Well as you know I haven’t posted much on this site throughout the trip, mainly because I had to drive the entire trip because I couldn’t get Mike or Matt to help out. And I was too tired by the time I drove all day, keeping my dear brothers safe from other drivers and critters in the road. But also because my co-travelers would not share the computers once we reached the daily destinations. I had originally planed on delivering the”package” (truck) on my own, but mom made me ask my older brothers. One day when I was feeling rather compassionate to my elders and I sent an e-mail to them. It simply said “Road trip, AK-AZ, Interested?” Within a few hours I had responses from both Mike and Matt asking when. Of course neither one of them believed that the other would actually go and I am sure neither expected to get the green lights from their significant others. But they both got off the plane one week ago today in Anchorage and the “road-trip” was officially underway. Mom called me several times and was worried that her boys would argue about politics. I assured her that it would be fine although I had a small concern of my own about spending so much time in such a small space with the two knuckle heads. I told mom all would be fine as long as the two elders remembered only one rule “piss mark off and get out of the truck”. Turns out Mike and Matt have matured a lot over the years and I find them a lot more tolerable then I used to. The first night Matt and I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Mike and Matt pretty much covered the trip but all BS aside, it was a trip of a lifetime that I wouldn’t trade for anything, well maybe 5 bucks (just kidding). Smallfry is more beautiful then ever and was excited to see us. I will stay until Tuesday at which time I will travel to Boise to begin another road trip. This one will be a short one in which I will drive Ms. Daisy to Jackpot to test her luck.
Thanks to the wifes for helping make this possible.
Friday, October 24, 2008
We're here! Deandra happily dropped us off at our hotel and zoomed off in her truck a few minutes ago.
Here's some facts about the trip:
We arrived in Prescott Arizona after 4016 miles and seven days of driving. We brothers did not get in one argument the entire seven days.
We averaged 61 mph over the course of the entire trip. We gained 4 mph of that average after we entered the lower 48 (2300 miles into the trip).
In seven days we drove from the dead of winter to the heat of summer (it's 83 degrees here). That's hard to get used to, I'm dressed for cold and it's summer.
We stayed in six different hotels (including the one we are in now), two different homes (thanks to Mom and Dani and Scott) and a total of 66 hours in the truck. Not one of the parts of our world I just described will be part of our world now.
We saw Caribou, Elk, Bear, Porcupines, Deer, Red Fox, Bison, Moutain goats (today at hoover dam) and Moose. Plus the manliest woman I have ever seen, two strippers we followed into Vegas last night (they turned off before we did), twenty or so Canadians with the thickest Canuck accents I have ever seen, enough Flying J truck stops that we are now honorary truckers.
We saw three accidents. Oddly enough they were all aroud Salt Lake City. I don't think anyone got killed except possibly a few pigs.
In the truck we ate one box of FiddleFaddle, eight tubes of Bottle Caps candy, two tubes of Sweet Tarts, three bags of chips, six donuts, 36 cups of coffe and one hot cocoa served by a barista in a bikini, four homemade roastbeef sandwiches (thanks Mom), three terrible pies and some Turkish delight
We crossed two provinces and seven states
We got no tickets but one State Trooper did follow us for about a third of the way through Utah.
We passed more people in Bothel on the freeway than live in Valdez.
Matt won $860 (Canadian), I won $80(Canadian) in BC, Mark and I both lost $200(US) in Vegas.
Over all it was a great trip. We are taking Deandra and her boyfriend out to dinner tonight. Afterwords, if I can keep my eyes open I'll post more pictures.
Thanks a to to everyone that read our trip blog and especially thanks to everyone who commented.
Mike
Here's some facts about the trip:
We arrived in Prescott Arizona after 4016 miles and seven days of driving. We brothers did not get in one argument the entire seven days.
We averaged 61 mph over the course of the entire trip. We gained 4 mph of that average after we entered the lower 48 (2300 miles into the trip).
In seven days we drove from the dead of winter to the heat of summer (it's 83 degrees here). That's hard to get used to, I'm dressed for cold and it's summer.
We stayed in six different hotels (including the one we are in now), two different homes (thanks to Mom and Dani and Scott) and a total of 66 hours in the truck. Not one of the parts of our world I just described will be part of our world now.
We saw Caribou, Elk, Bear, Porcupines, Deer, Red Fox, Bison, Moutain goats (today at hoover dam) and Moose. Plus the manliest woman I have ever seen, two strippers we followed into Vegas last night (they turned off before we did), twenty or so Canadians with the thickest Canuck accents I have ever seen, enough Flying J truck stops that we are now honorary truckers.
We saw three accidents. Oddly enough they were all aroud Salt Lake City. I don't think anyone got killed except possibly a few pigs.
In the truck we ate one box of FiddleFaddle, eight tubes of Bottle Caps candy, two tubes of Sweet Tarts, three bags of chips, six donuts, 36 cups of coffe and one hot cocoa served by a barista in a bikini, four homemade roastbeef sandwiches (thanks Mom), three terrible pies and some Turkish delight
We crossed two provinces and seven states
We got no tickets but one State Trooper did follow us for about a third of the way through Utah.
