The next chapter in our life together

Ready for a Small World tale? Day 16

This morning Mindy is at the car getting food for breakfast and I hear her chatting with our neighbor. Amanda was fascinated with our Tesla with MN plates. She is an Aussie now living and doing research with Alaska Energy and Power through her position at U of Alaska in 

Fairbanks.  I ask her if she knows Philip Wight (the professor whose EV route we have been following) and of course “he is a colleague of mine in the history dept.”

Because Philip was visiting family in the “lower 48” we were not going to see him. Now Amanda and her partner Tom will deliver our appreciation gifts of Ralph’s Book “Gilly and the Snowcats” and a Cool Planet DDC disc.  Not only that, Amanda connected us with  a few of her colleagues that are energy geeks or long distance athletes.

They also know David Norris an Alaskan who won the Birkie last year in record time.

And they choose site 6 at K’seugi Ken campsite with their hunting dogs to meet with us.  Coincidence??

Heading north toward Denali National Park waiting for the clouds to lift and reveal the highest peak in North American and #3 on my list of 7 continental giants.  Everest (Chomolongma) and Kilamanjaro already secured.  Stopped at 2 charging stations near Cantwell, 1st did not work and the second behaved and got us to DNP around 4 pm.

Being in person makes all the difference as we worked with Greg and he helped us get 3 nights at Sanctuary Campground about 15 miles into the park with no vehicles. Thanks Greg!  Mindy is thrilled and we’ll get 3 wilderness days in a small campsite with only 7 tent sites.

Still no clear view of the mountain but a message from Amanda let us know that they had a super view from the other side of the park.   So after a quick shower (ahhhhh) we hopped in Redd-Y and drove out to Mile 9 mountain viewpoint.  Yes it was a distant view but magnificent in its grandeur.

Check it off Paul and now into the wild, see you in 3 days.

– Paul

3 Comments

  1. Toni

    Hi! Cantwell is my middle name and my mom’s maiden name. The town was for sale years ago. My dad pondered buying it for her. As a native Californian, she was not interested!

  2. Jimmy and Sarah

    Hey Paul and Mindy ~

    Fantastic blog!

    It was our pleasure meeting you at Kesugi Ken! Excellent work with cool planet and being advocates for climate change initiatives. We watched the saving snow film (well done) and the numbers are staggering.!

    May God bless you and your travels!

    Jimmy and Sarah

  3. Brett Cease

    SO beautiful! Thanks for the amazing story keeping us all in the loop 🙂 Hope you are having a wonderful time soaking up Denali 💜

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