Alaska, My Turn


Poppa

Member
June 1 is D day for me and the wife has planned for us to see all this wonderful country of ours that I have over looked. :( .

We ar looking at the possibility of making Alaska summer of 2006 and are doing our planning ahead. :blush: .

We will be leaving South Louisiana in a 1979 Foretravel, pulling a Saturn wagon with 2 kids 13 and 6, 1 old dog, a puppy and a cat or two :eek: .

We will have about a month to make this run.

One option would be to make a 5 or 6 day run a few weeks ahead of time and leave the motor home at a storage lot. this would give us a 2,000 mile head start ;) .

What we realy need to know :question: is how much cash to take, gas prices, rv park cost , when is the best time, what to see thats not in the brocures.
 

Gary B

Senior Member
Alaska, My Turn

Hi Poppa, IMHO a month is cutting it too close for a trip to Alaska, every time w've gonig its been about 35 days (average) and we are 1500 miles north of you which translates into at least 5 days of travel. Of course spotting the MH ahead will help, if we me, I'd forget the toad and when you get to a place and want to stay and explore rent a car. When we have gone we generally get about $200 /$250 Canadain money and $500 / $600 US and used our credit / check cards for the rest.
Its been a couple of years since we went now and maybe Chelse or others can give you more up to date costs, but we averaged about $15.00 per day for food(we ate all our meals in our camper, CG's were about $16.00 per day, and fuel(gas) was about $2.45 per gal.(2003. Here again this is my opinon but the last week of May or the first week in June is the best time to start out, unless yopur going to vist other places before starting up north. Get a Milepost and from that you'll find many things places to see and they have a good discription of them and you'll find what intersts you and what doesn't. There is lots to see that costs little or nothing much and many things you can spend much more money on. Its a great trip with so much to see that I'd plan for plenty of time. Have a good one. :) :laugh: :cool: :bleh: ;) :approve:
PS: I forgot to mention that Visa and MasterCard are accepted all across Canada but Discovery Card is not, but is in Alaska.
 

C Nash

Senior Member
Alaska, My Turn

Poppa, Gray's figures are pretty close to what they were last year. Gas was around .99 cents a liter in canada which is close to 4.00 per gallon. I didn't really figure cost of food as you have to eat anyway. We got 100.00 in canadian money going up and didn,t use all of it. Used visa coming back and this is what I recommend. They handle the conversion. Gas will be your biggest expense. Get the Golden Eagle Pass and stay in some of the National parks. Some will not have hook ups but most are nice and you get half price. The cards cost 20 bucks. lot of Good Sam parks also on the way. We drove a total of 11000 miles on the MH and 5 or 6000 on the toad. I personally would not go without the toad. We did a lot of sight seeing in the toad. Time permitting I would recommend driving the Dalton all the way but don't think you can fit that into the 30 day frame. I would try for at least 30 days in Alask alone. It's huge. Keep us posted on the plans.
 

mariahofmaine

New Member
Alaska, My Turn

Hi Poppa. My husband and I are also planning a trip to Alaska next summer. We are looking into traveling with a caravan though. We have always traveled on our own but think it would be fun to go with a group and have everything planned ahead. It will be fun to meet new people and perhaps build friendships. Gail
 

C Nash

Senior Member
Alaska, My Turn

Hi Gail,
If you have always traveled alone I think you would enjoy the trip much more going and doing your own thing. Caravans do have some advandage I suppose but, most cost quite a bit. Fellow rvers will also be heading that way and if you have problems someone will stop to help. I would recommend geting a road service such as Good Sam. Tires, fuel, campgrounds were no problem for us. Fuel is very expensive in Canada so it would be better for you to cross the top of good old America unless you just want to tour Canada. Some have posted that Canadians were not friendly but, we found them to be very frindly. Really enjoyed trip through Alberta, yukon and British Columbia. Plan on at least a month in Alaska. It's HUGE. If time permits drive the Dalton all the way but, leave the rv in Fairbanks. The Milepost is a must (IMO). Passport will work better at the border. I would just use Visa or Mastercard through Canada because they will do the conversion and they are accepted everywhere. it was a dream come true for us and we may be taking the trip again in 2006 if Poppa will loan us the $$$$$$ :laugh: . poppa is your trip still on?
 

rgamache

New Member
Alaska, My Turn

Alaska with an RV is a must do experience. We had visited twice by air an rented a car but by far the best is the sights and experience of driving there in an RV.
We left Wisconsin with our two Grand kids in ealy June and came back in late August in time for school.
We went to Edmunton and drove to the Alaska Highway. A must stay in Skagway were you can the go by small tour boat to Haines and Juneau and ride the White Pass Railroad. Roads were great with the exception of the Top of the World highway fron Dawson to Chicken. My advise it`s not worth the pounding and abuse to your RV. No issue with fuel or campgrounds. Visited Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, don`t miss the Kenai Peninsulla. Consider taking the ferry from Whittier to Valdez then drive South using the Caisser Highway stopping in Hyder/Steward to watch the grizzlies catch salmon in the river. So many more places to write about. My advice Don`t wait GO NOW as every year it becomes more commercialized.
 
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