Day 7, August 21, Wednesday, 1800 milse, Pukaskwa Natonal Park on Lake Superior, Ontario

Up at 7, took a walk with Leben and Erde to the beach, and  hit the road at 10:30.  (When I say "walk" I mean with Leben in his wheelchair. When I say "stroll" I mean with Leben in his CATV, that is, his canine all terrain vehicle, aka stroller. Erde, of course, is on all fours, usually looking for the first opportunity to break away, have fun, or both.)

Weather started out threatening rain but it turn out to be another magnificent  day, 7 for 7, which I know cannot last.  Quite a contrast to this last year when we had snow on and off.

We stopped for a rest break at the same spot where last year I took the final photo of Leben walking on his own four.  Despite what we have been through over the last year, there was no sadness, especially knowing that he is here and enjoying life.  Leben plowed headlong down a steep, four-foot slope to the water and to get him out I had to double-winch him up the slope lying on my back and tightly secured to a tree myself.  But at least he is understanding that he can do everything he did before. More importantly, I am understanding where we should draw the line in the future.

We checked into Pukaskwa at 4pm and got the same site we had last year.  This will obliterate the memories I have of his becoming paralyzed at this same site.  My hope is that Erde does not drag me out of the  tent again at 5am thinking she had to go.  Actually, when I followed her, she was following the bear tracks leading from mean the tent.  Fortunately, she is almost deaf and sleeps soundly these days, so I don't think I have to worry about that.  When I got back to the tent last year, Leben hsd dragged himself outside; it was then that I knew he was paralyzed.  No big deal.  He's happy and that's all that counts.  But after I realized tat, we ended the trip here nd headed for home the next day.  So, to all intents and purposes, this trip, part II of our Sea to Shining Sea journey from the end of the road in the northeast (labrador) to the end of the road in the northwest (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska) begins now.  In 2010, we had to end the trip at tomorrow's hoped-for camp at Thunder Bay because of Leben's skin allergy and the Defender's overheating problem.

After stating up the camp, I took the dogs down the trail next to our camp to the beach.  I had to winch Leben over the sand and rocks to he water and once gin, these two dogs didn't miss a chance to jump in the water. As Leben and I sat on the beach watching Erde dig a hole to China, finally the words came to be about what this trip is all about.  It's the same as Sonntag's trip to Alaska in 2000: to thank them for the years of joy they brought me these last 12 years.

Several days ago I bought a watch to replace the watch i forgot to take.  I bought it at the exact same Walmart's where I bought the watch last year to replace the watch i forgot to take then.  As bad luck would have it, when I was struggling today to set Leben right after he toppled over after he hit some driftwood on the beach, that watch band broke.  Damn, it was an expensive watch, $12.  No big deal, I have some gorilla glue with me and I'll just glue the band to the back of the watch.  If that doesn't work, I have some JB Weld that I know will work.

Erde has not been eating.  I end up giving Leben her food since I cannot store it.  I thought it was because of all the treats they have been getting, but tonight I switched their mixer from some canned dog food to half of my canned salmon, and she wolfed it right down.  She probably thought that I would eventually figure out what she wanted, and she was right.  I may up having to eat the Spot's Stew myself from here on since I have 60 cans of it.

I  think i am finally getting finished with the shakedown period of this trip, which translates to making sure everything is in the best place, and in its place, and going about the chores in the most efficient way and sticking with that routine or improving it.  Every minute I waste looking for something or not doing something right means one less minutes of sleep, my journal, or on the road.  And with 500 or so things and an equal amount of daily tasks, those minutes can add up.  A lot of time is consumed during this shakedown period creating the numerous rules that differ from the rules I follow at home.  Likewise, since we are camping in a new spot every night, I walk very slowly around the camp to make sure i don't trip on some concealed thing.  I do not need to trip and fall and break an arm on these trips.  

As for my driving, i am also quite pleased with that. But there were three close calls: trying to pass a slow moving vehicle when there was not enough time; backing up without checking out what was behind me when I almost smashed Leben's wheelchair hanging on the rear ladder into a tree; and pulling over the side of a road without first seeing what was behind the tall grass I was entering, i.e., a three-foot sheer drop off  that my tire came within 2 inches of.  That last item would have been a show stopper for sure, although I have been thinking that my winch might have gotten me out, with a little ingenuity since the winch would have been the first thing to go down the drop off.  

Tomorrow we are off to Thunder Bay, where Sonntag and I stayed in 2000, and Leben and Erde stayed in 2001 and 2011.  I suspect I will not get my favorite site, but no big deal.  After that, one more night in Ontario (our eighth) and then it's across Canada for four days to the Rockies, where we head north after that to the Yukon, maybe Northwest Territory, and then onto to Alaska.  At that point, I will start giving some thought to how we get home.

It's 7:24.  Time to secure the camp, take the dogs for a walk, and then retreat to my tent for some cheap Cabernet Sauvignon and Mahler, plan tomorrow and pick up on page 7 of Consolations of the Forest.  (A measure of the free time I have is how many pages of the 12 books I brought along I have read.  Six in 7 days.)

Below photo is of Leben resting after his swim, and Erde resting after digging her hole to China.

Below photo is our camp (38) at Pukaskwa.  This is the spot where Leben became paralyzed last year.  We had better luck, this year.  And Erde did not pull me out of the tent at 5am to chase a bear, as she did last year.  Good dog.  Good bear (for not showing up).

