The expedition is about 7 weeks out and things are beginning to take shape quickly now. On sat and sunday I rebuilt the boats fuel system to the motor. I want to make sure this supply system is like new. I am going to finish all of the interior carpeting and final storage compartments in the next few weeks.
I also made the decision today to become totally self contained on food. There will be no resupply stops except for fuel. I have to do some repacking and changing some of my food stocks to make them lighter but these are minimal. One major reason I can do this is that I will be towing my kayak. Two reasons exist for this. I can load her with food and secondly and more importantly ‘ the Minnow’ is my rescue craft. If for any reason I have to abandon the Attu Voyager I will have a way to get to my next town and safety.
I will be stopping at all of the major towns to resupply with fuel and of course a candy bar or two. Creature comforts are even important to me. I can assure you that when I get home I will not be eating packaged macaroni and rice dinners though. After 110 days of this I will have had enough.
I also started loading my GPS units with positions of all towns that I want to stop at and all major topo points. Since it is difficult to have maps of the whole coastline and the rivers I will use a waypoint navigation system. I did this on James Bay and it worked well. Navigation is always a issue on expeditions. This one posses some extra problems as I will be within 1200 miles of the North Pole at times and the declination is rather radical, 30 degrees and more. That can screw up finding yourself at times.
Otherwise things are moving forward. I will add some more in a few days.

On Easter I packed the vast majority on my food. Just a few more packets need to be developed and then I can bag everything in dry bags and bear proof containers. Looking forward to some of the food that I have.

Along with the pictures (see previous post), Mingo sent me pages from his expedition journal. Here are a few excerpts.

June 16
Left Vegas and Crystal’s house. Headin’ on 95 past relentless, boring, barren desert. I thought that this would be a whole 13 hour driving day. Instead, I found some unexpected beauty near Alamo, NV in lakes, animal life and very beautiful scenery.

June 15
Crossed into Canada and went through customs with no problems. Then started my trek through B.C. Pretty country but I just want to get this journey moving…. I am tired of driving 10 to 12 hour days. I want to kayak long days. It is 9:32 pm here and still daylight. You could easily hike now. I hate the cost of gas in Canada, over $4.50 a gallon. Causing havoc on my budget. Later-out.

Thurs, June 18
Completely insane day. Paid about $9.00 a gallon for gas. Got 2 flats repaired. Saw hundreds of miles of absolutely beautiful mountains. Northern Rockies are spectacular! God’s country but it takes driving like hell to get here. I went to sleep around 12:30 AM with the sun just setting. Up at 6 AM with the sun way up. This is so weird. Today will be another long day but hoping to make it to Tok, Alaska.

Fri, June 19
Yesterday I drove another 10 hour day and made it to Tok, Alaska. Nice to see cheap gas again, $3.20 a gallon! …At the Boundary gas station and restaurant, I met a couple – Mike and Tawnya. He offered his land for my packing lot. [My truck] is safe there and on one will use it. Cool folks…. So logistically this thing is coming together at a higher expense than I thought. I hope that many will help support this expedition. I am a bit stressed at this time. Money is a problem and I am also stressed by the waiting. Make me think way too much.

I think that solo expeditions are many times harder than team expeditions. It is hard to remain unfluttered by all that needs to be done. The next two days will be difficult psychologically. This runup time is tough. Once on the river with my emotions in check I think I will settle down into my job. But now I am stressed and not pleased being stuck in town. Emotionally it is also difficult in that I miss my friends and family.