Claudio Derungs Art is my Passion Traveling is my life

Art is my Passion ...Traveling is my life!

Traveling to foreign countries was since early childhood a part of my life... I was fortunate to grow up in a small beautiful country in the heart of Europe. Switzerland, is surrounded by France, Germany, Austria and Italy. My parents took us almost every summer camping somewhere south of where we lived and I loved it. It was adventure time for me. I snorkeled in the Mediterranean Sea and learned to scuba dive at the early age of twelve. I dreamed of traveling and read books about adventures and foreign countries. Switzerland seamed to be to become to small and with fifteen I decided that it was time to explore the rest of the world. My friend Tieni and I took the train and off we went. Certainly we wrote a goodbye postcard from the train station to our parents telling them in poetic words that we wont be back but they should not worry. We were FREE... no more school, no more restrictions just like "Tom and Huckelberry Finn ". Well our freedom did not last very long. We did not even get out of Switzerland. Two days after we ran away we were already locked in behind bars and then transported back home. The contrast of absolute freedom and absolute confinement was to strong and I decided that this was definitely the first and last time I would do anything that would jeopardize my freedom. Playing within the rules of society without giving up my dreams was now my motto.
	My next adventure was better planed and this time with the approval of my mom. Freedom tasted just the same...even better. With a train ticket in my pocket that would get me from home to Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France and back to Switzerland I was spending a great summer traveling from place to place hiking camping meeting people I could not talk to, but I was having a blast anyway.
I was hooked. Every Year during my Education, I was spending my four weeks of vacation time traveling in Europe and the US. But a few weeks was simply not cutting it. My next trip had to be longer! A few months sounded a lot better. So I planed to finish my education, save all the money I could and take off to the land of unlimited possibilities. America! I saved most of my lunch money and ate carrots and bread most of the time. I supplemented my diet with chocolate to cover all my needs. By the time I finished my education as a drafter in Mechanical engineering I hat almost 7000 swiss francs together and was ready for my next adventure. I was even able to speak a little english since I dated an american exchange student and had spend three weeks in Kansas the year before. I was ready.
	America her I come... Arriving in New York and my girlfriend and I were heading straight for the greyhound buss station and then took a long ride all the way to Dallas. Some friend of a fried gave us the advice to buy our car in dallas...and for some reason we listened to his suggestion. It was end of May and we were looking for our ride that would take us trough the USA.
We found a VW bus for a fair deal with registration and all. We were exhausted from the trip and for the first time since we left Switzerland had our own little home away from home and finally we got out of our tennis shoes. The were a little on the smelly side and we thought the would be save under the car. The first night we slept simply on the bus floor in our sleeping bags. We certainly drove off the next morning leaving two pairs of sneakers neatly placed in our parking spot. Soon we had transformed the VW van into a pretty comfortable little motor home We found a couple of wood doors that I fitted in and serve as bed. We also got peace of foam and some essentials for camping in K-mart as well as some fabric for curtains. Ready to hit the road we drove cross country from Dallas to Kansas, Denver, Yellowstone, San Francisco, San Diego. The beach between Solana Beach and Cardiff was the perfect place to hang out. We were spending about a month there and met lots of people and had a great time. From the Oceanside pound we even got a 8 week old golden retriever girl that I names gipsy. Although we were pretty broke already we spend our last 35 bucks getting her and some food for the dog. It was the best investment ever! We met so may people trough Gipsy and were invited for parties and dinners or hot dogs and burgers on the beach. We had a blast! It was time to start the second big leg of the trip. From San Diego to St. Lois, across the US to baltimore up to main and finally back to new York were we boarded a play to return to switzerland. Gipsy came certainly with me. She was about 5 months now and was a great dog. We had such a strong bond that it was easy to train her and she was a great travel companion.
This USA trip mad again lasting impressions that strengthen my desire to travel the world. However, I needed to beef up my drained bank account. I was working for the next three years not just on making money but also on a motor home that would take me across Africa. Working on Bussli was a experience by it self. I learned that there was nothing I was not willing to tackle. Out of a empty cargo bus, I created a motor home that would take me farther than I could imaging.
	Through Africa and back again... (continued soon...)

May 2006 From California to Oregon.. Finally on the road.

