Finally here! Five days and four nights of travel, and I've made it to Alaska. We arrived on schedule with only one hiccup. One car in the caravan (I affectionately nicknamed it the "low rider" because the magnitude of cargo on it was definitely causing it to sag significantly) broke down in Loydminster, Alberta. It chose to do so on a Saturday night, leaving us no timely option for repair. Things did work out, however. After things were reorganized, there was enough space in the other cars for the people in this car and their luggage. It was going to cost $2 a day to store the car at the mechanic's shop for the summer (which was already a break, the original cost was $20 a day) when a local was found to take care of the car. He asked nothing for storing the car, and only required that the owner pay for the repairs before he picked up his car in August. Needless to say, we were thrilled, it being only two and a half hours after the breakdown, and we had both the cheapest and most convenient solution at hand (praise God!)
The Al-Can Highway was gorgeous. It was similar to the Colorado Rocky Mtns, but with much less civilization in the middle (often around 100 miles between gas stations.) The road was in better condition than I thought. While it was last paved a long time ago, it wasn't very rough at all. It was a simple drive from Dawson's Creek (the town at the Alaskan Highway zero mile marker) to Skagway. The night in Skagway made me feel like a bum. There were no parks to camp in, so we slept on the sidewalk outside the port. The next morning, we took the ferry, and six hours later, I was in Juneau.