Into the Wild

You are Chris McCandless. You have graduated from Emory University in Georgia with honors. Now that life has opened up for you, you have two choices. The first: do what your parents want for you and stay at home to live a normal life. The second: begin a life changing journey of self discovery and adventure on the road. [[Do what your family wants for you->stay at home]] [[Go on a life changing journey->Detrital Wash]]

At home, you decide to go on to get a degree in buisness so that you can start a normal life. With the support of your parents, you eventually start your own real estate buisness. You meet your wife, and she stays by your side through life. Together you raise three children and retire at a reasonable age. Your children visit often with children of their own. You die at the ripe old age of 89 surrounded by your loved ones in a comfortable hospital room. [[You died->Start]]

After changing your name to Alexander Supertramp, you get in your Datsun and go West. The first major stop on your journey is Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada. The dry landscapes paired with the unpopulated expanses provide you a refreshing change from the stress of modern life. For a while now, you've been camping near a small runoff near the water. More quickly than you thought possible, a rain storm appears. What was previously a mostly dry creek bed soon floods. You are barely able to get together your belongings before your Datsun is flooded. [[Wait out the flood->Fix the Car]] [[Try to push the Datsun uphill->Slip in neutral]]

You wait out the flood sitting on top of the Datsun, using a tan tarp to sheild yourself from the rain. When it seems to have dried enough, you attempt to start the Datsun. When the engine fails to turn over, you make a decision about what to do next. [[Wait a few days and try again->Car]] [[Continue to try to start the Datsun->No Car]]

You put the Datsun in neutral so you can push it freely, but as soon as you do it begins to slide towards the water. You think you may still be able to push it to safety despite the slick ground. [[Try to get the car to safety->fail]] [[Put it into park and wait out the storm->Fix the Car]]

In spite of your best efforts, you are not able to make progress in moving the Datsun. The weight of the car combined with a slick terrain cause you to slip and fall. As you struggle to regain your balance, the now free-moving Datsun rolls back and strikes you. [[You died->Start]]

Having waited long enough for the Datsun to seemingly dry out, you try again to start it. This time, the Datsun roars to life after only a few turns of the key. Now that it is running again, you can continue to drive around the country as you wish. [[Continue your plans->gas money]]

You try without success to start the Datsun. You decide that your only two options are to get help from the local rangers, or continue your journey on foot. [[Get Help->Rangers]] [[Continue on Foot]]

You decide to risk being arrested for driving the Datsun out off road and go to get help from the rangers who maintain the recreation area. When you explain your problem, you have to ask a series of questions about what you were doing and why. After they finish asking you questions, they turn you over to the police. The police demand your real name and your parents phone number. You can cooperate and have your parents come to get you, or you can refuse to give your real name and serve a minimum sentence in jail. [[Give him your name->parents]] [[Keep quiet]]

Deciding that the rangers would ask questions whose answers they would not like, you pack what you need into your backpack to move on. Before you leave Lake Mead, you burn all your money, leave a note in the Datsun, and put a tarp over it for the next person to happen by. With most of your belongings abandoned with the Datsun, you feel a sense that the real way to travel and experience the world is with as little as possible to your name. [[Continue->Step two]]

Traveling by foot and hitchhiking whenever possible, you begin to travel more around the South West. Through rides with strangers you make it to Lake Tahoe in California, you hike the Sierra Nevada mountain range, traverse the lava beds at the Columbia River basin, and meander across the Idaho panhandle. Soon afterwards you catch a ride with two rubber tramps, Jan Burres and her boyfriend Bob. [[Camp with Jan Burres and Bob]]

You stay with Jan Burres and Bob for a short time, but as the days progress you want more and more to move on and continue your journey. They tell you that you can stay longer if you want, you can either stay with them a little longer or move on. [[Move on->Wayne Westerberg]] [[Stay a little longer]]

Having left the company of Jan Burres and Bob, you feel closer to your travels. You nearly forgot how much you enjoyed the isolation that defines your odyssey. On your travels you hitch hike with a man named Wayne Westerberg. You both enjoy each others company and he offers you a job at his grain elevator in Carthage. [[Accept the offer->Carthage]] [[Decline the offer->declined]]

