[Photo by Abby Savage on Unsplash]

This is a tale with an epilogue nearly 45 years later.

I was on my way from Miami , Florida to Fairbanks, Alaska in 1966. At that time it was a five day road trip. Roads weren’t the same then as they are today. Most of the Alaskan Highway in Canada was still a dirt road back then. I was driving in my Jeep CJ5 and for the vast majority of the trip I was all on my own.

I did enjoy a little humor in my only time to ever drive through the state of Washington. I’d had little to no rain the entirety of my trip across the country. Then I hit the Washington state line. It started raining as soon as I crossed into the state. It rained heavier and heavier until I was almost three quarters of the way through and well on my way to the Canadian border. It never stopped raining the entire drive through, but it did ease up at the Canadian border. I crossed through and the rain stopped shortly thereafter.

As I made my way into the long, long drive across the far western side of Canada, the scenery–though beautiful, thick woods–became monotonous without someone to share it with. I was bored, lonely and actually started to feel a bit uncomfortable. So, I said a little prayer.

“Lord,” I pled, “could you please send someone for me to share part of this ride with?”

I’d barely gotten the words out of my mouth and there in the deep woods stood a tall lumberjack with an ax and looking for a ride. I wouldn’t recommend this today and yes it was different then, but I pulled over and picked him up.

He didn’t say much, but rode with me for about two hours and listened with occasional comments or acknowledgments. Just as suddenly as I’d found him, he announced, “Here’s where I get off”. I stopped and let him out and pulled forward a few feet. There was no house or trail or anything but woods. So, I thought to offer that I could take him to a convenience store or town if needed.

I looked back to call out to him, but there was no one there. I scanned the woods and called out, but no response. As quickly as he’d come, he was gone.

He’d served my needs for companionship that day and I thanked God for the visitor who was my personal lumberjack companion. The terrain changed into heavy snow and a day or so later I was in Fairbanks, Alaska. As I pulled into a convenience store, I entered the store as bundled up as I was prepared to be.

“How cold is it,” I asked, as it was like nothing I’d ever experienced, “I’ve just gotten to town.”

“You picked a great time to get in!” beamed the clerk, “We just warmed up to 20 degrees below zero!” And he was serious. It had been 30 to 35 degrees below just a day before. “Welcome to Fairbanks!” he said.

My adventures there were just beginning.

Epilogue: As I mentioned in my welcome pages, these Alaska stories are as told by my dad, Doug Thompson, who passed away about nine years ago. This particular story had a follow up. Doug passed away in 2010 at about 71 years old from a series of strokes he started having over the last 2 months of his life. While he was in the hospital in Owensboro, Ky, and days before he passed, my brother David, Doug’s youngest son, called my wife in tears and stressed out over a dream he’d had. David lived in Phoenix, AZ a two day drive away and had come a few weeks earlier to check on Doug, but was back home.

“I saw dad in a dream last night,” he conveyed to my wife, “and there was a man standing over him in the hospital. I don’t know how I know this, but it was the lumberjack from Alaska.”

David had heard of the story, but he wasn’t born until some four to four and a half years later after the story occurred. He’d never met the man, nor had any of us and Doug hadn’t seen the man ever again after the trip through Canada. David was really stressed and said, “is this bad, is this evil?”

“No,” my wife responded, “David, God is revealing to you that the same Guardian Angel that watched over your dad when he was young and traveling in Canada is still watching over him now here in Kentucky as he’s passing away.”

Of course David broke down in tears, but the stress was gone. He was able to receive some peace and comfort knowing God was watching out for his dad even as he was coming to a time of crossing over from this life to the next.

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Read the next story here: Tales from the Cold #4: It was a Very Cold War!