Alaska Road Trip Recap with Videos

[Old Henry]

If you've read the daily reports thread (https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?t=196219) no need to read this. I've just posted each daily report in order without the comments in between to have a link for my non-barner friends, or barners, to read the story consecutively.

Day 1

My journey has begun. Since several expressed some interest in it, I thought I'd post a daily report of my progress.

I finally finished rebuilding and rewiring my headlights and drove to where I could aim them at 1:30 A.M. this morning. Slept from 2 - 7 then got up, feeling drugged, and finished up all other last minute preparations and started off today at 10:45 A.M. We made it to Butte, Montana just after sundown, 450 miles. I let Siri take me to the nearest camp ground. He took me to the KOA. I asked for a tent site without power. They were going to charge me $36.00 for one. I was obviously displeased and ready to leave and head for the Motel 6. They then upgraded me to a cabin for the same price so I'm happy.

Here's the map of our planned route showing Butte that we made it to so far.



Interactive map you can zoom in on here: https://goo.gl/maps/YPZTKvV7YW72

No problems at all with the car today. The only mechanical problems were the batteries powering the headphone amp that boosts the signal from my mp3 player to the radio speaker went dead. So, I was stuck listening to the soft rumble of the engine, the soothing whir of the tires, and the pleasing swoosh of the air passing by the open window for 9 hours. Actually, not bad at all. I quite enjoyed it.

The other problem was that the software on my laptop that was supposed to record the entire trip and all statistics about it so that I could play it back at the end of each day to review turned out to be unreliable. In shorter trial runs, it had continued to record even after prolonged stops. But today, if I stopped too long, it lost the prior recording and started over from where we were. So, "Johnny 5" (the robot from Short Circuit) did not get his insatiable appetite for "input" satisfied today.

Speeds averaged 60-65 mph, temperatures from 49-61 degrees F, and altitudes from 4500-6500 feet.

I planned to stay in Dillon, Montana tonight, which would have been 390 miles for the day, close to my budget of 400 per day, but the sun was still shining when we got there so we went another hour to Butte. At this rate, I may finish early (if I finish at all) or, I may take some longer, slower, more scenic routes and stop more to see, photograph, and videotape stuff.

Spending the day on the freeway was not conducive to photography. It was not like the little two-lanes that I can stop on a dime any time to take pictures or do a quick U-turn to video. I'll be glad when I get off the freeways to get some pictures and video.

Here are the only two pictures I took speeding along the freeway of little Lady in a couple of her favorite travel postures. Watching the computer does the same for her as it does for me - puts us to sleep.

[Old Henry]

DAY 2

Sorry for the late report. I was too exhausted last night to do anything but climb in bed.

We made it another 338 miles to Fort MacLeod, AB by way of Glacier National Park, total of 790 miles so far, pretty close to my budget of 400 miles per day.

I was sure glad the KOA put me in a camping cabin instead of my tent as it was 31 degrees in the morning. Not too cold to sleep in but kinda nippy for getting dressed in.



From Butte we headed up the freeway until our first chance to get off of it and out into the country. That was Montana Highway 287 from the freeway to where it connected to US 89 to Glacier National Park. I've got to say that that 140 mile stretch of highway is one of the most uniquely scenic in all that I've driven in the U.S. It's gently undulating terrain coated with emerald grass should have been marked as a scenic byway if not an All American Road in my opinion.

When I was about to stop and take pictures of the most scenic spots I realized that those were the exact same spots AnnaRae and I stopped and photographed three years ago on our anniversary trip. To save time I'll share those again.





Approaching Augusta.



In Augusta it started to rain. I was glad that I had refreshed my Rain-X treatment on the windshield for those occasions that the wipers did not move ascending inclines.



Eventually the temperature dropped to 34 degrees and the rain turned to snow. The Rain-X didn't help much with snow.



Eventually, we arrived at Glacier National Park. We were only able to drive up 12 miles of the Going to the Sun highway but that drive was well worth it. The scenery at any time of year, including winter snow falling, is breathtaking. And the fresh smell of pine trees - - never smelled it stronger. Simply invigorating!

