Road Trip to Alaska-Coffee Table Book Finally Done-thanks Cody Cole!

[birdsandbees]

$1.09/litre for regular, probably $1.38 for premium (ethanol free) here in Ontario.... should be cheaper out West.

3.785 litres to a US gallon. So 1.38 x 3.785= 5.22 Cdn a gallon x .81 = $4.23 US / US gallon.

[taxspeaker]

From Whitehorse Yukon

June 27, 2015 Trip Log

We left Ft Nelson, British Columbia around 7:45 am and traveled a little over 625 miles during the day, now covering about 3,800 miles so far on the trip. Arrived at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory about 8:45pm last night. I stopped 20-30 times during the day for pictures, gas, break or just looking around. Gas stations now have to be planned for in advance. 2 out of every 3 stations are closed and traffic is non-existent. I have gone for 20 and 30 minute stretches without seeing a car. My longest leg yesterday had me going 175 miles to Teslin Yukon from Watson without a station, then going the 125 miles to Whitehorse again without a station or anything else for that matter. Weather was clear and pleasant all day-never too hot and by the end of the day my window is up. Because daylight is 20 hours + I did not have to drive in the dark the last 2 evenings.
Cell phone service is now pretty much non-existent except in 1 or 2 towns. The largest city in the Yukon is Whitehorse with 25,000 of the entire territory's 27,000 residents so even the "towns" are really a gas station and restaurant, plus a few buildings. People continue to be pretty friendly other than at a lodge or two where they are rather distant. Vermont Doug- I think I stopped at your Swiss friends' place-wow are the Swiss unfriendly! Again, this is not a negative because 95% of the people are very friendly. I have met 2 very knowledgeable Superbird guys up here who went out of their way to find the car and talk. This was a pleasant surprise but the word is out that one is coming and they are waiting for me at the gas stations. I had a bison burger at Coal River Lodge-nothing to stop for and not very friendly, and a tasty cinnamon bun at the Tesla River Lodge-it was very tasty and is probably the reason you don't see any old people here-they all died of heart attacks from the cholesterol in the buns.

AT Watson Lake Yukon there is a famous "Signpost Campground" with thousands of license plates from all over the world. There is now a 2015 Indiana license plate "SBird70" mounted sideways in the front row, 2nd post on the right mounted sideways. I had heard about this place and brought the plate, and of course had the necessary tools.

Geography-I have run out of adjectives. The further north you drive in BC the more beautiful it gets with forests from horizon to horizon, mountains everywhere, road cut out of the side of the mountain with sheer cliff down the side, rivers, streams, wildlife and scenery out of a landscape painting. Several times I wished for a pullout to take even more pictures and I can only hope the GoPro got some. Most of yesterday's trip was mountainous and heavily forested, although it started out as gentle hills from Ft Nelson and ended the same way at Whitehorse. I saw 3 bears roadside, 2 moose, a porcupine and a herd of Dall sheep-none of which were dead roadkill like yesterday!. Although road signs existed warning of buffalo, wild horses and caribou I did not see any of them. I have been seeing snowcapped peaks for most of the day and near the end of the day the treeline was fairly close on the mountains across the river. The bridge collection has been amazing, and in a few cases stunning. The road follows rivers and lakes which makes the views even more stunning. Breathtaking views of azure colored lakes reach across the landscape to the foot of sheer granite-walled mountains that are frosted with snow fields and clusters of trees clinging to their sides-amazing! The views alone have made this trip worthwhile and I can't wait to drive back through on the return.

Road construction-I have had many stretches of gravel and road construction including the use of pilot cars. For the most part the road is good, but unlined and gravel shoulders. Every time a truck passes coming the other direction I get as far right as possible. 75% of the traffic is oil/gas stuff, 20% is tourists with campers and 5% is everyone else-not a lot of any one thing though. I am using the voice recorder on the phone for memos. I talked with the flagman at one stop-interesting living conditions.

