We are home in Rochester, NY

After spending time in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, we headed for a night at Kent State, then home.

Indianapolis was a really nice city, we met up with a whole crew of young professionals that showed us around the city and shared stories of travels. Not being on any rivers, Indianapolis had it happening – with a center round-about in the middle of the city – which was more of a social gathering section for lunch and weekenders. Cincinnati was also a very nice city – we were driving down there from Indianapolis and noticed all these Illinois and Iowa plates following us to Cincinnati – there was a Chicago game there, and these fans were driving their few hours they had to, to go to their beloved game. Cincinnati did not have much to offer directly downtown, so we headed across the river to Kentucky that night with another crew of friends that Bryan has met along his travels. We went to Abrams Hall where and 80’s cover band played all night and being able to sit outside on the river-front – we had the Cincinnati skyline highlighted by the setting sun. Again, another great time in a city we have never visited before.

We then drove up to Kent State University, where I went to school for my first two years of college. It was good to be there, but at the same time, it wasn’t. There was a reason why I left, and I found it when I went back – there is just nothing there and I wanted more. But it was great to see old friends that I haven’t seen in a few years – and those that I talk to here and there. We had a bon-fire and reminisced of our first two years in Terrace Hall – and wondered where others ended up. They ended up tearing down our dorm this year…all the better though – the school front looks much more inviting now, and Terrace may as well have been a crack house. Half the showers worked half the time, the carpet was stained in various spots, and each room only had two outlets. That’s right, 4-sockets for two individuals supplies (refrigerator, hair dryer, phone charger, computer, stereo…the list can go on). So of course, that means everyone had a power strip or two – which is a total fire hazard, not to mention the electric bill climbed every year from what the building’s output was designed for. So in all – all the better.
We then made our 271 mile drive to Rochester. It was a pretty boring drive – I have done it many times before; and being so close just made us want to be home that instant. As we pulled off the interstate, we couldn’t help be go to the Pontillo’s Bushnell’s Basin Pizzeria. We had worked for for many years and still still frequent the place. Not to mention it almost like family there – they treated us well while working there – and still treat us well today. We got our slice and headed to Bryan’s house where we started this Journey to Alaska. As we pulled into his driveway and pulled the vehicle into park, the ending mileage was 14,418.2 miles. That’s one heck of a ride if I do say so myself. We traveled 3,000 more miles than we originally planned for as well as five more days on the road – but due to our contingency planning from the start, we were still able to stay under our budget that we had set back in December.

We are are glad to be home, but at the same time as we hit the NY border we sat there at realized, Whoa, we just drove to Alaska…and back. We survived the ALCAN. We flew over Mt. McKinley. We caught 42lb King Salmon on the Kenai. We saw Grizzlies 30 feet from us. The abundance of Eagles was like crows back home. People are really nice in Canada. And Canadian cities are litter-free and environmentally conscious. We saw 370’ Redwood trees. We hit 15 states and 6 provinces. We drove the furthest west you can possible drive on the North American highway (furthest east back in 2004). We planned, saved money, and followed through with something that we have a passion for – good road trips where you can not only go to point A and point B but also see everything in between.

As the weeks continue, we will re-organize www.OurDriveToAlaska.com into an easier to view format as well as shout-out to everyone that has left comments on our page, and to those that made this trip possible for us – we couldn’t have done it without the whole team that was both directly and indirectly involved.

Please stay tuned and visit back in a week to view a site where you can click on an area of map and be able to see pictures and videos and routes from that direct area. There are still 20 videos to add to our 70 (which I hear make people LOL). And we still have 200 pictures to add to our 1500 that are currently on the site.

We will, in a few days, add a personally written set of paragraphs from both myself and Bryan Carey detailing on what we learned on this trip, what our favorite park was, what our worst part was, what’s next for life and what’s next for travels.

Thanks again for the support and enthusiasm,

Matt & Bryan