Journey to Alaska - Day Eight & Nine (Videos!)

And here's the last two to finish out the video diary of my trip!

Journey To Alaska - Day Five (Video!)

Here's the video for day five - finally!

Journey to Alaska - Day Seven (Video!!)

Better late than never!  Here's Day Seven!

Journey to Alaska - Day Six (Video!)

Sorry for the videos being out of order!  I wanted to get this one up for you guys because I might not have internet again until I get to Alaska (probably on Thursday).  Day Six covered our trip from Jasper, BC to Smithers, BC.  We finished up our tour of the Icefields Parkway, including a stop at Athabasca Falls, and continued on through British Columbia.  It rained off and on all day, so we decided to find a hotel for the night.  Smithers is the most precious little town and I could definitely be convinced to stay forever!  It has the cutest little craft shops and is in the shadows of gorgeous mountains all around.  I hope I can find a similar little town in Alaska to set up a homestead!

Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway

Rainbow over Athabasca Falls

Athabasca Falls

Karl and I - doesn't he look happy?

Journey to Alaska - Day Four (Video!)

Sorry this post is coming a few days late!!  We haven't had access to internet in the last couple of days, so this is my first opportunity to post my videos.  Day Four was a relatively easy day for us - We had such problems the previous night that we wanted a bit of an opportunity to rest.  We woke up in Hardin, MT, had a delicious breakfast of eggs and bacon, then headed to Great Falls, MT.  This was only about five hours of driving so we still made it there by dinner time despite leaving at noon.  We then spent a bit of time at a local casino where Karl quickly lost $20 on video poker!  Wrapped it up as a early night and planned to head to the border the next day!

Montana

Willow and I in the car

Journey to Alaska - Day Three (Video!)

Tonight, we're spending the evening in Hardin, Montana.  It has been a really LONG day.  Karl and I tried to stop at a hotel in Belle Fourge, SD around 7:00pm, but Karl's dad didn't like the hotel and suggested we drive another hour.  We both TRIED to tell him that it would be a really long trip to the next town, but he didn't seem to believe us.  After several hundred miles driving through a Native reservation, we finally found a hotel in Hardin.  At 1am.  The only benefit is we will have an extremely short day tomorrow, as we still plan to stay this side of the US-Canadian border.

Here's my video of the trip, a few of my favorite photos of the day.  South Dakota was pretty awesome once you hit the Badlands and the Black Hills, and I think I saw 200 baby cows, which frankly never gets old.

Overlook of the Missouri River

Mt. Rushmore

Lake in the Black Hills

The clouds look like someone wiped paint across them, don't they?

Sometimes the best photos are the ones that turn out a little blurry!

Journey to Alaska - Day Two (Video!!)

Here's our video from yesterday (sorry it's a day late!) - This covers our drive from Urbana, Illinois to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  We drove about 625 miles on day two!

A Journey to Alaska - Day One (Video!)

Karl, Willow, and I are sitting here in a Super 8 in Illinois which amazingly has free internet access, so I am able to update you all on our progress (and with a video nonetheless)!

We covered 475 miles today, even though we got a late start around 1pm.  We are definitely on track to hit Alaska by next Wednesday.  Stopping at gas stations has been pretty depressing - my car with the trailer is only getting around 17 mpg.  My calculations suggest it will cost over $1000 just to get my car to Alaska!  Luckily, Karl's car is super efficient and is hovering right around 37 mpg.  Hopefully the two will balance each other out!

Check back tomorrow for another video - so long as I have internet access they'll be coming daily!