Road Trip 4: The Land Is Not as Bad as You Think Chapter 5, a ncis fanfic

Chapter 5

Tim woke up before Tony the next morning. He was still a little nervous about this drive. He was trying not to show it since Tony was so excited at the prospect, but if it were just up to him, once he had heard how bad the road could be, he would have changed his plans and gone somewhere else.

If it were just me, I wouldn't be doing any of this, Tim thought to himself with a smile.

That was one thing that was good about these road trips. They did get Tim out of his comfort zone and have him trying things he wouldn't have before.

But still... He'd promised Delilah that he wouldn't take any unnecessary risks. She had been adamant that he not do anything stupid because she really needed him right now. He also recognized that he had extra responsibilities. It wasn't just him anymore. It was him and Delilah together.

Then, he shook his head. No. This little day trip wasn't as big a deal as he was turning it into. There was an overlook. Clearly, people did this often enough without dying. The road might be a bit iffy for a small car or a muscle car, but the truck they'd rented would be the right kind of wheels for it. Tony wasn't a stupid driver and neither was Tim. They'd be okay. And it would be a new experience.

By the time Tony woke up, Tim had pretty much convinced himself that everything would be okay. They had breakfast, loaded up the truck and started out on their way.

"Well?" Tony asked, only a few minutes into the trip.

"Well what?" Tim asked in return.

"How is it, so far?"

Tim laughed. "Tony, you've been driving for maybe ten minutes. We're not even to the Dalton Highway yet. I can't comment on what it's like before we even get there. We have at least ten hours of driving today. Please don't tell me you're going to ask how I'm doing every five minutes."

Tony laughed in reply. "Just seeing if you were having second thoughts."

"Yes," Tim said, honestly, "but not enough that I want to turn back."

"We could."

"No. You want to do this, and so do I. I'm just a little nervous. You're lucky that the rental company is allowing us to travel on the Dalton Highway. Some of them don't."

"How unlucky for you," Tony said, grinning.

"Ha ha."

They kept driving until they got to the sign marking the beginning of the Dalton Highway. Tony insisted that they get out and take a picture. The sign was covered with stickers from various places, and Tony was disappointed that they couldn't add a sticker of their own, but neither of them had thought of doing that.

So it was back into the car and taking the long drive up to the Arctic Circle.

The road was awful. Huge potholes were all over the road. Some parts were paved, but those stretches of paved road weren't really much better than the gravel parts.

"Look! There's still snow!" Tim said, pointing out ahead of them.

Sure enough, there were large swaths of snow all around. In fact, Tony pulled off to the side, making sure they weren't going to be in anyone's way, and they slipped and slid over to some of the snow.

"Make a snow angel, Tim!" Tony said.

Tim knelt down, but then laughed.

"No snow angels here, unless you plan on chiseling the snow loose. This is hard."

"Aw, shucks," Tony said. "Fine. Do something exciting, then."

Tim figured that Tony should have reconsidered the wisdom of saying that, but since he didn't, Tim gouged his hands into the snow and loosened it up enough to grab a handful...

...and then threw it in Tony's face right as he was taking a picture.

"Oh, you're dead, McGee," Tony said.

The snow didn't pack well, but that didn't stop them from acting like children and throwing snow at each other. It lasted for only a couple of minutes and then they were scrambling back to the truck and continuing on their way.

There was a definite bumpiness to the road that kept them from even wanting to go very fast.

"I think that if you went any faster, my teeth would bounce right out of my mouth," Tim said.

"I know. It's crazy how rough this road is. I guess you wouldn't notice it in a semi."

"Guess not. I can't imagine my car managing this."

"Or mine."

Every so often, they saw wildlife and they stopped the car just to watch and take a few pictures. There was a sign that told them they still had 60 miles to go until they reached the Arctic Circle, but that just made them more excited. Then, they came around a turn.

"Hey! Look at that! It's the Yukon River again," Tony said, as they dropped down toward it.