We passed more people in Bothel on the freeway than live in Valdez.
Matt won $860 (Canadian), I won $80(Canadian) in BC, Mark and I both lost $200(US) in Vegas.
Over all it was a great trip. We are taking Deandra and her boyfriend out to dinner tonight. Afterwords, if I can keep my eyes open I'll post more pictures.
Thanks a to to everyone that read our trip blog and especially thanks to everyone who commented.
Mike
Just south of Salt Lake City Utah – Well, we got into Boise last night about 6:30. Had an excellent dinner at Mom’s (Roast beef, potato’s and salad). Matt took off to go say hi to Lynette so Mark, Mom and I played with Mom’s karaoke machine. I thought I was a bad singer but Marky showed me what bad really was!
Got up this morning and took off without Matt, which felt odd. We called him right away though so he knew what we were doing…
So tonight is really the last night of the road-trip, tomorrow we only drive 250 miles. After what we just did that’s like going down to the corner store for a pack of smokes.
I’ll write final thoughts and post a bunch of pictures as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who followed our little adventure.
Mike
Got up this morning and took off without Matt, which felt odd. We called him right away though so he knew what we were doing…
So tonight is really the last night of the road-trip, tomorrow we only drive 250 miles. After what we just did that’s like going down to the corner store for a pack of smokes.
I’ll write final thoughts and post a bunch of pictures as soon as I can. Thanks to everyone who followed our little adventure.
Mike
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Sad across the desert
Hi All,
We’re nearing Las Vegas, Mark is (of course) driving and I’m getting a head start on today’s blog addition.
We’re still adjusting to the absence of our third and most important travel companion, Matt. It’s just not the same without him. Neither one of us wanted to talk about it but we each knew what that other was thinking as we drove along in silence for the first eight hours today. Then, I glanced over at Mark and he had a tear in his eye. Finally I broke the silence and asked what was wrong. He said that he had avoided using the rearview mirror all day knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing Matt’s happy mug behind him, and when he finally got up the nerve to look, it was too much and he couldn’t help letting his emotions out. Suddenly I felt my lower lip begin to quiver and simultaneously, be both burst out in a loud and lengthy sob session. We really really miss him and our cheap hotel in Vegas tonight will feel as cold as Winter without him.
I just hope we can snap out of our doldrums before arriving at D’s tomorrow.
We’re nearing Las Vegas, Mark is (of course) driving and I’m getting a head start on today’s blog addition.
We’re still adjusting to the absence of our third and most important travel companion, Matt. It’s just not the same without him. Neither one of us wanted to talk about it but we each knew what that other was thinking as we drove along in silence for the first eight hours today. Then, I glanced over at Mark and he had a tear in his eye. Finally I broke the silence and asked what was wrong. He said that he had avoided using the rearview mirror all day knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing Matt’s happy mug behind him, and when he finally got up the nerve to look, it was too much and he couldn’t help letting his emotions out. Suddenly I felt my lower lip begin to quiver and simultaneously, be both burst out in a loud and lengthy sob session. We really really miss him and our cheap hotel in Vegas tonight will feel as cold as Winter without him.
I just hope we can snap out of our doldrums before arriving at D’s tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Mike's in B-ham
Now that we are about halfway through I thought I’d share my impressions of the first half of the trip.
Mark says we have gone 1884 miles; yikes that’s a long ways…
Anchorage – Man, it was cold up there, not sure if that was because of the shock to the system of going from early fall in Portland straight to winter but it sure felt cold. Anchorage is actually a pretty small city; at least it feels that way. I keep expecting to see the ‘downtown’ but I now think I may have seen it already.
It was good to get back together with the brothers; we haven’t in my memory gotten together without the wives and kids. It changes the dynamic with just us here.
Anchorage to Whitehorse – Wow is that some big country.
It occurs to me that the border guard that let us into Canada hated being up at that outpost. I guess I can understand but I think it would be fun to be up there meeting the folks like us who will make that run (the Alaska Highway)
It’s only two days later but I already can’t remember much about Whitehorse. Of course it was dark when we got there and dark when we left. The motel had a little bar that sold carry out liquor so when we sat and had dinner there was a constant stream of folk coming in and buying beer. They all seemed to know each other, and they all spoke with almost comically thick Canadian accents. I kind of wanted to ask if they were kidding, yucking it up for the tourists.
One of the things I noticed a lot up in the Yukon in general was a sense that everyone knew we were not from there. I think it was probably because it is not tourist season any more. It seemed like a lot of those places were already closed up for the winter and they were kind of surprised to see us come through.
Whitehorse to Fort Nelson – My main impression of this section was that there really are very, very few people up in this part of the world. The TomTom (now dubbed Lori) gives you distance to the next turn or corner. When we loaded our next destination (Fort Nelson) into Lori (TomTom) the next step was to arrive. No turns at all between the two towns.