After finishing the Kazi project we were finally free to start our adventure north. We said our good bys to our friends checked Buessli on more time and headed out of our friends front yard in Oceanside. Certainly it was much later in the day than we anticipated but then again we were several months later than we planed anyway. After giving up our rental on Kleaveland Place…yea it is spelled with a K… and finishing my career at Palomar as an adjunct instructor I had this genius idea to cast a monumental sculpture for the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. As you might be able to imagine this little project grew into three sculptures two art shows an unveiling and setting up one of the sculptures for public display in Carlsbad on State Street and took a lot longer than we anticipated. But now we were ready! Ready for the big adventure. With all responsibilities shed, all bridges burned, only a few things at Laura’s sisters attic and a totally overloaded bus we headed North.
On our first day of traveling we made it all the way up to Santa Monica. I know this is only a couple hours drive but it will not be the shortest distance in a day. We had to stop and visit friends on the way. Spending time was not a problem because we were back on my original schedule and we had all the time in the world.
Our first breakdown happened to give us the opportunity to stop for a few days in San Francisco and spending fourth of July with David and his family. And since San Francisco is famous for it steep streets we had to park on one of them just to find out that our starter would not do its job anymore. Certainly it was Friday and we had to spend a few nights in a almost vertical position and had to tie us up so we would not slide down the mattresses and fall through the bedroom hatch.
With a rebuild starter we finally made it were able to continue on trough the redwoods and drove along the west coast. We were loving the scenery and I was realizing how much I had missed living in nature and lush forests. The coastline was enchanted and we would have loved to travel even slower than we did. Spending every night on a even more beautiful place than the last we found ourselves inching toward Oregon. Having only a few days left before we were planning to fly out for the next adventure, but as long we were making it to Miles and Pangaea before our little side trip to Hawaii everything was right on schedule whenever it was. We talked to Miles on the phone and announced our arrival in the next few days and asked again if the would be a save place to leave our motor home for the time we would spend sailing from Hawaii to California. The Day of our arrival we called a totally surprised Pangaea for directions to their new house. Just like any good husband he forgot to inform his wife of our plans. However Pangaea was happy to welcome us at their little paradise and we were absolutely taken by the deck effect. The multi level deck was overlooking a beautiful little canyon with a river flowing though, It was nestled into the forest and the deck was build around one of the trees. We only spend a couple of days with them but new we would return and hopefully would be able to spend a little more time with them after our sailing turn.

July 2006 Sailing from Hawaii to Oceanside CA... Loosing our self on the Pacific.
All packed and ready Pangaea dropped us off on the Portland Airport and we flew to Maui. Meeting up with our friend Romeo, captain Hippie John, and our cook Theresa. The Sailboat Horizon was tied up at the harbor and waiting for us to move in and get comfortable. First we created some shade and opened all the hatches and installed a wind fang to get the stuffy air out. After we stowed all of our gear it was time to cool of and dive into the ocean at the nearby beach. The next few days we were busy exploring the island. Captain John was renting a van and we drove along the coast, through the tropical forest, explored waterfalls and beaches. We got up early and reached the top of the highest peak before sunrise and watched the sun rise on the horizon. The color play was spectacular and although we were on a tropical island the temperature was quite frigid. We were glad to have brought our sailing gear and stayed warm. Some of the people were dressed in shorts and just had a beach owl for warmth and I am sure they were freezing their butts off. We explored the volcanic creators a bit and the change in the vegetation as we climbed down the mountain. Time just flew by and although we had planned to stay for a few more days we had to make a decision on whether to stay or head out earlier than planed. The weather forecast was talking about a hurricane approaching Hawaii. If we stayed we had to find a save harbor on the lee side of the Island when the storm hit. The other option was to head out as soon as possible and get as far north as we could and hopefully avoid the storm. We decided to set sail and get out on the ocean. Last preparations and provisioning had to done, diesel had to be filled and a dozen spare canisters and barrels tide on the deck.
Everything was stowed below deck and we were ready to hoist sail. We stopped for a quick swim at a beautiful bay and then set course for 15 degrees north. Slowly increasing wind speed were telling us the Storm was approaching and by midnight we had our sails reefed and made good way at about 12 knots. The wind got a bit gusty and the waves choppy but we were sure to miss the worst of the storm. All of a sudden there was this loud ripping noise and the main sail started to flap and trash wildly. It was ripped! Just about in the middle was a whole seam that was split wide open. Romeo and I jumped on the upper deck and quickly tried to get the silently trashing Sail down while John started the engine in order to have power and speed to maneuver the boat and stay on course. The only other main sails we had was a raising Sail which was out of the question to hoist in these condition. So we got out the sowing kit and started to mend the damage. For every stitch the heavy needle had to be pushed through with the leather palm protector and pulled out with a pair of pliers. Two crew members at the time sowed around the clock and it still took us a whole day to make a tipple stitch that would hold up to the wind. By the time we hoisted our mainsail we were in calmer waters and had niche sailing conditions. We followed our rout north-north east to reach the prevailing winds in the north that would bring us to the American west coast and eventually down to San Diego. Being out in the ocean several days away from any land you come to realize hoe insignificant we really are. But this realization also brings peace and I was able to enjoy the beauty of the ocean. One morning on my shift there was no wind and the ocean was like a mirror. We motored through a endless seeming body of water and just leaving small ripples behind. An almost cloudless sky and the ocean met on the horizon and it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. We had a couple lines out and were hoping for some Ahi Ahi. But so far we had no luck. The captain pulled the in and asked me to pick out the color lure to try next and tossed them back over board. I was just saying that now we would have a bite as both lines went tight almost at the same time. Ahi Ahi tunas are often traveling and hunting in pairs and so we got two beautiful golden tunas on the line. I took over Romeos shift, and he made us the freshest sushi rolls you can have. Seared Ahi and Avocado rolls as much as we could eat. What a life!
We were 15 days and 8 hours on the ocean before we set foot on land and we had all kind of sailing conditions and it was an amazing experience. Would I do it again? In a heart beat! Although the quarters are camped and you are on a three hour on tree hours off shift it is an unforgettable beautiful adventure that only a small percent of the world population will ever have.
Back on land we flew to Oregon to pick up Buessli and continue our trip on land.
But first we were enjoying some fun times with Miles and Pangaea and good food and great company. Since they just had moved up to Oregon we helped them with some finishing touches on the house and time wet by way to fast. Winter was approaching fast in the north and we were heading there.

