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Old 07-16-2010, 07:07 AM   #161
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digression

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Originally Posted by dstalzer View Post
We were traveling in Oklahoma a couple years ago an stumbled across Runstone State Park where we saw an amazing Runestone which was said to be created by the Scandinavians a thousand years ago. I did a search on the internet and found this article:

The Heavener Runestone was first discovered, according to local oral history, by a Choctaw hunting party in the 1830's. Poteau Mountain, on which it located, was named by French trappers. It was part of the Indian Territory ceded to the Chactaw Nation when they were removed from Mississippi to present Oklahoma. The Choctaw were probably astonished when they saw the eight mysterious symbols punched in the mossy face of the huge slab of stone which stood in a lovely ravine, protected by overhanging cliffs. Records tell us that there was no underbrush on the mountains then; a deer could be seen for a distance under the virgin timber.

The most recent research on the runic inscription of the Heavener Runestone which stands in the State Park on Poteau Mountain near Heavener, Oklahoma, indicates that it may be four hundred years older than first thought. A former translation stated that it could be the date of November 11, 1012. It now appears that it is not a date, but a boundary marker made as early as 600 A.D. and not later than 900 A.D. It says GLOME VALLEY.

I find this real interesting because it really questions when the Americas were discovered by the explorers from Europe.

Dennis
This is a bit off topic, not much as y'all have strayed already , but there is a really good book by Tony Horwitz called "A Voyage Long and Strange" on the true early discoverers of America, et al. Worth a read, and he's a great writer.

Maggie
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Old 07-16-2010, 11:20 PM   #162
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Friday. We went rogue today and changed our route. We were going to go through Lethbridge and then down to I-15 at the border. It’s boring and Sweetgrass customs can be very busy. It’s a training center so you can be an experiment for a newbie.

We went directly south, avoiding busy Lethbridge, and skirting the Rocky Mountains and Glacier National Park. It’s prairie to and a bit beyond the border. This cutstoms station was bigger and much busier than we expected with a line stretching back to Canadian customs. It took at least 1/2 an hour, but the border guy was nice, even asking how we were, asked few questions (“Have they changed the color of Colorado license plates?”) and wished us a good trip. Unlike some of the border people he has enough self confidence he didn’t have to act tough to be observant. After a while we weaved through the foothills of the Rockies on a slow drive through trees and then treeless land. The Rockies are still beautiful. Then back to the prairie with mountains to the west. It became hot—80’s and eventually 94˚ as we drove through Helena back on the interstate.

We shaved 22 miles off the day’s trip by taking a more direct, but slower route. We arrived at a campground about 20 miles north of Butte called Merry Widow Spa and Campground. I had made reservations since it is Friday. The signs were confusing and no one was around, so we called them at the office we couldn’t find. A maintenance man came and told us to fill out the forms at the Rec building and stay at any site we wanted. Since I had already given them a credit card number, not sure what to do about paying. We’ll have to call them in the morning as driving up the hill to the office may mean I can’t turn around. This place has changed hands and is being fixed up, but is screwed up now. There are parking lot style sites with full hookups and back in sites among the trees that don’t seem to have full hookups. Wifi works well sometimes. It is the best place in an area of not so good campgrounds.

Tomorrow we are aiming for Pocatello, Idaho. We have gone to a restaurant there in the past we liked, but we think it may be gone. I wish we could remember the name. We could go farther, but we need a short day.

Finding the right campground can be a chore. I’ve noticed that some areas have poor ones, others have good ones. Today it looked like Helena and Butte weren’t good, Dillon was the best. But Dillon is too far. This place, in Basin, Montana, has what we need even if it is screwed up. AAA rates campgrounds, but we don’t think they do a very good job, have different standards than we do and don’t cover a lot of places. Woodalls doesn’t exactly rate campgrounds, but the word is that they make those that advertise sound better. The same company owns Trailer Life which, I believe, does rate campgrounds. Campground owners have told me that TL reps tell them they will get a better review if they advertise.

