The beginning of the Pan American Highway to Ushuaia (and then up to Rio de Janeiro)

Alaska is a state I have always wanted to visit because of the abundant wildlife and beautiful landscapes. I also like to do a lot of my traveling overland, so I decided the best trip to take is an 8 month trip that goes all the way from Alaska to Ushuaia and then back up to Rio (in time for Carnivale) which most of the trip will be done by truck (except for the Dorian Gap of Panama of course). When the trip finishes in Rio the Truck will have traveled approximately 45,000 Kilometers.

Leaving out of Anchorage on a 20 plus ton truck with strangers who I would soon come to know very well, we headed up to Prince William Sound, which came to light in the world with the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in the late eighties. As I jumped on a boat to see the glaciers and all the wildlife including otters, humpback whales, seals, and birds. The photos below do not do this wonderful place justice!!!

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The landscape photos are also worth a thousand words to write about…..

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The small town of Talkeetna was the next stop as half of the town was a throwback to times past with the buildings.

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Next stop would be the majestic Denali National Park which is one of the most famous parks not only in Alaska but also all of the United States. If the scenery was not majestic enough-

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Then the animals including bears, squirrels, Elk, Moose with babies and Reindeer definitely made it worthwhile…..

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What is unique about this trip is that it goes up the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe Bay which is one of the more productive oil fields in the United States. This desolate highway is mostly used for truckers with very few people making this trek up to the Arctic Sea. Most of the road is gravel with a few small settlements along the way. The isolation of this place made it unique and the scenery even more. A dip in the arctic sea was defiantly a highlight for me as the whole journey up.

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There are only 3 permanent settlements on the Dalton Road- Coldfoot(population 34), Wiseman(population 12), and Deadhorse (20 with more coming in depending on the oil season.

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To finish off Alaska we went to the Santa Clause house which supposedly is where all kids send their letters to Santa Clause to.

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No trip would be complete in Alaska without a stop in Chicken. This small town has a gas station, a general store, a bar and turns into a small town for the Chicken Stock Festival which we did not arrive in time for the night before. The Pictures pretty much tell it all.

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Next Stop….the Great Vastness of Western Canada….