Welcome back and glad to know you made it through in one piece! The flies and mosquitos would be devastating for me…I am literally mosquito candy! They will find me from miles away. They even try to bite through the layers of repellent that I poison myself with just to have a little reprieve. So, I cannot wait for you to write about everything you experienced (sans mosquitoes) because I am fairly certain Alaska will be my *last* refuge and only if the SHTF in a spectacular way which is a more and more likely, a definite.
PS: I can’t believe you lost paying subscribers because you took too long. If I could afford a subscription I would have no problem waiting a month. Sheesh! People!
I mean I get it, people are paying for consistent content and I'm already spotty with paid exclusive content (I like to be read and like for people to be able to discuss my stuff).
I'm more grumpy at all the pieces I've put out "Early" when my schedule would have let me delay them a day or two to build up a reserve of pieces... I SHOULD be able to go on vacation and just have stuff keep going out whether I'm writing or not...
I also SHOULD be harassing all the people who've said they'd like to publish a guest post on here to get their pieces written.
Your choice...complete freedom or digital slavery in the wilds. Why go on an adventure like this and take all that mindless digital crap along? I don't get it.
Depends on if the goal is "vacation" or "lifestyle". If it's the latter, well, one might need an income to support it. For some of us, that probably means a job in tech.
Think about your efforts. Compare them to what the early explorers and gold hounds put out to go many of the places you went. Makes you feel like a cupcake, doesn't it?
Been up and down the AlCan more than a dozen times. Back in the early 80s, it was a helluva lot rougher and the hotels were absolute dogshit (one place...the water in the show never got warm and was laced with diesel oil...a tanker truck fell into the swamp the hotel drew water from...)
It is God's country. The world the way it was before the coming of Man, the world with the dew still on it. Glad you made such a journey. Glad they didn't have wifi; that shit is for sissies. Real men call in their stories on payphones, feeding the machine with coins while dictating.
Good to have you back! You’ve been missed. Numerous times I opened the app looking for your take on things, and then I had to remind myself you were off in the Yukon.
So happy for you. Years back I did a shorter but similar adventure, in Alaska. I visited Denali on a clear summer's day. Beneath the layer of spongy tundra hid blueberries. Glaciers, lakes. Grizzlies roamed and fished not that far off.
As a BCer, I'm contractually obligated to hate anything out east of the BC Alberta border, but can't because first, I'm a born prairie gopher and still have that blood running through me and love my people, and second, I keep meeting the coolest Torontarians, one of whom reads my substack and has great insights. People in BC do not understand ye prairie folk and lump them in with American redneck types. I stay away from those types but unfortunately, I'm in Hongcouver, New Dubai, Vansterdam, Lotusland, the Wet Coast and it's kind of painfully liberal here. Okay, I stop bombing your page or whatever they call it nowadays.
I would love to see 30+ entries! Some suggestions: I always carry paper and a pen because sometimes I like the experience. And sometimes slowing the mind is good. Also, there's the Remarkable Notebook2, which I am thinking of getting for a couple reasons. You can draw and write cursive on it and instantly convert to text, does come with a keyboard (extra) is small, and no online. You have to download your stuff to a laptop. Oh, and the battery - because it's dedicated to the notebook experience, the battery apparently goes for two weeks continuous use. around 4 or 500 bucks and yes it sounds like an advertisement. It's just I want one. Anways, I go back and finish reading now.
Pickup with a wired-in inverter or at least a 50A Anderson plug 12v outlet would be the go. With AT or MT tyres, 10ply. Harder ride on paved, but unsurpassed on everything else.
Most USA public libraries supply free WiFi. But that’s of little use in the back of beyond. Musk just released Starlink mobile in the US as well. It’s $599 to set up plus $100 a month but mobile means mobile if I understood the service description correctly. 👍👋
I am, in one way, impressed at how little it costs to refuel in the middle of pretty much nowhere (CA$2.50/l) and in another way amazed that it costs so much in that it costs a good 50% more than it would here in rural (but nothing like as rural) Japan
First 2-3 years, she was in a Prius, with a dog with a power pack & laptop. I stopped watching on a regular basis in 2023, so she may have tips on Starlink by now. There are a number of women who do car/van life with & w/o serious adventuring. I'll post more links if I can remember more names. Yup...
Congratulations! I have been up to Fairbanks and across some of the places you have been visiting this Summer. It's a huge achievement to be as far as you have been. Kudos and a tip of the hat.
Your plan to share about these experiences is welcome news. I very much look forward to your essays on these topics. Lots of camping in odd places for me over the last five years and it is almost always different. I had the Rav4 from 2018 to 2022. It had a great many flat tyres on essentially any off road or limited quality roads. But sold near the peak of the used car market in 2022 for a net profit over the purchase price.
Welcome back and glad to know you made it through in one piece! The flies and mosquitos would be devastating for me…I am literally mosquito candy! They will find me from miles away. They even try to bite through the layers of repellent that I poison myself with just to have a little reprieve. So, I cannot wait for you to write about everything you experienced (sans mosquitoes) because I am fairly certain Alaska will be my *last* refuge and only if the SHTF in a spectacular way which is a more and more likely, a definite.