St. Mary's Lake with Goose Nest Island.



Mountain Peaks reaching above the clouds.





And eventually the end of the road.



Within an hour we crossed the border into Canada and headed north to our Motel in Fort MacLeod.



I was sure glad to get off of the freeway so that I could stop and "smell the roses" whenever I wanted to. I was also glad I installed a 12 volt power socket, not only to keep my laptop going but I also needed to charge my cell phone and mp3 player as we went along. I took a lot of great video that I'll produce and share when I get home.

[Old Henry]

Day 3

What a day! Thirteen hours in the saddle wears on a guy. 486 miles driven but only 352 count since I went 67 miles the wrong direction and had to come back that far to get back on the route. Just one of my SHE problems for the day.

Here's how far we've come so far, 1,855 miles.



From Fort MacLeod we headed north to Calgary then west to Banff National Park.

I had developed a little bounce in the back end so stopped to get the back wheels balanced at the only tire store in some little town along the way. They didn't have space inside the garage to help me so did it by the side of the garage.



I started getting a little tendonitis in my left wrist from the way I drive with it alone. Had to start modifying my approach to steering.



I stopped for gas in Calgary and let the dog out on the leash in the back seat, put her back in, put the leash in the back, and shut the back door, or, so I thought. When we started picking up speed I heard wind noise behind my left ear. I turned and saw the door open a crack, and, the instant I saw it the door flew open and whacked against the side of the car and fender denting the fender and the belt trim in and pulling the sheet metal out where the hinge hit it. My first SHE problem for the day.



I just wish it had been the first time but it was not. All the time I was growing up with this car there was always a dent in the fender and trim from multiple hits. Just a few months ago my granddaughter didn't shut the door tight and it caught the wind and slammed against the car, not quite as bad, it only dented the fender, not the trim nor pull the sheet metal out. I got my sledge hammer and pounded the dent back out from underneath and, in fact, the morning I left for this trip I dobbed some touch up paint there where some was off.

I had to do a little body work prying with a big screw driver and pounding with the hammer to get the metal back in place enough for the door to open and close. Then, a touch of duct tape over the exposed Bondo and I was "on the road again." I wish that had been my last SHE problem for the day.



From there we headed for Banff National Park and the famous Lake Louise. I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed and frustrated with that experience.

As we drove into the park, there was a lot of particulate in the air (haze) and the majestic mountain peaks were far from the road, unlike Glacier National Park which is much more "intimate" for the driver. Then there was the highway through the park. It was the Trans-Canadian Highway - a freeway all the way. No quick stops for a picture. So, most of the views are by video that I'll produce and share when I get home.

Then, at the famous Lake Louise, I couldn't get Old Henry close enough to the lake to get his picture so had to make my first attempt at a "selfie". How did I do? No, my face is not photogenic enough so this is the best you get.



Next came my next SHE problem.

At Lake Louise, we were supposed to leave the freeway to head north to Jasper National Park. Well, somehow I missed that and didn't realize it for 67 miles until I saw a sign saying 10 km to Golden. I knew Golden was not where we were supposed to be headed so stopped and checked the map realized the freeway exit I missed.

It wasn't a total waste since I did find one place to pull off the freeway and actually get the car near the river for a shot of it with a lofty mountain peak above it.



What I found out when I finally got back and took the exit I missed was that the Provicial Highway through Jasper National Park was a two lane that I could stop and take some pictures. And, the scenery was much more impressive. By then it was getting late in the day and I was mad at myself for having missed this great route during the sunny part of the day. However, the low light created some very dramatic scenes.









I was now two hours behind schedule so I was hurrying to get to somewhere to stay for the night. In my hurry, I neglected to stop for gas at 1/2 tank that I'd been trying to do and it looked like I was going to run out before I got to the next gas station and I'd have to put gas in from the can in the trunk. I hate that. Fortunately, I made it to an out-of-the-way place and pain $1.34 per liter of gas. It was starting to get dark and it was still an hour and a half to Jasper so I checked on the rooms they had there. They wanted $100.00 for my and $40.00 for little Lady. I couldn't stomach that so headed on to Jasper.

