Now that we are back home, we can slow down and process the whirlwind that was our adventure to Alaska and back. It was amazing! It was challenging. It was an adventure. In this and future posts we’ll share some of the stories of the people and places we visited.
It turns out that Alaska is far away from Central Florida. Like really far. In fact, it is as far away as you can get geographically in the Lower 48 (that’s what they call us up there – among other things.) Almost half of the total miles are burned just getting out of the US, so we decided early on that we would make a “sprint” to the Canadian border and get there as quickly as possible. We have covered almost all of the roads before, so there was no need to stop and sightsee along the way. We also stayed in hotels during this part of the journey to avoid the time setting up and breaking down camp each day.
From our place to the Canadian border in Sweetgrass, Montana is about 2600 miles. Google Maps estimates a drive time of about 40 hours. This doesn’t account for stops for gas or food, bad weather, or Google sending you down ridiculous paths. At one point Google sent us on a detour through the town of Omaha that I wasn’t sure we were going to escape – it was starting to feel like we were trapped in a Stephen King plot (think Children of the Corn but in a city.)
If you followed us on Facebook you might be aware of some of the minor issues we had along the way, like a rock to the windshield at the Florida border, failed windshield wiper sprayers in Nashville, and a broken tie-down strap on the rooftop tent around Sioux City. Fortunately, these were all easily remedied. (But I still shake my head that the only windshield damage on a 14,000-mile trip with thousands of miles of gravel roads occurred just north of the Florida border, just a few hours from home.)
The one tourist trap we did revisit was the infamous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. It is a hard place to pass up – and not just because it is the only place with clean bathrooms for hundreds of miles. It is also famous for its open-faced roast beef sandwich and 5-cent coffee. (Both are worth about what you pay for them.) It is also just a fun place to wander around and look at the eclectic collection of random stuff. If you are wondering about the handsome-looking stuffed otter in some of our pictures, that is our travel companion and navigator, Butter the Otter. You can check out his perspective of the trip on Instagram – ButtertheOtter.
Overall, we made good time and managed to stay on schedule. We did encounter a violent thunderstorm crossing Wyoming - it was "Biblical" - like the storm in the movie The Ten Commandments when Moses parts the Red Sea. Biblical. We also encountered terrible headwinds through Montana that dropped our fuel economy from the normal poor 17 mpg down to a truly dreadful 8 mpg. You could literally watch the fuel needle drop.
With passports and vaccination records in hand, we were welcomed into Alberta, Canada. My favorite question – “Do you have over $10,000 in cash on you?” Of course, we laughed and said something clever like, “Ha, ha. We wish!” I wonder how many times they hear that line every day? But four days and 2600 miles later, we were finally in Canada!
Next up – the National Parks of the Canadian Rockies. Spoiler – they are amazing.
Below the Line
Our Trip By the Numbers
Total Miles – 13840
Total Gallons of Gas – 844
Total Dollars Spent on Gas - $4,500
Average Gas Cost - $5.49/gallon
Highest Gas Price - $8.65/gallon
Average Fuel Economy – 16.8 mpg
Fuel Cost Per Mile - $0.32/mile
Longest Stretch Without Showers – 7 nights
Number of Humpback Whales seen – at least 14
Number of times “wow” uttered – too many to count!
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