- City
- beaverdam
- State
- MI
@ducktapeguy thank you for the interior shot of the Postal at the museum. This finally clears up for me why there are two large pipe clamps on my roll bar.
Starting on a journey
- Thread starter ducktapeguy
- Start date
- City
- Dexter
- State
- MI
What I was told (which isn't real, but fun) is that the name Tok came from the fact that you drive NE out of Anchorage to head back S/SE back to the border (or N/NW to Tok from the border and turn SW at Tok) and you basically have one turn, at Tok.
So the name came from "Turn, ok?"
- City
- Ducor
- State
- Ca
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
That is seriously the trip of a lifetime, for you and your son! Thank you for letting us live vicariously through your adventures!
I just noticed you're from Marysville. I actually wanted to stop by there one of these days to visit Gallery One to meet Brian Shul and get a copy of Sled Driver or a T-shirt. It's unfortunate I never made it up there before he passed. IMO the SR-71 will aways be the coolest plane ever made
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
It's been a while since I posted updates, so I'll try and get caught up.
After the museum, we went to Anchorage to eat a good meal and stay in a hotel. Unfortunately my son needed to get back in time for school and we wouldn't have time for the drive home, so after dropping him off at the airport I started on the long drive home. I would've loved to spend an extra couple of weeks up there exploring Homer, Valdez, and Seward, but I was already behind schedule and needed to head home.
I tried to book a ferry from Whittier to Valdez, but because of the summer season all the spots were booked and the earliest I could have gotten a ferry would be late August. So heading back to Tok. On the way past Matanuska Glacier.
Unfortunately the weather started warming up and the vapor lock issue started to reappear. I had to stop by the side of the road a few times to let it cool. During one of these stops I ran into the family I camped next to at Tuktoyuktuk, they saw me on the side of the road and stopped to check up on me.
Made it to Haines Junction where I had dinner and was debating whether to drive down to Haines and take the ferry to Skagway, then come back north. That would have added an extra day to my trip.
Since I was already having issues with the Jeep, and didn't think it'd be worth it to spend an extra 8 hours of driving just to pass through those towns, I decided it would be best to skip it and come back when i had more time to enjoy the area. That ended up being a good decision, that evening there was a rockslide on the road leading to Skagway, and I would've been on the wrong side of it.
So went all the way to Tok, where I spend the night at one of the local campsites
After the museum, we went to Anchorage to eat a good meal and stay in a hotel. Unfortunately my son needed to get back in time for school and we wouldn't have time for the drive home, so after dropping him off at the airport I started on the long drive home. I would've loved to spend an extra couple of weeks up there exploring Homer, Valdez, and Seward, but I was already behind schedule and needed to head home.
I tried to book a ferry from Whittier to Valdez, but because of the summer season all the spots were booked and the earliest I could have gotten a ferry would be late August. So heading back to Tok. On the way past Matanuska Glacier.
Unfortunately the weather started warming up and the vapor lock issue started to reappear. I had to stop by the side of the road a few times to let it cool. During one of these stops I ran into the family I camped next to at Tuktoyuktuk, they saw me on the side of the road and stopped to check up on me.
Made it to Haines Junction where I had dinner and was debating whether to drive down to Haines and take the ferry to Skagway, then come back north. That would have added an extra day to my trip.
Since I was already having issues with the Jeep, and didn't think it'd be worth it to spend an extra 8 hours of driving just to pass through those towns, I decided it would be best to skip it and come back when i had more time to enjoy the area. That ended up being a good decision, that evening there was a rockslide on the road leading to Skagway, and I would've been on the wrong side of it.
So went all the way to Tok, where I spend the night at one of the local campsites
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
Next day was another long day of driving. I'm not stopping as often as I was when my son was with me, so I have a lot less pictures.
