Road Trip: New York to Alaska!
Posted: Sat Sep 08, 2007 11:44 am
Hey-hey!
Hopefully someone still remembers me - ha - but, in regards to just being back from a grand adventure and not really forgetting this corner of cyberspace was here, I thought I'd try and muster up some conversation about road trips.
This summer I drove solo from New York - the Adirondack Mountains - to Anchorage, Alaska for a field school in Archaeology between University Alaska Anchorage and Yukon College. To first answer why I drove instead of flying - well, my grandmother decided to throw down the gauntlet at dinner by saying, verbatim, "A woman could make no such drive alone."
While the drive was, in and of itself, titillating as an idea - my grandmother's commentary was enough to get me fired up to just go do it.
The dig itself took place in the Yukon wilderness between the US and Canadian border stations (which are roughly 15-20 miles apart or so). We stayed in Anchorage for about 5 days in order to get ourselves situated with some background knowledge, and then we were off to acquaint ourselves better with the Yukon soil.
Yes, we lived in tents and braved bear, moose, and the general nuisance of camp robbers (a type of bird) and the deviant red squirrels, which had coffee addictions of immense proportions (I am still talking about the darn squirrels, yes).
First, of course, I drove across the US - making a pit stop in Green Bay, WI to see family, and then hauled up to North Dakota and into Canada. Part of the trip was organized so I could make pit stops in Peace River, Alberta and in Fort Simpson in NWT (North West Territories) for a few days to meet people.
My 2003 Chevy Impala amazingly survived 400 some miles on dirt road and so did I - a little scatterbrained as I might be.
The drive home was equally exciting as I managed to travel the Alcan Highway all the way down to Dawson Creek, BC, and then scuttled across Canada to Thunder Bay. I rolled home into New York from there.
The initial drive took me 9 days to Anchorage: 1 extra layover in Peace River, no driving, and 2 days in Fort Simpson - so about 7 total drive days, and then it took my 5 days to get home while living out of my car (the consequences of conserving cash for gas money 101).
Busted my knee on my return trip through Whitehorse, YT while drinking and dancing with drunk friends as a collective attempt to say goodbye gone wrong. Surgery is probable, MRI will tell me more... I had fun though. Drove home on the bad knee - even though I couldn't bear weight on it - thankfully there are no pictures of me flailing in various Tim Horton's for bathroom breaks. Probably security footage somewhere, though.
Total Mileage: 11,500 - about 9500-10,000 miles to the initial drive and 1000 miles just within the month scuttling between the Alaska/Canada Border - Beaver Creek, YT - Tok, AK and a few of my 'detour' trips, heh.
If anybody is interested, I should have a link up soon to photos once I get them back so you all can catch a glimpse of the Yukon insanity - like our midnight Yukon scale rainbows which were spectacular.
Now that I am back [s]into the swing of my eternal damnation[/s] at university, I am kind of curious to know all of your stories from on the road. Where'd you go? Why'd you go there? What made it awful or wonderful? How many miles and what else is there to note?
Hopefully someone still remembers me - ha - but, in regards to just being back from a grand adventure and not really forgetting this corner of cyberspace was here, I thought I'd try and muster up some conversation about road trips.
This summer I drove solo from New York - the Adirondack Mountains - to Anchorage, Alaska for a field school in Archaeology between University Alaska Anchorage and Yukon College. To first answer why I drove instead of flying - well, my grandmother decided to throw down the gauntlet at dinner by saying, verbatim, "A woman could make no such drive alone."
While the drive was, in and of itself, titillating as an idea - my grandmother's commentary was enough to get me fired up to just go do it.
The dig itself took place in the Yukon wilderness between the US and Canadian border stations (which are roughly 15-20 miles apart or so). We stayed in Anchorage for about 5 days in order to get ourselves situated with some background knowledge, and then we were off to acquaint ourselves better with the Yukon soil.
Yes, we lived in tents and braved bear, moose, and the general nuisance of camp robbers (a type of bird) and the deviant red squirrels, which had coffee addictions of immense proportions (I am still talking about the darn squirrels, yes).
First, of course, I drove across the US - making a pit stop in Green Bay, WI to see family, and then hauled up to North Dakota and into Canada. Part of the trip was organized so I could make pit stops in Peace River, Alberta and in Fort Simpson in NWT (North West Territories) for a few days to meet people.
My 2003 Chevy Impala amazingly survived 400 some miles on dirt road and so did I - a little scatterbrained as I might be.
The drive home was equally exciting as I managed to travel the Alcan Highway all the way down to Dawson Creek, BC, and then scuttled across Canada to Thunder Bay. I rolled home into New York from there.
The initial drive took me 9 days to Anchorage: 1 extra layover in Peace River, no driving, and 2 days in Fort Simpson - so about 7 total drive days, and then it took my 5 days to get home while living out of my car (the consequences of conserving cash for gas money 101).
Busted my knee on my return trip through Whitehorse, YT while drinking and dancing with drunk friends as a collective attempt to say goodbye gone wrong. Surgery is probable, MRI will tell me more... I had fun though. Drove home on the bad knee - even though I couldn't bear weight on it - thankfully there are no pictures of me flailing in various Tim Horton's for bathroom breaks. Probably security footage somewhere, though.
Total Mileage: 11,500 - about 9500-10,000 miles to the initial drive and 1000 miles just within the month scuttling between the Alaska/Canada Border - Beaver Creek, YT - Tok, AK and a few of my 'detour' trips, heh.
If anybody is interested, I should have a link up soon to photos once I get them back so you all can catch a glimpse of the Yukon insanity - like our midnight Yukon scale rainbows which were spectacular.
Now that I am back [s]into the swing of my eternal damnation[/s] at university, I am kind of curious to know all of your stories from on the road. Where'd you go? Why'd you go there? What made it awful or wonderful? How many miles and what else is there to note?