The Castañeda Dower Family: An Unexpected Delay

Paul and I spent much of last summer in Alaska and left our car there to be sold when we moved to Russia. With the economy on the decline, however, the offers we received were very low. So, we decided to keep the car and have it shipped to California, that way we'd be able to use it when we come back in the spring to have the baby. That was the plan, but as time passed a divine idea began to grow in my head - we could instead drive the car down and get to see the amazing Alaska-Canada highway in the winter! This is a trip I've ALWAYS wanted to do, and with gas prices falling it made perfect sense to me. Unfortunately, Paul wouldn't be able to make the trip over the holiday break, because he had a big conference in San Francisco then needed to get back to Moscow right away to begin teaching. Danielle, however, a veteran of the ALCAN (both in winter and summer) and an expert in the realm of Alaskan and Canadian transportation, could make the trip and was excited to do so with me!

Naturally, a number of friends and family members expressed uneasiness about our trip plans. What about the extreme cold temperatures? The snowy roads? Would service stations be readily available this time of year along that desolate route? What about hotels? We tried our best to answer these concerns with meticulous preparation, but even the addition of a satellite phone to our supply kit didn't alleviate everyone's worries. I am happy to report, however, that - despite starting out from Fairbanks at 53 degrees BELOW zero and spending three full days on the road without seeing the thermometer rise above -20 Fahrenheit - we made it through the remote, northern terrain without any real delays. In fact, all was going great and entirely on schedule until we passed through Seattle, Washington and found that a stretch of Interstate 5 (an 8+ lane highway that takes us south to Portland and eventually California) had just been indefinitely closed due to flooding!

At the moment, we are certainly safe and cozy in our Seattle DoubleTree Hotel room, and the temperature outside (around 50 degrees F) is over 100 degrees warmer than when we started our trip. We're grateful for that, but as we sit here for the second night in a row with no indication of when I-5 or alternate routes will open (there is truly NO WAY to drive south at this time as all detour routes are also closed due to flooding) we can't help but laugh a little at the anxiety the earlier part of our trip inspired!