Mechanical issues-the car continues to run fine-what an incredible piece of mechanical genius these Chrysler engineers put together with this drivetrain. I can live with the oil use (which is not getting worse) for the reliability. Two incidents occurred today-first I hit a piece of a semi-tire at 65 mph which has now put a 2 foot long scrape and dent down the lower passenger side (Mike from Magnum Auto Restoration if you are reading this get ready for a drop off on the return trip), the second instance was a split power steering line where it had been rubbing against the power steering cooler. I replaced the hose with some extra I had with me, new fluid from the supply box and duct taped the hose to keep it from wearing through again. In the process I sliced my thumb open and after rinsing it with bottled water and some antifreeze (alcohol in the antifreeze) I duct taped my thumb too! I would have stapled the thumb together but alas, no stapler.

Today's drive is light-only 100 miles to Haines Junction, so after breakfast and cleaning the car I think I will take a detour to Skagway Alaska-only 120 miles out of the way! More to come.

[ACUDANUT]

$1.09/litre for regular, probably $1.38 for premium (ethanol free) here in Ontario.... should be cheaper out West.

3.785 litres to a US gallon. So 1.38 x 3.785= 5.22 Cdn a gallon x .81 = $4.23 US / US gallon.

So, about $ 1.50 more per gallon. Canada screws it's own people on everything. 

[VTMopar]

Ha!    Those Swiss are up at Munch Lake - a fishing lodge - where I spent the night a year ago on my trip with my Challenger.   It was my only "negative" experience of my whole trip (bascially the same route that your are on).   

Skagway is quite the tourist town..... the cruise ships overwhelm the community.    There's a great breakfast spot on Main street.....    and the Skagway Brewery is pretty good!

As good as the scenery is so far...... you "ain't seen nothing yet"    Wait until you take the Richardson Highway between Tok and Anchorage.....

I"m glad things are going well.....    Enjoy your adventure! 

Doug
VT Mopar

[taxspeaker]

The day in Whitehorse started out clear and cool-jacket weather. I traveled 350 miles today and have now passed 4,100 for the trip. With a short drive of 100 miles scheduled for the day I elected for a 110 mile (220 RT) side trip to Skagway, Alaska down the Chilkoot pass and Klondike Gold Rush trail. I have been on this road twice in the past off of cruise ships. In all my travels around the world, without exception the most beautiful drive is the trip from Skagway to WHitehorse-glaciers, waterfalls, mountains, lakes and trees. Do it if you ever have a chance-it was worth it to me after driving in a 45 year old car for 4,000 miles if that is any indicator.

The drive down was uneventful, even through customs, other than the severe grade that concerned me and the brakes going downhill for 7 miles. Once in to Skagway I took several pictures, including one with a cruise ship and mountains in the back, 1 by the Red Onion saloon and several on the trek back up by "Emerald Lake" and at the top of the pass where it was gorgeous with the snow fields in the back. Once back to WHitehorse I again filled up and drove to Haines Junction Yukon where I now sit.

We have had a major mechanical issue come up. The oil pressure on the car dropped significantly in the last 25 miles. It could be major engine trouble, minor engine trouble or simply a bad sending unit. There is 1 mechanic in town (no stores-only 500 people) and when his shop opens I am going to see if he can put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it to see if it is a bad sending unit. If he can't I will not feel safe driving the car any distance and will have to call a tow truck 110 miles back in Whitehorse to come and get me and the car-there are no cabs here! Once back in Whitehorse I will either get it fixed, rent a UHaul and trailer and drive it home behind the UHaul or ship it home via truck and try to get a flight out of WHitehorse to Anchorage. DO not think this event is a bother-this entire trip has been worth it even if it ends prematurely today-I made it to ALaska (maybe not as far as I wanted), saw some great sights and met some really fine people.

I will post again when I know more.

Bob

[Alaskan_TA]

Just as you get into town on the left (coming down the hill from customs) is a concrete plant. The guy that ran it in 2003 had a Pro Street Camaro, super nice guy. If he is still there he may be able to help you as well.

He had a Rallye wheel in his junk pile that he gave me.

