An Eleven-Hour Pothole Drive

Monday, August 16, 2021

by Christian

Today we woke up at 6:30 to start the 11-hour drive to McCarthy. During the drive, we listened to Hamilton. (I regret doing that. It is stuck in my head.) Anyway, it was a pretty good drive. We made up a song that follows the tune and some of the words of Frosty the Snowman. The road was like a roller coaster and bumpy. Near the end, we got to McCarthy Road and it was dirt – very bumpy. I got to sit in the bed of the pick-up truck!

A view out our window

We stopped at the North pole (a small town on the way) to see Santa's workshop. 

Me, Sarah Ann, and Rachel in the back of the pick-up truck

That night, we ate at a place called The Potato which has raspberry bushes growing outside it. I picked a couple of them, and they were fairly tasty.

P.S. from Sarah Ann. I’ve been typing this post for Christian but he refuses to write a few things that I want to add. The town of McCarthy is extremely remote. We’re staying in a cabin that’s a mile away. We were walking along the road from our cabin into town to eat at The Potato when a family stopped their ATV and offered to give us a ride. The family consisted of the parents, a seven-year-old, and a five-year-old. They are four of the 45 year-round residents in McCarthy. Keep in mind, to get to civilization from McCarthy, you have to drive hours on a dirt road. There isn’t even a grocery store in McCarthy. The family is on the National Geographic TV show “Life Below Zero.” The 5-year-old kept coming to talk to our family during dinner. She told us about one time a bear approached her family’s house, and their dog started charging the bear, and it was so hilarious!, and then her dad shot the bear. She’s the one who showed Christian the raspberry bushes. 

Crossing the footbridge into McCarthy

Getting a ride in the ATV of the family from Life Below Zero