September 2006 Oregon to Vancouver Island... Snowed in on an Island.

We said our goodbye’s and went back on the road. After exploring Washington for a bit we were heading toward Vancouver Island to meet up with our friends April and Jerry. We intended to spend Halloween with them at their vacation house in Nanaimo. We had a fabulous time and one thing lead to another and we were offered to spend the whole winter there. To show our appreciation we were doing some work around the house and installed a temporary kitchen in the basement suit. This was our first winter with snow since I left Switzerland but we were told that the snow never stays and the winter were very mild because of the ocean. Well certainly it was the winter with the most snowfall ever and it stayed. We were snowed in for a week and could not make it to town in my motor home and when it melted the water got polluted so the city water was not save to use. But everyone kept telling us that this was unusual. One of the days we were able to drive buessli and we headed out to lend a helping hand to our friend Brice it started to snow again and with in a few minutes there was a light cover of snow on the roads. Knowing that that was bad news for Buessli we tried to make it over the two hills we had to pass to get out of the neighborhood. We barely made it over the first one and were sliding down sideways on the other side now way to stop until we reached the bottom and were stuck because we were not able to climb the next one. So I parked my home and got a ride from Brice. The next day I had acquired some snow chains which were not easy to find in my size and we were able to get our home on wheels back to the house. We spend some time hanging out with our new friends in Nanaimo, made long walks around the nearby lake and before we new it, it was time to head back to the US to be back for Miles’ birthday party.

March 2007 Vancouver Island back to Oregon... The birthday Party

As a surprise besides that he did not know that we were coming, Laura wanted to roast Miles for his 50th birthday and it was now up to me to create it. As usual we did not start until it was almost to late and while we were heading toward Sandy Oregon we rhymed and reasoned and created this roast that would be hopefully entertaining and funny. I still don’t know if we reached the goal. But since he is still talking to me it must not have been to bad.

April 2007 Creating the Pecoff Gallery and Art walk San Diego

Meanwhile we had been talking to our friends Lanee and Grant on the phone. As usual they were planning big things and wanted to hire us for the San Diego Art Walk and some help with opening their new Pecoff gallery in little Italy. This was a great opportunity to spend some time with our friends and visit San Diego again we were happy to accept their offer and hopped in to the next flight to California. Buessli was save at miles and Pangaea;s and we welcomed the warm weather after our first Canadian winter. Laura was exited to be in San Diego because her sister was pregnant an she wanted to be there for the birth of the baby. We visited some friends and family and met up with the Pecoff’s. There was a lot of preparations and work to do in order to have the gallery ready for the opening. While I was busy installing lights and building walls Laura was helping Lanee to get ready for her book events. We were busy and working hard but everything went smooth and the gallery opening was a great event.. It was catered by our friend Romeo and it all was a great success. After Art walk we were ready to relax a bit and Laura was happy to have met Jana and Shaun’s baby boy

May 2007 A Camera and a puppy

Since we had planed to make it up to Alaska and spend the summer exploring it and turn around before the first snow or if we liked it might stay the winter there and come back next fall. So the plans were fairly loose but we still were ready to be on our way. Except there were two things we still wanted. One was a new digital camera for me and we were also looking for a golden retriever puppy. We had been talking about getting a dog for a while and it was the perfect timing since we would be able to spend a lot of time with it. We found an add online and went to Lebanon to meet the pups and the parents. They were so cute and we put down a deposit so we would be able to come back in two weeks to pick our boy up. We also had to wait about two weeks for the arrival of my new Nikon D200. So everything was lined up and we spent the time exploring the area around Portland. Finally we had the Camera equipment and were picked up Koya were hanging out with Miles and Pangaea for a couple more days, got the paper work for Koya all ready and drove north.

