Road directions to Alaska

[John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided>]

>Tom H,
>Is that "duct sealer" a  liquid like liquid electrical tape?
>
>Go for Alaska when ever and how ever you can, take the Alcan for one leg
>of the journey and the Ferry for the other. On the Ferry book deck
>(solarium) passage, get on early so you can stake out a chase <sp>
>lounge (long lawn chair), sit back and watch the inside passage go by.
>The solarium has radiant heat lamps and real folks ride there, you will
>meet seasonal workers, Alaska residents, and the younger crowd of
>worldly itinerants. Your IHC will be in the hold and enjoying the
>voyage.
>
>Willy
>77 SS II
> Mac user

Willy,
I commend you for your good advice and also on the use of a Mac, but in 
my opinion, you gave one direction that can be improved. In my opinion, 
the Alaskan Highway is the most boring 1000+ miles of road anywhere. On 
the other hand, the Cassiar which gets you to the same place is one of 
the most spectacular pieces of road anywhere in the road. Also on the 
Cassiar, are Cassiar, Stewart BC, Hyder Alaska, glaciers trying to push 
you off the road, real wildlife (not much) magnificent mountains on both 
sides of you, and much more. A far cry from the Alaskan Highway. It may 
even be a few miles shorter. As you may have guessed, I've driven both a 
number of times, but I've never been back up the Alaskan Highway since 
they opened the Cassiar. My having driven to Alaska and back in three 
different International vehicles may be some kind of a record if you 
exclude truck drivers. In the "early" days, having an IHC pulling your 
trailer was a major asset. There were 1320 miles of gravel road from 
Dawson Creek to the border, and 4WD saved a lot of waiting for the 
Canadian road crews to pull you out. Besides that the Canadians really 
liked IHC and treated us a lot better than they did people in vehicles 
that didn't have a big Canadian connection. The third IHC vehicle I drove 
up there was my SSII pulling a small travel trailer and carrying 5 people 
and 2 dogs. It got as far as the border with a Ruger revolver under the 
seat, but the revolver remained at the Canadian customs, and as far as I 
know, may be there yet.

When we went up the first time, you could sleep in your vehicle in the 
ferry's car deck. Seemed like a great idea, but that's really close to 
the engine room (at least we were) and sleep was nearly impossible. 
Couldn't cook down there, as they had sealed the propane tanks.

I think too, that at least once, a person should make the Dawson City 
Loop and see the Klondike area of the Yukon. Well worth seeing. 

Looking forward to your comments.

Regards,
John H.



John Hofstetter  "Ol'Saline's Web Site" www.goldrush.com/~hofs
"Perhaps more to remember than ever really happened"
Life Member, National Rifle Ass.     California Rifle and Pistol Ass.
Member, Sierra Macintosh Users Group and MacTwain Macintosh Users Group
Charter Member, FRIENDS OF DEATH VALLEY   Member, Blue Ribbon Coalition
Life Member, Association of California School Administrators
Owner of 79 Scout Terra "It's a legend"