The wildlife or ‘critters’ as Mark calls them, are really not afraid of humans at all. The caribou don’t even try to get out of the way when you drive up to them. We saw red fox, elk, deer, bear, moose, porcupine, and caribou and lot’s of other smaller ‘critters’
Half way through to Fort Nelson was the town of (and I use the term ‘town’ in the Yukon sense of more than one building within a mile of each other) Watson Lake. As usual we felt like outsiders. We bought lunch in this little deli counter at the back of the general store. The ‘girl’ that served us was possibly the manliest ‘girl’ I have ever seen. I kept expecting her to hop over the counter and challenge us to a arm wrestle…
The hotel in Fort Nelson was much friendlier than any of the others so far. They were the first folks I felt like weren’t surprised to see outsiders.
Fort Nelson to Prince George – This was very much our last day of real wilderness. We actually got cell coverage when we got down to Dawson Creek. When we left Fort Nelson we were back into the northern wilderness but by noon or so it was clear that the deep wilderness was behind us. Little gas stops and pseudo-towns started popping up more and more often; by about half way down to Dawson Creek the trees started to get bigger and look more like regular trees.
Mark says we have gone 1884 miles; yikes that’s a long ways…
Anchorage – Man, it was cold up there, not sure if that was because of the shock to the system of going from early fall in Portland straight to winter but it sure felt cold. Anchorage is actually a pretty small city; at least it feels that way. I keep expecting to see the ‘downtown’ but I now think I may have seen it already.
It was good to get back together with the brothers; we haven’t in my memory gotten together without the wives and kids. It changes the dynamic with just us here.
Anchorage to Whitehorse – Wow is that some big country.
It occurs to me that the border guard that let us into Canada hated being up at that outpost. I guess I can understand but I think it would be fun to be up there meeting the folks like us who will make that run (the Alaska Highway)
It’s only two days later but I already can’t remember much about Whitehorse. Of course it was dark when we got there and dark when we left. The motel had a little bar that sold carry out liquor so when we sat and had dinner there was a constant stream of folk coming in and buying beer. They all seemed to know each other, and they all spoke with almost comically thick Canadian accents. I kind of wanted to ask if they were kidding, yucking it up for the tourists.
One of the things I noticed a lot up in the Yukon in general was a sense that everyone knew we were not from there. I think it was probably because it is not tourist season any more. It seemed like a lot of those places were already closed up for the winter and they were kind of surprised to see us come through.
Whitehorse to Fort Nelson – My main impression of this section was that there really are very, very few people up in this part of the world. The TomTom (now dubbed Lori) gives you distance to the next turn or corner. When we loaded our next destination (Fort Nelson) into Lori (TomTom) the next step was to arrive. No turns at all between the two towns.
The wildlife or ‘critters’ as Mark calls them, are really not afraid of humans at all. The caribou don’t even try to get out of the way when you drive up to them. We saw red fox, elk, deer, bear, moose, porcupine, and caribou and lot’s of other smaller ‘critters’
Half way through to Fort Nelson was the town of (and I use the term ‘town’ in the Yukon sense of more than one building within a mile of each other) Watson Lake. As usual we felt like outsiders. We bought lunch in this little deli counter at the back of the general store. The ‘girl’ that served us was possibly the manliest ‘girl’ I have ever seen. I kept expecting her to hop over the counter and challenge us to a arm wrestle…
The hotel in Fort Nelson was much friendlier than any of the others so far. They were the first folks I felt like weren’t surprised to see outsiders.
Fort Nelson to Prince George – This was very much our last day of real wilderness. We actually got cell coverage when we got down to Dawson Creek. When we left Fort Nelson we were back into the northern wilderness but by noon or so it was clear that the deep wilderness was behind us. Little gas stops and pseudo-towns started popping up more and more often; by about half way down to Dawson Creek the trees started to get bigger and look more like regular trees.
Mark
Dani,
I read your posting about a "girl adveture". Count me in, I can be your designated driver. Who is on the invite list? The Tom-Tom which is named Lori estimates we should be entering the good ole USA at the Sumas boarder tonight around 6 or 7, but Lori is usually wrong (Mike says that is normal). Looking forward to kicking Tyler's ass when we get there.
Wife,
Miss you guys, give all a hug.
Nicholas, tell us a joke.
Steven, I dont like talking on the phone either so dont worry about it.
Smallfry, We are getting closer, see you soon.
I read your posting about a "girl adveture". Count me in, I can be your designated driver. Who is on the invite list? The Tom-Tom which is named Lori estimates we should be entering the good ole USA at the Sumas boarder tonight around 6 or 7, but Lori is usually wrong (Mike says that is normal). Looking forward to kicking Tyler's ass when we get there.
Wife,
Miss you guys, give all a hug.
Nicholas, tell us a joke.
Steven, I dont like talking on the phone either so dont worry about it.
Smallfry, We are getting closer, see you soon.
Morning!
Here in beautiful downtown Prince George. We are back into civilization as of today. The plan is to hit Dani's house tonight.
Anways, in case anyone doesn't know, Matt won 860$ at the casino across the street last night. Pretty cool even if it was Canadian money!