So, we rely on the internet website RV Park Reviews. The reviews can be goofy or by someone who is extremely picky, but it’s helpful. Sometimes places with nice grounds don’t matter much since we are traveling long days and stay in our trailer, so who cares what’s outside so long as it’s quiet. A railroad or a busy highway doesn’t matter much because we have the bedroom sealed off from the world and we are usually so tired, a train would have to go through the site. We have to think ahead several days because we may not always have wifi and can’t get reviews. Having a printer in the trailer is invaluable because I can print out the reviews ahead of time.

There are plenty of frustrations in finding the right campground, or sometimes, one at all. Some are good or excellent or bad, but In the end, we spend the evening in the trailer together eating, planning the next days, talking, sleeping and getting going late in the morning. It’s nice to meet people at campgrounds and talk RV or about the roads and campgrounds ahead or behind us, but mostly we inside, on our own schedule and trip. We start late, drive about 8 hours a day, and prefer it that way. People who leave at 7—how do they do it so fast? Aren’t they on vacation? Sometimes we just go away for a few days and stay someplace and that’s a nice way to do it too. But, mainly we are road warriors seeing as much of the US and Canada as we can.

Today we have used the A/C for the first time on this trip. For about six weeks the temps topped out in the 50's or 60's and went down to the 40's at night. I think those are ideal temps. The clouds and rain were a bummer, but it's been sunny for several days now, but also hot. Tonight we see the moon and a planet (not sure whether it's Jupiter or Venus) for the first time in almost two months. The sky is back.

Writing this interminable travelogue helps me remember what we’ve seen and done. And, when I’m too old to do this anymore, I’ll have this to go over and show visitors and bore them to death.

Gene
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Old 07-17-2010, 03:40 PM   #163
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Enjoyed the trip G. Welcome back to the mainland.
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Old 07-18-2010, 08:40 AM   #164
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Gene,

You might get old, but I doubt you'll ever be boring.

Thanks for the vicarious adventure.
(BTW We'd be the annoying people beside you pulling out at 0600h to get the jump on the day - hate to waste any of that vacation time sleeping... I know; it's sick. )


Have a great ride home.

- evan
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Old 07-18-2010, 07:46 PM   #165
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Saturday. The boring sameness of the souless interstate is only partially redeemed by the speed it gets you somewhere. Every town and city looks the same—same houses and condos, truck stops, signs 100’ in the air selling gas, hamburgers and sometimes “adult” entertainment (none today, but certainly we see lots of those in the Bible Belt and that’s worth some thought). Drive hundreds of miles and we feel we are in the same place.

Fortiunately southern Montana and a bit of Idaho are pretty and empty as we approach Monida Pass and then back to potatoland. We are in Pocatello and hungering for Chinese food. I don’t think we’ve had any since we found that excellent restaurant outside of Fairbanks.

Tomorrow Green River, Utah. Maybe we can find an RV place in Salt Lake and get a new screen door latch. It’s supposed to be 102˚ in Green River tomorrow. Oh, it’s Sunday and CW probably won’t be open.


Later: The Cheng Garden is like a Chinese restaurant of 30 or 40 years ago. There are even cloth hand towels on a roller in the bathrooms. Prices are low, though not quite as low as 1975. Unfortunately, the food wasn’t very good just like small town Chinese restaurants 30 or 40 years ago.

Gene

A little bit of Canada came with us from the Alaska Hwy.
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Old 07-18-2010, 07:50 PM   #166
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A little bit of Canada came with us from the Alaska Hwy.
That's beaver spit. I don't think they liked your comment on their statue, Gene...
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Old 07-18-2010, 09:06 PM   #167
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Aage, in Whitehorse there's a statue of the giant beavers that once lived there. They were 6' high (2 meters since they were Canadians) and pretty scary. That statue is well done. But now I know what was on that part of the Alaska Hwy—not mud, the beavers are fighting back.

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Old 07-18-2010, 09:07 PM   #168
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Sunday. Nothing much to report from the souless interstate except temps keep getting hotter. 97˚ in Salt Lake and Provo, cooler over Soldier Summit where we stopped to eat, and as we approach Green River, hotter and hotter. 108˚ just off I-70 and 106˚ at the KOA. Three hours later, 96˚ and 79˚ inside.

10 years ago Utah undertook massive reconstruction of the highway system to prepare for the winter Olympics. Ever since, I-15 has been under construction. It never ends. Fortunately it wasn’t so bad being a Sunday.

