So we decided to drive to Alaska..(pics)

[Thomas.of.Hunter]

Pics Starting in Norman,Oklahoma. Then kansas, colorado,wyoming,montana,alberta,bc,yukon, and alaska

The following are Okahoma, Kansas,Colorado, and Wyoming









Day 1:

Rusty and I left in a 2002 extended cab Dodge pulling a 38 foot goose-neck trailer. We stopped at the dollar store to stock up on supplies and ended up with several cases of water,gatorade, and tea. Then we headed toward Norman to pick up Chance.

We stopped in for fuel where I saw my first new Camaro at the gas pump. It was a beautiful car, but the 10 rednecks gawking around it took away from some of the aesthetic appeal.

While waiting inside to pay, a pretty 20-something brunette walked in and proceeded toward the fountain drinks. Five seconds later a short,skinny, and scrubby looking guy abandoned his gawking position at the camaro and walked in eying her. He walked directly over to her and the conversation was something like:

Guy- Hey, are you from Sallisaw?
Girl-(glancing over and then back)- Nope.
Guy- Oh, where are you from?
Girl- Stigler.
Guy- That's cool..about how far is that from here?
Girl- About 35 miles.
Guy- Cool, so what are you doing tonight?
Girl- I'm actually meeting my boyfriend here..
t.

We got on I40 and headed to pick up Chance in Norman.

After dinner we decided to stay the night at the apartment and get a good start early in the morning.

Miles traveled on day 1: 219


Day 2:
We planned to leave Norman at 5, but alarms were not heard and it wound up being closer to 7. We headed north on I35 into flat and boring Kansas. Shortly after leaving, a box flew out of the back of the truck and shredded into 1000 pieces as hit touched the Kansas asphalt. With little hope of finding anything left, we turned around and I jumped out to assess the damage. To my amazement Chance's brand new sleeping bag sat in the middle of two lanes without a scratch on it. There was evidence of the shredded cardboard box all around. The box had taken all of the impact and the sleeping back didn't have so much as a scratch on it. The road had mercy on his bag..and it was a good thing because little did Chance know that he would need it that night.

We took I70 west into Colorado where the scenery did not instantly change at the state line..much to Chance's dismay. Eventually cloud covered mountains were visible on the horizon. After Denver, we took I25 north into Wyoming. We were excited about the scenery in Wyoming, but night was fast approaching.

We passed through Cheyenne and then Casper before it was time to stop for some much needed down time. Around 12 a.m. Rusty pulled off the interstate between Casper and Kaycee. We turned down a dirt road with a cattle guard and a sign that read "Private Drive." Oops. The cattle moved out of our way as we started down the road. We decided to find another place, but turning around with a 40-foot trailer isn't easy in the dark. I got out to guide him just as another vehicle pulled up to the gate. "I hope we don't get shot" I said to myself as I directed.

After turning around I got back in the truck and we slowly drove up to meet our visitor. The car door opened and there stood a Wyoming State Trooper. He approached our vehicle and the conversation went something like this:

Rusty: Hey how's it going?
Trooper: Good. I was just wondering what you guys are doing out here.
Rusty: Well we've been drivin' all day and were lookin' for a place to stop for the night..but noticed that the sign said "private drive"
Trooper: Oh ya'..I was wonderin' why you were pulling off the interstate here. Where are ya comin' from?
Rusty: Well, we're from Oklahoma and I commercial fish up in Alaska...
Trooper: Well I'll be darned. Is that anything like the show "Deadliest Catch" that I see on T.V.?
Rusty: Well, I salmon fish..Do you know John captain of "Time Bandit"? Well he salmon fishes too..out of the same place that I fish.
Trooper: Gollee. I'll be darned. Is it as dangerous as what they do?
Rusty: Well 95 percent of the time it's pretty nice, but the other 5 percent are pretty bad.
Trooper: Gollee. That's about how it is with my job. 95 percent of the time it's good, but the other 5 percent are pure terror.

They continued talking for a while and then he told us about a rest stop in Kaycee about 20 miles up the road. We turned right after leaving the ranch thinking that the road would get back on the highway...it eventually did after driving a few miles weaving back and forth under the interstate.

We found the rest stop and Chance and I slept on reclining chairs in the grassy "Pet Exercise" area while Rusty slept in the truck. The stars were much brighter here and there were horses across the fence grazing all night. It was pretty chilly outside and Chance definitely needed his sleeping bag. I drifted off to sleep, but 5 a.m. came way too soon.

Miles traveled on day 2: 1031

[wuaha]

sup

[AltCtrlDel]

Canada is fuking win isnit?

[Thomas.of.Hunter]

Wyoming and Monana..we slept outside in the pet exercise area in wyoming after a State trooper made us move from a side road.








