Probs on Top Of The World Highway

We are spending 4th of July in Chicken Alaska the largest town on the Top of the World Highway which runs from Dawson City in the Yukon to Tok Alaska.. across two countries and two time zones.. it is mostly dirt/gravel with occasional paved sections which have not disintegrated over time.. it appears that the paving was placed directly on dirt without a base, but whatever the reason paving is scarce on this long road.. it took us 6 hours but our top speed was 35 sometimes but mostly under that and we let all comers pass us along the way.. it was dusty and washboardie with chuck holes and some portions very narrow.. travelers told us oh it’s no big deal.. well we might not be that encouraging.. at one point near what had been touted on billboards as food, gas, tire fixing we hit one of the washboard sections and the bolt that held the left front shock vibrated loose and we began to hear metal against metal when we hit bumps.. by this time we were passed the tire fixing place so i turned the roadtrek around on the narrow dirt road by tooing and froing until it was turned around and i only held up one small car for a short time.. so we clackaty clacked our way back to the store and we find out it is boarded up.. closed.. now what.. so i got out my 4x4 rubber mat laid down and began to look under the RT for evidence of something loose and i finally notice that there is a shock with no bottom attachment and it is hitting the axle when i hit a bump.. by now we figure it is 40 miles to Chicken, so i get out my tool bag and think about what to do when up drives a pickup with a cab over camper from Palmer Alaska and the Gary Feaster asks what is happening.. so i tell him what i think it is and he says he could take off the shock and it would stop the noise and we could get it fixed down the road.. so he picked through my tool bag and found two crescent wrenches and said this will do the job.. and he proceeded to remove the top bolt and the job was done..

we started talking and Peg had told his wife we were going to visit a friend in Palmer, who he asked and I said Charles Reynolds.. oh yes i know him and his family.. he asked if we liked tomatoes, and i said we sure do.. before we left san jose i planted 33 plants for the people staying in our home while we are away.. he went into his camper and and brought out a small basket of cherry tomatoes and a cucumber and one larger tomato.. we fell over ourselves thanking him for his help and for the tomatoes and i went back to the RT and got a ten pack of Panda note cards that we brought along for just such occasions of thanks.. Cari his wife love them as did their three young children.. we exchanged cards and he invited us both to his shop in Palmer when we get down there.

as we parted i thanked him again and told him he was an answer to an unspoken prayer which went something like.. what the hell am i going to do now ?