Mingo is getting finishing up the last minute preparations for the expedition. He’s spent some time repacking food and clothing. He’s decided to add an additional resupply point to help lighten his load while on the trip.

As of right now, the overall expedition route and resupply points are as follows:

• Eagle, AK: Mingo begins his Yukon River kayaking expedition.
• Galena, AK: This will be Mingo’s first food resupply point. Galena is about 800 miles from Eagle. Mingo anticipates it will take between 16-18 days to get from Eagle to Galena.
• Mountain Village, AK: This will be the second resupply point. Here Mingo will pick up more food as well as winter clothing. Once he gets on the Bering Sea, temperatures will be much colder than in the interior of AK. He also wants to talk with the locals to ensure he finds the correct Yukon passage to get him to Kotlik.
• Unalakleet, AK: This is Mingo’s final food resupply point. From Unalakleet, Mingo will stay relatively close to the shore through the Bering Sea until he reaches Nome. He is hoping for a clear, calm day so he can cross Norton Bay instead of padding around the bay by the coast.
• Nome, AK: This is the final stop in Mingo’s expedition. He should reach Nome 55-60 days after leaving Eagle. From Nome, he’ll fly back to Fairbanks then figure out how to retrieve his truck (which he is leaving in Eagle.)

The majority of the trip should be pretty straightforward. Mingo is looking forward to getting on the water and back in “expedition mode” as he calls it. He’s also looking forward to spending a extra days in Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge taking lots of pictures and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.

Thanks to everyone who’s following and supporting this expedition. Please feel free to post comments to any of the blog entries. As I (his oldest daughter, Libby) post updates, I can also relay your comments back to Mingo when I talk to him every few days.

As for Mingo’s activities today… he’s in the car driving from AZ to Las Vegas to drop the resupply packages at his youngest daughter’s (Crystal) house, pick up his satellite phone and finish up those never-ending last minute details.