Ed Mulrenin

202-747-4704 (mobile)

Aug 21, On the Road to Pukaskwa National Park

We just stopped for our midday rest stop. It was at this same rest area one year ago that I took the last photo of Leben walking. The next morning, he became paralyzed. But if his rushing down that slope to the water behind Erde after I took this photo is any indication, Leben is better equipped to handle life now.

Day 6, Tuesday, August 20, PM, Agawa Provincial Park on Lake Superior

After gas and grocery stores, the most frequent stops I make are for places like this for you know what for Leben and Erde. I had no intention of having my photo taken like this, but as i waited to take a photo, some local gentleman lingered at the ice cream stand peppering me with questions about my rig, my journey, and the dogs. Since I was anxious to get a photo without anyone in it and was anxious to move on, I asked him to take my photo, and he did. Once he did, I thanked him, jumped into the Defender, and moved on.

We drive about 250 miles today. We made such great time, I bypassed Pancake Bay Provincial Park, where we stayed last year, and reached Agawa. Bay Provincial Park by 5:30. We stayed here two years ago on our return trip home. What a great park, right on the beach. The bottom photo is of Leben and Erde dipping their paws into Lake Superior, or in Erde's case, her whole self.

As we turn north today along Lake Superior, we left behind any semblance of traffic and civilization as I knew it in DC. From here on out, the road is wide open and miles do no mean the same thing as they do to those of us who live in the cities.


Tomorrow, I will be trying to get up to Pukawaska National Park, 200 miles north. It was there last year when Leben became paralyzed. But now that he has done just about everything he did before, I no longer think of him as paralyzed, just as my dog.

The view from our tent at sunset Fairbank Provincial Park

Day 5, Monday, August 19, PM, Fairbank Lake Provincial Park, near Sudbury, ON

I am losing track of what day of the week it is, what the date is, what day of our journey it is, and where I stayed.  We are moving on every day and the past days are all blurring togethe

We left Champlain Provincial Park hurriedly after I waited for some water hog to finish her shower, but she went on for 30 minutes, so I left without a shower. Apparently, one one shower room at a time at this place works.  Why do people like that even bother to go not the woods. Part of the lure of the road is that no one cares if you haven't showed in a week or month.

My hope was to get to Killarney Provincial Park and snag one of the few unreservable sites, but that was not to be.  Killarney is the jewel of the Ontario Provincial Park system and heavily booked. I got a great site last year because I went in October.  I was hoping to get there by 2pm, but I got distracted and took a wrong turn, which I did not discover for 20 miles since there are few route markers, and the towns are 29 miles apart.  When I discovered my mistake, I turned around, but 4 miles up the road I realized that that thing in the road I near,y ran over might have been a turtle.  So I turned around again, drove 2 miles to the thing, and sure enough, it was a big turtle, still alive, sun bathing in the middle of the road.  I picked the protesting creature up, and set him or her down in the marshland off the side of the road, and sped on to Killarney, which sits 25 miles off the man highway.

Sure enough, the camp was full.  They had just given away the last site minutes before I came.  Had I not taken that wrong turn, I would have made it in time for the last site.  But had i not taken that wrong turn, the poor turtle would be dead, so I feel great that I took the wrong turn and lost that Killarney site.

On the way to Killarney, we stopped (we take a 20 minute break every three hours, after which the dogs get to switch places in the Defender) at the same great spot we stopped in last year.  I do not need to tell you that both dogs took advantage of the lake, Leben once again in his wheelchair. Not far beyond that, we stopped in the same cafe as last year for the dogs's daily bonus for tolerating the long rides in the Defender, an ice cream treat.  It was moving on from there that I made my wrong turn, trying to rely on memory from last year.

The staff at Killarney told me that the nearby town of Killarney had some great sites left, so we drove 5 miles down to road to check it out.  I do not consider an open field with no shade, filled with trailers, overlooking a small water outlet a great site, so I pulled out my contingency plan for the day with back up camps,  and drove 2 hours further to a great little Provincial Park called Fairbank, some 20 miles north of the main highway (17)' east of Sudbury.   Staying here will save us almost 2 hours of driving tomorrow.

On the drive to Fairbank, I noticed that leben was developing a serious rash under his arm, so I had to treat that as soon as I to in the camp.

On the way up to the park, the road was poorly marked and we passed our turnoff.  Fortunately, the rule I use is that if I have gone further up a road than I thought I would have to, I stop and flag down locals, which is what I did, s that wrong turn only cost me  ten minutes.

Tomorrow we head to Lake Superior and either Pancake Bay Provincial Park or Agawa Bay Provincial Park. We stayed in both places before.  They are right in the shore.  Perhaps we'll see if Leben wishes to dip his paws in this water.

Day 4, August 18, Saturday, PM, Champlain Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

I am discovering I have little time to eat, let alone write my blog.  But I will do so, outline fashion at least, perhaps retroactively, without any profound thoughts because there are no such profound thoughts to report. My days are spent working 3-5 hours in the morning in the camp, driving 8 hours a day, and working 3 hours in the evening.  I have read 5 pages in the 12 books I brought along.

We left Brent camp in Algonquin Park after a busy morning,  i.e., Leben's bath, stroll, etc. the camp is down a rough 25 mile dirt and gravel road, so we took our time driving it more to avoid getting the inside of the Defender dirty than anything else.

