The trip was our best summer vacation because it was our honeymoon and part of our Blue Highway Tour, an eight-month trip in which we traveled only on two-lane roads whenever we could. And yes, the Cassiar is now a paved highway. We exited Alaska via the Cassiar Highway, 500 miles of unpaved Canadian road with even less civilization than our route into Alaska. In 1989, after eight days on the ALCAN, we traveled three weeks in Alaska, exploring every paved highway south of the Arctic Circle. The Milepost, now 71 years old, available in print and at is still an essential guide.
A quick internet check tells me that driving to Alaska is still an adventure, as cell service is spotty and gas stations can be many miles apart. Today, as we hover near retirement, we could drive there again, as old codgers with cellphones and laptops, but it would be a nice smooth ride instead of a rough “where-the-hell-are-we” journey. By 1992, the last original gravel section was paved over. What we didn’t know was that in less than five years, the ALCAN would change dramatically.
#GRIZZLY ADVENTURE VAN GAS MILLEAGE WINDOWS#
When the road dust was especially thick and eye-stinging, the windows were cranked shut. To enjoy music over the din, the volume on the cassette player was turned up high. With the road noise, clouds of dust, stones spitting at our vehicle, insects splatting on the windshield and stretches of teeth-clattering washboard, 200 miles was an average day. In 1989, the Alaska Highway was 1,700 miles of mostly unpaved road that snaked from British Columbia and up through the Yukon Territory before crossing the border into Alaska.įor eight days, we crunched and bumped along a two-lane ribbon of gravel and mud. At a hardware store, Dan bought a pair of headlight protectors, wire cages that looked like a hockey goalie’s mask, and screwed them onto the front of the 1982 Vanagon.Ī summer road trip to Alaska in the 1980s was filled with rough conditions - but intrepid travelers were rewarded with up-close views of pristine beauty.
We happily took advice from the old codger in British Columbia.
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