ALASKA ADVENTURE - My "Bucket list" challenge.

This trip is meant to knock off five particular items from my "bucket list" (and probably several others that I didn't know were on the list....e.g. golfing under the midnight sun).

1 - Since I was a young boy during the Second World War, I have wanted to drive the Alaska Highway.  Seeing world news clips at the movies (news was mostly about the war - in black and white - but with audio!) I learned about the feverish construction of the road by the U.S. army.  I was just five years old when it was completed in November of 1942, and probably six when I saw it at the movies, but it obviously made a big impression.

2 - Then, when my dad and I built our HO gauge railway, the D.B.&R.T. (Dirty Bearings and Rusty Track) I read in the model railroading books about the White Pass and Yukon narrow gauge railway which was built to serve the prospectors during the Yukon gold rush.  That has always intrigued me and I yearned to take that trip too.

3 - My boyhood dream was to be a Forest Ranger.  Maybe explains my affinity for hiking (the Bruce Trail with the Trompers, the Andes and the Grand Canyon with my grandsons), fishing and camp fires (with my Fishguts mates).  I want to see a Kodiak brown bear (bigger than a grizzlie).

4 - and a glacier calving (before they disappear completely).

5 - Having visited all ten provinces and 49 of the 50 states, I wanted to complete my list by visiting Alaska.  The Yukon is a bonus!

The blue line on the following map indicates the trip west.  Stoney Creek to Anchorage, Alaska through Canada will take 73 driving hours and total 6,631 kilometres, plus small side trips for photo ops, finding motels, etc.

The black line indicates the trip east.  By car from Anchorage, back through the Yukon to Skagway, Alaska will be just over 14 driving hours and 1,311 kilometres.

Alaska car ferry from Skagway to Juneau, and three days later on to Prince Rupert.  After three nights in Prince Rupert, BC car ferry to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, drive to Victoria, BC ferry to Vancouver, then south to Seattle before heading east through the U.S. toward home.

Total driving distance will be north of 13,000 kilometres and the total trip will take 33 days, 30 of which will be "out of province" (my limit for health insurance). 

Mardi and I plan to leave on June 25 (five days after her house sale closes) and, hopefully, meet up with Roger and Lynn shortly after, as they do their bucket list tour in an RV.  You can read about their adventure on bpsbassmansblog.blogspot.ca (heading west) and http://celebratecanada150bikeride.blogspot.ca
(returning east).