Roll Call Alaska 2014

[sljohnson1938]

Anyone traveling to Alaska in 2014? We ,my wife and I, are planning a trip and was wondering if anyone is planning on going in 2014 also.
Would go this year, except we have two weddings to go to in MI, one in late June the other in early August.
So next year we are planning to leave home in NC in mid July, we plan a 2 month trip. We were there in 2004, only that time we were with paid RV tour. Loved it, and would take another paid tour in a 'heart beat', but the cost is now too much.
The reason for the mid July date is looking at the 2013 Alaska postings the wx, road conditions and insects are at their worst. Later in the season all three are better. Plus I want to travel back on the Cassiar Hwy in Sept is supposed to be the best time of the year on the Cassiar, plus less travelers.
Finally, money is an issue with us. So we will 'boon dock', stay at
free or low cost CG's, rest areas, etc. when ever possible.


Hope you all have a great trip and hope to see you some where along the way.

[reelgalnita]

We had the worst day of the trip yesterday, driving from Fort Nelson to Fort St John in the rain all day... muddy pulloffs, muddy trucks passing us and spraying us with mud, the jeep and the r-pod are filthy - then to top it off, we stayed in Fort St John at the Rotary Park RV CG and parked in a really wet, puddles everywhere parking lot because we had dogs! It was a dump, so disappointed - the only positive thing was fairly decent internet... we did not care for the experience at all, we aren't picky campers but it was the pits! Anyway, had a nice drive today - now in Prince George then onto Jasper/Banff for a week... that was the "hiccup" of the trip!

[Kidoo]

Same in Valdez, it was a bit cloudy this morning, but in PM and tonight it is fantastic.

[ejfranz]

To Change the topic .
The Sun has come out in Anchorage!
It poured last night - hopefully some good weather again.
Heading south tomorrow.

[Veebyes]

Agree with AKsilvereagle. There are plenty of hares on the AK highway. We are very much one of the tortosis. For us the Tok to Haines Jct leg takes 2 days with an overnight at Snag Jct Provincial Park. Always amazed at how many times the same vehicles overtake us during the same day. We stop occasionally for potti breaks which always include a visual check of tires & running gear.

Driving at 45, slowing down to whatever is necessary, when necessary sure beats being broken down on the side of the road doing 0mph wondering how to get help.

[AKsilvereagle]

In regards about the Destruction Bay to the Alaska border stretch of road :

Since Pops (Bob) reopened his lodge at White River which he converted into an RV park, I always overnight there in either direction as I haven't tried to cover the entire Destruction Bay to the border stretch in a single day for quite sometime in my camper rig....the geographical location sure makes it convenient for me and to see a good friend I've known since 1986.

For many RV'ers that post their experiences covering the entire 140 mile or so stretch within 4 hours stating its real rough....I have to agree.

The way I travel my camper rig thru that stretch though I will put it this way....on average it has taken me 3 hours and 40 minutes alone just to cover the 80 mile stretch of Destruction Bay to White River - NON STOP - as the same roadway is just as rough as described by others, however I make sure I control the speed and approach factor so that the road is virtually NEVER EVER rough on my camper rig along this whole frost heave stretch or any other rough routes for that matter, anywhere....when there are potholes and surface breaks that are worse than a 5 mph speedbump at your local mall parking lot, I crawl my camper rig at 1 mph if needed as I do not care how long it takes me to travel thru rough stretches, that makes a big difference covering 4 hours for someone in a hurry versus me covering it give or take in an 8 hour span upon two different days of travel and that's why my old truck and camper are not torn up and abused while still ready in world wide mobility travel shape to this day.

As veebyes has stated about seeing breakdowns along that stretch, I too seen a handful of them just in my travels thru there...even seen a handful of RV's aftermath within 200 miles away from the frost heave stretches in either direction later on upon being broke down, disabled or abandoned due to bent axles, suspension failures, and even a few caught on fire as the damage has already been done while they were driving too fast, as later on things loosen or vibrate even more as they drive faster reaching the better portions of the highway....What people don't realize is the eye mounting sockets of a typical shock absorber are only welded on the housing unit as I seen a few break their welds off and collapsing the suspensions depending on their designs, driving too fast just cannot take those hard impacts unless you invest in some off road custom suspension with some 20 ton springs that can absorb it.....The ones that catch on fire were potentially caused by a ruptured fuel or oil line that gotten loose or broke or rubbed on by the shock or jolts of all the impacts by driving too fast over those surface breaks.

