My last shot of DenaliCopyright 2007 Lydia Hinshaw
TOK, AK -- Who knew a morning could have so many ups and downs.
When I woke up Wednesday morning, I opened our cabin door to check on the weather. To my horror, I discovered that someone (not me!) had left both the hatchback and tailgate of the half-loaded car wide open all night. That left the interior lights burning. I've ruined a couple of batteries with lapses like this in the safety of my own garage.
Thank goodness the car fired right up without demanding a jump.
Prince Charming dodged two other bullets with this little caper: No one came along and stole anything, and no foxes or squirrels trashed the car looking for food.
Finally packed up and headed for the highway, we were flagged down by one of the Prince's co-workers who told him the boss was looking for him. Technically, the Prince has been unemployed since he completed his contract Tuesday. But being the responsible person that he is, he sought out his former boss anyway.
This news was good: The Prince had been named employee of the month in his department for the second straight month!
With the award came a $25 gift certificate good only at businesses owned by our employer. Neither of us was excited about another $25-worth of gift-shop souvenir fare, we'd already had breakfast and we were leaving town. There didn't seem to be any useful way to spend this money, so we headed off to turn in my uniforms, drivers manual and other equipment.
I'd been told I could do this at 8:15 a.m., but the fellow who was supposed to check in the equipment was 20-minutes late to work.
The wait gave me time to think. It occurred to me that in addition to hotels, restaurants and gift shops, our employer also owns the only gas station in Glitter Gulch, Denali's tourist-tacky commercial center. Would we be able to use the gift certificate for gas? This sounded like something that would surely be prohibited by fine print.
The gas-station clerk cheerfully confirmed that we could use the gift certificate for gas. So we got an almost-fill-up at the $3.48 per gallon price that has prevailed all summer. That was enough to get us to Fairbanks, where gas can be had for $2.86.
With our delayed start, lunch and grocery shopping in Fairbanks, we settled for 325 miles today. That leaves 5,175 to go.
The Prince has made sure the car is locked seven times since dinner.
When I woke up Wednesday morning, I opened our cabin door to check on the weather. To my horror, I discovered that someone (not me!) had left both the hatchback and tailgate of the half-loaded car wide open all night. That left the interior lights burning. I've ruined a couple of batteries with lapses like this in the safety of my own garage.
Thank goodness the car fired right up without demanding a jump.
Prince Charming dodged two other bullets with this little caper: No one came along and stole anything, and no foxes or squirrels trashed the car looking for food.
Finally packed up and headed for the highway, we were flagged down by one of the Prince's co-workers who told him the boss was looking for him. Technically, the Prince has been unemployed since he completed his contract Tuesday. But being the responsible person that he is, he sought out his former boss anyway.
This news was good: The Prince had been named employee of the month in his department for the second straight month!
With the award came a $25 gift certificate good only at businesses owned by our employer. Neither of us was excited about another $25-worth of gift-shop souvenir fare, we'd already had breakfast and we were leaving town. There didn't seem to be any useful way to spend this money, so we headed off to turn in my uniforms, drivers manual and other equipment.
I'd been told I could do this at 8:15 a.m., but the fellow who was supposed to check in the equipment was 20-minutes late to work.
The wait gave me time to think. It occurred to me that in addition to hotels, restaurants and gift shops, our employer also owns the only gas station in Glitter Gulch, Denali's tourist-tacky commercial center. Would we be able to use the gift certificate for gas? This sounded like something that would surely be prohibited by fine print.
The gas-station clerk cheerfully confirmed that we could use the gift certificate for gas. So we got an almost-fill-up at the $3.48 per gallon price that has prevailed all summer. That was enough to get us to Fairbanks, where gas can be had for $2.86.
With our delayed start, lunch and grocery shopping in Fairbanks, we settled for 325 miles today. That leaves 5,175 to go.
The Prince has made sure the car is locked seven times since dinner.
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