On the Haul Road; Two Hundred Miles North of Fairbanks

   We were heading south on the Haul Road about twenty five miles south of the Arctic Circle, Ryan and I was almost nodding off in the back when Steven suddenly said

     ” Oh Shit”

Two A.M. in Alaska just below the Arctic Circle

     We were coming down one of the steep grades, and a overturned Toyota Forerunner was on the side of the highway, its contents and bodies spread out over the gravel road.

     That was our first impression anyways.

     The “bodies” we saw turned out to be sleeping bags, but from that far away and up on the grade we thought they were bodies. I will never in my life forget what I saw as we came down that grade. As we came closer we stopped, jumped out of the car and ran to help. All four of the teenagers had managed to get out of the totaled SUV at that point. They were trying to get it together, covered in blood, glass sticking out of there skin, unbelievable looks on their stricken faces. A few of them had glassy eyes like they might have concussions. A wheeler and a car with two German guys in it had stopped at this point to help.

    We knelt on the side of the dirt highway, helping these poor kids picking up their belongings  and grocery’s scattered all over the the highway.

    We were a hundred miles North of Anchorage so far in the middle of no where. We were in the back country of Alaska.

    It was 2004 and this was way before smart phones and the technology we have today in 2013.

   There were three girls and one boy, all from Michigan. They were here just like us, on vacation, exploring Alaska, here to see the  Summer Solstice at the Arctic Circle.  

    Just like us they had been driving all night into the never ending Alaska Summer time Twilight. This happened around two A.M. and the sun had just sunk below the horizon to the North.

The Haul Road

      It felt surreal as we all thought how much worse this accident could have been and yes that could have so easily been us.  We were out in the middle of nowhere and they really needed to see a doctor at some point; One or two of the girls might have had concussions, let alone need stitches. They were still pulling glass from the windshield and out of their hair.

     The truck driver informed us the nearest doctor was nearly two hundred miles away in Fairbanks. He offered to help cart them back to Liven Good, where they could contact the local sheriff, and maybe get an ambulance located. He told them to take everything they could from the SUV, it was unlikely they would ever see it again. The guy was going with the truck driver and the three girls were going with the German guys back to Liven Good, we offered to follow them, as all these people seemed really nice, but we didn’t really know them, what if those guys took off with the girls?

      We piled all their belongings among the two cars and tractor trailer and headed back to Livin Good. There was a completely different vibe in the car now as we all thought about fate and how that could so easily be us. We felt really bad for them; here they were on vacation so far from home, and now they were stuck car less, injured, probably not with a lot of money and they were going to have to buy plane tickets to get back to Michigan that was for sure.

     In Livin Good the truck driver woke up the people who ran the gas station and cafe and we said goodbye to everyone, wished them well, and set out again for Fairbanks. This really was one of those things that would only happen in Alaska.