I can’t tell you how great it feels to have planned and completed the 6,997 mile trip of a lifetime. I can now scratch it off of my Bucket List.  I’m really glad that I was able to share this experience with Mike Smith, Tom England, John Lewis, and 2 days (along with months of planning) with my friend, Phil Kuntz from Spokane. For those of you planning the trip in the future I would suggest having a friend or two go along to share the experience.  I want to use this, my final posting, to share some more memorable pictures of our trip and camaraderie. Safe travels!

One of the things that we really looked forward to on our trip to Alaska was a visit to Denali National Park. Although the anticipation was great, we definitely weren’t disappointed.  Prior to leaving on our journey to Alaska we decided to make reservations at Riley Creek Campground as well as pre-purchase tickets for the Eielson Visitor Center tour.

We booked the earliest tour to Eielson Visitor Center; 6:00 AM. We figured that we would have a better chance of seeing wild animals throughout the 8 hour trip. We weren’t wrong.  In all, we saw 9 brown bears, moose, a herd of caribou, Dall sheep, white ptarmigan, a golden eagle, and the top of Mt. McKinley (Denali); something that only 30% of visitors actually get to see.

I’m in the process of wrapping up my blog and posting more pictures of our trip to Alaska. In the meantime, here are some tips that should be helpful in the event you decide on taking the “road that never ends” up and back from Alaska.

1. Even though you are in a hurry to get there (or back), try limiting your days to no more than 350 – 400 miles of driving a day. You won’t regret it!

2. Expect a lot of construction along the AlCan Highway. Expect to stop and wait for a pilot car on a number of occasions.

3. If the signs indicate rough road or gravel, believe them! Slow down and take it easy; real easy! The worst stretch of road that I have ever been on in my entire life was between the Donjack River Bridge and Beaver Creek on the way to Tok, AK. Pot holes that sink your tires halfway down. It’s even worse if you’re double-tracking like I was. My 6-Wide Sport LG extends about 10” further out than my truck on each side. SLOW DOWN! Rough sections of the roads are identified by pink/red flags (triangles) on the side of the road.

4. Expect to pay $5 or $6 (Canadian) for bags of ice along the AlCan and Cassiar Highways.

5. Don’t expect to get good wifi coverage in any campground. Stop at McDonald’s, Wendy’s, A&W, or Tim Horton’s for wifi service.

6. Even if you pay extra for cellular coverage in Canada, just remember that reception is few and far between in northern BC and the Yukon. You could be out of range for days. If you don’t buy Canadian coverage, put your phone in the Airplane Mode or you will get a tremendous bill due to roaming throughout your trip.

7. When possible, camp in Provincial Parks. Campgrounds aren’t always how they appear online. Most Provincial Campgrounds are on a first-come first-serve basis; although, some take reservations beforehand.

8. If possible, take different routes up and back. We took the AlCan (Highway 97 turns into Hwy 1 in AK) up and the Cassiar (Highway 37) back. It makes for a nice change of scenery. Before dropping down on the Cassiar, drive into Watson Lake to fill up.

9. Expect fuel and food to be more expensive in the Yukon.

10. Take your time to meet and enjoy the company of new friends. Your LG, T@B, or T@G will draw them like moths to a candle. All of us gave “tours” of our LG’s on a daily basis. There is no dealership in Alaska at this time, so they draw quite a bit of attention; especially among traveling foreigners. We met people from China, Germany, Belgium, France, and New Zealand.

Yesterday, August 8 (Saturday), my friend Sherm took us out to one of his favorite fishing spots on the Kenai River. Since I’m neither a fisherman nor a hunter I decided to go along and document the day so no one would be able to come back and exaggerate a story about the size of “the one that got away!” It was a nice and sunny day on the Kenai. To make a long story short, the guys each caught a Sockeye salmon. We ate a wonderful meal of baked salmon (fixed 3 ways), mushroom and herb risotto, fresh salad, and wine.

Well, I’ve driven 3,885 miles so far on this trip and we start our return tomorrow. We’ll be driving to Anchorage to drop John off at the airport for his return trip home to Portland.  From there, we’ll head down to Valdez to spend a couple of days. It may be a while before I can post again, so wish us luck.  Toward the end of the trip I plan on posting more pictures that I haven’t been able to post to date.  I’m sure our return trip will be as interesting as the trip up here.

