Florida to Alaska to Florida in 50 days - Page 2

ELM-JLM · 08-21-2011, 06:17 PM

Hi Steve & Sue,
It sounds like you enjoyed your trip too! As far as the fuel prices, on average for fuel, food and campgrounds with hook-ups ( Our Preference ), We spent approximatly $100. per day! To us that is very reasonable considering where we went and all we did! At the pump though our mind set was, Grin & Bear it, This is the trip of our lifetime!

08-22-2011, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Hi Steve & Sue,
As far as the fuel prices, on average for fuel, food and campgrounds with hook-ups ( Our Preference ), We spent approximatly $100. per day!

$100 a day? You can spend that much just going to dinner and a movie!!! And your "movie" was better than any you can see at the theater!!
Awesome! Can't wait to go!!

bvmcbid · 08-23-2011, 02:09 AM

Gas stations were not our favorite part of the trip. However, in Tok, we visited with a camping couple with Colorado plates; turns out they were from our little town in Buena Vista, about five miles away from our home.

ELM-JLM · 08-23-2011, 09:27 AM

The World seems to grow smaller every day that you meet someone new!

rinshin · 08-26-2011, 05:51 PM

Wow, that sounds wonderful. It is something we would like to do when my husband retires in 2 years time. I'm a foodie, so I must ask, did you eat mostly in your TM at nights or eat out?

09-01-2011, 12:53 PM

just curious, at the border did the authorities make you open your TM?
what kind of wildlife did you see?
"wildlife" as in animals-sea life etc?
sounds like a great trip.

ELM-JLM · 09-01-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rinshin

Wow, that sounds wonderful. It is something we would like to do when my husband retires in 2 years time. I'm a foodie, so I must ask, did you eat mostly in your TM at nights or eat out?

Hi rinshin,
It was an AWESOME TRIP for sure! We ate 90% of our meals at our campsites! Its best to plan it that way because many places are aways from civilization!

ELM-JLM · 09-01-2011, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moaboy

just curious, at the border did the authorities make you open your TM?
what kind of wildlife did you see?
"wildlife" as in animals-sea life etc?
sounds like a great trip.

Hi moaboy,
We made a total of six border crossings! All were normal questions and answers about our intensions. Tourist was the normal answer! Our sixth and final crossing back to the Good Ole USA we were forced to open the TM and truck for a full search! It seems that something in the TM set an alarm as we passed through their sensors! After an hour and a half we were allowed to readajust our sloppily searched truck & trailer and told to have a nice day! We will never know what they were looking for but have a great story to tell the kids and friends! LOL, they even searched Me and the DW with a hand held device!

The wildlife was scarce but we did see at least one of everything that we expected to see! We got lucky and was able to video and get some great shots of a Bull Moose, Cow & Calf feeding, directly behind our campsite, in The Yukon. We arrived in Kenai, Ak. just in time to see Salmon entering the river! In Valdez we were able to get video and pictures of the Salmon swimming upstream! I didn't have to fish! The Natives and Fishermen & Women were very generous with their catch! I had fresh caught Salmon & Halibut to feast on! As for Sea Life, We were on land the entire trip except for the hour boat ride at Portage Glacier!

We cherrish every minute of our trip and can hardly wait to load up and be on the go again!

09-05-2011, 09:04 AM

Your fish story is making me hungry.

I guess the border folks just wanted to see what a TM looks like!

Any advice for those of us who plan to take a trip to AK in the future? Especially any tips on preparation - anything you would not take or be sure to take that you had not thought of?
Any thoughts wou have would be appreciated.

Thanks.

ELM-JLM · 09-15-2011, 05:37 PM

Hi moaboy,I'll answer you here since PM is blocking me!
First and formost my marathons looked new but had a DOT code 3006! For peace of mind I bought 15" wheels and a set of Maxxis tires! My TM when purchased in Dec. 2010 had less than a thousand miles on it! Still I went through all the motions of checking the bearings and brakes and wiring! I took the advice of our electrical wiz's in here and soldered all the brake wiring connections, then lubed the backing plates where the brake shoes touch and wiped the bearings and races off to inspect for wear. After installing new seals and reinstalling the drums I pumped Hi-temp, waterproof red grease through the ezlube fitting till clean fresh red grease appeared! I had to order the ezlube rubber caps from etrailer.com since mine were beginning to crack! As we traveled I made it a habit, when we stopped, to touch each hub to check temp. I hand torqued the lugs to 110 ft. lbs. and checked them twice more after short trips! Preventive maintainence = peace of mind!

My advice for on the road is to stay in the USA till Washington and then through British Columbia and The Yukon to Alaska! In Canada we paid dearly for fuel and got lousy fuel economy! We dropped 2 mpg all through Canada on flat land no less! Everything in Canada was expensive particularly groceries, water and ice if you could find it!! Use your refrigerator wisely and restock often! It didn't take long for us to figure out what we had to have and visa versa!

I'll write more later! I've got a Pinochle tourney starting in 20 minutes!