Our trip today was short, 75 miles, to Champlain Lake Provincial Park.  Got a fantastic site when the one we had last year was taken.  The break in driving was welcome by all of us. I think I will try to do this every few days.

Weather so far has been magnificent.  I hope our luck holds, but. A sure soon the rains, and then e cold, will come.

Ed

Ed Mulrenin

202-747-4704 (mobile)

Aug 18, day 4, at Brent camp

Our camp at Brent was vary isolated, except for the parking lot next to us. But we had the beach right outside our door, and Erde took advantage of that.

I took longer than the usual 3 hours to break camp because I wanted to see how long certain tasks would take. We took a hike through the forest next to us, but turned back after I realized it would be too much for Leben. Instead, I loaded him into his stroller (canine all terrain vehicle, or CATV, and took a mile hike to our campsite from the last two years. I wanted to check up on the big LEBEN & ERDE I carved in the picnic table, but the occupants of the site were still asleep and I didn't want to disturb them. Then we retreated back to site 17, our site, and I gave LEBEN his first shower of the trip with the Big Kahuna portable shower I bought for the trip. It work extremely well, using power from my portable battery jumper. The shower doubles as the container for the dogs grooming stuff when not in use. Unfortunately, I had to give Leben a shower because his skin allergy is still with him.

It is quite peaceful here at Champlain PP tonight because it is Sunday. Not only is it tough to gt a campsite in the provincial parks on weekends in the summer, but the noise level with the kids especially is high. But that's only until 8 pm when the kids retreat to their tents. Then as happened last night at Brent a camp, the irresponsible young adults start in and go or hours, despite the 11 pm quiet rule. I tried playing Taps as loud as I could on my ipad to send them the obvious message, but that did't help. Because I have to get a decent night's sleep, I took an Ambien my doctor prescribed and fell asleep despite the raucous. But I got my revenge at 6am when I pulled out the Ipad, turned the volume up high, and played Reveille.

Disaster struck the On The Road kitchen today. Before I left for the trip I purchased 12 individual serving containers of instant rice. But to save space in my kitchen container, I emptied the contents of each one into zip lock bags. This was two weeks ago. When I went to enjoy some rice with my vegetable soup tonight, the rice had molded. So much for saving space.

Speaking of saving space, I am making a valuable contribution myself. Just in preparing for the trip, I lost 10 pounds. But I am eating only half the contents of my daily food rations, and they were already short hundreds of calories compared to my daily requirements. I am sure I have already lost another five pounds with all the work during the setting up and breaking camps. On the last two trips, I lost 20 pounds each trip, and they were shorter and fr less strenuous. When I return, I will weigh what I weighed in 7th grade.

I am sitting outside in this splendid park in this magnificent weather. The sun has just set and I have on 30 more minutes of usable daylight, not to mention 47% of usable battery on my ipad. I will wake the dogs from their deep sleep (Erde sleeps with one eye open so as not to miss an opportunity, but she misses plenty), head into the tent, and maybe read for the first time on this trip.

Ed from Champlain PP, near North Bay, Ontario.

Aug 18..the trip so far

Here's a homemade map of our trip so far, 1011 miles, four days on the road. At this rate, it will take us 20 days to get to Alaska, so we have 7 days for side trips, resting every now and then, and dealing with problem. So far, there are no changes to the planned route reported earlier here.

I'll be making my own maps on this trip because Google's maps on the ipad leave something to be desired.

Ed

Aug 18, our camp at Champlain Provincial Park, North Bay, Ontario.

Great site. Pine needles all over, water out our front door, a nice breeze. So far the weather has been absolutely splendid, and virtually no bugs.

Day 4, August 18...Champlain Park, near North Bay, Ontario

It seems that AT&T shut off my iPad's cell phone.  I called AT&T last Moday setting up an international package but apparently the representative set it up on the wrong account.  They just turned it back on.  The postings I made to he blog were lost. I'll reconstruct some of them tonight.

So far, we have travelled 1000 miles. We are now in our 4th camp, one night each in NYSE Mongaup Park, Charleston PP (provincial park) just over the border, Brent Camp in Algonquin PP, where Leben went swimming again, and now Champlain PP, where Leben also went swinging.  After three tiring days of driving and workin from the minutes I got up to to minute I crashed, we took an easy drive today of about 100 miles.  I am reconstructing our route from last year to obliterate the terrible memories of the fated trip, and it is working.  Both dogs are taking advantage of being outdoors all the time (Erde more than Leben, of course), and the thought that ones to my mind the most at night when all the chores are done is, What a joy it is to be back on the road.  Except for that AT&T fiasco, I  quickly left behind the noise of life back in DC, and got into the stride of the trip immediately.  And I cannot believe how invigorated I feel.

I am will send next a photo of what is in front of me here now and then sign off until later. Tomorrow we will he'd for Killarney PP, 200 miles away, and then around the east of Lake Superior, hoping to make Thunder Bay next Friday.

Aug 16, day 2, Mongaup Park to Charleston Lake Provincial Park, Ontario

I never ceased to be amazed that on these trips I can plan a 300 or 400 mile drive, estimate the time I will arrive, and the pull into camp at that precise time. Today was another such day. When I left Mongaup Camp at 9:30, I calculated that I would arrive at Charleston Lake Camp in Ontario at 500 p.m., and I pulled in at 5:02. I DC, I have to give myself an hour leeway just to drive 12 miles to the Beltway, a 15 minute drive with no traffic.

