Gone away from me Gone away from me
Life is long
My love has gone away from me
- Ray LaMontagne
Off he took, my love, just at dawn, for Alaska. Three long driving days it'll take him to get there, or maybe a tad more, in which case he hopes to wheel in for class Wednesday morning.
It was so very difficult for me to not jump in with him. This is a trip we really love and usually take together. How will he ever make it without me, you know? Won't he want to weep when he takes a quick dip into the Liard River hot springs or stops for a mocha at the coffee house in Whitehorse or gets a kick out of our Canadian neighbors' phrase and perspective variations? But traveling 2,400 miles in three days with a nine month old, wiggle worm of a baby sounded like just enough of a drag to warrant going by plane.
Jason was content to head off alone with his thermos of coffee and iRiver of music. Plus he'd downloaded three books from the library to listen to (Did you know that can happen?! It's free, and you can legally burn them to cd for personal use!). To give you a feel for his road trip, the books are these:
Babylon by Bus: Or, the true story of two friends who gave up their valuable franchise selling YANKEES SUCK T-shirts at Fenway to find meaning and adventure in Iraq,
The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country, and
Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army
Maybe he'll do a guest blog telling about them. Ha. I wish. Not so much the written word communicator, that guy. If you're reading this along the route, hi honey! At least leave a comment for the gang about what book you're listening to, and how it's going. 
You can see there the 50-gallon drum of diesel he took to save fuel costs, but otherwise this is one of the least hillbilly looking outfits we've ever configured for driving the Alcan. All the stuff we took, including his work tools, fit in the backseat, with a few things in the pickup bed. I feel that our possession choices for this stint were good: sparse but well-rounded. We'll see if we still feel the same way in the middle of the Alaskan winter. I am particularly proud of taking only one box of kitchen supplies, as that's hard to narrow down. Four spoons, knives, forks, and plates, two different sized pots, one cast iron pan and a combo fryer/pressure cooker pan, a casserole dish, a cookie sheet, a few coffee mugs, and a dozen of the most useful utensils, like a can-opener and a spatula. We didn't take any water glasses; we'll have more of those as soon as we buy jars of pickles and eat the pickles. Otherwise, that's why God invented thrift stores.
You can see there the 50-gallon drum of diesel he took to save fuel costs, but otherwise this is one of the least hillbilly looking outfits we've ever configured for driving the Alcan. All the stuff we took, including his work tools, fit in the backseat, with a few things in the pickup bed. I feel that our possession choices for this stint were good: sparse but well-rounded. We'll see if we still feel the same way in the middle of the Alaskan winter. I am particularly proud of taking only one box of kitchen supplies, as that's hard to narrow down. Four spoons, knives, forks, and plates, two different sized pots, one cast iron pan and a combo fryer/pressure cooker pan, a casserole dish, a cookie sheet, a few coffee mugs, and a dozen of the most useful utensils, like a can-opener and a spatula. We didn't take any water glasses; we'll have more of those as soon as we buy jars of pickles and eat the pickles. Otherwise, that's why God invented thrift stores.*
One cute note about packing. I was going through Zoralee's sack of clothes a second time to par down. Jason saw a pair of her soft shoes I'd left out (which she hasn't even started wearing yet), and said, "Ohhhh, surely I can find a place for those! They're so little and cute." Shucks. Wrapped right around her finger, he is.
2 comments:
Wow...that had to be tough! I bet he's bored out of his mind without you and will be so glad to see "his girls" next weekend!
Shana, what are you talking about? Next weekend?? MAYBE in 2 or 3 weeks! Or maybe he should just turn around and come back to Montana :)
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