Until DD2 got the job offer of her dreams. And suddenly, I was going on a road trip from Michigan to Alaska. In a short period of time, as DH really could barely take a day off in the last several months he's been so busy at work. But, neither one of us wanted DD2 to drive that far alone. And apparently DH didn't want me and DD2 to drive that far without him. So, our journey to Alaska began, purpose of which was to safely move DD2 and her most needed possessions to her new job and life, but also was a little bit of a family vacation to see some things we'd always wanted to see. Which meant we weren't going the shortest route. I think our final mileage total came in close to 4200 miles.
Now, if you ever have the desire to do such a crazy thing, my best advice is DON'T, unless you have a ton of patience, a good dose of humor, and great relationship skills. And good health, because man, was this a killer. We won't even get into the expense, although we tried to use hotel points as much as possible.
Other than trying to stuff as much of DD2's belongings as possible into her vehicle, which took a few hours, many tears, freaking out on both the part of DD2 and DH, and me playing the mediator role, the first day was no big deal. Instead of heading down and around Lake Michigan via the Chicago route, we were going through the U.P. with a side trip up to the Keweenaw so that DD2 could say goodbye to a few friends that were still there, and also go to church on Sunday at the church she had attended (and pastor & congregation she'd grown to love) up there.
Packing the car was an ordeal. We had to leave behind about 1/3 of the things she'd wanted to bring. Even so, that car was crammed full, and there were two doors we were mindful to not open under any circumstance until we reached Alaska. Because if we did, surely things would fly out like when you open that gag can of nuts that really has snakes made of compressed springs in it. The driver had the normal sized space for a driver, but the two passengers had things around them and on the floor at their feet. The person in the back seat was in charge of accessing both the cooler and the bag of food (our meals and snacks for the trip, with the exception of dinners) that was perched on top of stuff taking up 2/3 of the back seat.
A few hours later than planned, but still before noon, we were off! The first leg of the trip, to the U.P. was easy. We'd driven that way a million times (well, not really a million, but so many we could do it in our sleep). The next morning, we went to breakfast at our favorite cafe there, attended church, and hit the road for our second day of driving.
Day 2 destination: Calgary, Alberta, via Duluth MN (because DD2 was meeting a good friend there to give her some stuff, plus it was a good place to stop for dinner) and a non-stop driving marathon. DH's plan had us swapping drivers in order to drive straight through the night and have approximately half the mileage of our journey out of the way by the end of Day 3. After that, we could drive about 8 hours a day and be more leisurely.
Well, we got to Duluth fine. Met DD2's friend, had a really good dinner (if you're in Duluth, try Fitger's Brewhouse, the food was awesome!). But a few hours down the road, things got tough. I was tired, but find it impossible to sleep upright. My body just won't do it. Even though DD2 had napped after dinner in preparation for driving for a few hours so DH could rest, it didn't work. DH realized that if he got out of the driver's seat, he'd have to move into either my seat (with several bags of stuff at my feet) or DD2's very cramped seat (stuff crammed next to her, stuff crammed behind her head rest, and a box of plants at her feet). There just was nowhere to put that stuff so he could have as spacious accommodations as he did behind the steering wheel. Rather than being cramped, he kept his seat and tried to tough it out. However, driving through the night was a bigger task than he could accomplish, and we ended up stopping in Minot, North Dakota after midnight for a hotel room and some beds to sleep in.
We had a long way to go (over 11 hours of driving yet) to reach Calgary, so an alarm was set to get us up at 6:00 a.m. Did we want to get up after less than six hours of sleep? NO!! Did we need to get up and complete this crucial leg of the journey? Yes. Most definitely yes. Little did I know then that the entire trip the alarm clock would go off no later than 6:30 each and every morning. :0(
Day 3, however, turned out to be an uptick. It was an interesting drive. We crossed into Canada at Portal, ND around mid-morning. I have to say, it was fast and easy, compared to going in via the Ambassador Bridge (near Detroit), which is the way I'd been to Canada before. No lines, friendly border staff, a few questions, a review of our passports and suddenly we were in Canada! We would stay in Canada for five days. It's a big, big place. Our drive would take us across four provinces, the first of which was Saskatchewan.
From an agricultural standpoint, Saskatchewan was fascinating. Field after field after field of grain crops that aren't common in Michigan. I was a googling fiend, trying to identify the plants I saw in the fields that we whizzed by hour after hour. By far, the majority that we passed were in canola. Apparently we were in time for the big canola harvest, because we saw combine convoys both in the fields and on the road heading to the fields.
Grain is a major commodity there. In fact, in Weyburn, they even had huge sculptures of wheat along the highway. I was fascinated.
We drove and drove and drove, stopping briefly on the outskirts of Moose Jaw to make sandwiches for lunch.
Then it was back on the road again, determined to get to our destination for the night: Calgary, Alberta, in time for dinner. In addition to the vast grain fields, we also saw many livestock hauling trucks. Most were empty, but a few had hogs in them; the pink pigs mostly lying down and not looking at all concerned. We made jokes about Canadian bacon--we'd been many hours on the road by then and were getting punchy, but wouldn't you know, not a single hotel we stayed at in Canada had it! I was more than a little disappointed, as I'm a fan of Canadian bacon.
Other things of interest along the way were open pit coal mines, salt flats near Chaplin, mule deer, many many (100+) antelope, and even some pelicans!
Finally, we crossed from Saskatchewan into Alberta, and made it to Calgary.
The next leg of the journey is picture heavy, so will get it's own post. Stay tuned!
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