Fox River Wilderness & Lance Mackey

After a quick supper of a hamburger and a glass of Kenwood Yulupa Zinfandel (almost as tannic as the Syrah I had the day before, but not bad with a hamburger) we met one Tom, our driver for our tour of the Alaskan wilderness in a converted military Hummer H-1. After picking up four other riders at a hotel, we rode for over an hour on Murphy Dome Road, north of Fox, toward a mountaintop radar site still operated by the US military. We stopped at the home of Lance Mackey, petted the puppies, and had an excellent conversation with the musher. He actually seemed lonely, sad about some of the things he had done in the past. I offered some forgiving, affirming words, and he latched onto me as though I were an old friend. We passed the abandoned school bus that was the site for the tragic travelogue Into the Wild about Christopher McCandless. As we got back into the Hummer for the rest of our tour it became obvious that guide Tom did not understand the difference between good-natured banter and excessive sarcasm. He denigrated tourists (who provided his income), Kentuckians (who were in the van), bicyclists, and several other groups, with his incessant talking. It really became tiring. We returned to the lodge at about 10 PM with the midnight sun still high in the sky.Read more