“I’m in Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory,” Mingo told me this afternoon when he called. “I finally made it out of British Columbia. Boy are these providences big!” Other than being long, the drive is going well. “There’s not much out here but it’s beautiful territory.” Mingo was glad to be back in a major town, if only for a half hour. “Whitehorse is a decent sized town. I have cell reception and they even have a Walmart!”

Mingo has been getting a lot of stories about the Yukon River this year. “All the truckers are telling me the river is a lot higher than normal. I’m ready to see the water to see just how high. I don’t want to be out there if it’s moving too fast but I can only postpone the trip on this end a few days. I don’t want to get into a dicey position on the Bering Sea.” The anticipation in his voice is getting stronger as he gets closer to the Alaskan border. He’s ready to see the river and get out there into it.

According to Google maps, he’s about five hours away from the Alaskan border. Once he crosses over, he’s only about five hours from Fairbanks. “I’ll probably camp again tonight then get a hotel when I get to Fairbanks to recharge everything. Hopefully the campground tonight won’t be underwater,” he chuckled. The tent area of the campground he stopped at last night was literally under a foot of water so he ended up pitching his tent in the RV section which was on higher ground. “I still got a decent night’s rest through.”