Alaska or Bust !

 Let the journey begin....

Part 1: Crossing the US up to the Canadian Border - Arizona to Chief Mountain, Alberta Canada.

To even make the trip possible Jack worked hard on upgrading and prepping our Dodge 3500 Diesel and our Outfitter Spire Camper so we were comfortable while camping and have a reliable vehicle to get us to Alaska. The finished product turned out to be what we needed to start on this bucket list adventure.

June 8th, 2026..... Let's get this party started!

As we pulled out of our driveway in 100 degree Arizona temperature we were hopeful that we were heading to cooler temperatures.  When we prepare for a trip like this, we try to stop for the night in cooler temperatures, which is known as 'chasing 70 degrees' in the nomad camping world. So we planned and plotted our route according so our first week brought us to:

Flagstaff, AZ - on the Mogollon Rim at 7,000 ft elevation, pine trees and cool air for sleeping!

Campsite at the Mogollon Rim outside Flagstaff, AZ.

Truck survived the first 120 miles!!

Duck Creek, Utah - at 8,400 ft elevation and again, cooler air.

In the pines again

Ely, Nevada - 6,400 ft elevation. Driving through western Utah and eastern Nevada, we drove NV HWY 50 which is called the Loneliest Road in America to get to Ely. The area is high desert plains/valleys with mountain ranges dividing the valleys for hundreds of miles and after a long day, we made camp in the trees at the foothills of the mountains. After a good night sleep we spend some time that next morning exploring the awesome local train museum. We were able to walk around their current restoration machine shop and talk to the mechanics and restoration guys about the unique trains they were working on, from 1890's steam engines to the newer 1950's diesel engines and a few specialty cars. This tour was two thumbs up for sure.

On our way to Ely on the Nevada HWY 50 - The Loneliest Road in America 

Coal tender car.

Rotary Snow Plow for clearing train tracks.

Hard not to want to jump in and get my hands dirty! 

Outside the Museum /Train Station

Bruneau Canyon Overlook in Idaho - We made a small detour off the straight north route to grab the Idaho's Cache Across America geocache.  When we arrived at the cache it was late so we decided to camp in the overlook area and were awarded with a beautiful canyon view and sunset all by ourselves.  Good sleeping.

Looking into the canyon at Bruneau Overlook

Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho. - We were surrounded by mountains and the only visitors we had were two wild mustangs that seemed to be curious why we were camping in their area.  The night was chilly and we were glad we have a heater in the camper.

At this point we had been averaging about 250 miles driving per day and dry camping for 5 days straight so we elected to stay a couple of days in Spruce On the River RV Park in Kalispell, Montana to take some really long hot showers, laundry and relax. Our RV site was next to the river and was our nature's symphony music for those two nights.

View from our site of the Flathead River

After a good rest we decided to head north again and visit near-by Glacier National Park.  We ventured into the west entrance of the Park only to find out that the Going-to-the-Sun Road, which transverses the park and connects the west entrance with the east entrance, was not open for the season as it still had snow drifts on the road, so we would need to drive the long way around to the east entrance to see the other side of the Park.  We are so glad we did. The glacier carved peaks, beautiful lakes and grand hotels are a sight to see.  After taking in the beauty from the St Mary's Glacier entrance the ranger recommended the Many Glacier entrance. This area seems to be less visited as the other areas of the park probably because of the 7 miles of dirt road. But yet again, it's so worth it. We were able to see more glaciers another grand lodge and less people.

West Entrance - Lake McDonald Lodge and old touring bus which is 
still used today.

Interior of the historic 1914 Lake McDonald Lodge

Views of Lake McDonald

Happy Us!

Mountain Goat looking a little shabby losing winter fur coat

East Glacier Entrance - View of Jackson Glacier

Everywhere you look... just WOW

Are we in Switzerland ?

Beautiful view of Many Glacier Hotel built in 1915 on the Swiftcurrent Lake
and massive peaks in the background

Interior of Many Glacier Hotel

Our journey continues to Alaska as we cross into Canada at the Chief Mountain Border Crossing just 80 miles NE of Glacier NP. We had no problems at the border crossing with only the typical inquiring questions and looking over our passports.  No person or vehicle searches. So we were pretty lucky.

Hello Canada

We have been on the road for one week, travelled 1900 miles and stayed at 7 unique places and crossed 6 states. So join us next time when we continue our travel through Canada to the Alaska border.

Thanks for coming along.