One memorable example in 2010 was upon my northbound and westbound driving heading back home, as in a 3 day stretch between Watson Lake and Haines Junction there was some jerk driving this class C Canada Cruise rental with his family members as this rig passed me like 5 times...the minimum speed this guy was driving while passing around me had to been like 120 kmh - well at least 75 mph....after the second time passing me, each other time after that he would pass me holding his horn going BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP, like I was ruining his vacation or something while I was cruising 45 to 55 mph.

After the following morning (4th day), I was within 12 miles or so from Haines Junction, as I see this loaded flatbed wrecker heading towards me from a distance, and I laughed when I saw that SAME Canada Cruise class C rig on the back of that wrecker headed to Whitehorse with the entire family sitting in the wrecker cab with no room to spare, as I rolled down my side window, placed my arm out as I smiled and waved while holding down my horn going BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.

Felt bad for the family having their vacation ruined by the careless driving jerk that was in such a hurry all the time, almost sure they had reached the frost heave section as the RV could no longer take it's abuse.

Since obtaining my signature camper rig in 1996, I logged in over 36,000 miles of far north roadways of Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, and Alberta....crossed into Canada 11 times total in the camper rig since 1998, as I would estimate 6 to 7 percent of those miles were unpaved, frost heaved and construction zoned.....I am still driving the first same camper rig that started all my RV adventures in the far north and have yet to have a breakdown other than a fuel pump going out in which it only took 20 minutes to swap out as I carried a new spare one onhand.

In these parts, every tortoise commuter including me has always made it to their destinations, not every speedy hare has always made it to theirs, moral of the post.

Happy travels, can't wait for my next adventure as hopefully will start upon 5 weeks away (which is short of official at this point).

[Kidoo]

Hi, we are in Valdez. Yesterday was very nice and sunny. We camped on the other side of the bay at the at the Allison Camping, $15.oo no service but the view is fantastic. There are many boats right now as it is the Valdez Derby. We saw many, many salmon on the lines, we can rent fishing gear in Valdez, I might go for a few salmons, we are allowed 6 per person.

We saw a Brown Bear yesterday night going for some fish at the Salomon Gulch across the bay from Valdez, impressive. There is also some Sea lions, Otters, Bald Eagles all going for the same thing, salmon. When the Bear gets in there though, all the sea lions go crazy and they get the hell out of there.

We are going on the LuluBelle Monday, the sun is supposed to be with us hopefully.

We are camping at the Lulubelle campsite, very nice place and nice people. $20.00 / water, electric, dump, Wifi, very good compare to the others that charges near $40.00.

I found the road pretty good comming from Glennallen, a few Dip and Bumps, but OK. On the way from Anchorage to Glennallen we stayed at King River, very nice, free, nice scenery.

Have a nice trip.

[Veebyes]

Wow! Reading some of the previous posts I am wondering if these people traveled the same roads I traveled in the past couple of weeks, especially between Beavee Creek & Haines Junction.

For a third trip to Alaaska I found this section of the Alaska Highway to be the best yet. Oh sure there were sections with a 'follow me' truck, some minor delays & some sections that need repairs along with the potholes almost anywhere, but most of those can be avoided if one is watching & going slow enough to avoid them. Yup, got a large windshield chip too, courtesy of a truck that was accellerating after coming off a gravel road. Could have gotten that in any state.

Saw a few breakdowns too. One of them was a fellow who blew past me on a rough section of road only shortly before. There is karma.

The worst section of our Alaska trip is ahead of us. It is almost any pothole riddled road east of the Appallachians.

[Smitty77]

Sue T. - You nailed it. I would add the word, not one I use about myself very often - humble. I have been humbled by the beauty and spirit of Alaska.

Sure sounds like pops has it too...

We did the working RV Live yearly long vacations, some just under 4 weeks, as we both had built up vacation days at the places we worked. We knew we liked the road, so planned for an RV upgrade to use in retirement. When we bought this coach, we transferred name of our T28 Bounder over to out CC, Roo II is our retirement coach for at least 10 years. I had a placard made, that captured what my wife and I wanted to experience. It's over the drivers seat, so we see it every time we walk in. Not to remind us, but to inform friends and family that go for small trips with us.

