[Wild Blue]

Day 50:
Prince George, to Stewart, British Columbia, Canada (with a peek into Hyder, Alaska!)
Total Miles: 9,827

As I mentioned, wasn't able to post this last night--will give details below!





A quick standard breakfast at the Prince George Hyatt, and I'm on my way.





A wave goodbye to Mr. PG, taking the highway out of town to the west!





A lot of this highway looked like this, initially taking the highway west. Went through quite a few small towns, which each time really slowed the speed limit. Otherwise, I was able to make good time, with good clear weather at first.





Again with the "World Class Chicken Racing" thing! If I had more time, I'd be curious to actually check out that spectacle.





ACK!!!! A semi truck, converging from the opposite direction, threw up a rock as I went by. SMACK! Another rock chip in the windshield. In this picture, you can see the new ones in the middle-ish, and the previous one from Arizona in the bottom right of the pic.

If the Alcan Highway reputation lives up, I may even get another windshield rock chip or two before getting home. May just have to replace the windshield, on the initial drive home from X5 delivery, lol.

If nothing else, this is proving that my decision to PPF wrap the front of the X5, straight from the BMW factory in South Carolina, was wise, before even starting this journey.








A larger town enroute, Smithers, had a Tim Hortons, so I felt compelled to stop for lunch and a stretch break. Tim Hortons is another Canadian icon, something of a cross maybe between a McDonald's and a Dunkin Donuts. Decent ham and grilled cheese sandwich there.








West of Smithers, there were some nice mountains. Throughout today's drive, there were periodic trucks just like this one, a triple trailer logging semi. Logging is a decent trade through the Canadian forests.





And then I reached this fairly non-descript highway intersection, which began my turn north.

There is only one main route to enter and reach the interior of the state of Alaska, the Alaska-Canadian (Alcan) Highway. This will be the third time I've done that drive, in some form. To get to the Alcan, the usual route from Calgary and/or Jasper, would be to drive north to the start of the Alcan at Dawson's Creek.

But I wanted to do a slightly different route this time, to see some new things, which is why I headed west through British Columbia (BC), to this intersection. This is the start of the Cassiar Highway, which will take me north through BC, until I meet up with the Alcan later on.

New adventure. Let's go!





The Cassiar Highway became much more remote, as soon as I turned north onto it. No more driving through small towns. No more houses, farms, or ranches along the way. No gas stations. No buildings of any kind. No cell phone reception. Even Sirius XM Satellite radio became intermittent.

Just forest, rivers, and some mountains, Just me and the road. I had a few oncoming trucks, but no longer encountered anyone going my direction, which was great, as I no longer had to pass anyone, regardless what speed I set.

Reaching the Meziadin Junction, I decided to take advantage of driving this route on the Cassiar Highway, and took a little detour west, to Stewart, British Columbia.

Here, the clouds really came down and got rainy, as I got closer to the west coast, and encountered a low pressure weather system.

This should be a gorgeous view at Meziadin Lake, but, alas... this is the best I got.











This road offshoot, called the "Glacier Highway" to Stewart, is filled with tall mountains, glaciers, and waterfalls.

I've never been here before, but can tell this would be glorious in sunny weather. Even in the clouds and rain, it was still quite pretty.

An interesting note, Vancouver, British Columbia, in the southwest corner of Canada and on the Pacific coast, is actually in a rainforest climate. Vancouver and Victoria are absolutely beautiful, and should not be missed. I don't think the rainforest climate extends this far north, but this weather feels very Pacific Northwest/Vancouver-like.








Apparently, this is what the area looks like in clear weather. Second pic is of Salmon Glacier. (not my pictures)





Ah... this small lake, by Bear Glacier, was quite amazing, just on its own.








More waterfalls, which were raging, along with the river below, with the rainfall.

And this glacier was interesting, not moving down a mountain or valley, as glaciers tend to do. (glaciers are actually moving flows of ice, that carve valleys). But this one rather, just sat at the bottom of a mountain. Note the interior ice-blue color.





The drive had a fun jaunt through canyon curves.








The town of Stewart is a nice frontier town. Has the look of a Canadian/Alaska semi-arctic village.

But before I stop for the night, I have a little side visit to make, just a couple miles past Stewart.





THIS is a special thing. I'm back to Alaska! No, really! This is Alaska.

But... I'm still a couple thousand miles away from my destination.

This is Hyder, Alaska. It's a tiny village of 60 people, and you can see about half the village in that one pic. My X5 is actually parked right on the border, half in Canada, half in the USA. You'll never really find another USA border point where you'll be able to do this.

Hyder is the only entry point to Alaska that is has no USA border entry. So you can literally just drive right in. I think there's no border control, because this is just about as far as you can get into Alaska, in Hyder. It doesn't connect via road to anywhere else, with massive mountains blocking you in. You'd have to fly, and/or take a boat, to get anywhere else in the state. And to get to the rest of Alaska, we're going to have to go back into Canada, and go WAYYYYYY up and around, before entering Alaska and heading back south.

