WHERE ARE WE?

In the tradition of Click and Clack of Car Talk/NPR, we have a puzzle for you. Look at the feature image taken yesterday of our Roadtrek and note the following clues:

1) the blue truck is on Hwy #97, the Alaskan-Canadian Highway, AKA: the “Al-Can”;

2) there are glaciers in the background;

3) the totem pole is a First Nation carving with a copy in Delta Junction, Alaska on the Al-Can; and

3) it is 7:00 PM and the air temperature is 91 degrees Fahrenheit……really.

Answer: We are still in California, on the first day of our trip to Inuvik, NT Canada, the Arctic Ocean, and Alaska.

Weed, CA sits under Mt. Shasta, a glaciated dormant volcano, at the Southern Terminus of the Alaska-Canadian Highway. Thus the totem pole….and the very hot, drought plagued California summer.  The Al-Can will wind its way north along the “Volcano” route  through California, Oregon, Washington within the U.S., and through the Canadian Provinces of British Columbia and the Yukon Territory to its Northern Terminus in Delta Junction, Alaska, 1367 miles above the US/Canada border.

Instead, we’ll meander north using alternate (slower routes) and gravel roads, to allow maximum camping and hiking. We won’t jump on the Al-Can until Dawson Creek, British Columbia when we will follow it to the Yukon Territory. The final 400 miles will be on gravel roads in Canada’s Northwest Territory, arriving in Inuvik for the Great Northern Arts Festival in Mid-July.  There, we will work as volunteers, and enjoy the daily workshops taught by the First Nation Tribes. A short plane ride 45 miles north will bring us to a swim in the Arctic Ocean….and then it’s all driving south from there…through the Yukon, Alaska and British Columbia 3,130 miles back home. Whew! The lengths we will go to to avoid the drought in California this year…..and catch the Northern Lights and the Midnight Sun!