Here goes nothing...

July 23, 2019

Here goes nothing...

The alarm goes off. Everything is packed. We have this routine down! One packs the car while the other makes breakfast. Coffee is prepped and perkin', bagels ready, now just add bacon, eggs and yes... cheese. Oh! Don't forget hot sauce!!! Wrap those babies up, write a little note and hit the road.
Train leaves a little after 5am. We drive over to Darby's sister and brother-in-laws house and Kevin drives us over to the Amtrak. Well, we should have checked the train because it was running late. Darbs has never taken a train and last time I did, I was 9 years old and in Austria, also in Alaska when I used to give Gold Rush tours in Skagway up the Klondike. So this is going to be a somewhat new and exciting trip for us both.
Train finally arrives in Champaign and four hours later we are in Chicago where we have a bit of a layover. We grab a coffee and a lovely Tibetan Buddhist man comes and puts a bracelet and necklace on both of us, said a little prayer with a great big smile and then asks for money. Darby was on the phone with his sister and that's when he got us. Darby said he had a nice smile and said what harm in giving him money. I apparently have sucker written all over my face, but we both thought that if he wasn't who he was portraying, then it will be taken up with their beliefs. He really did have a nice smile.
We played some cribbage, grabbed some grub, and then off we went to St. Cloud, MN where we were meeting up with Kate "The Great". Kate picked us up at midnight and when we got to her house we chatted a bit, then passed out. There was still a lot to do before we hit the road to drive the 2,500 mile trip to Whitehorse.
Not even the smell of coffee woke us. When we did rise, we walked around the property with the kids while Kate was running errands in town. I climbed the trees with Cece and Oliver then Kate was back and we started going through our gear. What does one bring for a 444 mile race in the Yukon? Just meat sticks and coffee of course!!! We arranged what we needed by order of where and what place we needed it on the trip as well as the race. Sleeping gear, tent, first aid, food for the boat, food for the land, camp stove... you get the idea. Then we were off to get the SPOT (what tracked us during the race) and some extra paddles. Got home and loaded up the truck up.
I personally like to hit the road super early, but 530am was our agreement. There were some concerns with the border not being open when we got there, but we went through the big city of Portal, North Dakota. Population, hold yourself here, 126! That was in 2010 and by the looks of the town it probably didn't change much.
I'll save you the boring details of driving that distance. We did hit some high winds and had some "pucker" moments watching the canoe wiggle a little. The storms we did hit weren't too bad, but they weren't all that good. Once we hit the Alcan (Alaska Highway) and hit BC, things got beautiful. The critters were almost as plentiful as the time I drove through Yellowstone back in '08. We saw it all, well all but wolves.
Taking turns driving was such a help! We would each try and drive a full tank if not two, but there is something about driving in a truck and the sounds of having the boat on top. Not like driving in a car. I personally was sleepy a lot, but having each other was great. The first night I made the executive decision to pull over and sleep for a few hours. We all passed out hard, then early to rise we were off. Next time we stopped was after we made a stop a Liard Hotsprings thanks to the recommendation by Dirk, Kate's baby brother. That felt heavenly. We all needed that at that point. We drove a bit further and found a spot to pull off. When we woke in the morning I noticed something by the driver side of the truck. Kate was still passed out and Darby and I were looking around. Looks like something big and friendly walked up the the window, had a look, then took off. That would have been a sight to wake up too!
It didn't take us too long to get to Whitehorse, you know, just another 10 hours... When we did we were happy the not be sitting anymore. We stayed at an AirBnB that was awesome as far as location, never met the owners, but it was a great spot being able to be on the Yukon and see right where we would be taking off from in just a couple days time!
Tim arrived soon after us and Sam didn't get there until the next day. My Sam... Samilton Hamilton, came in on Monday. We picked her up at the hotel and then later went out to take the canoe for a test spin.