June 2007 Oregon to BC Canada... High water and Bark beetles

The border crossing was uneventful but we felt the difference of being in Canada again. The people were friendly and the old familiar shopping and restaurant chains were gone. Not that we mussed them, no not at all. It was refreshing to be in a new environment and although Wal-Mart was still around we enjoyed the new look and especially the openness of nature and the beautiful roadside rest areas. We went swimming in a lake and Koya was so exited he jumped right after me and was very surprised that he could not walk on water. It was so funny and he had this shocked look on his face and stayed safely on land after that.
We educated ourselves at a sign about the Bark beetle infestation of the forests in BC. There were different stages the trees went trough but when they turned red it was the sign that the tree was dead. We had already noticed that there were a lot of read trees and now we knew why. It takes a number of years for an outbreak to develop. The current outbreak in central interior British Columbia is a result of a landscape with an abundance of susceptible trees relatively mild winters over the last years and a lack of effective control action during the outbreak’s beginning stage.
The major outbreak of the mountain pine beetle in the west-central interior of British Columbia has been present for approximately 10 years but the infestation has increased rapidly in recent years to become the largest in the province’s history. Only a winter low of -40°C or a sudden cold snap in early fall or late spring of -25°C would reduce beetle populations enough to end the outbreak. By now there has bee a loss off 33 million acres of forest. This is an other sad example of how climate change effects nature. But if we just stay in the cities we will never see it so we don’t have to worry about it. It was so sad to drive for days trough red forest as far as you could see. 33 million acres! Dead dried up pines can you imagine the fire risk.
But for now BC had an other problem to deal with. Everywhere people got ready for a potential destructive high water. There was lots of snow and spring was sudden and warm. The rivers were swollen and the water level was rising. The weather prognosis did not sound good either some rain and then warm temperatures. Already there was some flooding and rivers climbed over the banks and created earth slides and blocked roads. We choose the routes that were open and took a little detour to Hyder.

Hyder Alaska. The friendly Ghost town.

The drive toward Hyder Alaska was beautiful. We climbed slowly up the mountains to a glacier and then on the other side down toward a little isolated pocket of 15 square miles belonging to America. Hyder is a little town with a population of 97 people and is located at the head of the Portland Canal, a 70 mile long fjord which forms a portion of the border between the United States and Canada at the southeastern edge of the Alaska Panhandle. Driving into town was like driving into a ghost town. At our arrival most everything was closed. Tourist season had not yet started and Hyder had been buried under 30 feet of snow during the winter. Lots of the old building did not withstand the snow load and had collapsed. Vans had their roofs smashed in and hyder was just waking up from its winter hibernation. Besides the post office there were only two business’ open. A fast food bus and a little gift store. Later in the afternoon the local bar opened its doors and we had the chance to get "Hyderized" . Two of the town's bars issue certifications to patrons of being "Hyderized" if the patron consumes a shot of 150 proof (75% alcohol) Everclear., but I am not much of a drinker and easily forwent the temptation. We spent the night at the bear viewing boardwalk at the river. During salmon run this was a great place to watch bears feasting on the salmon buffet.
After taking some pictures of a beaver working on his dam in the creek we drove back to town. We did not get very far and had to stop for a black bear that was walking on the road. Back in town we got educated be the gift shop owner about Hyder's history. Hyder was originally called Portland City, after the canal. In 1914, when the United States Postal Service told residents that there were too many cities named Portland in the United States, it was renamed after Frederick Hyder the little town boom occurred around 1920. It was the only practical point of access to the silver mines in Canada, and the community became the port, supply point, and post office for the miners. She even sang the Hyder song for us and sold us one of her CD’s. We finally left the friendliest ghost town in Alaska and crossed over the border back to British Columbia. On the drive up toward the Yukon we counted 16 bears in one day. They all seemed to hang out right by the road. They were everywhere. We always found great spots to camp. Sometimes with great views or on lakes or creeks. So when we saw the sign to Swan lake we decided to check it out and took the turn.

July 2007 Swan lake, Base camp and bear tracks.