A post script on Boston Pizza. The US ones are Boston’s: the Gourmet Pizza. There’s been one in Grand Junction for several years and we didn’t know it. I want to stop there and see how the American version is tomorrow.

Wildlife Count, approximately:
Lynx 1
Grizzly 15
Black bear 15
Caribou 25
Wolf 7
Moose 6
Bobcat 1
Arctic Fox 3
Gyrefalcon 1
Bald Eagle lots
Golden eagles lots
Tufted Puffins 20 or 30
Wood Buffalo 30 or more
Sea otters dozens
Seals 2
Whales 0
Lots of other birds we don’t know the names of.

175 miles from home and a total of just over 10,000 when we get back. Home means fixing the mower, mowing, washing the truck and trailer, fixing broken things in trailer, changing truck oil and greasing it, reading 8 weeks of mail, sweating and wishing for fall, spraying house with wood preservative, building railing for front steps and thinking about getting away from all that work by taking a trip.

Gene
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Old 07-18-2010, 09:38 PM   #169
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It has been a wonderful series of posts Gene, Thank you.
Almost made me want to go further north!! Not quite yet though.
Just thought I'd remind you that it is partially cloudy here today, nice breeze and as hot as it gets (in the 80's).

I'm still lovin my Coastal Rockies, and happy that you enjoyed them as well.

Jackie
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Old 07-18-2010, 10:36 PM   #170
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Thanks Jackie and to the others I have not acknowledged for the compliments. I realized along the way that I was attempting to write the definitive Alaska trip commentary. It goes with my sometimes exploits in the world of journalism. I just like to write. A friend keeps encouraging me to turn it into a book, but that's work, not fun, so I told her to start a publishing company. I hope that ends that. There are plenty of books on the Alaska Hwy and Alaska and I don't think I have much to add especially since I've stolen from some of them.

I hope I've encouraged some to take the trip. The myth of the Highway is that it is in bad shape, you need large contraptions to protect you from flying rocks, and you will be shaken to death. You will be shaken, but not to death, some of the roads are bad, but the Highway and many other roads—paved and not—are in pretty good shape. Your rig will get dirty several times and you will have to wash it several times. This is not the Alaska Hwy of 1970 or 1950. I would have liked to see that, but our first trip was in 2002. Even in 8 years, we have seen better roads since 2002. It may rain all the time, but other times it will be sunny—we've seen both in 3 trips.

You have to have a tow vehicle in good condition with new or reasonably new tires. That would go with any 10,000 mile trip. But if you want to go off the Fairbanks—Anchorage—Valdez triangle, you need good tires. Some say to bring an extra mounted spare. Better to bring a tire kit and compressor and fix the flat yourself if there are no tire shops around. Count on a new windshield and you might actually need it, but what's a windshield to see all this? Bring a lot of tools, always a good idea on a road trip with a trailer. We met people who had spend more than $4,000 on repairs to their trucks—injectors in one case. They would have needed it anyway, so better to get everything checked out and have repairs done before you leave where it should cost less.

Trailers should also be in good shape which to some extent means running gear—brakes, wheel bearings. But on trailers that are more than a few years old, I think cleaning furnace, water heater and other things that need periodic maintenance and are usually ignored until they stop working, would be a good idea. Things only break when you use them and with a trailer that usually means you are far from home, so preventive maintenance is important when parts are far away.

You need information. Read up on Alaska and western Canada. Don't forget the Canadian part of the trip—it's a big part. We've gone to Yellowknife and other parts of the Northwest Territories as well as up the Dempster Hwy to Inuvik. We flew to Tuktoyatuk on the Arctic Ocean and MacKenzie River Delta. That's a tough trip, but was amazing and worth it. Outside Yellowknife in September you can see the Aurora Borealis and we did (bring some chairs to sit on, easier on your neck). We also saw it on the way to Inuvik, NWT. We also have taken the state ferry from Haines south to Prince Rupert, BC, stopping at various towns along the way for 2 to 4 days each. Taking a trailer on the ferry is a challenge because a lot of backing is necessary We did it with only a SUV.

