Couch Surfing Across The Yukon

Before we begin, let’s everybody wish Frances a very Happy Birthday!

I don’t know who I’ve told and who I haven’t about becoming a Couch Surfer, but I found myself composing an email to my family about it and thought, shoot, I may as well just tell everybody at the same time, so here we go….

Isn’t it fun?  I’m on the move again and have lot’s to talk about!

Since I’ll be driving up to AK  in early winter, I can’t just pull over and spend the night wherever I want, so some pre-planning is necessary.  Given this, I took some time the other day to sketch out a rough driving timeline, so I’d know where I’d be each night.   This is especially important along the Alcan since you can’t simply pull into a hotel when you are tired of driving because there may well not be a hotel or an Inn or even a lean-to within 200 or more miles of where you are at that given moment.  So, armed with my itinerary, I called Dawson Creek, British Columbia, which is Mile O of the Alcan Highway.  I figured it’s going to take me 6 full days of driving to get there, and,  it being the jumping off point, I’d stay for 2 nights in order to take a break, gather any last bits of advice, weather reports, and supplies I might need to get all of us and The Black Hole to Anchorage.

Here’s what I found out:  1)  The hotels in Dawson Creek (and along the rest of the Alcan) are either full or next to full for the dates I need due to all the Oil Workers, and 2)  the rooms are $130.00- $160.00 per night at the more reasonably priced hotels.  Yikes!  I swallowed hard, put a second mortgage on my house, sold some stock, and began making reservations with a credit card that is still smokin’.   Next stop, Fort Nelson.  Same story.  Next stop, Watson Lake.  Same story.

My brother Hill happened to be in Dora with me as all this was transpiring and he made a few suggestions which led me to Couch Surfing.  In a nutshell, the very basics of Couch Surfing consist of millions of people over 230 some odd Countries either staying with people they don’t know or are hosting travelers they don’t know.  Now Hill has been successfully Surfing couches and Hosting surfers for going on 4 years and he really thinks it’s a cool deal.  He had told me about it on several prior occasions, but it just never clicked, that is, until now.  He helped me see what an amazing opportunity it is, not just to save $, but more importantly to meet really neat local people as I travel north.  Instead of arriving at yet another Super 8 or whatever the local equivalent is, I could be arriving at someone’s home who is interesting and who finds me interesting.  How much better is that?

It wasn’t long before I had joined, filled in my Profile, uploaded pictures, and began searching for available “couches” along my route.  I sent out a handful of requests and have had two people accept.  What this means is that for the two nights I’ll be in Dawson Creek, I’ll be staying with Brad and Courtney and for the night I’m in Watson Lake, I’ll be staying with another couple who kindly accepted my request.

I’ve pasted Brad and Courtney’s reply to my request below.  It feels so good to be anticipated with such enthusiasm.