So, some fun related facts: Hyder is both the easternmost town in Alaska, and the farthest southern Alaskan town you can reach by road. Note that other Alaskan towns like Ketchikan are farther south, on the southeast Alaskan tail that runs down the Pacific coast, but they are not accessible by road.

Fun fact related to that: Juneau, Alaska, is the only US state capitol that is not accessible by road. You have to fly or sail, to get to it.

Another fun related fact: The Aleutian Islands chain that extends west from Alaska, barely crosses over the International Date Line in the Pacific Ocean. So, in addition to obviously having the northern most point in the USA, Alaska ALSO has the furthest western, and the furthest eastern point in the USA, just over the International Date Line! Only Hawaii can claim to be the state with the farthest southern point, whereas Alaska claims the title to north, west, and east!

Now, I said Hyder is the farthest east town in Alaska, which is true, since the Aleutian Island that extends over the International Date Line is uninhabited.

Anyway... filled your Jeopardy trivia banks for the day. Back to Hyder! (refererence this map view of Alaska for the things I was talking about)

















Hyder was looking in pretty sad shape, lol. Part of it is that the village seems to have closed down, following the summer tourist season. If any of the gift shops were open for the summer, they certainly aren't now.

Apparently, a tradition in that last picture is to go to the Inn and get "Hyderized", where you take a shot of Everclear. (whoo!) I was down for it, but even the Inn was closed.








Driving out to the end of the boat launch spit in Hyder, I could tell that this should be a beautiful view, with the mountains making a fjord to the Pacific Ocean. But alas... low clouds and rain, 'tis not meant to be tonight.

But hey... we've now fully gone from the far East Coast of North America on this trip, to the West Coast! Woot! And we're not done!





Got a laugh out of this. Very Alaska. It's for rent! Nobody wants to rent this house? Really? Nobody?

Come on....





Now, even though Hyder doesn't have any USA border control to enter, there is still Canadian border control, to come back into Canada.

And wow... the interview with the border officer was much more rigorous, than even when I entered Canada at the main southern border just a few days ago!

Lots of additional questions, whether I had ever been fingerprinted, been arrested (Canada doesn't let you in if you've had a DUI), if I had bear spray, etc. In addition to the normal questions of whether I had cannabis, and many iterations of questions whether I had firearms. (another sensitive border subject)

I guess I can understand. Bad guys, if they knew Hyder had no border/customs control, could potentially sail a boat in with contraband, and then try to drive it straight into Canada, if there was no checkpoint.

(speaking of checkpoint, notice the sign on the far right pole)





But, after answering questions, I was free to go, no problems, and on my way back into Canada and the town of Stewart.

I guess they haven't taken down the sign there, though, since the COVID restrictions were removed on October 1st. Previously, it was a big deal.








The only place in Stewart that was open for dinner was the King Edward hotel and diner. Got a grilled chicken wrap, with a chili-based soup. Hit the spot, on a tepid, rainy night.

But this is where more fun started. My cell phone hadn't been getting any reception since arriving Stewart, even though there were plenty of signs around with phone numbers. I figured it must be something like a proprietary Canadian cell carrier I didn't receive or something.

But no. The diner waitress let me know that there was some sort of telecommunications outage in the whole town. No cell phone service. No internet. Credit card machines didn't work, so I had to pay cash for dinner.

Not a big thing, except I was running low on gas, and the only gas pumps in town used automated credit card readers. No working readers, no gas. Uh, oh... like I said, the Cassiar Highway is the start of remote semi-wilderness travel. It's not like there's another gas station down the block, or even 5 miles away in a neighboring town.

I'm going to give it the night, and then if still no gas tomorrow, I'll fall back on a backup plan I'm formulating.














So I was off, to the Stewart Lodge and Guesthouse. Nice little room, with a shared bathroom in the hallway, but it turned out, I was the only one in the guesthouse, so I wasn't sharing with anyone.

Seems to be several people in Stewart that are Austrian immigrants, as the nice owners of this guesthouse highlighted the Austrian name. They wrote in German on their website, and I saw a couple other signs in town saying that the establishment understood both English and German. Interesting.

Like the rest of the town, no internet on the wi-fi that night, so it was a relaxing evening, getting lots of sleep.

More of the Cassiar Highway tomorrow, as we continue North, towards (the rest of) Alaska! Weather is forecasting more rain here in Stewart, but should ease off as we get off this coastal area.

[pmgreenwood]

Tim Hortons are now populating the UK. One even opened in Chichester my local town on the South Coast. Interesting trip report again

[Flying Ace]

So until the telecoms come back on, you're stuck? Sounds like you need the credit card machines to work to get gas.

[jad03060]

Most CC in the USA now come with chips, but from what I saw in limited travel in Europe, you may not get a purchase approved in automated situations without also inputting a PIN...that isn't always enabled on US cards. Some will do it if you ask, some won't. Worth checking if you travel out of the country.

[Wild Blue]

Day 51:
Stewart, British Columbia, to Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada
Total Miles: 10,230

Okay, made it out of Stewart. But I've had more days without internet, so I'm behind again in posts. Y'all will still see it all, I'll keep posting!

We're back into the wilderness today on the Cassiar Highway, going straight north.

