8.11.22 Thursday

We took off on the trail this morning at 9:15a.  It took us about an hour to get to town.  Kevin dropped me at the car at the railroad depot and I followed him back to the trailhead so we could park the four-wheeler.  We unloaded all of the bags of clothes that we’d cleaned out of the cabin and left them there in the parking lot.  Headed over to the storage unit and loaded up some medicine and other stuff that we thought I might need before Kevin gets back.

Then off to the train depot to check in for his 11:20 ride.  Adam and his family met us there.  So many kids, such a happy family! 😊  The train arrived and I took off.  So much to do!  Went back to the four-wheeler and loaded the storage stuff up into trashbags into the freight trailer and covered with a tarp.  The trail is still pretty muddy.  Loaded the clothes bags back up into the car.  Went by the post office and picked up the fuel pump we’d ordered from Japan so that the mechanic can fix the little Suburu mini-truck.  (It died on me a couple of years ago out at mining camp and we never fixed it.  Tried to sell it this summer before the move but no one would give us what it’s worth.  So we decided to get it fixed and send it up the tracks on the Tundra truck!)

Snuck by the old house and grabbed the pooper-scooper I’d forgotten outside.  They’ll never use it…

Then to the bank, hardware store (saw big Ed from our church, what a sweetie!), free box in Trapper Creek to drop the clothes, then the grocery store.  Whew!  Ready to get out of town!  I’m not gonna lie…..I was a little nervous, this being my first time to drive the trail all the way from town to the cabin, and all by myself!  I was ready to pull out at 1:53p which should ideally put me at the cabin around 3:00p.

Fortunately, I prayed and God was with me the whole way—crossing the railroad trussle with the sides of the four-wheeler scraping while the river runs swiftly below, going up the easiest part of the trail calling out “hey, bear” so as not to surprise one, waiting for the train to pass on the one spot that the trail crosses the tracks…and getting a couple of extra whistles from the engineer as he flew by! 😊

At times, I put the wheeler into four-wheel drive to power through the mudholes and up some of the hills.  I only made one wrong turn (tried to take the ‘freight trail’ but it didn’t look right so I found a wide spot in the road and had to turn around).

At 3:10 and 12 miles later, I pulled onto our property.  I wish ANYONE had been there to see my face!  I was grinning from ear to ear, fist bumping the air and yelling “woo-hoo, I did it!”  What a cool moment!  And IF anyone else had been there to see me pull in, they probably would have been laughing.  I can only imagine what I looked like with legs covered in mud, driving the four-wheeler pulling a loaded freight trailer covered in a tarp and bungee cords, with 20 lbs of potatoes, my backpack, a chainsaw, a six-pack of beer and a pooper-scooper strapped on!  What a day!

P.S.

Shortly after I arrived, Kevin called from the train.  He was worried then excited that I made it back ok.  Apparently, the train was stalled in Denali National Park because some goofball decided to JUMP OFF THE TRAIN WHILE IT WAS MOVING!  Not sure if they were on a suicide mission or what.  Not sure if they lived or died.  What a crazy world we live in right now!