PS: I can’t believe you lost paying subscribers because you took too long. If I could afford a subscription I would have no problem waiting a month. Sheesh! People!
I mean I get it, people are paying for consistent content and I'm already spotty with paid exclusive content (I like to be read and like for people to be able to discuss my stuff).
I'm more grumpy at all the pieces I've put out "Early" when my schedule would have let me delay them a day or two to build up a reserve of pieces... I SHOULD be able to go on vacation and just have stuff keep going out whether I'm writing or not...
I also SHOULD be harassing all the people who've said they'd like to publish a guest post on here to get their pieces written.
Your choice...complete freedom or digital slavery in the wilds. Why go on an adventure like this and take all that mindless digital crap along? I don't get it.
Depends on if the goal is "vacation" or "lifestyle". If it's the latter, well, one might need an income to support it. For some of us, that probably means a job in tech.
Think about your efforts. Compare them to what the early explorers and gold hounds put out to go many of the places you went. Makes you feel like a cupcake, doesn't it?
Been up and down the AlCan more than a dozen times. Back in the early 80s, it was a helluva lot rougher and the hotels were absolute dogshit (one place...the water in the show never got warm and was laced with diesel oil...a tanker truck fell into the swamp the hotel drew water from...)
It is God's country. The world the way it was before the coming of Man, the world with the dew still on it. Glad you made such a journey. Glad they didn't have wifi; that shit is for sissies. Real men call in their stories on payphones, feeding the machine with coins while dictating.
Good to have you back! You’ve been missed. Numerous times I opened the app looking for your take on things, and then I had to remind myself you were off in the Yukon.
Almost stopped reading just to comment "get starlink, nerd." But alas.
So happy for you. Years back I did a shorter but similar adventure, in Alaska. I visited Denali on a clear summer's day. Beneath the layer of spongy tundra hid blueberries. Glaciers, lakes. Grizzlies roamed and fished not that far off.
Forgot to say: I can vouch for Starlink working on a clear sky. It won't work in forests at all.
Honda has relatively quiet gas generators at 55dB. You must calibrate the length of the generator run to the type of battery you're charging.
As a BCer, I'm contractually obligated to hate anything out east of the BC Alberta border, but can't because first, I'm a born prairie gopher and still have that blood running through me and love my people, and second, I keep meeting the coolest Torontarians, one of whom reads my substack and has great insights. People in BC do not understand ye prairie folk and lump them in with American redneck types. I stay away from those types but unfortunately, I'm in Hongcouver, New Dubai, Vansterdam, Lotusland, the Wet Coast and it's kind of painfully liberal here. Okay, I stop bombing your page or whatever they call it nowadays.
I would love to see 30+ entries! Some suggestions: I always carry paper and a pen because sometimes I like the experience. And sometimes slowing the mind is good. Also, there's the Remarkable Notebook2, which I am thinking of getting for a couple reasons. You can draw and write cursive on it and instantly convert to text, does come with a keyboard (extra) is small, and no online. You have to download your stuff to a laptop. Oh, and the battery - because it's dedicated to the notebook experience, the battery apparently goes for two weeks continuous use. around 4 or 500 bucks and yes it sounds like an advertisement. It's just I want one. Anways, I go back and finish reading now.
Pickup with a wired-in inverter or at least a 50A Anderson plug 12v outlet would be the go. With AT or MT tyres, 10ply. Harder ride on paved, but unsurpassed on everything else.
Most USA public libraries supply free WiFi. But that’s of little use in the back of beyond. Musk just released Starlink mobile in the US as well. It’s $599 to set up plus $100 a month but mobile means mobile if I understood the service description correctly. 👍👋
I had similar problems with internet access in the Ruhr region of Germany.
I envy you more that you know. Taking our Subaru through New Newfoundland & Labrador coming down to Baie-Comeau is the closest we did.
I am, in one way, impressed at how little it costs to refuel in the middle of pretty much nowhere (CA$2.50/l) and in another way amazed that it costs so much in that it costs a good 50% more than it would here in rural (but nothing like as rural) Japan
https://www.youtube.com/@NikkiDelventhal
First 2-3 years, she was in a Prius, with a dog with a power pack & laptop. I stopped watching on a regular basis in 2023, so she may have tips on Starlink by now. There are a number of women who do car/van life with & w/o serious adventuring. I'll post more links if I can remember more names. Yup...
https://www.youtube.com/@ChristianSchaffer
https://www.youtube.com/@CreativityRV
Get a Starlink Mini a portable power bank
Congratulations! I have been up to Fairbanks and across some of the places you have been visiting this Summer. It's a huge achievement to be as far as you have been. Kudos and a tip of the hat.
Your plan to share about these experiences is welcome news. I very much look forward to your essays on these topics. Lots of camping in odd places for me over the last five years and it is almost always different. I had the Rav4 from 2018 to 2022. It had a great many flat tyres on essentially any off road or limited quality roads. But sold near the peak of the used car market in 2022 for a net profit over the purchase price.
I expect my next vehicle will be a pickup.