And wow, we've passed 10,000 miles on this X5 trip, not even including the pre-PCD travel before picking up the new car!!!!








yayyy... telecoms in Stewart came up overnight, so gas pumps were working in the morning, and I was able to fill up. Back on the road.

Clouds and visibility a little better than last night, too. Not a bad view from the gas station.





So this apparently is law in British Columbia. Everybody either has to have Mud & Snow tires, or chains. Technically, I don't. The stock X5 tires I got are "All Seasons".

I'll be fine for this drive home, flirting with the beginning of winter, but I'll fully acknowledge they're not the optimal tire for winter snow and ice driving.





The GPS screen overview of the drive today. Once I get a half hour out of Stewart, east on the Glacier Highway, from there on it's all on the 2nd half of the Cassiar Highway, north to the Yukon and Alcan.

I find it interesting the GPS thinks it's going to be an 11.5 hour drive. She has to be calculating low speeds on the Cassiar. It ended up being about 7.5.








Better view of the waterfalls, when ziggying through the winding canyons.








Bear Glacier looks a little better than last night, but still clouds on the top, obscuring the biggest part of it.














Once back on the Cassiar Highway, and out of the valley with the Glacier Highway, weather lifted some, with light drizzle. A good portion of the Cassiar looked like this, cutting through forest, with side mountains that I could only see parts of.





More of the occasional logging trucks. A few logging camps. I felt like I should be looking out for Hugh Jackman as the Wolverine!

In fact, you know what? I'm going to do something I probably should have done every day this trip.

Here's a 5 minute video clip of driving up the Cassiar Highway, so you can see what this area of the drive looks like. I'm also going to play some awesome music in the background. I'm a music and movie lover, and love getting referrals from others about good music/movies to find. So maybe this will return the favor for others.

This album is Keith Jarrett's 1975 concert in Koln (Cologne), Germany. The performance is almost as old as I am, but is FAR more remarkable. The concert almost never happened. A substandard practice piano was mistakenly placed on stage, that didn't even fully work, instead of a concert grand piano.

Jarrett was in poor physical condition, including wearing a brace for back pain, and not sleeping well. He tried the practice piano, and refused to perform, eventually being coaxed by the organizer to go through with it anyway, and just do his best.

The result is phenomenal. There are only 2 songs in the concert plus an encore. Jarrett played for 30-45 minutes at a time, improvising almost everything. The music is exceptional. It became the best selling solo album in jazz history.








Black bear by the side of the road. Just sat and watched him from the car for a bit. Super cute, but of course, no matter how cute, you just don't mess with bear, so I watched, and then moved on.

Okay, thought I'd show a little more of the Cassiar Highway, later on, with slightly different weather. A different part of the Keith Jarrett concert.





Now the X5 is chasing rainbows...











What a lovely name for a lake. "Gnat". Ok. Some pretty geese though.





Then, closer to Watson Lake, there were miles and miles of these dead and downed trees. This isn't logging. I had to wonder what happened here. Fire? Beetle kill?





Just a pretty view of the sky





And here we are in the Canadian province of Yukon! We're now in northern Canada, where we'll be until crossing into Alaska in a few days.





At the northern end of the Cassiar Highway, it dead ends here. This is the famous Alaska-Canadian (Alcan) Highway, which will be our sole option from here on out, to get into mainland Alaska.

Alaska is to the left here, but it's getting late, so I'm turning right, and going a few miles in the wrong direction to the town of Watson Lake to spend the night.





Dinner at the recommended "New Nugget" restaurant. Chinese food in northern Canada? Sure, why not?





Some interesting reading on the placemat, while waiting for the food.





The special of the night, chicken chow mein, chicken fried rice, and fried pork. Not bad! Not the best I've ever had, but pretty decent, for the end of a day in northern Canada! MSG fix too.





Fortune cookie in Quebec French, which made me laugh. Google Translate says that says "A love affair will soon be born". (snort). haha. Does it mean with the X5?





Right next door to the New Nugget is my place for the night. Formerly the "Nice Motel", they have renamed themselves the "Nicer Motel". Ok, great.

Some good reviews online, warning not to be fooled by the run down gas station facade. That the rooms were good.

Looked like it was everything I needed in one. Gas, car wash after a long dirty couple of days' drive, food next door. Unfortunately, they only had regular gas, and the car washes were out of service. Let's hope for the room, at least.

EDIT: I forgot the best part of this story. You know you're in a small town, when the desk clerk says this to you. And this is verbatim. (to be read in a moderate Canadian accent)

"So, district court was here this week, but ended early. So I'll have a room available tonight. Jimmy's cleaning it, but if you come back after dinner, it'll be ready for you. Room 6 is the farthest from the water heater, so you'll need to turn on the water, and wait a while for it to heat up. Oh, and by the way, I got the hot and cold pipes mixed up, so turn the faucet to the blue to get hot water, and red for cold."














A nice room indeed. (Nicer?) A little pricey, and I had no need for the kitchenette, but still nice(r).

Okay, tomorrow is the Alcan Highway, and northwest, one day closer to Alaska!

