Faux Pas in Eagle

Eagle, Alaska

The road to Eagle spins off from the Taylor Highway, just east of Chicken, Alaska.  It is 70 miles of gravel road, open from approximately April through October, depending on snowfall.  The rest of the time, transport in and out of Eagle is by plane, snowmobile, or dog sled.  As we have reported in the past, Eagle is remote.  There is no cell service, and internet is accessible only at the library... when it is open.

So we took the turn to Eagle.  And we talked about our trip up the Dempster.  I was anxious to begin blogging the posts to let you know how wonderful it was.  I realized that my computer was not charged, so we pulled over on a spit of abandoned road to plug it into the truck.  David hopped out, but he couldn't find the power cord.  I hopped out to help.  Finally found, he moved a few items in the back seat to access the plug.

Suddenly, voices appeared from nowhere.  "Do you know this is a caribou migratory path?"

"No," David said.

"Well, move!" said the hunters.

We quickly jumped back in the truck.  With just under 7,000 miles of space between us and Texas, who knew we would pull over on the only road directly in the migratory path of the Forty-mile caribou herd... and during hunting season?

It was just the beginning of our faux pas in Eagle this trip.  We arrived on a Monday, too late to meet with our Sunday church friends.  Steve, the park ranger, stopped by, and we were able to reconnect with him.  We asked if he and his wife might meet us for supper or breakfast.  After checking schedules, they agreed to meet us for breakfast the day we were to leave.

We discovered the truck was not powering the camper battery.  After spending the afternoon following the electrical system, David found the problem.  We also discovered that our cell phones and the truck's clock didn't match.  The phones had not been in cell service since we crossed the Yukon/Alaska border.  So the truck's clock was right... right?

The next morning, we went to the local garage to put the camper battery on charge.  Rain settled in, and we spent the afternoon parked in front of Eagle's library and hooking into their internet.

We set our alarm to awake early enough to meet our friends for breakfast.  While we were readying ourselves, however, we saw Steve's car circle the campground.  It seemed odd, but we continued and arrived at the restaurant fifteen minutes ahead of schedule.  Then we remembered that our clocks didn't match.  Our server at the restaurant confirmed we were an hour late.

We found Steve as he was walking to work.   We apologized profusely... and he kindly forgave us.  Time had run out for us in Eagle on this trip.  So we bid adieu with hopes for another chance to reconnect and redeem ourselves.