Some friends of mine are planning to drive to Alaska from Wisconsin, in August. They are taking 4 weeks to drive there and back. I was wondering if any Hatrackers had done this, and if so do you have any advice? They wanted me to help with searching out info on the internet, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here for a start...
One of the first big questions they have is whether it is better to drive through the US to Washington and then head north, or should they head up into Canada right away?
Any and all advice would be appreciated!
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
I've been *part* of this route. The highways going west are good in either country. Which country do you want to see more of, or which route is more direct?
I will point out, though, that Washington is way out of the way. mapquest suggests Winnipeg, Regina, Edmondton, Whitehorse.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
Can an oil change after each leg of the trip, if possible.
Check all the tires, INCLUDING the spare
Get AAA, if possible.
-Bok
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Fill up every chance you get - there are stretches of up to 200 miles where there are NO gas stations, depending on which route you're taking.
Posted by Nell Gwyn (Member # 8291) on :
The Rand McNally website has a roadtrip planner on it that might come in handy. You can put in various stopping points and look up things to do along the way. I put in Madison to Fairbanks, and the shortest route goes mostly through Canada with Calgary as an approximate midpoint.
I've never done a big roadtrip like that, but if I were I'd probably try to make it more of a circular route if possible so I could see different things each way. That sounds like such a fun trip!
Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
When I was 6, we drove to Alaska from ohio, then two years later, we drove back. My advice is don't push it: if you're too tired to drive, pull over. It's not worth risking it.
We drove to Washington, then took a small plane to Anchorage and shipped our car on a ferry. That's actually what was cheapest with AAA.
Posted by m0ldova (Member # 769) on :
Buy the book "The Milepost 2006." Its a must have for driving through Alaska and Northwest Canada. It has information mile by mile about road conditons, gas, food and lodging for any route you plan on taking. My husband was stationed in Alaska for a year and for both the drive there, back and any sight seeing he did while he was there it was invaluable.
Posted by jexx (Member # 3450) on :
I absolutely agree with the Milepost recommendation. We drove from Arizona to Alaska (in October, when everything on the Al-Can was shutting down!), and if we hadn't had the Milepost, we would have been stranded. As it was, we barely made it during one stretch. Scary.
British Columbia is magnificent. The Yukon is terribly desolate in that gorgeous, deserty way. I hope that they take a volume of Robert W. Service ("Tales of the Yukon") with them to read to one another along the way. The poems only really make sense in that part of the world.
I'm so jealous!
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
Thanks for the recommendations! I ordered the Milepost book for them, and I'll pass along all the suggestions.
Yes, I'm jealous too. I've been joking about sneaking into their van just before they leave. It's a family of eight-- my friends and their 6 kids, ages 6 to almost 16. They are taking their 15 passenger van so there would be room! Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Wow, I can't think of anything more arduous and uncomfortable! Do people actully do trips like this for fun? I would fly. Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I love road trips! Although I think I'd wait until my kids were out of diapers and not nursing to do one that long. (We drove from Dallas to L.A. via Phoenix and back with a 9-month-old once...)
Posted by Astaril (Member # 7440) on :
I've only flown up north, so I don't have any tips for driving. I would like to add, though, that I'm also jealous. If they'd like an Arctic tour guide, they can feel free to pick me up on the way.
Posted by ctm (Member # 6525) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tatiana: Wow, I can't think of anything more arduous and uncomfortable! Do people actully do trips like this for fun? I would fly.
They did look into flying up, but plane fare for 8 people to Alaska was not cheap. This family has done some other driving-around-the-country vacations and they love it. They usually camp rather than do hotels so it's way cheaper... although with gas prices as high as they are, it's not as cheap as it used to be.
Road trips with kids are great, as long as you do it with a relaxed attitude. If you have a rigid schedule to keep or need to do real long driving marathons it's not so fun.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I'm glad it's fun for them! I would find it cramped and very tiring, I'm sure.
I used to adore traveling (by plane) before I had to do it too much for my job for several years. Then it got harder and harder to make myself pack and get to the airport and get on that plane. I'm not sure why. Now that I don't travel for work much anymore, I am beginning to recover my joy of travelling.
But I can't remember ever liking to travel by car. I can take it up to around six or eight hours. After that, it's really hard. I can't imagine doing long stretches day after day for days on end.
I can't figure out why traveling is so tiring, either, since you spend most of your time just sitting. But it certainly is. I am usually exhausted after a six or eight hour day spent traveling. Not sure if it's all the little accelerations on your body the whole time, which your muscles act to resist, or what. It might be just the sheer mental exercise of everything being new, of having to find your way around new places, get accustomed to new lodgings, or whatever. But since every hotel room in the United States and Canada, at least, is exactly like every other, it wouldn't seem to be that. I think there's something going on that we don't understand.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Mmmm. I love travelling by car. I even like to just drive, no place to go, just for the sake of being in the car and seeing what we will see. It's really relaxing to me. It cheers me up when I'm depressed (especially when we discover fun things like a circle that exists for no apparent reason-- it's just a circle! We went around, like, 5 times.) We used to take family vacations all over California and neighboring states, all by car, and the getting there was always half the fun. I think it may be genetic (or at least learned from parents); both my parents enjoy it, too, and so do all my sibs. However, I had a friend growing up whose dad loved to drive but her mom hated it. She liked road trips and would go on family vacations with us, but her older brother was not fond of them.
Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
Yes, kq! My dad loved road trips (and hated flying) but my mom liked to fly. Sometimes he would leave early and take the car somewhere, then meet her at the airport when she flew in.
I guess I got my mom's genes in that respect. Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
And it wouldn't hurt to go through Biggar, Saskatchewan. The sign says, "New York is big, but this is Biggar!"
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