You decide to stay a few days longer before moving on. Despite your eagerness to continue your journey, you do enjoy having stable company. Befor long, however, you feel that you've spent too much time in one place and with the same people. When Jan Burres and Bob are away, you pack your thins and leave. [[Move on->Wayne Westerberg]]

You decide to stop traveling for a time to work at Wayne's grain elevator in Carthage South Dakota. You grow close to Wayne and his family while you work. With the extra money you earn, you are able to save for a bigger and better adventure. That adventure will take you into the Alaskan Bush where you will be as close to the truth of life as is possible. This is also your last chance to return home and tart a normal life amid family. [[Go Home]] [[Go to Alaska by Plane->quick route]] [[Go to Alaska by foot]]

You say thanks, but no thanks to Wayne in favor of returning to walking the desert. You keep Wayne in mind for the the future and make your way from the Colorado River to Topock, Arizona. There you see a used tin canoe for sale. Your first thought is to buy it and go South. You also have the option of staying in the states to see what they have to offer. [[Buy the Canoe]] [[Stay in the States]]

You continue your travels around the South West, making stops at hiking locations and small towns where you refuel and rest. Though you get fairly far in the Datsun, eventually your money runs out and you can't afford gas. You are forced to abandon the Datsun in a parking lot and start again on foot. [[Step two]]

You give the police your real name and tell them how to reach your parents. When they arrive a few days later, they greet you with a mixture of disapointment and relief. They take you home and your adventures end, though you do eventually get back the Datsun. You are forced to return to a normal life back home. [[Normal Life->stay at home]]

Because you refuse to tell the police anything, you serve a minimum sentence of six months. When you are released, the Datsun is impounded and you have no way of paying to get it back. Your only choice is to leave on foot to resume your journey. [[Continue->Step two]]

You use the money you earned at Wayne's grain elevator to return home where your family is overjoyed to have you back. After a few months, you begin to feel comfortable in a normal life. [[Continue a normal life->stay at home]]

Using the money you earned over the last few months, you fly up to Fairbanks, Alaska. You spend the first couple of days after you arrive at the local college studying up on survival methods. You leave with a complete botanical guide to the area and make one last stop around town to buy supplies. You send two postcards to Wayne and Jan Burres before venturing into the wild. [[Into the Wild]]

Hitch hiking with a man named Jim Gallien, you make it to the Stampede Trail, your ultimate goal. For the summer, you live out of Fairbanks Bus 142 in the wilderness. You hunt, gather food, and read your favorite authors. As time goes on, you get thinner and thinner, but your feeling of joy is unaffected. At one point you realize that you are having trouble finding more food, relying on meager hunting prizes and wild potato seeds. You decide that you have been in the wild long enough when you feel the affects of starvation steadily increase, and begin to make your way back onto the Stampede Trail. [[Out of the Wild]]

Using your new-to-you canoe, you travel the Colorado River South, encountering reservations, lakes, and an army proving ground. At the Southern Border, you make your way into Mexico by boat through the Morelos Dam. You soon realize you cannot reach the Gulf of California by your current means. Luckily, you catch a ride with a group of duck hunters in a truck. [[Ride with the Duck Hunters]]

Staying in the West, you camp in the Grand Canyon with a young German couple, spend time in Las Vegas, and live breifly in Coastal Oregon. Returning again to Arizona, you stay in Bullhead City where you work at a McDonalds and live in an RV. After a while of living this "normal life" you get back into contact with Jan Burres through postcards. Being sick of Bullhead, you set off to the place Jan Burres and Bob are staying. [[To Slab City]]

Now at the Gulf of California, you camp in a cave for some time, fishing and using your canoe on the water. After your tenth day in the cave, you set out on the water in clear weather. However, a storm approaches suddenly, threatening to create dangerous conditions. You should try to make your way back to shore. [[Go Quickly back to Shore]] [[Be Careful going back]]