After I left Mongaup, I had a cup of coffee at the Robin Hood Diner in Livingston Manor. My brother told me that my mother used to stop there for coffee when she visited me at scout camp nearby. I then stopped at a local hardware store to pick up something to make up for the tent takes i left behind. Sure enough, I got exactly what I needed, some large 8 inch nails that work better than the stakes. One of the things I enjoy about these trips is stopping in hardware or general stores like that. They are no bigger than a 7-11, but you can solve any home project or problem with what they have in the store and a little creativity. Who needs Home Depot or Loews when you have a local hardware store that requires you to think and show some creativity?

I was wrong about their going to interrogate me at the border, maybe even water board me. As it turns out, I lucked out with a very nice female border agent who asked a few questions and then waved me through with, Have a safe trip. I hope I have the same luck at the next five crossings.

As I was packing the Defender-90, one of the items on the Wild Card table of maybe-takes was a pair of rubber boots, which I bought for my trip in 2000 but never took them or wore them except he i take Leben swimming. Franklin, the young man who help me load my truck told me to take them just in case. As it turns out, when we arrived at the camp tonight, I took the dogs to the pet beach just to see how they reacted since thy had been here last year. Well, once thy saw the water, their collective memories triggered and the two of them, Leben in his cart, ran own a steep incline to get into the water. I tied to hold Leben back but he was too strong and determined to get into tat water. He ran straight for the water and dove in off a 8 inch drop, toppling over in the process. He looked up at me as if to say, hey, got me out kf this predicament, and i did. Once he was upright, he waded out a few more feet and he and his sister had the time of their lives playing like I have not seen in a long time. (See photo.) But as he tried to turn around in the 18 inch water, he got mired in the sand and I had to wade in and winch him out. If nothing else of interest happens on this trip, seeing Leben enjoy life exactly as he did before was enough to compensate for the burdens of this trip. A woman who saw this said that he doesn't know he's paralyzed. After seeing this today, how can I ever think of him as paralyzed again? Of course, I am paying the penalty for this with two wet dogs sleeping next to me, but I am sure they often pay the penalty for my rash decisions too.

Time for Taps.

Ed

Aug 16, 4pm, at the border; photo of abandoned dog at Mongaup State Park in NY

I'm stuck in a long line at the border so I might as well do something useful.  The line is moving quickly but I expect they will keep me for an hour because of how the DEFENDER looks.  I have to go through this 6 times on this trip.

Below is a photo of the little dog dumped at Mongaup.  She was found lying in the middle of the road before the camp entrance, miles from any home.

If someone wants a good dog, call the park staff and tell them you'll take care.  Their phone can be found here...

http://newyorkstateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/Mongaup_Pond/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NY&parkId=100

Ed

Ed Mulrenin

202-747-4704 (mobile)

August 16, Day2. Mongaup NY State Park to Canada

What a joy it is to be on the road again, especially at night when all the day's chores are finished and i am alone in the tent with only the dogs and my thoughts. It did not take long this year to leave behind the stress of preparing for this trip an DC in general. In fact, there was no shakedown at all for this trip, where usually it took 3-5 days. I am also shocked hat i feel so invigorated. Perhaps it is because it is easier to manage Leben on the road.

We made it to Mongaup Camp exactly at 7pm, precisely what I thought it would take. No violent storms this year got in our way. We did 402 miles yesterday, with another 325 ahead of us today. For the next week, I hope to replicate our trip last year, as if for good luck.

I have no doubt but that the dogs have taken to this trip, especially Erde, who seems to want to take one side trips, on her own. I have decided that I need to keep her 100 percent under control. As soon as I take my eyes off her, she's off somewhere, mostly looking or discarded for scraps from previous campers. The two of them cannot get enough of all he new smells as we take our walk around the camp.

As I was leaving the camp today, before I stopped off at the trail head to my old Boy Scout camp, Beech Mountain, the staff at the gate sowed me a little dog who had been dumped at he camp. The cruelty of people is everywhere. I'll post a photo of the little girl under the Dedication posting, and add her to the deduction, hoping she finds a better home than she obviously had.

For the first time on any of my trips, despite my formidable planning, I forget the stakes to my big tent and my watch, both for explainable reasons. But now I have to hunt down a hardware store for the stakes. The watch is not critical as I never wear one at home, the reason I forgot it.

We're off for Canada. I do not look forward to the 2-hour interrogation i will get at the border, as other agents search my vehicle only to check out how it is rigged.

Ed from the Robin Hood Diner in Livingston Manor, NY.

August 15, Day 1, Off at last

Leben, Erde and I are now sitting in the Defender.  As soon as I send off this message we will be shoving off to Alaska. At least that's where we are headed right now. With all of the many now-resolved obstacles that were tossed in our path since we tried to set out originally on July 15th, not to mention since 2003, I would not be surprised if yet another obstacle rears its ugly head en route to Alaska, delaying the trip further or forcing us to turn back. But I shall remain optimistic and assume that everything that could go wrong has already gone wrong, or that we will deal with any new problem as we have all the others that delayed this trip: solve it, figure out how to prevent it from recurring, and move on. Our only goal for this trip is to get back home safely.

