Page 14-Friday, April 17481-The Michigan DoiT w -9 The Akan Doily-Friday, Al Alaska . 0 0 W (Continued from Page 4) spell, that little Honda passed me again-the passengers must have taken a break while I passed them. And once again, it showered my truck with gravel. About an hour later I saw the Honda on the side of the road with its owner jacking up the rear end. They had a flat tire after driving only 100 miles. Sometimes there were unexpected pleasantries along this highway. I was driving past Laird River Hot Springs in BritishColumbia when I noticed several semis parked in front of it. It seemed in- teresting, so I stopped. I walked down to the springs and en- countered a group of people. They were in various stages of getting into the steaming water. Most of the bathers_ were traveling back from Alaska. They THERE ARE sheer drops a few inches from the side of the road along the Alaskan Highway. Picuted above are the Canadian Rockies, Yukon Territory. Make the Blass® Dressed List i in cool and colorful casuals. beige & navy canvas Whirl $30 in beige, red; navy & white canvas had tried to live out there but did not find the life to their liking. A couple from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory was moving to Van- couver, British Columbia to find a more active society. The truckers were just s'topping at one of their favorite rest spots. A woman there told me she moved to Alaska after reading a romanticized version of life there. While in Alaska she read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. I met her as she was heading back to New York to pick grapes with migrant workers. Most of the Alaskan Highway travelers I encountered were leaving the state. They were either coming back from vacations or had become disenchanted with life there. Two such travelers camped near me in Squango Lake Park. They both had lived in Willow, Alaska for a year. Both had worked odd jobs, usually tending bar at one of the two bars in the spar- sely-settled town. Both were em- barrassed about moving back home. Their masculinity had taken a bruising because they couldn't handle Alaska's ruggedness. May people had the same attitude at Laird River Hot Springs. The trip to Fairbanks ended with no catastrophes. The side mirror was smashed when a lumber truck whooshed past me, and there was a small nick out of the windshield from the Alaskan Highway gravel. The road had ended; but my memories of the awe-inspiring scenery through Canada would always be present. The patience I was forced to learn on this trip would stay with me, too.Q Dig... (Continued from Page 6) and sweaty t-shirts; but we were in England and the English don't go without their tea. If you weren't on tea duty, there was no reason to stick around the hut at lun- chtime. A small hotel and pub down the road became a more affable spot-for a spot more than tea. The owner was agreeable and eager for our business-as long as we sat on folding chairs. We weren't allowed to soil the upholstery, use the bathrooms for clean-up, or stand in the lobby. Getting cleaned up each night before dinner was an experience. Tub availablility was on a first come first serve basis and modesty unheard of. By the end of my two-week stay, I was overworked, overtired, overfed, and depressed because I was going home. No one -wanted to leave. If given the opportunity, we would have given up clean living altogether and set up camp at the site. What was at firsta tedious and dirty job was now history revealed. And even though the project was nearly four decades along, we were only just beginning to decipher and translate the secrets of the land.Q SEMESTER- AT - SEA Plan acollege semesterat sea aboard the SCHOONER HARVEY GAMAE. The credits in arts and science earned from South- ampton College, a Center of Long Island University, may be transferred. Cur- riculum includes visits to numerous edu- cational and historical places from Maine to the Wrgin Islands. HARVEY SAAMSE is a 95-foot U.S. Coast Guard inspected auxliaqyschooner For curriculum, cost and schedule, write or phone- DIRIGO CRUISES 39 Waterside Lane, Clinton, CT 06413 Telephone: (203) 669-7068. to Cancun, Puerto Juarez, Isla I LEE SPENDS TWO weeks in the Yucatan Peninsula traveling Uxmal, Campeche, Palenque, Progreso, and Chitzen-Itza. TRAVELIN Make BIVOUAC Your First S Onit By LEE FLEMING ourist card and birth certifi- T cate clutched in hand, I ap- proached the Mexican immi- fration desk five hours ,after leaving a snowbound Manhattan. My friend, Nancy, and I had landed in Can- cun, in the Yucatan Peninsula, home of the famous "air-conditioned" sands and the most expensive resort in Mexico. We didn't hang around Cancun long enough to find out what air-conditioned sand is; we headed straight for Puerto Juarez and the ferry to Isla Mujeres-Island of Women. THERE ARE TWO tales told about the origin of the island's name. One version says pirates stashed their women on this island as they went off to earn their living. The other, and true version according to historians, states that when the Spanish landed here in their quest for gold, they found statues a- [he Gringo ,' i uahua L Los Mochis Monterrey " La Paz Mazatta Saltiilfo 'cas. You've loved Bass shoes for their looks and comfort, now you re going to love their colors. Choose from new styles in canvas and soft leathers in both basics and the newest fashion shades , Tn Navigator $47 in tan suede; also tan, burgundy, red, navy, dark brown, white & blue leather of fertility goddesses from one end of the island to the other. Isla Mujeres is about five miles long and a half-mile wide, with a small Mayan ruin at one end and A resort hotel built on a lagoon at the other. We explored the village the first af- ternoon. Since it is an island in a resort area, it had quite a few shops selling things for tourists: Tortoise-shell jewelry, black coral, art work, as well as having several shops with the ubiquitous sign "ropas tipicas," meaning typical clothes of the Yucatan Peninsula. WE SAMPLED Mexican beer at the hotel bar that night, which turned out to Continued on Page 15 Lee Fleming is a graduate student at Columbia University and a free- lance writer. DIRECT FLIGHTS * MIDWEST 0 FLORIDA * WEST 0 EAST COAST AIRNET is a unique service which locates empty seats on private charter aircraft. To learn more about this practical travel alternative, Call: 1-800-482-9279 16 OOMWM% Sizes range N 7-10; M 5-10& 1 1 Certain styles and colors not available in all sizes. h ds COMPASSES SWISS ARMY KNIVES BACKPACKING STOVES from OPTIMUS, MSR, COLEMAN CAMPING EQUIPMENT from TRAILWISE, CAMP-7 WILDERNES EXPERIENCE FBuu~ r- 51 DBI DUI ih. 761-6207 SOFT LUGGAGE ECLIPSE LE SPORTS SAC i 529 E. 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