AlCan: Day 2 -- Hope, BC to Quesnel, BC

I got a pretty early start this morning, with hopes of making up the time I lost crossing the border yesterday. The weather was heavily overcast, with mist or rain most of the morning. In the low light, the colorful foliage made the view through the windshield much like looking through a kaleidoscope.



The road itself was quite good, a smooth and well maintained pair of lanes that weaved through fairly steep valleys. There were signs of habitation in places -- even a tiny town or two -- but it's clear you are already "out there" and consistently heading further into isolated areas.

I stopped just before noon in the small town of Cache Creek, where I got a sandwich for myself and a full tank of fuel for Darth. A Subway shop next to the gas station made it easy for the two of us to fill up in a hurry, so we were back on the road in thirty minutes.

While passing through Cache Creek, I left "Canada 1" (the major west-east route known as the "Trans-Canada Highway") and joined "Highway 97" (the major south-north route that is known in the area as the "Cariboo Highway"). The road continues as "Highway 97" far into the north, and although it isn't technically part of the "AlCan" or "Alaska Highway" yet, it certainly starts to feel like it ought to be.

The sun came out for part of the afternoon and the road remained quite good and dry. Everything dried out, actually, including the terrain, offering quite a change from the deep, damp forests I'd mostly driven through so far. As you can see, traffic was pretty light!



By late afternoon, I was back in overcast and occasional rain. I was also in an area of pretty significant road work being done. I imagine it takes a lot to keep this road in good shape, and the various road crews were obviously taking advantage of their opportunity before winter arrives.



As a result, I had a number of delays, usually just a few minutes but almost a half-hour on two occasions. These delays thwarted my intention to fully catch up with my planned schedule, so I didn't make it to Prince George as I had hoped. Instead, I stopped in the town of Quesnel, a fairly bustling little affair with a nice hotel and several good dining options. Once again, I made it an early night and prepared for another early start tomorrow.

Here is the documentary video for Day 2:

AlCan: Day 1 -- Seattle, WA to Hope, BC

After doing as much planning and preparation as I could, my Seattle to Fairbanks road trip commenced this morning. Sooner or later, you just have to start driving. Originating from a city like Seattle, the drive invariable began on a fast urban freeway. The fall foliage was a beautiful reminder that winter is on the way, and that it is about time I got started on my journey north.



After a couple of hours on the road, I pulled up to the border crossing in Sumas, WA, honestly expecting a swift clearance to continue on my way. That's not quite how it worked out, however, as the Canadian immigration officials seemed to be more than a little perplexed about what a guy was doing driving a truck and camper through their country to Alaska in winter.

Once their questions began, it was clear that my life choices are sufficiently outside their mental comfort zone that further investigation would be required. So, I was asked to pull over, my camper was searched, I was broadly questioned about my life, my background was checked, my websites were reviewed, my money was counted and then -- almost two hours later -- I was handed my documents and wished a pleasant journey.

Once in Canada, the road opened up quite a bit and the drive was easy, pretty and enjoyable. The weather remained overcast with occasional rain all day, but that's pretty much to be expected throughout this area at this time of year.



Unfortunately, the border crossing episode put me a couple of hours behind my schedule for the day, so I stopped a bit short of my mileage goal in the town of Hope, BC. I checked into a funky little motel that was perfectly adequate for my simple overnight needs, then had some dinner at a Chinese restaurant across the street. I hit the rack very early, happy to be on my way and looking forward to moving farther north and more into the wilds.

Here is the documentary video for Day 1:

Road Rig Winter Upgrades

In preparation for my drive to -- and winter in -- Alaska, I've made a few upgrades to my "Road Rig."

Starting with the front end: I know from experience that it is almost always dark during the Alaskan winter, and that driving on the "highways" can be pretty treacherous because of it. Being able to see what's far down the road is essential for avoiding not only snow drifts, slicks, etc., but also moose. They are frequently on the roads because it is easier to walk on them than through the snow, so you have to really watch out for them. Hitting a moose will do serious damage to your vehicle -- maybe even total it and kill you -- and create quite a problem with wildlife laws, etc.

So, first thing, I ordered an array of auxiliary head lights. The large ones in the middle are long-distance spot lights. Out from those are wider and flatter beam fog lamps. On the outside are basic floodlights which are good for lighting up the sides of the road and illuminating broad areas such as dog yards, race prep areas, etc. They are all "HID" lights -- "high intensity discharge" -- and they are very, very bright.