In 2000, I took my first long road trip ever as a way to give 13-year old Sonntag one more ride in the car, his favorite treat, before I went to Russia. I looked at a map, saw that the longest road from DC in North America was to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska (a.k.a. Deadhorse), and off we went. To this day, it saddens me that Sonntag’s sister Kessie was not with us on that trip to Alaska except in my heart. (Kessie died in 1999.) Although Leben and Erde took a similar journey with me in 2001 when I returned to Alaska to scatter Sonntag’s and Kessie’s ashes over the tundra of the North Slope, I was determined to not let that happen again with Leben and Erde, which was the reason I had to get on the road this year for their return and maybe final journey to Alaska or together. Little did I realize, though, that I would be making this journey with another (much bigger) paralyzed, wheelchair-bound dog. Worse, little did I realize that I would be making this trip knowing what we face when we return to deal with Erde's just-discovered tumor. But at least I have the two of them with me on this trip. Fortunately, I have learned how to maintain Leben’s quality life and to accept that the threat to Erde exists only if I do nothing about it when I return. I know well how fortunate I am to be making this trip with my two old dogs, whose companionship I have had the joy of experiencing for 12 years. And I know well how fortunate those dogs are compared to the plight of so many other non-human animals on this planet today.

Since I first started to plan this trip back in 2003, one problem or another delayed, cut short or cancelled the trip each year. Last year, we had to turn back because Leben became paralyzed on the trip. Our original departure date of July 15 this year was delayed for a seemingly endless chain of interruptions, some of which I reported earlier on this blog. The only good with those interruptions was that they exposed problems while we were still at home and not on the road, and that their trip-delaying results made ample opportunity for other problems to appear and, more importantly, get solved.

Two weeks ago, we were getting read to pull out when the chain of events leading to the discovery of Erde’s tumor started. Now that I know what I have to do about that, and with Erde’s oncologist’s permission, we are now setting out for Alaska, almost 6000 miles and at least 19 days away. Had this trip not been delayed beyond our original July 15 departure date, I would not now have the permits to drive the Denali Park Road on the weekend of September 13th, which is now the magnet pulling us to Alaska at this late date, but I would also have been completely in the dark about a half dozen now-resolved problems just waiting to appear.

In 2002, The National Geographic labeled Sonntag’s trip to Alaska An Incredible Journey, and it was for sure. But based alone on what we have just been through, this trip qualifies for that adjective already, and the trip is just getting underway. And if things go anywhere near where I hope they will, these next two months will be with me for the rest of my life.

Recently, in a rare moment of reflection, I made a list of those people, places and events over my adult life that brought me great joy. With apologies to any reader who thought she would head that list, I have no doubt that my five dogs would. (You would be second.) And among the fondest memories I have with those dogs are my road trips with them. For this reason, despite a problematic back, a recently-repaired knee, a 110-pound 12-year old paralyzed German shepherd, his twin sister facing surgery and radiation for a tumor as soon as we return, at least 12,000 miles of roads and 50+ nights of setting up camp every day ahead of us, I really have no choice but to make this trip.

Click here (or on the right sidebar button, TRIP PLAN) for a map of our planned outward bound leg of our journey to Prudhoe Bay and Denali, which we have to reach by September 12, 27 days from now. This trip is actually part II of our journey to the ends of the road in the northeast (Labrador) and northwest (Prudhoe Bay), which I am sure no one has ever done before, at least not like we’re doing it. I will plan the inward bound leg at Denali, unless circumstances require that we do so before that. 

As for today, our destination is Mongaup State Park in the Catskill Mountains in New York, about 370 miles away. This is where we started our journey last year and where perhaps the greatest experience of all my road trips occurred, our hike to Beech Mountain, my old Boy Scout Camp and now an isolated nature preserve, where my life-long love of camping and the outdoors was born. We will not be taking that hike again this year, but if there is one hike I will put at the top of the list of memorable events it will be that one.

We’re off.

Aug 15, 10:36, 168282 odo, ready to go

August 14th - 7pm 3 items left

Here is what my 3-page, 200+ item To Do List is down to.

Watch Defender recovery videos
Load Defender
Check Out

For the first time in three months, I have nothing to do for the trip.  If I get a decent night's sleep, we will leave tomorrow.   I thought another incident was on the way tonight when Leben lost his balance in his cart and toppled over.  That's the first time that ever happened.  But he was okay.

August 14 - Almost made it

Well, we almost made it. I needed just four more hours for the desk work, despite working all day:  Upgrades to iPad and cell phone communications packages; travel alert with my credit cards; two different ferry reservations from Alaska; campground reservations for the first three nights, etc. 

As I feared, the provincial campgrounds I want to stay in (because I know them) are now all full for the weekend, after I was able to get the last sites in two of them. Unfortunately, they are the worst sites in the camps, which will be a comedown for us since we had the best sites in them last year. There was no way I could have made reservations long ago because the sites are almost $60 a night and the payments are not refundable if you change or cancel them. I am sure I am going to find this to be the case every weekend until we get to the Yukon and Alaska , so I just might be spending some nights in some RV camps just off the highway. No big deal, as our goal is to get to Alaska.

If I had finished up all the deskwork last night, if my sleep was what it turned out to be (poor), I would not have gotten on the road today, at least not for a 370 mile drive to New York. My first rule is to leave when I am 100% ready and fully rested. My hope is to finish up the remaining work this morning and take ti easy  for the remainder of the day so that I can leave early tomorrow. On all five of my previous trips, I have not been able to leave before 11:00 a.m. because loading the Defender takes so long. I hope to beat that tomorrow by three hours. Problem is, then I’ll have to sit in traffic around Baltimore. But that could very well be the last traffic I sit in for two months.