We drove on a little dirt road through the forest past a plane and came to several little log structures with a big barn and horse corals. It did not look abandoned but nobody seamed around. We stopped and figured that this was private land and just as we intended to turn around and find an other camping possibility a guy came out of a building and waved to us to come closer. It was to late to disappear unnoticed so we drove over to him. “Are you looking for a place to camp?” he asked. Not sure what to answer because I did not want to pay for camping I gave him a vague answer that it was still early and we had several hours of daylight left. Well it was July and it never really got dark. He noted and just said.: “You can park right where you are and come in for a glass of wine. We accepted the invitation and followed him. He made a friendly impression and we felt safe. Sometimes we just have to trust and go with the flow. If it feels good go for it. Inside were two other guys and the fife of us killed a few bottles of wine and exchanged lots of stories and had a great evening. We sampled for the first time moose sausage and listened to tall hunting tales. He was an outfitter that took rich tourists from all over the world for hunting trips. Russell Cummins is the owner of Jennings River Outfitters and has over 3000 square miles of territory to hunt for big Moose, beautiful Stone Sheep, massive inland Grizzly Bear, trophy Mountain Caribou and Timber Wolves.
The younger of the to guys with him was his new pilot and had just arrived today. Trapper, the other guy hanging out was one of his old friends who was here to help the new pilot to get familiar with the territory and the lakes he would have to start and land on. The next morning they would make some practice starts and landings on Swan Lake and then go and check on all the hunting cabins. Russell offered us to fly with them and so we headed out into the bush on his little seaplane. It was great! We flew over back country wilderness over mountains and saw caribou in the snowfields. We landed several times at little lakes where Russel had his little hunting camps. The bear proofing he had done seamed to have done the job and there was evidence that a grisly hat bean around the cabin on the search for something to eat. The empty gas can had some punctures but obviously did not fit the menu plan of the bear. However with the holes it was not very useful as a gas can anymore either. We noticed some dark clouds coming over the mountains and it stared to rain and the wind had picked up a bit. We contacted Russell at the base camp over the radio for his weather situation. But on his side it was clear again so we decided to wait it out. It did not take long and the local shower lead up and we headed back to Base camp. What a great opportunity this was to get off the road and have a little adventure. Thank you Russell we will never forget it. Trapper had to take off that afternoon and since he did not have floats on his plane we watched him take off on the highway. He explained to us that it was a lot easier to spot a traffic free stretch of highway for the landing out of the air than trying to start without scaring the shit out of a tourist that sees a airplane coming toward him on the highway. We waited for an open spot and he took off without any problem . After hanging out for an other nice evening we headed on north the next day. We did not get very far and found a beautiful spot to camp right on a lake. Again we could not resist to stop and stay for a couple days. This time we were rewarded with some great photo opportunities There were several bald eagles sitting in the nearby trees and one circled for quite a while just above us. We realized that he was probably more interested in Koya than giving me the chance to take pictures. We kept Koya on a leash and I got in some great shots. The next day I think we drove all of twenty miles, if even! We found an other beautiful lake with a little creek and just had to stop and spend the night. At mid night I took some awesome pictures in the twilight. The lake had some fog on it and the pictures turned out great.

