People say it’s about the journey rather than the destination. Never is that more true than for a road trip.
A 5,000+ mile road trip is not for everyone. It entails a lot of driving for a start. So hats off to Darren for doing all the driving and not even trying to bully me into it (even though I was sorely tempted with the heated massage seat that came along with it!).
But along with the passage of miles and the passing of time comes a sense of appreciation. Appreciation of a damn good holiday for sure, but more than that. For starters, an appreciation of the enormity of North America and the vast untouched remoteness. If you cut Alaska in half and made it into two states, Texas would be the third largest state. As for Canada, we barely dipped our toe in the water. And cutting right through all of that are the impressive roads that made our trip possible – the AlCan and Cassiar Highways. Frost-heaved and patchy in places but on the whole, I’d say pretty damn good. Think they could teach the folks working on southern California highways a lesson or two!
We also had an appreciation of the variety of terrain. We thought there’d be some ‘boring bits’ along the way where there was nothing to look at. Not the case. Particular highlights included the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park, the Guardsman pass en route to Haines, and the Glenn Highway/Tok Cut Off near Anchorage. But whilst some scenery was obviously more impressive than others, the constant changes in landscape kept it interesting.
Throw in there our thirst for wildlife, constantly on spotting duty for bears, moose, caribou and the like – and you have hours of entertainment. We didn’t even need to resort to ‘I Spy’.
We did supplement our feast for the eyes with a feast for the ears though. We had lined up a couple of audible talking books: Stephen King’s 11-22-63 (quite different from his earlier horror based books, I’d recommend this dalliance into history and time travel – although maybe the abridged version unless you’ve got a loooong road trip to kill), and A Man Called Ove (a somewhat lighthearted, humorous take on a grumpy old man with hidden depths – highly recommended). Not to mention good old Answer Me This podcast. (Not for everyone but an entertaining, down to earth, and very British take on answering personal dilemmas and other questions that are not so readily available on Google).
Another top road trip tip is to mix up the long driving days with not so long driving days, throwing in walks, hikes, runs, yoga (and abundant coffee and biscuit stops) wherever possible.
It’s also good to strike a balance between overnights in the wilderness, just us and a frozen river or vast lake for company, with some civilization – access to people and places (i.e., generally near a brewery). Speaking of breweries, I have three call outs tying for top spot. Toolshed in Calgary had a great Belgian golden ale, a friendly barman and was a welcome respite from the rain. Secondly, I’m almost inclined to agree that Whitehorse Yukon Brewing does ‘Beer worth freezing for’ – a good variety of damn good beer. Last but not least, is Bleeding Heart in Palmer, Alaska. Where else can you hang out with chickens and cows whilst you drink locally brewed craft beer?
On any holiday, you’re at the mercy of the elements. This was probably my primary concern in booking this trip, in particular given that it was out of season. Alaska in April… really? But a combination of low expectations, good preparation (think layers!) and good fortune resulted in a very pleasant surprise. Along the way, the locals were already venturing into t-shirt and shorts, even flip flops.
I wouldn’t and didn’t quite go that far, but enough even for me to leave the woolly hat behind on occasion. In fact, there’s only one evening it poured down (which ominously happened to be the night before our 10K run in Calgary). There’s something remotely comforting about the incessant hammering of rain on the roof of the campervan, the view through the windows obscured by raindrops, the occasional brave rivulet breaking from the pack in a race for freedom down the glass. Meanwhile, this was where the minimal square footage of the campervan came into its own – the tiny turbo charged heater transformed the truck into a cosy cocoon.
And so it is my last token of appreciation goes to the campervan. Indeed our home from home for three weeks. It was our home and our life for that time. Quite honestly, if you’re gonna do much longer, I think you need a bigger one. But for us, a great compromise between fuel economy and space.
Important campervan points for future reference:
– Don’t store the beer on the top shelf of the fridge. Not one but two beer freezing incidents.
– Reconsider whether you really need eggs in your life. And secure the fridge door at all times. Hard boiled eggs: thumbs up. Raw eggs don’t tend to fare quite so well.
– Hot water bottles are amongst man’s most important inventions of all time.
– When you are told there’s “not much snow left” when clearly there is snow all around, translate to “you would be mad to try to snowshoe through that”.
They say a picture paints a thousand words. So no doubt a video even more. I’ve tried to paint a picture of what this holiday was for us. But Darren’s video does it even better with a one second clip for every day of the trip. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading. The only thing that remains… is to decide where next…?
