Hey Folks,

And so, with little to no ado, I bid adieu, for the time being. I’m hitting the road in the morning, and I’m not sure when I’ll have internet access again – hopefully it’ll be no more than a few days between swigs. I’m heading out in the morning to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, to live in a cabin named “Shacky”. I’ll be there a couple of weeks or so at a time, then make a run to Anchorage for some groceries and a little warming up, then back to Shacky. If all goes as planned. If all does not go as planned, I’ll spend a few nights there, say something like ‘this is C-R-A-Z-E-E-E!!!’ and boogie on back to the relative comfort of Anchor-ville. I’ve too little pride to tolerate discomfort long.

I had a little leftover pasta for dinner this evening, followed by some eggnog, and a slice of killer homemade brownie with some Chai tea. That’s a real last supper. My last breakfast, in the morning, will probably be raisin bran and coffee. The post-last-supper tomorrow will probably be some kind of soupy-mash out of a can, eaten in a very cold van en route to McCarthy, Wrangell-St. Elias. I’m not sure yet how long I’ll take to get there – I would like to do some shooting along the way, but I’d also like to get the drive over with and start settling in – there’s much firewood to be cut.

I’ll try to get some stuff posted on the blog as I’m able updating the travels – photos of Shacky, the snow, my van, me, and, oh yes, some scenes from Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Folks in the area do have internet access, via satellite dish, so I hopefully will be able to stay in touch that way. If I can’t get at least reasonably internet access, unfortunately I doubt it’ll work out for me, as I obviously need email access to maintain photo sales and trip inquiries for the coming summer. We’ll see how that goes.

Before I head out, I’ll comment on a few of my main concerns, and we’ll see how well-reasoned my worries were down the road, a la hindsight. In no particular order:

* Driving the McCarthy Rd in winter in a 2wd van.
* Figuring out how to put these da** chains on my van.
* Figuring out how to get these da** chains back off my van.
* Figuring out how to travel in a van without all my containers of water freezing.
* Convincing myself that sleeping in a cabin at 30 below zero temperatures is a good idea.
* Getting around in the park, having a 2wd van, no snow machine, no ATV, no plane. I do have snowshoes and a compass.
* Buying food for 2-3 weeks at a time, knowing I have no fridge, and the temperature is hovering around 0 <–> 15 below. My broccoli’s gunna freeze.
* Dealing with a generator for power.
* Deciding whether to bring my acoustic guitar.
* Keeping the iPod charged.
* Deciding (in the morning) whether to make one last run to REI and buy that -20 sleeping bag.
* Using a chainsaw in ridiculously cold temperatures.
* Using a chainsaw.

The photo posted is of the North Face of Mt. Bona, in the University Range, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. I converted it to black and white on the ole computer.

See ya when I see ya.

Cheers

Carl