We arrived at my friend Sherm Smith’s house a couple of days ago. He lives just outside of Kenai, AK. Sherm has a pretty big area where he cleared out the trees and put down gravel, so it’s a great place for us to park our LGs for a few days while we check out the rest of the peninsula. On our way here from Anchorage we made several stops along the way. One of them was at Costco. It gave us the opportunity to stock up in wine and beer. Along the Turnagain Arm, we stopped at the small town of Girdwood and found a very good bakery. After enjoying a raspberry fritter and a cup of coffee we headed over to the Alyeska Resort and spent a little time admiring the hotel as well as the grounds. If you decide to come this way I highly recommend taking the tram up to the top and enjoying the scenery. From Girdwood we drove a short distance to Portage Glacier. Although the glacier has recede tremendously over the years, this is still a great stop. The views are breathtaking and the lake is wonderful. The Information Center is not to be missed. If you have a National Park Pass (like the lifetime Senior Pass that we old geezers have) the museum and movie are free. Otherwise, it will cost you $5. Very informative. From there, we drove a couple more hours and eventually made it to Kenai where I introduced the guys to my friend Sherm.

Yesterday, we head out to Seward without having to pull the LGs behind us. A couple of miles outside of Seward is the turnoff to Exit Glacier. Don’t miss this! It’s about 8 miles back on a nicely paved road before entering the Kenai Fjords National Park. Along the way we spotted a moose and her two calfs grazing along the roadside. Once inside the park it’s only a short walk (.9 miles or 1.3 miles depending on your choice of paths) to the edge of Exit Glacier. I know I’ve used this term several times, but, again, it applies here; Breathtaking! Each day up here in Alaska seems to be better than the next when it comes to beauty and landscape. We drove in to town and decided it was time for lunch. Note: Once you drive in to Seward and drive on the road parallel to the harbor you’ll have a tendency to pull in to the paid parking lots to park. DON’T DO IT. The minimum cost is $10. If you continue to drive down the road into downtown Seward (past the harbor) there’s plenty of free parking. Plus, there’s a free shuttle to take you back and forth. There are really nice shops and less expensive restaurant downtown as well. We parked for free and had a great lunch at Thorn’s Showcase; a rustic bar reminiscent of something from the early 1970’s; dimly lit, red tuck and roll leather booths, black and silver tables, etc. They have a wonderful bar and bartender and a very reasonable menus. Their specialty is “a bucket of butt.” Halibut chunks lightly fried with french fries. You can substitute the fries with a cup of homemade chowder or pay a dollar extra and get seafood chowder. Both are great! There’s no shortage of the alcohol in their mixed drinks either.

After lunch we visited a few of their gift shops and drove back to the harbor. Along the streets are free 30 minute parking spaces. After checking out a few more shops and walking along the harbor watching the boats and ships come in the fjord, we gassed up and headed back to Kenai. The price of gas in Seward is about 10 cents a gallon higher than in Kenai. When we got back to Sherm’s place we enjoyed some wine and talked about the trip to date. As Mike, Tom, and John went into to town to buy their fishing licenses I went ahead and prepared a spaghetti dinner complete with salad, and garlic bread. Oh yeah,…and more wine!

We made it to Denali, finally. It’s a short 3 hour drive from Fairbanks. We were fortunate because we were able to see Mt. McKinley from the road; albeit, quite a distance away. Traffic was light because we got up early enough to get ahead of the large motorhomes that were eventually going in the same direction. There’s some major road construction on both sides of Denali Park, so we had to slow down for about 8 miles. We stopped at the “touristy shops” outside the Park and enjoyed a cup of coffee and a bagel. We also checked out the shops and realized that we’ll have access to the same things at a much affordable price when we get closer to Anchorage. In fact, a ceramic tile that I had my eyes on was made in Palmer, AK. That’s where we’ll be for the next 2 days once we leave Denali.

Yesterday was a GREAT day! We had made reservations beforehand for the 6:00 AM Eielson Shuttle Tour. We got up at 4:30, had coffee, and packed our day packs with sandwiches, chips, water, and various munchies. It’s an 8 hr. bus trip to Eielson Center and return. To make a long story short, WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND this tour; especially the early morning run. We saw 9 grizzly bears, dozens of caribou, Dall sheep, Willow Ptarmigan, a golden eagle, and several moose; AND the top of Mt. McKinley. We are now members of the 30% Club. That’s about the number of people that actually get to see the top of Mt. McKinley overall.

Once we got back to the entrance of the Park I checked out the short films in the Wilderness Center and the Visitor’s Center. They give a great history of the story of the making of the Park. Today, John and I walked over to the Wilderness Center as well as the Visitor’s Center so he could buy his lifetime Senior Pass to the National Parks for $10. Congratulations, John, for being an old guy. It’s official!

This afternoon we plan on visiting the Sled Dogs and watching a Sled Dog Demonstration by the Parks Department. Denali is the only National Park that uses sleds and sled dogs in the winter. They had tried using snow mobiles in the past, but they were unreliable in -30+ degree weather. They have never had an issue with sled dogs breaking down or refusing to go further. It should be an interesting demonstration.