Alaska Never Forgotten

Think back on your most memorable road trip.
Jet Pack Prompt (1/13/26)

“A journey into the Alaskan wilderness will leave you with an incredible impression that will stay with you forever.” (Jeffery Siger)

My wife Ruth and I have embarked on so many roadtrips over several decades so it’s really hard to say. But one particular self guided drive through the Alaskan “Last Frontier“ during summer vacation during our teaching years seems to “stand out.” Being two free spirited adventurers at the time, I vividly recall that our travel plans did not happen smoothly as we intended it to be. For we experienced several unanticipated problems as we made our way over great distances in our used rental car throughout the remote interior of the state.

Would we have considered for example that along our northerly drive through mountainous wilderness on unpaved roads for over five hundred miles to the city of Fairbanks, there’d be zero gas stations or rest stops at any point on our route? Why would we have anticipated as well that summertime weather in July meant the onset of dangerous warming conditions? That meant riverbank floods caused by melting snow, mushy roads as a result of unfreezing permafrost and invasions of pesky mosquitos who breeded heavily amid the seasonal soggy landscape. To make matters worse, how could we have better prepared for loosening rocks now dislodged by summer warmth at times flying into our front windshield from passing trucks?

At one particular “shanty town” we stopped at “off the beaten track” heading back south then, I also recall being asked by a local resident if we’d be interested in becoming teachers there. This offer included an assurance that there was immediate employment available. How enticing that opportunity first felt given my restless travel mindset. But then I realized that being permanent residents of this rural Alaska landscape meant enduring near total darkness in their frigid winter, possibly buying a gun to hunt for our food and likely needing to use a snowmobile during blizzards for transportation from home or work.

So would I want to visit Alaska again? No doubt a tour would be nice if I was given the chance to experience a spectacular panorama of Mount McKinley on a clear sunny day, gaze wondrously at the colorful “ Northern Lights” on a calm winter evening or see hungry Grizzly bears quenching their appetite on a salmon filled river. So when the time’s right we’ll do it again in a more manageable fashion.