One of the many beautiful rest stops along the road
Along Kluane Lake
That night I found another amazing campsite taking a side road off the Alcan, and then finding a little path between the trees which ended up on the cliff next to this river. I almost drove right past it as the opening was too narrow for a motorhome, and the ditch on the side of the road would've prevented the sprinter vans or other low clearance vehicles from entering. Luckily, it was perfect for a scrambler.
One of the many beautiful rest stops along the road
Along Kluane Lake
That night I found another amazing campsite taking a side road off the Alcan, and then finding a little path between the trees which ended up on the cliff next to this river. I almost drove right past it as the opening was too narrow for a motorhome, and the ditch on the side of the road would've prevented the sprinter vans or other low clearance vehicles from entering. Luckily, it was perfect for a scrambler.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
Went to Whitehorse, where the first order of business was getting a car wash. The bugs had gotten so bad even the gas station squeegees weren't getting them off, and the caked on dirt was getting all my clothes dirty.
Before
After
If you look close it's not really that clean, there's still mud and bugs in a lot of places, but after a half hour and probably $50 Canadian, I was done washing. However, even though I tried cleaning the wheels as best I could, I couldn't get it all clean, and the leftover mud was causing an issue. I had a bad vibration above 60mph, but it took me quite a few hours to realize that since I didn't reach that speed very often. So somewhere between Whitehorse and Fort Nelson I had to crawl under the jeep with a stick and chisel out the remaining mud.
Headed into Fort Nelson for dinner and a shower at the community center. $6 for a day pass and you have access to unlimited hot showers and clean bathrooms. A great deal IMO. Then I backtracked a little and started down the Stewart Cassiar for one of the final stops on my trip
That night I camped at French Creek recreation site.
Before
After
If you look close it's not really that clean, there's still mud and bugs in a lot of places, but after a half hour and probably $50 Canadian, I was done washing. However, even though I tried cleaning the wheels as best I could, I couldn't get it all clean, and the leftover mud was causing an issue. I had a bad vibration above 60mph, but it took me quite a few hours to realize that since I didn't reach that speed very often. So somewhere between Whitehorse and Fort Nelson I had to crawl under the jeep with a stick and chisel out the remaining mud.
Headed into Fort Nelson for dinner and a shower at the community center. $6 for a day pass and you have access to unlimited hot showers and clean bathrooms. A great deal IMO. Then I backtracked a little and started down the Stewart Cassiar for one of the final stops on my trip
That night I camped at French Creek recreation site.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
Next morning I tried to get an early start since I had another long day of driving ahead of me. First stop was Jade City, which is basically a rock shop with some RV parking.
Then up to the ghost town of Cassiar
On the way down to Stewart, I drove through what I think might have been a microburst. Everything looked normal, then within seconds I'm driving through heavy rain and strong winds that were pushing my jeep all over the road. The winds were so strong it blew one of my windshield wipers off. However, because it was a narrow winding road, I had to drive another mile or two to find a place to turn around, then drive back through the storm to look for my windshield wiper. Didn't find it the first time, but as I circled around again luckily the weather cleared and I was able to find it and zip tie it back on
That night I happened to get one of the last open spots at Meziadin campground. I was going to boondock somewhere close by, but after reading about all the bear activity in the area, and seeing their electrified fence for the tent campers, I figured it'd be safer in a large campsite. At least the probability of a bear going after me is reduced with so many other people around.
Then up to the ghost town of Cassiar
On the way down to Stewart, I drove through what I think might have been a microburst. Everything looked normal, then within seconds I'm driving through heavy rain and strong winds that were pushing my jeep all over the road. The winds were so strong it blew one of my windshield wipers off. However, because it was a narrow winding road, I had to drive another mile or two to find a place to turn around, then drive back through the storm to look for my windshield wiper. Didn't find it the first time, but as I circled around again luckily the weather cleared and I was able to find it and zip tie it back on
That night I happened to get one of the last open spots at Meziadin campground. I was going to boondock somewhere close by, but after reading about all the bear activity in the area, and seeing their electrified fence for the tent campers, I figured it'd be safer in a large campsite. At least the probability of a bear going after me is reduced with so many other people around.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
After visiting Stewart, I drove up to Salmon Glacier, I think the 5th largest and one of the few easily accessible by car. Easy might be a little misleading, as it still took a couple hours going up a very steep and kinda rough dirt road. I did have to stop once, but that was more a preventative measure rather than the jeep stalling.
