Today was a momentous day for the Eagle 83 mission, as the crew reached several milestones.

  • They have now travelled over 50% of the total distance between Homewood, Alabama and Glennallen, Alaska. Specifically, 2265 miles out of 4365 have been covered (3645 km / 7020 km). They have piloted the Eagle 83 the equivalent of 6 eight-hour days, and have just over 5 eight-hour-days remaining.

  • They successfully passed inspection at the Canadian border with minor hassle. BusCom Alex’s had to leave behind his collection of Mexican Jumping Beans and Captain Greg lost his set of jequirity-bean-filled Maracas. Organic matter on the bus windshield was initially deemed to be poultry manure, which is prohibited. This sticky issue was quickly solved by washing the windows. Forty-five minutes later, the expedition was allowed into Canada.

  • The bus also passed the L1 Lagrangian point, where the gravitational pull of Alaska equals that of Alabama. From now on, Alaska will be pulling Eagle 83 towards Glennallen with increasing force each day.

Lots of mountains today, not surprising since they were passing near the Continental Divide and crossing the Rocky Mountains. Maximum elevation today was about 4600 feet (1400 m).

day9-uphill First we go up…

day9-downhill … and then we go down

day9-footbridge Mountains to the left (and a footbridge?)

day9-mountains Mountains to the right

day9-elevation Elevation contour of today’s route

The Route

Today the route continued a little further west on I-90 until reaching Helena, Montana, where they turned north along I-15. They arrived at Sweet Grass, Montana, the northern terminus of I-15, and crossed into Canada at the Coutts Port of Entry. They continued briefly along Alberta Highway 4 and landed in Milk River, Alberta for sustenance and mandatory crew rest.

Day Nine Statistics

From Belgrade, Montana
To Milk River, Alberta
Departure 10:30 am
Break 45 mins
Arrival 5:30 pm
Duration 6 hr 15 min
Distance 305 mi / 490 km
Daily Speed 49 mph / 78 kph

Disclaimer

The author may have embellished small parts of these journey logs due to lack of source material and/or boredom. Many things are true, a few things may not be. Enjoy.