The question of where and how to mount them on the truck melded with two other issues: Some front-end protection and some "get yourself out of trouble" assistance. The bumper complex you see has it all: A 15,000 pound winch and "brush guards" which probably won't protect against a hi-speed collision with a moose but will hopefully provide some protection. Overall, it's quite an installation which -- though I hope to not have to use it all -- gives me some confidence about being prepared.

The blue power cord you see hanging out is another significant upgrade. Everywhere you look in Alaska you see such cords hanging out of the from of vehicles. They are for plugging into electrical outlets that are available at practically every parking lot, garage and house. It gets so cold that your vehicle's systems can literally freeze up if left unheated. The solution is to add heating pads to your engine block, oil pan, battery and transmission. That's what I've done and I hope it will help me both to start in the cold and make winter life a little less damaging for Darth.

Something else I knew I wanted was a "truck box" for carrying tools, winch accessories, tow straps, jumper cables and even some spare fuel cans. I got one and fitted it out with everything I want to carry, and it rides perfectly in the bed of the truck. The problem, though, was what to do with it when the camper was in the truck bed!

The solution that occurred to me was to make a metal carrying frame for it that would mount into the hitch receiver in the back and let it ride behind the camper. My good friend Rob helped me design and fabricate just such a fixture, and it works perfectly. Besides carrying the box, it serves as a handy "back porch" for my camper! A few other truck/camper drivers have seen it and have asked where I got it, so I guess it makes sense to other folks as well.

That's about it for winter upgrades. To the best of my experience, thinking and anticipation, I'm as well prepared as I can be.

You can be sure that I'll let you know how it all works out!

Heading North For A Second Winter

I've just gotten word from the SP Kennel "Bosses" -- Aliy and ChaCha -- and it's now official: I'm heading north for a second winter!

Pretty much every day over the summer, I found myself reflecting on my time in Alaska last winter and how powerful it was for me. Not just living and working with the dogs, but also the whole winter experience and being part of a team for a change.

I called Aliy recently and told her that I am interested in returning, not just to do the same thing again -- that's not really my style -- but to "take it to the next level" (whatever that might mean). I wanted to know what she thought about the idea.

Aliy was in complete accord, saying how much they appreciated all my work and that it sounded right to see if we could all improve. "We're all competitors around here" she said, "Even you. In your own way you want to see just what you can do. This is possibly the most difficult environment in the world to do what you do: Make things happen and report about it. I think you gotta give it another go, and of course we want you back!" She paused for just a second after that and said, with an obvious smile in her voice, "Let me talk to the dog boss and see what she says."

ChaCha has given the plan an enthusiastic paws-up on behalf of all the dogs, and I'm now making preparations to head north. I plan to drive my "Road Rig" from Seattle to Fairbanks, including the famous -- infamous? -- AlCan Highway and live in it all winter... Stay tuned for updates!

Summer 2009 Wrap-Up

It's been a great summer on the road! US Highway 2 "End-to-End", seeing family and friends on the east coast, driving Route 66 with my niece… Fantastic!

My "Road Rig" performed extremely well, especially after upgrading the wheels and tires… What a difference! Solid, steady and smooth… Perfect!

I've now returned to Seattle and am catching up with myself… Again!

I've got some ideas for "what's next" of course and I'll fill you in as soon as I have some solid plans… Stay tuned!

Route 66

My niece Jennifer graduated from the University of Chicago this spring, and we talked at length about things we might do together to celebrate. You may recall that Jennifer joined me for a couple of excellent stints in Paris and Vienna while I was on the first Voyage, so I was quite keen to work up something fun to do with her.

She called a few weeks ago, saying that she'd just gotten a job in Los Angeles and asking if I'd be willing to drive her and her belongings from Chicago to L.A. on Route 66. I said yes immediately, of course, hooked a trailer onto the back of my rig, drove to Chicago, packed her up and off we went.

I don't really have much to report, because we had such a great time on the road together that I didn't make time to take many photos. I can share that we remained pretty "loyal" to the old Route 66, but it's been decommissioned and replaced by interstates in so many places that we sometimes skipped the odd, short segment of the old road in favor of speed on the modern road.

We ate at all the finest places, usually spending our lunchtimes poring over info books and maps to figure out where we were going and what we might stop to see along the way. We did stop at many attractions, but we also skipped a bunch of them. Sometimes enough is enough!

We also made a little side-trip to Las Vegas, where we immersed ourselves in the lights, sights and shows. Jennifer insisted that I teach her how to play cards, and she picked it all up very, very fast and did very, very well. As we were at the cage cashing out for the last time, Jennifer declared that purple -- as in purple chips -- is her new favorite color!