Back to work.

Packing is done

With effort, I finished packing my wardrobe in record time and with the lightest load I can remember. Here are those same items in the last photo in their color-coded bags before they were consigned to the wardrobe, only to be seen again when needed. The items are in color-coded bags so that if it is raining, I don't have to waste time on the roof rack rummaging from one bag to another to find something. And in case I forget what is in which bag, I pack the index to the bags in the wardrobe, too. Believe, me, this extra effort is worth it.

Now to my desk for the paperwork. I am two hours behind schedule.

Packing wardrobe

The one packing chore for these long road trips I hate the most is my wardrobe.  Because of that, I save it for last for fear  that the trip would never get off the ground if I started earlier.  The problem is that I have limited space but I have  to be prepared for 60 days of travel, three seasons (summer, fall and winter), and whatever unplanned social events pop up,  and I do not want to have to spend every day doing the laundry or have to buy things along the way to make up for things left behind. (Left behind on purpose; I have never left anything behind by forgetting.)   But with each trip, a new problem arises that complicates packing.  After each trip, as I buy  new things to make up for the deficiencies  of the old things, I keep thinking I have to take along the old things in case the new things don't work out.  So, I pull out everything I would want to take under the best of circumstances (except my  suits, dress shirts and ties, which these days are used for funerals or going to the Supreme Court, and tuxedo) and then start packing.  Only then do i take out my To-Take list to see if everything is accounted for.  After my wardrobe bag is loaded, I see how big it is.  If it is too big, I start jettisoning things one by one. I then close up the bag, stash it by my front door,  assume that everything I will need is in it, and move on.  But if I was hesitant about jettisoning something, but did, I put it on my "Maybe" table by the front door and reserve the right to toss it in the bag as I walk out the door.  One item or another always makes that wild card cut. Right now, everything is on my bed and I am about to go through the process of packing and eliminating right now.

As I predicted, as i started to unload things from my closets and pulled out my bags, the dogs knew that something was up, so both followed me into the bedroom.  Leben really did not follow me, but willingly came when I "slung" him (my term for transporting him from room to room, wherever I am).  I always wonder what they are thinking when this happens: "Great, we're going for a ride."  Or maybe, "I hope he doesn't forget to take us."  Or perhaps, "Ah, crap, here we go again, off on some lousy trip to the woods."

Speaking of Leben following me around, at night I sling him to his bed, not far from my own bed, where he has slept for the last 12 years. Starting about two months ago, sometime during the night, he pulls himself off the bed onto the floor, where I usually find him in the morning, right under my feet as I pull my own self out of bed.  Sometimes I find his sister, Erde, in his vacated bed. This morning when I woke up, as predicted, he was not in his bed.  But he was not on the floor either.  I looked in the master bathroom and the rest of the bedroom, but  he was not there either.  More puzzled than frantic, I searched the hallway, but no Leben.  I checked out the nearby study, but he was there either.  Not in the second barroom either, or the next-in-line foyer. As I approached the living room,  there he was on his bed in the middle of the living, resting comfortably.  At first I thought St. Francis finally had come  through with a miracle and  gave him back his legs, but that was not to be. As it turns out, he had dragged himself almost 60 feet, aground four 90-degree corners to get to his bed in the living room.  The only explanation I can think of was that he had had an accident in his bed (no big deal, these things happen) and he either wanted to get away from it as far as he could or perhaps wanted me to think that Erde did it.  (Erde, bless her heart, whenever she is about  to have an accident, she steps into the walk-in shower I had built for her and does it there.)

I procrastinate.  I need to finish packing, and sit down at my desk for eight hours for some paperwork, including redoing my will, which for some bizarre reason i will never understand, I only revise before I take a trip like this. Then i will be done and ready to go, I hope.

Our Outward Bound Plans

Assuming an August 14th departure, here's the map of our planned outward bound route. The red X in Alaska is Denali National Park, where we have to be on September 12th.

The green line shows the planned route from DC into Canada, around the east side of Lake Superior to Calgary, up the Canadian Rockies through Banff and Jasper on to Kitawanga BC, and then up to Whitehorse (YK). From there we will leave the ALCAN (Alaska-Canada Highway) for a side-trip to Dawson Creek, maybe bypassing the (blue line) Dempster Highway side-trip to the Arctic at Inuvik, Northwest Territory, and then over the Fairbanks Alaska via the Top of the World Highway. In Fairbanks, if there is time, we will head up the (purple line) Dalton Highway to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay, although we have been-there-done-that. From Fairbanks, we will drop down to Denali (red X) where we will spend five days camping at sure-to-be-cold Teklanika Camp and  driving the 91-mile dirt and gravel park road, weather permitting.

From Denali, we begin the long drive home. My plan now is to catch the ferry from Skagway AK to Prince Rupert BC, and then another ferry from Prince Rupert  to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island.  After a few days at Vancouver Island, we will decide our inward-bound route when we get to Victoria. The  options are: across Canada to DC; diagonally across the US to DC; drop down the west coast to San Francisco and then diagonally home to DC.

Of course, all of this is depends on Erde's situation and anything else thrown in our way. I just hope it is not a hapless moose.