"Wow. It's not quite as wide as it was over by Circle, but it's still impressive. And there's the pipeline, again, too!"

Sure enough, the Alaska pipeline emerged from the trees and crossed the river, coming out on the other side. They paused at the start of the bridge and took pictures. Then, they drove over to the other side, stopped and took more pictures. Then, they continued on their way. Twice, they had to move over for one of the big rigs. Once, Tim thought for sure a huge rock was going to hit the windshield (it just barely missed them). In between, there was almost no one on the road. It was early enough in the season to be pretty cold still. It was also just not peak tourist season yet.

"Okay, we need to do something to pass the time," Tony declared.

"Like what?" Tim asked. "We're in the car, driving."

"Think of something, o wise one."

Tim thought about it for a few seconds and then he smiled.

"We could sing camp songs."

"Camp songs? Like what?"

"Um... Oh, this is perfect. You just have to repeat everything I sing and then, at the end of each verse, we re-sing the verse."

"Why?" Tony asked.

"It's camp songs. For little kids, Tony. The only thing is that you have to sing what I sing. I'm not giving you a solo performance."

Tony's eyes narrowed with suspicion. "Just what are you going to have me sing, McGee?"

"It's suitable for kids. I learned things with the Scouts."

"Oh, okay. Take it away, Pavarotti."

"Okay." Tim was a little embarrassed by his suggestion, but they were silly and it could be fun. He took a breath and started to sing the first verse.

"The other day..."

He waited.

Nothing.

"Tony, you're supposed to repeat the phrase!"

"Oh. That was it? I thought it would be longer."

"Remember. This is for kids."

"Okay, okay. Start again. I'll keep up."

"You'd better." Another breath. "The other day..."

"The other day."

"I saw a bear."

"A great big bear."

"A grizzly bear."

"Now, we sing it all together."

Together, they repeated the verse.

"The other day, I saw a bear. A great big bear, a grizzly bear."

"Perfect," Tim said. "Ready to keep going?"

"How many verses are there?"

Tim thought about it. "I don't know. As many as it takes to finish the song." He grinned.

Tony laughed. "Okay. Go on."

"He looked at me."

"I looked at him."

"He sized me up."

"I sized up him."

Together. "He looked at me. I looked at him. He sized me up. I sized up him."

The song continued with Tim as the lead and Tony the backup, as the narrator of the song described talking to the bear and running away from the bear. There were nine verses, all together. Finally, they got to the last one.

"The moral of..."

"This story is..."

"Don't talk to bears..."

"In tennis shoes."

"In tennis shoes?" Tony asked, still singing but giving Tim a look.

Tim just shrugged and they sang the final verse together.

"The moral of this story is don't talk to bears in tennis shoes."

"That's the end," Tim said.

"Are you sure?"

"I guess we could make up more verses."

"No, that's okay. I've never heard that before."

"Camp song."

"Got any others?"

"Are you sure you want to risk it?" Tim asked.

"I think I can handle it."

"It's repetitious."

"And that one wasn't?"

"Not compared to this."

"All right. Give it to me."

Tim couldn't keep from smiling as he started the song.

"Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log. Oh, the bear sat around with his foot on the log."

Tony started laughing.

"Really? That's a song?"

"Yes. And then, at the end of every verse, you pick a different style to sing it in."

"Like what?"

"You go, 'hey one, hey two, hey three, hey four! Let's sing that cowboy song once more.' And then, you sing it cowboy style."

"How long does this go on?"

"Until you want to stop."

"So it's like the Lambchop song."

Tim chuckled. "No. There's a definite end. You just can keep repeating if you want to."

"You camping people are weird."

"I'm not really a camping person. I was with camping people."

"Right."

"You want to do it?"

"Sure."

They started to sing the song. Over and over. They sang it cowboy style, softly, loudly, backwards, opera, rap, nasal and a few others before Tony declared that they were done. They saw a nice overlook, so they stopped and took more pictures, enjoyed the time not bumping down the road and then got going again.

