TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:51 am

Three months, One '71 bay window, two break downs, a hell of an adventure and a total trip tally of 6,389 miles one way from New Mexico to Alaska, the scenic route.

I've started to chronicle the Alaska Highway part of this ordeal here if anyone is interested:

http://www.freewheelings.com/travel/alaskanadventures/alaska-highway-volkswagen-bus-part-1/

Part two will be coming shortly.

I actually made it! Thanks in part to all the good Samba folks who have help me along the journey of bus ownership (I use that term loosely).

Anyone else have stories?

Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:04 am

One way ? where is the bus ? do I need to get it and add it too my westy's in in Wasilla? :D

Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:29 am

nice reading, thanks for sharing. i just bought a 68 and am hoping to take a journey soon. maybe see you around abq.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:58 am

Beautiful road trip and story...but where are the pictures?

if only those pesky Canadian's would let me in

Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:42 am

You just did the "road trip" of my dreams. Great story, thanks for sharing it with us!

Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:53 am

Really great adventure. I would like to read more. Photos?

I am planning on doing some extensive wandering myself in the not too distant future.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:25 am

Sorry guys, I hate to tell you, there is not one single photo of my bus on the Alaska highway that I have in my possession. I'm sure they're scattered across flickr pages from Sweden to Spain, but that doesn't help me much. That's why I'm going to go to great lengths write up the adventure as best as possible. The bus is safe here with me hibernating in the interior while I work sled dogs for the Winter. I'm not even going to try and start it on a 30 below morning. I'll keep this post up to date as I add part 2 of the story.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:38 am

For almost 10 years my dad made the trip from Mesa Arizona to Alaska with his sister to go fishing, but not in a VW. He had a special grill made for it and an extra set of tires and he was in his 70's.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:43 am

For almost 10 years my dad made the trip from Mesa Arizona to Alaska with his sister to go fishing, but not in a VW. He had a special grill made for it and an extra set of tires and he was in his 70's.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 10:44 am

Also, my general route was:

Taos > Albuquerque > LA > up the 1 > San Fran > Eugene > Portland > Port Townsend > Bellingham > Vancouver > Prince George > Dawson Creek > Anchorage > Fairbanks

With MANY detours...

Wed Nov 18, 2009 11:06 am

I did that trip in 1980 in a 72 squreback all the down I-5 to Tucson and back the only problem I had was a throttle cable broke but I had a spare.
durring the trip going down the old SB turned over 100.000 miles at Sumas border Canada/Washington.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 12:06 pm

sillygringo wrote: Also, my general route was:

Taos > Albuquerque > LA > up the 1 > San Fran > Eugene > Portland > Port Townsend > Bellingham > Vancouver > Prince George > Dawson Creek > Anchorage > Fairbanks

With MANY detours...

Did you go thru Pete Townsend of the WHO? :shock:

Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:32 pm

sillygringo wrote: Also, my general route was:

Taos > Albuquerque > LA > up the 1 > San Fran > Eugene > Portland > Port Townsend > Bellingham > Vancouver > Prince George > Dawson Creek > Anchorage > Fairbanks

With MANY detours...

Are you from Taos? I live there as well. Love to hook up. PM me.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:36 pm

sillygringo wrote: Sorry guys, I hate to tell you, there is not one single photo of my bus on the Alaska highway.

Pics...or it's just a "story". :?

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:06 pm

It's a good thing I just happened to have two trucks with Alaska license plates and a North Country forest at hand.

for the dissenter:

It's a shame everyone is so down on reading anything these days.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:09 pm

73kombi wrote: sillygringo wrote: Sorry guys, I hate to tell you, there is not one single photo of my bus on the Alaska highway.

Pics...or it's just a "story". :?

Where are you in this photo............they guy with the sign that reads "pichers"....... :lol: :lol:

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:11 pm

sillygringo wrote: It's a good thing I just happened to have two trucks with Alaska license plates and a North Country forest at hand.

for the dissenter:

It's a shame everyone is so down on reading anything these days.

Great story! Nope it is the guys who cannot spell photos!......... :lol: :lol:

So, are you in AK for good or what?

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:19 pm

Nope, for the winter and maybe next summer. I figured to go out and see the world VW style for a while. Don't ask me why I went to Alaska, in the Winter, in a VW, but I did. I have just never seen the North Country before and that seemed like a good enough reason to me.

It does amaze me that someone could appreciate the time and diligence required to drive an air cooled VW, but not the time or effort it takes to actually tell a story without just running about snapping photos haphazardly.

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:22 pm

Check in when you get back into town, if you do make it back. I am going the opposite direction next summer or the following year. NM to Costa Rica in my 68 Westy.........yeah! 8)

Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:32 pm

Hey PW I definitely will - I'll be back - I'm building my place out in TP and I'd like to finish one of these days/years. If you keep a log of your trip let me know. I've fired up a blog (where this article is from) for mine with both RSS and email feeds if you're interested.

http://www.freewheelings.com