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Chris McCandles is born
Chris McCandles is born on February 12, 1968 in El Segundo, California to Walt and Billie McCandles. They were a financially well off, educated couple, however neither were particularly skilled at caregiving. Thus, a rift was created between Chris and his parents from the time he was born. -
The McCandles’ move
The McCandles family, consisting of Walter McCandles, Billie McCandles, Chris McCandles, and Carine McCandles, moves to a new house in Annandale, Virginia. -
Chris discovers the family secret
Over the summer, Chris went traveling and ended up down in Southern California where he was born. He ended up discovering his father’s infidelity, divorce, and remarriage. This directly contradicted the ‘perfect’ image and ideals Walter had been preaching to Chris. To him, this was a major offense from his father. Understandably, after learning of this shortcoming, Chris was quite angry. However, rather than confront his father about this, Chris lets his anger simmer. -
Chris graduates college
Chris graduated from Emory University with a double major of anthropology and history. During his college years, he felt increasingly stifled by the expectations, rigidity, and fickleness of society and its norms. Chris’ disdain for his father also continued to fester during these college years. -
Chris’ journey begins
Soon after graduating, Chris officially set out on his journey. He donated all $24,000 he had to charity and made his way west in his Datsun. He eventually has to abandon the car after it got disabled due to a flash flood. Which, some would argue, is when his journey truly began. It is around this time when Chris McCandles leaves his name behind and travels by the pseudonym ‘Alexander Supertramp’ -
Chris(Alex) meets the Burres
Some time after leaving his car behind, Chris/Alex was foraging for berries on the roadside when a rubber tramp couple pulled up and offered him a ride and some food. They were Jan Burres and Bob. Jan was a 41 year old traveling with her boyfriend living a similar lifestyle to Alex. Jan had a son of her own, around Alex’s age from whom she had been estranged. Over their time together, Jan took a liking to Alex , who reminded her of her son. They remained in contact via postcards after Alex left. -
Alex meets Wayne Westerberg
After Alex left the Burres’ he was traveling in Montana when he was picked up by Wayne Westerberg. Wayne worked with a grain crew who traveled Montana and South Dakota harvesting grain. Alex worked with Wayne’s crew for three days. Alex showed up a few weeks later at Wayne’s grain elevator where he works for a bit of money to fund his travels. Wayne becomes Alex’s closest friend. They keep in contact. -
Alex Travels to Mexico
After leaving his job at the grain elevator, because it made tramping ‘too easy’, Alex wandered around the Sierra Nevada, California, and Arizona. Eventually he decided to purchase a canoe and made his way by water down to Mexico. -
Alex leaves Mexico
After wandering Mexico for a short time Alex runs into many hardships. He loses his canoe to a storm, he gets lost, he can’t speak Spanish, and eventually he decides to come back to the US. As he is crossing the border (illegally), Alex is caught and held in custody for a day. He had no identification or passport, so they were hesitant to let him go. He is let out with a warning after the authorities confiscate his gun, which Alex is none too pleased about as he mentions in his journal. -
Alex tries to settle down in Bullhead City
After he returned from his stint in Mexico, Alex spent a lot of time on the road. He spent most of his time wandering in California and Arizona, briefly stopping in Las Vegas to try out civilization and a job. He was soon back on the road, and even visited where he left his car to grab some belongings. On October 8, Alex entered Bullhead City, AZ where he lives for roughly two months, the longest he had stayed anywhere, since his journey began. He even got a job at a local McDonalds. -
Alex meets Ronald Franz
Alex eventually got “itchy feet” after staying in one place for too long and decided to hit the road once more. This time he ends up outside of Salton City, where he meets a kind old man named Ronald Franz. Franz was a retired veteran and leather worker who gave Alex a ride from town to his camp. They became fast friends, both leaving an impression on each other. Alex eventually needed to go, in order to get his Alaskan Odyssey underway. Before he left, Franz asked McCandles to be his grandson. -
Alex travels back to Carthage
In preparation for his journey, Alex stops up by the grain elevator in South Dakota where he had worked previously. His good friend Wayne Westerberg welcomed him back with open arms and a job. Alex stayed there making money to fund parts of his journey, as well as to bide his time until the weather was slightly better for Alaskan travels. -
The Alaskan Odyssey begins!
Alex finally leaves on his great adventure, the Alaskan Odyssey. He hitchhiked his way up to Alaska and walked into the wild. He was hoping to make a journey in unmapped territory, however that wasn’t possible. Alex solved the problem by getting rid of the map. He entered the wild with little more than 10 pounds of rice, a small caliber rifle, and some books on foraging and wild plants. His light packing was heavily encouraged by his idea of an adventure and his need to prove his self-reliance. -
Alex finds a bus
A few days into his solitude, Alex finds an old bus along the trail, left by the mining operations many years prior. He decides that the bus is the best place to make camp in the long term. Alex sets up his camp and lives out of Fairbanks bus 142 for the duration of his stay in Alaska. While in the wild Chris had many successes, from successfully scavenging for food, to taking down a moose. The biggest accomplishment of his was that he survived more than four months alone in the Alaskan bush. -
The accident
After more than four months in the wild, Alex was ready to return back to civilization. However, the river he had previously crossed in early spring was now impassable. Alex returned to his camp to wait for winter when it would once again be crossable. During this time, Alex started eating wild potato seeds which haven’t been previously reported as poisonous. However, it was these seeds that ultimately killed Alex. He grew too weak to function and eventually starved to death in his sleeping bag.