Planning roadtrip from Texas to Alaska --- advice & tips needed

[tsunami]

If you are still in Page AZ, try a visit to the antelope slot canyons or just out side Page is the horseshoe bend of the Colorado River. Either one of these are great photo opportunities. The Glen Canyon recreational area have a very nice campground. The CG looks out over Lake Powell. Stayed there a couple times. Enjoy

[jornvango]

Thanks! We visited Horseshoe Bend yesterday and today we visited the Toadstools, on the way to Kanab. We visited Antelope Canyon a few years ago and yes, it's definitely a must-see in the area.

It's currently snowing here, so we might stay another day or two until the snow melts.
There's been a mudslide on the road down to Flagstaff so that's currently closed, but there is a detour open (slow going). We're not sure yet which direction to go, but it's possibly going to be Flagstaff > Phoenix (with maybe a few days staying in the Sedona area), to get back into the good weather.
Cold/wet weather isn't very enjoyable, especially in an Airstream that isn't 'winterproof'. We have an electric heater blowing which saves us propane.

[tsunami]

Originally Posted by jornvango

Thanks! We visited Horseshoe Bend yesterday and today we visited the Toadstools, on the way to Kanab. We visited Antelope Canyon a few years ago and yes, it's definitely a must-see in the area.

It's currently snowing here, so we might stay another day or two until the snow melts.
There's been a mudslide on the road down to Flagstaff so that's currently closed, but there is a detour open (slow going). We're not sure yet which direction to go, but it's possibly going to be Flagstaff > Phoenix (with maybe a few days staying in the Sedona area), to get back into the good weather.
Cold/wet weather isn't very enjoyable, especially in an Airstream that isn't 'winterproof'. We have an electric heater blowing which saves us propane.

On your epic trip to Alaska and back, did you have reservations at the campgrounds or did you wing-it? I hope to, in 2015, take a few months and go to Alaska and then return south through Washington, Oregon, and California before heading home.

[jornvango]

We don't like to make reservations (more freedom to come and go) and never had issues with finding a good place to stay.
The one time when we had to drive and search a little was in a small town on the road south to Valdez: apparently it was the time of year for the salmon run in the local river and most campgrounds were full.
Even on July 4th when we pulled into Valdez, we had no problems finding a place to stay.

However, if there was an area where we wanted to stay longer than a few days and if this was a tourist area in tourist season, then yes, we usually made a reservation 1 or 2 weeks in advance.

[dannydimitt]

Originally Posted by tsunami

On your epic trip to Alaska and back, did you have reservations at the campgrounds or did you wing-it? I hope to, in 2015, take a few months and go to Alaska and then return south through Washington, Oregon, and California before heading home.

On our two month Alaskan journey last summer the only place that we found that really should be reserved ahead of time were the campgrounds in Denali National Park . We mostly just stopped wherever we happened to be and didn't have to fret over having to be somewhere at any particular time .

[Gene]

Destinations are good places to have a reservation plus weekends. It also depends when you expect to stop—if early, probably not, but a lot of CG's close the office doors at 5 or 6 pm, so it is good to have a reservation.

I prefer to have freedom to stop without reservations, but when traveling through remote areas, there aren't many places to stop, so it seems best to get a reservation just in case there's some event up ahead in the only town within hundreds of miles.

If you need wifi, it also may be best to reserve so you can stay connected. We tell them we need the wifi and they usually put us close to an antenna. There are plenty of other things people may want (swimming pool, restaurant, cable TV, for ex.) that make it sensible to make reservations.

Places like Denali can get crowded and if you are there, you certainly don't want to have nowhere to stay. That is true of the campground furthest into the Park (can't remember the name, but it is about 26 miles inside the park where you can't drive unless you have a reservation there). Although it is recommended to make reservations there months ahead, I did it less than 2 weeks before without a problem.

Gene

[crisen]

You also need to pay attention to what else is going on when you plan to be somewhere. For example it was mentioned above that Valdez was not a problem on the 4th of July and this is not surprising, however, try to find a camping spot there I'm mid August at the peak of the silver run and selection is sparse.

[jornvango]

We have arrived in San Antonio, TX: the end of our trip.

It's been an amazing experience. 21832 km (13,646 miles) of driving through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon).
7 Months of traveling (211 days)!

We consider ourselves lucky that we didn't have technical breakdowns to the car or Airstream. The repairs we did along the way include new tires and brakes on the Jeep and new tires on the Airstream, a new converter in the Airstream; and of course, we still have to fix the broken window on the Airstream.

Now we're staying in San Antonio and are busy cleaning the Jeep and Airstream, plus decide what to do next ... settle or extend the trip into Central America?

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by jornvango

We have arrived in San Antonio, TX: the end of our trip...

Welcome back, glad you had a safe trip!

[dstalzer]

Originally Posted by PeterH-Airstreamer

Welcome back, glad you had a safe trip!

Your trip an journal have been very interesting and informative. We hope to make a trip to Alaska in a year or two.

Thanks for all your info.

Dennis

[jornvango]

You're welcome! I can assure you the pleasure was all mine

We bought a truck camper today. Now we're shopping for a truck and then ... hopefully a road trip through Central America! That trip won't be with our Airstream so not sure if Im allowed to post about it here

[tsunami]

Please let us know, if not in this forum, what forum you post your trip south of the boarder.

[jornvango]

We'll definitely update our blog at www.vango.be

[jornvango]

We're almost ready for our trip into Central America. The Dodge truck and Livin Lite truck camper are ready. On a sad note: we sold our Airstream today!

We're updating our blog on www.vango.be and the departure is tentatively scheduled for around 1/15.

[Gene]

Wow, that's a big sacrifice, but I can see the flexibility of a truck camper on some bad roads in some not so calm places.

Going all the way to Tierra del Fuego is one of my fantasies.

Gene