[taxspeaker]

Thanks awaiting tow truck to Whitehorse. Will diagnose, drop oil pan and valve job if needed, then try to complete the trip. If this is the worst thing today it will still be a great day!

[VTMopar]

You have a great (and appropriate) attitude about the trials of this kind of road trip.   A few years ago I had to ship my 70 Challenger home from Colorado with motor problems.   Hopefully your issue is minor.   Keep us posted

VT Mopar

[taxspeaker]

Tons of oil pressure-sending unit is bad. Example 4 of aftermarket crap. Spending night in Whitehorse will resume trip Tuesday. On to fairbanks

[1970Moparmann]

Very good news!   Keep the updates coming!

[RECHRGD]

 

[cdr]

AWESOME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[RallyeMike]

In the process I sliced my thumb open and after rinsing it with bottled water and some antifreeze (alcohol in the antifreeze) I duct taped my thumb too! I would have stapled the thumb together but alas, no stapler.

Creative duct tape use. You have already become immersed in Alaskan culture!!!

Thanks for documenting your trip. I'm enjoying reading this quite a bit.

[VTMopar]

     TERRIFIC NEWS              Keep on a Truckin!

VT Mopar

[taxspeaker]

Haines Junction Yukon-clear and crisp morning in 40's. I stayed at the Raven Hotel. The owners Bruce & Gwen, and Gwen's Mom were some of the nicest people I have met on this trip! I HIGHLY recommend their hotel in the tiny village of Haines Junction, which is about 110 miles north of  Whitehorse, with an actual chef and reservations for dinner!

No driving today! I called a wrecker service in WHitehorse (where I left yesterday) and had to wait until lunch for them to arrive with a flatbed wrecker. Al the driver is a huge guy but very friendly and we loaded up the car and rode the 2 and 1/2 hours back to Whitehorse. I was extremely lucky in this case-Capital Towing's owner Doug O'Connor told me they had a Mopar expert/nut that worked there and sure enough they did-even wearing a Mopar shirt. He quickly hooked up a manual oil sending unit and we tested pressure-40PSI at idle, even though the old crappy one from YearOne showed 5-20 PSI. We called NAPA and they even had one and 30 minutes later, voila. Gauge now reads as it should, pressure is great and on with the show. I gave him one of the precious mugs I had printed up for the trip and thanked the whole shop-another group of super folks to continue the Yukon experience.

The car is now full, I am in the hotel, and hoping for a 6:30am departure back on the road to Fairbanks after breakfast. There are rumors of very bad road conditions north of Haines junction with lots of gravel and major frost heaves so tomorrow's 500 mile trip may be lengthy but I will make Fairbanks-my original goal!!!!! Although I washed the car quickly at a spray wash yesterday, it is once again filthy because of rain and gravel going to and from Haines Junction.

There will be cell phone service for only about 10 minutes of the 11 hours so tracking will not be working except in isolated areas. After today's first use of the satellite phone I hope not to use it again because tomorrow is very isolated and I am concerned about gas. I know 100 miles out there is gas at Haines Junction where I will fill up, and supposedly again at Burwash Landing another 100 miles out but beyond that unsure-I will be checking carefully and filling up at every opportunity.

I have posted several pictures here on the website but am apparently not doing it correctly, sorry-email me and I will email you some fantastic, and I mean fantastic photos. Weather tonight is cold and rainy in WHitehorse-I wore a jacket for the first time on the trip to dinner. I hope to get to Fairbanks and send out another trip log tomorrow night. Having trouble compressing pictures in Windows 2013 sorry

[kiwitrev]

Kelvin owns 2 Daytonas this one with a white stripe, the other with a red stripe. He also owns a Superbird. Here is the one Daytona at the meet

I would have liked to have stayed and seen the other cars and you but I was worried about making my crossing back into the US through a "minor" crossing point that closes early. as it was I spent 45min there (had too much cash with me). to summaries my trip
two cars driven
two countries
two boarder crossings
three daytona's seen
fifteen states
eight days
56mph average while driving
cost  .... who cares

[taxspeaker]

