The phone rang early yesterday, around 6:30 CST.

“Hey. We’ve been paddling all day and just stopped on Devlin Island about 20 miles from Beaver,” Mingo tells me. “It was a fairly nice day. Did you talk to Crys yesterday?”

“Yes, I did,” I tell him. “So you got un-lost?” I ask.

“Yeah. There’s not as many islands down here. You just get caught in a channel and you can’t figure out where you are,” he explains. “Navigating this river is tricky. The maps don’t do the area justice. Now we’re just kinda crusin’. It looks like it’s gonna rain again though. Did Crys tell you about the bears?” he asks me.

“Bears! Um, no,” I respond.

“Yeah, we had big bear prints all around camp last night,” he says excitedly. “Looked like big blackies. We got up and looked around but couldn’t find them. I slept with my shotgun. In the morning there were more prints a little farther out. Never saw them but I got some pictures of the prints.”

We talk a little more about how his shoulder is doing. He’s dealing with the pain and numbness and trying to figure out what he wants to do when he gets to the bridge in 2-3 days. He’s balancing his desire to continue with the pain and loss of mobility in his shoulder.

Just as we finish up talking about his options when he gets to the bridge, the sat connection drops. I try calling back and get him on the line for about 30 seconds more, then neither of us can reconnect.

It doesn’t worry me. He sounds like he’s doing well and Crys and I have a few research tasks to complete. Today we’re checking on options for him when he gets to the bridge. If he decides he is not going to continue because of his shoulder, we need to figure out a way to get him back to his truck (or have someone drive his truck up to pick him up). We’ll keep you posted on what we find out!

P.S. – If you have any ideas or leads that would help us arrange for a pickup, please email us at webmaster@mingomorvin.com. Thank you!!

Crystal (Mingo’s youngest daughter) was the lucky one to get a call from Mingo last night. Here is a quick update from an email she sent to me about how Mingo, Ulley and Marcus spent their Sunday on the Yukon.

“Here’s Mingo’s position: N 66 3202 / W 146 2038. I hope you know what those numbers mean. He said his shoulder is still hurting and his hand is numb.

Oh, and they are lost and are not sure where they are. There are lots of islands so the route gets very convoluted. They hope to be on track again tomorrow and they only made it about 20 miles today because they got lost. But some nice people they met gave them chocolate cake and ice cream (I know, very random!). Apparently people in Alaska are very nice. They hope to make it to Beaver tomorrow (Monday).

Um, I think that is all he said. He sounded good. Not stressed, but not happy either.”