Into The Wild/chapter 3 & 4

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Chapter 3:

In Chapter 3, we meet Wayne Westerberg, a man who knew Chris McCandless as “Alex” before his death. Alex was hitchhiking one day. Westerberg suggested him to stay on with him for a while because the weather was bad and Alex was ill equipped. Alex spent three days with Westerberg; before parting ways, Alex was told by Westerberg to find him if he ever needed work. A few weeks later, Alex found Westerberg and began working for him. Westerberg says that Alex was very intelligent and a hard worker. Alex moved on when Westerberg had to serve time for involvement with “black boxes.” Alex stayed in touch with Westerberg and as he traveled on, claimed he was from South Dakota.

Alex, or Chris, was really from Annandale, Virginia-the son of successful parents and a graduate of Emory University. Following his college graduation, Chris headed west in his second-hand Datsun. His family, not even his favorite sister Carine, had any idea he had gone.(Monkeynotes)

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Chapter 4:

In October 1990, more than three months after McCandless left Atlanta, his Datsun was found abandoned at Lake Mead National Recreation Area by Park Ranger, Bud Walsh. Without license plates, Walsh could not trace the car to McCandless. The rangers kept the car for driving around the park. Krakauer learns through his research that McCandless got caught in a flash flood with the car, which caused the battery to die. Instead of having to explain why his driver’s license and registration had expired, why he did not have insurance, and why he was driving on a prohibited road in the first place, McCandless chose to abandon the car. McCandless shed unnecessary baggage and burned all of his money, one hundred twenty-three dollars, as a symbolic gesture. After spending some time hiking around the lake, McCandless hitchhiked out West and found work on Crazy Ernie’s farm. When McCandless realized Ernie had no intention of paying him, he stole a bicycle and left.

Soon after, McCandless met Jan Burres and her boyfriend, Bob. He spent a week with Jan and Bob and kept in touch through postcards thereafter. After receiving a ticket McCandless got for hitchhiking (he’d given his Annandale address to police), his parents contacted a private investigator. The investigator learned only that Chris had given his entire savings to charity, which really worried his parents.

McCandless spent time in Colorado and Mexico, where he had some difficulty navigating the canals. He spent a night in jail after being caught coming back into the US with no ID. McCandless was able to spring himself from jail but had to leave his beloved handgun behind.(Monkeynotes)

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I used References to help me to understand this story!