June 30, 2015
I was up at 5:30 to get an early start today, rolling at 6:10am. I think total travel today was around 600 miles, with a total for the trip now of 4,800 miles. The weather was in the 40's so I kept the windows up until Tok, Alaska-400 miles into the day! 15 minutes out of Whitehorse early this morning there was a wild horse herd grazing on the roadside. I did not want to spook them so I just went by slowly. I did not see a car until nearly 8:00am, and then only every 5-10 miles. I was warned about construction and bad roads north of Haines Junction, and I hit several stretches of gravel and frost heaves until Burwash Landing-about 100 miles north and about 200 miles in for the day. From Burwash Landing to Beaver Creek (another 100 miles or so) the roads were horrible-gravel, 1 lane, frost heaves, washboards, pilot cars, you name it and it took twice as long as planned for this section. The good side is the scenery was fantastic and I saw a rare pair of Trumpeter Swans in a pond next to the highway. AT one point near the top of a pass I noticed no cars in front or behind me and got a fantastic picture of the bird on the gravel road with mountains behind it and clouds forming a rim about 1/3 down the mountain. If I could consistently figure out how to post pictures I will try to get a couple up from today. They are posted on the superbirdnorth site.

Gas was not an issue-a station was open about every 100 miles as Vermont Doug told me from last summer. I met several neat couples and talked with a guy in a rest area for 20 minutes about cars and life in general, then another couple on motorcycles from Michigan doing the same as me. Road conditions in Canada were ridiculous-they mark the frost heaves with a stake and a red flag but don't fix them! As soon as I crossed the border the frost heaves were fixed (but not marked). On the other hand the US did not warn about gravel conditions like Canada did. I stopped at the Raven Hotel in Haines Junction and dropped off the last of my custom made Superbirdnorth coffee mugs as a note of appreciation to them.

I crossed into the US about 1:30 and had my first border "incident". The guard said they see these cars a couple of times a year and stupid me corrected him that these were Superbirds and not RoadRunners. Maybe the 4 hours of washboard driving made my response a little short about morons that don't know the difference and the next thing I knew there were a million questions (not about cars!) and pulled to the side. At least I did not have to get all the crap out of the car. I guess even at 62 years old I can still be an aggressive idiot with no patience for certain things-next time yes sir, no sir!

Food was an issue today and I subsisted on crackers and fruit until Fairbanks-just nothing that looked good. Tomorrow will be Halibut!

Once past Beaver Creek Yukon the drive eased up and the road improved tremendously-I was hitting 75-80 once in the US. The town of Tok was the first place with anything open in Alaska-not much of a town frankly. Then on to Delta Junction- it was nicer than Tok a little, then past the Air Force base and old US Army Fort Wainright (I think it is closed now). The marines were smart enough not to put a base up here in the winter and only do summer maneuvers (just a little joke). I got into the Fairbanks Hampton Inn about 6:45 Alaska time.

Mechanical issues: water temperature is still not a problem. OIl pressure-I think I blew this new sending unit on one stretch in the US when I opened her up, but no real issues there either just another blown O-ring inside the new sending unit and it is reading funny too now. I smelled it when it blew I think. The other issue-about 30 miles outside of Whitehorse I got a horrible squeaking noise from the right front wheel and pulled over as soon as possible. A visual inspection showed nothing, so out came the special aluminum jack I bought and hoped not to use, and up she goes to take the tire off. Once I got the tire off I popped the wheel bearing dust cap and the rotor to look at the bearings-they were all fine. I then looked at the caliper and when I hit one of those darn frost heaves it had actually knocked the inner disc brake pad off-center. That was actually good news because I was able to fix it in about 30 minutes with the tools in the car and some ingenuity, bled the brakes and refilled the master cylinder, then rolling again. Not one car came by the whole time-I would estimate 45-50 minutes and I looked over my shoulder often-a fat guy would taste real good to a bear for breakfast. No other issues today, but a radio would have been nice-if I ever do this again (unlikely) I would recommend Sirius satellite radio since there are no stations out here. I continue to marvel at the drivetrain of this old car-it just keeps going and going and going. I am also glad that I redid the suspension, brakes and wheel bearings before the trip because they were all tested today. For the 1st time my back is bothering me a bit too-thank you Canada road crews!

