The Antler Update

Man, I cannot believe how far we have come already!

The first night was spent at Clayton Lake State Park in New Mexico. This place is very nice! We awoke in time to see the sunset before we set out on our next leg of the journey. We coursed our way up through central Colorado and the eastern side of Wyoming. Rolling hills of golden grass and deep purple mountains followed us most of the way.

We are now in Billings, Montana. Quite a lot of travel in one day! Our next break will be in Canada probably in Calgary. I am awake early and eager to type up some things. Pictures may come along the journey if I am not too tired. Also, internet is a bit scarce up here, as you can imagine.

Thanks for all of your prayers!

The Antler Roadtrip

It looks like this might actually happen!


I have tied up most of the loose ends here, and have begun the series of goodbye's. There's a new top-of-the-line camper shell on my truck now. This protects my things and will keep the snow out of the bed during the winter months. Black wasn't available, but the silver isn't bad.

The drive should take around five or six days depending on how hard we push through. I think that we will try and push through the USA and spend more time in Canada. I have two companions traveling with me. They wanted to have a little adventure, and who can blame them? Its the greatest roadtrip ever!

Thanks for all of your support and I will leave little progress reports along the way with pictures and maybe some video.

Part VI: The Conclusion

The bus continued to climb and snake its way along the loose gravel road hundreds of feet above the valley floor. Another bus was coming towards us on the narrow road. We held our breath. 

Inches away to our left, we saw our scared faces mirrored by the people on the other bus as we crawled past. Whew! Thankfully, the road widened and journeyed away from the ledges and into rolling hills. An empty riverbed sat at the foot of a tall hill with small shrubbery between us. Alongside the road there stood two dusty campers staring off into the grass and shrub.  

They began to signal our driver with hand-gestures that were well-known to park staff. We came to a stop and saw a pack of wolves trotting along together. The familiar shutter clicking began. Then, the lead wolf stopped cold, standing almost like an English pointer. A huge brown shape suddenly grew out of the shrub and towered above them. It was a large grizzly bear.  

We all gasped as we awaited the result of this showdown. It was unclear at first, but it soon became apparent that this was a territorial dispute. The wolves surrounded the bear and the ones behind began to inch closer and even bite at the bear’s large ankles. They were cautious, however, when the beast swung his giant head around and glared at them. He was a stubborn bear!  
 
He even had the courage to sit down and rest while the wolves paced about him, clearly agitated by his brevity. Finally, the wolves became more aggressive and he saw that he had out-worn his welcome. He got up and trudged away down the dry riverbed. Our driver, a veteran of the park, said that he had never seen a bear/wolf encounter in all of his time there. Sweet!  

We reached the end of our route and the center facing Mount McKinley. The view was obscured completely, but we rode back still satisfied with all of the wildlife we saw along the way. Being only a couple of hours away from Denali, I am confident that I will eventually see Mt. McKinley up-close and stripped of icy clouds. 

The End 

 

Part V: Denali - The Cliffhanger

           Cloud-wrapped mountains and misty trees stood sentinel as we pulled into Denali National Park. There would be no seeing “The Great One” on this trip.


Heidi had agreed to come along with my parents and I. She had spent a summer working as a guide in the park and knew the area well. We bought our bus tickets and waited patiently inside as the cold drizzle continued to fall. Suddenly, a feeling of dread came over me because of a familiar sound coming from a corner of the building. It sounded like the horrible child that was on the train to Fairbanks.

Gathering up my courage, I walked over cautiously to investigate. It was the very same beast! Quickly, I alerted my parents much to their dismay. It seemed that we were doomed to repeat our journey but in bus form. As the minutes fluttered away, so did our hopes of having a decent day in Denali. Now, the wait for the bus held a weight of burden on all of us.

I tried to talk to Heidi to make the wait more bearable. In doing so, I almost missed the couple and their demon-spawn exit the building never to return. We all breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that we had avoided catastrophe. Boarding the hunter-green bus, we all sat down and began our journey through Denali.

Everyone on the bus clung to the windows on the sides of the bus as the driver provided some narration along the way. Our first wildlife encounter was a few Caribou on a misty mountain slope. The bus stopped and all was silent for a few moments save the sound of camera shutters clicking away. I was, of course, one of those noisy shutterbugs.

As we continued around the corner, one of the passengers yelled out, “Dall sheep, eight o’clock!” We could see on the top of the ridge two rams lying in the patchy grass and rocks. They seemed to take no notice of us, probably because of their superior proximity to us. The bus reached the bottom of the valley, and there were a few composting toilets near a great mountain river. Bathroom break! I went straight for the frigid river in search for interesting rocks.

I had just enough time to come back to the bus and clean my mud-stained window before we were off again. This next stretch of “road” had to have been the scariest I have ever been on. It snaked along the mountain’s side with no support, pavement (only gravel in Denali), or railing. Thankfully, we clung to the mountain side when another bus had to pass us because there was only enough room for two buses to graze past one another.

On our way back, however, we would be the ones on the loose talus side. One weird passenger asked the driver if they had ever lost a bus over the side. The wry driver responded, “No. We have always been able to find them!” He then said that no bus had gone down the couple thousand foot drop to our right. Heidi then spoke up and recounted an incident she had heard of during her time working at the park. The driver thought for a while and then took back what he said. Comforting.

Photo by: Tom Wright

Part VI: The Conclusion

Part VI: Enjoyment

The day after your birthday is usually met with the same enthusiasm as the day after Christmas, but not in this case. My housing needs were met and the rest of the week was open to exploration.

