Ch 1 On the Margin Backstory
The first chapter of the novel consists of two primary threads, each occurring in Alaska: McGhee’s departure after a summer of exploring at age 22, and a return visit at age 62.
The young McGhee sets out at the beginning of the story from Ruby, AK, about 100 miles west of Fairbanks by bush plane where he has spent part of the summer and fall with his friend Matt. He then drives from Fairbanks to Lake Laberge.
Lake Laberge, Yukon Territory, circa 1986.
This part of McGhee’s voyage traces a route I took in October, 1986, as I returned from Alaska to the lower 48. I had spent the summer after college chasing the American Dream: delivering pizza in Anchorage. Right there on Spenard, across from Chilkoot Charlie's at Mafia Mike's Pizza. One doesn't know the meaning of craven until one endures the the advances of a dozen hungry hookers aching to get at your pizza box. Sin Su's -- I'll have to work that into a story one of these days. After my shift ended, I'd retire to my writing den, also known as a booth at Denny's, where I'd work on stories until the sun came up. Those were the days.... Getting back to the ALCAN drive home, as it turns out, Lk. Laberge, Yukon Teritory, was made famous by Robert Service’s poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee. The similarity of the names is coincidental, but interesting. You can read the whole thing here. It’s a great poem that suits the mood of McGhee’s retreat from Alaska. Interspersed with this thread is the story of McGhee’s return to Alaska forty years later. By some luck, he meets his friends Matt and Karl on the banks of the Yukon where they barge down to Ruby, the site of earlier adventures. You learn about these in the chapters Drift and The Baptism of Frosty McGhee if you haven't read it yet. After returning from Ruby, McGhee makes a pilgrimage to the arctic circle where he completes an ambition for his father. And in case you think running into Matt is far-fetched, a similar thing happened to me in Alaska with my friend Matt, so it really isn’t.