This trip we brought the Rough Guide and Frommers on Alaska, the Milepost, AAA Tour and Campground books, lots of maps, Woodalls, and a laptop. Wifi is much better than even 4 years ago and so is cell service. With the internet, lots of info is available. It takes a lot of time to plan—some evenings we spent a couple of hours figuring out what is ahead and making reservations for some stuff to do. The first time is more like learning what you will do the next time.

Some of the campgrounds will be primitive, fuel will be expensive, it's very far and can be exhausting so take some extra days every week to rest. Take as much time as possible—there's a lot to see.

The north country is very different than the lower 48 and the parts of Canada near the US border. Until you are there and have seen and lived it on the ground, you just don't know. The vastness of that part of North America is amazing. If you grew up in a megalopolis as I did, the sheer emptiness and expanse of land, sky, water is hard to encompass in your mind. There are scores of large rivers you've never heard of in colors that you've never seen before. More trees than you've ever seen. Endless expanses of mountains. Strange towns with stranger people. Take the time to talk to them and if you are fortunate you will find out we are all more alike than different. Although we didn't have the experience this time, we on past trips spent a lot of time talking with Inuits and Dine. Contemporary communications including not just electrons but cars and trucks, makes everyone more alike. We are losing ethnic differences in some ways, but gaining in understanding.

Gene
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Old 07-19-2010, 09:53 AM   #171
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Thanks, Gene, for perhaps the best Airforums travelog of 2010.
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Old 07-19-2010, 12:07 PM   #172
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Wow Gene - thanks a bunch - BC/Yukon/Alaska has been on our bucket list since the day we bought our Airstream - 8 years ago - we finally made a commitment to ourselves that next year is it - so we (me) are now deep into planning - and your day-to-day adventures have been more than entertaining - they've had real meaning ....

You really ought to give that next careeer in journalism more serious thought - crotchety old farts like yourself have a wit that has been honed to a razor sharp edge over the last century or so and it really should be shared!!!

Thanks,


Jay
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Old 07-20-2010, 07:43 AM   #173
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This thread has been a great read, as your threads always are! Glad you had such a fantastic trip. Now, please hurry up and get back on the road and start writing again!

Mike
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Old 07-20-2010, 08:33 AM   #174
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Thanks Gene. I wrote before but now, even more, want to make the trip. I have a son who is a city policeman in Anchorage so even more reason. Yes, someday we want to retire to NM (yes, Tucumcari as I have a son there) so hope our paths will cross someday. We just recently bought a 1968 Tradewind that we are remodeling. Roberta Clark Stackhouse of West Branch, Iowa
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Old 07-30-2010, 06:38 PM   #175
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July 30. We’ve been home close to two weeks and are settling in to our other life. The hardest thing so far, besides the exhaustion hangover, has been cleaning the trailer. The slop on the Alaska Hwy south of Toad River just looked like mud with a little gravel when we drove through. Cleaning it off showed it was probably chip sealed or seal coated, then it rained, the gravel had a lot of dirt mixed in with it, and it didn’t dry properly. This meant tar and dirt stuck to the front, back and lower half of the sides of the trailer with petroleum sealant. So, first we blasted off the mud for many hours with a pressure washer with the pressure turned down so as not to damage the skin. Then washing with detergent to get more dirt off. Next, bug and tar remover to about 2/3 of the trailer. Last, Griot’s Spray On Wax. This took about 5 or 6 days. I am not happy with British Columbia and their road work procedures and will boycott them for a while.

We have only washed the truck and not used the bug and tar remover yet. I am avoiding it.

Finishing the trip and observations:

Tuesday (July 20). A short drive home was preceeded by the wonderful job of flushing the black water tank in blazing sun at mid 90’s temps. We stopped in Grand Junction at Boston’s, the US version of Boston Pizza, and the Caesar salad wasn’t as good as in Canada—too much dressing on it just like we find at other US restaurants which slaver it on and, therefore, we don’t usually order Caesar salad. The nachos were different than usual nachos—more Canadian in style—and while good, have to be approached as Mexican influenced.

US 50 between Grand Junction and Delta was rebuilt as a 4 lane highway starting around 2000 and going on for about 5 years. The road was built so badly that parts have been repaved already. It has become bumpy and wavy, reminding us of parts of the Alaska Highway. This would be a good test drive if you are considering going to Alaska.

