Roll Call Alaska 2015

[trcgolf]

I know its early but we have been planning for the past 3 months. I know its another 15 months at least till we leave but we are just going crazy...
So here is our very rough plan overview. Leave mid June from western NY; travel west up through Ill., Wis., Min., ND, into Canada.
Diagonally across Saskatch. and Alberta, BC, and YT...
Our first destination is Fairbanks, via Top of the World Highway... thinking of doing the Dempster to the Arctic Circle. I know there will many stops... some short, some long but all will be great.
Fairbanks to Homer with the obligatory Denali stop for a few days.
Homer to Portland Or; Oregon to San Fran; San Fran to home via the Northern US.

We have so much planning yet to do but reading all the Roll Call posts in 2013, and 2014 just keeps us going. Started to plan finances which brings us to the first major question.
I have heard all the diesel advantages and draw backs of the gas engines. We invested in a 32' fifth wheel and 2013 GMC 2500 HD with 6.0L Crew 4x4. The fiver weighs about 8K empty, I would guess 10,500 loaded. ( I will get that checked for sure)Brand new to Rving

The truck is my every dayer.... need the 4 wheel drive here in winter. The decision with gas was pure economics. A Cummins diesel and matching tranny was $9500 more. Doing the math it was going to take a bunch of miles to save enough in mileage to pay for the increase in price. About 100000 mile by my calculation. We not going to be full timers; one long trip a year to Florida.
Traveling around NY and Pa and maybe Florida, that all makes sense but going on a trip like this, I am not so sure gas was the way to go. So I am asking for those who used a truck like mine to haul a fifth wheel through Canada...Alaska...et al... What kind of mileage can I expect? Sorry for the novelette...I will get better at this.

Edited to add 'Alaska' within the title.

[2gypsies1]

Here's a list of border crossings with information on each one:

Border Crossings by State

[CA_Traveler]

We always carried the international health certificate from our Vet.

[Joyceyam]

I have never been asked for my dogs paperwork, however, if asked you need paperwork for type of rabies vaccine, experation date, lot number, etc.., if you type in paperwork needed to transport dogs thru Canada it the computet, it will tell you what you need. It is better to have it & not need it that me need it & not have it!!!

[agesilaus]

OK crossing in Montana near Glacier I see two crossings neither seem to be near a town, one on 213 and one just to the east of the park on 89. Are they good spots to cross?

One other question, are rabies tags on the dog's collar enough or do you need some paperwork from a vet?

[Okie_Lady_Trave]

Richard,
We will be entering into Canada at the same boarder crossing about May 26 - 28 or sometime along there. I will have my Good Sams sign in my window so honk when you see us. Do you have a CB? DH handle is "Blind Man" and mine is "Okie Lady". He gets blind man from his occupation.

[Darryl_Rita]

Heads up to the early birds. It's been just above freezing today (May 05) in Grande Prairie, AB and predictions are for below freezing temps overnight for the next 4 or 5 nights. The provincial parks are still closed, for the most part. Time to look for space in a commercial park, to keep the furnace firing, or have the genny fueled and ready to go. That furnace can be a battery eater.

[NewallaBus]

Tomorrow is the day!! Departing OKC to avoid the next week of rain and storms. Headed to Lake City Co to rest of from packing. Billing MT for Memorial day, on to Alaska after the holiday. See you along the road. Richard

[2gypsies1]

Damdifino wrote:
Made the first leg of my journey today: San Antonio to Amarillo, with an hour-long stop in Segovia to make adjustments to a hitch I swapped out last week and didn't get the chance to road test. :S

Takes a long time to get out of Texas, doesn't it? 🙂

[CA_Traveler]

garyhaupt wrote:
Bearing in mind that this trip is going to cost each one of the RV's about 10,000 bux, ...

Exactly my 2013 estimate.

And there we were declaring that the "once in a life time cross it off the bucket list" trip was an adventure and we're coming back.

And it was a little more than $10K but we are coming back...:B

[Damdifino]

Made the first leg of my journey today: San Antonio to Amarillo, with an hour-long stop in Segovia to make adjustments to a hitch I swapped out last week and didn't get the chance to road test. :S

[garyhaupt]

Higher liquor costs in Canada and particularly BC are a fact of life. As is the cost of fuel. Food prices can be pretty similar now. That wasn't always the case.

So...if you care to sip a beverage, bring one litre per person duty free. After that, you can bring as much as you want but man, that'll cost you. Bearing in mind that this trip is going to cost each one of the RV's about 10,000 bux, the idea that you are going to end up paying maybe an extra 30 or 40 dollars calculated both ways...get over it.

And when people say...'free medical care in Canada'..? It's paid for, believe me.


Gary Haupt

[Community Alumni]

Well dahtoka it's pretty close, my SIL left a couple bottles of wine at the border because it would have been more than double to pay duty and taxes going into Quebec. Kids just don't listen at times. :E

... Eric

[Kidoo]

I did brought more wine than allowed once, like 3 gallons of cheap wine. The price at the end was a little more to the same type of wine as if I would bought it Canada, so it is not worth it, I will never do it again. On top, since I had more than allowed, they pulled me over to check things out, I mean everthing. So I went through a full inspection of my camper, everything opened. The custom guy did not remember I mentioned one extra bottle of wine, so he told me that I did not declare the bottle. I argued and asked him to ask my wife, he got a bit rude but finally, he said ok ok, but it was not a nice day through the border.

Now I just follow the rules about alcool and I do not bring any food when I go to USA. When I cross back to Canada, it is not as bad for food, they are much more relax about meat. Vegetable and fruit is a different story and complicated on both side of the border.

[dahkota]

Holy crap. If that duty calculator is correct, it would almost triple the cost of each of my bottles.

For what it is worth, while Canada may have some fine wines, I greatly prefer my italian Chianti, which is not made in Canada. It runs about $25/bottle in US but I managed to luck into a BOGO sale on ALL wine at Safeway and so, stocked up. I checked Everythingwine prices and they sell it for about $4 more than typical US retail prices, or about $15 more than I paid for it, which is less than the amount of duty I would have to pay. How can Canada possibly charge more in duty than the bottle costs to buy in their own country??

[Orion]

That calculator is really interesting! I plugged in a one litre of spirits going into Ontario and it was $19 of duty. Into BC it was $38!