Driving the Alcan

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:59 pm

Well, the Alcan did not get the best of him yet. He started on the long drive yesterday and made it to Eagleriver. I think that is about 70 miles from where he started.

Catalytic Converter so I am told.

It is going to be a LONG TRIP HOME.

ryanbp01 · Post by **ryanbp01** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:16 pm

He must really like that truck!

BPR

emagnet · Post by **emagnet** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:29 pm

Did the Alcan in 2004 on my motorcycle. Except where they're resurfacing, it's all paved. When I did it, the biggest problem was a four hour delay in the Yukon where road crews were working on a washed out portion. Thousands of RV's make the trip every summer. You think $4 a gallon gas is bad, take a ride on the Alcan.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 1:47 pm

dusty wrote:Has anyone driven the Alcan recently?

I have a son-in-law in Anchorage who is about to leave there and he plans to drive.

Color me green with envy!
I was going to suggest he take advantage of the opportunity of being in Alaska with a truck to take a drive up to my old stomping grounds- Tin City.
But then I remembered- there aint any roads up there. Fooey.

But from what I remember and have heard, if he's going soon it should be a good trip, properly outfitted (as mentioned elsewhere).

Say, is he looking for "crew" to sign on for the trip?

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:05 pm

keakap wrote:Color me green with envy!
I was going to suggest he take advantage of the opportunity of being in Alaska with a truck to take a drive up to my old stomping grounds- Tin City.
But then I remembered- there aint any roads up there. Fooey.

But from what I remember and have heard, if he's going soon it should be a good trip, properly outfitted (as mentioned elsewhere).

Say, is he looking for "crew" to sign on for the trip?

He might have been but he never asked me and I did not volunteer.

If he had asked, I probably would have flown up there to drive back with him. I did not volunteer because I was told I could not.

He left Anchorage Thursday afternoon so I figure he is now mushing his way across the Yukon.

jb41339 · Post by **jb41339** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:01 pm

dusty wrote:Well, the Alcan did not get the best of him yet. He started on the long drive yesterday and made it to Eagleriver. I think that is about 70 miles from where he started.

Catalytic Converter so I am told.

It is going to be a LONG TRIP HOME.

Dusty..
Eagle River is less than 15 miles from Anchorage. We used to live there back in the '70's.
Hope he has good luck, but with a 900 dollar vehicle, he'll need all the luck he can muster!

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:32 am

jb41339 wrote:Dusty..
Eagle River is less than 15 miles from Anchorage. We used to live there back in the '70's.
Hope he has good luck, but with a 900 dollar vehicle, he'll need all the luck he can muster!

He got the vehicle fixed and is back on the road. Last report, he has left the Yukon Territory and is now in British Columbia. I think that means he has completed about 1/3 of his Canadian excursion (about 1/5 of the entire trip).

We're just hoping that he got a real deal on that truck.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 3:07 pm

dusty wrote:He got the vehicle fixed and is back on the road. Last report, he has left the Yukon Territory and is now in British Columbia. I think that means he has completed about 1/3 of his Canadian excursion (about 1/5 of the entire trip).

We're just hoping that he got a real deal on that truck.

Ah, yeah, sounds like he's doin good. I'm still envy-green.
ALCAN? Heck, when I left Alaska the "alcan route" was called Alaska Airlines. Lucky man, him.
I'm sure he'll always remember it, hope he never regrets it.
We're cheerin him on out here.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 6:42 pm

I can now relax a little. My oldest grand daughters husband is now on the final leg of his long drive from Anchorage to San Antonio.

The old truck seems to have served him well. So much for the advice I gave. However, he did not ask for advice and now probably won't in the future.

I am just thankful that he is nearing home and I can now quit worrying about having not heard anything about his progress. Thanks to Facebook, I did get a little bit of information in almost real time.

Now he is an unemployed veteran who knows how to jump out of airplanes and field strip and reassemble his weapon in the dark. Hope he can get a job soon.

fixit · Post by **fixit** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 3:36 pm

Dusty,

Does he have a CDL (commercial driver's license)? If so there are LOTS of opportunities here for folks who do have one. The Eagle Ford Shale area has been opened for oil/gas drilling and they are desperately looking for workers of ALL kinds. Good paying jobs are readily available.

Fortunately, TX has not been hit with as severe economic troubles as many other parts of the country. Jobs are available and the cost of living here is relatively low compared to most other states. Just ask thousands of us retired military folks living in the San Antonio area.