“Hey, we’re in Circle 151 miles in,” Mingo tells me. “We have a problem. I pulled a shoulder.” There is crackling on the line and his voice digitizes for a second the comes back. “I started taking Salicilate (??) but it doesn’t seem to be doing anything. I’ve gotta take it easy. I don’t want to rip a bicep.”

The phone cuts out again then comes back. When I get the connection back, he’s still talking: “I met the German guys. I have a partner, Ulley. He’s a police officer from Munich. We’re gonna make paddle down to Bridge.”

The phone cuts out again and the connection drops. I have a ton of questions about how he’s doing, what he thinks happened, what is going on with the shoulder. I wait a few minutes then try to call back – no luck. (This rarely works, but I figured I’d try.) I wait. And wait some more. I give Sharron and Crystal a quick call then post a quick blurb on the blog, Twitter and Facebook. Still he hasn’t called back. I know time is short with the sat so maybe he figured since I know he’s OK, then I’ll just talk to him tomorrow.

A little while later the phone rings again – it’s Mingo. The connection is one of the best we’ve had yet, thank goodness.

“Can you still paddle? Do you know what happened?” I quickly ask.

“I’ve got no power on the left. I can’t extend the shoulder and lock it like I need to. It sure does hurt,” he explains. “I paddled hard for the first three hours. I think what happened is a sweeper came up. I fought it. I wasn’t going to lose my paddle,” he chuckles. “I don’t think I tore it. Something’s going on in there though. I can hear it clicking. I can still paddle but not hard. Mostly I just floated.”

I asked him to tell me a little more about meeting up with the German kayakers. He explains he met them the day before (day 2) and they all ended up in Circle this evening (day 3). There were three guys altogether, 2 of which left today. Mingo asked Ulley if he wanted to continue and he agreed. So now they’re on the river together – Mingo in his kayak and Ulley in a canoe (I think).

“We’re gonna padding another 300 miles to Bridge. Then I’ll reassess my shoulder and figure out if I can continue. Or figure out how to get back to my truck.”

At this point I’m thinking “What is Bridge? It’s not a town I’ve seen on Google maps.” Later I do a quick Google search and discover Bridge is actually the Yukon River Bridge on the Dalton Highway just outside of Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge. It is one of only four bridges that cross the Yukon River.

“Oh man, today was a good day to kayak,” Mingo says bringing me back to the present. “It was sunny. Warm. Not a bit of rain.” I can hear how pleased he was with the weather today. “This is an interesting river. The hydraulics are pretty serious. It can bounce my boat three or four feet to one side and all of a sudden I’m sideways in the water,” he tells me. “It’s a physically demanding river. You’re kayaking into a 20-25 mile an hour headwind every day. It’s not an easy river but not as dangerous as others. But if you go down in the middle, you’re a gonner. The ranger was telling me about this guy who drowned. His body was found 100 miles downriver from where he fell in.” Mingo’s quiet for a moment.

“But this is a trip of a lifetime,” he says. I can hear the exhilaration in his voice. Even hurt, he’s stoked to be up there, kayaking the river and seeing the beautiful Alaskan interior.

While, I’d love to continue talking my head keeps screaming at me to hurry up the call. We’ve talked much longer than our allotted five minutes today. “So you’re in Circle right now. Is Circle a big town?” I ask.

He kind of chuckles. “It’s really more of a collection of buildings. No asphalt in the entire town. But I’m able to get a full charge on everything tonight,” he tells me. Relief washes through me. We’ve been really worried about how the sat phone would do and how long it would actually last in the back country. So far, even though we don’t always get good connections, he’s been finding regular places to charge it. That’s good news.

“Tomorrow we’re going to be heading back into the backcountry. Should take us about two, two and a half days to get through Yukon Flats,” he continues. We say our goodbyes and hang up for the evening. A million things are running through my head. I’m glad he’s not hurt too bad, but worried about the extent of the injury. Yet, I keep going back to his earlier comment – “A trip of a lifetime.” He’s completely enjoying himself up there.

“Hey, we’re in Circle 151 miles in,” Mingo tells me. “We have a problem. I pulled a shoulder.”

The connection was bad and we got cut off before he had time to give me any real details about his shoulder. All I really know is he can still move it but there’s no power behind it. Oh, and he caught up with the German kayakers – three of them one of whom is named Ulley, a police officer from Munich.

Still hoping he will call back tonight. Damn sat phone. Will let everyone know when I get an update.

When I pick up the phone, all I hear is rustling. “Hello?”

“Hey, Lib. Right now I’m sitting on the bank of the Yukon and I’m scared as shit,” Mingo says, slightly out of breath. “It’s a big river.” There’s more rustling then the sat phone cuts out for minute. When the phone comes back I hear him chuckle. “There is a ton of debris in the river. Whole trees floating down the river.” He pauses for a second, then continues, “I think once I get in the boat I’ll calm down.” Right now, however, he sounds anxious and worried.

“I talked with the ranger here today. He seems to think I’ll be fine if I’m as good as I say I am. He said be careful with all the streams that break off. Be patient with it. I may end up a mile down a stream that just ends then have to paddle back. I wish I’d brought some marshmallows.” Sometimes the oddest things come up during our conversations, I think to myself.

“Marshmallows?” I ask. “Yeah. You throw them on the water. ‘Cause they’re so light they float with the strongest current. Helps you to know what way the water’s flowing,” he explains. He pauses again as he walks through something noisy (tree brush? I have no idea what he’s doing while we’re talking.).

Abruptly the topic changes. “Everything in Eagle by the water is completely destroyed. Probably lost 20 houses that were down by the water. And the Laundromat and a store are gone too. I’m sending you some pictures of it.” The sat breaks up again and when he comes back he’s talking about the river again. “I think the kayaking is going to be fairly easy. It’s navigating the river that’s going to be tough.” I can hear the apprehension creep back into his voice.

Then he laughs. “I was talking to a custom’s agent and he told me that two German guys left from here a few days ago. They built a raft out of 50 gallon drums. They’re gonna have a tough time when the river flattens out.” He laughs again, which is good to hear. Maybe he’ll have some companions on the river for a day or two.

“Well, just wanted to let you know I got here and am ready to go,” he says quickly. We must be reaching our time allotment for today. The sat phone has a limited battery (about 4.5 hrs) so we have to keep our conversations short. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow night.” We hang up and I jot down a few notes for myself. Talking to him made me anxious about what he’ll face tomorrow.

An hour later the phone rings again and it’s Mingo. “Hey, just wanted to tell you my truck won’t be back in Tok until tomorrow.” I’m surprised to hear from him again since we already talked one minute over our limit in our earlier conversation. (Plus, we had already talked about the truck the day before.)

“I kept forgetting to tell you that,” he continued, “And I needed to hear a human voice again.” He sounds calmer now, not so frantic, but I can still hear the thick layer of anxiousness in his voice. “You’ll never believe how warm it is here right now. It’s probably 75 degrees right now. Man, Tok was cold compared to this.” Warmth is good, even if he did repack all his clothes to account for colder weather.

He asks how I’m doing and how things are going out here. We chat for a minute about the hot and humid weather in middle Tennessee before it’s time to hang up again. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow night. I’m going to be up by 4, 4:30ish and want to start paddling first thing,” he tells me. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow and I’ll be down the river.”

We hang up and I look at the phone – another five minute and thirty-second phone call. Normally, I’d worry about the extra time, but today I know he’ll have the opportunity to do one last quick charge on all the equipment. As I put the phone away and wander back upstairs, I hope that he’s able to put the anxiousness aside for a bit so he can get some rest. I’m already looking forward to hearing about his first day on the river.