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From: jerryp@tektools.UUCP (Jerry Peek)
Newsgroups: net.travel
Subject: Re: Travel By Alaska Highway
Message-ID: <696@tektools.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 26-Jan-86 15:26:10 EST
Article-I.D.: tektools.696
Posted: Sun Jan 26 15:26:10 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 28-Jan-86 05:37:25 EST
References: <479@kontron.UUCP> <257@birtch.UUCP>
Reply-To: jerryp@tektools.UUCP (Jerry Peek)
Distribution: net
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR.
Lines: 36

In article <257@birtch.UUCP> ken@birtch.UUCP (Ken B) writes:
> In the summer of 1978, I traveled from Sacramento, Calif. to Anchorage,
> Alaska via the 'Alkan' and 'Cassiar' (sp?) highways.  We spent only 5
> weeks doing so, {next time, 2 months minimum} but we had a really 
> great time.
> 
> The only problems we had were:
> 	8 flat tires (about average, at the time)
> 	1 broken axle (on the trailer we were towing)
> 
> If you can, for safetys sake, try to have at least one more vehicle,
> if only for a backup.  We were lucky that the axle broke on the
> trailer, not the blazer.

I guess things have changed a lot since then.  I drove the Alaska and Cassiar
Highways (also the Campbell and Dempster) last summer -- no problems.
The roads were generally excellent, though there were a few rough stretches
between Fort Nelson, BC and the Yukon border.  The Alaska Highway is almost
all paved.

I *would* carry a couple of spares (tires, I mean... not axles).
Keep your gas tank full, especially if you need unleaded.

By the way, I think the Cassiar is by far the more-beautiful road, though it's
dirt/gravel.  A short and fun side trip is past the Bear Glacier on the
highway to Stewart, BC and the tiny town of Hyder, Alaska, right next door.
The only way to reach Hyder by land is through Canada.  There's a little store,
as you come into town, that feels strangely American after spending time
across the border in Stewart (which, by the way, is a nice town on its own).
And Hyder has way more than its share of bars, per-capita...

--Jerry Peek, Tektronix, Inc.
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