Day 99 Closing Thoughts

Welcome! Closing Thoughts of North to Alaska

 

Quote: Whatever the journey is, it's not only the destination that matters, but the person with whom you travel.

This is a day later than I originally planned, my excuse is I got involved in putting together a trampoline at Abby’s and Aidan’s house. While I totally enjoyed our long driving trip it was very nice to be able to work on something in which I helped accomplished something.

Some Stats:

We travelled 12,756 miles. Not counting the 12 days we were on trains or buses. By the time we reach Euless it will be over 13,000.

We used 565.497 gallons of gas (After converting the liters in Canada to Gallons).

The most we paid for gas was 5.939 per gallon in Fort Nelson CA. If I had filled up in Dawson City (Top of the World Highway) the prices was about 6.50 per gallon.

The least we paid was 2.859 at the end of our trip in Cypress TX.

We only stayed in the same place for two nights in a row 7 times.

We were in Canada a total of 16 days.

We were in Alaska a total of 24 days.

As one moves further north the tree line drops in elevation.

In Canada they are serious about recycling as evident that everywhere you see a trash car you will see a recycling container. This is at gas stations, hotel rooms, rest stops, literally everywhere.

Permafrost in Alaska and Yukon where the ground is frozen just under the surface and does not defrost in the summer months. This is effects trees that grow at angles. The effects the roads as it causes the pavement buckles. This is prevalent in the Northern part of Alaska and most of the Yukon Territory.

The building of the Alaska pipeline is now right up there with the building of Hoover Dam. Learning how the many obstacles were overcame makes be appreciate the engineers who planned and then executed their plan.

We met many people and when they heard of our trip most were amazed we did not have an RV or Camping Trailer.

We met many people from Australia.

We tried to play the license plate game on the Alaska Highway. In the true summer months, last half of June, July, and first half of August we may have seen more. We saw very few out of area licenses. While there are many out of state tourist in Alaska most fly in and rent cars.

By Oct 1 most places in northern Alaska and Yukon Territory were closing their doors.

We did laundry three different times about 5 loads each time. We visited Sams Club twice for water and diet coke. We used over 156 8 oz. bottles of water, we used over 72 12 oz bottles of Diet Code.(In Canada they do not sell 12 oz bottles).

That's all for now maybe on the next trip I will try again. By the way next planned trip in next July/August two weeks with the entire gang all eleven going west Carlsbad, Grand Canyon, Durango, Pikes Peak will be a few of the highlights.

Bye for now, hope all will have a great holiday season.