Selected Trip Journal entries:
Seen in the breakfast room of the hotel:
"The End Of The Trail"
Until we meet again,
May the trail rise up to meet you,
May the wind be at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the Great Spirit guide your trek.
If everything goes reasonably ok, THIS IS THE DAY!!!
10:05 AM - Started car; 3037.3 trip miles. I've been up since 5 AM - saw a red sunrise! Alaska beckons... it's calling my name... so I better get goin.
Like ______________________,
I did it my way
I just wanna live while I'm live
Its...my...life."
"Twenty twenty twenty-four hours to go,
I wanna be sedated."
"But I've made up my mind,
I ain't wastin' no more time
Here I go again on my own,
Goin down the only road I've ever known..."
"One day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you build sometimes you sleep
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind"
"Ride with me to the distant shore
We wont hesitate
Break down the garden gate
There's not much time for today
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
I WANNA RIDE IT ALL NIGHT LONG
IF YOU'RE GOIN' MY WAY
I WANNA DRIVE IT ALL NIGHT LONG
Through all these cities and all these towns
It's in my blood and it's all around
I loved you now like I loved you then
These are the roads and these are the hills
From Mozambique to those Memphis nights
The _____________________________ path to Vancouver's lights
Knock me down, back up again
In my blood I'm not a lonely man
There's no ____________________________ I can't hold
Roads are raw, this I know
I'll be there when the light comes in
Just tell 'em we're survivin'
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
I WANNA RIDE IT ALL NIGHT LONG
IF YOU'RE GOIN' MY WAY
I WANNA DRIVE IT ALL NIGHT LONG
Beautiful song in beautiful scenery! (and on a beautiful road through a beautiful country to a beautiful state!)
The song has been on repeat for the last 1/2 hour or so... through many viewpoints, pictures on the tripod, and now a construction zone where I'm stopped for opposite traffic... but what gorgeous scenery!! There's a lake in front of me (Kluane Lake) and snow topped mountain peeks all around, with clouds above that -- it's a wonderful cold day here, while the lower 48 are going through a miserable heat wave!
I LOVE IT!
476 miles more to Fairbanks... moving slowly on a mud road now ... and paved now... (11:23/3074). Camper from Alaska in front of me... and from the front of this line, the construction guide car, a motorhome, bus, another motor home, 2 SUV's, this Alaska camper, me, 1 car, 1 motorcycle, and an 18-wheeler. Back to mud again... 15 MPH... Lake on the right now. I'm smiling and waving to every construction worker -- they've got a horrible job but every one of them has a smile on their face!!
11:33/3073.8 = Out of the construction zone and past the lake. The motorcycle was from Florida.
11:41/3082.0 = Took a panaroma series of shots for another lake - hope they turn out good!
12:00/3082.6 = I'm spending too much time here! Still on Kluane Lake -- largest lake in YT.
12:11/3094.7 = I just realized this is the farthest North I have ever driven to -- breaking my record set 4 years ago ... and there is more to come! Approximately 333 miles = 5 degrees of Latitude.
12:18/3102.3 = Passing through Destruction Bay, by my calculation approx. 61.5 degrees North Latitude. (Gotta check that later)
12:23/3104.3 miles = Beaver Creek = +190 km. Fairbanks = +692 km. 138 MILES TO ALASKA!!!
1:12/3151 = Crossed Donjek River. The road has been very rough (average only 40-50 MPH since Burwash Washing)
1:35/3165.1 = Beaver Creek = +89km. 75 MILES TO ALASKA!!
2:10/3186.5 = White River crossing near Koidern; I'm getting closer! Road is turning NORTH towards Beaver Creek!
2:18/3193.6 = Are some of those peaks on the left in Alaska? Am I looking at Alaska?
2:19/3194.2 miles = Beaver Creek = +39km. Fairbanks = +562km. 44 MILES TO ALASKA!!! (I'll be there in an hour!) ONE MORE HOUR TO GO!! FINALLY TODAY IS THE DAY!
"It's my life,
My heart is like an open highway
...
I just wanna live while I'm alive"
2:24/3197.5 = The same motorcycle from Florida passed me again, and so did a car from California. But I'm not going to let that truck behind me pass -- its too dusty on this road...
2:45/3216.0 = I'm 99.99% sure that I'm looking at Alaska on the left -- long mountain range there!
2:49 PM = 3218.2 miles = Entered Beaver Creek -- most Westerly community in Canada. 20 MILES TO ALASKA!
2:57/3219.1 = Left Beaver Creek... ALASKA HERE I COME!
"Always, I wanna be with you..." -- PERFECT!
3:00/3220 = Passed a sign that said "U.S. Customs 30 km", and on the other side of the sign was Canadian Customs! Strange -- if I go back I have to show my passport to "enter" Canada -- I'm still in Canada -- and 30 km's -- 18 MILES -- ahead is U.S. Customs! So I guess this is "no man's land"?
Ok, I hereby claim it for myself! And those mountains <---- are DEFINITELY in Alaska!
3:05/3225.7 = Passed Snag Creek and there is a wildfire behind the hills on the right -- that is not my land.
"You can go your own way..."
3:10 - 3:12 = 3228.0 = Swans in the lake.
"All of nature wild and free,
This is where I long to be,
La Isla Bonita...
And when the sun would play,
the sun would set so high..."
The U.S. border crossing will be at approximately 62.75 degrees North Latitude -- maybe. I gotta verify all that tonight.
3:25/3236.8 = ONE MORE MILE TO GO FOR ALASKA!!! ("Oh L'amour...")
"I come from the land down under..." JUST NOW on the CD -- PERFECT TIMING!! I got another song now besides "I still haven't found what I'm lookin' for"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| July 19 | Contents | July 20 - Alaska |