One year ago today I drove away from Whitehorse, embarking on a solo journey down the Alaska Highway in -30 something temperatures. I stopped along the way to take some photos and jot down some poems. Here is that post.
Day One: Whitehorse to Watson Lake (December 2, 2013)
This is the Alaska Highway: 
At 10:45 in the morning my car’s thermometer is pegged at-30: as low as it will go. I do not know how cold it really is, only that it is colder than 30 below. After an hour on the road, there is still ice on the hood of the car and the clutch is still as stiff as tar.
I am driving East, into the rising sun, with everything I own.
Poem:
When the road ahead
is drenched in molten gold
I know to raise my hand
in anticipation of being blinded,
until the road slides west
and sunrise
falls
behind me.
Haiku:
outhouse in December
someone has left the seat up
amber icicles
Poem:
Driving east,
sarah brightman
eases the pie jesu
into the rising sun
as brilliant bursts of liquid bronze and gold
splash champagne,
while shadows
chase the sweetness of the melody
across the hillsides.
Poem:
Telephone poles stretching
one after the other,
t-braces white with frost,
a thousand messiahs
with knees and feet of alabaster
and frosty brows bowed down,
connected by living wire,
carrying my whispered voice
from christ jesus
to christ jesus
to christ jesus
until it reaches your
ears.
This is a short video of the road, shot holding the camera on the dash as I drove. It’s beautiful. Click here if you can’t see it.
