What do you call a guy who sets off on a 3,600-mile road trip in the dead of winter to drive the Rocky Mountain chain from Alaska to southern Colorado? Bear in mind that this is the same guy who goes kayaking with his Australian shepherd - in the ocean.

Crazy doesn't quite sum it up, because there was a fair amount of planning up front. Adventurous is probably closer to the mark, because these are the undertakings that lead to stories - for your buddies and for your future grandchildren. "That's nothing. I once drove the Alcan in December with a dog and two cats."

Hey, it's got to be better than sitting in an office attending a budget meeting or deciding annual employee raises. Who's the crazy one now?

Epilogue: The first though that crossed my mind after I unhitched the trailer from the truck was "What do I do know?" It was almost a feeling of panic. Driving every day had become a way of life.

The feeling soon subsided when I started to make a mental note of all the things need to be done right away, like unloading the truck and seeing if I can organize all my possessions in the shed rather than renting a storage unit. I needed to get supplies to change the oil on the truck since it had gone over 3,000 miles. I needed more propane. And I was pretty sure that I had packages waiting for me at the La Veta post office.

The final statistics are 3,638 miles, 334 hours from start to finish spanning across 15 days, 1,336 photographs and so many gallons of gasoline that I cringe to think of the cost.¹

When I drove up to Alaska 17 months earlier, I was focused on getting there as fast as possible. I didn't stop for photos and much of the trip was a blur. This trip is a blur too, but now I can make some sense of it from all the pictures I took and the log I kept.

For those who follow in my tracks, there is no way to predict what will happen on a trip of this length. The distance is too far and the country and climate are too rugged to know what will transpire in advance. You plan as best you can. Some precautions that I took, like the purchase of a battery blanket, were never needed. Other obstacles, such as losing trailer brakes or mud-splattered windshields at night, must be dealt with as they happen.

I lucked out with the temperatures on this trip. It could have easily have been 20 degrees colder throughout the trip. Two weeks earlier and I might have needed my battery blanket and the fuel-line antifreeze I bought in Anchorage. I also expected more snow on this trip as opposed to the mud across northern B.C.

You don't realize how far away Alaska really is until you drive there. And you don't realize how far south Colorado and even Montana are until you take the reverse route for two weeks before finally meeting your destination.

After displacing yourself that many miles, it can take a day or two for it to sink in exactly where on this planet you really are. Seeing my ranch in the daylight helped. So did running errands in the county and seeing a few familiar faces.

Over the next week, I will try to rise and fall with the sun and catch up on much-needed sleep. I have a few road-trips planned in neighboring states in the next few months, but these are mere fun runs when compared to the driving marathon I just completed. Driving 300 miles to a village in New Mexico seems "in the neighborhood" compared to the past 3,600 miles.

I think of the earlier settlers who packed their family and everything they owned in a covered wagon and headed west with a team of horses or oxen, taking up to 70 days on the Oregon Trail. In a way, this trip was just a derivative of that same adventure. The F150 was my team of horses and the travel trailer was my covered wagon. The critters were my family.

In the weeks before the trip, I had trimmed my personal possessions down to what would fit in my wagon.² Unlike a vacation, my one-way trip has no safety net. You have no choice but to make it in your new destination. And in a way, a cross-country adventure is a weeding out process for settlers or modern-day pioneers. Those who would not attempt the journey are unlikely to succeed at the destination.

Now that I have arrived, my main challenge over the next year won't be building a house, but building local relationships and putting down roots - something very hard for a modern-day vagabond.

How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone
- Bob Dylan

 

Day1-Alaska                     Day2 AK/Yukon border     Day3 Kluane NP
Day4 Teslin                       Day5 Northern BC             Day6 Muncho Lake
Day7 Dawson Creek       Day8 Grand Prairie           Day9 Northern Alberta
Day10 Southern Alberta  Day11 Western Montana  Days12&13 Bozeman
Day14 Eastern Montana  Day15 Wyoming/Colorado 
Epilogue  Driving tips       Photo gallery                      
Excel spreadsheet of available services in the winter

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¹ Although I may end up tallying the damages if my accountant says I can write part of this trip off as a moving expense.
² Save a few boxes of mainly books that I shipped ahead.
 

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