Click here (or on the side-bar option) for the trip so far.

August 12...the decision

My decision is that barring any further trip- delaying interruptions, tomorrow I will finish packing, do the desk work i must do for or before the trip,  and start on my checkout checklist.  Then, on Wednesday, I will load the Defender early in the morning, and head up to Mongaup State Park in New York, where we started the trip last year.  After that, we will replicate the trip last year around Lake Superior to Thunder Bay, Ontario, and then head across Canada to the Rockies, and then north to Alaska.  We will have 29 days to do what I did with Sonntag in 2000 in  12 days, so that will give us ample time to deal with the inevitable problems, stay at some campsites for a few days or take one or more  side trips of a few thousand miles or so.  

I finished all the packing today except for my wardrobe. To save time on Wednesday, I brought all the gear to the Defender.(see below photo.)  I can't store it on the roof rack yet because of the height of the garage.

I took the dogs for their last walk into Georgetown last night.  Soon we will be exchanging the people, sounds, lights, noise, cars, pollution,  and everything else that makes up the fabric of our daily lives for the road.  I have not been able to get excited for this trip until now because it wasn't until one hour ago that I believed it would come off.  If it doesn't, no big deal.  We'll plan to do it next year.  But if we do get off, our lives for the next 60 days will consist of the road and whatever else is within my reach in the Defender and tent.

Sent from my iPad.

August 12th- Decision day

Just got back from the vet hospital with Erde.  Both ear infections are still there, a record for Erde. Her ear infections always got cleared up within 10 days with aggressive treatment, but already it has been 14.  The vet told me to continue with the two different ear drops and the oral antibiotic and gave me still a fourth medicaiton, an anti-inflammatory drop for her ears.  I trust the vet's judgment, but I have to wonder what the environment we all live in is doing to our dogs' health as well as our own.  In 2000, during my first trip to Alaska with Sonntag, I took one medication for myself and one for Sonntag.I am shocked at how many I have to take now. Perhaps all of these things are what is keeping Leben and Erde here with me for so long (not to mention myself), but not only are we spending 17 percent of our GDP on medical and health items, but 17 percent of our time.  Today, in nursing homes, I understand that when people are asked about their future, the most frequent response is that they want to live to see their grandchildren graduate  from college (or whatever). Someday, when they are asked the same question, they will probably respond, "I want to live so I can take my next medications."  This is why I opted to postpone Erde's treatment for her tumor until after the trip.  I want her to enjoy life, not her surgery and medications.

I was wrong about everything that could go wrong has gone wrong already.  Although I just recharged my Matco automotive battery jumper several weeks ago, I wanted to be sure it was charged, so I went to charge it again because it is so critical for this trip.  I just bought it last September and used it once to jump a car and three times to power the portable shower.  Well, as I went to charge it, the two electrical prongs on the surface of the device that plug into an extension cord broke.  Now I cannot charge it from an electrical outlet.  Although it still seems to charge via a cigarette lighter in my vehicle, I flew out to auto-zone to buy a new one,  a different model, ust in case.  What a piece of junk the Matco model is, to have such a critical device fail because of a thing as simple as the irreparable electrical connection for recharging.

August 11th - Closer to a decision

Tomorrow, I will have a decision to make.  I will have to decide whether to spend the next 60 days in the predictable comfort  zone of my life in DC or spend it driving at least 12,000 miles, setting up and breaking camp every night in now-unknown places and God only knows what kind of weather, no newspapers, TV, or Netflix to entertain or inform me, with a 12-year old, 110-pound paralyzed dog and his sister as my only two companions, encountering yet-unknown problems that I know will occur, living out of  70 square-feet of space day (in my Defender) and night (in my tents), and dining on daily food rations that even prisoners of war might  refuse. And I will make that decision. Fortunately, despite the formidable obstacles that were thrown in my way as I started to plan (since 2003) and prepare (since mid-May) for this trip, I continued to pack so that once my decision is made, I would need only  one final day for  the desk work for this trip and for resting.

On Saturday morning, just when I thought everything was under control with Erde's situation, she started to shake her head again, meaning an ear infection.  The earliest the vet could see her for a recheck is Monday morning, and so I will do that at 7:25 tomorrow.  My hope is that the vet declares the infections gone so this pesky problem does not follow Erde for the next 60 days.

As I set up numerous packing stations around my condo  for the six pages of stuff that will go with us on this trip, I found that I could not find only one thing, a set of bolt cutters I bought for the trip in 2011.  Why bolt cutters?  Well, soon after my trip to Labrador in 2002, Leben stepped on one of those hooks that secures a leash to a dog's collar and it get wedged between the pads of his paw.  The more I tried to extricate him from it, the tighter the hook dug into his paw.  I had to carry him to my Defender and then to the vet hospital, where they had to anesthetize him and then cut the hook off with bolt cutters. I still shake to this day when I wonder what I would have done had this happened while I was along in Labrador, hundreds of miles away from the nearest vet, or people for that matter.  Now that I know this can happen, it would be a serious mistake for me to make this trip without them.  After spending 30 minutes looking without success for the cutters  I already owned, I gave up and bought a new pair.

Today, I will finish a bunch of chores with the Defender, pack my wardrobe and linen bags,  and get ready to do the final paperwork chores tomorrow after I return from the vets with Erde.  Then, at some point tomorrow, I will decide how I will spend the next 60 days. Then, if I decide to go, I only  have to brief the two secret service agents I promised could house-sit for me while I am away.