Day 3:
We left the pet exercise area in Kaycee at 5 a.m. running on the fumes of four hours of sleep. We stopped for a couple days worth of calories at McDonalds and then we were on the fast track for Montana. It was during this time that Rusty talked about his karate fighting days. The conversation went something like this:
Rusty: .Well let me tell you something..I was in karate for about 12 years and was on a boxing team when I was at West Point.
Aaron: Did you ever get in street fights much?
Rusty: I’ve been in my fair share… This one time when I was about 25 me and a buddy were just sitting talking in a parking lot. There was a group of college kids sitting on the other side of the parking lot just minding their own business when these two guys pulled up in their car…Well they got out and one of them was about 6’3” 240lbs…well anyway they started harassing the group…taunting them trying to get somebody to fight them. Well when nobody would fight the big one offered fifty bucks to any two of them that could whip him. Well anyway, nobody took the offer…but he didn’t see me and my buddy sitting over there. We were tired of him already…and when I looked over to my buddy..I didn’t even have to say anything.
So we took off walking toward them and when we got there I said..”I’ll take your money.”
The guy just smirked as we got closer. Now at this time I wore big hiking boots so as to be able to leave a pretty good mark on someone’s face. Well anyway the big guy asked, “Are you gonna come one on one or..?”
I answered, “Well I’m coming one on one” and then kicked him in the face… dropping him like a rock. My buddy jumped on him and started pounding him in the face..all the while his friend just stood by watching and yelling. After we let him up he said “I’ll be back to settle this”..We figured that he was gonna go some place to get our money…Well anyway when they pulled back up they jumped out with guns and started shooting..Everyone scattered..my buddy jumped on his bike and I’ve never seen somebody leave so fast on one wheel. I ducked between some cars for cover. Now this was in Longview, Texas and I’ve never seen the cops get there so fast. Four or five of them pulled up and the guy surrendered. We never did get our money.
We crossed the state of Montana and got to the Canadian border at around 4:45 p.m. We travelled in line at a snail’s pace for over an hour until we finally got to the U.S. checkpoint. The two women guards asked us a few questions and then sent us to the Canadian side. The Canadian guard who was also a woman took our I.D.s and asked us a few questions.
“Do you have cash over $10,000?” she asked.
Rusty answered joking, “No, but I wish we did.”
I guess she wasn’t in the mood for jokes because she gave us an evil glare before letting us through. Lesson learned: Don’t joke with border guards. That could have cost us several hours of searching and interrogation.
Now that we were in Canada the trip would start to go faster because the speed limit went from 70 in Montana to 110 in Canada(sorry if you are blonde and reading this), but little did we know that our trip was about to slow down tremendously.
Pulling that 40 footer was starting to take a toll on the Dodge Cummins. Near Claresholm, Alberta it started bogging and sputtering under acceleration. Rusty thought it was the lift pump. A setback like that would cost over $1200 and a day of travelling lost to installation. So we got a hotel room in Claresholm at 9 p.m. to wait for the Dodge dealer to open in the morning.
Miles Traveled: 677


