Introduction

I’ve always called it a life list – things I want to do, see, achieve, or get done in this life. More recently, I’ve seen it referred to as the “1,000 things to do (see, go to, etc.) before you die.” Most recently, I’ve seen it called the “Bucket List”, and it’s something created by terminally ill men (e.g. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman) in a cancer ward.


I prefer my term.


There’s been an item on my life list for some time related to driving to Alaska. For a long time, it meant driving a Miata to Alaska. For a while, it meant riding a motorcycle to Alaska, but for the most part the list item was associated with a Miata For a long time the Miata being considered was my old blue one, and the road trip was from Charlotte, up the Alaska Highway, and back.


The road trip has morphed. I don’t have the Miata any longer, and now feel like I’d like to have something a little more substantial under me during the drive anyway. Maybe it’s the advancing years or something.


So I've wrestled a lot with what vehicle to take on the trip. I thought about buying a pickup with camper top for the trip, selling it in Anchorage, and flying back. I considered driving one of my current cars, but the Q45 has 135K miles on it, and the Boxster… well, it would be a blast, but 5000 miles of frost heaves and unpaved roads with my car – not on this life list.

Then the answer came to me – drive someone else’s car.

So, I’m leaving on Wednesday, flying to Seattle, picking up one of Hertz’ finest SUV’s, and spending the next three weeks driving to Alaska and back.


I also wrestled a lot with the itinerary. First off, it’s not fixed, although I’ve made reservations for some of the nights. I thought about taking the ferry (Alaska Marine Highway) up the inside passage, but decided to put that off for another trip, maybe a cruise. I put off a side trip to the Canadian Rockies for later as well. After a lot of planning I took Anchorage ("just another big city") off the list. As of now, the whole Kenai peninsula (Homer, Seward , etc) will have to wait.



And although it was calling to me, taking the 3 day Alaska Marine Highway Ferry out the Aleutian chain to Dutch Harbor (yes, that's THE Dutch Harbor from "The Deadliest Catch" fame) wouldn’t work. That ferry only goes twice a month, and there’s only a 6 hour turnaround in Dutch Harbor. Miss that ferry and you spend a couple of weeks in Dutch Harbor where there's only one bar.


So, the current itinerary starts and ends in Seattle. In northern British Columbia, I’ve decided to cut over to the Cassiar Highway – supposedly even more remote and scenic than the Alaska Highway, as well as shorter by several hundred miles. The Cassiar meets up with the Alaska Highway in Watson Lake, B.C. From there, it’s up the Alaska Highway to Haines Junction, where I’ll cut down to Haines for a few days. Haines is a small, scenic town on the Inside Passage where a possible bush pilot trip into the nearby mountains, and a glacier landing, awaits. From Haines, it’s back up to the Alaska Highway, and a day and night backpacking in the Kluane National Forest. Then, up to the end of the Alaska Highway in Fairbanks. From Fairbanks, back down the Alcan for a few hours , then a loop up to Dawson City. The loop rejoins the Alcan which I’ll follow down to the start/finish of the highway in British Columbia. Finally, I’ll cut over to Vancouver, to finish the trip in a city I’ve never visited.


Anyway, that’s the plan. But plans are subject to change.