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.

[Tee_Jay]

Sumas usually has short or no waiting lines and is a direct shot of about 3 miles to the Trans Canada. Past performance is no guarantee,,,blah blah. If you need a Costco or such there is one on the left about 2 miles in from the border and a traffic light for entry and exit.

[garyhaupt]

Just drive straight north to Oroville/Osoyoos. Then onwards to Vernon, Kamloops, Cache Crik....


Gary Haupt

[dahkota]

PaisleyDale wrote:
We are leaving this Saturday to watch grand-kids at a track meet and then travel to visit friends and family. We plan on crossing @ Sumas, WA Apr 29th and be in Anchorage by May 7th.

We wanted to go last year, but things happen. We were not going this year but I got a summer job with the Forest Service at the Portage Glacier. Really would make that much money but it will pay for our trip, like a working vacation.

Work for three weeks, fly home for grandson's graduation. Fly back and work till Sep 18th, then have a great road trip back home.

Hope to see some of you on the way or in Alaska. Have a great summer I'm sure we will too.

Wow. What a wonderful summer gig!

We are currently near Leavenworth, Washington and plan to cross in the next three weeks. Gotta finish off some of the wine first! Not sure if we are crossing in Oroville or Sumas. Anyone know which might be preferable?

[PaisleyDale]

We are leaving this Saturday to watch grand-kids at a track meet and then travel to visit friends and family. We plan on crossing @ Sumas, WA Apr 29th and be in Anchorage by May 7th.

We wanted to go last year, but things happen. We were not going this year but I got a summer job with the Forest Service at the Portage Glacier. Really would make that much money but it will pay for our trip, like a working vacation.

Work for three weeks, fly home for grandson's graduation. Fly back and work till Sep 18th, then have a great road trip back home.

Hope to see some of you on the way or in Alaska. Have a great summer I'm sure we will too.

[stickdog]

Continuing our northward trek another 500 miles behind us. Spending the night in Valentine NE. Going to give a quick visit to Fort Niobrara NWR in the morning then on to Rapid City and a visit with some friends.

[2gypsies1]

I really wouldn't make reservations far in advance. There are many possible things to happen to get you off schedule - roads, fires, mechanical problems, sickness, wanting to spend more time at one stop, etc. Being on such a tight schedule is work and not enjoyable.

[Kidoo]

My prefered campground in Denali is Teklanica, with the park pass you get to take the bus free whenever and every day right from your campground. Reservation is a must I would say.

[bee_46]

I second the idea to make reservations in Denali. Just made reservations for the beginning of July in Savage River and sites are getting scarce. Not sure about the other campgrounds though.

[2gypsies1]

Kidoo wrote:
It would be a good idea to make a reservation for Denali, camping and park pass, it gets pretty crowded. Other than that, I agree with you, the less reservation the better to enjoy the moments at your leisure.

The only 2 reservations we made for the whole trip was for the July 4 weekend and for 5 nights at Denali's farthest campground - Teklanika. For those we only made them 3 weeks prior when we could better judge when we'd be there.

As it turned out, we were early for Denali so on a whim we boondocked nearby at a lovely spot and drove into Denali early morning and easily secured a campsite for our 40' motorhome for 5 additional nights in Denali's Riley Creek campground. It wasn't hard to fill 10 wonderful days in Denali. We saw THE mountain 7 out of 10 days and saw every one of the big 5 critters - some more than once.

[stickdog]

We are on our way. Left Kerrville TX last Friday. First stop Throckmorton TX avoided the bad weather but the campground there was a mud hole then a couple nights at Witchita Mountains NWR. Presently in Pratt KS at, Pratt County Veterans Memorial Lake Campground. Back on the road North in the morning.

[Kidoo]

It would be a good idea to make a reservation for Denali, camping and park pass, it gets pretty crowded. Other than that, I agree with you, the less reservation the better to enjoy the moments at your leisure.

[Damdifino]

I'll be leaving on or about May 3-4, with my only reservation along the way at Madison in Yellowstone. Next projected stop is Inuvik sometime sound the summer solstice, then at my leisure back down through Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, as many maritime towns and villages as I can reach with or without a ferry, through BC, the Olympic Penninsula, and the Washington and Oregon coasts. Finally, I'll drift back toward south Texas sometime in September.

[okgc]

2gypsies wrote:

okgc wrote:
I believe we are ready for departure.

Plan on cleaning that neat sign 3 or 4 times a day!!!

Actually it might look more appropriate with some mud & dirt. :B

[2gypsies1]

okgc wrote:
I believe we are ready for departure.

Plan on cleaning that neat sign 3 or 4 times a day!!!

[Trackrig]

Fl Gator wrote:
We're leaving Florida for Alaska in about a week and a half. We've looked at taking the ferry from Skagway to Haines. But, have not made reservations because we aren't sure when we will be there. We believe we'll be in Skagway the 3rd or 4th week of May. What's the chances of us getting passage on the ferry when we get there?

Fl. Watergator

We did it two years ago without a reservation or any problems. The ferry for that portion was less than one third full. As a note, if you have a toad, get it loaded first, then the toad driver can take pictures of you entering the ferry if you want. Let the ferry crew know what you're doing.

Bill