Well, Matt and Mark have finished their shower so I'm off!
Here in beautiful downtown Prince George. We are back into civilization as of today. The plan is to hit Dani's house tonight.
Anways, in case anyone doesn't know, Matt won 860$ at the casino across the street last night. Pretty cool even if it was Canadian money!
Well, Matt and Mark have finished their shower so I'm off!
Monday, October 20, 2008
So we're officially done with the Alaska Highway. "Mile 0" which marks the southern end of the historic highway is forty some miles behind us and yet another summit of the Rockies looms just ahead of us. I'm sitting in the middle back seat, legs stretched out between the front seats, Coke and chips to my left, camera to my right. Ready for anything.
As we start up into the mountains again, it looks like we're leaving behind the short oasis of civilization that we've been passing through since Fort St. Johns. Now we're in one of the largest Birch forests Mike has ever seen.
Okay, so here's an experiment for you. Sitting here with the lap top squished in between the front seats I feel a bit like a stenographer in a court room. So let me see if I can keep up with Mike and Mark's conversation and let you get an idea of every day life on the road:
Who cut all the trees down... See... See
That probably wasn't here when they settled here (speaking of a pile of logs by the river)
They must float pretty good
Maybe.
Bet you're right.
Roll'n' rollin' rollin' rawhide. (Mark singing)
Turkish delight for the girls (Mike showing off the candy bar he bought at the last stop)
Big Turk?
Like a gummy bear with chocolate
Oh, sounds nasty
Yeah but they like it... It's not exactly gummy bears,
Sounds gooey
At least this guy has siding (Mike nodding to a house)
Yeah, working on the ladder
Wonder what elevation we're at right here
It's a geological construct... see... it's just pushed up
(Mark drinks Coke)
Shit I'll bet there's about a billion trout in there
we should have bought a little cheap ass fishing pole
(passing tow truck)
Better to have a tow truck behind us
He says "I'll get you later ha ha"
Serious power lines up there
That thing seems like a random number (Mike pointing to temp on mirror)
Freeze my ass off an look and it says 27,
36 was colder than 22 according to that thing
(Mark grumbles and shifts weight) Ready for a stretcher
(Mike) sneeze... sneeze... sneeze
(stopping)
We're gunna stop here Matt
Wanna get out?
(back on road after taking a pee in the little Charlie river)
(beginning to rain)
How high do we go
Hard to tell
Are we going to get snow
Doesn't look like we go that high
(Me) There's a big curve left then we drop a bit into the Rocky Mountain Trench
Oh crap... the bag
What?
We need to put that plastic bag back on the bag
yeah can we do that?
did you save the bag
yeah, it's mumble mumble
(stop)
Now it's going to stop raining probably
Should have done that when we stopped
(backing out of the driveway)
Turn around when possible (tomtom)
It's going to lighten up maybe
A lot of Christmas trees here
Quite the selection of them eh
That's coming up quick... Christmas
Looks like Everson Nooksack area
High Mountain Road (Mike reading sign)
Huge power lines
Kinda rocky down here
Pipeline over here
There's a lot of utilities running through here
A lot of energy going through here
At least there an occasional car coming the other way... At least that's a good indication.
You got that thing figured out? (talking about the heater)
No.
Seems like it worked better with the window thing turned off, but it didn't. Plus the window steamed up
There's an old bridge there... been nicked a few times too looks like
I love these alpine areas
That's gorgeous there
I bet they get some rain in this area
Yeah were' getting the coastal weather
looks like snow up there
(me) speak up Mark, I can't hardly hear you
I was talking to Mike
Yeah, Mark's a mumbler
(me) I'd like to be part of your conversation but I can hardly hear you
I'd talk to you but you're busy writing
He's worried you're writing something bad about him
Write Marks' actually a sweetheart
Turns out he cries every night he's away from his family
You can tell we're getting farther south cause more trees still have their leaves on them
Yeah, this is like a rain forest
Definitely don't trim them back as far back as they did back there
Hope we're not going very high though so it's freezing on the road
That's a gorgeous river down there
Checkers (Mike referring to the warning sign)
Going under the power lines
One of these trees fell here it'd go across the road
Bet they do too... there's probably crews that come through and cut them up
Almost to the snow line... see across the hill there we're almost even
Be real surprised if we didn't get into it
Don't know how many people have seen a heard of Buffalo
Looks like this is about as high as we're going to get.
Veer way from the river then down into a valley on the other side
Does your pamphlet say what the industry is in Prince George?
No, I don't have anything about Prince George
It's probably the biggest city we've seen so far
Well I will say my definition of "remote" is quite a lot different now than it was when we started this trip
grunt
It's almost snow right there boys
(still going up)
I think this is the top right here, what do you think
Could be
Toll charge (Tomtom)
What?