Adventures of Roo II
It's the Journey...

We've already asked my wife's brother and his wife, to join us when they retire in 5 years for their Victory Retirement Tour. And, I suspect we'll make another run up North in 2016, as we don't want to wait 5 years to return!

Best to all, be safe, enjoy your Journey's...
Smitty

[traveylin]

Smitty, I am sitting here in the Golden nugget cg in anchorage watching the cold rain and travelers hurrying to hook up and leave to get on to the next town on their list.

Its not about the destination but rather the trip there and the stories we have as a result.

My thoughts this morning are around the shorter days and how long we can stay. I need to fill propane tank for trip home. Got one more fishing trip out of seward planned. Can I get the wife to boondock without opening slideout or return to Whitehorse and south. Need to fix a couple of window chips and replace a piece of windshield washer tubing. Jiff lube says they will do the oil change. Gotta get to Fred Meyers.

Way to much stuff. May need to just sit here another night.

its all great

pops

[sue_t]

Smitty, no picture can show what this place if all about. Pictures capture an image but cannot capture the emotions or response of a person to that visual. Each person has a different experience.

Some hate it. Every moment is a trial.

Others love it. They feel the awe and learn more about themselves through the adventure. They experience an inner change through being on the land without outside interference.

Some are neutral. They see the landscape and enjoy it. The adventure is good. But it is a more technical experience without deep feeling or emotions being tumbled.

One of my finest memories is drycamping one autumn evening alongside the Yukon River many miles northwest of Dawson City. Not another soul around as we camped near the historic village of Forty Mile. My husband was sitting by the campfire staring out at the water flowing by, then tears began flowing. I asked if he was okay. He said he couldn't describe what he was feeling. Then I knew he got it!

And I think you may have got it too!

[Smitty77]

- Fort Nelson - Coach windshield 'peppered' as an oil rig worker past us over a rock/gravel filled double lined sided middle median. (Repaired one, looks OK. The BIG one, repaired but with a documented no promise it would hold.)
- Campground just North of Pink Mountain. Generator fed, and the main was out when we pulled in off the road, but the site manager told us the back up was up and running. He also told us after we had problems, that a co-worker had been in trying to 'fix' the main generator. did something wrong, and we had our Autoformer fried, and our Norcold 1200 computer board 'shut down'.
- Whitehorse, had an accident where the nice people next to us backed into a temporary WiFi pole (park having a new grid put in) and smash our toads windshield out.
- In Denali after leaving Savage and Tek from 6 days and using the dump. Coach door would not open. (Climbed in thru a driver side window. Got the front door to open with some soft words.) Now driving with elastic cords, and a strap, to keep the door from flying open when driving. New lock assembly ordered and will be at our sticks and bricks when this trip is over.
- "Kissed" a pole with the front left lower edge of the coach. Yep, even with the DW telling me to stop!!! Ripped some paint, and cracked some fiberglass. Luck the door steps were just scratced. Will repair when in for other work next year.
- John's seal is no longer holding water in bowl. Not a problem, until day 2 or 3 between dumping....
- Beaver Creek to just a little before Destruction Bay. Yep, same stretch we went thru when it was still rougher on the way North, now 7-8 weeks later. Lots of road work, and even with slow traveling. We've lost both of th toads fog lights to stones. And, the Toad has a nice new sound when driving. (Suspect a broken engine mount, or swaybar bushings, are shot. (Honda CRV wheel base is not as wide as the coaches, and even though going a slow as I thought I should be going. Some unseen frost heaves must have had an 'impact' on the suspension.
- Three broken glasses of wine, most when washing. Good reason to revisit those wine tasting rooms again!
- Paint chips? Sure, in coach and toad paint. Some pretty good size... (Most, from trucks and a few RV's coming at me at high speed with no attempt to move away from the normal traffic lane. Even with us pulled as safe as possible to the side, real slow and many times at a full stop.) It's the luck of the draw, and where you are, and who is coming at you, or passin you. STUFF HAPPENS:)!


