Home | How it all started | Alaska for Cancer | Route 66 for MS

 "Travels with Shelley" | News and Media | Thanks and Links | Shelley Photos

Alaska for Cancer

The Alaska drive project was called "10,000 Miles for a Cancer Cure," and it eventually raised over $30,000 for the American Cancer Society.  The actual drive to Alaska started in Tennessee on June 11, 2000.  We reached Prudhoe Bay on July 11.  Sunday, August 6, 2000 at 2:06pm, Shelley brought us home from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Murfreesboro, TN exactly eight weeks after departure. She completed 11,802 dependable miles on her journey. Read excerpts from "Travels with Shelley" to find out more about the drive. Also, check out "A Dream and an Old Truck."

Scroll down for photos.

Red star on map indicates Prudhoe Bay (Deadhorse), Alaska.

It's actually 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay down to the port of Valdez on the southern coast.

(Mileage scale at top right is inaccurate.)

From Prudhoe Bay, it's 1,130 miles to Whitehorse, then another 1,665 to the Canada/US border at Montana.  For an old truck, Shelley sure has some long legs!
 

SOME TRIP STATS:
Total miles: 11,802
Total time: Exactly eight weeks.
Drivers: Scott Sensing-10,830 miles, David Sensing-972 miles
Gasoline consumed: 669 US gallons
Ave. MPG: 17.63
Oil consumed: 10 quarts (leak)
Longest driving day: July 4, 2000- 11 hours,11mins (Dawson Creek, British Columbia to Muncho Lake, British Columbia- 435 miles)

Longest distance day: 438 miles (July 5, 2000, Muncho Lake, BC to Whitehorse, Yukon, 10 hours, 8 mins)

Worst miles per day: July 10, 2000- 254 miles in 11 hours (Ave. 23 mph, Dalton Highway. Yukon River, Alaska to Alyeska Pipeline Pump Station 3. Dalton Highway is unpaved Arctic road.)

21 States and provinces traveled.
States: TN, LA, MS, TX, NM, AZ, UT, ID, MT, AK, WY, SD, NE, KS, MO, IL, IN, KY
Canadian provinces: Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon

Shelley never stopped running until I turned off the ignition.

Problems were relatively minor:

Five flat tires

Windshield crack

Axle seal leak

Broken muffler bracket

Engine oil leak

Bad generator

Dead battery