Snowplow
There's a lake
Is that the lake that's dammed up for this power
We're into the snow now huh
According to Matt we should be going down pretty soon now
That's what it looked like... going into the trench
There's another range on the other side so, you know, it may be snowy
Maybe another situation where there's a bad winter storm
Maybe... that's life
(snow now on road and hitting windshield)
Powder Xing Ski area (Mike reading sign)
(passing tow truck parked diagonally on shoulder)
Holy crap there's a car down there (deep ditch)
that's the guy who passed us
really!
Looks like it
(a pickup in ditch)
Yikes
Looks bad here
Yeah taking it easy.... my standard give me shit 45
Those guys in the ditch aren't giving you shit
truck was pretty munched
(heading down)
(snow turns to rain)
Okay, there you go. We made it over the pass and down the other side. It's still raining but the road is in good shape and we're making good time. I didn't catch all the conversation but it was pretty much typical. Just remember... and I kinda hate getting sappy here, but it true. We all three think about the ones we love at home all the time and you all come up in our conversation all the time. One thing for sure. These three guys have a whole herd of folks around the country that are loved very much. :)
As we start up into the mountains again, it looks like we're leaving behind the short oasis of civilization that we've been passing through since Fort St. Johns. Now we're in one of the largest Birch forests Mike has ever seen.
Okay, so here's an experiment for you. Sitting here with the lap top squished in between the front seats I feel a bit like a stenographer in a court room. So let me see if I can keep up with Mike and Mark's conversation and let you get an idea of every day life on the road:
Who cut all the trees down... See... See
That probably wasn't here when they settled here (speaking of a pile of logs by the river)
They must float pretty good
Maybe.
Bet you're right.
Roll'n' rollin' rollin' rawhide. (Mark singing)
Turkish delight for the girls (Mike showing off the candy bar he bought at the last stop)
Big Turk?
Like a gummy bear with chocolate
Oh, sounds nasty
Yeah but they like it... It's not exactly gummy bears,
Sounds gooey
At least this guy has siding (Mike nodding to a house)
Yeah, working on the ladder
Wonder what elevation we're at right here
It's a geological construct... see... it's just pushed up
(Mark drinks Coke)
Shit I'll bet there's about a billion trout in there
we should have bought a little cheap ass fishing pole
(passing tow truck)
Better to have a tow truck behind us
He says "I'll get you later ha ha"
Serious power lines up there
That thing seems like a random number (Mike pointing to temp on mirror)
Freeze my ass off an look and it says 27,
36 was colder than 22 according to that thing
(Mark grumbles and shifts weight) Ready for a stretcher
(Mike) sneeze... sneeze... sneeze
(stopping)
We're gunna stop here Matt
Wanna get out?
(back on road after taking a pee in the little Charlie river)
(beginning to rain)
How high do we go
Hard to tell
Are we going to get snow
Doesn't look like we go that high
(Me) There's a big curve left then we drop a bit into the Rocky Mountain Trench
Oh crap... the bag
What?
We need to put that plastic bag back on the bag
yeah can we do that?
did you save the bag
yeah, it's mumble mumble
(stop)
Now it's going to stop raining probably
Should have done that when we stopped
(backing out of the driveway)
Turn around when possible (tomtom)
It's going to lighten up maybe
A lot of Christmas trees here
Quite the selection of them eh
That's coming up quick... Christmas
Looks like Everson Nooksack area
High Mountain Road (Mike reading sign)
Huge power lines
Kinda rocky down here
Pipeline over here
There's a lot of utilities running through here
A lot of energy going through here
At least there an occasional car coming the other way... At least that's a good indication.
You got that thing figured out? (talking about the heater)
No.
Seems like it worked better with the window thing turned off, but it didn't. Plus the window steamed up
There's an old bridge there... been nicked a few times too looks like
I love these alpine areas
That's gorgeous there
I bet they get some rain in this area
Yeah were' getting the coastal weather
looks like snow up there
(me) speak up Mark, I can't hardly hear you
I was talking to Mike
Yeah, Mark's a mumbler
(me) I'd like to be part of your conversation but I can hardly hear you
I'd talk to you but you're busy writing
He's worried you're writing something bad about him
Write Marks' actually a sweetheart
Turns out he cries every night he's away from his family
You can tell we're getting farther south cause more trees still have their leaves on them
Yeah, this is like a rain forest
Definitely don't trim them back as far back as they did back there
Hope we're not going very high though so it's freezing on the road
That's a gorgeous river down there
Checkers (Mike referring to the warning sign)
Going under the power lines
One of these trees fell here it'd go across the road
Bet they do too... there's probably crews that come through and cut them up
Almost to the snow line... see across the hill there we're almost even
Be real surprised if we didn't get into it
Don't know how many people have seen a heard of Buffalo
Looks like this is about as high as we're going to get.
Veer way from the river then down into a valley on the other side
Does your pamphlet say what the industry is in Prince George?
No, I don't have anything about Prince George
It's probably the biggest city we've seen so far
Well I will say my definition of "remote" is quite a lot different now than it was when we started this trip
grunt
It's almost snow right there boys
(still going up)
I think this is the top right here, what do you think
Could be
Toll charge (Tomtom)
What?