Let's see on mechanical issues occurring in this trip: engine/transmission/differential/suspension/brakes manufactured in 1969 by Chrysler-no problems. Parts bought from aftermarket in last 3 years: (2) bad electronic ignition control modules; 1 bad gas tank; 1 bad radio; (2) bad oil pressure sending units. The lesson is-fix the old stuff don't replace since new is not better in this case.

Tomorrow I have 400 miles scheduled. I hope for a 8:30 or so start and then on to Denali National Park for sightseeing. From there I plan on stopping at a field on the east side of the Parks Highway where my wife picked blueberries a few years ago and we got a picture of the Alaska railroad train going by. I am going to wait until that train comes by this trip and get it, the valley, the mountains and the Superbird in the picture. From there on to the Talkeetna Lodge for late lunch, then on to Wasilla where I will meet up with Mark from the AeroWarriors group. I am splurging tomorrow and going to go on to Girdwood and stay at the Alyeska resort. Then Thursday morning, the bird is going to go through the long tunnel to Whittier for special pictures, fishing and a final stop at Portage Glacier for pictures on the way out. Tomorrow's update will probably be the last one because Thursday after the Whittier photo event I am heading home and sleeping in a sleeping bag to get home as quickly as possible.

I don't know how to Instagram but I understand the bird is all over it right now. Look for an absolutely filthy Alpine White Superbird and you will know that's the one. I may wash it in Anchorage after I get past Denali, even though the return trip will filthy it up again.

[dads_69]

Hey, I'm not from Aero group just an average mopar guy from here. Looking forward to meeting up with you tomorrow though. Safe trip my friend.
Mark

[moparstuart]

June 30, 2015
I was up at 5:30 to get an early start today, rolling at 6:10am. I think total travel today was around 600 miles, with a total for the trip now of 4,800 miles. The weather was in the 40's so I kept the windows up until Tok, Alaska-400 miles into the day! 15 minutes out of Whitehorse early this morning there was a wild horse herd grazing on the roadside. I did not want to spook them so I just went by slowly. I did not see a car until nearly 8:00am, and then only every 5-10 miles. I was warned about construction and bad roads north of Haines Junction, and I hit several stretches of gravel and frost heaves until Burwash Landing-about 100 miles north and about 200 miles in for the day. From Burwash Landing to Beaver Creek (another 100 miles or so) the roads were horrible-gravel, 1 lane, frost heaves, washboards, pilot cars, you name it and it took twice as long as planned for this section. The good side is the scenery was fantastic and I saw a rare pair of Trumpeter Swans in a pond next to the highway. AT one point near the top of a pass I noticed no cars in front or behind me and got a fantastic picture of the bird on the gravel road with mountains behind it and clouds forming a rim about 1/3 down the mountain. If I could consistently figure out how to post pictures I will try to get a couple up from today. They are posted on the superbirdnorth site.

Gas was not an issue-a station was open about every 100 miles as Vermont Doug told me from last summer. I met several neat couples and talked with a guy in a rest area for 20 minutes about cars and life in general, then another couple on motorcycles from Michigan doing the same as me. Road conditions in Canada were ridiculous-they mark the frost heaves with a stake and a red flag but don't fix them! As soon as I crossed the border the frost heaves were fixed (but not marked). On the other hand the US did not warn about gravel conditions like Canada did. I stopped at the Raven Hotel in Haines Junction and dropped off the last of my custom made Superbirdnorth coffee mugs as a note of appreciation to them.

I crossed into the US about 1:30 and had my first border "incident". The guard said they see these cars a couple of times a year and stupid me corrected him that these were Superbirds and not RoadRunners. Maybe the 4 hours of washboard driving made my response a little short about morons that don't know the difference and the next thing I knew there were a million questions (not about cars!) and pulled to the side. At least I did not have to get all the crap out of the car. I guess even at 62 years old I can still be an aggressive idiot with no patience for certain things-next time yes sir, no sir!

