Alcan RallyLog

We made it!

All of TeamD made it back home safe and as sound as we were when we left (how sound that is is up for debate). Thanks for all of the support from our families, friends and fans, your good wishes really helped us along the way! The 323GTX contingent of TeamD will be posting some pictures and stories asap, so check back soon.

-nick

The Long Road Home

As Steve said, TeamD is back home. After just over three days, Car #11 left the freeway 2284 miles from Anchorage.

A quick recap of the last few days:

Friday (Day 10) meant sleeping in after the banquet and festivities of the previous evening.
Our day: much-needed laundry was addressed, shopping in Anchorage for some souvenirs, and then we were back on the road. We made tracks over the Glenn Highway to Tok, then just squeaked over the AK/YT border before finding the great roadhouse at Beaver Creek (See the Beaver Pad entry earlier). Canadian customs gave us an official stamp in our passports as well!

We arose the next morning, nabbed a hearty truckers breakfast and retraced our route south on
the Alaska Highway with fuel stops in Destruction Bay, Whitehorse and Teslin. Before we reached the turn south on the Cassiar near Watson Lake, the front differential on the BMW started acting cranky. Eric quickly diagnosed low lubricant and some oil was located and inserted. At Watson Lake, proper gear oil was found and during the dinner stop the shiny metallic oil was replaced with nice new clean oil. Whew.

The first bit of driving down the Cassiar was pretty spectacular, even at night. With a full moon lighting the way, the icy roads and peaks on either side were quite a sight. A wise call ahead to the motel at Dease Lake meant that the owner was still awake to let us in to lay our weary heads.

Refueling bodies and cars was performed the next morning at the village of Iskut, about fifty miles south of Dease Lake . The Cassiar is really an amazing road -- some say it's more like the old days of the Alcan highway. Stops are few and far between and traffic is light this time of year. About 15% of it remains unpaved. During the winter season, the gravel sections are smoother than the pavement and also seem the safest.

Pressing on towards Prince George on the Yellowhead Highway, we found the first real heavy traffic -- meaning that we needed to pass cars and trucks every fifteen to thirty minutes. Quite a shock after the loneliness of the previous day's driving. Entertaining radio chatter led by Nick in Car #6 kept us alert and chortling along the way. We ended the night back in Quesnel -- site of the first night's stay of the rally. Pull tabs and paralyzers brought the evening to a close.

And today was the final push -- straight down 97, through Cache Creek and back on fairly familiar roads. This was the first time most of us had done this segment southbound in daylight. The Fraser River Canyon is also amazing scenery. We crossed the border at Sumas without incident and rejoined traffic on Interstate 5 as if we'd never been away. The only difference between our cars and others was the pockmarked film of grime and dust blanketing our vehicles.

Oh -- for those who asked. Buzz Lightyear made the entire trip on the top of the WRX. . Not only is he merely dirty, but most of his buttons work and he still talks, as do all the members of all the cars.

Ah, it's good to be home! But we're already talking about 2008...

Home

It's good to be home.

We crossed the Seattle City limits this afternoon at 5:25pm. It was weird seing all of these people and all of the cars. I won't miss the traffic down here when i move to Whitehorse :)

We had a happily uneventful run home. Last night we were back in Quesnel and stayed at what used to be the Valkyrie Motel. It's a Super 8 now and has seen some updates (wall paper over cinder block walls instead of painted cinder block walls). After a Denny's breakfast (Yes, Pete and Dave, that was us) and a stop at Canadian Tire (Canadian Tire Rocks!) we did the familiar drive down 97 thru Cache Creek and the Fraser Canyon. Again, it was nice to see that part of the world during the day.

As we each decompress i'm sure there will be more updates here. Picture pages will get fixed, the holes in the stories will get either filled in or screened off. It was a great Alcan Rally and I know I'll be going back for more in 2008.

The Beaver Creek Pad

Our first day out of Anchorage and we're in Beaver Creek, Yukon, barely one mile into Canada. Oddly the Canadian customs agent stamped our passports. In all the times I've entered Canada they've never stamped it.

But the coolest thing about Beaver Creek is that we totally lucked out on a place to stay. We called and stopped at the 1202 Motor Inn which is one of only a few structures in Beaver Creek. After telling him we needed three rooms with two bed each he said "how about a house?" He took us outside and pointed to the stairs at the end of the porch and said to take a look, "it's nice and I'll make you a good deal."

We ended up with two ajoining apartments that run the full length of the log cabin that is the restaurant and store below. We have four king beds, a queen, and two twins. Three bathrooms, two sitting areas with satellite TV and two nicely equipped kitchens. All for $130 Canadian! It is an awesome setup.

Spreading The Rally Word

Before leaving Anchorage, Eric answered questions from throngs of curious citizens. They were very interested in TeamD and all the cool technology in our sharp looking rally car.

Heading Home

We've eaten and packed here at the Millenium Hotel in Anchorage. TeamD is heading out for some quick sight seeing and gift buying before hitting the road again for the 2500 mile drive home. All three cars are traveling home together by way of the Cassiar Highway and hope to be home Monday. Along the way we'll get to enjoy a bit more scenery and who knows, if there's time we'll stop back at Barnes Lake in British Columbia for one last go at an ice covered lake.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and support during the rally. We appreciated the feedback and hope you enjoyed our coverage. After we get home we'll finalize our stories, post our pictures, analyse our GPS data and wrap up our coverage of the 2004 Alcan Winter Rally.