Alaska Bound: Vancouver to Prince George

I woke up in sheer panic on Thursday, May 28th. Today was the day that I left Vancouver, Canada and started the six day trek to Alaska. Driving to Alaska is the same distance as driving across the country to New York City from San Francisco! The big difference is there is a lot less civilization and a lot more danger on the AlCan Freeway. The roads are not the best. There is wildlife that isn’t behind the safety glass of a zoo. But for me the biggest fear are the cliffs. I have a HUGE fear of driving over a cliff. Up high in the mountains are roads that are narrow with no guardrail and of course – cliffs. My anxiety is in full swing, folks.

Don’t even think about driving the AlCan, Cassiar or in Alaska without this book. I’m not kidding.

Milepost 2015 $24

I will just take each mile as it comes. If it is too much, I will turn around. I know compared to some I have a lot of strength and courage, but I am still a woman with fears. I hope in the face of those fears I will push through.

I keep getting asked – why am I doing this? Am I trying to prove something? Well, I’m trying to prove to myself that even though I have very limited cash flow that I can live a full life. I want to experience life and not just watch it go by. As much as I would love to have a partner by my side, that hasn’t happened. So what am I supposed to do – live my life as a couch potato and wait for Prince Charming? Umm, no. I did that for too many years and I don’t want to ever go back to being that person again.

I was very nervous crossing into Canada. Read about the nightmare of what happened last year here. The border patrol agent looked pretty shocked that I was making the trip solo. He kept asking – By yourself? Yes, I’m a solo female traveler. It’s different, I know.

I spent a great night with my friend Megan and her amazing family while in Vancouver, Canada. She has two little girls that might be my favorite short people! They wanted to see my car and kept asking – you live in there? Their first fascination was to see if I still had the really cool runners. I had no idea that Canadians called running shoes – runners. Too cute! Then they wanted to know how I cooked on the road and I told them I had a Coleman stove. We immediately had to go out to the car so they could see my stove. They did ask where the fridge was… 🙂

My 2nd pair of these New Balance trail shoes… might need a third pair soon!

Megan is a mother hen, and to be honest, I was okay with letting her fuss over me a bit. She made a pretty delicious dinner and was hell bent on finding me a place to stay in Prince George. I ended up staying with Ryan Young, a friend of the family. Ryan was super sweet and we had a great time hanging out and learning more about each other’s lives. I hope I motivated him to do a little traveling!

Here is the first two days through Canada through pictures. Enjoy…

Nice and simple message to I saw 2 hours in on this 10-hour drive. Experience Hope.

This is the first waterfall I saw on the drive. There were many though, put no pullouts on the Canadian highway. I smiled every time I saw one though when I rounded a corner.

Just in case you didn’t want to go to Hell today.

I drove next to this river most of the day… very muddy!

Wheeler Lake was pretty idyllic. I could imagine spending summers year just fishing and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

I stopped in Quesnel and was drawn over to this little park. No idea what this is though.

I loved this Wagon Wheel, which was right next to that steel thingy.

I love this shot of the bridge in Quesnel! What do you think? It is with the Canon Rebel.

This is a different view of that bridge. Check out that sign up above – love it!

I’m headed up the Cassier Highway today – destination unknown.

Big thanks to my Dad who bought this book Milepost which lists out each mile of the trek… needed!

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