Food was an issue today and I subsisted on crackers and fruit until Fairbanks-just nothing that looked good. Tomorrow will be Halibut!

Once past Beaver Creek Yukon the drive eased up and the road improved tremendously-I was hitting 75-80 once in the US. The town of Tok was the first place with anything open in Alaska-not much of a town frankly. Then on to Delta Junction- it was nicer than Tok a little, then past the Air Force base and old US Army Fort Wainright (I think it is closed now). The marines were smart enough not to put a base up here in the winter and only do summer maneuvers (just a little joke). I got into the Fairbanks Hampton Inn about 6:45 Alaska time.

Mechanical issues: water temperature is still not a problem. OIl pressure-I think I blew this new sending unit on one stretch in the US when I opened her up, but no real issues there either just another blown O-ring inside the new sending unit and it is reading funny too now. I smelled it when it blew I think. The other issue-about 30 miles outside of Whitehorse I got a horrible squeaking noise from the right front wheel and pulled over as soon as possible. A visual inspection showed nothing, so out came the special aluminum jack I bought and hoped not to use, and up she goes to take the tire off. Once I got the tire off I popped the wheel bearing dust cap and the rotor to look at the bearings-they were all fine. I then looked at the caliper and when I hit one of those darn frost heaves it had actually knocked the inner disc brake pad off-center. That was actually good news because I was able to fix it in about 30 minutes with the tools in the car and some ingenuity, bled the brakes and refilled the master cylinder, then rolling again. Not one car came by the whole time-I would estimate 45-50 minutes and I looked over my shoulder often-a fat guy would taste real good to a bear for breakfast. No other issues today, but a radio would have been nice-if I ever do this again (unlikely) I would recommend Sirius satellite radio since there are no stations out here. I continue to marvel at the drivetrain of this old car-it just keeps going and going and going. I am also glad that I redid the suspension, brakes and wheel bearings before the trip because they were all tested today. For the 1st time my back is bothering me a bit too-thank you Canada road crews!

Let's see on mechanical issues occurring in this trip: engine/transmission/differential/suspension/brakes manufactured in 1969 by Chrysler-no problems. Parts bought from aftermarket in last 3 years: (2) bad electronic ignition control modules; 1 bad gas tank; 1 bad radio; (2) bad oil pressure sending units. The lesson is-fix the old stuff don't replace since new is not better in this case.

Tomorrow I have 400 miles scheduled. I hope for a 8:30 or so start and then on to Denali National Park for sightseeing. From there I plan on stopping at a field on the east side of the Parks Highway where my wife picked blueberries a few years ago and we got a picture of the Alaska railroad train going by. I am going to wait until that train comes by this trip and get it, the valley, the mountains and the Superbird in the picture. From there on to the Talkeetna Lodge for late lunch, then on to Wasilla where I will meet up with Mark from the AeroWarriors group. I am splurging tomorrow and going to go on to Girdwood and stay at the Alyeska resort. Then Thursday morning, the bird is going to go through the long tunnel to Whittier for special pictures, fishing and a final stop at Portage Glacier for pictures on the way out. Tomorrow's update will probably be the last one because Thursday after the Whittier photo event I am heading home and sleeping in a sleeping bag to get home as quickly as possible.

I don't know how to Instagram but I understand the bird is all over it right now. Look for an absolutely filthy Alpine White Superbird and you will know that's the one. I may wash it in Anchorage after I get past Denali, even though the return trip will filthy it up again.

when your headed back home and you come through Kansas City , let me know would love to meet up if time allows   

[hemi68charger]

... We called NAPA and they even had one and 30 minutes later, voila. Gauge now reads as it should, pressure is great and on with the show...

Great to hear all's well.............. 

[VTMopar]

You're going to love spending a night at the Aleska..... well worth a few extra $$   Enjoy!

On your return,are you taking the Richardson Highway (from Anchorage to Tok?    That stretch of road is spectacular!

Glad all is going well..... 

