This Is a New Beginning

It's time to start driving south. All the way south. These first few miles south felt like a completely new chapter. Finally, it begins. All the way south. There was no snow here when we were going to Kenobe just yesterday. One day makes such a massive difference. We're so lucky because right now, as you can see, winter is coming to Alaska. I don't want to be here for it. It felt surreal to leave the northernmost point of the Pan American Highway behind us and start heading south. Nice. What is this? Look! What is it? Well, that's dinner, I guess. How does it taste? Good? Oh my god! First snow! Is it sub-zero or is it still like 0 or 1 degrees? I think it's exactly 0. 0.5 on the way down. Oh my god, okay. Tonight, we're probably going to have freezing temperatures. You might be wondering, how on earth do I stay warm? How do we stay warm in temperatures like that? Well, we've come prepared. I have a diesel heater inside Odyssey. It's basically hidden underneath all that junk. It is a Russian heater which has a little control panel here and it is so great. So what it does is it just blasts hot air into the car potentially all night if you wanted to from this little hole right there. And it is fueled by the main diesel tank, so basically no chance of running out. The weather in Alaska doesn't mess around. We arrived at our campsite pretty late. It was cold, windy and rainy. No campfire or shared dinner tonight. We all just craved warmth inside our trucks. It's so funny how quickly things can change. So last night, I was sitting there in my hotel room in Prudhoe Bay feeling really overwhelmed and honestly a little bit worried about going to sleep because I was scared that I would wake up on day one of this big trip south and feel hopeless. And something else happened. That Arctic Ocean dip and the first steps that I took south gave me a new sense of direction, both literal and metaphorical. And I just felt transformed, liberated, like some sort of weight had lifted. And I'm so happy because this is exactly how I want to be feeling. So maybe sometimes you just need a bit of a shock to the system, like a cold water dip, just to propel you into motion and give you a renewed sense of energy and purpose. I think that's kind of how I feel now. Yeah. Yeah, I think that energy is coming back. My water tap froze. This is option number two. Let's see if it works. Okay, I think this might just work. I think it's partly frozen. But not completely. Yeah, look at these bits of ice. This is easily the coldest morning by far. It's pretty freezing, literally freezing. Lots of snow everywhere, and I'm so, so, so excited that we got to see just a little bit of winter in Alaska. I know this is nothing, but the snow. It's about the snow. Well, since my water tank is frozen, I still have some emergency water for emergency use in cases like this. You really got to think of a lot of things when you embark on a trip like this. Because of all that mud yesterday, the windows are just completely covered in dirt. You can't see through them anymore. Makes for a nice ambient atmosphere. You sleepy boy? Okay, let's go. All right. Routine check. We are pretty low on the engine oil. Let's add some more in. I don't have a full bottle. I just have this half, but should hopefully get us to the next town where I can buy some more. If there is one thing I know about my car, and I really don't know much in terms of mechanics, it's to always check the engine oil. Ready to go? Ready to nap? Good boy. As we started heading south from the Arctic Circle in Alaska, I realized something. Argentina is still 30,000 miles and a year and a half away from me. Being here right now, still so far away, I have no way of knowing what's going to happen along the way. Will I get there okay? Will I ever be tempted to stop? Or abandon the expedition altogether? Will I still be the same person? As for that last one, I definitely don't think so. How could you be? Wow. That's a lot of snow. Visibility is basically zero to minimal. We're just about to go up through the main mountain pass of this route, which is the Atigun Pass. It's pretty high up. As you can see, the weather conditions are pretty rough. It's pretty wild. I just hope that we get down the mountain pass safely. Meanwhile, this little guy is enjoying the snow. Nice and slow. Think about it. You spend over two years of your life overlanding two continents, experiencing so much along the way. If you travel with an open heart, how could you end up staying the same? Just like that, we're out of the snow. I'm kind of relieved that it was only snow at the top of the mountain pass, honestly. Right now, we're back in mud country. When I was preparing to do this road trip, I got so much advice, most of it unsolicited. People would tell me the wildest things, that I have to bring a shovel to dig myself out of the snow, that I have to bring snow chains and snowshoes and all this gear. Nobody told me about the one really essential thing that I actually really ended up needing. Windscreen wiper fluid. I've run out. When you're driving on this road, with all the trucks and cars passing you by, they just spray, slush all over your car. You end up having to use a lot of windscreen wiper fluid, and I have just ran out. The next gas station, Coldfoot, is about 70 miles away. I hope that I can last until then, but visibility is looking pretty terrible right now. Shield washer, I'm sorry. Cheers, Luke. This is the first set of traffic lights I've seen in about a thousand miles. I did not miss them. First stop in Fairbanks. This baby is getting a bath. This is definitely the dirtiest that Odyssey has ever been. It's going to be quite the operation, because we need to clean not just the outside, but also the underside, the chassis, which is, again, just completely caked in mud. I'm estimating 45 minutes. What do you think? 45 minutes? I think so. Yeah? Yeah, for sure. Let's do this. Get soaked. I feel like I got my car back. She's clean. Finally. It only took $45 in about 45 minutes to clean her. All my stickers are here. Now I can actually add the ones from the Alaska road trip. Oh, my gosh. Look at this beauty. Oh, my God. Look, he's actually white. How long did it take you? 40 minutes. Nice. That was awesome. Yeah. I'm so happy that we did it together. Super cool. Now, the only thing that remains is for me to take a shower. Well, I decided to part ways with Mathilde and Nick and Odyssey for a couple of days and move into an Airbnb with a comfy bed and a kitchen and a hot shower. It felt dreamy. So, what's next? If you were looking for a whole Alaska series, I might have to disappoint you, but with good reason. Look, I know exactly what some of you are going to say. Oh, you didn't spend enough time in Alaska. Oh, you didn't see anything in Alaska. Well, there's good reason for that. The rain. The rain has finally caught up with me and believe me, that living out of your car with a puppy in the rain and cold is no fun. In fact, it is like minus level fun. Right? Even Vilko will tell you that. So, I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I made a promise to myself that with this expedition, I'm going to try and chase good weather as much as possible because bad weather makes me sad, good weather makes me happy. So, there we go. I'm heading south, baby.