Not first trip to Alaska for Chris?

[West]

Great site! just found it the other day. Listening to the audio version today which i usually do at least once a year. I heard Chris tells his sister how great his Datsun car has been to him, taking him all over, out west and to Alaska, which sounded like he went there while he was still in high school during one of his adventures, did anyone else pick up on this? what part did he visit? just found that interesting.
On a side note-
How my fascination started with Chris. About 4 years ago i was at the book store looking for something to read on my flight out west to Zion national park for a solo hiking trip and to do some wandering around.... so this book cover catches my eye, kid sitting on top of bus i browse the back cover and then buy it ..... while reading it i glance out the window of the plane and look down, we were right over the Lake Mead recreation ( i was flying into Las Vegas) area where Chris abandoned his Datsun, after just reading how his trip sort- of started there i was like wow! that was strange-ish.... and so the story begins! Love the site
West

[GoNorth]

Quote from Krakauer's book:

As soon as classes ended in the spring of 1989, Chris took his
Datsun on another prolonged, extemporaneous road trip. "We only got two cards from
him the whole summer," says Walt. "The first one said, 'Headed for Guatemala.' When I
read that I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's going down there to fight for the insurrectionists.
They're going to line him up in front of a wall and shoot him.' Then toward the end of the
summer, the second card arrived, and all it said was 'Leaving Fairbanks tomorrow, see
you in a couple of weeks.' It turned out he'd changed his mind and instead of heading
south had driven to Alaska."
The grinding, dusty haul up the Alaska Highway was Chris's first visit to the Far
North. It was an abbreviated trip—he spent a short time around Fairbanks, then hurried
south to get back to Atlanta in time for the start of fall classes—but he had been smitten
by the vastness of the land, by the ghostly hue of the glaciers, by the pellucid subarctic
sky. There was never any question that he would return.