You rock, Jennifer! Thanks for a great road trip!

Happy's Heritage

Note: This is an excerpt from my contributions to the SP Kennel Dog Log

Some of you might have noticed a very special dog who is absent from the SP Kennel family tree: Happy The Sled Dog.


As most of you know, Happy came to us with a lineage all of her own. Her mother was a sled dog that I met for just a few short moments as I walked around a village dog yard. Her father was a dog that Happy's mother must have "met" for just a few short moments as well. No one knew his lineage, breed or even his name. Mystery man!

The first summer that Happy lived at SP Kennel she was certainly an anomaly. I wasn't sure that she was even a husky. I had her spayed and she had another minor surgery in order to keep her healthy. My original reason for taking her was pure compassion - it didn't cross my mind that she might be one of our Iditarod Dogs.

I realize that Happy has many fans, so I hope to do something for them this season. We will have a spot on the website devoted to a "Happy Corner". And, maybe even come out with a Happy T-shirt.

So, even though we will not have any Happy genes added to our dog yard, I do hope that we'll have all together happy dogs.


This is a photo that Jeanne Schnackenberg took of Happy resting during our Mushing Adventure Trips on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in April 2008.

Darth's Got New Shoes!

My "Road Rig" performed flawlessly throughout our first cross-country drive together on US2. Darth was just amazing, a real "beast" who is also easy and comfortable to drive. The camper has exceeded my expectations for comfort, roominess, features and ease of use. I'm very happy with the whole set-up and look forward to many, many more drives together.

The only thing just a little less than perfect was that on poor roads -- for example with lots of ruts and/or sloping shoulders -- the ride sometimes felt a little wobbly, roly-poly or even squishy. I didn't think it was a problem with Darth's suspension, so I did some checking around.

It turns out that most truck/camper drivers complain of the same feeling, and the problem is with the tires! The soft-sided radial tires the factory mounts to help make the ride smoother aren't ideal for hauling heavy loads. They flex and roll too much, which causes the feeling I got.

The solution is to switch to heavy-duty, commercial truck tires. The problem there, however, is that all those tires are made for 19.5" wheels, not the 20" factory wheels! What to do?

The solution to that problem is provided by a company near Baltimore called Rickson. They custom make 19.5" wheels for pick-ups, and then match balance new truck tires to them... Perfect!

Since I was in the area, I drove down to the factory and checked them out. Dan Richter, the owner, is totally cool and explained everything to me. Plus, he had a set of wheels ready to go for Darth and could make it happen that day!

So, Darth's got new shoes! Super heavy-duty truck tires with very solid side walls on fancy new Rickson wheels. Not only has the load rating has gone from 3500 to 5000 pounds per wheel -- a huge increase in capacity -- but the sidewall flex is virtually eliminated and the tires will wear for twice the usual mileage of normal pick-up tires. Darth's being even more handsome than before is just a side benefit!

We're now "new and improved" and ready for our next long drive... Stay tuned for details!

Darth Goes To The Rodeo!

My good friend Marty has two daughter -- Samantha and Kelsey -- who are both avid horsewomen and barrel racers. While I was having dinner with them all last night, the girls told me about a race they had scheduled for today. They were very excited, all except for driving their father's "little" pickup to haul their horse trailer. To hear them tell it, the poor truck could barely do the job.

You can probably guess that I offered them Darth's services for the event, which they enthusiastically accepted. They were practically beside themselves at the prospect of, as they put it, having an easy drive and showing up at the race in a "real, big, tough, fancy truck!"

When I showed up this morning and we hooked up the trailer, however, they were quite surprised -- and a little intimidated, I think -- when I said that one of them would have to drive. I wasn't worried about Darth, but there was absolutely no way I was going to take responsibility for driving their horses around!

So, Marty gave Sam a quick rundown on all the driver controls that she's not accustomed to -- especially the foot pedal adjustments which meant that she could sit up really high and still reach them! -- and off they went.

I enjoyed seeing Darth hooked up to the horse trailer and realizing he's just a natural at this kind of stuff. One look at the happy couples and you can see they were all enjoying themselves, too!

US Highway 2 -- "End-to"End" -- Video!

I had no idea what I'd get when I decided to mount a camera on my dash and set it to shoot a picture every minute during my end-to-end drive of US Highway 2, but I couldn't have imagined this video as the end-product.

The video is surprisingly like the road: long and a little monotonous is places, yet captivating and even endearing. Sixty hours of driving in under ten minutes… That's equivalent to a speed of about 20,000 miles per hour! Hang on and enjoy the drive!