It was a trying weekend seeing as I had the night phone 3 nights out of 4. I’m constantly amazed by the people who think that’s an easy job ‘because the phone just about never rings.’ To me, the very possibility that it could ring is enough to keep me from getting any sort of deep sleep.

Moreover, I learned yesterday that it’s not the bears we need to be worried about up here but rather creatures less than an inch long. I was stung on the arm by a wasp and chided myself for being such a woose, but then discovered just how powerful wasp venom is, even for those who are not allergic. My arm swelled up for a time, then went numb, then tingly. Now, it is insufferably itchy and I fill achy all over like my body is fighting something.

I will be ‘on vacation’ in a week and I hope the change of pace will recharge my batteries. I still don’t know where I’m going! If the Dempster has dried out, it’ll be plan A, Inuvik, of course. I don’t mind doing it sloooooooowly if the road is rutty, but I am not insane enough to do it in my car if it is muddy. Plan B will be Fairbanks if the Taylor highway is open. Plan C will entail having both the Dempster and Taylor highways closed and will probably take me to Anchorage, but the insane amount of driving that this detour would entail makes Plan C unappealing.

This summer has gone by so fast! I’ve been back in Dawson three months to the day and will be pulling out in exactly a month!