Someone always wants to know the particulars of our driving trips to Alaska. Here's the scoop:
Vehicle: 1990 Isuzu Trooper. This was a great truck, getting us up to Alaska twice and home once (this last trip we sold it to a friend in Glennallen and flew home) without any major problems. I didn't make any special modifications, other than to put some screening over my existing grille guard to keep the gravel out of my radiator. The ten-disc CD changer kept us sane and the CB radio allowed us to communicate with truckers and fellow travelers and added an extra margin of safety.
Equipment carried: Nothing special here. We were driving to Alaska, not Outer Mongolia!
Route:
Our first trip started in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the first week of May. We headed west, passing through South Dakota (Badlands, Mt. Rushmore) and up into Montana (Yellowstone and Glacier national parks). We stopped in Great Falls, Montana, to grocery shop, get an oil change, and convert money before heading into Canada. We stayed the night in Glacier National Park (still basically closed due to snow the third week of May) and headed into Canada. To Calgary and up through Banff and Jasper (beautiful). We took a little-used road connecting Jasper with Grand Prairie (I believe it's called the "Bighorn Highway" in The Milepost), through Grand Cache. It was gravel when we drove it, but I hear it's paved now. The photo above was takend at a campgound on this road. Then up to Dawson Creek and the Alaska Highway, with a detour through Dawson City, Yukon and over the Top of the World Highway. Three weeks total from Pennsylvania to the Alaska state line (we were on a deadline to get to our jobs in Glennallen).
On the way back, we opted to drive the Cassiar Highway through British Columbia. This is a newer highway than the Alcan, and was about half gravel when we drove it and much more remote. It is the preferred route for many of the truckers heading to Alaska from Seattle. I'd recommend it if you don't mind gravel. From Seattle we drove down the Oregon coast into California, to Lake Tahoe and into Yosemite, then over through Nevada and Utah, to Colorado to visit friends, up to Maine (Acadia N.P.) and New England, and finally back home. Total traveling time on the way back: about five weeks.
Our second trip started from the Chicago area, and took us through Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. Since our time was limited, we drove directly to Dawson Creek and then up the Alcan. It took us seven days of driving 12 to 14 hours a day.
How did we afford to take off an entire summer?
Well, we didn't really. We obtained a short-term contract to provide marketing and communications consulting to a non-profit organization in Alaska, and we spent May to September working there. It didn't pay much, but we didn't starve. And, we got to meet lots of great people.