To toad or not to toad, that is the question

kevfra wrote:
I have a 31 foot. I have pretty much removed any ability to park in town, that I might otherwise find with just the RV. Overall I am not inclined to tow for this trip.

Our overall length--truck and trailer--is 41 feet and I never had trouble finding a place to park in any town/city in Alaska. We even parked the entire rig in downtown Anchorage to eat at Simon & Seafort's and in Soldotna to do a week's worth of laundry. Yes, we had to walk a little further, but, after a long drive, we needed a long walk. As Joe says, places you need to go in Alaska cater to RVers (except Skagway, which only caters to cruise ship passengers), so nearly all have parking for RVs.

joe b. wrote:
.....So all the major tourist attractions will have bus parking which will fit the largest RVs. Now you may find RV parking tight in front of Tee Jay's business, on the Kenai. LOL

Joe B. that is just cold. We have had a half-dozen in the yard at once, and once had that many just sort of pull over on the side of the road. The ditches are sort of decorative with an easy slope. Stop by your next trip.

Terry

At 31' things should be fine. You may need to walk a bit farther sometimes, but no big deal. You will also fit in a whole lot of State and Federal and Provincial campgrounds if you care to.

I have a 31 foot. I also have a lot of cars, and a couple of them would be fine to tow, but that's not the question - it's the hassle. Reduced maneuverability, overall greater length, reduced performance. But these answers have made me consider one other angle and that is if towing I have pretty much removed any ability to park in town, that I might otherwise find with just the RV. Overall I am not inclined to tow for this trip.

To tow or not is a very personal matter. I tend to think of a dividing length of about 30 ft as to how useful a toad will be or not. The 2 1/2 years we full timed, we pulled our toad on every move, it had to go. But most of my trips over the Alaska Hwy, have been in rigs shorter than 30 ft. A big part of the Alaska tour market is based upon cruise ships and tour buses. So all the major tourist attractions will have bus parking which will fit the largest RVs. Now you may find RV parking tight in front of Tee Jay's business, on the Kenai. LOL

Without a toad may require more planning for some. If you are planning to stay a week at some camp site, then take a weeks supple of what you need with you. While having a tow with you in Alaska can be convienent , getting it there, for me is not worth the trade. If you take two vehicles with you, you have doubled your chance of having vehicle problems.

Most RV travelers seem to move around a lot while in the north country. There are a few places to day trip out of but not many that are convienent IMHO. About the only places we spend a week or more camping in Alaska would be Fairbanks and Valdez, and some summer at the Tangle Lakes west of Paxson. A couple of times in Fairbanks I have rented a car, but generally we unhook the utilities and drive the RV (under 30 ft) if we want to go somewhere. Seldom do we find a problem with parking, where we want to go. If a business is going to cater to the tourist trade, they have to have parking for RVs and the ever popular tour buses. LOL

Ypou also don't have to buy a brand new one either. I was not sure if I would like it so I picked up the lightest, lowest priced little car I could find.

I lucked out and found a Chevy Tracker 4x4, 4 door off of craigs list!

You didn't say what size RV you have. If it's small that you could maneuver in parking lots easily than no, you don't need a toad. Any bigger one - definitely, yes.

If you take a toad then leave the bikes at home. Distances are just too great on the trip to bike - unless it's within a town.

We live in our 40' Phaeton and tow a small truck. When we decided to go to Alaska, we purchased a lightly used 22' B+ Trail Lite. We had chosen not to tow with this rig. It was very versatile. . . there wasn't anyplace we wanted to go that we couldn't drive there. We went up the highway from Whitehorse to Dawson City without any problems. We crossed the TOW highway. . . as others have said. . SLOW is the rule there. We didn't have any problems with our rig and as I said. . . it went anywhere we wanted. It has no slides, so it wasn't hard to get ready to roll either. One reason we chose the little rig is because we took the ferries down through the inside passage. In the little rig, it cost us about $1700. With the big rig, pulling a toad, it would have been closer to $5,000.

A great trip and we enjoyed the little rig. Keep her in storage till we need her again.

Dale

sdianel wrote:
toad. We park the RV and use the toad to travel in about a 100 mile radius. Saves fuel and saves packing everything up to move to next place we want to see.

ditto - and I wanted a backup on the Alaska highway, both trips.

But, hey, its a choice, we've done both over the years with 4 different RV's.

And if you're camping at walmart, its easier to drive the toad to the other end of the parking lot ;-))

* A place to stow the bikes (inside!)

:B

I swore I would put NOTHING inside the toad.
Well that lasted about a month. Not only did things get stored in there
I actually ADDED a hitch and cargo carrier to the back of the toad!