Most of the way I had no cell phone service so had no way of knowing what accommodations might be in Jasper. When I finally got service, I checked for pet friendly motels and they were all over $100. So, I googled camping and, low and behold, there was a camp ground just ahead within a kilometer. It was, in fact, a national park campground where I got a nice tent sight for $20.

It was midnight by the time I climbed into the sleeping bag with little lady. The car battery with the extra 6 volt battery connected in parallel during the day to charge ran the 400 watt inverter just fine over night when reconnected in series with it.



S.H.E. = Stupid Human Error

[Old Henry]

Day 4

A little shorter run today. I spent quite a bit of time in the morning reporting the previous day through the national parks. Total of 325 miles today, total of 1,431 miles so far.



Today started on my favorite kind of road that we'll be on clear to Alaska and beyond, a lonely two lane gently rolling and curving over the terrain. Not a lot of variety but still very pleasing and comfortable.

This is pretty much how it will look for the next several days.



We see this kind of sign at the beginning of the long stretches. I need them. One of my weaknesses is that I don't watch the gas gauge close enough.



The temperature warmed up so I could open the window again. It makes for a better angle for my wrist so I don't get the tendonitis.



Note the bugs on the vent window. They were pretty heavy. Rain-X didn't help much with them on the windshield.



Nor the front of the car.



Sometimes the little girly dog likes to just lay right at my hip and rest her head on my thigh.



When I was climbing a long hill I started to get a little pinging, which is very rare. I glanced over at the altimeter and it showed 500 something (meters - 1500+ feet). That's getting down to where the air is thick and causes that pinging. I may need to retard my timing a little. More likely, if it's only occasionally, I'll just nudge the choke out a little temporarily until it's gone on the climb.

Eventually, we arrived at Dawson Creek which is the beginning of the Alaska Highway the will take us there.

[Old Henry]

Day 5

Video of driving the Alaska Highway: https://youtu.be/sHhDXKKwNes

Short drive today, only 282 miles, 1,698 so far.



I spent the morning in church with a little congregation of 50 in attendance. It was fun associating with them and learning some "Canadian", like "aboot" for "about", "sory" for "sorry", "oat" for "out", "clicks" for "kilometers", and a lot of "eh?" at the end of sentences. Of course, they treated me like a celebrity since I sang in what President Reagan called "America's Choir", the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and just because of the car that had come such a long way in so short a time. One of the members gave me two buckets of fresh honey from his hives, one for someone he promised one to in the town next to mine and one for me. He said the "Peace Valley" honey was world renown as the best honey in the world. So, I didn't get on the road until almost 3:00 p.m.

The rest of my journey began at mile marker 0 smack dab in the middle of Dawson Creek, the official and historical beginning of the Al-Can highway that, as the sign says, runs 1,523 miles to Fairbanks.



Then we were back out on the road through the wilderness.



Eventually, we were driving through an area of forest fire with fire not far from the road. It really hazed everything over. The smell of the burning trees was, of course, very strong.



It colored the sunlight orange that turned the light colors in our interior more orange.



Our lowest elevation today was 312 meters, or 1,023 feet.



Something I forgot to mention about the lower elevation yesterday is the very pleasant surprise of a boost of power in the engine. It was especially noticeable when climbing hills and accelerating. I almost envied all of you that get to drive flatheads near sea level all the time.

No, it wasn't that extra power used for a burst of speed that lead to this.



I stopped at this spot to take a picture of this stretch of road. As I usually do to get this kind of shot, I walked back up hill a couple hundred feet for the shot. Then, I saw this truck coming the other direction and decided to wait until it passed so I wouldn't have to Photoshop it out. Well, as it got closer and closer it got slower and slower until it looked like it was going to stop when it turned on its overhead police lights, did a U-turn, and pulled up behind the car. I was so far up the hill from the car that he didn't even know I was there. I was certainly curious what he was going to do next. Get out and ask little Lady for her license? Of course, she would be able to give it to him because she has no opposing thumb to take it off of her collar.

