By the time the summer tour was over I had also visited Yosemite, Arches, Canyonlands, Zion and Bryce. Check back, read about them and see the pictures.

Delta Junction is the official end of the Alaska Highway

We drove the AlCan in three days from Calgary to Delta Junction August 16, 17 & 18, 2005 The MILEPOST book says Dawson Creek to Delta Junction is 1390 miles, but they call Delta Junction Milepost 1422; Dawson Creek, B.C., Canada is mile Post "0". I think the discrepancy is because they keep straightening the highway since it was first built IN 1942.

TRIVIA FACT:In 1942, the US Army Corp of Engineers built the original gravel and dirt highway, using 10,000 men, in eight months! It was a strategic defense measure giving the lower 48 states a land access route to Alaska from the Lower 48 states after Japan invaded the Aleutian Islands (the Alaskan islands that extend from Alaska into the Pacific Ocean). The following pictures share some of the scenes along the way. "Life is a jouney" and driving to Alaska is, without a doubt, a journey. When you get to Alaska, the state is awesome, but the trip there is filled with lots of amazing memories.

Old original AlCan path from 1942. Current MapQuest route we took.

A trip to Alaska by auto from the "Lower 48" is really a trip across western Canada, where gas (August 2005) is over $4.00 US a gallon ($0.99.9 CAN to $1.20.9 CAN per liter and there are 4.54 liters in a gallon. The exchange rate is currently $1.18 Canadian to $1.00 US, so you figure it out!). Let me say, it is a funny feeling when you fill up and it costs over $74.00. It makes $2.69.9 per gallon in the lower USA seem cheap! My trip north began following a show I did at the Carter County Fair in Ekalaka, MT on August 12th. I then passed through Billings, MT and stopped in and said hello to Tom Atkins, partner in The Mighty Thomas Carnival as it ran at the MontanaFair at the Metroplex in Billings on August 13th. I swung around the state through Bozeman, up through Butte, I visited Linda Musick-Rosen, (ex-manager of the Southwest Montana Fair & Butte Silver Bow Co Fair. She is also my tax preparer - so if you are an entertainer and you need a great tax preparer, I recommend her highly). I continued up to Kalispell, MT where I dropped in and said hello to Jay Scott, Manager of the Northwest Montana Fair and current Board President of the Rocky Mountain Association of Fairs. Jay's fair was just one day away from openning, so I didn't stay long, but I got to talk to him for about 15 minutes and it was a pleasure. He is normally a quiet person. He seems to watch from the background at conventions and remains low profile. But, one on one, he is highly insightful and when he smiles, you can't help but like him, trust him and smile back.

From Billings, MT to Delta Junction, AK the total trip was roughly 2,400 miles one way, if I had gone directly - but I took the detour around the state to drive through Waterton - Glacier International Peace Park. I was on a slightly tight time line. I picked up Nick on Monday evening about 8:30 PM in Calgary and I had to be on stage Friday at 5:00 PM.

I camped just south of Waterton - Glacier International Peace Park. The next day I drove through the park, and crossed the U.S./Canadian border in Montana (MT) on US Highway 89 to Canadian Highway 2. It took an hour for the border patrol to search my vehicle with a dog - they found nothing, but the dog was on its way to sniff a bands bus and trailer - so they busted my chops, too ... I then proceeded to drive to Calgary and picked up my nephew Nick Goodwin, we then drove through Alberta (AB), into British Columbia (BC), through the Yukon Territory (YT) and up into Alaska (AK).

The YT is about the same size as Washington State, Oregon and Idaho combined but YT's population is roughly 30,000 and 15,000 live in the city Whitehorse ... The highways are being improved, so we hit construction delays and 15 mile stretches of gravel, rock, sand and dust quite a bit - but I understand it has improved a lot over the years. It was really amazing to watch Canadians build roads. They had no supervisors standing around doing nothing. Every vehicle at every site was working and not a person was "supervising". Go Canada! If U.S.A. Road workers would learn to do this, it would be so amazing ...

BC and AB are about the same size as one another, and both are really close to the size of Alaska - or are WAY bigger than any of the US States except Alaska ... so when I say, "we drove distances that were virtually uninhabited", this is no exaggeration. It's one thing to let your gas tank "empty' light go on in a populated area, or even MT or WY when you know farmers pass, but in the Yukon, if you turn off the highway for any reason, never run out of gas unless you have applied for duel citizenship first!

The Yukon and NorthWest B.C. adds a whole new dimension to the question I kept awsking myself, "how far will AAA Plus go to help you? And how long will it take them to find you?" Besides, cell phone service is worse than radio reception ... which there is none of most of the way ...

A deserted cabin along the highway

So, what does one see driving to & from Alaska?
First, everything is BIG. Really, really BIG

Glaciers, mountains, rivers, fish, animals and open spaces. Let's compare:

Rain on a tin roof is magical
And the way H20 can clean,
It is the natural beverage of all animals and vegetables,
It lubricates
Yet dries things out, too.
It can expand,
And contract
And it mesmerizes ... me.