You decide to go back to shore as quickly as possible before the storm gets worse. This means that you are less careful in making sure that you dont flip over. Despite your best efforts, the storm gets the better of you when your canoe flips and you drown. [[You Died->Start]]

Though you try to safely make your way to shore, your canoe capsizes. You nearly drown before you get back into the canoe and cross the final distance to the beach. You are shaken, but alive. You ditch your canoe and head back North. [[Back to the States]]

on your way back into the U.S. you spend a day in jail at the border for crossing before being released again. [[Continue->Stay in the States]]

To the suprise and joy of Jan Burres and Bob, you show up in Niland at the Slabs campground. Here you spend time socializing with other wanderers and help Jan Burres selling books and other items. But like usual, you soon begin to tire of staying in one place. Only weeks after arriving, you leave the Slabs to go to California. [[California]]

In California, you hitchike unti arriving at Salton City, a once fleetingly lush area that is now an empty shell. Near to the city is the "Oh My God Hotsprings" where you camp in the Desert. One day, a man named Ronald Franz gives you a ride in town. You talk and he invites you to stay with him for a while. You accept and spend a few months learning leather working. After this time passes, you break to the road again. [[On the Road Again]]

You walk the West Coast going to San Diego and Seattle. However, living on the city streets wears on you. You call Franz from a public phone and he picks you up. He gives you the chance to stay with him, but will still take you elsewhere if thats what you want. [[Stay with Franz]] [[To Grand Junction, Colorado]]

You accept Franz's offer to stay with him in Salton City. The both of you do leatherwork, grill, and take frequent trips into the desert. However, Franz is old, and his age eventually catches up to him. When he dies, you carry on living in the desert, doing what the two of you had done until you grow old. One night, you fall asleep in your rocking chair and never wake up. [[You Died->Start]]

You have Franz take you to Grand Junction, Colorado. From here you ride trains, walk, and hitch hike to Carthage where a job with Wayne Westerberg waits for you. [[Carthage]]

You take your leave of Carthage to go to Alaska by hitch hiking. Along the way, you meet Gaylord Stuckey who drives you to Fairbanks. Before dropping you off to study survivl at the college, he tries to convince you to call your family before venturing into the wild. [[Call your Family, Then go Into the Wild]] [[Go Into the Wild without Calling your Family->Into the Wild]]

Before heading into the wild, you call your family who are extremely worried and happy to hear from you. You tell them your plan, then travel to the Stampede Trail with the help of Jim Gallien. You spend a week or so living in the wild, however, your family soon appears to bring you home despite your protests. Your adventure may have been cut short, but you are taken home safely to begin a normal life. [[Taken Home->stay at home]]

On your way out of the Stampede Trail, what was once a manageable stream has become a raging river blocking your path. In your weakened condition, you would be swept away and drowned. You can either head back to the bus in the hopes someone happens upon you, or walk up and downriver to find a crossing. [[Back to the Bus]] [[Search the Riverbanks]]

You walk back to Fairbanks Bus 142 to conserve your strength and wait for help to happen upon you. Unable, to stave off strvation, you die lying on a matress in your sleeping bag, but not before finding that happiness needs to be shared if it is to mean anything. (True Ending) [[You Died->Start]]

Going both up and down the river, you search for a way to get across to escape the wild. To your relief, you find a bucket-wire system that you are able to use to get to the other side of the river. You barely make it through the Stampede Trail and onto the highway where a passing car picks you up. At the Fairbanks hospital, you are slowly nursed backed to a survivable state. [[Return Home]]

After surviving Alaska, you return home with a new appreciation of sharing happiness with others. You get back to full strength and make a tour visiting everyone important to you on your journey. Afterwards, you enjoy time with your family, meet a girl, and get a job. WHen you grow old, you go on one last adventure, going back to the Stampede Trail. During this trip, you camp in the same bus and reside here for a few seasons. Eventually, the rigourous lifestyle catches up with you. You die satisfied with life in Fairbanks Bus 142. [[You Died->Start]]