Day 11: Dease Lake, British Columbia

Wow, just a brutal, brutal travel day. Only 240 miles in nearly nine hours on the road. I left Stewart this morning, and I'm now in a town named Dease Lake, still in British Columbia.

The drive was just an absolute beat-down. I saw on the DriveBC website that there were going to be a couple of areas that were "packed snow", but what I didn't know was that these areas would stretch for 50 or 100 miles (or more)!

Day 10: Stranded in Stewart, British Columbia

There was snow overnight, and when I went to leave Stewart, I quickly found that I couldn't. About 16 miles down the road, I was driving up a relatively steep incline, and my car kept losing traction. I knew I was slipping a lot, and the "slipping" indicator on my dashboard kept lighting up as well.

I stopped on the road for a little while -- there is no traffic here -- and thought about what to do. I decided I couldn't try to drive any farther; that was almost suicidal. So I did a three-point turn in the road, and drove back to Stewart.

Day 9: Hyder, Alaska and Stewart, British Columbia

I thought I'd enjoy this day off, so I drove over to Hyder, Alaska, which is about a mile or two west of Stewart. There's only one road into Hyder, and there's no U.S. border guards as you drive into Hyder, though there is a Canadian customs stop on the way back into Stewart.

Pictures from Stewart, British Columbia

In my eyes, Stewart, British Columbia has turned from a town that scared the heck of out me when I first landed there in May of 2007 into one of the prettiest places I've ever been to on Earth.

Day 8: Stewart, British Columbia

I landed in Stewart tonight, a drive of 699 km (about 440 miles) from Prince George. The apple and blueberry fritters were so good at Tim Horton's that I stopped at two different locations today, about 30 minutes apart, lol. Nobody should eat that much sugar in a day, but wow, were they good!

Day 7: Prince George, British Columbia

Today was a short drive of about 260 miles (444 km), and I landed at a much better-looking Sandman hotel here in Prince George. The short drive was intentional; I want to take care of some business in this relatively large city -- laundry, oil change, gas cans, etc. -- and then take off to Prince Rupert or perhaps Stewart tomorrow for a little sight-seeing. I'm a little road weary, and a day of fooling around sounds like a good break.

Day 6: Cache Creek, British Columbia

I drove about 400 miles today, including several stops at stores (trying to find tire chains, with no luck), and crossing the Canadian border. I'm now in a town named Cache Creek, British Columbia.

Cache Creek is a small town of maybe 200 people, south of Prince George. I would have liked to make it farther down the road today, but I was getting really tired, and decided it would be best to pull over.

Day 5: Roslyn, Washington

A short 364 mile trip to Roslyn, Washington today. It was a relatively short ride, but there was more bad weather again today.

The worst of it by far was that I had no idea there was tumbleweed in Oregon and Washington, and my car was pelted by huge chunks of tumbleweed that was blown very fast from west to east. That part of the drive felt like some sort of "avoid the tumbleweed" video game, where all the drivers on the road were swerving to avoid being pelted, and to avoid running over the tumbleweed.

Day 4: Ontario, Oregon

I woke up to a "skiff" of snow in Rawlins, along with spectacular mountain views. Last night I learned that there's a prison in Rawlins, so it probably wasn't the best place in the world to stop.

The Hitching Post Inn in Cheyenne, Wyoming

I drove through Cheyenne, Wyoming today, so one of my sisters asked if I would stop and take pictures of the Hitching Post Inn as I passed through town. I don't remember it, but my sisters tell me that when we were young, we used to stop at the Hitching Post Inn on our way back and forth to summer vacations in California.

Unfortunately the Hitching Post is closed now, and the big cowboy statue that used to be in front of the inn is gone now, and there's only a very tall cowboy boot at the main entrance.

Day 3: Rawlins, Wyoming

I drove 463 miles today to a small town named Rawlins, Wyoming. I would have made it farther, but one of my sisters asked if I could find the Hitching Post Inn in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and take some pictures there.

The scenery has started to become very wonderful, and I'll post some pictures here as soon as I can.

Update: I've added some additional information and photos here about The Hitching Post Inn in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

British Columbia and Yukon Territory road conditions

Sitting here at the hotel in Kearney, Nebraska, I just found two Canadian websites that may help on my drive through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory in a few days.

The DriveBC.ca website shows road information in British Columbia, and 511Yukon.ca shows road conditions in the Yukon Territory.

Day 2: Kearney, Nebraska

Including wrong turns, I made it 490 miles today, to a town named Kearney, Nebraska. Today's trip took me around Kansas City, under Omaha, and through Lincoln.

There's no particular method to my driving and stopping, I just stop when I start getting too tired. I was hoping to make it to North Platte, but Kearney will do.

As you can see from the image below, the weather this morning was already interesting. I ran into fog created by snow sublimation, then much more fog, followed by rain, winds, and flooding.

Day 1: Columbia, Missouri

A few personal things came up, so I came back to Louisville (Kentucky), and essentially re-started my trip this morning.

So on the new "Day 1", I've landed in a town named Columbia, Missouri. Google Maps tells me that Columbia is 392 miles from Louisville. If you add in another 20 miles for actually leaving from Simpsonville, that was 412 miles today. That's about my daily average, but the important thing for Day 1 was getting through St. Louis before rush hour. Even then, traffic there was very heavy, and I'm glad to have that behind me.

Back to Alaska! (Day 1 - Merrillville, Indiana)

Merrillville, Indiana, March 3, 2010.

I started the long drive from Kentucky back to Alaska this morning. For a variety of reasons I got off to a late start, so rather than drive all the way to my youngest sister's house in northern Illinois, I decided to stop in Merrillville, Indiana.

Alaska road and weather conditions (references)

If you happen to need to know the conditions of the roads in Alaska -- as I will very shortly -- the 511.alaska.gov site will soon be your friend. They provide information about Alaska roads, including road closures, difficult areas, construction, etc.

Todd Palin, First Dude

As reported by NPR (and every other news source), Todd Palin played a very active role in the governing of the state of Alaska during Sarah Palin's work as Alaska governor.

The biggest question for me is whether or not this is legal? Did his business interests help run the governor's office? Or can he simply claim the role of "key advisor"?

Looking for a place to live in Alaska

I'm currently living in Kentucky, but I'm getting ready to move back to Alaska -- hopefully for good this time -- and I'm pretty cranked up. In fact, I haven't slept much the last three nights.

The last time I lived in Alaska I lived in Talkeetna, but this time around I'm looking for a little larger area to live in. As I think about where I want to live, I've come up with this short list of needs/desires:

Basic needs

Chrome for OS X; browser usage data; MacBook skins

Besides looking for places to live in Alaska, I've also been very busy writing lately. Here are some of my latest articles over on the devdaily.com website:

Holiday geek gifts ideas for under $20

I just posted two new 'geek gift ideas' articles for the 2009 holiday season:

• Geek gifts for under $20
• Geek gift for under $10

I have to say, it's pretty hard trying to find great 'geek gifts' for less than $20 these days, but I'm really happy with the gifts I found.