MOTTO: "DON'T WEAR THOSE MUDDY BOOTS IN HERE!"

THINGS LIKELY TO HAPPEN TO YOU A LOT IN AK: bar fights.
(Many times the only restaurant in town is a bar...)
Mosquitoe bites...
People inviting you in to spend the night at their house and/or screw their wives (usually the same person who just decked you in the bar).
Really interesting and/or cheap places in Anchorage: the Chechako Bar on Spenard Rd. - the womens soccer league meets there every saturday ;)
(The publisher of the Anchorage Daily News offered me a job there once too, too bad the underlying bureaucracy prevented me from being able to take it...

FAIRBANKS: the Greyhound Lounge: you have to see it to believe it.
Big tip: when you get to Anchorage or Fairbanks and you're going anywhere else (like Homer), stop at a Carr's grocery store, you're not gonna find lower prices anywhere else (even Kmart).
There's one just before you leave Anchorage on the Seward Hwy (the road to Homer).

Yes, "the Lands End" hotel is as far as you go on theUS hwy system, but it's too snooty...
To get a real taste of HOMER, Alaska "culture", go to "Salty Pete's" instead (a.y.o.r).
Alaska bar tip: COUNT THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN THE HOUSE BEFORE YOU RING THAT TEMPTING BELL!!!
IT COULD COST YOU DEARLY OTHERWISE...

I worked for about 3 weeks cleaning up junk at C's Motel - got room, board, 2 cases of dr.pepper and 50 bucks so it could have been worse...
I also found what had to be the world's oldest jar of kim chee yeech!

PS: don't try to hitchike down the Valdez Hiway unless you're going all the way. Take the Alcan to Tok (yes Tok) and go thru Glenallen instead...and wait till you see that curve, yikes!

Washed dishes for a week at "TASTE OF TEXAS B-BQ" in Anchorage.
And the only full size (70mm) indoor movie screen I know of is on Fireweed Lane in Anchorage (of course since I was broke I usually snuck in). I don't do that anymore, bad karma.

I would also like to apolgize to the produce guy who I stole a bag of peanuts from but I was starving (or at least I thought I was...)
Anyway, I almost got killed in Chicken and learned how to get a free plane ride outside -- sneak into Canada from Alaska and get CAUGHT!!
They fly you to Vancouver B.C., then cut you loose and point you to the bus stop that goes to US border (don't try this more than once - pisses 'em off).

True story: the reason I went was because I kept having these dreams of drowning under ice. After I got back outside they stopped...

Also true story: before going I went to an all you can eat chinese restaurant in Denton, Tx and got a fortune cookie that said "you long to see the pyramids of Egypt".
Got the same fortune when I got back...

And finally, while there, send your friends some Attakiska vodka (the only distilery in AK),
and it's cheap too!

PS: when trying to sneak into Canada at the Baline, Washington border:
1. Use the truck exit.
2. Lincoln park.
3. Make sure the guy who owns the nearby farm isn't home.
4. Walk up to little store.
5. Go 1 mile west get on bus to downtown Vancouver.
(Works nine out of 10 times).
Watch out for that 10th one (not that I would EVER advocate fibbing to a customs agent).

Oh yeah, keep your mouth shut until you hear the words: out, about, and again.
The last letter of the canadian alphabet is "ZED" (z).
Centre not center, colour not color, etc.
"RUNNERS" not "sneakers".
good luck, happy hiking.
Approximate time from Seattle to Fairbanks: one week
Fairbanks to Anchorage: 1-3 days
Anchorage toHomer: 1-2 days
Tok to Chicken : 2 days
And good luck getting used to sunlight at two in the morning.

The weirdest thing: street drunks in Anchorage w/ghetto blaster plugged into car heater outlets.
Bright side dept: if you get stuck for a whole year you're eligible for permanent fund dividend checks..:)

Write to Legendary Rob.