Alaskan Highway Adventures

Sup’ Sup’ from I-town , Trobb, and Hoo-lee-a,

We have arrived in Alaska, safe and warm, thousands of dollars poorer, but rewarded with a crazy road trip under our belt. We drove through some of the most diverse terrain, starting out on a snow covered mountain with an amazing hot spring with none other than Sol Cooperdock. Equipped with nothing but a Big Dumps variety pack and a bottle of Canadian Whiskey, we enjoyed the sweet smell of sulfur before pitching our tent in a puddle and falling asleep only to awake soaked and hung over… day one. We shared a manly, tearless goodbye with Sol and headed North. After crossing the border with ease we finally started to get a taste for just how epic this adventure would be. We drove hundreds of miles through the vast wilderness of Canada, stopping only briefly to enjoy the sun and dry out our seemingly infinite pieces of soaked gear. We resumed our drive, stopping when darkness began to fall. In our quest for beer, we had an interaction with a salesman culminating in this gem of a dialogue:

Owner: “Ohh, the Tree Brew variety pack! I usually get this when I go golfing with my buddy… good choice”

Timm: “Oh, ball Golf?”

Owner: (blank stare)

…awkward pause

Timm: (imitates a golf swing, smiles desperately)

Owner: …yeah. Golf.

The night was spectacular – we can’t remember the last time we had seen such a clear sky. We slept well, and split early in the morning to avoid any chance of actually paying for our site. After a solid day of driving (freakin 800 miles), we found ourselves stranded in the middle of Canada, with night falling, and not a liquor store in sight. But we made the most of it – I-town nicked some wood for to start a fire with, Timmrobb spotted a rad campsite, and Julia cooked some really… uhh… “good” soup stolen from Lausanne. To clarify, it wasn’t Hoolias cooking that sucked, just the six months expired cups of soup. After finishing dinner and the few remaining beers, we squeezed into the tent and fell asleep to the sweet sound of a glacier fed river. We woke early and started another long day of driving, this time stopping after a couple hours to enjoy a soak in Liard Hot Springs. Feeling refreshed and invigorated, we got back in the car and headed for Whitehorse, intent on finding and exploiting the only brewery in the Yukon. We missed the factory tour, so no free samples, but we did find a bar serving their stuff. We had a brew each, bought some cheap Canadian Whiskey, and drove another couple hours before stopping off to camp at a legit site. After some debate over whether we felt comfortable paying for a campsite, we decided to stay and scam the Canadian government. Timm and Julia found a dry, soft spot for our tent, while I-town started the stove and the fire. After consuming four packs of easy mac, two packs of ramen, and some other crappy cup noodles, we gathered around the roaring fire, made up primarily of wood stolen from the Government. The whiskey drained slowly, and we stayed up quite late talking, and ended our last night in Canada by sharing a cigar, courtesy of Kyle.

The next morning came and began to pass before any of us awoke from our, erm, drunken slumber. So much for the early start. At least our attempt to scam the government succeeded: we pulled out and hit the open road in record time. The last miles of the Yukon flew by and the day slipped away, aided by hours of great tunes and some mighty fine whistling. Oh, and the mountains were pretty spectacular as well. We cleared the border, Cuban cigars safely smuggled across in the glove box, and enjoyed probably the most beautiful stretch of our trip. Glacier spotting, Queen sing-alongs and sunshine brought us home to Anchorage where a hot (but not instant) meal and fridge of cold beer awaited us. Home, sweet home.

Scope the pics at: http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll84/b_i_g_dumps/?albumview=slideshow

Your friends in the north- Ian, Timm and Julia