So... Still trying to try and nail down a schedule to see if I can pull this trip off or not...
We are to be in town by the 27th, but what day will we be back? And which town does being in town mean? Eureka?
I am willing to take two weeks off work, and one of the days we are gone is Canada Day, which is a national holiday that I'd have off anyways. That means I'd be taking 52 out of 140 hours of vacation I have for the full year on the trip if it works as laid out below...
I'd be flying Eric up from Idaho Falls on June 21st or 22nd and sending him off to Whitehorse on the 24th. I'd work on Monday / Tuesday and drive down to Edmonton on the 23rd to catch a flight up to Whitehorse for that afternoon (crazy buggers send me all the way to Vancouver then up to Whitehorse, haha). I'd meet Eric there, and cross the border with him / drive the rest of the trip on the 27th.
We leave for the bush on the 29th, and I am assuming we will be back in civilization by the end of the 6th. On the 7th Eric and I leave for Canada and drive back to Whitehorse. I catch a flight on the 8th back to work
I let Eric finish the drive back to Edmonton and send him on his way home on July 12th.
Figure this schedule can work? If we are going to be out of the bush a bit later, I can take up to two more days off on the tail end of the trip to make sure things work out. If I go this route, and bank some time during the spring turnaround I should still have enough for another journey to Moab in 2012... Since the world is coming to an end in December next year, I figure I better make it a good summer!
BTW -- Looking like between the cost of flights, fuel, food and accommodations, I gotta set aside around $4000 for this one, LOL