Central Illinois across Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana to Glacier National Park
Cross Canadian Border into Alberta and drive through Calgary, then to Banff and Jasper National Parks on the Columbia Icefields Highway
Through Grand Prairie to Dawson Creek in British Columbia, the beginning of the Alcan Highway
Alcan through the Yukon Territory, Watson Lake, Liard Hot Springs, Whitehorse, and Dawson City
Ferry across the Yukon River to Top of the World Highway...stop at Eagle and Chicken. Cross border to Alaska near Tok.
Tok to Delta Junction, the official end of the Alcan Highway, then on to Fairbanks.
From Fairbanks, the Dawson Highway goes to the Arctic Circle but might not be suitable for our minivan. We'll seek advice from the locals before making a decision about driving farther north. The very rugged road goes all the way to Prudhoe Bay.
On to Denali National Park with great hopes of a glimpse of the great Mt. McKinley which is concealed by fog 2 out 3 days.
From Denali to Anchorage for some city time. Hike part of the Iditerod Trail. Drive the Seward Highway along Turnagain Arm to Girdwood.
Explore the Kenai Peninsula...Hope, Portage, Whittier, Seward, Soldotna, Kasilof, Minilchik, Homer
Backtrack to Palmer and pick up the Glenn Highway to Glennallen, back to Tok, and the Haines Highway to Haines, Alaska
Take the ferry from Haines to Skagway for a day trip.
Take the Alaska Ferry from Haines to Bellingham Washington through the Inside Passage...a 4 day trip which would save 1700 miles of driving. However, space may not be available, in which case we will continue as follows:
Haines back to Haines Junction to pick up the Alaska Highway. Then to the Cassier Highway.
Cassier Highway is very rugged and remote and will be a really slow road. We'll go through Iskut and Smithers and pick up CA 16.
CA 16 will take us through Prince George, Williams Lake, and Cache Creek
From Cache Creek we'll pick up the Sea to Sky Highway through Lillooet and Whistler to Vancouver where we hope to meet Brian and Laurel for a few days.
From Vancouver we'll head for Portland to see Brian and Laurel's home. Then we'll head for Illinois through South Dakota. We want to see Wounded Knee and Mt. Rushmore.