How Much Gas to Alaska? Our Gas Log

Here's our gas log for our first Alaskan road trip:  Ann Arbor, MI to Alaska and back.  [Click on images to enlarge.]

For long road trips, the gas log is a helpful resource to keep track of your miles, money spent, cost of gas, and prepare for the future or the returning route of your journey.  It helps you plan, especially if you might need to make additional money on the road.

Here are some estimated stats from our gas log:

$1555.19 total spent on gas 

$626.77 spent on gas from Ann Arbor, MI to Alaska border

+13,000 miles traveled over 3 months

30 mi/gal average in 2006 Chevy Aveo FULLY loaded with gear and 2 people

$5.36 / gal - Dawson City, Yukon - Most expensive gas.  Gas is more expensive in Canada and as you travel further north

0 flat tires.  The majority of roads are pretty good!

If you're thinking of an Alaskan road trip, we hope this helps!

Do it!

Hanging Drywall with Volcanoes. Lost and Found Camera Gear

If you missed these, here's 2 stories with photos from our Alaskan trip on Marty's blog:

Change in Competence: From a Second Story Ladder in Alaska

Change in Karma: Camera Gear, Lost and Found

Coming up soon is a video from our rafting trip on the Green River in Desolation Canyon, UT.  We'll show you how awesome it is to poop on a river (not pooping in the river, but on the "groover").

Bears + How to Sleep Comfortably in a Loaded Chevy Aveo

Marty packing up shortly after a bear cub pawed our tent.

It's morning and Kelly and I are laying in our tent.  We're camped just off the highway south of Anchorage, AK.  We're thinking about starting the day when Kelly hears a light rustle in the grass.  I don't hear it... but all of a sudden we see our tent wall caving in with the indentation of a paw print!  I jump up and immediately yell, "Hey!  Hey!" as I pull a knife out from the top of our tent.  There's a quick instant where I think I may have to wrestle a bear off our tent with a tiny knife...  Our tent pops back into shape and Kelly looks out the window of our rain fly and sees a black figure running off in the grass.

We stay still.  We listen.

We hear a few nearby campers who were sleeping in their trucks get out and yell, "Hey!  Is anyone in the tent?"  "Yes..."  "Well a black bear mother and 3 cubs were just surrounding your car and tent..."  We get out of our tent.  "Ya, we kinda figured that..."  The guy looks at us like we're crazy, "And your okay with that?"  Well no, we're not totally okay with this... but what else are we suppose to do?  Run back after them and say, "Hey bears!  That wasn't cool, alright?  You could have ripped our new tent!"  We certainly didn't invite them over for morning tea and they already scurried off... so the only thing left to do was pack up and move on.

I think the problem was that we pitched our tent too close to the grass where there was a nearby trail.  The black bears were just passing through, our tent was kinda in the way, and the bear cub was a little curious.  Black bears are usually pretty timid- at least from our experiences.  When I did yell, the bear cub and friends scurried off quickly minding their own business.

So after almost receiving a cozy bear hug that morning... we were both a bit timid the next few nights.  Kelly later invented a great and comfortable way to sleep in our over-packed Chevy Aveo- check the video below.  We eventually started sleeping in our tent again, but this was also a great way to sleep in crowded areas such as suburbs or cities where pitching a tent may not be feasible.

Here's the video:

Car, Gear + Tips for Traveling on the Road

This video is about our car (the Chevy Aveo) and all the stuff we could fit in it while still sleeping inside. [Sleeping comfortably in an Aveo? Seriously? Yes. Video coming soon!] We mostly car camped for 3 months while traveling 10,000 miles to Alaska and back. It worked out quite well. Our over-packed tiny car should dispel the myth that the roads to Alaska are really bad - it was true back in the 60s but not anymore. You can make it! You should still look out for potholes though...

So check out the video below for tips on gear, cooking, living in a car, etc.

Any feedback or questions? Leave us a comment. Thanks!

(P.S.  Sorry the video turnaround is a bit slow... We meant to post this in October...)