EDIT: It looks like the Youtube videos I posted, of driving on the Cassiar, were blocked by Youtube because of the Keith Jarrett music I was playing in the background. However, they're not blocking the videos I'm posting of driving over the next few days, so you should be able to watch the next ones.

[GerryC]

Are we going to get pictures of the Sign Post Forest?

Gerry

[Wild Blue]

The Youtube vids uploaded on the last post. Can you see them? Youtube is telling me they're blocked, because I have music in them, but they're showing up for me. Curious if everyone else can see them too.

Also added a story about the check-in clerk at the Nicer Motel, too.

[snowbimmer]

Alas.......

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by snowbimmer

Alas.......

Pisser. I'll se if there's anything I can do about the videos with Keith Jarrett music. It looks like my videos in tonight's journal update aren't getting blocked, so I'll keep posting them. Wish I could post something of this Keith Jarrett performance. It's so remarkable.

Originally Posted by GerryC

Are we going to get pictures of the Sign Post Forest?

What's that, you say? You want to see the Sign Post Forest? You're in luck!

[Wild Blue]

Day 52:
Watson Lake, Yukon, to Destruction Bay, Yukon, Canada
Total Miles: 10,681

It's time to join the famous Alaska-Canadian (Alcan) highway!

As I mentioned, the Alcan Highway officially starts in Dawson's Creek, many miles to the southeast. But because I chose to take the lesser traveled Cassiar Highway through British Columbia, I'm just now joining the Alcan here in Watson Lake, Yukon. We arrived driving due north. We're now going to turn 90 degrees and drive west, and the Alcan will curve up to the northwest.








This is the highlight of the small Alcan town of Watson Lake, Sign Post Forest. The story is that, while the Alcan was being built in WWII, a lonely soldier tacked a sign post to a tree, to his home town. And it took off from there.

Today's first ride-along video, leaving Watson Lake. You can see the civilization trail off as I drive away from town.

This is my favorite guitarist, Dave Beegle. He is an unknown virtuoso from Colorado, that enjoys playing locally, and doesn't venture much out further. He pays acoustic guitar, as well as electric progressive rock and other styles. He's even invented his own type of guitar.

This is his signature piece, which he calls "Joy", based on Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring". I first heard him play this piece at a festival in the famous Red Rocks Ampitheater, in Colorado. I was floored, and have bought everything he's ever recorded.





A lot of the drive in this stretch looks like this.

Another Dave Beegle song, Big Fish Rumba. I'm a big fan of Spanish guitar, which Dave incorporates into his styling well. This video shows more of the Alcan solitude, with less traffic and no infrastructure.








This is an interesting picture, taken at noon. Note how low the sun is, in the sky, especially for noon.

One of the common questions people often ask Alaskans is, "is it true the sun never comes up in the winter?" That's only true for one or more days, for those who live above the Arctic Circle, past 66 degrees north latitude.

Note that here, we are only 60 degrees north. So we're in North Canada, but still below the Arctic Circle. And it's only October 20th, whereas the shortest and darkest day of the year in the northern hemisphere is December 21st.

So at this location, even on Dec 21st, they'll still get several (maybe 4-5) hours of sun. Today will be about 10 hours of sunlight, but it's amazing how much earlier the sun sets as I'm getting further north. And while the sun's up, it's not rising very high in the sky. It just kind of hangs low.

Side note, but summers are opposite. Even though, below the Arctic Circle, the sun does set in the middle of summer, it just dips below the horizon, and the sky stays light all night. It's awesome. People will literally be out mowing their yards, or playing golf at midnight.

There is nothing better than Alaskan summers. I presume the Yukon is similar.








I'm slowly accumulating a nice little collection of windshield rock chips. New small one in the bottom middle of the windshield there.





This is very much an Alcan thing. The first time I drove the highway, I was thinking, "what are all these orange markers along the road?"

I quickly found out the hard way, they're markers placed to mark road damage, or frost heaves. Frost heaves are a northern thing. When water seeps into the ground in a spot, and deep freezes in the winter, the ground will bulge up. When that happens under a super long highway like the Alcan, that can't be maintained with the same kind of attention as smaller highways in the lower 48, it results in severe bumps, or at best, a roller coaster ride.

If you're zooming along at 150kph (90 mph) to try and get through the Yukon quickly, and don't aggressively brake for the orange markered areas, you can find you and your vehicle suddenly airborne, or even bottom out your suspension on the worst spots.

Bald Eagle, often seen in Alaska. Neat to see him here in the Yukon, too. Look carefully, and you'll see him as I follow him in the Youtube video. Easiest to see in full screen view.





Good opportunity to fuel up, and get lunch in the northern Yukon city of Whitehorse. Whitehorse is a larger city, which almost seems like an anomoly, when you think about how many hours of wilderness you had to drive through, just to get here.





Nice city, though, with lots of the modern conveniences.





What the heck? How is it that a remote, frontier city way up north, like Whitehorse can have 94 Octane fuel? When in the entire state of Alaska, even in the largest infrastructure area of Anchorage, the highest we can get is only 90? (that doesn't even meet BMW's minimum requirement of 91)

I decided to treat the X5 to a tank of the 94 Octane fuel. That's the last fuel she'll get for a very long time, higher than 90, since she probably won't leave Alaska for many years.





