As I write this I am crossing the Mackenzie river on a ferry on the way to Inuvik, Northwest territories, several hundred miles north of the arctic circle and as far as the road goes north in Canada. It’s about 12:30 am and the light still shines bright here. Twilight is my favourite time of day and I have just enjoyed six hours of it as I drove further and further north. Shortly it will become lighter and lighter again as the seemingly eternal dawn takes over from the eternal dusk I love no place like I love the north-it really brings out my soul and makes it sing. I left Dawson city this morning. The distance from Dawson to Inuvik is longer than from Anchorage, Alaska to Dawson. I have enjoyed every minute of it–the mountains, the wild fall colours, the quiet, the sight of the occasional moose or fox or caribou, all of it. Most of all, I love the closeness of the people up here.
I stopped about 100 miles north of the arctic circle to help three Eskimos who had a flat. Their uncle had borrowed their jack and forgot to put it back. My lug wrench and jack didn’t fit so we flagged down two cars-a New Zealander furnished the lug wrench and a British Colombian furnished the jack. We used the occasion to have a kind of party and I distributed beer from my ice chest. The Eskimos told us that right here in this gorgeous place where they broke down is where the hundreds of thousands caribou would migrate in just a few days time. I hope that I will be able to see it – it was a lovely experience and was probably my favourite experience in fixing a tire. In many other parts of the world people wouldn’t stop at all; they would be full of fear and suspicion about being robbed or killed or maybe just numb from the demands on their soul where they live. Here it is life or death, and people are used to helping each other and being available for each other. I remember when I first arrived in the north of pulling over to the side of the road in the winter to take a leak and having several cars stop and ask me if I needed help. It feels so very very good to be here! Even though I left Alaska 13 years ago, I still carry my Alaska driver’s license, and have not doubt that it will always be my real home.
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