The Journey

Our 5 month journey from Northern Virginia to the middle of Alaska has come to an end. Brief time line- March 12th we left for UT.
March 24th Paul left UT for AK and we stayed behind.
April 23rd Paul left AK for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC)
August 6th Paul flew to UT.
August 10th We all leave for AK
August 15th We arrive in Anchorage AK our new home.
Now of course there are lots of stories and tales of the last 5 months but I have chronicled some of them already so I will only subject you to our week of travels from August 10th- August 15th.
Monday-
Once we had loaded up the trailer with all of our belongings and attached it to the Durango, we discovered that the shocks were almost fully compressed. Therefore on Monday we experienced a bit of a delay in setting off as we had to have airbags (really, airbags for the shocks, what will they think of next!) installed on the shocks. We finally left Ogden about 6pm Monday evening and drove as far as we could that night. We would have loved to have stopped and seen Erick and Kathy in Pocatello ID that day but as we got off so late we didn't dare stop, we knew we would never get back on the road that night if we tried to. It was my first time in Idaho though but I didn't see much of it as we drove mainly in the dark through that state. Later that night we tried to find a hotel for the night just over the border in Montana, but after pulling off twice and not having any luck in even finding a hotel, we ended up sleeping in the cars. Paul slept in the Durango and I in the car with the kids. By morning they were in the front seat with me and I was soaking wet from diapers leaking.
Let me note here that Paul was driving the Durango with a 14 foot trailer and I had the Camry with the kids. The plan was that at different points we would switch so that I could get a break from the kids and they could spend time with Dad, but we discovered a slow leak in one of the tires on the trailer which made it sway back and forth really bad and I wasn't going to go near that. Paul had much more experience hauling a trailer and I thought I'd let him handle it.
Tuesday-
We spent Tuesday pretty much just in Montana. First time for me in Montana too. There are some really gorgeous parts of Montana but I don't recommend the upper portion where I-15 crosses into Canada. It looks just like Kansas and the wind blows and there's nothing there. It's called the Sweetgrass Crossing and both Paul and I agree that we never want to get posted there. We pulled up to the border crossing and didn't realize that we were going straight to the Canadians, which wouldn't have been a problem, but we needed to have some paperwork signed by the Americans before we crossed into Canada. So after waiting in line with the Canadians for an hour and then an hour with the Americans and then again with the Canadians for another hour, we were finally able to cross the border. We made it to Calgary that night and were very grateful for a hotel room and showers!
As we approached the signs for Canada I have a moment of panic as the signs are in English and French and I'm thinking I'm taking my kids into a foreign country, please let them speak English! As we weren't going through Quebec that wasn't a problem, but never having been to Canada... I was really excited about being in Canada as it was my first time out of the country. We felt bad as we really didn't get to experience much of it as we were driving as far and as fast as we could each day. Some thoughts about Canada/Canadians-
- We loved the accents!
-They love A&W like we love McDonald's. They are all over place. Having been trained from an early age to appreciate A&W root beer, I wasn't complaining. Their A&W is different than ours though. It's better! I don't know how they do it but its noticeably better.
-The only thing worth seeing in the province of Alberta is Calgary. It looked like a great city. The rest of the province... Well lets just say the first half is just like Kansas. The last half is the same but wooded. It was VERY boring.
-British Columbia is beautiful!
-I heard a fabulous song called, "God Bless the Canadian Housewife" celebrating what a miracle housewives are. http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/God-Bless-The-Canadian-Housewife-lyrics-Shedaisy/0D61DABB6E94AA25482571510009ED80
- The Canadians couldn't have been more helpful and nice.
-Okay, so Canadians are a lot like us, same stores, same TV shows...
-A bad time to drive through Canada- when they are having a gas shortage. There was no super or premium gas and only one or two pumps would have regular. Most of the pumps would have out of order signs on them.
Wednesday-
We left a little late that morning. The effect of sleeping in an actual bed and feeling nice and clean after hot showers had a distinct effect. We drove through the rest of Alberta. The kids for the most part were very good. We would only get the DVD player out about once during the day. Reagan I swear sang her way through Canada. Daniel would tell her to be quiet and try to get me to tell her to be quiet. It reminded me of when we would beg my Mom to make my sister Erin be quiet. This night found us in the middle of no where or so we thought. If we had only driven 10 more feet we would have realized that we were on the outskirts of a town. Not realizing this, we spent another night in the car. Yet again the kids ended up in my lap by morning.
Thursday-
We made it into British Columbia (BC). Now in BC there are lots of mountains. This was also the only place that we saw wildlife. We saw moose, caribou, buffalo, and wild goats. One of the Buffaloes tried to charge the Durango as we went driving by. Luckily it veered off right in time. Daniel was disappointed as he really wanted to see a bear. I loved driving this portion as it was so beautiful to look at. Ideally, the way to make this journey would have been with plenty of time to sight see, and in an RV for the nights that you end up in the middle of nowhere. The tire that had been leaking developed a much faster leak and we had to stop for about 45 mins to get it fixed. It ended up having two wholes in it but they were able to fix it well enough so that we could make it to Alaska. We did end up in the middle of nowhere again for the night, this time though we got things situated much better for the night. Paul slept in the car with us, which helped as I wasn't the only one dealing with the kids all night, and we threw the kids car seats in the Durango and laid them down on the seat for the night. A much better night was had by all of us.
Friday-
This day found us going through the rest of BC and the Yukon provinces and shortly around midnight we crossed the border into Alaska. We seriously wanted to kiss the ground, just to be back in the good ole' U.S. of A. Again we were in the middle of nowhere and a night in the car again was necessary.
Saturday-
We started out the day very excited to be in Alaska and figured we could make it into Anchorage by Noon or 1pm at the latest. That was until the trailer had a tire blow out 110 miles outside of Anchorage. It wasn't even the one that had a leak in it. Luckily we were VERY blessed. Right in front of where it happened there was a turnout so that we could get off the mountain road. No sooner than we were out of the car than a trucker pulled up and was able to help us get the tire off. Of course we didn't have a spare for it, so she called ahead to Wasilla and found a place with the right size tire and asked them to stay open long enough for Paul to get there. Then she stayed with me and Reagan while Paul drove the hour + to Wasilla got the tire and returned about 3 hours later. The trucker couldn't have been more helpful and kind. May God reign down special blessings on her head. We finally pulled into Anchorage about 7pm that night and spent the next two nights in luxury with amazing beds and bathtubs/showers. Have I told you I have a new appreciation for those two items? They are absolutely heaven!!
This was our journey, and I am very proud to say that I drove the entire Alkan highway (nearly 3,000 miles) all on my own and it will be a long time before I'm willing to do that again!