Tomorrow, we have a very long day of driving (about 600 miles) to reach the town of Whitehorse in Canada. Should be fun!
(N.O.)

We drove for 200 miles before D2 ran out of gas and pulled over to the shoulder. Pulling onto the shoulder resulted in a serious sticking of the vehicle. There is no shoulder, when the snow is removed…so D1 tried to park on it, and we suddenly had 2 cars stuck…and one was out of gas. ANYWAY, we got’em out and arrived at the gas station before the others went empty, and all was good.

In Fairbanks, we checked into the Best Western, ordered pizzas, and sat down to tell lies about our camping experience. These are the things that make expeditions, well, expeditions, and by the time we get home, we will have embellished the camping story in many ways. Suffice it to say, it was COLD and ICY and MISERABLE, and we LOVED IT!!!

Tomorrow, we head further south into Canada. Unfortunately, we will lose Luke, who has become a wonderful teammie, and we already miss him. So, tonight, we will finish saying goodbye to him in proper LONGITUDE fashion, and tomorrow we will bid him a fond farewell.

Until next time…Fondly, Your LONGITUDE Team! (N.O.)

THE FOLLOWING ARE NICK'S WORDS: Permission for vehicles and team was granted and we were escorted through the gates to the shores of Prudhoe Bay. Access to the Beaufort Sea is heavily restricted and even though we had some wonderful folks helping with arrangements, an email check this morning said it didn’t look good. News like this might have turned some folks away but not our team. The wonderful staff of the Prudhoe Bay Hotel helped us call field security and luckily they had heard we were coming. The efforts of our sponsors at Mobil 1 made this happen and the security company mentioned seeing us in the newspaper as well. Usually the oil field workers are the only folks allowed out here but Purcell Security hooked us up by sending Bill, Randy, Linn, and Robin out to accompany the team through the restricted areas to see the Arctic. Strict regulations put in place in the last few years require that our escorts also drive our vehicles and all had to wear safety glasses. After a short briefing we headed to the ocean, but before we could get out of the vehicles, one of our escorts explored the ice on foot and used binoculars to scan the area for polar bears. This is where they live and it’s not unusual to see them way up here. It’s tough to tell the ocean apart from the land, since the entire landscape is nothing but white snow, so we dug down through a foot of snow and found ice which makes the journey official. The only thing stopping a fellow from driving further, out onto the ice, is permission but we were plenty satisfied with pictures, and tried not to freeze while admiring the view. During moments like this, it’s easy to get caught up taking pictures so the team took a few personal moments to survey the area surrounding the northernmost road and then it hit me. One year ago, almost to the day, we stood on the shore at the other end of the Pan American Highway (southeast of Ushuaia, Argentina), and stared out toward the South Pole. Now it’s time to turn our convoy south and, once we reach Sunnyvale, Calif. we will have driven the absolute length of the world’s longest motorable road.

(N.B.)

A moose was killed on the train tracks sometime during the wee hours of the morning, and the body was deposited on the road right in front of the lodge, at the railroad crossing. Apparently, when large game is killed by trains or vehicles and becomes road kill, the state troopers contact “meat hunters” from a call list of local folks who come out to collect the carnage. It’s a really cool system, and we were privileged to get to see it in action. The train crew guts the animal right away, and then they deliver it to the nearest town and alert the authorities. Locals are contacted using the call list, and the first “callee” to say he or she wants the beast gets to have it. (The catch is that these calls generally come in in the middle of the night or from super-remote areas.) The two men and a woman who arrived on the scene of today’s unfortunate moose let us watch and learn (and film) as they cut the still-warm animal into several big pieces and loaded it into their minivan. They can get 400-500 pounds of meat off of one of these kills, and they can feed off of it all winter. They said they generally share it with friends, family, and neighbors. It was so interesting, and so cool, and it’s just a great example of the ability of these sturdy Alaskans to survive and thrive in conditions that would make most of America hightail it to Florida, California, or some other warm and pampered territory. But these folks would have it no other way. And they’re glad that the rugged lifestyle doesn’t suit too many people; they like their region’s low population.

After departing Cantwell, we filmed a few convoy shots with Mt. McKinley (or Denali) as the backdrop. On our way north, we stopped in to visit Ranger Fred at Denali National Park. He was as enthusiastic as he was intriguing, and we loved hearing his stories about the bears and wildlife he has witnessed at the park. Adam and Mark filmed the former Marine as he told us about the park and about his Alaskan experiences.

We finally arrived in Fairbanks in the early evening and braved the frigid temps to walk a few blocks to a local Mexican food joint. It’s nearly -40F here, and the air freezes our nostrils and lungs.

FYI: At 8 this morning, the temperature was -38F, with a wind chill of -54F.

(N.O.)

These days, “the Gang” includes three new additions. Yesterday, we were joined by two Take Me With You! Guests and a new “Home-Leg Team Member.” In the TMWY! category, we have Adam’s father, Ken, and Equator Hats’ “big man on campus”, Luke Landers. And on the “new teammie” side of the fence, we have Marc Cope, who has joined Adam’s production team.

Welcome aboard, teammies!

We start driving tomorrow. Join us on line. (N.O.)

Tomorrow, we will be packing the vehicles, installing our radios, and doing various admin in preparation for our departure. Oh, and, since it’s a resort, we’ll also make sure we bone up on our rest so we’ll be ready for some hard driving on the way to Fairbanks and on to Prudhoe Bay.

Check back tomorrow! (N.O.)

Welcome back to the LONGITUDE Expedition.

We arrived in Anchorage this evening, which means our final leg is about to get underway. Todd, Nancy, Nick, and Adam flew the world’s most whacked-out itinerary (to save money, of course) to arrive in Anchorage sometime around midnight. It was a 12-hour (+) ordeal, because, get this, the itinerary took us from San Jose to LAX (where we had to change airlines AND terminals), where we had a two-hour layover (which we actually needed, since we had to walk outside to an entirely different terminal). Then we flew from LAX to…you’ll never guess it…Phoenix, Arizona! (Yes, for those of you who are wondering if you might be geographically challenged, that is the WRONG direction.) From Phoenix, where we had another two hours to kill, we flew direct to Anchorage, a six-hour flight with no movie and no crossword puzzle. We kept ourselves entertained by looking at our maps and guidebooks and getting excited about all the wonderful things we will see and do in Alaska and Canada. Alaska is our country’s final frontier, and we are going to explore a fair stretch of it.

So, keep posted here as we post journals from our final month on the road!

N.O.)