August 8th- Erde's test results; packing continues

Erde's oncologist called today and told me that the results of the tests she ran on Erde's newly discovered thyroid lump all came back negative, as I suspected (hoped, really) it would. She prescribed a drug that slows down cancer growth just in case, although she said the tumor Erde has is slow-growing.  (That means it was missed during Erde's physical two months before.)  She also reiterated that delaying the treatment by two months would not change around the risks, treatment options or results.  If this were my case and I knew I had two  years to live (Erde is 12, but shepherds can live to 14 and beyond), and was offered the option of starting treatment now or taking a last trip to Alaska with little risk and then start treatment, I know what I would opt for.  So I will continue to pack and make my decision Monday morning.

If it's not one thing, it's another.  My home central air conditioning went out on me yesterday.  The repair company came today and told me the compressor fan is not working.  It is hot here now, but with the fans going, the dogs can stay cool.

Today I packed the dogs' and my "stuff" boxes, the map "room." Tonight I will pull all the other camping gear from storage.  Most of all, I will sit and wait for the next unwanted obstacle to appear.

August 7 ...Vet appointment today (Revised 6:30 p.m.)

Blog for OTR new posting

9:35 a.m. I dropped the Defender off at the Land Rover place today to repair the drive shaft and fix the AC leak.

At noon, I have an appointment with the oncologist at South Paws in Fairfax. I have an appointment in Gaithersburg tomorrow with the oral surgeon, and then an appointment with the oncologist at Friendship on Monday. I am going to seek two opinions from oncologists instead of repeating the mistake I made with Leben last year by consulting only one neurologist.

I will have four general questions for the oncologists.

1. What is their assessment and prognosis?

2. What are my options? (treatments, risks, recurrence, cancer, etc.)

3. Surgery vs. Radiation (etc.) or both?

4. What are the risks of waiting 8 weeks?

Unfortunately, I am alone on this matter. One of the risks about using Friendship Animal Hospital as my dogs’ primary vet is that the vets there come and go and so there is no one there I can talk with about this and trust what they say. 

This is a matter I will have two, maybe five, days to decide. If I intend to go ahead with treatment for Erde “now”, I must decide soon and proceed with it. If I intend to wait for one reason or another, I must decide that soon, too, so that I can get on the road and give these dogs one last road trip together.  I want my memories of my dogs’ last years (I hope) with me to be not going back and forth to hospitals for one treatment or another but of their enjoying life.

After I return from the vet today, unless I hear something that convinces me that I have no choice but to go ahead with Erde’s treatment now, I will continue to pack for the trip. I do not want to be in a position on Monday when, if I decide that Erde’s treatment can wait eight weeks, I still have five days of packing and preparation to do because that alone would kill the trip. And if we go on the trip, perhaps the additional eight weeks will give me more time to reflect on what I want to do with Erde when I return. If I stay home and postpone a decision, it will be on my mind continuously and I may make a hasty, unwise decision I will later regret.

6:30 p.m. I consulted with an oncologist at South Paws Vet Hospital today.  My homework paid off because I did not have to ask the vet to explain things and I knew the vocabulary she was dealing with.  The first thing the doctor did was to examined Erde's thyroid, a usual step, and was concerned that it did not feel right.  She said that if that was a tumor, it would be malignant and require immediate attention.  She ordered blood tests,a cytology report, and x-rays.  She said the x-rays look OK to her but a radiologist needs to review them.  she will call me tomorrow to tell me if this was a false alarm or the real thing.  It never ends.

I spent an hour with the doctor. what I learned was this.  These AAs will continue to grow back until eradicated or completely excised.  In Erde's case, the vet last week could only remove the mass on her gum and not on the arch of the tooth and palate.  If this tumor is not treated properly, the bone around the tooth will continue to deteriorate, ultimately leading to a drop in Erde's quality of life for obviously reasons.  I would have no choice at that point but to try heroic surgery/etc., or put her down. Of course, she could die of other things first, but that is not a risk I wish to take with this dog.  When I decide to proceed with the best option, the first step is to get a CT scan to see how extensive the tumor is.  If it is possible, surgery would be the firs step after that.  Them, or instead, radiation therapy under anesthesia for 5 days a week for 3 weeks would be called for or, and maybe in addition, 3 or more injections of the chemical bleomycin.  The vet said waiting 8 weeks to start this would not increase the risks to Erde any more than they are now.

The vet said that she would recommend Dr. B. to do the surgery required.  Dr. B. was Sonntag's surgeon back in 1998 when he first became paralyzed and I was impressed with him, even though Sonntag was never cured. The one problem of working with an oncologist/surgeon team is that the oncologist wants the surgeon to remove more of the tissue around the tumor, which would require removing more of Erde's jaw, but it would reduce the chances of the tumor recurring during Erde's remaining life span.  The idea will be to come up with a plan that prolongs Erde's life (a quality life) so that she dies of something else and not the terrible results of this tumor.

On a lesser note, I got the Defender back today, too.  The problem of the worn X U-joints has been resolved.  If it was not for the ear infection of Erde's her tumor never would have been discovered.  If the tumor had not been discovered, we would have gotten on the road with the possibility of a serious breakdown occurring somewhere in a remote location. Thank God for these favors, huh?