Even further northwest, the mountains start showing what we Alaskans call "termination dust". This is mountain top snow, that slowly marches downwards as temperatures drop with the progressing weeks, signaling the termination of summer.

I've had fantastic weather this whole trip, even, and especially, through Canada with lots of sun and blue skies. However, this termination dust means one thing:








Haines Junction has some significance. When I first moved up to Alaska, I took the Alaskan ferry from Washington State. It wasn't able at that time of year to travel all the way to Anchorage, so I got off the ferry in Haines, Alaska.

Similar to the situation in Hyder, Alaska, you can't drive directly from Haines to the rest of Alaska. So from Haines, you have to cross the border into Canada, drive to Haines Junction, and then join the Alcan Highway to take the long way around to mainland Alaska.











More beautiful termination dust mountains west of Haines Junction








And then I reached Kluane Lake (pronounced Kloo-WAN-ee), where there was some remnant snow on the ground, from the storm that came through several days ago. Beautiful.





Ah, yes. This was another "money view", that came together. Scenery, weather, no traffic, allowing for the picture. Love it.

















More views, as the Alcan circles around the lake.











Then, 3/4 of the way around Kluane Lake, I reached Destruction Bay, where I decided to stay the night.

Destruction Bay got its name, while the Alcan was under construction. A big storm came through, destroying the labor camp there. Very northern arctic Alaskan/Canadian name.





Stayed at the well rated Talbot Arms. Another combination of gas station, diner, and motel.





Daily special of ginger beef, served by the Philippino staff. Very good!








Another very basic room, but it was all I needed, for another night to crash.





The MyBMW app threw me a notification. Good thing I've already got a service appointment for when I get back to Anchorage!

Tomorrow we're going to navigate the roughest part of the whole trip route. Rest up! We're going to need it!

[kkratochvil]

Amazing pictures from this last leg Wild Blue. Just by eyeballing the map, it would seem as though you've gone about as many miles in Canada now, as you did to get from San Antonio to the Canadian border!

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by kkratochvil

Amazing pictures from this last leg Wild Blue. Just by eyeballing the map, it would seem as though you've gone about as many miles in Canada now, as you did to get from San Antonio to the Canadian border!

It might seem like that, doesn't it? I've got about 2,400 miles through Canada so far. It took me about 5,500 miles to get from San Antonio to the Canadian border.

A big part of the difference there is a limitation of Google Maps, which only lets me put in 10 stops. So I had to take out a lot of the intermediate stops in Google Maps, to make the map work. The resulting route on the map is, therefore, not quite accurate, instead showing the shortest route between the remaining points. Especially the weaving back and forth I did in north Arizona and the Utah Mighty 5 National Parks, that is not represented on the map.

Note that the latest Google Maps screenshot says 7,841 miles to get to this point here in Destruction Bay, whereas the actual car odometer reads 10,681 now. I've done 2,800 miles additional driving beyond what Google Maps says, driving the real route that is not represented on that screenshot, plus the little bit of additional zipping around town that isn't accounted for in the screenshots, like Disneyworld commuting.

We're not done yet!

[Wild Blue]

Day 53:
Destruction Bay, Yukon, Canada, border crossing, to Tok, Alaska, USA
Total Miles: 10,909

While I've done some offroad side driving for sightseeing on this trip, the most rugged main travel driving I'll be doing this whole trip will probably be today. The Alcan Highway section from Destruction Bay, Yukon, to Tok, Alaska, is traditionally the "gauntlet" of travel to Alaska, with more road damage and fair to poor road condtions.

In addition, I'm expecting to hit weather later in the day.

I could potentially make it all the way back home today, but we'll have to see how the border crossing, and weather, cooperate. I'll remain flexible.





Well, poodoo. Waking up, and leaving my room for the morning, this is my view.

Gahhh... what are these white flaky things falling from the sky? It always amazes me that cameras don't capture precipitation very well. It was moderately snowing. Not a great start for the day.

Goodbye blue skies. And I'm glad I got the scenic pictures around Kluane Lake and Destruction Bay last night, while I had good weather!





Guessing I won't be making it all the way home today. Oh, well.

Might as well not rush, take time, and start with a nice hot breakfast before hitting the road. Yum.

This is immediately after leaving Destruction Bay, again on the Alcan northwest. Again, the camera doesn't seem to capture the snowfall very well. This is the fastest I was able to drive all day, with conditions deteriorating further after this.

The music is "Aroul (Escape)" by the Taalbi brothers. I absolutely love Spanish guitar.

I was first introduced to the Taalbi brothers in the TV show "Breaking Bad", with the lead up to the death scene of Gus Fring.

In this kind of driving, best to just ignore the speed limit signs, turn off cruise control, and just drive for the conditions.

One benefit of driving significantly slower, is that when coming up on the orange road damage markers like this, there's no need to brake. Just let off the gas, and ride out the bumps. Besides, rapid braking on roads like this is a recipe for disaster. The packed snow on the road gets smushed into ice.

