in Watson Lake last night. I had one beer and bought a twelve pack at The Big Horn Tavern at the Hotel Belvedere. They had Karoke which doesn't impress me much. I ended up at the Beer Belly Bar in the Gateway Motor Inn. The barmaid Candice was from Vancouver. She was working the summer at Watson Lake and planning on spending the winter in Mexico and Central America. The word for the day (on the blackboard) was diabliese which means sorcery. An Airman on his way to Eielson Air Base near North Pole had a room for the night a mere $110. The bar closed around midnight. I had planned on going back to the Big Horn but passed out in the camper instead.
     The Alcan is now a two star highway. I picked up one northbound north of Whitehorse and one southbound south of Watson Lake. A lady I met at the roadhouse in Glennallen claims bacon grease will keep them from running. I go with silicon goop.
     I stopped at Liard Hot Springs as recommended by Candice. The springs are about 100 to 118 degrees and people bath in them, no soap allowed. They have a definite sulfur dioxide smell and a bunch of mosquitoes. There is a boardwalk that goes in about a quarter mile to get to them. I haven't had a shower since May and was tempted to go back out to the road to get my suit but decided against it. I'm not much into community pools and don't particularly like hot tubs. I just realized that the Labatt Budweiser long necks have twist off caps. I don't think the American long necks do. I'm starting to run out of Alaskan potatoes, they have a slightly different taste then the Idaho or Maine potatoes I'm used to. Lefty claimed they were sweeter and he didn't like them. To me they seem to last longer without softening or growing runners then the lower 48 variety. Unlike potatoes most the eggs in Alaska come from Washington.

7/27 I spent the night at a litter barrel stop on an alluvial fan in Muncho Lake Provincial Park, a few miles north of where I stayed on the way up. The last time I took a day hike and was planning the same this time. When morning came around I no longer felt like hiking. If I had some smoke I probably would have. For some reason I like hiking and exercise when I'm stoned, lukewarm to the idea straight and definitely against it while drinking. It would have been a good place to hike because I could get up to the barren rocky mountains by following the dry bed and not having to deal with forests.
     When I finally got up and about at around ten the was a flock of dahl sheep on the road. They hung around for a hour or more. In both Muncho Lake and Stone Mountain Parks they are constantly stopping traffic. The best part I've seen of British Columbia is in these two parks probably because I like the high mountains. The Alcan took the route because they decided it would be easier then trying to follow the Grand Canyon of the Liard. A sign where I spent the night claimed the route along the side of Muncho Lake was the most expensive section of the highway because they had to blast the route out of the cliffs and they lost equipment which fell off into the deep lake.
     The day was full of roadside animals. I saw at least 30 Dahl sheep, four bears, two moose and a half dozen elk or caribou. Just north of Stone Mountain I finally saw my first bear on this trip. A mother and two large cubs ran across the road. The motor home in front of me stopped dead in the road and we both almost got run over by a semi which passed from behind. I couldn't tell if they were large black or small brown bears, I tend to believe the second. Latter I saw a small black bear running up a hill from the road. It was only about 100 pounds but that's not much smaller then the size that killed a lady in Glennallen. Not long ago I had to slow so a moose and her calf could cross the road. They weren't much into running and took their time. A moose running is about the most ungainly animal I've ever seen with legs going in all directions. I stopped for the night around 120 miles south of Fort Nelson at what I believe to be the same litter barrel turn out I stopped at on the way up in the rain.
     I managed to get a hold of my parents from Fort Nelson while doing laundry. I missed them from Whitehorse Friday because they went to Cape Cod for the weekend. 56 days into the trip and I'm still over budget. I'm averaging about $25 a day for gas and $59 a day overall (plus my $30 a day overhead). I'm back into a mix of trees, for a while it was a huge rolling sea of spruce. The start of the Gas fields were the only thing that broke the sea with their roads. There are signs on the side roads which warn of poisonous gas. I wonder if they are a no trespassing scare tactic or the fields leak that bad. Eventually the spruce was interspersed with some pines and now include poplars and other similar deciduous trees. I still don't know the major difference is between poplars and aspens. The birch I can pretty much tell by their whiter bark, although the ones around here are much bigger and taller than the European White Birch I'm used to.