Snowplow
There's a lake
Is that the lake that's dammed up for this power
We're into the snow now huh
According to Matt we should be going down pretty soon now
That's what it looked like... going into the trench
There's another range on the other side so, you know, it may be snowy
Maybe another situation where there's a bad winter storm
Maybe... that's life
(snow now on road and hitting windshield)
Powder Xing Ski area (Mike reading sign)
(passing tow truck parked diagonally on shoulder)
Holy crap there's a car down there (deep ditch)
that's the guy who passed us
really!
Looks like it
(a pickup in ditch)
Yikes
Looks bad here
Yeah taking it easy.... my standard give me shit 45
Those guys in the ditch aren't giving you shit
truck was pretty munched
(heading down)
(snow turns to rain)
Okay, there you go. We made it over the pass and down the other side. It's still raining but the road is in good shape and we're making good time. I didn't catch all the conversation but it was pretty much typical. Just remember... and I kinda hate getting sappy here, but it true. We all three think about the ones we love at home all the time and you all come up in our conversation all the time. One thing for sure. These three guys have a whole herd of folks around the country that are loved very much. :)
Morning all. Here's a shot of Marky and I enjoying the traditional Adsitt road food (Fiddle Faddle, Crunch 'N Munch or Screaming Yellow Zonkers).
Looks like we are going to be re-entering civilization today. At least compared to the last two days. Yesterday was basically wilderness between Whitehorse and here. That was actually an improvement over the day before when sometimes it felt like we were on another, empty, planet. Today it just looks remote, not totally empty. We'll be hitting Dawson Creek for lunch then back over the Rockies and into Prince George... We are only planning on 540 mikes today so it's a pretty short day.
Well, Matt and Mark are finishing their shower so it's my turn, gotta go!
Mike
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Last post for Mike on Sunday
Hey all, sitting in the hotel in Fort Nelson, British Columbia. Matt's already in bed and I'm heading there myself. So far, as you can see from the posts, the trip has been awesome. Deandra DOES NOT want to see how dirty her truck is!
Next stop Prince George BC. Hopefully we will have cell coverage when we get there...
Mike
Next stop Prince George BC. Hopefully we will have cell coverage when we get there...
Mike
The TomTom navigation system is less useful up here than you might think. All it ever says is ‘Stay on this road’…
Still snowing pretty good, we are hoping it clears up in the next 70 miles or so. The drive between Lake Watson and Fort Nelson (we are staying in Fort Nelson tonight) is supposed to be the most scenic part of the drive…
2:14 P.M. Contact Creek Yukon Territory – Just passed into the Yukon for the fourth time by our calculations. One more to go so we will have criss-crossed back and forth between British Columbia and the Yukon five times as we hug the border between the Yuko and BC heading East-Southeast towards Fort Nelson. Pretty rugged country up here, we just passed a sign warning us to watch out for Bison on the road…
Still snowing pretty good, we are hoping it clears up in the next 70 miles or so. The drive between Lake Watson and Fort Nelson (we are staying in Fort Nelson tonight) is supposed to be the most scenic part of the drive…
2:14 P.M. Contact Creek Yukon Territory – Just passed into the Yukon for the fourth time by our calculations. One more to go so we will have criss-crossed back and forth between British Columbia and the Yukon five times as we hug the border between the Yuko and BC heading East-Southeast towards Fort Nelson. Pretty rugged country up here, we just passed a sign warning us to watch out for Bison on the road…
Marks
Well day two went well. Had to take it easy for the first half of the day due to snow and ice on the road. We started out in Whitehorse, YT about 6:45AM and arrived in Fort Nelson, BC at 8:30PM and 593 miles added to the odometer. Tomorrow the plan is it make it to Prince George, BC. I think we saw more critters on the road today then I have ever seen in the wild in my life. It was pretty awesome to see a heard of buffalo. Anyway, you should have figured out by now that we do not have cell phone coverage here. We might get some tomorrow night when we get further south. Although I miss talking to you guys its has actually been nice not hearing from work, talk about a forced vacation! I know Mike is posting photos so I am not going to right now. Sorry my notes are shorter then the brothers but they type when i drive and I am a bit tired by the time we get settled at the hotels. Wife, stay away from the snowblower, if you get snow ask Bob to help clear the driveway. I dont want you doing it. Give the boys another hug for me, love you guys.
Smallfry, we will be replacing your windshield when i get there. In addition to the crack you had in it, there is now a rock chip the size of a quater. Lovc you and looking forward to seeing you.
Smallfry, we will be replacing your windshield when i get there. In addition to the crack you had in it, there is now a rock chip the size of a quater. Lovc you and looking forward to seeing you.
Here’s the sign at the border crossing going into Yukon Territory, Canada. When we pulled up there was no-one aboot, eh? We could see some people in the building but they made us wait for about five minutes before the RCMP came out and talked to us. He was a bit surly which surprised us; you’d think he would be happy to see people but you’d be wrong. Of course it was Mark he was talking to so that may explain it.