Whitehorse, Yukon... The Caribou RV Park and a quick trip to Toronto

We finally covert some miles and were just a few mile before Whitehorse the capital of Canada’s Yukon Territory. The town was founded in 1900 with the arrival of the White Pass & Yukon Railway from tidewater at Skagway, the tent-and-cabin city became the terminal for freight being transferred from railway to riverboat for shipment to Dawson City. Before the railway was pushed through to provide an easier mode of transportation, the bulk of the early-day stampeders came by ocean steamer to Skagway or Dyea and toiled over the White Pass (the route presently paralleled by the railroad) or Chilkoot Pass to the head of Lake Bennett. Here they whipsawed native lumber and built crude boats and scows to travel the 550-mile Yukon River water route to the gold fields. Just a few miles before town we found what we were looking for. In the milepost, a must have travel guide for the Alaska Highway we had noticed an add about a Swiss owned restaurant and RV park. We had to stop and at least go for a drink and check it out. The restaurant was just like out of a Swiss picture book and after talking to the owner we wanted to get to know the other Swiss couple that was running the RV park. We instantly got along with Martin and Franziska and after talking for a few hours we decided to spend the night. We were not the only Swiss folks around here The tourist season was in full swing and lots of Europeans were choosing the Caribou RV park for their first night in Canada, or they just returned from their loop over the top of the world Highway to Alaska and were getting ready to return their RV and fly home. So we met lots of people from all over Europe and America and had a fun evening. Since we lived on a budget that was fairly tight, which means the less we spent the longer it last, we prepared to take off the next day. Water had to be filled. We said goodbye which only took a few hours and finally stopped to empty the portapotti on the way out at the dump station. Ready to roll martin noticed that I was leaking coolant. Well this was as far as we would get today. So we turned around and drove back to our spot. Everyone was smiling while they expressed there concern. They where happy we had to spend some more time with them. I went right ahead and pulled the radiator out of Buessli and martin gave me a ride to the mechanic in Whitehorse. There I was informed that it would take about a week to get the right core and replace it. We were stranded again. Certainly it the weekend was just around the corner and that did not speed the process up either. Back on the RV park we discussed our options and Martin was very generous and made us a special price to stay. I was helping him with some projects and took the opportunity to fix some other little problems Buessli was complaining about. My rear break cylinders were leaking and I had pushed the repairs off. But since we were forced to wait around here anyway I ordered the parts from Switzerland and had them send by my father to me. Martin informed me that there was a guy on the park that had suffered from a heart attack and his wife and the group of friends were trying to find someone to drive his fifth wheel back to Toronto. After talking with them we came to an understanding that would help all of us and the next morning I took off with their Pickup and fifth wheel cross country to Toronto. They were paying for all the costs and my flight back to Whitehorse and gave me some extra cash for my time. This would cover my expenses to fix my motor home and everyone was happy. From Whitehorse to Toronto was about 5400km at an average speed of 75 km/h that would be 72 driving hours. So if I drove 16 h per day I would make it in four and a half days if everything went smooth. But on a drive across the whole continent I guessed some unexpected situations could occur. We gave it a little extra time and planed with and extra day. The first part of the trip to Watson Lake was familiar since we just came from there but the rest of the route over Ford Nelson, Dawson Creek, Grand Prairie, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay and Sudbury was new to me. So it was a great opportunity to see the grand prairie and the east coast of Canada. The drive to Watson Lake was nice and uneventful and I had to get gas again since this truck had a 30gallon and got barely 10 miles to the gallon. So I stopped at the gas station and as I was filling up the tank something just did not smell right. I was cursing slightly as I realized that I was filling up with gas instead of diesel. Oh no I was pulling a Mark Andre. This had happened to my younger brother once up in San Francisco when he was exploring California in my Motor home. I was laughing then but not now. I had to get this mixture out or it would damage the engine. First I tried to siphon it out with a hose but only dot a little bit out. It just did not want to work. Across the street I found a workshop that had a pump and hoses. He had to fix the pump before it was finally working and he charged me Sunday rates for letting me wait for hours. Oh well I did not pay attention and realized that I could not rely on the handle color of the pumps. Now I had to go back and fill up again. Just out of town I saw a grizzly mother and her two cubs grazing on the hillside just a hundred yards of the road. I stopped and took some pictures. This was the first Grizzly Bear I had seen and it made me forget the gas problem I just had experienced. I quickly was back in my driving routine and just stopped for gas, potti and photo opportunity. I was making good time and spent my first night just passed the Liard River Hot springs about 600 km. I woke up early and was back on the road stopping basically at every gestation I found. It was a long drive but I made it in just four and a half days. So I had some extras time before I met up with relatives of the owner and handed over the Truck. They gave me the rest of the cash and a ride to the airport.

Whitehorse... The Caribou RV Park and some repairs.

Laura Koya and Franzi were picking me up from the Airport in Whitehorse and I was installing the Radiator the next day. Soon after I received the rest of my parts and Buessli was back together and ready to roll. Well that sounded easier than it actually was since I had to run around an try to find some extra parts that I needed but After rolling out of the Campground and a quick shopping tour in Whitehorse everybody was laughing when we showed back up at the park. I had a leak on the roof and needed to take down my Solar panel and fix the leak. Martin and Franzi and some other friends we had made were suggesting to stay an extra night so we could celebrate my birthday together. How could I say now to a Swiss fondue and so we partied all night long. One of the friends we had made, had left a couple of days earlier and we had plans to meet up in a few days in Dawson City. Although we did not have plans to stop at this little town we agreed to let him show us some funky bar and go for a drink with him. So we had to finally leave the Caribou RV Park and our friends behind us and were back on the road. It was always great to break down with Buessli because it always choose the perfect spot.

The porcupine hunt

Between Whitehorse and Dawson City on a stretch of 600 km there was only a couple of little towns with a few houses. So there was not really much to see besides forest the Yukon river, fife finger rapids, some beautiful lakes and more forest. We sopped frequently and when we spotted a huge porcupine I grabbed my camera and went hunting. This was an rodents with a coat of sharp quills, that defend them from predators. Most porcupines are about 25–46 in long, including tail. But this one was close to two feet long with a large fan of quills that made this noise as it tried to get away from us in a slow waddling manner. Although he has not fast it was not that possible to get him from the front. He always turned his prickly butt toward me and I was not going to get to close to his respectable protected behind.
I finally let him disappear into the bush and we went on our way. Just about at Hendersons Corner we stopped again to take some nice pictures of a beaver family that was busy cruising through their dammed up pond. The sunset reflected beautifully in the still water with only the ripples from the beavers moving. It is hard to tell how late it was since sunset did not really give you any indication of evening. We finally had arrived in Dawson City. It was a colorful little town and we stopped at the visitors information to get our bearings. The nicest camping possibility was across the river that could only be crossed with the ferry. But everything was easily within walking distance. So if we met up with Eric and had a drink or two we could walk back to the ferry and get home on foot. Well we did not find him and had a nice little town tour before we went to bed. We decided to take a little detour up the Dempster Highway and check back in a couple of days to see if we would find Eric.

