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First month notes

July 24th, 2011

Last night was the 34th of the trip, so I thought it would be good to put together a few notes on the trip so far:

Driving:

  • Total miles driven: 6900
  • Most expensive gas: CDN$1.439 per liter in the Yukon (US$5.74 per gallon)
  • Most beautiful drive: Highway 99 between Cache Creek, BC and Whistler, BC
  • Most beautiful drive runner-up: Highway 37A into Stewart, BC
  • Animals observed along the road: Moose, bison, elk, caribou, marmots, black bears (many, many black bears), deer (or were they more elk?), big-horned sheep, and mountain goats
  • Number of major chips in Sam’s windshield: 2 (grrr…)

Lodging:

  • Nights spent in hotels and AirBnB: 17
  • Nights spent camping: 10
  • Nights spent in hostels: 7
  • Cheapest hotel: Bayview Hotel in Stewart, BC ($55/night)

Hockey:

  • Times skated: 5
  • Time skates sharpened: 2
  • Save percentage: Bad?

Food:

  • Cinnamon rolls sampled: 10
  • Cinnamon rolls that were so bad I couldn’t finish them: 2
  • Most expensive grocery-store medium banana: CDN$0.55 (at a little store about halfway between Watson Lake, YT and Stewart, BC)
  • Times eaten fast food: 2 (Once at Taco Bell for the sake of getting hot sauce packets, and once at McDonalds [just a large fries] for the sake of using their internet)
  • Cups of coffee consumed: Excluding the time in Denali, probably at least a few a day
  • Worst coffee: the gas station at the intersection of the Cassiar Highway and the Alaska Highway in the Yukon.  (At least it was free!)
  • Worst chain coffee: Tim Hortons.  Why is it so popular? The coffee is bad, the donuts are bad, the atmosphere is cheap.  What’s the appeal?

Money:

  • Amount over budget: Surprisingly, I’m about on budget, owing mostly to my use of hostels and infrequent meals at restaurants
  • Amount earned from the trip: $0.  I’d love to change this; maybe I should commit to writing an ebook and put a pre-sale link up?  I have a bunch of content that I haven’t bothered to write up on the ol’ blog…
Tags:
  1. Alex Lo
    July 24th, 2011 at 23:57 | #1

    Count me entertained. Good job on getting through the first month.

  2. Brandon Z
    July 25th, 2011 at 18:36 | #2

    Great idea on the ebook…..there is much for another adventurer to gain by reading about your experiences!

    Excellent writing, it’s been a lot of fun to follow your experiences!

  3. Scott
    July 27th, 2011 at 22:44 | #3

    Glad to hear the trip is going well.

    By the way, Tim Horton’s is absolutely delicious! I can’t speak to the coffee, but I’ve always found their soups, and sandwiches to be good. God bless timbits! Sorry to hear you don’t enjoy them…

  4. Matt B
    July 27th, 2011 at 23:44 | #4

    Jeff,

    I stumbled upon your trip from one of your posts on the GSBB and I’ve enjoyed all your updates so far.

    I’m impressed with the enormity of your trip and glad you’re fitting in hockey every now and then.

    Keep up the great posts!
    Matt

  5. Jeff
    July 28th, 2011 at 15:16 | #5

    @Alex Lo , @Brandon Z , @Matt B — Thanks!

    @Scott — Well, at least Starbucks has made huge inroads into Canada, allowing me to keep myself well-caffeinated. 🙂

  6. Chazz
    October 1st, 2011 at 20:55 | #6

    Write the book and sign me up. I’m enjoying things so far.

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