Sunday Morning October 19th
Good morning all, we got up this morning in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory and hit the road. It’s currently snowing and windy. Mark say’s it smells wet, whatever that means.
Yesterday was a pretty cool day; I’ll leave it to the younger set to describe what happened. I will say that this is some spectacular country. As you drive along almost every turn and hill exposes another stunning, epic view. It’s almost like the earth’s bones are closer to the surface up here, you can see geology at work. When we drove around the end of a glacier coming down a valley right beside us yesterday just south of Tok, Alaska it almost seemed as if you could hear the earth groaning under the weight of all that ice.
I can understand the draw of this country for some people; it draws me to in some ways. The feeling you get from this place is sheer size and openness. It seems to me that this is what drew people west to explore the country in the first place; that sense of empty space just ahead makes you want to just keep going and going…
Good morning all, we got up this morning in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory and hit the road. It’s currently snowing and windy. Mark say’s it smells wet, whatever that means.
Yesterday was a pretty cool day; I’ll leave it to the younger set to describe what happened. I will say that this is some spectacular country. As you drive along almost every turn and hill exposes another stunning, epic view. It’s almost like the earth’s bones are closer to the surface up here, you can see geology at work. When we drove around the end of a glacier coming down a valley right beside us yesterday just south of Tok, Alaska it almost seemed as if you could hear the earth groaning under the weight of all that ice.
I can understand the draw of this country for some people; it draws me to in some ways. The feeling you get from this place is sheer size and openness. It seems to me that this is what drew people west to explore the country in the first place; that sense of empty space just ahead makes you want to just keep going and going…
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Marks
Started the morning by bringing the knuckleheads to Gweanies for breakfast. Left the big city (Anchorage) at 7:00AM and arrived at Whitehorse, YT at 8:30PM about 720 miles. Stopped about 6 times to fill tank and empty tank. Took pictures but cameras battery ran down. Snowing outside right now, which is good in a warped way, the brothers arnt pestering me to drive. Nicholas and Steven give your mom a hug for me and be good. Or at least dont get caught. We are heading to Fort Nelson, BC tomorrow its about 590 miles so it will be shorter day. Smallfry see you soon, your truck is running great and it is looking forward to seeing you.
Later
Mark
Later
Mark
Climb on board a Boeing 737... no, let's just call it a Boeing Season Transporter, and you can go from early Fall to mid Winter without even getting up for a potty break. Okay... so maybe just one potty break. The point is, it's Winter here in Anchorage. And since it was Summer in Boise just a couple of weeks ago, it was quite the toggle when I got off our transporter and suddenly found myself wishing I hadn't left my parka in my checked luggage. Especially since my checked bag decided not to make the connection in Seattle and wasn't even in Anchorage yet.
After leaving the security zone, Mike and I rounded the corner to baggage claim, and there, standing at the end of a short line of friends and family awaiting arriving passengers, was brother Moke. In his hands, a sign which read "ADSITT". As if he were a paid driver awaiting some unknown VIPs to whisk them away to their Penthouse, or igloo or wherever VIPs get whisked away to here in the great white north. Maybe to Sara Palin's house to look at Russia. My delinquent baggage was on the next inbound transport so we waited around the baggage claim for it, then headed off for a very nice dinner at Glacier Brewhouse.
Wait. This is cracking me up and I have to tell you about it. I'm sitting here in the hotel, Mike's sound asleep on the hide-a-bed to my right and Mark is working on his new GPS Navigator to my left. He keeps reading the instructions but very time he hits a button a sexy female voice shouts out things like "After 300 meters, you have reached your destination". Then he shouts back at it. Can't believe Mike can sleep through this.
... must sleep...
Day two:
We left Anchorage and headed east an hour before the sun began to reveal the horizon in front of us. So far we seen a couple dozen Caribou, lots of snow, lots of mountains and lots of sun. It's cold and the road is covered with compact snow, but so far the trip is going great. We're now a few miles this side of Tok. The traffic is minimal, in fact we only see one car every hour or so, and it's the same car. I'm betting there will be even less traffic once we get into the Yukon. So far Mark's done all the driving which is okay with me since I get to sit in the back with my legs stretched out between the front seats recliner style. Not a bad way to travel. The GPS says we'll be rolling into Whitehorse sometime after midnight, but Mark thinks it'll be more like 8:00pm. I'm betting it's somewhere between.
Made it to Whitehorse! 11:25 (13.5 hours).
After leaving the security zone, Mike and I rounded the corner to baggage claim, and there, standing at the end of a short line of friends and family awaiting arriving passengers, was brother Moke. In his hands, a sign which read "ADSITT". As if he were a paid driver awaiting some unknown VIPs to whisk them away to their Penthouse, or igloo or wherever VIPs get whisked away to here in the great white north. Maybe to Sara Palin's house to look at Russia. My delinquent baggage was on the next inbound transport so we waited around the baggage claim for it, then headed off for a very nice dinner at Glacier Brewhouse.