We got home and unloaded by 5 or 6. It’s all vague. The house was fairly cool as we had left the A/C on to keep the plants from dessicating, but it was in the mid 90’s outside. This was better than the 102˚ we had most of the way home. I was too tired to properly back up the trailer to its sleeping place and it sits kind of crooked out there. It awaits being reparked, unhitched and washed. The to-do lists we made on the way home are scary and I am avoiding looking at them.

Meanwhile vast amounts of laundry are being processed and once again, the house is so big. I don’t see Barb almost every second and wonder where she is. I have to climb stairs again. It’s so inconvenient. We used to wonder if we could live in a trailer for more than a few weeks, now we’ve done eight. We are adaptable.

For a while everyone we see will have to listen to Alaska stories whether they want to or not.

Wednesday (July 21). Last night we had a thunderstorm, nothing unusual. Here it rains for a short time, some noise and flashes and it’s over pretty fast. But today it’s a steady rain. Heavy rain is forecast with flash flood warnings. Rain is always welcome in the high desert, but not by me, not right now. Did we bring it with us? Do we have that much power? Maybe.

It was sometimes grueling, always an adventure. We got to places we have missed before, spent more time in places we liked. The most significant part for Barb was Denali. For me it is the sheer vastness and relative emptiness of the land and the different (and not so different) sense of communities.

Traveling with the Airstream gives a sense of luxury to the experience, but sometimes seems to isolate us from things because it’s easy to just hang out inside. But motels, expecially the chains that are nothing more than boxes inside of big boxes, are even more isolating. Traveling in the north, there have not been so many of those, but they are now showing up.

The north country has changed in just our short time of travels there. There are more food choices in restaurants and groceries. The old stops along the highways are closing, no doubt the process speeded by the Great Recession. The roads get steadily better. There’s much more cell service and wifi than even 4 years ago. Campgrounds far from any town sometimes have better wifi than a lot of campgrounds in the lower 48.

There are not many campgrounds with cable TV. Sometimes there are 1 to 3 channels. In Alaska, the NBC station in Anchorage seems to be on translators all over the state. The other channel often available is Alaska One. Long ago Alaska used oil money to get it’s own satellite for TV and phone service in remote areas. It’s a weird amalgum of commercial and PBS programs. Since commercial satellite TV has been available for some time now, I’m not sure Alaska One is quite so relevant, but it does appear on translators through the state providing free access to TV for remote towns.

In Canada, TV will be CBC, CTY and Global if you rely on over the air TV. The country requires a large percentage of programs to be Canadian. The rest is some US programming, some BBC. CBC, government supported, has more educational programming, lots of cartoons in the morning, and some pretty good dramas. The other channels are more like US networks in what they do, Global even more so. Cable and satelite TV in Canada has a large number of US channels—there was a cutoff date and the newer US ones are not on. Thus there’s CNN, but no MSNBC. I don’t think digital or HDTV has come to Canada.

When we drive so many miles to a place so different, we want it to remain different. So it is with some regret we have to accept it is not quite the north country we first found. For those who traveled there 20 or 30 or more years ago, I’m sure the changes will be palpable. But it will take time to really change it—maybe in 100 years Alaska will be far warmer and have a population of 5,000,00 or more. Maybe they will have cut down most of the forest, destroyed habitat for wildlife and extracted all the oil, gas and minerals. Kind of a frightening thought.

When do we go back? I think Newfoundland and maybe Labrador come first. Oher than that, we don’t want to think about another trip until we are fully settled in and life is peaceful (is it ever?).

I ordered some parts today and need to start repairs plus fully clean the truck. Mower parts came today, so that needs fixing and grass needs mowing. We'll take a few days on Grand Mesa next month, Santa Fe in September. A couple of days or a week don't seem like a trip after 8 weeks on the road.

Gene
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Old 07-30-2010, 07:12 PM   #176
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We just got home this evening from a trip out west. About 6500+ miles or so. A couple of weeks ago we were driving through central Colorado ( going from Lake City to Craig) and passed through Crawford. I've seen Gene's posts and always enjoy them. What came to my mind as we passed through Crawford was: Where does a person living in a place like this go when they decide to "GO" out with their airstream. Well, now I have my answer. I'll take the time to read your whole trip log, just not tonight.

