Great Alaskan Road Trip: Week 10 Roundup

Each Friday, I post some relevant (and not-so-relevant) stats about the trip, as well as a little write-up of what it’s like to live out of a van for weeks on end. Here’s where we are overall:

• Total miles driven: 6270
• Total miles by ferry: 489
• Total days on the road: 67
• Total nights in a hotel: 4
• Total miles hiked: 90.79

Here are some interesting stats for this week:

• Fuel stops: 1 (diesel: $4.01 in Fairbanks)
• Technical issues: 1 (A piece of wood broke off the shelf above the TV; we MacGyvered it back on with some tape – good as new.)
• National Park Service sites visited: 1 – Denali National Park 
• Bears sighted: 14 (Thank you, Denali!)
• Caribou sighted: 42
• Dall Sheep sighted: 24
• Moose sighted: 1
• Foxes sighted: 1
• Wolves sighted: 1
• Lynx sighted: 1

I couldn’t resist including just one more photo of that lynx. 

Sorry, I don’t have much of a write-up about the van for you today, I’m running into writer’s block.  For tomorrow, we are planning a long side trip down a dirt road, and other people have advised us to bring not one but two full spare tires, plenty of water, and extra fuel.  When this RV pulled into the spot next to us I couldn’t help but feel a little envious:

Not to worry, we have faith in our trusty Sprinter.  Although in comparison it looks like David next to Goliath – just look at the size of the tires on that thing.

Anyway, I’m sure we’ll be fine on our side trip, but I wasn’t kidding about that writer’s block – if anyone has any questions or suggestions for van or travel topics for me to write about next Friday, please feel free to post a comment.