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The Call to the Journey
"During his senior year at Emory, Chris lived off campus in his bare, spartan room furnished with milk crates and a mattress on the floor" (Krakauer 124). Chris left on his roadtrip after graduating from Emory University in Summer of 1990. Emory was the time period of his final disconnection with his family. Longer road trips led Chris out into the wild while he drew inward and away from family and friends at Emory. -
McCandless abandons the Datsun near Lake Mead
"But there was a way to avoid such aggravation: He could simply abandon the Datsun and resume his odyssey on foot" (Krakauer 28-29). McCandless was happy to abandon his car because this allowed him to be more free of material possessions and focus on living life. This experience loosened his grip on all things material and encouraged him in his venture to be self-reliant. -
Chris McCandless meets Bob and Jan Burres in Orick California
"We got to talking. He was a nice kid. Said his name was Alex" (Krakauer 30).
McCandless' meeting these people gave him a sense of community with other tramps with whom he had a good relationship. The food he received from them may have also given McCandless the idea that dying from hunger was not probable given that he always managed to find enough food one way or another. -
Chris meets Wayne Westerberg
"If McCandless felt estranged from his parents and siblingsm he found a surrogate family in Westerberg and his employees, most of whom lived in Westerberg's Carthage home" (Krakauer 18). Alex felt safe with Westerberg and thought of him as a good friend. He looked up to Westerberg almost like a father. This relationship gave McCandless somebody who could provide a solid life for him when he was finished with his travels allowing McCandless to travel without worry of how to return to civilization -
1st Carthage visit ends
"McCandless quickly became enamored of Carthage. He liked the communtiy's stasis, its plebeian virtues and unassuming mien" (Krakauer 18). McCandless found Carthage to be a place unlike the rest of the civilized world to McCandless in that he actually felt like he belonged here. This town displayed characteristics McCandless valued and he would remember this place fondly in his travels. Perhaps, he may have even felt a pull away from nomadic life and toward Carthage. -
Camp on plateau of the Great dessert
"Set up camp on the edge of a desolate plateau. He stayed there for ten days, until high winds forced him to seek refuge in a cave midway up the precipitous face of the bluff, where he remained for another ten days" (Krakauer 35-36). McCandless found himself to be capable of surviving in a desolate region of the desert for several days by himself. This esperience likely encouraged him to test his survival skills in Alaska. -
Boat troubles
"He screams and beats canoe with oar... On January 16, McCandless left the stubby metal boat on a hummock of dune grass" (Krakauer 36). Once again McCandless abandons a vehicle perhaps more out of frustration this time. He may have felt even more of a disdain for possesions as a result of his feelings about the canoe. -
No More Python
"Caught by immigration authorities...he spent a night in custody before concocting a story that spran him from the slammer, minus his .38-caliber handgun, a "beautiful Colt Python, to which he was much attached" (Krakauer 36). This encounter with the Law only furthered his dislike for this institution. They took away something close to him and he would naturally be bitter about this incident. -
Vegas street living
"He lived on the streets with bums, tramps, and winos for several weeks. Vegas would not be the end of the story, however" (Krakauer 37). Vegas was yet another experience that encouraged McCandless that he could survive anywhere. Now he was surviving among the low life of Vegas, something few have the courage to do. This experienc emay have boosted McCandless' confidence in being able to adapt to different areas' environments. -
Bullhead City arrival approx.
"In any case, when he arrived in Bullhead City, McCandless stopped moving for more than two months" (Krakauer 39). Bullhead was perhaps the only place that could keep McCandless at least partially immersed in society. McCandless got a job and a place to live here. This experience gave McCandless the understanding of what it would be like to settle down and become an average person again. -
McCandless meets Ronald Franz
"One thursday in mid-January, McCandless was hitching back out to the bajada after filling his jug when an old man, name of Ron Franz, stopped to dice him a ride" (Krakauer 49). McCandless' condfidence in his adventure was bolstered as he successfully fended off advice from Franz and even eventually persuaded him to follow Chris' lifestyle. He also had yet another man to fall back on for help and for some degree of intimacy if he ever had need. -
OMG Hot Springs
"There were families sheltered in cheap tent trailers, aging hippies in Day-Glow vans, Charles Manson look-alikes sleeping in rusted out Studenakers" "McCandless, however, wasn't living right at the springs" (Krakauer 50). As usual McCandless had his own way of doing things. Neat these hot springs were other counter-culture adherents but McCandless nevertheless seperated himself from them. These hot springs were a place for McCandless to recognize himself as more of an individual than a follower -
San Diego
"Have been living on the streets of San Diego for the past week. First day I got here it rained like hell. The missions here suck and I'm being preached to death" (Krakauer 53). Despite being willing to face difficulty, McCandless finds San Diego not to be of his liking. This experience may have fostered in him a greater need for escape. -
The last time McCandless saw Borah
"He said he could tell me things that he couldn't tell the others" (Krakauer 63). As an occassional girlfriend to McCandless, Borah made Chris feel like he could get intimate with people in society. She gave McCandless an opportunity to settle down after his adventures. -
McCandless meets Gallien near Fairbanks
"Jim Gallien had driven four miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaska dawn" (Krakauer 3). Gallien attemted to disuade McCandless on his journey but his warnings more likely made McCandless even more hard-headed as he journeyed into the wilderness. Chris may have been encouraged to compromise on his stringent rules for survival with the minimum as Gallien got him to accept a few minor provisions. -
McCandless sets out for the bus
"S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke" (Krakauer 12). McCandless' stay at the bus was a culmination of everything for which he had ever hoped. Being alone and near death may have changed his mind about what he wanted though. He may have felt that nature was to much for him, and he might have been ready to retire from constant wandering.