7/28 Since I've been in British Columbia the young flag ladies are showing much more leg, less mosquitoes evidently. I decided to cut the corner at Dawson Creek by taking 29 to Chetwynd. The road switch backed through hairpin turns down to the Peace River then followed it upstream to Hudson's Hope. Hudson's Hope has a dinosaur theme to the town because it is near Dinosaur Lake. I managed to make it by the town pub. I stopped in Chetwynd instead which has me pissed off. I bought a twelve pack of bottled Bud for $17.00 which is about normal( they wanted $9.00 for a six pack of cans. I then bought 3 packs of cigarettes at a large convenience store for $7.80 a pack which is a bit high. I should have only bought one pack at that price. I have seen three deer since leaving the Alcan. There aren't any deer in Alaska because of the harshness of the winters but I heard they have migrated up into the Yukon Territories almost to Alaska. Something is driving them further north each year. One of the deer was a buck with his horns growing in felt. I've stopped at Bijoux Falls and am having a beer or two. Maybe it will improve the lousy disposition I've acquired since Chetwynd.
     The beers didn't help much. I stopped for the night a little south of McLeod Lake, about 75 miles north of Prince George. I actually spent eight hours on the road for a change. I figure I should only have to gas up two more times in Canada. I'm down another hundred dollars or so today. Boy this is turning into an expensive trip. I think the first thing I'm going to do when I reach the bay area is reapply for unemployment. It wont really do much more than pay my alimony for the next couple of months but that will help. I'm going through money too fast, I'm going to have to quit beer and cigarettes and go back to dope. It would really be nice if I could quit all three but I'd like to get the exercise and exploration interest I usually get from smoke.

7/29 I bypassed getting gas at Bear Lake at 54.9/liter. I was planning on stopping at Summit Lake but it was a loop off the main road so I skipped it also. I barely made it into Prince George where I ended up paying 55.9/liter. The whole town was the same price but I had to stop at the first available station where I took on 37 gallons out of a 38 gallon capacity. I couldn't have made it another ten miles.
     Prince George claims to be the northern capital of British Columbia and it appears to be the largest city I've seen since Anchorage. It more likely slightly into southern BC but is definitely the start of civilization. The continuous forests are broken by more and more cleared fields as you head south and traffic increases. Overall the route south has been in better shape then it was on the way north a couple of months ago. The only bad spots on the Alcan were the frost heaves from the border to Kluane, a couple of short construction sections north of Watson Lake and one south of Fort Nelson. Most of the Alcan repairs I had run into on the way up had been completed. It may also be that after highways like the Dalton and Steese that the roads I thought were in bad shape appear good. I'm still dealing with two lane roads with occasional passing lanes.
     Made another run on the limits of my gas, even farther then last time, but I was getting better mileage. I made it 284 miles to Cache Creek. I thought I had cut a thousand miles off the trip and was in Nevada. This is the only desert area I've seen in British Columbia complete with sagebrush. After gassing I stopped at the Oasis Hotel's public house (Pub) and had three beers. They had a band an a few nice looking women around but I managed to bail out early. The alcohol content of Canadian beer is 5% by volume. The RCMP that came through the bar may have had something to do with my deciding to call it an early night. At first I didn't know if he was a security guard or not, being the first mountie I've seen, but the pistol he carried helped convince me he wasn't. Especially the way Canada feels about hand guns.
     The Canadian Feds have just passed a new gun control law which outlaws certain riffles as well as easy rider gun racks. You can't carry a loaded or visible weapon in you vehicle. I've never had my riffle loaded while in Canada. In a Watson Lake bar they claim that the gun control in Canada has had positive results on the crime rate. When I left town after nine thirty it was dark and the stars were starting to come out. I haven't driven at night for a considerable time and after about 11 miles I pulled off in a rest area for the night. I'm polishing off my last four beers and preparing dinner. Pork chops for two nights in a row but I'm not planning on stocking up on supplies until they are cheaper when I cross the border tomorrow.
     I had a very young, petite, big brown eyed girl with short tight shorts at the Cache Creek Shell station tell me I shouldn't overfill with motor oil. That's the first time I've ever heard of any trouble with overfilling with anything except transmission fluid. I don't believe it can cause a problem to be up to a quart high on motor oil. At almost eleven o'clock it's in the low seventies out and in the high seventies in the camper. I saw on the TV at the Pub that Reno was 97 today. I bet I'm going to wish I had stayed north longer.

