# Philadelphia to Alaska.... a long strange trip



## Pete (Oct 31, 2017)

This is the second of my "home movies" about Alaska to be posted. The first thread was posted in the 'general discussions' folder on 10/23 and has some nice shots of many different places around Alaska. This one is just some random footage of the 8 different road trips I took from Alaska to Philly. It was created for a friend back in Philly who couldn't understand why anyone would want to live in the wilderness of Alaska. It starts at my home of many decades in Philly and ends at the homestead I lived on for twenty years.

*it has a rating of wo (worn out), meaning many of the shots were taken while I was under the influence of severe lack of sleep.

Enjoy


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## oldman (Nov 1, 2017)

Nice video. What month was this taken? I would love to go there and do some fishing, even if from the shoreline, as long as the bears would leave me alone. I hear other fishermen that have come back from Alaska telling bear stories. True or not?


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## Pappy (Nov 1, 2017)

Thanks, that was fun.


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## RadishRose (Nov 1, 2017)

What a fun and interesting video, Pete! Those mountains and the sunset over the lake, so beautiful! Nice effects, too. Thank you for showing this to us.  :love_heart:


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## Meanderer (Nov 1, 2017)

I really enjoyed watching your video, Pete!  It's the closest many of us will get to making the trip ourselves!  Don't sell yourself short, as a videographer!  A fun watch!
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## SeaBreeze (Nov 1, 2017)

Thanks for the ride and the smiles Pete, brought back some memories for me too. k:


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## Pete (Nov 1, 2017)

Meanderer said:


> I really enjoyed watching your video


'Meanderer' thanks for taking the time to comment. 

Thought you may appreciate this... 
sometimes laying down on the job 
is the only way to get the shot
my son capturing a shot 
from the glacier climbing episode.

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## CeeCee (Nov 1, 2017)

I'd love to visit Alaska one day.  After watching your video I looked up how long of a drive it is from Fresno....57 hrs! 

I can drive about 3 without needing to stop.


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## Pete (Nov 1, 2017)

oldman said:


> Nice video. What month was this taken? I would love to go there and do some fishing, even if from the shoreline, as long as the bears would leave me alone. I hear other fishermen that have come back from Alaska telling bear stories. True or not?



The video was a copulation of many different trips back and forth to Philly from my cabin, (you can see I shot the clips from different trucks/suv's during the video). My normal time to make the road trips was either October after the fall moose hunts or in April before bear hunting season. 

...and we do have a lot of bear/fisherman encounters, but using  common sense one can still have a productive fishing trip, and depending on where you fish the density of bears varies. 

When I was not working as an assistant hunting guide or guiding remote fishing trips I usually fished, streams and lakes near my cabin from the shore so spending a lot of money for guided fishing trips is not necessary.


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## Pete (Nov 1, 2017)

CeeCee said:


> I'd love to visit Alaska one day.  After watching your video I looked up how long of a drive it is from Fresno....57 hrs!



'CeeCee' on average it took me 6 days to drive the over 4,200 miles from my cabin in Alaska to see my family in Philadelphia, PA. Your trip just over 3,000 miles from Fresno shouldn't take more than 7 days even with stopping every 3 or 4 hours. If you rented an RV for a one way trip you could fly back home and still enjoy the many wonderful sights the trip has to offer. My short video clip does not even scratch the surface on what is on the road to experience. I would suggest you do a search for uTube video's on the ALCAN the Alaskan highway and they may be able to show you some of the more incredible sights the drive has to offer.

A Photoshop rendering of a photograph I took on the side of the road near Fairbanks, Alaska.



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## CeeCee (Nov 1, 2017)

Thanks Pete but I'd be afraid to drive an RV or even make the trip by myself.  If I ever get to Alaska it will be by plane.

It is on my bucket list though.

I was just curious to how long it would take because I never really thought about it or knew the answer unlike with our 48 other states.

i know you can't drive to Hawaii though.


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## oldman (Nov 2, 2017)

I would really love to do the drive someday. I drove across country twice when the kids were young and we had some great times. We were never in a hurry, so it was a lot of fun driving about 600-800 miles per day and stopping to let the kids swim at a motel and have a nice meal before getting about 6-7 hours of sleep. Then, we would fly home. Back then, dropping a rental car wasn't expensive at all and some car rental agencies didn't even charge for dropping the car on the west coast. Today, just the opposite. It now costs an arm and a leg to drop a car on the west coast when coming from the east coast. 

Alaska has always intrigued me, especially fishing up there. I would love to catch some Halibut, Cod and Salmon. Cold water fish are much better tasting than warm water fish, like those caught out of the Gulf of Mexico.


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## Manatee (Nov 3, 2017)

There are some nice cruises to AK for folks who prefer not to drive.  The one we took left from Seattle, there are others from Vancouver BC.


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## Pete (Nov 4, 2017)

oldman said:


> I would really love to do the drive someday.



One is 'almost' never too old to take a road trip! Considering that I am planing next spring at 72 to drive back to my home in Alaska I do not think age has any relevance on making long road trips. True if one were physically incapacitated in some way and it made driving dangerous then one should not attempt it, but just because one is "old" it only makes the drive more challenging. I was 70 when I drove down from Alaska and other than making more 'pit-stops' and maxing out my daily mileage at 400 miles or so on good days, I had no problems.

I remember giving lectures back in the 90's about Alaska and many of those that attended came forward after the presentation and said they were going to visit Alaska they just didn't know when. My response every time was... do it now, because we do not know what the future will bring.  

Thanks for taking the time to comment
Pete

..below is a photograph from day 6 of my road trip when I reached the Texas border.


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