An Epic Roadtrip

It all started Monday morning, and since this is an epic roadtrip it deserves an epic blog post. (It's mostly epic since I have only blogged once before and that was about rock climbing)...

So, I had been given the responsibility by my dear sweet wife to figure out all the logistics of getting up to Alaska. She had plenty on her plate as her internship came to a close and LTC the following week. So I made the arrangements and when Monday morning came, I was up and about trying to get the last minute things together before I went and picked up the U-Haul.

Well, I picked up the U-Haul, loaded my car onto the trailer and took off to the Hicken household to pick up some odds and ends. While there I thought it would be easier detach the trailer so we could load everything else.

One would think that since it is a full-auto trailer, it would be able to hold the weight of a loaded car on the trailer jack. Well, the trailer jack did just fine, but the lever (which raises/lowers it) sheared clean off leaving us with a loaded trailer half attached to the U-Haul, unwilling to raise off the hitch or lower back onto it.

So alas, I was obliged to use El Guapo's car jack that he keeps in his shop. That did the trick in a few pumps of the foot and then we were to the loading business, set back only a little.

We loaded everything up thanks to some amazing 3-D Tetris whizzes including Talon, Curt, Jared, and Travis. Chels and Nicole were there as well pulling out certain items of the liquid variety and being extremely helpful on all other parts.

We finished, had lunch, loaded up the trailer, said good byes, took pictures and then headed off to the weigh station. Chels came along in order to give me the last minute things that I couldn't weigh, but still planned on taking.

Finished with all that I kissed my dear sweet wife and took off.

Thus began the Fellowship of the Rings. (I listened to all the series over the course of the week - near 57 hrs)

I headed to Butte, MT that night and ended up picking up a hitch hiker in Dubois, ID. This guy had been homeless for about 35 yrs and used to jump railcars, but was stuck with hitch hiking of late. I let him off at a Flying J and then went into town for some groceries at the Safeway.

Tuesday: I started off the day paying $10 for a shower. Though it felt good, I am still not sure it was worth $10.

Then I headed in to Canadia! I stopped just shy of the border and ate some French bread with salami and havarti cheese. Oh yeah, living it large!

I went through the border and the Canadians were cheerful folk and even laughed a little when I told them that I hoped to acquire some Canadian chocolate. (Since the rumor was out that it was good!)

I made it into Canada no sweat and then headed into Edmonton. Realizing that Banff wasn't too much out of the way and wouldn't delay me any more, I decided to head that way.

I arrived in Banff Tuesday night and talked to Chelsea as I walked around a nice little park area. Here are a few pics from that day including the start of all the Bear-proof waste disposals.

Wednesday: This morning I awoke in the beautiful area of Banff National Park, in Alberta Canada. It was gorgeous! I was amazed.

Before showering I went for a bike ride. Little did I know what I was getting myself into. The ride was loopy and fun up higher but there were some fun trails a little lower than the ridge which proved quite exposed and technical, with hard pedaling and really balancy turns. I had to dismount only a few times, which I figured was good. Then as I was pedaling around I came to an area that could rival Magnum's Mayhem (oh yeah baby!) I felt at certain times that this was against my better judgement, but I only came off my bike unintentionally once, so I felt very good about it. I had a great little climb back up and then took a scenic little stint through the woods back to my camp.

I then pressed on to Lake Louise and got some hiking in. Everyone there were in full get up to do some extreme hiking, with backpacks and trekking poles and jackets, but alas, I was there with my shorts and sandals and a jacket is all. I did get some funny looks since there was a good bit of snow falling. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the lake was beautiful, as was the stream which came down from it (no pics of that sorry).

I also saw the German rival of the Dog House. It looked like a fine bit of machinery. (Chelsea's father has a large, white, diesel van that he calls the "Dog House.")

I then carried on into Jasper National Park and saw some beautiful country, and I realized if I wasn't moving to Alaska I would definitely be moving to the Canadian Rockies. I saw Bridal Veil Falls as well as Johnson Ice Field, and I knew that my heart belongs in a place with high peaks and glaciers.

Later the same day I hit the start of the Alaskan Highway (Alcan) and slept in a parking lot. By this time I had realized that I wouldn't be seeing darkness anytime soon since at 11:00 pm it was as if it was 8:00 back in Logan. I went to sleep and woke up again in the light, just about as light as when I had went to bed, just the sun was on the opposite side of the sky.

Thursday: I woke up and realized the week was going by quite quick, but I hadn't made it extremely far, and was about to embark on the most barren part of the trip.

This part was really neat however, especially when I was able to see 5 Black Bears, herds of Bison, and some really fat crows. I didn't have any cell phone reception ever since I started on the Alcan, so unfortunately I wasn't able to relate any of the cool things that took place while in the Yukon.

I was in the Yukon Territory most of the day, the next, and the next. I also ate at this place in the middle of nowhere, where I ended up cleaning up some leftovers from other people. I had Bison, Rainbow Trout, some other mystery meat, and a bit of other stuff. It tasted great compared to my crackers and bread.

I stopped for the night in Watson Lake, YT. It was a cool place and there was a neat little lake a stone's throw from the main road in town. I slept in a parking lot of the local convenient store which only had about 10 parking spots. :)

That is the side of the road at the bottom of the picture.

This bear was close!

Friday: This day was much like the last and included massive amounts of driving, in which I ended up in Beaver Creek.

This was the day when the road started getting really bad. I had been told by an Alaskan along the way that the road got bad around Destruction Bay. Well, what I think they meant was the road got bad near Destruction Bay, and was bad all the way to the border and then a couple hundred miles more. :)

It was all passable, but I was jostled a little and was very glad that the U-Haul stayed upright and on the road. I camped along the road there in Beaver Creek, which was one of the bigger villages I had seen, though it consisted of two gas stations and an RV park with a little mini-mart attached to it.

Here is a picture of my sleeping quarters for each night.

Saturday: In honor of the Barney Family Reunion, I wore my t-shirt and trudged on.

I soon reached the Alaskan border and everything switched back to miles from kilometers. I was grateful to make it back to the US.

I ended up picking up a guy in Tok, AK who happened to be a helicopter pilot from New Zealand and was stranded there. We went on together and he told me some pretty cool stories.

The whole trip was really neat and I think the highlight was seeing the glacier just north of Palmer, AK. I didn't get a picture yet, because I figured that Chels and I would go back together to see it.

Well, I made it into Anchorage and the journeys and adventures are still continuing. I haven't taken any pics of Anchorage, so if you would like to know what it looks like you can either come up and see for yourselves or google it. :)