VT Mopar

[billssuperbird]

 

[taxspeaker]

July 1, 2015
AT 4:30 PM Alaska time, we reached our goal of Anchorage Alaska Chrysler Plymouth and the goal is met with the journey ending. We then gave the car a much needed detailed hand wash and drove on to Girdwood AK, the furthest point of the trip. The odometer reads 46582 for a total one-way mileage of 5,209 miles. A few pictures will be taken tomorrow depending on weather, and then head back to my understanding wife and job.

The day in Fairbanks began cold and rainy and after an early rising at 5:30, workout, breakfast, vehicle & fluid check and fill up we were on the road by 7:45am. It was so cold that I had the defroster on for over 250 miles of the 400 mile day travel goal, and it even kind of worked-much like 45 years ago. The Parks Highway from Fairbanks to ANchorage goes through Denali National Park and some of the most scenic areas of the United States. Unfortunately I saw none of them because of heavy rain for the first 350 miles, accompanied by forest fire smoke. This meant no pictures for most of the trip today. Today's drive was by far the worst of the entire 5,200 mile trek. The Parks Highway frankly is a disaster. There were 4 separate major road construction areas with 20-30 minute waits, potholed roads for 10 miles, rain, 1 lane-not the way I have seen it in the past. On the other hand at Wasilla, it cleared up, I met with Mark from the DOdge Charger forum and drove into Anchorage under beautiful sunny skies. The guys at the Chrysler dealership loved the car, took dozens of pictures and got my permission to use the pictures with their ads. They even brought a Scat Pack car to put beside it for pictures. These 2 groups continued the trip's legacy of super people!

At Anchorage I drove along Turnagin Arm, the sun was shining and the snowcapped mountain peaks surrounding the Bay glistened in the sky like an early morning sunrise touching the tops of pine trees. Fantastic views to finish up-I took several pictures of the Bird with the mountainous background. What an excellent way to conclude the trip!

Mechanically not as good as prior days. The engine is still doing great on oil and water but clearly now has some carburetor issues beyond my ability-probably from the low quality fuel, dirt and age. Throughout much of Canada and Alaska I could only get the lowest octane fuel and the monster engine doesn't like it. The front end took obvious abuse from today's road, but held up. The brakes are now squeaking like mice in a Cheshire cat grin and the wiper motor gave out in Willow, AK after 7 solid hours of "on". I will decide tomorrow after my drive through the railroad tunnel to WHittier and Portage Glacier what to do about the wiper motor-the dealership does not have one. I think the 350 miles of driving rain and potholed roads may have taken a toll on the electrical system and now I wish I had rewired it like I did the AAR Cuda and the old Hemi R/T Charger. I can handle electrical issues as long as the firewall plug doesn't melt and I brought a new fusible link.

I have had many people ask me about the problems with the car and was the trip worth it? My response is simple-what problems? This is a 45 year old car that you had better expect to fix some things, so yes it has been worth it particularly since I have waited 50 years for this drive and the low fuel light is on in my gas tank of ability. It has been a particularly satisfying accomplishment that I met so many great people, saw so many beautiful sights, and awakened the youthful memories and dreams of so many people with this car. As I said at the beginning of this trip the car is the star, I have just been the lucky delivery man of re-awakened dreams in the car's sighting. The best part of this trip has been the grins, honks, smiles, thumbs up, children's beaming faces, pictures, u-turns, videos and requests of people of all ages, sexes, races and religions to see the car, honk the beep-beep horn or even sit in the driver seat.

Finally thanks for those of you that called and texted to help keep me awake, but particularly to my lovely wife of 40+ years for understanding this trip. I do not know if I will have time to post a log tomorrow, so this is a fitting conclusion to the dream. Just like the movie Vanishing Point's uncertain ending, this car may just keep on driving tomorrow or not.

Bob Jennings

[Arnie Cunningham]

Way to go!

[VTMopar]

I'll bet that Kim at Passion4Mopars could overnight you a wiper motor......  or I've got one off my '68 Charger that works that I could ship (assuming it fits in your Bird).

VT Mopar