Wait. This is cracking me up and I have to tell you about it. I'm sitting here in the hotel, Mike's sound asleep on the hide-a-bed to my right and Mark is working on his new GPS Navigator to my left. He keeps reading the instructions but very time he hits a button a sexy female voice shouts out things like "After 300 meters, you have reached your destination". Then he shouts back at it. Can't believe Mike can sleep through this.
... must sleep...
Day two:
We left Anchorage and headed east an hour before the sun began to reveal the horizon in front of us. So far we seen a couple dozen Caribou, lots of snow, lots of mountains and lots of sun. It's cold and the road is covered with compact snow, but so far the trip is going great. We're now a few miles this side of Tok. The traffic is minimal, in fact we only see one car every hour or so, and it's the same car. I'm betting there will be even less traffic once we get into the Yukon. So far Mark's done all the driving which is okay with me since I get to sit in the back with my legs stretched out between the front seats recliner style. Not a bad way to travel. The GPS says we'll be rolling into Whitehorse sometime after midnight, but Mark thinks it'll be more like 8:00pm. I'm betting it's somewhere between.
Made it to Whitehorse! 11:25 (13.5 hours).
Friday, October 17, 2008
Day one, well actually day two for me because I had to drive from Valdez to Anchorage, the official "starting point" of the trip. Already looking forward to getting out of the big city, too many people here for me. Picked up the knucklehead brothers about 6PM. Weather is cooperating, sunny skies should prove some awesome sights tomorrow. I bought a Tom Tom GPS navigation system today so I am fairly confident we can find our way out of Alaska. We plan on hitting the road early which is good as Anchorage to Whitehorse is about 705 miles. So thats all for today.
Mark.
Mark.
Broad Trip 2008 – October 17 1:50 P.M. I’m sitting in the Alaska Lodge in SeaTac airport waiting for my Bother Matt to get here. We are flying up to Anchorage to meet Mark (the other brother) this afternoon. The plan is to take Deandra’s (Marks oldest daughter) truck down to her in Prescott Arizona. Deandra is barely older then Amanda so I emphasize with Mark about having her go to school so far away. I’m terrified of Amanda and then Jess moving away (I’m also excited for them; emotions that I think are common to all Dads of college age kids…).
I’m sitting here watching people walk by and enjoying people’s conversation around me. Lori can attest that our favorite thing to do is people watch. I love watching the folk that walk by here I the airport. People I the airport are always at there best, they look as good as they can and behave as well as they can, I love imagining what they are really like…
I’m pretty excited about the trip, it reminds me of times when we where young and used to run off to the Cascades with just enough stuff to survive if the fishing was good. I remember coming back from those trips into the wilderness completely happy, in tune with my brothers and in tune with myself.
This trip is fraught with adult type issues too. Matt is a big Obama supporter and I’m not. This will be interesting, I think we are all grown up enough to handle it but we are all Adsitt enough that there will be a heated moment or two. This raises a couple of questions for me. I really like to foster debate, in fact, at work I always try to find someone who really disagrees with my viewpoint to have on my team because I believe that the debate itself develops better opinions. The question is; do my brothers share that style? Lot’s of people don’t appreciate that style so I’m curious to see if it’s a family trait or just mine.
I’m also excited to see a part of the world that I and most people have ever seen. We are crossing the Rockies twice over the next few days, it should be pretty spectacular. I guess at my age it’s normal to worry about things (I think it’s part of being a parent) but I try and put the worry out of my mind. I’m trying to recapture that bulletproof feel that I had when I was young. I think, this is partly because I love that feeling but also because I trust myself and my brothers more than anyone else I the world that we can handle anything that comes our way. This is going to be an awesome trip!
Mike
I’m sitting here watching people walk by and enjoying people’s conversation around me. Lori can attest that our favorite thing to do is people watch. I love watching the folk that walk by here I the airport. People I the airport are always at there best, they look as good as they can and behave as well as they can, I love imagining what they are really like…
I’m pretty excited about the trip, it reminds me of times when we where young and used to run off to the Cascades with just enough stuff to survive if the fishing was good. I remember coming back from those trips into the wilderness completely happy, in tune with my brothers and in tune with myself.
This trip is fraught with adult type issues too. Matt is a big Obama supporter and I’m not. This will be interesting, I think we are all grown up enough to handle it but we are all Adsitt enough that there will be a heated moment or two. This raises a couple of questions for me. I really like to foster debate, in fact, at work I always try to find someone who really disagrees with my viewpoint to have on my team because I believe that the debate itself develops better opinions. The question is; do my brothers share that style? Lot’s of people don’t appreciate that style so I’m curious to see if it’s a family trait or just mine.
I’m also excited to see a part of the world that I and most people have ever seen. We are crossing the Rockies twice over the next few days, it should be pretty spectacular. I guess at my age it’s normal to worry about things (I think it’s part of being a parent) but I try and put the worry out of my mind. I’m trying to recapture that bulletproof feel that I had when I was young. I think, this is partly because I love that feeling but also because I trust myself and my brothers more than anyone else I the world that we can handle anything that comes our way. This is going to be an awesome trip!
Mike
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