Friday, March 25, 2016

Alaska Highway Deja Vu

So here we are again, about to leave on a journey across Canada.  This time though, we're going back to the lower 48 from Alaska.  It's almost exactly one year to the day from when we first rolled in to town (April 1st, 2015).  We didn't think we'd be leaving here so soon.  It's kind of a bummer, because AK is an absolutely amazing place and there is so much that we didn't even scratch the surface of doing up here.  But I am fortunate to be one of the lucky ones who got reassigned instead of laid off when our project up here was shut down.  So it's hard to be too bummed, knowing the alternative was unemployment.

Our next adventure will be moving the whole crew down to our new homestead in Rogers, Ohio.  It's cool that we know a little bit of what to expect on the trip this time.  It takes some of the pressure off and we also know a few places we definitely want to allow some time to visit (Liard Hot Springs!!).  However, there are a couple of important differences between this trip and the last.  Other than the obvious North-to-South direction,

  1. We will be driving 2 vehicles and pulling 2 trailers
  2. We will have the horses the whole way, not just half
The two vehicles thing is going to be a big deal.  We won't be able to switch drivers if we get tired, I won't be able to read the guidebook & plan our next stop while we're on the road, and I don't have a lot of confidence pulling a trailer.  Our progress will probably be a lot slower this time because of all that.  But that's what makes it an adventure, right??  

I've been sitting in our former bedroom all day going over the Milepost guidebook and sending emails.  All of our stuff is gone so it's just me on the floor with my laptop and a few sleeping bags.  We've been sleeping on the floor the last 2 nights.  I think I've made some progress though.  The rough outline of our Alcan stops is looking like this:

Palmer, AK --> Tok, AK --> Beaver Creek, YT --> Whitehorse, YT --> Watson Lake, YT --> Fort Nelson, BC --> Dawson Creek, BC

Subject to change based on our rate of progress and/or finding something cool to stop at along the way.  Any suggestions??

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