Day 4:
The next morning we got up at seven to eat the continental breakfast. It turned out to be coupons for $2 off a breakfast at the A&W across the street. What a rip off. We would find later that every Canadian town has a Terry Horton’s, a golf course, and an A&W.
After breakfast Rusty unhooked the trailer and headed for the Dodge dealer knowing that it would be a costly visit.
But a while later he walked into the hotel room with a happy look on his face. He had fixed the truck for $30 by simply replacing the fuel filter. Time lost: 8 hours. We hit the road desperate to make up lost time.
The temperature quickly dropped to 32 and there were a couple of inches of snow in the ditch and on unpaved areas. Snow in May..something I wouldn’t get used to.
That evening we drove through Dawson Creek (no we didn’t see any of the cast)..We slept at a rest stop between Fort St. John and Fort Nelson. I slept in the partially reclined driver’s seat with Chance on the passenger’s side. Rusty lulled us to sleep from the back seat with his snoring as the temperature dipped down to 27 degrees.
Miles traveled: 745
Day 5:
I woke up shivering. Who would have thought that it would get so cold in May. I guess I should have packed a warmer sleeping bag. Rusty and Chance were prepared. We headed toward Toad River..hoping to load a wrecked camper on our flat bed trailer. At an overlook spot we stopped to take some pictures. There we met some guys from Texas and an older couple on a motorcycle that had ridden from Mississippi. We made it to Toad River at about 10 and then started jacking up the wrecked camper..we tried to load it for about five hours until it fell off of the jacks/stacks of wood twisting it even more. This was the last straw. Rusty decided to find a buyer. He found someone to take it off of his hands for a very low price. The entire trip was based on picking up that trailer. Rusty’s only hope of making up for the huge monetary loss would be fishing for kings in Kenai, Alaska on Monday. But we had to get there in time to set everything up. It looked promising until a U-joint on the truck started making noise shortly after leaving Toad River. The nearest town with one was Whitehorse, over 470 miles away. Thank God we didn’t have the 35 foot camper strapped down on the back…or we would have been stuck on the side of a cliff without a paddle..er..rope.
We slowly limped toward Whitehorse..stopping to sleep at a rest stop 100km away.
Miles traveled: 683
Day 6:
We arrived in Whitehorse the next morning an hour and a half before the parts store opened so we sat in McDonalds and then I bought some groceries because I was getting tired of eating fast food all the time. Rusty pulled the drive shaft before the store opened and then had everything reinstalled 30 minutes after getting the universal joint. We hit the road again..praying for no more setbacks and hoping to reach Alaska asap.
Traveling through Yukon we saw several black bears, two grizzlies, elk, wild horses, a lone wolf, and three hitch hiking girls that we didn’t have room for. The girls were jumping up and down like crazy trying to get us to stop (thanks Rusty..we left my wife on the side of the road.)
We finally made it to the Alaskan border. I was waiting for them to hand me the $1000, but to my disappointment all they did was question our empty trailer. It was a warm sunny day and after explaining our situation the conversation was something like this:
Rusty: It sure is nice weather today.
Guard: (smiling) Yeah I tell people.. “Look where I work”..It’s so nice. But then when I’m standing out here and it’s 40 below..I say “Look where I work!”.
We stopped for fuel at the first U.S. gas station in several days. While Rusty was still in the store, Chance and I were eating at the truck. There was a car wash without the usual cover/sides over it where two girls were washing their ‘96ish Honda Accord. I was looking at a map when I heard one say.. “I’m gonna strip down to my skivvies.” I thought, “Who even talks like that?” and then looked in their direction. Two seconds later one of the girls took off her shirt and pants and started prancing around in her underwear. I was thinking “What the heck” and then the other girl started taking pictures of her. Then she started washing her feet off with the power washer. Alaskan girls must be tough because that would hurt. As they pulled out she threw her underwear out the window and into a trash can. I guess they stopped somewhere else because a few minutes after getting back on the road they flew past us in their little red sports car. A while later they were pulled over by a state trooper. They were “talking” their way out of a ticket as we passed. Only 10 minutes later they flew past us again. We never saw them again, but a short time later an SUV passed us(remember we are pulling a 40 foot trailer so it slows us down) with a girl hanging almost all the way out the window waving at us. Alaskan rule #1: Girls in Alaska are insane.
During the few hundred miles from the border to Kenai, we saw some of the most beautiful mountains and scenery of the whole trip. We arrived at our destination late that night. Chance and I slept on The Thunderbolt, a fishing boat, while Rusty slept in his camper.
miles traveled: 861

[colton_orr]

i would love to do that drive, i think i will once i get a new truck.

[ulovindeeznuts]

Funny I live in norman off 24th........And I know where those apartments you are standing in front of are lol I actually know this douche who lives there. His name is Kenny.

[insomniac23]

looks amazing...just added going ther to the to do list

[Who?]

why take the trailer?

[BigChamp89]

awesome pics, any more?

[againstall0dds]

one of my bucket lists

[smoknjoe]

cool beans

what kind of camera you using? I'm looking for a decently priced one.

[Ravishing_Rick]

Outdoor Recreation ??

[mindgame]

where in montana are you going through?

[whiteboyy09]

cool pics man, i love road trips

[Mister_E]

good stuff

[Jax419]

Cool sheit, I've wanted to something like this...and +1 on why did you take the trailer

[Thomas.of.Hunter]

why take the trailer?

to pick up a wrecked camper in canada

awesome pics, any more?

yeah taking forever to upload

cool beans

what kind of camera you using? I'm looking for a decently priced one.

d40

Outdoor Recreation ??

what

[Thomas.of.Hunter]

I think most of these are in yukon..i have over 1100 pics so I skipped alot of alberta and bc. yeah the animals were in the ditch on the side of the road

[bawka]

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Mac_xX]

I used to live in a place near the Alaskan border called Kitimat, which was in BC. About a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it was beautiful. Where we crossed, there was seriously only one road on this town that had anything on it. The rest of the roads were built for the logging industry or for houses lol.

[eeeeee!]

oh wowza. i live in the town where those windmills are

[ex3e1989]

wtf is going on here?

nice pics OP. are those animals just wondering around in the open near roads etc?

[screwnamez]

I used to live in a place near the Alaskan border called Kitimat, which was in BC. About a 2 1/2 hour drive, but it was beautiful. Where we crossed, there was seriously only one road on this town that had anything on it. The rest of the roads were built for the logging industry or for houses lol.

my sister lives in kitimat, moved up there with her fiance

[ricbig]

i thought alaska was lke an island lmfao

[hamdemic]

in,

i thought alaska was lke an island lmfao

hmmm...

ill stay away from this

[bawka]

are those animals just wondering around in the open near roads etc?

in kananaskis (where i think those pics are) ****s around the roads all the time and on the road alot which up traffic untill those lazy bastards decide to saunter over to the gutter.

[YesThatGuy]

awesome!

[dabbmw2002]

bro, awesome picks, could you edit them to say what picture is where??

[Zirob]

i thought alaska was lke an island lmfao

[The_Albatross]

i thought alaska was lke an island lmfao

no man, its connected to russia