Fact one: Anchorage, Alaska is a really, really long way from Clarksville, Tennessee where we are coming from. Fact two: Getting there takes longer than you’d think.
To give you some perspective, for the purposes of our drive, which swings slightly through a few places we’d like to see rather than taking the entirely direct route, the halfway point between Clarksville and Anchorage is about the Canada border in Washington State. If we were to take a more direct path, we’d only cut 950ish miles off our trek, and we’d miss some time with our Boise-based family and a few gorgeous parks we’ve never had a chance to see.
Plus, really, what’s 950 miles when you’re already driving 4,000 no matter how you cut it?
Luke is the master of our route. I did a little lose math the other day, and realized that for about six of his 11ish years in the military, he was in charge of some kind of planning in what is known as the “S3” office. So he’s pretty good at planning.
That’s why I (mostly) let him tell you about our route in these two videos.
A little preview: we headed from Clarksville, Tenn. to Clinton Lake State Park near Lawrence, Kansas (that’s where I’m writing this from). Then we’re going to Loveland, Colorado and staying in La Quinta — a treat from La Quinta which is helping sponsor this trip. (We’ll talk more about that later).
On Wednesday we’ll be in and just outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ve never been there, so this is my first chance. On Thursday we’ll be staying at Dinosaur National Monument, followed by Friday at City of Rocks, and then on to Boise. This will make more sense if you watch the video.
Not to sound dumb, but Canada is a whole other country — and I’ve never driven through it. Luke has a plan for that, too — but it’s less organized than our plan through the U.S. The short version of this is: haul butt through Canada but still have a chance to see how cool it is. I figure by the time we get there we might be tired of traveling and not care at all how pretty it is. That’s kind of what happens when traveling with a 4-year-old.
Here’s those details.
We’re hash-tagging the whole trip #North2Future, so you can follow along on Instagram and Facebook.