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travel in alaska

austondog
Explorer
Explorer
We did the fantasy tours 60 day tour Canada/Alaska july august 2014 WOW what an experience. We traveled the entire Alaska highway up over the top of the world road and back through destruction bay. There were 24 units in our group 20 mh's and 4 fivers. The tt's seemed to have a lot of tire trouble, any one making this trip should pay extra attention to tires and trailer suspension. The cg's are not the best do not expect 50 amp full hook ups all the time it's not gonna happen.
If caravans are in area site avalibility could be limited. That being said we we in a 40' all electric allegro bus and did fine. Fuel was a non issue other than price $6 per gal in northwest territory. Fuel was actually cheaper in AK than WA. state We travelled 11,600 miles and used $7000.00 fuel. Chipped and broken glass was my worst issue. All effort should be taken to protect front of toad/tt and windshields. If you have mud flaps make sure they don't drag the ground this kicks the gravel up straight onto your equipment. Bug deflectors on tow vehicles seemed to help. The frost heaves and gravel roads are real. Drive slow and look for small orange flags on side of road these mark bad spots. I hope everyone going to AK this has as good of an experience as we did
9 REPLIES 9

austondog
Explorer
Explorer
We had Jim and Darlene Weir as wagon masters They knew what was going on and headed off any issues if your host are half as good you will be fine. Don't over stock on food fresh veggies and alcohol limited crossing border. Service equipment and take extra belts and filters Anything you do to protect from flying rocks will help. Don't stress out on being prepared when you cross into Canada it's like time backs up and everything slows down you will have a ball

PghBob
Explorer
Explorer
Suggest you take time to read "Roll Call Alaska 2013", "Roll Call Alaska 2014", and "Roll Call Alaska 2015" on this forum. Tons of good and important info. Best wishes for an enjoyable trip.

AlCar
Explorer
Explorer
racker355 wrote:
We just signed up for the Fantacy tour 59 day trip. I have a little anxiety about the trip especially the added mileage from Texas. Any Tips do's and dont's would be apreciated. You mentioned "tt" what is this refering too.


Read the border crossing instructions about guns, alcohol, firewood, etc. Frozen food is O.K., fresh fruits might be a problem depending on the mood of the border customs people at that moment. Also, best advice is to preload your CC as they do ask if you have cash, as I found out in returning to the YT from Skagway and had to actually show the customs lady the cash. Keep your answers to the question to a single word: Yes or No. Take off your sunglasses and hats prior to stopping. Some want you to open your unit so they can enter; some just want to talk through the window. Questions are generally the same, but there are variations and additional questions as well. When we went through to re-enter the US by Glacier NP, the agent noticed that my last name and my better half's last names did not match, which led to additional questions to her to make sure I wasn't forcing her to go with me, including what we did for a living and when we said retire, we had to explain what de did before we retired in some detail. The customs guy wasn't lonely because there was a line of vehicles behind us waiting.
In general, be polite, be brief, be courteous. Then onc3e you pass them and they are in your mirror, then cuss them out if necessary.

sue_t
Explorer
Explorer
"tt" = Travel Trailer

The frost heaves tend to wreak havoc on tt hitches. Also seem more prone to flat tires.

Fifth wheels not so bad, we've done thousands of miles with our fifth wheel on all the roads and goat trails we could find. Some flat tires but never a hitch problem.
sue t.
Pictures from our many RV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska from Vancouver Island. Now we live in Yukon!

racker355
Explorer
Explorer
We just signed up for the Fantacy tour 59 day trip. I have a little anxiety about the trip especially the added mileage from Texas. Any Tips do's and dont's would be apreciated. You mentioned "tt" what is this refering too.

austondog
Explorer
Explorer
Hey sue.t just to let you know we loved Canada. All the border crossing guards were very nice more than I can say about some of the us border guards

austondog
Explorer
Explorer
Yes I meant to post Yukon territory sorry

sue_t
Explorer
Explorer
austondog wrote:
Fuel was a non issue other than price $6 per gal in northwest territory.

Do you mean the Yukon Territory - Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Dawson City, Destruction Bay, Haines Junction, etc.?

Not many caravan tours go into the Northwest Territories. Looking at the Fantasy Tours website, this tour doesn't either.
sue t.
Pictures from our many RV Adventures to Yukon & Alaska from Vancouver Island. Now we live in Yukon!

mockturtle
Explorer II
Explorer II
Thanks for the info. I'm planning to go this summer. No toad to worry about.
2015 Tiger Bengal TX 4X4
Chevy 3500HD, 6L V8