7/30 One of the guys I was talking to last night at the Pub in Cache Creek reminded me of something I was told in Fairbanks. When it's 50 below you can take an eight ounce glass of water and throw it's contents up into the air. It will crystallize before it can hit the ground. I do believe that's too cold for me. I'm going to try and survive at least one Albany winter but I believe that may also be too cold for me. I just have to find out if I still can call it home. California isn't the same without Patty even with the long time friends. I still expect that even family wont fill the hole, it's probably going to take another mate. I checked out the heavens around midnight and they are back to normal including the Milky Way. Before noon the temperature had climbed into the low eighties. I decided to cross the border at Abbotsford because there was a beautiful view of Mt Baker. I stated my nationality, where I lived and declared the gun. Another piece of cake crossing. When I got across to Sumas I decided to go to Mt Baker since it was only about fifty miles. The secondary road dead ends at a parking lot at about 4600 feet. On the way up I kept seeing a mountain which had much more rock then I had seen from a distance. I figured it was the other side of Baker but it turned out to be Mt Shuksan which is about 1600 feet lower then 10778 foot Mt Baker. From the lot there is a good view of both mountains which are nearby. There is a trailhead at the lot but I'm not into hiking lately. For being under eleven thousand feet Baker sure has a lot of snow and ice. The road above the ski area is about as good as they get for narrow alpine switchbacks.
     I finally pulled over at a rest stop about 95 miles from Oregon after almost 12 hours on the road. At least this rest stop asks you to limit your stay to 8 hours. The last couple north of Seattle, including the one I talked to Grace from, said one hour only. This is the first time I've seen I-5 through Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. The freeway goes through downtown Seattle about the same as it does San Diego, the tall office buildings are right there. Slightly north and in from the freeway of downtown was the Space Needle which to me identifies Seattle. Almost immediately south of the high-rises is the Kingdome. That reminds me of the Superdome in New Orleans which is also downtown. Tacoma also has a large dome next to I-5 but I have no idea what it is used for. I had forgotten that Olympia was the state capital until I saw the signs and the capital building from the road. Of course my highlight was the Olympia brewery in Tumwater. When I first got to California in 1971 the only beer they had in the barracks beer machine was Oly. I drank a whole bunch of Oly trying to grow a taste for it. I never really did but sure got drunk on it a lot.
     I hope someone comes through for me when I get home. I'm starting to drive with a beer between my legs which I haven't done for well over a year. Besides not liking doing that I don't like having to put up with the bladder strain. Presently I'm planning on drinking a few times in Vallejo and Sunnyvale but I want to be on the wagon by the time I go to San Diego and Ridgecrest. It looks like this trip is going to be about 9200 miles. Before October I have to take a 1200 mile round trip to southern California then a three or four thousand mile trip to New York. A few months latter it's a three or four thousand mile round trip to Florida. In the little over a year I've had this truck I've put almost 33000 miles on it. If it makes it to next March and I find a job it's going to get semi retired.

7/31 Another full day of driving puts me near Yreka with only about three hundred miles to go. I want to turn around and go back it's too hot around here. The grasses have been yellowing since southern British Columbia but they are really burnt now. It's supposed to be around one hundred in the Shasta area tomorrow. Even Seattle and Portland were in the nineties yesterday and eighties today. I was complaining when Fairbanks got to the low eighties. I heard on the radio that Vancouver BC had water rationing no watering lawns or washing cars. I knew Canada had a GST of 7% but BC also has a PST of 6%. That's a 13% sales tax total on top of their high prices. Candice claimed Vancouver had a minimum wage of five something compared to California's three something, big deal.
     The three computer openings with BLM in Fairbanks were GS11 probably paying 32000 a year plus a 25% cost of living. Alaska has a higher unemployment rate then the national average. Statewide at about 10%, the Fairbanks area at about 11% and some large areas at over 20%. At times some villages or small towns have over a 50% unemployment rate. People go where ever they have to for employment for the summer and during the winter there isn't much at all. The BLM positions would have been year round full time but I never checked them out. I imagine there aren't too many computer types hanging around the area without job so I probably would have had a good shot at a slot.
     One of the guys at the Comet Club was building a cabin. I was going to give him a hand the weekend I left but he had other plans for the weekend. I was told you can put up a cabin for about $3500. Lefty's cabin doesn't have a road to it but Shorty has a grader. The only problem is a couple of the new people in the area don't want a road through. There seems to be some isolationist or survivalist interspersed with those who would like easier access to their back country property. The land that is occasionally released for homesteading probably wouldn't have road access in your or your immediate decedents lifetime. They are talking about trying to put a road through to Nome which is being fought by some. The state gets about 80% of it's income from the oil industry which they occasionally distribute to the residents. The oil companies don't want to do any more exploration and development because of the bureaucratic red tape. They would probably rather try to get into Siberia where an Exxon Valdez type incident would just blend in with the environmental damage that has already been done.
     If I ever go back to Alaska I would like to take the ferry from Bellingham to Skagway or Haines. I even wish it would go all the way up to the Valdez area. I guy I ran into in BC had taken his rig up from Prince Ruppert to Skagway. It cost him $900 with about two thirds of it for the vehicle and the rest for passage for him and his family. I figure one person and the camper package from Washington would be about a grand. It's more expensive then driving but would save a lot of time and wear and tear and I'd get to see what I missed on this trip. From there I'd drive to Whitehorse, Dawson City and Eagle. The ferry up would also show me the inland passage and the glaciers calving into the sea.

8/1 Valhalla or what ever, the trip is over after a mere nine thousand miles. I picked up a hitchhiker at Shasta and gave him a ride to the Pleasant Hill BART station. I even gave him $10.50 and damn near put him on a train. He claimed he was 28 and left Florida with 31 cents in his pocket and presently had about 31 dollars. I even got rid of the jerky I made over a month ago and hadn't been eating. This trip saw the first two hitchhikers I've picked up in about twenty years.
     The official figures aren't in yet but it looks like well over eleven hundred gallons of gas at a cost of over 1700 dollars. The only thing I found on this trip is what I expected to find, people living there lives, like anywhere else I've ever been to. I think I'm about ready to try settling down again, in a relatively short while. I still have commitments for this winter. I've been told the weather has been cooling around here but if I could just snap my fingers I'd rather be back in Alaska.