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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Riding the Alcan With Vampires

Caribou antler Chandelier Tok
Old and New Bridges
 It doesn’t matter how beautiful it is, if you are driving much of the day for four or five days, it’s a long drive.  So I stopped at Loussac to find some tapes to listen to on our trip.  It’s nice to have something deep, if it isn’t too long.  We listened once to lectures on philosophy while driving cross continent, but we could listen to one or two of those and then something else. 


Deadman's Lake Tetlin
I couldn’t find anything like that at Loussac, so went for things that would pass the time.  I hesitated over Interview with a Vampire.  Vampires don’t excite me, but since so many people have read this and with so many vampire themed books, movies, and tv shows, I thought we might try it.



Me at Deadman's Lake






More Deadman's Lake
I was ready to pack it in after the first tape.  The reader is excellent, but I wasn’t getting it.  I tried to think about it as science fiction.  Good science fiction makes you think about your world differently, or stretches your imagination.  But it didn’t work. 



Waiting for Road Repairs



There were a few times when I thought, well, there might be something interesting here, but not enough so that I can remember any.  Well, there’s one -  what’s the difference between morality and aesthetics?


                  
Approaching US Customs




The vampire claimed them to be one and the same.  But I don’t think that conceit lasts long under scrutiny.  We’ve heard five of the ten tapes.  I’m not sure why we keep listening.

I also don't know how the vampire could talk to the interviewer so long without dawn forcing him to climb into his coffin.
More repairs on the road







I guess we’re hoping something will actually happen to redeem all the time we’ve spent on this.  They’re about to sail to France, except the young musician has shown up, thinner and paler than he had been.
Waiting again, but the weather's great
Koidern River Lodge Yukon
I wrote most of this at the campsite at Lake Kluane, but I've had more thoughts since then. 


Lake in the Yukon


Partly this is a story of a special needs vampire, one that is stuck in his human mind state, and still has a conscience about killing humans, at least ones he knows. 






Destruction Bay, Yukon


We woke up to the sunrise on the lake coming into the camper this morning.  It was 8:15am Yukon time.  As I walked along the rocky beach, there were grey clouds on the northern edge of the horizon.  In two hours, 3/4 of the sky was clouded. 
Destruction Bay, pop. 48 on Lake Kluane



But as we drove on, we got back into mostly clear skies. 




Camped on shore of Kluane

Here's 30 meters from our campground last night. 

We're having lunch in Whitehorse now and headed further down.  So I can't write much more.  It's sunny but cool.  We had some frost again this morning.  But we're headed south so maybe . . .

We've got miles to go, can't spend more time here typing.

5 comments:

  1. Anne Rice writes a lot like Stephen King. More background than action, this series is more like Gone with the Wind than a concise story and plot in one book.

    I enjoyed it, but it's been a lot of years since I read them and I don't read fiction any more. I thought the imagery was great, and maybe because you aren't reading it... that quality gets lost.

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  2. You're on a good, memory-laden road I've been on so many times. Drawing in that morning aroma of autumn, wonderful. I saw photos of northern lands yesterday that brought those smells back so strongly. That I miss, Steve. That I do miss.

    Give my regards to the Yukon, British Columbia and wherever the road may take you both.

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  3. Wonderful places. I would love to live there. I will be an economic analyst or scholar or something like this according to my degree if I ever reach that level, but I don't like skyscrapers and urban environment. Nevertheless I don't think so I could find a job for my qualification there.

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  4. Anon, I'm still thinking about the Vampires. We listened to two shorter books since, which I liked better. I'll post on them later. I imagine that people who feel like outsiders where they live, may be attracted to the Vampire book. It would be interesting to see the demographics/characteristics of people who really liked this book. Long on background and short on action was a thought I had while we listened. But that isn't necessarily a problem. The issues that were raised weren't very illuminating to me.

    Jay, good to hear from you. Our glimpses of UK this summer were also special in their own way.

    Tomás, and you'll get much better pictures than I was able to get. It was too big and too beautiful for me to capture.

    Ropi, let us know when you are ready to visit. There are always jobs for economists.

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