I have returned!

I'm back in Hotlanta...

The End.

okay, maybe I'll fill in a few more details a little at a time later on.

The last leg

Sorry for no updates recently, the trip went from just sightseeing to actually having destinations and deadlines. Left Portland last Monday morning, spent a night in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming.

Woke up the next day, cruised on down to Denver for a visit to the monstrous hobby shop then high-tailed it on eastwards as far as Des Moines for the night.

From there, I moved on to northwestern Ohio for a couple days of train-watching before heading to Cincinnati for Summerail. That is all over, the plan for tomorrow is just to get back to Atlanta and get ready to get back to the real world.

Portland

Been hanging around NW Oregon for a few days. I think Monday morning I'll start eastbound, possibly by way of a quick stop (HAH!) at a huge model train store. That should put me in Ohio by Wednesday night and taking it easy on Thursday before heading to Cincinnati for Summerail and back to Atlanta on Sunday.

Quick update

Decided to attempt the Dalton after all. Got up the road a ways, air became thick with smoke. Got worried not knowing where the fire was, also very irritated by the smoke. Turned back at the Yukon River (MP56). Later found the fire was a couple hundred miles away. Meh. Oh well. Wandered down towards Anchorage, spending a night in the car on a riverbank a couple hours short of getting there.

Woke up, drove on into Anchorage, then hit the road towards Homer. Got to the spit of land where the road dead-ends, and ate lunch at Land's End since the road dead-ended in their parking lot. Halibut and chips and a local brew. Picked up an Alaska T-shirt before turning and burning back towards the lower 48. Spent another night car-camping near Tok, AK and another night of the same near Muncho Lake, BC. Have I mentioned that frost heaves are no fun and are especially bad in the Yukon?

Left Muncho Lake this morning, drove all day and reached Prince George, BC where I've gotten a room (and a shower!) to spend the night. Walked to the restaurant attached to the motel and found it to be a rather good diner. Had a burger and poutine for supper. Tomorrow heading on down to Portland, OR for a few days.

Day eight

Woke up from my overlook slumber, grumpy from sleeping in the driver's seat and it not being dark enough through the night. Started the car up and listened to the valvetrain clatter in the cold while it warmed up. It was maybe in the high 40s or 50s overnight, I'd guess. Drove on to North Pole, AK (just outside Fairbanks) where I decided the golden arches were calling to me for breakfast. Decided to not cover more ground today just to get some rest.

Drove around Fairbanks and North Pole a while just looking around, and got a room on the southwest side of Fairbanks. I seem to have made a bad choice. It's got a bit of traffic noise, the room is tiny, I hear every footstep upstairs, and the guy in the next room keeps arguing with whoever he's with. On top of this, I seem to be right under the flightpath of Fairbanks International Airport. Some planes make it sound and feel like they're landing on the roof of the building. Granted, it's got to be mostly smaller planes, but there was one or two that really rocked the place.

Still deciding whether to drive north towards Prudhoe Bay as planned, or just take a circuitous route around the state and head back towards the lower 48. I guess I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Day seven

Woke up, went for another dip in the hot springs. Packed up camp and continued north. Crossed into Yukon as seen above.

Signpost forest at Watson Lake, YT. Among others, I saw a Newland, NC sign posted there. There's signs from all around the world. Some home-made, some license plates, some "retired" street signs. I'll leave the method by which they were retired up to your imagination.

Stopped overlooking Teslin, YT for lunch. Weather was getting cloudy. Later turned into hard rain to wash some of the bugs off my car.

Decided to push onwards into Alaska and find a place to stay once there. Reached the border, it's an odd configuration - Canadian customs is about 30km from the border, US customs is a few miles away too. This means there's room in between at the actual border for a pull-off so you can take goofy pictures like these.

In this picture, my right foot is in Canada, my left foot is in the US.

Continued up the road to US customs, where the customs officer gave me a useful tidbit of information - it's common, reasonably safe, and perfectly acceptable to stay overnight at rest areas and overlooks in Alaska. So only about an hour past the border, I pulled in at an overlook and dozed off. Was a bit hard going to sleep with the amount of daylight left - it's not dark outside at 11pm in Alaska like it is back home!

Day six

Day six: Started up Alaska Highway. See above pic of "0" milepost of Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek, BC.

A little ways up the Alaska Highway, I came across one of many construction areas. This one was traffic light controlled and had a pilot car leading vehicles around the work. I had about 5-10 minutes to stand around waiting for the pilot car, so I snapped a quick shot of the road.

Lots of critters line the roads. Moose, bear, bison, horses, caribou, sheep, deer, and I saw some kind of small canine... either a large fox or a coyote.

Wound up at Liard hot springs where I stayed the night. Mosquitos were terrible, they seemed especially attracted to my knees for some reason. There's a nice place to take a dip in the hot springs, temperatures range from boil an egg at the upper end to lukewarm at the lower end. Oh, and it stinks of sulfur. Still, a nice place for a dip.