The greatest danger today will actually probably be those other drivers that think they're safe zooming at a million miles an hour. Those drivers often are in 4x4 trucks and think they're invulnerable.











The shadows in the clouds hint that there's great scenery to be seen behind that weather.

Over the day, the snow and visibility went up and down a bit. Some better driving and views than others.





This is the closest thing I saw to a snowplow all day. I'm not even sure what this guy was doing in the little bobcat. Was working on the road shoulders in some way.





Of the few facilities along the Alcan, many have gone out of business over the years, and others have closed for the season. Even the options in the towns every few hundred miles are slim pickings.














I found this interesting. "Permafrost Stabilization", huh?

Permafrost is the top layer of soil in the arctic that remains frozen year-round. I'm kind of surprised if it extends this far south, as summers here would still be nice.

Some human activity at a spot can heat up the ground enough to melt the permafrost. So we look for measures to control the heat transfer.

This appears to be a trial of heat dissipator poles, to stabilize the permafrost. From the highway perhaps? The heat fins here look similar to the ones incorporated into the support beams on the Alaska oil pipeline.

I've shown examples here in my X7 road trip journal I took to Denali and the Arctic Circle last summer:
https://g07.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1847819








The heat fins on those structures aren't to protect the oil in the pipeline. They're to dissipate the heat from the moving oil, and protect the permafrost from the oil.

Anyways... back to the Alcan!

Another ride-along video. This time with Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence", covered by Disturbed.

If you don't already know about this song version, go buy it already. I'm hyper critical about song remakes, as I believe the artist needs to justify that they can show a reason to do the song again, not just make another stupid cheap copy.

Disturbed has many song covers, and this one is undoubtedly the best. SO well done. I've said before, BMW audio systems seem almost perfectly designed for Disturbed music. My X7 B&W audio absolutely shines with lossless Disturbed song files, and even the base audio on this X5 sounds great.

Disturbed's singer, David Draiman, has an amazing voice. His ability to put both power and rasp into Sound of Silence is bone chilling, something few singers could do repeatedly, without causing damage to their vocal chords. How he does this, I have no idea.








At the village of Beaver Creek, I reached the Canadian border crossing checkpoint. This is rather unusual, as the checkpoint is 28km (about 17 miles) from the actual border.

The outgoing lane was open, so I carefully creeped through, making sure I didn't have to stop for any reason, and then drove on.





This is a ptarmigan, which is the Alaska state bird. There's a funny story about the ptarmigan, and the Alaskan town of Chicken, which I'll tell you next summer in another road trip.





This popped up in my HUD. Never seen this notification before.








At the Alaska/Canada border. The line you see stretching into the forest in the first picture is the actual border.








While I was stopped for pictures, thought I'd take some close up pics of how the mud flaps are doing in all the snow.

I'm still quite impressed with their functionality. They're really preventing road spray from kicking up onto the side panels behind the wheel wells. I'll be keeping them on the X5, just like they're on my X7.

BMW, have you caught on yet? You really need to produce OEM mud flap accessories, at least for X vehicles, which look good, and are VERY functional for drivers!!! Not a complicated thing, just some low-cost plastic moulding, easy to manufacture.








The USA checkpoint. All the usual plethora of sensors and scanners, to see if there are any nuclear or biological products in your vehicle.

Pretty straightforward questioning. Since I still have temp tags on the car, the officer asked to see something with the VIN on it. I assume running a national check on it to make sure the vehicle isn't stolen, or otherwise involved in crime.














And we're through to Alaska! With the feeling again of freedom, being allowed into the state/country, free to roam as I like. And to me, Alaska is home.

Time to change the units back over to miles. And no more need to have a converted speed with kilometers still on the dash.

Note: before switching back over, the BMW auto-converted the USA speed limit signs back into kph for the HUD and dash, showing the 55 mph speed limit as 90 kph. Pretty cool.





Reaching the town of Tok, I fueled up the X5 for the last time on the trip. These are the standard octanes across Alaska at fuel stations that have "premium" gas. Pretty sad, I think.





Tok is the first significant town you reach inside Alaska. It's also a significant decision point, where highways meet. Head Northwest, and you'll head to Fairbanks and the interior of Alaska. We're headed Southwest, to the biggest city in Alaska of Anchorage.

Tok also happens to be the farthest northern point we're going to reach on this trip. Over 63.3 degrees north--not quite the Arctic Circle, but still pretty far!

I decided, with the snow, the poor roads, and being in a town with a little size and resources, to call it an early day. Don't want to be pushing it and getting tired with challenging driving. There will be more of that tomorrow.








Got a room at the well-reviewed Young's Motel. Those little red posts you see by the X5 are plug-in points, found in the northern parts of Alaska. In the winter of these areas, it gets really, REALLY cold. People leave their cars running when they park. And overnight, they'll plug in their vehicles, with block heaters, so the engines don't deep freeze.

Not so much a problem in the southern part where I live, and where temperatures are much more mild, especially by the coast.





Another basic room, but all I need.





The check-in office is in Fast Eddy's restaurant, also with good reviews. This was Friday night, and the restaurant was definitely the "happening" place of the town. Apparently Friday nights are prime rib nights, and lots of people from the neighboring area came in.