"Any others?" Tony asked.

"Do you know the famous doctor?"

"Which one?"

"No. That's the song. You do different instruments."

"Lay it on me."

"Who's the famous doctor
Comes from Germany
Hugo Gillespie
Hear his piano.
Plink-a-plink-a-plink-a-plink
Plink-a-plink
Plink-a-plink
Plink-a-plink-a-plink-a-plink
Plink-a-plink-a-plink, hey!"

"That's not how a piano sounds."

"Best we can do with our voices."

"What other instruments are there?"

"We always did the piano, the viola, the flute, the bagpipes, although you might have a hard time doing the bagpipes since it requires plugging your nose and hitting your throat."

"Of course. How else would you do bagpipes?" Tony said, grinning.

They sang the song, but Tim took a solo on the bagpipes, and they also did drums and Tony added in the tuba.

On and on until they finally saw the sign, indicating that the Arctic Circle was coming up.

"There it is!" Tim said, pointing.

"Finally. I don't know if I could take any more camp songs," Tony said.

"I don't know if I know any more."

Tony turned off the highway and drove up a road which led to the marker.

"Here we are," Tim said as the truck finally came to a stop. He stifled a sigh of relief at escaping the bumping, even just temporarily.

They both got out and walked to the sign.

"It's so quiet," Tony said. "I think that's one thing I couldn't get used to. It's just too quiet."

"I like it," Tim said. "But I wouldn't want to live out here."

"Yeah. No one wants to live out here. It's May and it's still cold."

"But it's also so remote. Can you imagine what would happen if you lived out here and needed help?"

"Yeah. You'd better hope you didn't. Well, pose by the sign and then you can take a picture of me."

Tim nodded and posed by the Arctic Circle sign. Then, he changed places and let Tony do the same. Then, by mutual consent, they both walked around to the overlook.

Wide open spaces. It was just amazing.

"Glad we came up here?" Tony asked, after a few silent minutes.

"Yeah, I am," Tim said. "But I am not looking forward to the drive back."

"Well, we can't avoid that. Can't stay here."

"Yeah."

They turned to walk back to the truck and then, Tim looked at their rental.

"This thing is a mess," he said.

"No kidding," Tony agreed.

It did look pretty sad. There was mud covering much of it, and Tim thought he could see a few dings in the paint.

"There's no way that we won't get fined for this."

"We'll wash it before we give it back."

"Great. Then, they'll be able to see all dings. Remember that you're paying for it."

"I remember, I remember. Do you remember that you get to drive on the way back?"

"Yes. Unfortunately."

"Well, let's eat some lunch here. No reason to rush."

"We do have another five hours to drive back," Tim said. "It took us nearly eight to get up here with all the stops and stuff."

"Yeah, but it's only five hours, not ten. We won't be stopping much, and it's not like we're going to be here for hours, just eating for a few minutes."

"True. Besides, giving my butt a break from the vibration is all the better, in my opinion."

"That's the spirit! Let's break out those sandwiches."

Tim nodded and they grabbed some of the food they'd packed for the drive. They found a place to sit and they ate their lunch, enjoying the beautiful landscape. It wasn't fully green yet, but it was beautiful and wild. There weren't too many places in the world that were fully wild, but once someone got off the road here, it wasn't very far before the land was completely undeveloped.

They sat, not really talking much, not even taking pictures. Just eating and looking out at Alaska.

After about half an hour, Tony leaned back and stretched.

"Well, ready to get going?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. Pack out your trash."

"Yeah, take only pictures, leave only footprints."

Tim grinned. "Give a hoot."

"Any other mottos you can think of?" Tony asked.

"Nope. I'm out."

"All right. You're still driving back."

Tim sighed. "I know."

They gathered up their stuff and got back into the car.

It was a long drive.