My wife Jeanette, who I owe so much for supporting me on and off my ventures.
I know I do not say it often enough, but thank-you for:
- acceptance of my going wandering for extended periods
- helping me obtain my supplies
- supporting me while I am away
- monitoring forest fires and weather
- arranging transportation if required
- sending weekly texts which are much appreciated
- maintaining home base
Jeanette's response to people asking the question if she worries about me when I am away: "Perhaps I did at first but he kept coming back."
Several times, Jeanette has arranged transportation out for me or advised on avoiding forest fire. As Jeanette says "We pay to fly you out, not in."
- 2010, Jeanette warned me of a too close forest fire which I was able to flee unassisted. (When I returned the fire had burned everywhere I had been.)
- 2016, float plane when I got sick from bad water (September 9, Camp 36)
- 2017, float plane when forest fire blocked my route (September 12, Camp 44)
- 2018, motorboat when I developed vertigo (September 21, Camp 39)
- 2019, truck transport when I had to return to my start point (September 21, Camp 28)
- 2020, float plane when I ended the trip early due to bears taking grub and to loss of use of canvas Tent and stove (July 24, Camp 16)
- 2021, I was "rescued" by an outfitter who used his motorboat to assist me up a fast current. Later he moved me, canoe and all my gear to his lodge where he arranged for a float plane to fly me back to my vehicle. (Not feeling up to completing a steep two km portage, I had decided to ask Jeanette to call for a plane. I felt unwell because of forest fire smoke inhalation for many weeks of heat waves. Also I was somewhat malnourished because a bear had stolen all my butter early in the trip with a loss to my daily intake of 500 calories.)
- 2022, after fleeing one forest fire on the Churchill River, Jeanette warned me of another on my return route. I waited until she gave me the go-ahead to advance through the area that still had smouldering hotspots which then erupted again after I moved through.