At times we had to 'row' the raft to keep it in the current or go through the
channel we wanted. We had the arctic 24 hour daylight, so we took turns being the
'captain', and went 24 hours a day. Reuben is in the tent, and I'm taking the picture
from the canoe. It is an eery feeling sleeping a couple inches above the river while
the raft goes flying down a sometimes, very rapid current, and waking up wondering
where you are! Oh, the flag? Doesn't Hobbs usually have one on his adventures? Actually,
the practical side of that is that anyone from the air, or any distance on the river,
can identify you by the flag. Often, camp sites along the river are marked with an
identity tape when you leave, in case someone would need to know where you were.
This is extreme isolation compared with most parts of the world.
This is the
last page of the raft trip for now. We lost all the film of the rest of the trip!
Since Josh & Reuben grew up in Old Crow during their earlier years, the teenagers
were interested in visiting with them. We stayed with friends in the village until
we flew out on a transport plane that was hauling freight that had been trucked up
to a little airstrip on the Dempster Highway, close to where we left out pickup truck.
This was a special providence for us to be able to get out this way. The plane landed
on a flat tire and almost wrecked! They hired us to unload the semi and help change
the tire on the airplane, then they gave us a ride to our vehicle!
When I get
back, I'll be featuring Old Crow on another Page. We have a lot of material to put
in on that part of this site. I'm on my way up to Old Crow now, but, since the Cessna
182 is fixed now, I'll be flying!
