On the way to Skagway

It’s true; apples don’t fall far from trees. Over the years I have been fortunate to travel quite a bit.

Now it’s my oldest son Paul’s time to travel.

He retired a year ago and started planning a near five-month trip to Alaska. He is the Daniel Boone member of the family. His travels are outdoor treks, living in the great outdoors.

He has a half dozen canoe trips on Yellowstone Lake, living along the shoreline in all kind of situations, most of the time alone. On his last trip there, he had a grizzly bear in his camp only a few feet away.

When he retired, he started planning his trip to Alaska.

I heard last week from him as he headed out on the trans-Alaska Highway. He is on his way to Fairbanks, and reported in a day’s drive out of Skagway.

He is being accompanied by his wife, Cindy. After a week in Alaska she plans to fly home, back to her job with

Les Schwab, in Everett.

Paul is pulling a 15-foot trailer and plans to move about for the next five months.

Their first day on the Alcan Highway they encountered grizzly and black bear and caribou. Soon for him it will be 150 days camping out in the wilderness areas of the country’s largest state.

Part of the planning process was to register for travel through Canada and plan on what not to take and where to get supplies when crossing the border.

One of the targets will be Denali National Park.

He has been in Alaska twice before. The first time he was flown to Arctic National Park, north of the Brooks Range, where he spent two weeks. There are no roads in the national park there. The other time was on a cruise. This time he will be living out in the wilderness, alone.

He is taking a number of fishing poles for lake and stream fishing.

Paul putt on new tires and shocks in preparation for some bad roads. He was told that the chuck holes might be a foot deep, so driving in a cautious way is the order of the day.

It is true, apples don’t fall far from trees. My travels haven’t included his type of travel. Reports will be coming in when signals allow.