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Birth Date
Chris McCandless was born in El Segundo, California. -
Moving
The McCandless family moved to Annadale Viginia to be closer to Walt's job near D.C. Walt was an Aerospace engineer for NASA. Billie McCandless, Chris' mom, was the secretary for the building. -
High School
Chris tried many sports in high school, but did not want to put time in and practice. He also did not like team sports very much. He tried track and he was surprisingly good at it. He was a straight A student, but got an F in physics because he refused to format work the way the teacher required. He went on his first long trip in his Datsun right after graduating high school. He was also accepted to Emory University is Atlanta Georgia. -
College
Chris abandoned his parents after he found out about his dad's past with his first wife. Chris received 40,000 dollars for college. Co-founded the Emory Wheel college newspaper. Chris took many trips whenever he could throughout college. Chris graduated college with a 3.72 GPA in 1990. Chris resumed association with his parents after his graduation. He left home and donated 20,000 dollars in savings to OXFAM. Parents last heard from Chris in June of 1990. -
October 1990
Alex makes it across the border of Mexico in a little kayak. He tries to make it to the Pacific, but he is blocked off by swamps, and soon after that gets lost and asks locals for directions. Some Mexicans give him a ride to the Gulf, and he spends a while there exploring the waters. Soon after, he leaves after going through some rough waters. -
July 1990
In July of 1990, Chris took his Datsun and drove directly west. Later, Chris abandoned his car because a flash flood got water in his engine so the car would not start, left the car for anyone who could start it. He also left most of his belongings in the car. The police took the car and used it as an undercover drug bust car. -
August 1990
Around this time, Chris started going by the name Alex Supertramp. He also started to write his journal. Alex needed money so he could keep going, so he started for a guy named Crazy Ernie, who was a con artist. Alex left and stole his bike. When Alex was in northern California, he hitched a ride with Jan Burres, who was a rubber tramp. She started to like Alex because he reminded her of her son. Jan was one of the people Alex sent many postcards to. -
September 1990
Alex hitches a ride from Wayne Westerberg, who offers him a job in Carthage South Dakota. Wayne soon becomes Alex's closest friend. Soon after that, Wayne gets arrested, so Alex heads to Mexico from there. -
January 1991
Alex gets caught by border patrol trying to sneak across the border. They keep him overnight, but he is soon released after he tells his story and situation. -
May 1991
Alex arrives in Bullhead, Arizona, where he decides to settle down for awhile and gets a trailer and a job at McDonald's. He avoids all contact with co-workers outside of work. Alex sends Jan a postcard with a return address, with which, Jan plans to visit Alex. Alex leaves and meets her halfway. -
December 1991
Alex, Jan, and Bob head to Slabs, which is a navy airbase for tramps, vagabonds, and dregs. Jan sets up a stand to sell books, Alex assists her in this process. Alex is especially itchy to get going and constantly talks about his Alaskan Odyssey. Alex soon leaves, makes a stop at Carthage, then heads to Alaska. -
January 1992
Alex camps in Salton City, California before heading to Carthage and Alaska. While hitch hiking, Alex meets Ronald Franz, who was a nice 80 year old man. They bonded and this slowed down Alex from heading to Alaska. Ronald took to Alex like he was his own grandson. Ronald taught Alex craftsmanship skills, and helped him make a special belt to hold his machete. -
February 1992
Alex leaves Ronald Franz after about a month, and soon after starts on his way for San Diego, California. -
March 1992
Alex hops on a train to get around for awhile, but soon he calls Ronald to come and pick him up. Ronald picks him up and brings him to Grand Junction, California. Three days later, he goes back to Carthage and starts working for Wayne again, who was recently released. -
April 1992
Alex starts to get prepared to head for Alaska. After very difficult hitch hiking, Alex arrives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Soon after Jim Gallien picks him up and brings him the rest of the way to the Stampede Trail. -
May 1992
Alex hikes in to the wilderness, crossing the Teklanika River, which is only knee deep, where soon after he finds the old abandoned bus and sets it as his base camp. Alex starts hunting and gets about six weeks of good hunting. Tries to continue farther down the Stampede Trail, but that proves to be impassable. Soon after returning to the bus, Alex kills a smaller moose, which proves to be a mistake, because he could not preserve the meat. -
June 1992
Alex tries to head back to civilization after two months in the wilderness, but sees that the Teklanika River is flooded with water and ice and cannot pass. He heads back to the bus to wait out the rushing waters. -
July 1992
Not being able to cross the river, Alex survived the next couple weeks eating small game and vegetation. He accidentally ate a pea plant that was toxic and eventually led to him starving. He had no energy to get up and hunt so he starved to death. -
August 1992
Shortly before his death, Alex wrote a not and left it on the bus that if anyone found him, please help. A couple weeks later, six moose hunters stumbled upon Chris McCandless' decaying body.