What should we do first? Well, when you live a few miles away from North Pole, Alaska chances are good that you will go and pay Santa a visit. SANTA! I was having flashbacks to Will Ferrell screaming that name at the top of his lungs while dressed as an elf. How would we know which house was his?

A giant statue of Santa wielding his iconic list greeted us as we drove up. Who could resist? Reindeer were nestled all snug under spruce trees until they heard the familiar sound of feed being deposited into their troughs. I watched as they pranced away with a flash, but was distracted by an all too familiar jolly laugh.

I turned my head quickly just in time to see a large man disappear inside. Could it be? It didn’t take much to convince me to go inside. Every form of Christmas decoration was there by our sides. Then we all dispersed in different directions throughout the store. This place was the ultimate decoration superstore!

Garlands, ornaments, and shiny glass balls were piled high from wall-to-wall. There were even enough North Pole shirts to stuff a narwhal! My parents and I convened on the same spot when suddenly we were greeted by nobody but the Big Man himself. My mother melted and turned into an eight-year-old girl again. She said, “Hello, Santa,” with a sheepish grin.

He was very kind and down to earth, but what surprised me more than his girth was his knowledge of where we lived! After all he is Santa Claus, but wow! He knew everything about my hometown as well as my other home in Waco, TX. I thought perhaps he was from Texas, but he proceeded to do the same with a couple from Kansas.

After becoming believers, we paid for our merchandise, and I mailed my postcards (they get a nice postmark from Santa’s House). We then drove a little ways down the street to visit the Knotty Shop (not sleazy). This store had a wonderful pine smell and some very unique gifts. It was here that I purchased a nice Ulu knife, perfect for my new cabin.

On our way back we went to one of the many drive-thru coffee stands (recommended highly), and then went to eat at the Pump Station with Heidi.

For writing this I hope you may not kill me on sight,

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Part V: Denali

Part III: The Hunt For Someplace Nice

The train pulled into the station amidst the lowering smoke-stained sun. The wild fire season had come early to Fairbanks.

I picked up our luggage as my dad cleverly grabbed the only cab waiting at the train station. Our cab (mini-van) pulled into the Best Western after a rather short drive. The place was new and still had that new carpet smell as well as sticking doors and “green” staff. We made the best of it, though. Night time equated to me shutting the hotel curtains, turning off the lamp on the nightstand, and saying, “good night!”

The sun sets late during the Alaska summers, if at all. Waking up looked very similar to going to bed, but we rose ready to compete at the Continental Breakfast Olympics. Fire-fighters from all over were bunked up at our hotel (many wildfires), and getting to the breakfast before them was our up-most priority. Some days were more successful than others, I’m afraid.

Our second most priority was to find me a place to live. Easier said than done, right? My parents and I went up to the University of Alaska campus to check the bulletin boards. I had already picked up some leads earlier from wading through the murk that is Craigslist (Creepslist?), but felt more comfortable with ads geared towards students like myself.

The perfect place was not found until the day of my birthday. A local ad in the Fairbanks Daily News Miner Classifieds started it all. After a visit and subsequent paperwork, I was the proud owner (renter) of a two bedroom dry log cabin in the woods. The location, being only three miles from campus, was a nice perk as well.

After the cabin business was complete, my parents and I went down to the Sourdough Cafe for a little celebration dinner, both for the cabin and my apparent birth. It was a turning point in the trip for us. No more would we have to wonder whether or not I could find a place to live. The stress-cloud was lifted, and we slept well that night knowing that the rest of the trip was for our enjoyment.

Part IV: Enjoyment

Part II: Heading To Fairbanks

Arriving to the train station early was my dad’s idea, but even he underestimated how early we would get there. Either our driver knew the ropes well or the front desk lady drives slowly.

The morning light filled the small, quaint train station with a warm light that reflected off of the polished wooden benches and onto the detailed ceiling. We watched travelers saunter in as the time rolled on steadily towards our departure. I had never been on a real train before (just those things big cities call trains), and never first class!

The front car of the blue and yellow train was reserved for us Gold Star people (fancy-pants). The second story was the seating quarters, which included a bar, open-air deck, and a clear bubble ceiling. The bottom of the car was where the bathrooms and dining room were. I chose to spend much of my time out on the open air deck with my camera. I was about to find out that this was to be prime real estate for many reasons.

As with most adventures, things began to chug along quite nicely. The scenery was fantastic, from the jagged mountain peaks to the braided-meandering river crossings. Trees were a nice touch as well. What was not a nice touch was an Indian family located a few seats back and to the right of us. Their little girl, who had to have been three or four, was a brat of a child.

Great loud and strange wailings continued out of her mouth for eight hours, greatly annoying everyone in the train car. The creature even drove the nice New Zealand couple to drink excessively. Now, I am not usually bothered by a little bit of fussing as long as the parents are trying their best to silence the child. These people did NOTHING! Not even their extended family, who was with them, would provide aid.

I missed most of the screaming child action since I was out on the open-air deck part of the train car, and could not hear much. Only when the child came outside did I come inside, except for the lure of the dining car. The food on the train was wonderfully well-prepared and flavorful. I dined on buffalo burgers for lunch and salmon corn chowder in the evening.

When the train stopped in Denali National Park so did the screaming. The Indian couple left the train. Everyone on-board felt and looked more at ease. Even the New Zealand couple had ceased their drinking binge, and promptly went to sleep. I came in and relaxed with a nice book in my seat while the wilderness of Alaska quietly sped past. We spent the next four hours in silence with only slight interruption from the staff narration.

As we rolled into Fairbanks, I saw the University of Alaska, my future home, for the first time. I thought about this introspectively, said goodbye to the staff, and exited the train.

Part III: The Hunt For Someplace Nice