Expedition South Episode 12 -Canada to Alaska

Welcome to episode 12. I start this episode in Bozeman, Montana, USA. I'll work my way up north to the border with Canada. I'll couch surf in Lethbridge. I'll traverse up the Banff and Jasper National Parks, where I run into some blizzards. I'll then start my 4,000 mile round trip on the Alaskan Highway, which is the loneliest road in North America in the winter. And finally, make it up to the top of the World Highway into Alaska. Check this crap out. I'm here in Bozeman, Montana, and apparently, you know, there's 91 octane, 88, and apparently there's 85.5, which I've never seen a 0.5 or half of any octane before. So only in America. So heading up to Canada from Montana and having brunch on the side of the road, which is always good. Always very noisy. Having my very hot salad that's been basking in the sun for a few hours and a very cold and frozen soup I left on the bike last night as it froze. So you gotta, you gotta love the irony on that, huh? Hot salad and a cold soup. Ah, the brunch of champions. I continue through the wonderful plains of Montana into Canada. Woo! Canada! The last country of my many adventures. There's a giant line too. I'm officially in Canada. Woo! But damn you, Canada, you're so beautiful, but you took my pepper spray. Apparently, you can't bring it in. That pepper spray has been with me since the beginning of the adventure. I'm so sad. Sad day. Oh well, I'm in Canada. So it matters. Welcome to Canada and I'm gassing up for the first time. And apparently you don't need to pay before you pump. A common trust thing where you just fill up your gas and you go pay afterward, which is a big difference from the states where you always have to pay beforehand. And I tried playing the lottery here and it was probably the most confusing five minutes of my life. Again, the road in the Canada continued to be absolutely awesome. I hope nobody ever has to experience a bee flying into their helmet and stinging them while they're driving. It's just another part of what it is to drive a bike around the world, huh? Ouch. My neck hurts. Damn you, Canada. Finally made it to the Rockies and Banff National Park. I started my trip in South America. So I'm coming from the tip of South America to Alaska. Oh my god. From now on, I'm going to start filming people's reactions to my trip because you get so many different things. Like, holy crap. Like, what are you doing? Or why are you doing that? Or what are you thinking? Or, you know, it's quite interesting to see people's reactions on such a crazy journey. This is me trying to talk with 65 mile an hour wind gusts, demonstrating the dangers of flying away and the brutal time I was having with the bike and the weather. Until finally reaching the mountains and the beautiful Rockies of Banff, where I took a stop over at the famous Lewis Lake. From Banff National Park in Canada. Freezing my ass off, to say the least. What's new though, right? And now it's snowing. So that's not fun. And then there's this weird fog thing coming in. That's not fun either. Although it's a very beautiful day. A beautiful sight, it's not a very beautiful day. I can't feel my fingers. So I'm in Canada. Not even 300 miles into Canada. And it's already snowing. And it's already freaking cold. And look at a map, I'm not even halfway up to Alaska yet. It's just freezing weather with snow and everything. Now I cannot even imagine how bad it's going to be further up if I try to make it to Alaska. I had barely gotten into Canada and I was already having a terrible time with the cold. And now my introduction to snow came in the form of a blizzard and ice. That was very dangerous to ride in. I had no thermal gear, no defroster. Just a man with a dream of making it from one side of the world to the other. And no frostbite or ice was going to stop me. Freaking weather. Holy crap, I just went through a freaking blizzard. Not do that again. Absolutely terrible. It was scary. It was slippery. It was, the visor was freezing over. The visibility was maybe 15, 20 feet. Don't drive through a blizzard is all I can say. Ever. Ever, ever, don't ever drive through a blizzard. You know this place isn't that bad when there's not a blizzard around. So I know I mentioned I wouldn't stay in any hotels this trip. So far I'm doing so good after about a month and a half almost. And you know, no hotels. But I did stay at this hostel last night because first the blizzard was coming in. That was pretty bad. I was driving around and the beds were really nice. There was a great little parking spot for the bike. There was even a sauna. And a sauna in this freezing weather was just amazing I can say. Super amazing. So today I'm about to step on my first glacier. Pretty excited. It's pretty cool. Oh, there it is. First