I continued driving past the summit and down the other side hoping get get closer, but the road just continues on for a lot longer than I was willing to explore, so I turned around and went back up to the view point. I have to say this is probably one of the most scenic roads I've ever driving on, even more so than the Alcan.
On the way back down I stopped by the Fish Creek wildlife viewing platform. Technically I can say I saw a bear, but really I saw a bunch of movement in the trees and branches shaking, but barely a snout peaking out.
Passed through the town of Hyder, where the only thing open was a hotel and bar.
Since Hyder is technically in Alaska, you have to cross the border to get back into Stewart. Ironically, of all the border crossings I've done, this one took the longest. The customs officer kept asking me a ton of questions about what I have, what I bought, if I'm carrying anything illegal. It's strange because the only way to get to Hyder, AK is to pass through Stewart BC, and nothing in Hyder was open so there was nothing to buy. I chalk it up to the guy was probably just bored and wanted someone to talk to.
I ate dinner in Stewart, stocked up on a few supplies, then headed out because they were about the close the road for the night due to construction.
Drove all the way down to Kitwanga to camp at their municipal campground. On the drive between Stewart and Kitwanga is where I hit the most bugs I've ever seen. It was almost like driving through a snowstorm, but a snowstorm made of insects. I had to constantly use the wipers and fluid to clear the windshield just so I could see.
I continued driving past the summit and down the other side hoping get get closer, but the road just continues on for a lot longer than I was willing to explore, so I turned around and went back up to the view point. I have to say this is probably one of the most scenic roads I've ever driving on, even more so than the Alcan.
On the way back down I stopped by the Fish Creek wildlife viewing platform. Technically I can say I saw a bear, but really I saw a bunch of movement in the trees and branches shaking, but barely a snout peaking out.
Passed through the town of Hyder, where the only thing open was a hotel and bar.
Since Hyder is technically in Alaska, you have to cross the border to get back into Stewart. Ironically, of all the border crossings I've done, this one took the longest. The customs officer kept asking me a ton of questions about what I have, what I bought, if I'm carrying anything illegal. It's strange because the only way to get to Hyder, AK is to pass through Stewart BC, and nothing in Hyder was open so there was nothing to buy. I chalk it up to the guy was probably just bored and wanted someone to talk to.
I ate dinner in Stewart, stocked up on a few supplies, then headed out because they were about the close the road for the night due to construction.
Drove all the way down to Kitwanga to camp at their municipal campground. On the drive between Stewart and Kitwanga is where I hit the most bugs I've ever seen. It was almost like driving through a snowstorm, but a snowstorm made of insects. I had to constantly use the wipers and fluid to clear the windshield just so I could see.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
From Kitwanga to Prince george was just a very long, uneventful drive. The weather really started to warm up, so I was constantly afraid of stalling in the middle of the highway. I think i spent the night at a rest stop.
Prince George to Kamloops was much of the same. Long and relatively uneventful. I'm sure there are some places to visit in that area but at this point I'm anxious to get home.. The good news is one of the highways just opened up the day before, so I'm able to head down south rather than cutting further east. Driving between Clinton and Cache Creek was difficult. Not only was the air still thick with smoke, it was in the mid 80's, so I had the choice between keeping the windows up and suffering in the heat, or keeping the windows down and suffering with the smoke. No matter what choice I made, after 5 minutes it always felt like the wrong one. I was driving through one of the areas recently hit by the wildfires, the entire area was devastated. There were burned out shells of cars on the side of the road, and entire forests were gone. I didn't get any pictures because they didn't allow any stopping or detouring from the main highway.
The destination that night was Hope BC near the border.
