My original plans were to depart from New York heading 80 West toward Billings in the State of Montana. The details of the route is below:
Route number one
NYC to Minneapolis
1198 = 1927 Km
1198 = 1927 KmMinneapolis to Winnipeg, Canada 459 = 738 Km
459 = 738 KmWinnipeg to Edmonton, Canada 1305 = 2100 Km
1305 = 2100 Km 2962 Miles = 4766 KmEdmonton to Watson Lake airport, Canada 1570= 2526 Km
1570= 2526 KmWatson Lake airport to Fairbanks, Alaska 1394= 2243 Km
1394= 2243 KmFairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 498 = 801 Km
498 = 801 Km 3462 Miles = 5571 Km
Total6424 Miles = 10338 Kilometers
6424 Miles = 10338 KilometersRoute number two (preferred)
NYC to Billings, Montana 2035 = 3275 Km
2035 = 3275 KmBillings to Edmonton, Canada 722 =1161 Km
722 =1161 Km 2757 Miles =4436 Km
4436 KmEdmonton to Watson Lake airport, Canada 1570 =2526 Km
1570 =2526 KmWatson Lake airport to Fairbanks, Alaska 1394 = 2243 Km
1394 = 2243 KmFairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 498 = 801 Km
498 = 801 Km 3462 Miles =5571 Km
5571 Km Total6219 Miles = 10008 Kilometers
6219 Miles = 10008 KilometersI decided for route number two because of Banff and Jasper National Parks and the Canadian Rockies.
Getting this far into Canada can be a quest in itself depending on where you’re coming from, but strangely, once beneath the famous Alaska Highway sign, it feels like the journey begins anew. We had plans to do the very scenic two-day ride the Banff and Jasper National Parks and the Canadian Rockies but unfortunately this did not materialize because of the passport mishap which I regret so much.
. Traveling from the East, the favored route has you enter Canada above Great Falls, Montana. Coming from this direction you can take in the magnificence of Banff and Jasper National Parks and the Canadian Rockies that you’ll be flanking most of the way to Alaska.
Everything was going as planned until we were in South Dakota having fun. I lost my passport and without this very important document, it is impossible to leave or come back to the United States. I remember in the 70s, I had no problem entering Canada with just my driver license but that’s not the case anymore.
You can apply for a new passport over the mail but that takes 3 weeks to a month so my options were to leave my trike in South Dakota and fly back to NY to get a new one in NY or to keep going West to Seattle, Washington and get a replacement passport there. There are not too many cities in the US where there’s a passport agency where you can get an expedited passport the same day. We decided to head for Seattle because that’s still on the way to Alaska. After going through a great deal of aggravation, I was granted a passport card ( a type of identification the size of a credit card good for travel to the Caribbean, Mexico and Canada).
Because of the passport delay we had to change plans and we established a new route as follows:
NYC to Billings, Montana 2035 = 3275 Km
2035 = 3275 KmBillings - Montana to Seattle – Washington 818 = 1316 Km
Seattle to Whitehorse, Yukon - Canada 1562 = 2513 Km
Whitehorse to Fairbanks – USA 948 = 1525 Km
Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska 498 = 801 Km
Total5500 Miles = 9430 Kilometers
5500 Miles = 9430 Kilometers
