Off to Alaska in March ARRIVED IN FAIRBANKS
SEE THE MOST RECENT UPDATE AT THE END OF THE THREAD An update to my earlier posting: After a Four day run from Tucson we are now in Bellingham. We arrived yesterday afternoon about 4pm (Sat 3/4)...
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Arrived in Fairbanks yesterday 3/13 it was warmer than any place on the road at about 5deg F.
Stayed in Tok at Fast Eddys where there was a snowmobile Poker Run going on so we were lucky to get a room. Woke up in the morning to -34 deg.
Headed out to Fairbanks and arrived about 12:30. The road was clear and the skies sunny and bright.
Some photos of the last leg of the trip:
All in all it has been a fairly easy trip considering the length and time I drove it in. No serious weather or extreme road conditions were seen.
I hope that this post will serve as a motivation for those that are uneasy about driving to Alaska in the SUMMER much less now. You don't need a caravan, fuel gas and food are plentiful, lots of RV Parks (many still open now)and many many great parks for camping all along the highway. The road is good you can drive any vehicle on it. In fact it is a far easier place to drive a really big rig than most of the lower 48. There is so much room at all the services and turnouts that a big rig is a breeze.
This was my 3rd trip to Alaska driving (many others flying) so I hope that those of you that would like to go but are held back by old notions of rough dirt roads, showers of rocks flying at you and no fuel throw all that out the window.
For the record I got many good suggestions here for what I should do before I started and here is what I actually did:
I DID NOT take chains for either the trailer or the truck.
I didn't take a winter front either.
I DID winterize my trailer but have doubts about the antifreeze as the gallon jug I left in the trailer froze solid on the trip.
and
I do not have a weight distributing hitch or (god forbid) an anti sway system. I have never found a need for either.
As you can see from the photo of my trailer I have a significant amount of stuff on the rear bumper including my generator and a storage box and my trailer spare. (I designed and had this bumper built in Mexico last year) All of this has NO adverse affects of handling. I keep the tongue weight at the right percentage and the trailer balanced.
My trailer Weighs 9840 (approx to the best of my memory of the weight ticket) with about 13%-14% on the tongue. All told the truck and trailer weighs a bit over 16700. My trailer has an additional 1200 lbs reserve before it reaches it's GVWR.
I run (GASP!) tires made in China and they have over 20 thousand miles on them since last May when they were put on. I have never had a problem with them. (I keep them at the right pressure and my trailer isnt overweight and I don't obsess about them)
In other words I do everything so many here tell you not to do or you will: A. Die. B. Kill some poor innocent family C. Crash and burn.
I say all of this to highlight that my rig is perfectly safe and properly set up and you don't need to invest a lot of money in new stuff like hitches and tires before a trip like this.
The important thing is to go. And enjoy it.
Thanks so much to those that followed this trip, made suggestions and offered encouragement and I look forward to your comments.
Stayed in Tok at Fast Eddys where there was a snowmobile Poker Run going on so we were lucky to get a room. Woke up in the morning to -34 deg.
Headed out to Fairbanks and arrived about 12:30. The road was clear and the skies sunny and bright.
Some photos of the last leg of the trip:
All in all it has been a fairly easy trip considering the length and time I drove it in. No serious weather or extreme road conditions were seen.
I hope that this post will serve as a motivation for those that are uneasy about driving to Alaska in the SUMMER much less now. You don't need a caravan, fuel gas and food are plentiful, lots of RV Parks (many still open now)and many many great parks for camping all along the highway. The road is good you can drive any vehicle on it. In fact it is a far easier place to drive a really big rig than most of the lower 48. There is so much room at all the services and turnouts that a big rig is a breeze.
This was my 3rd trip to Alaska driving (many others flying) so I hope that those of you that would like to go but are held back by old notions of rough dirt roads, showers of rocks flying at you and no fuel throw all that out the window.
For the record I got many good suggestions here for what I should do before I started and here is what I actually did:
I DID NOT take chains for either the trailer or the truck.
I didn't take a winter front either.
I DID winterize my trailer but have doubts about the antifreeze as the gallon jug I left in the trailer froze solid on the trip.
and
I do not have a weight distributing hitch or (god forbid) an anti sway system. I have never found a need for either.
As you can see from the photo of my trailer I have a significant amount of stuff on the rear bumper including my generator and a storage box and my trailer spare. (I designed and had this bumper built in Mexico last year) All of this has NO adverse affects of handling. I keep the tongue weight at the right percentage and the trailer balanced.
My trailer Weighs 9840 (approx to the best of my memory of the weight ticket) with about 13%-14% on the tongue. All told the truck and trailer weighs a bit over 16700. My trailer has an additional 1200 lbs reserve before it reaches it's GVWR.
I run (GASP!) tires made in China and they have over 20 thousand miles on them since last May when they were put on. I have never had a problem with them. (I keep them at the right pressure and my trailer isnt overweight and I don't obsess about them)
In other words I do everything so many here tell you not to do or you will: A. Die. B. Kill some poor innocent family C. Crash and burn.
I say all of this to highlight that my rig is perfectly safe and properly set up and you don't need to invest a lot of money in new stuff like hitches and tires before a trip like this.
The important thing is to go. And enjoy it.
Thanks so much to those that followed this trip, made suggestions and offered encouragement and I look forward to your comments.