But, he just sat there for the longest time while I got this and other pictures of him. Eventually, he got out and headed up to my car. I yelled down at him, "Hey, I'm trying to take a picture and you're in the way." He was pretty startled to turn around and see me way back there. He was immediately apologetic, jumped in his truck, did a U-turn, drove up to across the road from me, got out with his camera and came over for my photography lesson about the great picture that can be taken under those circumstances. Of course, he had some fancy huge DSLR camera, and to get anything like the pictures I took with my little point a shoot had to go back to his truck and get his long telephoto lens and put it on his camera. We had a nice visit, he went on his way, and I finally got the picture I stopped to get.



Of course, the bugs continued to pile on.



When we got to Fort Nelson, I knew we were about two hundred miles behind our schedule, not that it was too big a deal, but I've scheduled two extra "emergency days" in the itinerary in case I have to sit and wait for a part to be flown in or something and don't really want to use it up lolly-gagging. It was only 9:00 and the sun was still shining. So, I wanted to do another hour to get a little further along. But, we're to the point now that civilization with accommodations, or even gas, are much further apart. There was no place to stay or camp for 100 miles further along. My body was telling me it was actually an hour later by my home time so we got us a nice tent site in the RV park and set up camp for the night. I figured if I could get this report done at night we could hit the road real early in the morning and make up some miles.

For anyone interested, here's the extra battery in the trunk with the black clamp on the negative post, the same as the other end is on the car battery under the hood, and the red clamp on the positive post.



Then in just a few seconds, I move the black clamp to the positive post, clamp the red clamp to the positive clamp from the inverter, and clamp the inverter's negative clamp to the negative post on the battery. With the two 6 volt batteries now in series with my 400 watt inverter, I have a huge amount of 12 volt power to run and charge everything all night and still plenty to start the car in the morning.



My bedroom and work space for reporting.



If you look close you can see the cord running from the trunk to the tent.





I was hoping to get to Skagway tomorrow but won't likely make the 638 miles we have left. But, we'll make up some time, then get there early the next day, get my sticker to say I did, and head back for home.

[Old Henry]

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Day 6

We made a little better miles today, 452 to Teslin for the night, not quite to Alaska yet, 158 more miles to go. Total so far 2,200.



I thought it would be pretty much the same stuff as we'd seen and we'd just make some good mileage without many stops for pictures. But, there were some interesting things to see.

The main thing we watched for anxiously was places to get gas. I'd heard horror stories of how few and far between they were and how so many that used to be along the way had closed down. Here's one of the first ones we got to that was abandoned:



But, we eventually came upon one that was still in business. It was pretty quaint with the old style pumps and, none other than full service! Don't see that much any more.



And, when we went inside to pay he was still using the old credit card slider. Haven't seen one of those for years.



And, he had an old pop cooler a year older than Old Henry, made in 1946, that was still working and full of pop.



There were some other styles of fuel delivery too. This one had the pump attached right to the surface tank.



I think the highest price I paid for gas today was $1.599 per liter.



That's $5.90 per gallon!

I was glad when we finally hit a section of unpaved road. The drive wouldn't be complete without a little mud and dirt on the car. It's traditional.



But, alas, it was just a section under construction for just 3 miles. Oh well. At least we got our mud. There was just one other short section and the rest was all paved although fairly worn with a lot of patches.

A couple of the many quaint old cantilever bridges a long the way.





Stowaways. Some of 'em still kickin'.



Then we started to get into the high mountains.



Now, there is something interesting about the mountains here. We are driving at an elevation of only 1,221 meters, 4000 feet.



Yet, you see that we are almost at the timberline above which nothing will grow. That timberline where I live is up at 10,000 feet! I have found that the further north I have traveled, the lower the timberline. I first noticed that when I first went to Glacier National Park in Montana and the timberline was only 6,000 feet.

A couple of the many beautiful lakes along the way:





And some other mountain scenery:





Wild mountain sheep grazing along the side of the road. On what? Gravel?



And lots of bison, too. (No, they are not buffalo as many suppose. Those live in Africa.)



One final landscape with the low sun for the end of today's report.

[Vic Piano]

Very cool, a most excellent adventure.