So what? Why share this, some of which has been shared before? Well gang, it can be a bit rough up here in this place called Yukon and Alaska. But you know what, we would not trade any of our good times for less minor problems on the road during this trip. I've talked to, and read about, many people with more problems then we've had. As well as, many that have not had any problems at all.

Just be ready for problems as they come up, and to the best that you can to resolve or minimize them - but do travel to and thru Alaska - wow, wow, wow!

No insult to Sue's T's, and others, great pictures - but few of them really show what this place is all about.

Have fun, travel safe, be ready and prepared, but enjoy!
Best to all,
Smitty

[flybob63]

thomasw wrote:
We came across the Top of the World Highway on Monday going west from Dawson to Chicken. Great Trip!! It was a beautiful sunny day and it seemed you could see forever. The trip on the ferry was a breeze, although there was about a 2 hour wait because of the number of RVs. The TOW to the border was in relatively good shape. From the border to the Eagle junction the road is being paved. Those going east have a beautiful new hard surface to ride on. The Taylor highway from there is pretty sketchy: narrow and dirt/rock, but a fun adventure. The road from Chicken into Tok is ok with some breaks, but mostly paved. A great adventure and I highly recommend it!

THANKS FOR THE INFO. We came up the Ak Highway and got busted up pretty good the last 50-60 miles before the Ak border. Busted strap on the propane, trailer brakes no longer working. We passed one guy on a MC with a busted trailer tongue, one with a busted axle on a pop-up, a flat tire or two. All in that stretch and construction just east of Ak border. I was able to fix the propane strap by buying a new one if Fairbanks and modifying it to fit my rig. Drove with no trailer brakes down to Anchorage where we had them repaired by a mobile mechanic. Got a busted windshield on the Parks Hwy near DeNali too. Just two dings. Not too serious. Only in Ak for another 1.5 weeks or so, so we will get it fixed in lower 48. Tomorrow we head down to the Kenai and then we will head to Valdez, Skagway and Haines. Gonna take TOW down to Whitehorse to avoid that section of Ak HWY.

Ak is amazing. Just beautiful and we have seen so much wildlife. Seen Grizzly, Black Bear, many Moose, Elk, and even a Lynx as we were hiking in DeNali. Went for a seaplane ride with Ellison Air in Anchorage today. Excellent organization. Highly recommended. F Street Station has really awesome seafood in downtown Anchorage too.

[hr0082]

We are now in Anchorage and will stay the night at Cabells's. The last two nights we were at the Walmart in Wasilla. Yesterday morning we drove to Talkeetna and took the Flag Train trip to Hurricane. We had a Tour Saver booklet and it clearly states that reservations have to be made 7 days in advance. On Wednesday I went to the train ticket office in Anchorage and used my little ole lady southern demeanor and the ticket guy felt sorry for me and let me use the two for one coupon even though the reservation was for the next day. The trip was nice with a very entertaining conductor. It was fun to talk to the "locals" who were using the train to get to their "off grid" properties. We also got to meet the couple (I think their name is Sterling) who have been featured on the Alaska Train Show. The lady has written several books and the train stops at their place and you can meet the author and get a signed copy. The scenery was not quite as fantastic as I had expected, but maybe that is because after being in Alaska for four weeks we are becoming used to the wonderful scenery.

Tomorrow we are going to Palmer to find a guy who has a "picker's place" like what is featured on the American Picker's Show. I'll report back on that. After that, we will be heading toward Valdez.

[Ernest]

We left Liard Hot Springs today. Oh what a great place and the provincial campground is to die for.
This was the first day of real rain and a truck sprayed us with gravel. Another window chip. The road from Fort Nelson to Watson Lake is really bad. It is almost continuous chip/seal.

Look forward to seeing some of you.

[Graydust]

Stayed in Valdez for 5 nights and went out on the Lu Lu Bell. What a trip. Loved it. Stayed one night in Palmer, Seward, and now in Homer on the Spit. What a busy Spit. Great sun and no rain. It has been a great trip. Staying one more night and on to Anchorage, Talkeetna, Denali and Fairbanks. Then start back home with a lot of stops one will be Haines and Skagway. Today is Friday the 18th. OH the 20th is my birthday. I will be celabrating my birthday in Alaska!!!