Prince George to Kamloops was much of the same. Long and relatively uneventful. I'm sure there are some places to visit in that area but at this point I'm anxious to get home.. The good news is one of the highways just opened up the day before, so I'm able to head down south rather than cutting further east. Driving between Clinton and Cache Creek was difficult. Not only was the air still thick with smoke, it was in the mid 80's, so I had the choice between keeping the windows up and suffering in the heat, or keeping the windows down and suffering with the smoke. No matter what choice I made, after 5 minutes it always felt like the wrong one. I was driving through one of the areas recently hit by the wildfires, the entire area was devastated. There were burned out shells of cars on the side of the road, and entire forests were gone. I didn't get any pictures because they didn't allow any stopping or detouring from the main highway.
The destination that night was Hope BC near the border.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
If any of you were a kid in the 80's you'd recognize Hope from one particular movie.
It's where Rambo First blood was filmed. And there are still artifacts from the movie all around town.
The Othello tunnes is a nice hike and also where the cliff jump scene in Rambo was filmed.
Now I'm back in the US and heading down I-5. Stopped in Washington to have dinner with an old friend and am staying in a hotel for the first time in a week. I got really accustomed to being able to find wild campsites right off the road in Canada, but unfortunately it's not as easy in a major urban area. But at least I can take a shower without having to worry about the water shutting off on me.
It's where Rambo First blood was filmed. And there are still artifacts from the movie all around town.
The Othello tunnes is a nice hike and also where the cliff jump scene in Rambo was filmed.
Now I'm back in the US and heading down I-5. Stopped in Washington to have dinner with an old friend and am staying in a hotel for the first time in a week. I got really accustomed to being able to find wild campsites right off the road in Canada, but unfortunately it's not as easy in a major urban area. But at least I can take a shower without having to worry about the water shutting off on me.
Belizeit
CJ-8 Member
- City
- River Ridge
- State
- La
Maybe a poster for the man cave. That’s the money shot.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
Thanks for the compliment.
I’m in southern Oregon right now trying to make it over the mountains. It’s only in the mid 80’s but I have about 16k of elevation to get through so I’m running the heater to try and alleviate some of the engine heat.
It looks like I will be passing through Redding tonight if possible. My plan was to stop for the night around Shasta lake area, but looking at the weather for tomorrow I think I’m going to push as far as I can drive tonight to get through the heat so I’ll probably be driving through Shasta and Redding tonight when the weather is cooler.
- City
- Redding
- State
- Ca
Damn! I just saw this. If you have not gone through Redding yet. Call or text me at 530-524-0389. I will get my Scrambler and meet up with you! And you can crash at my house if you want.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
Thanks for the kind offer. I wish I could have met up, but after dealing with the heat in Oregon I knew California was going to be much worse and drove through the night. I did stop in Redding at the In-n-Out for a late night dinner, but it was still 85 degrees outside, but better than the 103 during the day. I ended up doing a 500 mile day to get through most of it
To back track a little, I didn't make too many stops in Oregon, I got stuck in so much traffic going through Seattle that I tried to bypass Portland during the night and stayed in Corvalis. The next morning I did make a slight detour to a small town off the I5 called Brownsville. It's where they filmed one of my favorite movies Stand by Me. I'm not that much of a movie buff so I didn't intentionally mean to visit all these filming locations, but since I was in the area I had to snap a few pictures.
"The Penny"
If you've watched the end of the movie, they've immortalized the spot with a penny in the street.
To back track a little, I didn't make too many stops in Oregon, I got stuck in so much traffic going through Seattle that I tried to bypass Portland during the night and stayed in Corvalis. The next morning I did make a slight detour to a small town off the I5 called Brownsville. It's where they filmed one of my favorite movies Stand by Me. I'm not that much of a movie buff so I didn't intentionally mean to visit all these filming locations, but since I was in the area I had to snap a few pictures.
"The Penny"
If you've watched the end of the movie, they've immortalized the spot with a penny in the street.
