The Drive to Alaska Part 2

Day 6 (August 6th):  Grand Prairie, AB to Laird River, BC

Mile 0 on the Alcan

We left Grand Prairie and soon found ourselves in Dawson Creek, the official start of the Alaska Highway.  We jumped out of the car long enough to snap a picture of the Mile 0 milepost, switched drivers, and started out on the historic highway.  I had bought a guidebook (Milepost) that detailed the highway (along with other roads in the Northwest) which proved to be helpful along the way.  We always knew how far it would be until our next chance to fill up with gas, to camp, etc.  Most of the "towns" along the Alcan are nothing more than an old fashioned gas station and/or RV camp.  We gassed up just about everywhere we had a chance, making sure we stayed on the top half of the tank.  It can be a long time before you run into another gas station, and sometimes you'll see a place that used to be in business that closed up.  The road is just a small two lane highway which luckily wasn't too busy.  We were stopped just once the first day, due to a truck carrying nitro glycerine having turned over a mile or two down the road.  After making more progress than expected, we stopped for the night at Laird River.  This was a great campground that had natural hot springs within a short walk.  The springs was a great way to relax after a long day on the road.  I even made it to the hottest part of the springs to place a stone and make a wish!

Day 7 (August 7th):  Laird River, BC to Haine's Junction, Yukon Territory

Bison on the Alcan

After another early start, we pushed further along the Alcan.  We started by seeing tons of bison along the road.  Apparently they are only able to survive in that area because of the grassy areas next to the road.  There were some that would stand in the middle of the road, seeming to not care at all about the dangers of cars and trucks coming along.  We spotted some other wildlife along the way, including caribou, a couple of black bears, and even a grizzly bear.  We were stopped for construction again, and Dad found some wild raspberries along the road to enjoy.  Once we rolled into Whitehorse, YT, we found a McDonald's and used the free wifi to skype Mom and give her an update.  After a refreshing break of being back in communication, it was time to get back in the car and drive towards our destination for the day, Haine's Junction.  We found a nice campsite at a little RV park (campground was separate from the RVs), that even included showers and wifi.  The showers were essential for me, since I managed to get poison ivy somewhere along the way, and was wanting to wash off as much as I could.  Dad's shower turned out to be not quite as nice - completely cold the entire three minutes.  We had a nice dinner in a small restaurant in town, then came back for a campfire before climbing in the tent for a chilly night camping in the Yukon.  Dad was amused when he woke up to see that I had bundled in my sleeping bag and only had a grapefruit size of my face showing.

Driving into Haine's Junction

Day 8 (August 8th):  Haine's Junction, YT to Anchorage, AK

Made it to Alaska!

Our plan for the day was to cross into Alaska, but we didn't know how far we would make it from there.  We started by going through the last of the Yukon Territory, over what was the worst road conditions we had encountered yet.  The bumpy road eventually led us to the border, where we stopped for pictures at the Welcome to Alaska sign and international boundary before going through border control.  We spent just a couple of minutes taking pictures then climbed back in the car.  When we did, I noticed that my car had just hit 10,000 miles at precisely that location.  I was kind of excited about the coincidence, though I think Dad thought I was a bit crazy!   We crossed through and were assured the road would be much better in the US, which it was.  We certainly didn't plan to go all the way to Anchorage, but by the time we got to Tok, we realized it made sense to just go all the way.  It was unfortunately overcast most of the time, so we couldn't see too many views, but we did have some moments where we were able to look through and see glaciers, spectacular mountains, etc.  When we finally rolled into Anchorage, we had a little trouble finding a room, but settled down at the Motel 6 that was described as "cut above the rest."  We ordered a pizza to celebrate our arrival at our destination!

The next few days:

We got right to work on finding an apartment and managed to find one we could move into the same day, which worked great.  We emptied the car, found a place to buy a bed, and were proud of getting so much done in one day.  The next few days were spent finding furniture for the apartment, but we managed to work some fun in as well, including a hike up Flattop Mountain and a trip to Seward.