flybob63 wrote:
Plus I also have a multitude of back issues as well and the frost heave that jarred your back sounded none to appealing to me either.
There is no way to avoid frost heave on the paved roads in northern BC, Yukon, and Alaska. There is a long stretch of the Alaska Highway--Destruction Bay nearly to Tok--that is severely frost-heaved and being partially reconstructed. One section just west of Beaver Creek had pavement broken into large. offset slabs that were like towing a trailer at 1 to 10 mph over the ice floes on the Yukon River during spring breakup. The Tok Cut-off has a 9-mile frost-heaved section that was no more than 25 mph while towing our trailer. The Cassiar Highway has major frost heave between Dease Lake and Watson Lake. The Edgerton Highway to Chitina and parts of the Richardson, Parks, Taylor, and Glenn Highways have frost heave. The Glenn near Glennallen and the Parks north of Healy are being rebuilt.
Some of those areas probably should never have been paved because they would have been easier and less costly to maintain as gravel roads. But, even if you took the AMHS ferry both ways to Skagway or Haines, you still have to negotiate the Alaska Highway between Destruction Bay and Tok. Well, that's not quite true as you could take the TOTW/Taylor "highways" as an alternative!
Check out your "Milepost" before you leave each morning and pay special attention to the red lettering. This will give you an idea of what road conditions you are going to encounter that day and, possibly, give you a better idea of how long it may take to reach your destination. Don't base your arrival times on a GPS because the speed limit may have nothing to do with a "safe speed"--safe for your RV and for your back.
Incidentally, on our 2013 Alaska trip, we had no visible damage to the exterior of our truck, no broken windshield or headlights, and no damage to our trailer after 9,000 miles over the Alaska, Cassiar, Haines, Richardson, Edgerton, Glenn, Seward, Sterling, Parks, Taylor, TOTW, Stewart, and North and South Klondike highways and the Tok Cutoff. What we did have were flat tires and ended up replacing one trailer tire and both rear truck tires during our trip.
