Grande Prairie

We've completed yet another leg of the trip. So far so good. Reports coming in from up ahead are that some of our campgrounds are still covered in snow. One or two more say they are a "mud fest." We'll get it figured out though.

Of more immediate concern is the plight of the locals from Eagle, Alaska. Even if you never heard of the place before, you have to feel for the people who have been there "forever" who have now mostly lost everything. As Mike and Lou prepare to open the Chicken Gold Camp and Outpost, they are getting first hand up to the minute reports from those passing through Chicken.

Here is a summary of conditions as Mike reports:

We are getting 1st hand reports from Eagle as folks are traveling
through....an awful disaster! The ones hit the hardest were the older
residents that have made their castles on the river front. The homes, for
the most part, are no more. That last surge Wednesday night uprooted
almost everything on the river front, which in my estimation, was one of
the most picturesque communities in Alaska. Many will not re-build as it
took the better part of a lifetime to build what was lost. Heart-wrenching
when I know so many of those people. And unlike most floods, not much can
be done for some time as there is too much ice left behind....ice bergs so
big that it would take a D10 to move them. The native village, which is a
mile away from Eagle proper, cannot be accessed because of all the ice.
And there is diesel everywhere, so much that it stings the eyes to be
there. Eagle will re-build...it has been here before, but this summer will
be awfully tough for many.

If any relief efforts get underway, we'll pass on that information.