Dempster Highway... The fox den in the tundra

From Dawson City, we tracked back about 40 km east via the Klondike Highway to the Dempster Highway Junction. On this highway the next services available would be at km 370 – Eagle Plains Hotel and RV campground. But we did not intend to go as far. We reached Tombstone Territorial the gate to over 2,000 km of sub arctic wilderness. From the Dempster highway you had spectacular views of the tundra environment like nowhere else in Canada.
We stopped at the Tombstone Mountain Campground and Dempster Highway Interpretive Center where we got a tip how to find a fox den just passed the North Fork Pass summit and Watershed Divide which is the highest point on the Dempster highway at 1300 meters above sea level. All waters along the highway to the north of this location flow into the Beaufort Sea via the Mackenzie River system. Streams to the south are part of the Yukon River watershed that empties in the Bering Sea far to the west. We drove through this treeless plain heading north toward the arctic circle and camped past the watershed divide but could not locate the fox den. In the morning I took the opportunity of shooting some of the magical light at sunrise with the morning fog and we headed back to see if we could find the foxes today. After walking around for a while I noticed some movement and saw a little fox emerging out of a hole. I carefully got my tripod and camera in position and started to shoot. But it was just to far for great shots. Making a big circle I was able to get close enough to watch fife jung foxes one after the other emerging out of their den stretching and yawning and playing with each other. They were noticing me but did not feel bothered by it. It was great to watch them and I got some nice shots. On the way back we stopped and went for a little hike where I lost both soles of my hiking shoes. They just fell of. I have had those shoes for a long time but I never wore them so to me they were basically new but the rubbery cushion must have rotted with age and just crumbled apart. So it was a short hike and we just had a nice little pick nick on a big bolder and enjoyed the sunshine.

August 2007 Dawson City, Yukon... Slow rush and Holly's Place

Back in Dawson City we were on the lookout for Eric but still could not find him. However got a tip from a local girl to check out the Pit. It was the local bar that Eric had referred to and although I am not much of a bar guy we enjoyed the good music of the house band. I notice a young couple that was sitting across from us but we did not connect with them. The next day however while I was sitting at the local internet cafe this guy comes up to me and says:” I think I am doing the same thing as you” I was a bit surprised about his comment since I was not really doing anything and replied: “ What nothing?” He just grinned at me and we started talking. He introduced himself as Holly and told me that he was originally from east Germany but had immigrated to Canada fife years ago. He was going to do his radio show later and wanted to interview me. I liked him and said sure why not. So we met later that afternoon at the radio station across the street and had a fun little session with his favorite music and some short little discussions about traveling and sailing. After the show he invited us to come over to Sunnyvale where he lived with his wife Kirsten and two kids. Laura went with him in his little plywood boat over the river and I had his Kid with me as a guide taking the longer way crossing the river with the ferry and taking the longer way over west Dawson to Sunnydale. The little fellow missed to tell me where to turn onto the little dirt road and we were laughing about getting lost on the way to his home. We finally arrived at their beautiful little log home and it was the beginning of a great friendship that would change our plans ones again. It is funny how we meet people and how they influence our life. In the next few days we fell in love with the simple lifestyle, the beauty of Sunnydale, Dawson City and its community. We met lots of new people and felt accepted and included right away. We went canoeing on the Klondike were invited to parties and enjoyed the summer down pours on Holly’s porch. We took a bath in a outside tub that we heated up with a small fire and could not understand how anyone would not want to live like that.