I tell ya what, the prime rib was darn good, especially for northern Alaska.

Okay, tomorrow we should be able to finish off the drive back to the Anchorage area. Bundle up, get under the covers, and stay warm. Winter's here!

[kkratochvil]

I commend you on taking the safe path and stopping in Tok. If it was me and gone from home that long, I'm pushing all the way home if I've got a chance!!

[snowbimmer]

This is just gnarly.

Wow.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by kkratochvil

I commend you on taking the safe path and stopping in Tok. If it was me and gone from home that long, I'm pushing all the way home if I've got a chance!!

I know, right? We pilots call this feeling "Get Home-Itis", and I was feeling it for sure. Just a "heck, I'm close... why don't I just push through?" But I'm glad I did. Safe choice, and with all the factors, it was still two days of solid driving, instead of one massive extra-long day.

Working on today's journal update now!

[quad_drive]

Did you have to get an oil change along the way? This is epic! I wish I would be able to do it some day.

[T0RM3NT]

Excellent, excellent read! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed that journey.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by T0RM3NT

Excellent, excellent read! Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed that journey.

Thanks, man! I still have a little more to go, and then I have lots of thoughts, and will do some summaries and wrap-ups for several days after the drive is done.

Originally Posted by quad_drive

Did you have to get an oil change along the way? This is epic! I wish I would be able to do it some day.

So, I did a bonus oil change at 1,200 miles, when I went through Macon, Georgia. See page 5 of this journal, when I did that at BMW of Macon.

My thinking was, I keep my cars long-term, and therefore like to break them in nicely, and take care of them over the years. So I did the extra break-in oil change at 1,200 miles, just like is done with M models, even though this is definitely not an M model.

I'm also due for one now, with me back in Alaska, and getting close to the end of my journey. So I've already got an appointment at the dealer for service later this week!

[jad03060]

Long drives with little stop and go is relatively easy on the engine oil, and with the torque of the BMW engines and their long gearing in top, the engine isn't running all that many RPMs for the distance traveled. My guess is that the CBS says there's lots of oil life left. It would be interesting to do an oil analysis. My guess is that it would say the TBN and wear metals are still within safe range.

[Mr.blue]

Originally Posted by Wild Blue

[SIZE="5"]Day 7, transitioning from pre-PCD road trip to PCD:
Oklahoma City to Greenville, South Carolina
Total Miles: Reset to 0![/SIZE]

So, all that driving and travel and fun in days 1-6, was just the warm-up. Now the real fun begins!

Anyone that may have been skimming that first bit, wondering where the actual BMW stuff is, well here we are. Today marks the "official" travel to South Carolina, and the start of BMW's Performance Center Delivery (PCD) events.

It's an "out with the old, in with the new" day. I left the old car in Oklahoma City with my daughter at college, and hopped a plane to South Carolina. Like many things, because inflation is just out of control in the United States now, flights are REALLY expensive. To avoid taking out a 2nd mortgage, I had to take a 6:30 AM flight from Oklahoma City.

Ugh. Those flights are the worst, as it usually means you have to get up at something like 4:00 AM to get ready and get to the airport early. But not a thing where it's worth just staying up all night. I got a hotel shuttle to the airport with a flight crew. Thankfully, American Airlines upgraded both my flights today to first class, and I was able to get at least a couple hours of sleep on the first leg to Charlotte, North Carolina.





I've traveled for a living my whole life. I'm not a fan of Charlotte's airport, for a few reasons I'll whine about briefly. Here's an airport map. Invariably, my flight will arrive at one corner of the airport in a big plane (gate B15 this time), and my next flight will leave from the opposite corner in a little plane (E36 this time). Or vice versa. Tons of walking, even with some moving walkways here and there.

If I don't schedule a flight with extra layover time, I get worn out just trying to get to the next gate, which is a MAJOR trek.





As a person with a disability, there's practicalities of how things are built, that just doesn't quite register with able-bodied people. Before my gimpy years, it didn't occur to me either.

Charlotte is mostly carpet in the concourses, which is really, really difficult to push or pull my suitcase on, slowing down gate transition time much more. (also disappointing in long hotel carpeted hallways). And their transitions from carpet to tile and back have a little metal lip on them, which catches suitcase wheels and yanks them to a jarring halt. Unlike "normal" people, disabled folks often have to push a little more force onto their bag as they walk for stability.





Airline lounge to the rescue! Having booked a longer layover, the Admiral's Club is always an excellent place to relax, have a snack, and comfortably pass the time.





Boarding my next flight in a smaller Bombardier commuter jet, Charlotte was looking rather rainy, as they loaded our bags that needed to be gate checked due to the smaller airplane. We're less than 100 miles away from Greenville, and I've been tracking the weather. We'll be ok.





Very grateful for the complimentary first class upgrade, due to my American Airlines status. Woot!!!

Whining done. Let's go get ourselves a BMW!





Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP) is a smaller airport, halfway between the two cities, and the primary one used for BMW Performance Center access. Nice little airport.





