On this day 50 years ago, the Alaska Highway was officially opened to military traffic, only 8 months after work began. Here’s how Wired reports on the anniversary: Until the early 1940s, Alaska was a neglected U.S. territory. The Klondike gold rush of the 1880s and ’90s was a distant memory, and oil had not yet…
Alaska Highway
Happy Birthday, Big Red!
One of the things I missed the most when I was living in China was driving. So the first thing I did when I moved back to the States a year ago was to buy a car. In fact, one year ago today I bought this car, and promptly christened her “Big Red.” She’s…
The Photographer and Her Driver
I’m a bit slow, so it took me halfway through the drive home from Alaska to figure out that my primary role on the trip was to be the driver’s photographer. My sister and I both enjoy photography, but she’s much more of a shutterbug than I am. Where I enjoy taking pictures, she is…
No GPS, Thank You Very Much
More than one person has asked us about the GPS we have been using to chart our way across the prairies and mountains and fjords to Southeast Alaska. My response is always the same: I don’t DO GPS. In fact, not only do I not use a GPS (on this trip or any other trip),…
We Made It!
On Friday afternoon, after driving 2800 miles in 7 days, we arrived in Skagway, in Southeast Alaska. As we drove through the town teeming with tourists from the two cruise ships docked in the harbor, we wanted to shout at everyone, “WE DID IT! WE DROVE HERE!!!” But, surmising that no one would be interested…
Wrecker Ahead
We had just spotted a sign telling us that it was 21km to Muncho Lake, our designated picnic lunch destination, when we spotted the dreaded orange signs. As we came to a halt behind a camper, we noticed that the orange sign said “wrecker ahead.” Since we were at a place where the road curved,…