The “house raft” on the Yukon

There was always stuff to do. Holly asked me if I would be interested in going upriver for a little adventure. He had purchased a log cabin from his friend Klaus and it had to be moved to his property twenty miles further down river. We were going to camp there for a couple of days and would take the cabin apart, make a raft out of it and float down the Yukon River and hopefully pull it at the right spot on land and stack the logs so he could rebuild the cabin on his new property. It sounded crazy so I went for it. We met up with Klaus, Jonathan, Lady Miriam, and Robin Hood at the river and took the boats packed with our gear, about 60 miles upriver. We mad a short stop at Klaus’s new hunting cabin and arrived in the afternoon at the site. First we had to whack a trail through the brush and set up a camp. The first night we were able to spend in the log cabin but for the rest of the time we would camp since we were about to take the cabin apart. Everything had to be disassembled carried to the river and stacked until we had the logs to built the raft. The roof had to be taken down and there were a lot of nails in the planks. In order to loosen the nails a little Klaus had this idea and disappear into his shop. Not long after he was hanging a can in the middle of the house lit a fuse and told us to take cover. We ran and jumped behind some trees and waited for the big bang. Just as we thought nothing was happening the explosion went off. In theory the pressure from the detonation should have loosened the boards and therefore the nails but since all the windows and the door were already removed I don’t thing it did much but it was exiting anyway. In the evening we mad a nice campfire and enjoyed good food and great stories. Holly and Klaus were excellent story tellers and we had some great laughs. After bush coffee and breakfast we finished taking off the roof and carry the logs down to the river. We began to tie them all together and were building big a raft. The rafters and floor joists were stacked at the river and would be picked up at a later time with a boat since we did not want them to get wet. The insulation and roofing material were then packed and tide down on the raft and after cleaning up the campsite and where the house had been we were ready for floating down the river. We tide the raft on to Holly’s boat and with a few people on the raft and two boats helping navigate we took off down river. It went without problems and it was fun and relaxing being on our “house-raft” and watching the land go by.
The one thing we were a little concerned about was pulling the heavy raft back into the slough. If we missed it we were in trouble since there was no way we were able to pull the raft against the current upriver. So we had only one chance and Holly and I went ahead with the boat to secure some ropes on the landing spot so we could toss a line to the raft and make sure we would not miss it. Everything went according to plan and it was easier than we anticipated. Now the only thing left to do was clearing some land cutting some trees and stacking logs of the raft back on land. We better got started because it was still lots of work ahead of us.

Five flats and making a decision

We had so much fun hanging out with Holly and Kirsten and met so many great people that it was hard to think about heading to Alaska. Fall was approaching fast and winter would be right on his heels. We were cutting it close already since we had to get settled and situated for winter since it would not be possible to live in the motor home during a arctic winter of 40 below in Alaska. So sad and with heavy hearts we got ready to leave Dawson behind us take on the next part of our adventure. But Buessli had other plans. The day of our departure I had a flat. So instead of leaving I had to fix a flat. This was not a big deal but it delayed us an other couple of days since we had to go to one more party anyway. It was the birthday party of CJ and Dave’s little girl Scout. We got to meet some more of the neighbors before they were moving to Fairbanks. So we tried to leave again the day after just to find that we had another flat. I fixed this one as well and we postponed the departure an other couple of days. Buessli just did not want to leave and tried gently to let me know. The next time we made it out of sunnydale and stopped by in town to get gas and empty the potty at the dump station. And again before we were able to hit the road I had an other flat. Now it started to look like some force tried to keep us here. I still did not want to give up and fixed it but after two more flats I was starting to wonder how that was possible. I have six tires on my motor home and had five flats. This was just too weird. But since I was not willing to listen to the gentle nudges from my little bus. So we were still in Sunnydale and an other week had passed and I was under the car and was fixing the fifth flat and while I was working on it I noticed a line on the differential cover. I new my bus and this was not a good sign. So now I was taking the cover off and found out that a tooth had broken off the ring. All this was starting to question the decision of leaving. Holly and Kirsten were saying we should just stay and we would find a way to make it work. Finally we were convinced that we just had to stay and as soon we had made the choice to stay everything started to fall into place. We were offered to stay in the little guest cabin at Holly’s neighbors and take care of their dog Sparky while they were gone over the winter and I had also the opportunity to make some money to support us for the winter. So we stayed!

Hunting Moose

The Tourist season was winding down and the temperatures was starting to drop. The days were already getting shorter and we were getting accepted by the small community as “local newcomers” We were getting to know everyone and started to feel like this was the best thing that could have happened. We loved the little town and the lifestyle. Everyone was so supportive and we had already made lots of friends.
Since there was lots to do to get ready for a Yukon Winter in a dry cabin we started to cut firewood got winter gear from the free store and also planed to go Moose hunting with Holly. We converted his boat into a little gipsy boat with a roof and tarps. We installed a little wood stove so we would be cozy and warm spending a few days on the boat while we were on the outlook for a moose. Holly had planed to go upriver to his lucky spot where he had shot a moos before. I had gotten some warm shoes that would be keeping me comfortable even in 50 below and we took of packed for a few days expecting the temperatures to drop below freezing but not that extreme. It was getting cold on the river at the end of September and when we arrived at his lucky spot we were freezing from the wind-chill. We quickly made a big fire to get warmed up before we settled in for our first night on the river. We tide up the boat and started to explore the island we had landed on. There were lots of moose tracks but we did not see any. Holly thought me how to imitate the moose calls of the bulls and cows to lure the in and hopefully get lucky harvesting one.

Freeze up October 2007 and a plane crash

Winter in Dawson City

New Years Party at 40 below and the Enukshuk

Aurora Borealis and Cabin fever

Mushing - Our Dog team

Breakup Spring 2008

Breakdown

Summer 2008 Waiting for parts

After 15 years... arriving in Alaska

A Winter in Fairbanks AK

Exploring southern Alaska and the Kenai peninsula

Palmer The levitating Barn