It is 5:30 in the morning and I am rushing the last of my possessions into my car as I am trying to get to my last day at work for Berkshire Medical Center as a cardiology nurse practitioner. I am leaving from work to take pursue a life long (well more than 1/2 a life long) dream. I have accepted a postition as CHAPs Training Manager for the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation in bush Alaska. So- for the next week as I travel across the country- I am bound for the bush. When I arrive, I am bound there for a few years. This means leaving behind my home, friends and much of my family.
Dillingham is my destination- a little fishing village on the Nushagek River which leads out to the Bering Sea. Dillingham is also the staging point for many people who are leaving for wilderness trips into the Togiak Wildlife Refuge and Wood Tikchick state park. The village is small and on the tundra just off shore. There are a total of 24 miles of road there- however, you can't get there from here. At least by car. The only entry to Dillingham is by plane or barge.
As I load my dog into the car and head down the road to pick up my trailer I am nervous. Some because of the constant to do list going through my head. And some, simply because I am starting to fall behind in the timing to go to work!
I back up to the trailer and have the car perfectly centered on the ball hitch when I realize that I have put the hitch that the ball goes on upside down and the trailer would be dragging on the road. Yesterday, I had made sure that everything was tightened down- so there would be no hand loosening this. My tools are well packed in the car. I scramble to get a wrench out and struggle with the loosening. After getting really anxious about being ablet to accomplish this task on my own, a few curses under my breath and a rapidly beating heart from knowing that I am running late for work and still don't know how the trailer will pull when and if I ever get it connected the ball loosens. I quickly reverse it and get it hooked up. After remembering the safe place I had put the pen and cotter pin and a quick test of the lights I pull away. The relief of knowing that my car could pull the load was emmense.
Yes, I should have tested this all out before the last minute! However, for the past six weeks since returning from my interview every waking moment has been spent researching shipping to Dillingham and sorting all of the family belongings into "sell", "ship" or "store". I have bought a snowmobile trailer with two snowmobiles so that my daughter and I can explore our new neighborhood. The space around and above the snowmobiles has become my moving van. I have also been working on finishing those unfinished projects around the house, finding tenants that I felt comfortable in leaving my home with for a few years and saying so long to family and friends. The preparation stage has kept me busy from dawn to dusk for the last few weeks and I am exhausted before even hitting the road.
I head of to work for an uneventful day other than the fact that my dog is working with me today. He behaves well and the day goes smooth. I say so long to my co-workers which is an odd feeling. I have never left a job I really enjoyed this much before and this in itself is a little nerve wracking.
I hit the road from North Adams, after my body guard for the trip arrives. My friend Greg who is presently unemployed jumped up for the job of helping me get accross the country after my daughter backed out of the cross country trip in order to have more time with her friends before she leaves. She will fly out to join me on the 28th- just in time to start school.
We are now off to Buffalo, our first goal. Here we will meet with Don Stoneman for a late dinner. He will take my Gillies marathon boat and I will continue on. Don became a fast friend last year after I agreed to race the Classique de Canot in Quebec, Canada with him last minute after his partner was injured. Our adventure of racing one of the premier marathon races in North America after only 20 minutes together in the boat really "bonded" us. Thankfully, we both had a similar sense of humor and finished this race smiling even with a few glitches like a white water swim due to a stuck zipper preventing us from swamping in the white water in the final day.
We meet Don at close to 9:15 in Buffalo. The first restaurant we arrived at was closed, but we moved down the street and shared a meal. Afterwards we spent almost 1 1/2 hours with the boat exchange in the rain. Don, insisting that I needed a "safe" boat to train with has brought me an outrigger boat to take to Alaska with me. We will be taking on the Yukon Challenge together next year and training for me will be mostly alone on the glacial Alegnigak lake and Wood River. I hope to find some recreational paddlers in Dillingham willing to paddle with me some. He has designed an adjustment to the rack which put the back end of the outrigger above the front of the trailer. We made adjustments, found space for the outrigger and got the rig adjusted in the rain. At a bit past midnight after hugs good-bye we pulled out of the parking lot with wet dog smell permeating the car.
Greg slept preparing for his shift of driving as we tooled along down the highway. We made it through New York and Pennsylvania without a problem. Just as I was crossing the Ohio line with it's welcome to Ohio sign- there was a sudden jolt and bumping felt in the back of the car. Initially for the first thirty seconds I thought it was the change in pavement- but steering had become difficult too. I pulled the car over to discover that the right trailer tire had completely peeled off the trailer.
A call to AAA wasn't of help because they don't deal with trailers. The towing company they suggested wouldn't come to get us. Finally, Officer Chris came along. He was very pleasant to deal with and finally got us a tow while weeding out the companies that would really rake our wallets. After 40 minutes more of waiting Cliff, our rescuer came along. He effortlessly pulled all my belongings up onto his flatbed and we followed him in the car back to his shop. He told us that our trailer would be ready with two new tires (which would now give us a spare) by 10:30. We found a hotel and slept until morning.
