I just talked to Mingo (for literally 2 minutes before the sat phone connection dropped). He’s about an hour and a half outside of Fort Nelson at a campground for the night. He “just kinda cruising” as he puts it. He expects to be in Prince George by tomorrow then back in the States on Thursday.

And that’s as far as the conversation went! Darn sat phone. It will be nice when he’s back in the US and we can go back to using Verizon.

Mingo’s back in Canada and heading towards the States. When I talked to him last night he was in Watson Lake fighting off the mosquitoes as he wandered around a campground. Apparently, the mosquitoes are huge and everywhere up there!

He sounds like he is doing well - still managing the pain in his shoulder, yet enjoying the drive. He said he got some fantastic photography yesterday - bears and some beautiful landscapes. I’m really looking forward to seeing everything!

Mingo made it to the Dalton Highway Bridge yesterday after a relatively “easy paddle.” Mingo, Ulley and Marcus found someplace to set up camp, then promptly went to take advantage of the shower facilities at the bridge.

“It’s a ten-dollar shower, but it does come with a towel,” Mingo told me yesterday on the phone. “You better believe I’m going to take advantage of that. It was the best ten-dollar shower I’ve ever had. I don’t even feel ripped off,” he laughed.

Later in the day he called to tell me they were “just cruising.” He was working with his hand to try to get some of the feeling back into it, but as of yesterday he was unsuccessful.

Today, he told me that he’s got feeling in his arm, but his fingers are still numb. He has some movement, but there is little power behind that movement. As hard of a decision as it was to stop, he said that he is glad he did so he can go home and get his shoulder looked at.

Currently, Mingo is hanging out waiting to catch a shuttle van back to Fairbanks this evening. By tomorrow afternoon, he’ll be back in Tok with his truck then begin planning the journey home (and hopefully to the hospital!).

“We’re in Steven’s Village,” Mingo tells me as I answer the phone. “But we’re passing by. The whole town was basically wiped out. There’s nothing. The store is gone. There’s no beach. We’re gonna find some place to camp lower down,” he says.

I ask how today went. He sounds tired.

“It’s was a good day but a lot of paddling. We’ve been at it 10 hours. There is very little current so it’s a very slow river,” he replies. “We did go past a big whirlpool today. It was probably 30-40 feet in diameter. I’ve never seen one so big, other than in the movies.” He chuckles then continues, “I got stuck in one the other day, but it wasn’t that big. One minute you’re fine then the next minute the kayak is doing something weird. Other than that, it was a pretty boring day.”

I quickly tell him that things are confirmed for his trip back to Fairbanks then back to Tok. We keep it short as he’s says he’s not sure when he’ll get to charge the sat phone next. As we hang up he tells me they should be at the bridge tomorrow (Thursday) and he’ll give me call.

“Libby, wanna take my position?” Mingo asks as I pick up the phone. The phone is crackly, not a good sign for a long conversation. I quickly rush to my office and grab a pen and notepad. Ok, now I’m ready.

“66.1957 North 14.75183 West,” Mingo relays. “We’re still moving, but that’s my most updated position. We’re stopping to take a break for awhile then we’re gonna continue on for another three to four hours,” he tells me. “Been a pretty nice day. No rain! The river’s doing good. We’re not lost!” he laughs a little.

I quickly ask how his shoulder is doing.

“About the same. It aches.” he says. “I’m up to taking eight Naproxen. It’s the maximum I can take a day.” We quickly talk about options for him to pull out of the river when he gets to the bridge. Crystal and I spent a good part of the day finding transportation services for him and the boat back to Tok. There are not many options for this part of the world, but we did come across a solution that will work, if he chooses to do that.

“I still don’t know what I want to do. I just need to make a decision,” he says after I explain that for the Saturday afternoon pickup we have to make the reservation tomorrow. He asks me to do some more research on getting him and his boat from Emmonak (on the coast of Alaska) back to Fairbanks.

I can tell he’s conflicted about leaving at the bridge. He wants to stay and continue on to the Bering Sea because he’s put so much effort into this expedition. But his body is not cooperating. His hurt shoulder is continuing to compromise a lot of things, mainly his ability to paddle through the river safely.

“Lemme think more about it tonight and I’ll call you back first thing tomorrow morning with what I’m gonna do,” he tells me. A minute later the sat connection drops. At least we got enough time to talk about the important stuff.

A few hours later my phone rings again.

“Go ahead and make the reservation,” he says as soon as I pick up the phone. I’m a little shocked. I didn’t expect to hear from him so soon. And I thought he’d want to hear his options for Emmonak before he made the decision.

“Um, OK,” I say. “I found some info about flights.” I relay the information I found, very little but enough to get him back to Tok if he makes it that far down the river.

“Yeah, as much as I want to continue, I don’t think it’s a viable option,” he responds. “We just paddled for the last three hours in a really strong headwind. I can feel my other shoulder starting to tighten up,” he tells me. “I know my body and know when it’s reached it’s limits.” He sounds tired, but resolved. The conflict I heard earlier is gone but it has been replaced with tinges of disappointment.

I know Mingo pretty well (he is my dad, after all!). When it comes to pain, he’s tougher than most of the population. The decision to stop because of his shoulder is significant – a true indication of the degree of the injury. (This is a guy who when I was younger tried to drive himself to the hospital after being severely electrocuted!)

We quickly talk about the logistics for Saturday. He’ll have to be at the river pick-up point before 4pm. He’ll arrive in Fairbanks around midnight. Then he’ll pick up a different shuttle back to Tok at 7 AM. 40 Mile Air, the company who drove his truck back from Eagle, will deliver his truck to the drop off point in Tok so he’s all set once he reaches town.

There are a few snags in the plan that he’ll have to figure out along the way, such as how to get him and his boat from the drop off point in Fairbanks to the pick up point for the Tok shuttle (we have to use two different companies for the return trip). Plus, he’ll need to figure out where to stay or hang out between the drop off time (midnight) and the pickup time (7 AM). He seems unconcerned. After navigating through the Yukon River, I image these are pretty mundane challenges at the moment.

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