Ididamush 2: A Videoventure to the "Into The Wild" Magic Bus
Many people venture to the outdoors to break away from the rat race, many do it because nature is where they find their solace, but some do it to find themselves. Perhaps the most extreme example of this was Chris McCandleless, a fresh faced college graduate who decided to break the shackles of the material world and live off the land. How he chose to do so, however, eventually led to his death in an old abandoned Fairbanks City Transit bus in remote Alaska. His story was put to film in the movie Into The Wild by producer Sean Penn and it was quite a source of controversy in Alaska when he did so.
You see, in “the lower 48” there are many that regard McCandleless as a modern day Thoreau. In fact, many make pilgrimages to the bus where he died and leave behind books and journals, and many have “borrowed” pieces of the bus to sell on Ebay. But to Alaskans, McCandleless serves as the quintessential example of what “not to do” and they deplore the glorification of what they consider irresponsible behavior even for someone wanting to live off the land.
As you can probably guess, the bus used in the movie was not the actual bus. I mean, you can’t get luxury trailers and Kraft Services out to remote Alaska! And where would the hair and makeup people live?? Oh, the humanity. But if you want to visit the real thing, and it just happens to be winter, the best method is not by snow machine, it’s by dog.
In this edition, we finally put our training into practice and hit the trail as the masters of our own dog team; I get baptized by fire trying to find a balance between “getting the shot” and saving my butt; and we drop in on the infamous “Magic Bus” for some posing, pondering and processing of the fact that the next time we will see a plumbed toilet is a mini lifetime away.
Yup, at -15 below we had just completed what would be by far our warmest stretch of the trip. So tune in next week and see the mercury fall, our spirits soar, and we continue to take you along for what most people consider the personification of the Alaskan experience.
Until we rub noses again!
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