Where do I begin, well at the beginning of course! Last December Bethany and I visited our friends James and Lauren in Anchorage. James has been my best friend since highschool, and I thought it would be the last time I would see him and Alaska for a while. About two months after we got back James calls me and says, “would you be interested in helping me drive from Anchorage to Georgia?”
In the two months since Bethany and I left Alaska James had been selected for a new job in the Army and they said they needed him as soon as possible in Georgia. Of course I said yes to helping him make the drive. That is not the kind of opportunity to pass up, road tripping through the continents most awesome roads with your best friend who you never really get to spend time with. Luckily, it took about an extra month for his unit to find a replacement and have the change of command so we set a date to leave on March 18th. We hoped this would be enough time for the Yukon to warm up a bit…
You might ask, why drive and not fly? James and Lauren’s dog Maggie has seizures and cannot go on planes so drive it was.
All for this little dog
When we left anchorage and head to Tok. 350 Miles only passed 8 other cars…
Always get the fuel! Headed into the Yukon. Luckily the weather was still good.
It was a balmy -10 when we crossed the border into Canada.
I really enjoyed this spot called “Destruction bay.” At the gas station here, someone landed a helicopter next to us and proceeded to order soup. Not many roads around these parts.
A typical town along the way.
We had great weather the first two days, this morning heading out of Whitehorse the weather took a turn for the worse. The next three days where what I call “White Knuckle Driving…”
We did find an awesome hot spring!
The weather got worse and worse as we crossed into British Columbia.
They do have nice rest areas though!
Snow for days! Our luck had to run out sometime.
Due to the slow driving speeds, our 8 hour days turned into 12 hour days… Once night fell, the darkness was amazing!
As we closed in on Jasper the weather got worse and worse. After 1000’s of miles in the snow and wind gust finally got the better of us and ran us off the road. Stuck. Hard. Luckily it was in a flat stretch and we were ok.
Luckily, the local tow truck had to come out to rescue an ambulance a few hours down the road from us and stopped to help. Otherwise, we would have not gotten winched out until the morning.
Shockingly, when we made it Banff the next day, no snow! Wahoo!
We made appointments for some tattoos in Calgary, James got two new ones and I got Bethany’s signature on my right arm. You’ll have to see it in person.
Once onto the plains, it looked like this for miles…
Back to the US!
After making it into the US, we were able to get out of the snow in Fargo ND and make some real time and get back to our families! If you get the chance to take a road trip with your best friend do it!
Trip Stats:
1 Accident
1 Mountain Lion
1 Lynx
1 Mule Deer (All my wildlife photos consist of a animal rear end running into the woods)
3 Moose
Countless Buffalo and…
4800 Miles Driven!
June 8, 2015
Love this post. And consider this my formal and written request that you, Danny G, blog more often – it’s fun to hear your voice on here!
January 5, 2019
I will be driving from Sanford NC up to Anchorage the end of Jan. I have a husky and a cat- so I can not fly. Excited and nervous at the same time. I am a travel nurse- headed there to work. I loved reading your story! AND the pictures were great
Roberta
January 8, 2019
Thank you Roberta! Drive safe!!!
September 1, 2022
Where were the Hot Springs?