Alaska Trip Reporting!

[Ak Mike]

Fall colors on the Alaska Highway!

[Ak Mike]

Canadian road hazards

[Ak Mike]

Best park yet! Sherks RV park in Valleyview AB!

[Ak Mike]

Made it to Skagway this afternoon, we’ll overnight here and get on the ferry to Juneau tomorrow afternoon. Trip is almost over; we’re ready to get home but not ready for the trip to be over. We really enjoy the little camper and our Tahoe pulls it easily enough and no matter how steep the hills, we have enough power to accelerate uphill if we need to! Once we get better internet, I’ll post a review, more pics and some lessons learned.

[Eagle5]

Hi Mike,
Fantastic you are there in Skagway safe & sound. Just yesterday, I spoke with a classmate of mine just as she and her family were just boarding the Skagway train. I rode it back in July of 2001, and it is a great ride.
Thanks, Eagle5

White Pass Scenic Railway

[Ak Mike]

We pulled in the driveway late last night after a 6+ hour ferry ride from Skagway. No problem getting on/off the ferry with the camper behind us except they forgot to pull the wheel chocks on the ferry so I didn't drive forward when the crewman motioned to me...I shook my head and he walked over and asked what the problem was...I told him that they forgot to remove the wheel chocks on my trailer! Windy and rainy on my home turf, the worst weather we encountered the entire trip! We ended up driving a total of 6811 miles from Juneau AK to Hannibal MO and return. A few minor issues easily resolved so no significant delays on the entire trip. This was my 6th or 7th trip on the Alcan highway and with the exception of a few construction sites, the road was quite good...as good as I've ever seen it. The first time I drove it was in 1971 and it was about 1200 miles of gravel; we planned on flat tires and broken windshields...par for the course! Now it's paved and wider so towing a trailer was no problem whatsover. The Micro Minnie is right at 5000# loaded so we went with a weight distributing hitch (6000# Reese) and added a sway bar for good measure. I would have liked a bit more weight transfer to the rear axle but it towed fine. Since the Minnie is only 7' wide, I didn't have any trouble seeing vehicles behind me unless they pulled up really close and I never did find the time to install the rear camera I bought! I also didn't get the TPMS sensors installed in the trailer tires so I still have some things to do before winter. We didn't drive after dark; just too many critters on the road and some of them were BIG! Most drivers were very courteous although there always seemed to be a few very impatient people more than willing to risk their lives (and mine) by passing in no passing zones/hills/curves. I have some special names reserved for them! Our Tahoe has the 6.2L gas engine and has no problem accellerating uphill with the trailer behind which was handy more than once. I set the trailer brake gain at 3 and it worked well. We did drive quite a few miles a day; something that many people would likely avoid due to driver fatigue. I did all the driving and usually don't get tired as long as I pace myself. We did quite a bit of trip planning (I think I described that in previous posts) and managed to stick with most of it....one thing that the north country is pretty intolerant of is impatience; we learned that lesson many years ago when we were flying. Personally, I think anyone can manage a trip to Alaska as the road is really not bad at all...there certainly are sections that you'll need to slow down on, but if your rig is capable, it is worth the effort. Services are sometimes few and far between so self-sufficiency is a valuable trait. I carried quite a few tools and can usually fix about anything I might need to. Border crossings were very easy this trip and when we came back into Alaska, it was the shortest stop I've ever made at customs. I suppose they have more information about us on their computers than we might prefer though... We brought extra emergency cash along and since we didn't use it on the trip, we had fun spending it in Skagway. Well, back to work on Tuesday and I'll start planning our next adventure! Mike

[Eagle5]

Hi Mike,
23 days
6,811 miles
296 miles per day (average)
That is quite the adventure you had.
Welcome Home.
Eagle5

Back Home Again

[Ak Mike]

Thanks Eagle5! I appreciate your sage advice and ‘staying with us’ for the trip! The John Denver song link you sent brings back good memories. I’d mentioned that part of the reason for this adventure was to have a service for my Mom who passed in July at 90 years old. Mom had an incredible life including living full time at an Alaskan fly-in lodge for 8 years. One summer, John Denver came up and got his float rating at the lodge and Mom sang with John Denver one evening. I think I still have the tape around somewhere. Of course, Mom was thrilled and remained a John Denver fan the rest of her life.

[creativepart]

Mike - John Denver related content

I went to a small college (800 students) in southern Michigan. I was "Union Board President" while there and was in charge of the game room, the Lecture series, Movies and Musical guests.

It was difficult getting good musical talent for such a small school - and it was a church school so lots of care had to be taken (no dancing allowed) when booking musicians. Music promoters would call me to try to book acts at the college. By luck, during Summer break (1969) at my home in Akron, OH I went to a Blood, Sweat and Tears concert with a new guy as their opening act... John Denver.

So, a few weeks later, back in school, a promoter called and offered to have John Denver play at our college. He was playing in Detroit, Ann Arbor and then Chicago and needed an in-between gig. They offered a cheap price and since I had just heard John a few weeks earlier I jumped at the chance. The promoter was surprised I had any idea who he was.

I picked John up at the Lansing airport for the short drive to our school. It was just John and his guitar. He stayed in a spare dorm room and ate in our cafeteria. That night he put on a great show. Really fantastic. Only about 300 people showed up and most of them were from other nearby colleges. We lost money on the concert.

The next day I took John back to the airport for his flight to Chicago. He was a great guy, had just moved to Colorado and talked about his military upbringing. So, excited to be on a solo tour and was still giddy about his first appearance on the Johnny Carson show a few weeks before the Blood, Sweat and Tears concert where I saw him for the first time.

Of course, I followed him from then on and was saddened by his tragic plane crash.

[Ak Mike]

creativepart: Great experience you got to share with John Denver! I never ceased to be amazed at how we can link up with each other through shared/similar experiences! We spent 1/2 day in Skagway and struck up conversations with people from all over the world who were visiting Alaska by cruise ship. There are some fascinating stories out there and generally, people are willing to share! We are very much looking forward to our first trip next spring, likely we'll drive up to Fairbanks and back around to Anchorage. We really want to spend more time camping and less time driving than we did this time but circumstances pretty much dictated our schedule. Back to work in the morning (flying to Denver for the week) then home and get started winterizing the camper. Looks to be much easier than winterizing the boat used to be! Thanks again, your John Denver experience was outstanding! Mike