- City
- SoCal
- State
- CA
I'm finally home!
Today was probably the most challenging day of driving during the whole trip. I could have cut over to the coast for some cooler temperatures, but that would have most likely added one more day to the trip and I'd have to deal with bay area traffic.
At this point I was ready to go home, so I decided I could probably get an early start and head straight down the California's central valley and tough it out. Right around 3pm I was regretting that decision. You can see by my location on the map that it was 103 for most of the afternoon, which means the jeeps interior was probably 10-15 degrees hotter. It was so hot inside the jeep that my phone shut down a few times due to the temperature protection. I started having the vapor lock problems even on flat level ground, so I'd have to stop every half hour or so by the exit ramps just to pop the hood and let the engine cool down.
Even if I weren't having the vapor lock problem, I'd probably still be pulling over every half hour because that was about my limit for driving in that kind of heat. I knew it was bad when I would step out of the jeep in 103 weather and breathe a sigh of relief because if felt better than being inside the jeep. Sor for that stretch of freeway which I'd normally cover in about 3 hours, took 6-7 hours because of all the stopping.
I was so focused on making it home that I barely took any pictures. Here's one during my lunch break trying to let the jeep cool off.
And the only other pictures is me stuck on the side of the road going up the grapevine. For those that don't know it's another mountain pass that climbs at a 6% grade for about 5 miles. Not that extreme, but doing it in an old jeep in 100 degree weather is a challenge. I stopped at some outlet stores at the base of the climb to let the engine cool a bit and wait for the sun to go down to give myself a better chance of making it up. In the beginning I was fine, I could manage about 50mph on the initial climb. That slowly went down to 40, then 30, then 25. Luckily I was able to pull in behind some slow semi's that were also struggling to make it up. I got to within a mile of the summit before I stalled.
The jeep's finally back home. It needs a few repairs, but it made it all the way to the Arctic Ocean and back again. There are a few things I'll probably change now that I'm back, and I'll have to solve that vapor lock problem and tie rod, but other than that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
Today was probably the most challenging day of driving during the whole trip. I could have cut over to the coast for some cooler temperatures, but that would have most likely added one more day to the trip and I'd have to deal with bay area traffic.
At this point I was ready to go home, so I decided I could probably get an early start and head straight down the California's central valley and tough it out. Right around 3pm I was regretting that decision. You can see by my location on the map that it was 103 for most of the afternoon, which means the jeeps interior was probably 10-15 degrees hotter. It was so hot inside the jeep that my phone shut down a few times due to the temperature protection. I started having the vapor lock problems even on flat level ground, so I'd have to stop every half hour or so by the exit ramps just to pop the hood and let the engine cool down.
Even if I weren't having the vapor lock problem, I'd probably still be pulling over every half hour because that was about my limit for driving in that kind of heat. I knew it was bad when I would step out of the jeep in 103 weather and breathe a sigh of relief because if felt better than being inside the jeep. Sor for that stretch of freeway which I'd normally cover in about 3 hours, took 6-7 hours because of all the stopping.
I was so focused on making it home that I barely took any pictures. Here's one during my lunch break trying to let the jeep cool off.
And the only other pictures is me stuck on the side of the road going up the grapevine. For those that don't know it's another mountain pass that climbs at a 6% grade for about 5 miles. Not that extreme, but doing it in an old jeep in 100 degree weather is a challenge. I stopped at some outlet stores at the base of the climb to let the engine cool a bit and wait for the sun to go down to give myself a better chance of making it up. In the beginning I was fine, I could manage about 50mph on the initial climb. That slowly went down to 40, then 30, then 25. Luckily I was able to pull in behind some slow semi's that were also struggling to make it up. I got to within a mile of the summit before I stalled.
The jeep's finally back home. It needs a few repairs, but it made it all the way to the Arctic Ocean and back again. There are a few things I'll probably change now that I'm back, and I'll have to solve that vapor lock problem and tie rod, but other than that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
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