States I have spent the night in my current rig, bought three years ago.
Have RV'ed through 49 states and been in all 50, just short of my half-century.
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2004 Ford 350 Super Duty 2W Dirve Long Bed PU
2008 327RLT Montana Mountaineer 35 ft. 5th wheel 2005 Alaska and other Trip Logs
Thanks for posting this and the replies. We are in the beginning stages of planning our trip to Alaska next summer and we need all the help/advice we can get!
There really is no "wrong" way to take a trip to northern Canada or Alaska. Whether a person drives, flys and rents, takes the ferry, a cruise ship, goes alone or with a caravan or others, the end result is a great trip for most. Not everyone has the flexibility to enjoy the challenges you will find on the trip. Don't understand what some travelers are searching for and don't find in the north country, but 99.99% of the visitors have the trip of a lifetime. One that many start repeating on a regular basis.
It is important to remind yourself why you are going, to have fun, so relax, roll with any differences you may find, slow down, take lots of photos and soak it in as best as you can.
When you are standing outside your rig, looking at the mud on it, being swarmed by bitting bugs, just remember, thousands of people would give a great deal to be standing in your shoes at that very moment. LOL
Me included. LOL
joe b.
South Florida, Stuart
Formerly of Colorado and Alaska
Driving a Dodge/Cummins/Lance www.pajbcooper.com web site http://www.picturetrail.com/jbpacooper
Alaska 2004/2006/2009 - Colorado photos
"Without challenge, adventure is impossible".
OK...can someone give me a rough estimate on how many days it takes to drive from AK (lets say Fairbanks) to Chicago via the Al-Can? I've looked up the milage, but I am trying to get a realistic time estimate in days. We are driving a class A...maybe towing too. We will be driving home next July.
We average 150 to 200 miles per day which gives time to stop for pictues and visit places of interest. From Denver we traveled 8500 miles in six weeks on our 2008 trip. We really needed another two or three weeks to see all the places we wanted to.
We look at it as a North Country trip rather than just an Alaska trip because there is much to see in B.C., Yukon Territory, and Alberta.
Clattertruck
2008 SD F450 PSD 6.4L CC 4X4 DRW, Lariat Auto trans 4.30 LS, 2008 Snowriver 108 truck camper. Jeep Unlimited Rubicon as toad.
For a time budget, I figure on 10 driving days from Florida to Fairbanks. Then add any side trips or stop overs to that figure. Works out for us to be just about two weeks each way, + or -. This will vary for each traveler, depending on age, health, enjoyment of driving, previous trips along the route, etc. We tend to spend a couple of days in Whitehorse, both directions. But out of our dozen round trips to/from Alaska we have only side tripped to Atlin 2 or 3 times. We don't go to Dawson Town every trip either. One of those places we love but don't go there often.
It is about 4,500 miles from here in Florida to Fairbanks and I don't find it at all a problem to make 450 to 500 miles a day. But I am an early riser, out of bed by 5 AM and on the road by 6 if I am solo and by 7 if my wife is with me. We can easily make 300 miles by noon and still do whatever stops we wish to do. For a first or second time traveler, it is going to take longer to make the trip. Much of the northern route, though beautiful, is the same today as it was yesterday and the same as it will be tomorrow. LOL The northern boreal forest doesn't change a great deal.
Our days vary in mileage made, from here to Dawson Creek we may run some over 500 mile days, from DC on to Burwash Landing we may run 400 miles a day and then from there north due to the frost damage to the road, we may drop down to 300 mile days or less. I normally schedule one day a week to not travel and take care of "needs", grocery shopping, vehicle maintenance, laundry, buying propane, etc. I schedule my being in places with good WiFi/Internet connections on the days I need to pay bills, etc.
With my wife still wage working, we tend to be gone about 2 months on the trips. If she flies home from Alaska, I tend to stay another month or so before I head back south.
joe b. wrote: But I am an early riser, out of bed by 5 AM and on the road by 6 if I am solo and by 7 if my wife is with me. We can easily make 300 miles by noon and still do whatever stops we wish to do.
Then there's folks like us ... we're up by 7 AM, but have two high-energy dogs that need a good hour-long hike in the morning before hitting the road. We're doing good to be on the road by 10 AM.
But we're happy driving until 3 or 4, maybe 6 or 7 PM. Tend to put in 400-500 mile days before hitting the North Country, then will do anything from 100-300 miles per day depending on which backroads strike our fancy.
We tend to pick one overnight spot a week in a commercial campground to wash things (truck, people & clothes) but otherwise stay in government campgrounds or boondock. Our preference is to do our day of rest in a remote area without anyone else around. Hopefully get a good hike in, perhaps some 4x4 exploring, maybe some canoeing or kayaking, maybe just sitting around doing nothing!
We left Madison WI about noon on July 13 and drove to Sauk Centre Minnesota which is about an hour west of Cities so if you left Chicago in the morning that would be an easy trip. We camped at the City campground. Nice. We then drove to North Portal in North Dakota and crossed the border and camped an hour or so across the border. Not so nice campground but it was a quick stop. Then on to Edmonton the next day and that was not a bad trip. Stayed two days in Edmonton at Glowing Embers. It is a packed campground but in town and full hookups and even a restaurant on site. It served our needs. Then on to Grand Prairie. A short trip and two days at Tamarack Campground. Lovely and wooded with good facilities. Grand Prairie is a lovely commuity. We stayed two days as we were watching the British Open Golf Tournament. On to Dawson Creek for one night stay. Lots of Campgrounds. Short drive. Then to the Mile 0 museum for an hour and pictures and up the road to Fort Nelson. Again a reasonable drive with stops. From there to Watson Lake and again easy about 300 miles and plenty of stops. To Whitehorse from there a very easy drive. Spent two days in Whitehorse and then to Haines Junction a very short trip. From Haines Junction it was on across the border to Tok, Eat at Fast Eddy's. Great food. Campground next door was fine but several in Tok with good ratings. From Tok to Fairbanks-Actually North Pole. Rivers Edge campground was fine. Some like the Santa campground. From there it was roaming around to Denali, Telketna-a fun place and on to Anchorage with day trips from Anchorage and then Valdeez and back down to Haines where we took the Marine Highway with multi day stops at Juneau and Ketchikan and on to Bellingham. Total of 7 weeks. We had been to Alaska so we took our time to see some different things and we just enjoyed the outdoors and beauty of country side. Did some boat trips and of course some events at Denali, rafting at Talketna. The Marine Highway was great. We had not been to Southwest Alaska and really enjoyed that part of the trip and the Ferry was wonderful. State room for overnght trips is good idea although we did not have a reservation and were prepared to sleep in bags on air mattress in the solar lounge but got a room when it was available. Great trip. PM me if I can help any further. We drive 28 foot BT Cruiser towing a Smart Car.
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