step on the glacier. How exciting. All the way in Canada. Again, the dangers of the glaciers is this. Is that you're walking up there and this looks normal. And it just cracks in you. So you never know quite what's going to crack on you and what's not. So that's another danger. Finally the glacier was here in 1992. And as you can see that's very very far away. So indeed the glaciers are receding as we can see. So the past two hours I've been changing the sprockets and chain off the bike. Which have been a complete headache to say the least. Because it took a long time and didn't have quite the tools to do it. So still nonetheless part of the adventure. Today's terrible spot of choosing to eat lunch somewhere is at this Walmart. But right next to the cigarette disposal unit. Which I can say smells so bad. But I'm just so tired and so full I don't want to move. That's a pretty giant ass beaver. So getting into northern Canada gas stations are far in between. So now we got to add the beautiful gas tank to the bike. Is the beautiful red decor. So I can carry extra fuel so I don't run out like I have many many times before. Because that is not fun to play that much. Because I had chosen the cold autumn to travel this route. In order to see the northern lights. There was no one else around. No cars or open gas stations 300 miles apart. So I continued to bear the torment of frigid weather. And the desolation through this majestic scenery. So I was reading this brochure at this information center. And it said guaranteed to see wildlife while you drive down the Alaskan highway. And I was very doubtful about that. But apparently it's quite true. Because everywhere you go you're seeing all these crazy animals like these buffalo. Look at that he's taking a pee. The buffalo is taking a pee. I always grab these animals at the worst moment possible. Just back there I had a moose and it was peeing as well. These animals I got to love them huh. Baked beans and maple syrup. The lunch of champions. Canada. I had high hopes for it. And I must say it did not disappoint. It's cold. It's raining. Everybody keeps telling me. Why are you going to Alaska in the winter? And I'm not going to Alaska in the winter. I'm going to Alaska in the late summer early fall. Which is still just as bad I think to a point. Onward. Many more hours. Many more days of driving before Alaska. So time to eat up. So don't tell anybody but I found Sasquatch. He was hiding in British Columbia, Canada. The Yukon man. There's nothing around except the sign of the Yukon. It's hilarious. I then made some new friends in the middle of nothing. You'll see all the friends. You're taking a picture right now aren't you? Taking a video right now. I know you are. I always like documenting people I meet. So this is Steven. We're in the middle of the Yukon in Canada. Crossing in almost to Alaska. And Steve has traveled all over Latin America as well. And he has something to say to the public. Which is about the food of Mexico. What do you think about the food of Mexico? The food in Mexico is absolutely brilliant. It's the best food in the whole Latin world. Yes. I'm not the only one. Yes there's another guy that believes that Mexican food is the best food ever. It's so good. Awesome. Well he travels to travel to everything as well. So another fellow traveler. Believe this guy is the best. Yeah. Yes. Welcome to the Yukon in northern Canada. And I believe this is the signpost forest. As I see signposts. And it looks like a forest. So I assume that's what it's called. And it's pretty interesting looking to say the least. Walking through all these signs brought in from all over the world. Was absolutely fascinating and unique. I figured why not make it a little more interesting by driving through it as well. Bison burger. The dinner of champions. So coming into the Yukon territory. I bummed around. And I found a place to stay here with my new friend from Holland. From Australia. And from Ireland. We're here watching The Exorcist. In this crummy little hotel room that has terrible internet. So I'm now in Whitehorse, Canada. And it's quite literally in the middle of freaking nowhere. I've been traveling through Canada for the past three or four days now. Just driving every day non-stop on highways where there's absolutely nobody. And it's pretty intense. Traveling over 1500 miles. Just to get here to Whitehorse where there's actually something. There's actually Walmart. So I resorted to buying half ass Pringles. To eating some black beans out of a can. And some fancy milk on the go. It's getting pretty extreme trying to save some money because it's starting to get expensive. And the money is starting to run out. Will I reach my dream of seeing the Northern Lights and making it to the Arctic Circle? Stay tuned to find out.