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Old 07-30-2010, 08:44 PM   #177
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Roger, Crawford is kind of remote, but there's a supermarket 15 miles away, a better one 34 miles away, we have broadband, running water and indoor plumbing.

Actually we like to go everywhere. In the past 10 years we have been to 49 states (Hawaii is a problem for those who like to drive and hate being abused by airlines and TSA), all Canadian provinces and two of three territories (Nunavut has no roads to it). If Mexico ever calms down, we'd be there too.

Living in the high desert ( High desert - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ), we tend to crave big water, so our trips often mean oceans or Great Lakes are part of it.

But we like historical places, unusual ones, distinctive architecture, mountains, remoteness, cool climates, rain for no more than 4 days, trees but not green tunnel highways, places we've never seen, places we've seen and liked enough to go back, the end of the road. This can pretty much cover every place there is because all those places mean driving through places we'd rather use a matter transmitter to get through. We avoid big cities.

Another approach, something we've done long ago, but not as much recently, is see everything in one or two states—every museum, every weird tourist trap, every place unique. You meet some interesting people that way, see things few people bother with, and don't use nearly so much gas. I have more ideas for trips than I have time (or money) for. There's the Route 66 trip, the southern border trip, the River Road, How many national parks and monuments can we visit in a month trip?

More statistics: trip 10,250, total trailer miles since purchases, 32,369.

What's next—Jumbo CG in Grand Mesa NF for a couple of days in August.

Gene
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Old 07-30-2010, 10:11 PM   #178
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Gene, what I, and I bet a lot of others, appreciated about your narrative was its honesty. Many of your readers are now sure that this is the trip they want to take some day. On the other hand, some of us are just as certain that this is the last thing they want to do.

Both groups are in your debt.

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Old 07-30-2010, 10:46 PM   #179
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Hi, I still want to go to Alaska, but don't want to destroy my trailer. I may want to do it with my Lincoln before I buy a newer tow vehicle. Just in case the tow vehicle gets beat up.
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Old 07-31-2010, 08:39 AM   #180
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Grand Junction , Colorado
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 12,702
Thanks John. Going to Alaska with your rig isn't for everyone, and going off the paved roads isn't for everyone either. Taking one of those cruises isn't for me (unless my wife demands it).

The Tundra took it well and I see no damage except for a big windshield ding (can happen anywhere). The trailer got bounced around, but the wheels are still on. The screen door latch broke, but it is a badly made plastic part that can break anytime. The trim next to fridge was badly attached to the wall, so I think that would have come off somewhere. Various screws back out and some need to be fixed (bigger screw, or wood putty in the hole). The fiberboard doesn't hold screws well and there are lots of reports of the same thing happening. That too will eventually happen anywhere. The rock guards got some more dings, but that's what they are there for. I think this kind of trip speeds things up a bit, but damage is inevitable if you drive 10,000 miles or more and the roads are bumpy.

Some damage is because of poor design or construction, some because it's a house on wheels going over questionable roads. The tar blast in BC was the most frustrating thing because it took so much work to clean off. We've been to Alaska 3 times and have never seen anything like that on any road. The terrible 5 to 7 miles of washboard, also in BC, was unusual too. I will avoid BC for a while, but eventually will be there again, maybe.

Any tow vehicle is good shape will make it. "Good shape" is subject to interpretation. We heard about tow vehicles that had died, but the ones that don't make no rumors or news. While a tow vehicle can die anywhere, the farther from home, the worse it seems. Same for the trailer. This is not a caravan across Africa, just an extra long journey. It takes a bit more attention to good tires, good brakes, well maintained wheel bearings, well adjusted WD hitch, and all the other things we're supposed to do anyway.

Bob, your trailer is still pretty new and should take it. I'm sure you keep it in good condition. I'm not so sure I'd want to do this with a 30 or 40 year old trailer unless I had made it like new in every way. If you can back it into your driveway, you should be able to handle anything. About the Lincoln, is it reliable? I buy Toyotas because they don't strand me by the side of the road. That's my measure of reliability.

Gene
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