joe b. wrote:
Not everyone using the Alaska Hwy and the Cassiar Hwy are tourists. To some north country residents, they are just long roads that lead to where they want to go, which is south. My wife's sister, husband and two daughters use to run from Anderson Alaska to Bellingham in under 50 hours. They would leave Anderson on a Friday after work and pull into Bellingham on Sunday evening. They did this forr numerous summer vacations. Bellingham was where they wanted to spend their time, not along the way. With three drivers, this worked for them. This style of travel never appealed to us, even though I did make one business tip from Nenana to Houston (Port Lavaca Texas) in 6 days one time, averaging roughly 800 miles a day, by myself.
Many people that live in the North Country, don't have a work/vacation schedule that allows them to make a long leisurely trip out of heading to the lower 48 from Alaska via the highway system.
We faced the situation many times while living in Alaska in that our work schedule didn't allow us to take a month for the round trip. So those times we would often load the family on a mainline jet and fly south to see family and vacation. Usually with a week or so stop off in Hawaii, one direction or the other.
You are so right. I love the drive, but this is not one of those times I am doing it strictly for fun. I consider living in Alaska a permanent "vacation." Love the back yard wildlife and tourist watching. I am not sure which is more amusing or even dangerous (sometimes). Being retired - with obligations, I can make time for the trip, but with selling the house I need to get there ASAP with a stop along the way to meet up with relatives and maybe some work in the TC.
