North to Alaska

When the world shut down in 2020, we packed-up and moved. From Alabama to Alaska. One UHaul, one mini-van, two dogs. Over 4,500 miles. These are our stories.

12. A Last Chance to Sleep

When Donna gave me the room key and took our credit card, I recognized her voice. I recalled Prattville, the hours of reconfiguration and recalculation at my dining room table that had driven me to the Milepost one afternoon and an advertisement for the Coal River Lodge and RV. “Yes, we are the last stop […]

More

10. Far Flung Horizons

Shadowed only by a park ranger hat, her smile was sunlight. Of course we could pass through. So long as we did not stop. The Kootenay Highway became the Banff-Windermere Highway—roughly 103 kilometers of storied asphalt through Kootenay National Park to the Trans-Canada Highway. Morning sun reflected off the canyon as an iridescent copper and […]

More

8. Not One of Those Americans

When the new lottery machine pulled a twenty from my fingers, I knew I had made a mistake. My gone money was reincarnated as an electric-green balance. “I don’t know anything about that machine,” said the woman at the counter, “but I don’t think it makes change. You’ll have to play all twenty dollars.” My […]

More

Out On Skyland Road: An Intermission

In his characteristic all-caps print, and with precise lines and arrows, Michael scrawled a crude map on the back of a Glacier Bank envelope. With the pen tip he pointed. “Just take the Skyland Access Road, clock about nine miles, and you’ll see us a little past Challenge Cabin,” he said. Zach asked, “won’t Cassie […]

More