One Week to Alaska

[rames14]

Well, one week from today we leave for Alaska. This trip has been planned since 2006. We have been fortunate to benefit from the trips of many MOC members who have made the trip previously. Our travels will take us through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Alberta, Yukon Territiries, Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Utah. We plan to be gone 100 days. Halibut fishing out of Homer and salmon fishing on the Kenai are on the agenda. We are hoping to meet up with other MOC members along the way. Should be seeing some of them at Denali NP in June/July.

[lunalonestar]

Greg and Kate Kerlin and John Kohl are traveling to Alaska together as well. They leave in two weeks. We did it last year. Trip of a life time. Hope you packed mosquito nets! Safe travels.

[twindman]

Hope the weather is good for you. I am sort of a fair weather person, and it rained every day we were up there; so no way I do a river float trip fishing or out on the ocean. I'm trying again next year tho.

[JandC]

Have a good trip and keep us posted on your progress.

[Rondo]

Have a good trip guys! Sorry you'll miss the CPRR this year but Alaska rhymes with Nebraska so it's close anyway! It is a great State to explore and I hope you head up to Fairbanks with your stop at Denali and then take the highway on the east side back down from Fairbanks along the pipeline. It is a really neat trip and you really see a lot of wildlife on that part of the journey. Take care and hope to see you in Goshen this fall!

[rames14]

Dave and Linda, we learned a lot from your Alaska seminar at the fall rally. We are meeting H John in Denali. Rondo, yes we will be in Fairbanks before Denali. Terrie's sister lives there and her husband and father-in-law are announcers on the riverboat Discovery there. We then head down through Talkeetna and Wasilla to Anchorage. Terrie's cousin lives there. We will be hitting all of the cities you can drive to for the most part including Valdez, Skagway, Haines, Homer, Seward and Hyder in addition to the ones already mentioned. Have our Toursaver book already, our 2014 Milepost, Alaskan Camping book and our trip plan. We are also doing the Icefield Parkway through Lake Louise and Jasper. Taking a bait caster, two spinning rods and three fly rods. Hoping to save on our food bill.

[CORattler]

Betty and I wish you safe travels, smooth roads and a wonderful time. May it exceed your expectations!

[Jay Bird]

Have a great trip Ron and Terrie. That is one trip we hope to make someday.

[K0LCB]

Have fun and travel safe!

[jpkelpe]

Have fun and safe travels.

[capn chris]

Take your time. Don't follow too closely (rocks). Be careful in construction zones. And get fuel when you can!!!

[Chasnracin]

We are having some beautiful weather up here right now. I hope it holds out for you while you are here. Travel safe.

[rames14]

Thanks for the well wishes. We are packing, storing groceries and just about ready to go. Our son is coming to spend the summer at our house with Terrie's Dad (Grandpa). He won't arrive until Monday late. In the mean time, the NWS has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Sunday - up to 18" of snow. Our first two campgrounds will not be open due to the heavy snowfall this past winter. Our first two stays will be at Gros Ventre in Grand Teton and Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone. We are spending 3-4 nights at just about every stop until the end of the trip. By then it will be time to get home and cut firewood for the next winter. This global warming is killing me.

[7.3Ford]

Ron and Terrie,

We pray you will have safe travels. Cindy and I hope to make the trip in 5 years when I retire. Let me know if you keep a blog of your travels.

[rames14]

John, we will be keeping a blog. I will post the address one it's up and running.

[Tfthorp]

Been thinking of your trip to Ak and haven't heard anyting. How is it going? Hope all is well. We had thought of going again this year but have to put it off another year.

[rames14]

Tom and Patty -
The trip is going great. I neglected to post the blog address - rames14.wordpress.com. For those of you interested in a future trip that like quiet campgrounds, campfires and boondocking - they have it. We have found the regional (British Columbia) and Government (Yukon) campgrounds are the best. $12-$20/night, firewood included, and hardly any people. We also found a hidden gem just outside of Whitehorse. We are staying at the Takhini Hot Springs CG. $32/night, electric, wifi and 20% discount at the hot springs. This is the fourth hot spring we have hit since leaving on May 16th. We are almost to Alaska. We spent at least three days at Yellowstone, Waterton Lakes, Lake Louise, Jasper and now Whitehorse/Takhini Hot Springs. So far, we have had very few truck/RV issues. I replaced a regulator on the door side (leaking) and had to replace the circuit board for the furnace because of mice shorting out the board. Other than that, we have just had a nice relaxing trip. Great scenery, lots of bears, just now getting into mosquitos. The price of diesel this year has been much higher than last according to the locals. We have paid as high as $1.99/liter. The cheapest since hitting Canada is $1.30/liter at Jasper. So, close to $6/gallon on average. I have a nice pie chart of expenses and CG's have run about half of what we spent on diesel. We should hit Alaska this week. We are going to be another two nights at the hot springs and then we'll make the push toward Tok, Alaska. We have reservations in Fairbanks for June 24th and Denali on June 29th. Then, fishing the Kenai in July and then the southern part the end of July. We know we need to be home to get things squared away before the fall rally at Goshen. Thanks for all of those that are keeping track of our travels. If you are thinking of doing this trip, take your time and enjoy it. It is spectacular.

[7.3Ford]

Ron,

Thanks for the link to your blog. I plan to make the trip in 5 years as soon as I retire.

[rames14]

John, we planned ours for 8 years. Retired last May 1, left for Alaska this May. We made the decision we had too much stuff that we didn't want to give up to full time. But, we will have spent 26 weeks traveling since retirement by the time we get home in August. You will enjoy it. As many of my MOC friends have said - slow down. We are trying hard to do the 3-3-3. No more than 300miles a day, in by three and at least three days at each spot. I have a very detailed trip plan that you may have a copy of when you are ready. It's in Excel. Just email or PM me. I kept track of the days remaining on the board in my office. When people started asking what that number was, I switched to presidents in reverse order. Have fun with it.

[Recumbent]

Sounds great, we look forward to reading your posts, we also enjoyed Dave and Linda's (lunalonestar) seminar at the Fall Rally, and we are planning a 3 trailer convoy trip for about the same length of time in 2015.