Just like my last year's PCD, less than 15 minutes after touching down, I had my bags and got picked up by the Marriott in a courtesy X5. Rick, my driver, was very friendly and helpful loading my bags, and getting me all the way through check-in to my room. They're very oriented to people doing a PCD. He even remembered my story from doing my X7 PCD last year!

Side note, but I learned that the person that picked me up last year, Brian, has been promoted to hotel General Manager. Congrats!!!











Marriott uses two X5's to pick up new drivers from the airport. BMW usually provides them with brand new models, but as is happening with so many things right now, including COVID, that's delayed as well, so these are 2020 models, and the same ones that picked me up last year. No complaints from me! Similar models to what I'm actually taking delivery of tomorrow. And the 3rd Bimmer in that picture there is a customer's M8Competition. Beautiful.

On that note, let's talk about the PCD for those that may not be familiar. BMW provides this as a no-cost option to ANY buyer of a new BMW. Yes, ANY buyer, any model. (don't let your dealer tell you otherwise)

Instead of using the $995 destination charge, that you have to pay regardless, to ship the car to you, BMW offers the PCD experience at no cost to you using those funds. For 2 people, they'll pick you up from the airport, put you up at the Marriott for a night, give you dinner, breakfast, and lunch the next day, do an extended 2 hour delivery with you and a delivery expert, and then provide you a full day of BMW fun with a factory tour, and multiple exercises performance driving sweet BMW's on their controlled tracks. All "free". All you have to do is get yourself there, and drive (or otherwise transport) your new BMW home.

I still maintain, as long as someone has the time and practical means to get themselves to and from South Carolina, I don't know why anyone would NOT do a PCD. Heck, if I can do a PCD from Alaska, TWICE, anyone can! It really is that awesome.











The Marriott is a nice, 3 star hotel, which is very clean and has been maintained and updated over the years. Not the fanciest, but very nice for the PCD.

I think one top highlight of the whole experience is the service. Both Marriott and BMW really focus on you, the customer. You're treated extra special at every step, from pickup, to check-in, dining, driver instruction, and delivery. This is to be commended, as it makes for a great experience.








If I look for minor quibbles with the hotel, the soap bar provided is the moisturizing kind that leaves behind a film that has to be scrubbed off. I'm pretty sure these dispenser tubes in the shower are new, since last time, but unfortunately my body wash tube was empty, so I had to use the soap. The hot water took a long time (4 minutes?) to heat up to take a shower on arrival, but was fine the next morning. The room hair dryer didn't work unless you jiggled the plug and then held it in place. And there was this little peeling crack in the ceiling over the sink. So I think the hotel could use a little updating, but it was all minor. Didn't detract from the overall experience.








Nice view from the room window. Greenville is also rainy today, but we'll still be good tomorrow.





There's a special menu to choose from at hotel dinner for PCD guests, which has been updated. And you also get 2 drink tickets. Being by myself, I guess I could have done 2 drinks, but just did the Cabernet Savignon, which was just excellent.





I chose the soup of the day, a clam chowder, for the first course. Superb, with the little bacon pieces. Along with the Cabernet Savignon, probably the best part of the whole meal.





Last year, I did a strip steak, which has been replaced on the menu. So this time, I tried the salmon, which was average. A little mushy.





Plain cheesecake for dessert. Yummy.

It was fun to watch other people come in the restaraunt during dinner. I was guessing that most, if not all, had that "BMW look" and were there for the PCD.

Quite excited for tomorrow, which is the big day. Get up for it! Fun and excitement coming!

Loving the read so far, I also appreciate all the good information about the PCD experience. I've missed the chance to go twice with the last two BMW's that I purchased. I was offered a free two day experience with the M550 and a one day with the X5M. I am a Semi-retired disabled veteran myself and I am inspired by your story. You are definitely enjoying life. I am looking for my last BMW purchase myself, or last expensive purchase anyway, but I'm not sure what my forever BMW will be yet. I am between an 850i GC or the X7. I'd like something more comfortable for long trips but anyway I am set on doing the PCD delivery this time around, whatever I choose to get next. I've read your last journals and I greatly enjoyed the reading as well as the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

[Wild Blue]

Originally Posted by Mr.blue

Loving the read so far, I also appreciate all the good information about the PCD experience. I've missed the chance to go twice with the last two BMW's that I purchased. I was offered a free two day experience with the M550 and a one day with the X5M. I am a Semi-retired disabled veteran myself and I am inspired by your story. You are definitely enjoying life. I am looking for my last BMW purchase myself, or last expensive purchase anyway, but I'm not sure what my forever BMW will be yet. I am between an 850i GC or the X7. I'd like something more comfortable for long trips but anyway I am set on doing the PCD delivery this time around, whatever I choose to get next. I've read your last journals and I greatly enjoyed the reading as well as the pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Mike, you sound similar to myself. Either the 850i GC or X7 would be great "forever" cars for you. Since I'm having more difficulty getting out of lower cars, my own needs wouldn't trend towards an 850i. But driving the M8C at the Performance Center--man, that thing is a beast. So great.

The X7 has been a perfect fit for me personally, and my needs. I'm interested in checking out the XM, though, and hope to get invited to one of the release events to check it out for myself!