Dillingham is my destination- a little fishing village on the Nushagek River which leads out to the Bering Sea. Dillingham is also the staging point for many people who are leaving for wilderness trips into the Togiak Wildlife Refuge and Wood Tikchick state park. The village is small and on the tundra just off shore. There are a total of 24 miles of road there- however, you can't get there from here. At least by car. The only entry to Dillingham is by plane or barge.
As I load my dog into the car and head down the road to pick up my trailer I am nervous. Some because of the constant to do list going through my head. And some, simply because I am starting to fall behind in the timing to go to work!
I back up to the trailer and have the car perfectly centered on the ball hitch when I realize that I have put the hitch that the ball goes on upside down and the trailer would be dragging on the road. Yesterday, I had made sure that everything was tightened down- so there would be no hand loosening this. My tools are well packed in the car. I scramble to get a wrench out and struggle with the loosening. After getting really anxious about being ablet to accomplish this task on my own, a few curses under my breath and a rapidly beating heart from knowing that I am running late for work and still don't know how the trailer will pull when and if I ever get it connected the ball loosens. I quickly reverse it and get it hooked up. After remembering the safe place I had put the pen and cotter pin and a quick test of the lights I pull away. The relief of knowing that my car could pull the load was emmense.
Yes, I should have tested this all out before the last minute! However, for the past six weeks since returning from my interview every waking moment has been spent researching shipping to Dillingham and sorting all of the family belongings into "sell", "ship" or "store". I have bought a snowmobile trailer with two snowmobiles so that my daughter and I can explore our new neighborhood. The space around and above the snowmobiles has become my moving van. I have also been working on finishing those unfinished projects around the house, finding tenants that I felt comfortable in leaving my home with for a few years and saying so long to family and friends. The preparation stage has kept me busy from dawn to dusk for the last few weeks and I am exhausted before even hitting the road.
I head of to work for an uneventful day other than the fact that my dog is working with me today. He behaves well and the day goes smooth. I say so long to my co-workers which is an odd feeling. I have never left a job I really enjoyed this much before and this in itself is a little nerve wracking.
I hit the road from North Adams, after my body guard for the trip arrives. My friend Greg who is presently unemployed jumped up for the job of helping me get accross the country after my daughter backed out of the cross country trip in order to have more time with her friends before she leaves. She will fly out to join me on the 28th- just in time to start school.
We are now off to Buffalo, our first goal. Here we will meet with Don Stoneman for a late dinner. He will take my Gillies marathon boat and I will continue on. Don became a fast friend last year after I agreed to race the Classique de Canot in Quebec, Canada with him last minute after his partner was injured. Our adventure of racing one of the premier marathon races in North America after only 20 minutes together in the boat really "bonded" us. Thankfully, we both had a similar sense of humor and finished this race smiling even with a few glitches like a white water swim due to a stuck zipper preventing us from swamping in the white water in the final day.
We meet Don at close to 9:15 in Buffalo. The first restaurant we arrived at was closed, but we moved down the street and shared a meal. Afterwards we spent almost 1 1/2 hours with the boat exchange in the rain. Don, insisting that I needed a "safe" boat to train with has brought me an outrigger boat to take to Alaska with me. We will be taking on the Yukon Challenge together next year and training for me will be mostly alone on the glacial Alegnigak lake and Wood River. I hope to find some recreational paddlers in Dillingham willing to paddle with me some. He has designed an adjustment to the rack which put the back end of the outrigger above the front of the trailer. We made adjustments, found space for the outrigger and got the rig adjusted in the rain. At a bit past midnight after hugs good-bye we pulled out of the parking lot with wet dog smell permeating the car.
Greg slept preparing for his shift of driving as we tooled along down the highway. We made it through New York and Pennsylvania without a problem. Just as I was crossing the Ohio line with it's welcome to Ohio sign- there was a sudden jolt and bumping felt in the back of the car. Initially for the first thirty seconds I thought it was the change in pavement- but steering had become difficult too. I pulled the car over to discover that the right trailer tire had completely peeled off the trailer.
A call to AAA wasn't of help because they don't deal with trailers. The towing company they suggested wouldn't come to get us. Finally, Officer Chris came along. He was very pleasant to deal with and finally got us a tow while weeding out the companies that would really rake our wallets. After 40 minutes more of waiting Cliff, our rescuer came along. He effortlessly pulled all my belongings up onto his flatbed and we followed him in the car back to his shop. He told us that our trailer would be ready with two new tires (which would now give us a spare) by 10:30. We found a hotel and slept until morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment