One Man's Alaska

Stranded in "I'm Going to Bleeping Die, BC"

May 19, 2007

This is insane! I'm deep in the heart of a town named "I'm Going to Freaking Die, British Columbia", and they have high-speed internet access at the "hotel and liquor store" I'm stranded at.

(Actually, the town is named Stewart, BC, and it's right on the border of southeastern Alaska, and it is incredibly, incredibly beautiful, with a glacier and plenty of wildlife included.)

The short story: I've had 19 different black bear encounters today, met two beautiful brown wolves, one moose, a ton of Canadian geese, and a bald eagle so large my reaction was "That's a *bleeping* bird???!!!"

And then there's the horror story.

The horror story

At 7pm I started to run out of gas, and the last town that supposedly had gas turned out to be a ghost town. I've seen 2 other cars in 3 hours. So I have a quarter tank of gas, the car is in neutral, and I'm lucky enough to be coasting down the side of a mountain to get to this town named Stewart. Stewart is either a real town at the bottom of the mountain, or I'm thinking "This is how my life ends, me and 19 black bears fighting over my box of Cheerios."

I get into town around 9pm, and for someone that lived in a nice apartment complex in east Louisville, KY, who could walk to a Panera Bread and Starbucks, this is one of those "places that scares you", with homes that are collapsing, and a beer bottle neatly placed at the middle of the intersection of two roads. So I've gone from fighting bears for Cheerios to asking the people that live here if they can spare some gas.

A picture of some nicer homes in Stewart

Rolling slowly through town with eyes wide open I find two gas stations, but they're not open. Hopefully they're still in business, and will be open in the morning. Now, is there any place I can stay for the night?

The incredible beauty

Right now it's 9:30pm and still very light out. The insane thing is that it's soooooo beautiful I've got to post a few pictures. Stand by ....

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