On our way to Alaska

[BGMAC]

Well even though Camping World has somewhat of a bad reputation, my experience here was a good one. Very courteous and jumped right on it at the scheduled time. I met the tech, very nice and he decided to do the work in the parking lot under some trees. He did not mind us being around either. Twila and both our dogs, and the cat were in the rv while he work. Good thing was they stayed away from where he was working. Watching him work you can tell he knew what he was doing. In about an hour he was done and the AC works great. We talked about my second unit being a 10k that I thought I would replace it soon. He suggest upgrade it to the same 15k with the size rv I have. He gave me the schematics/instructions on install so I can do it myself when I get home.
Needless to say I was very happy and I hope the tech was with the tip we gave him. Now we’re down in Salem visiting an old friend for the day before we head back.

 

[BGMAC]

We left Woodburn Oregon on the 4th of July and went north on I5 through Portland to I84. While going through Portland I saw a lot of Graffiti everywhere, cars abandoned, stripped and graffiti painted on them. I never saw that much stuff in a town and not cleaned up! Crazy.

We ended up in a little town called Caldwell Idaho in a campground called Country Corners. Very well kept with thick green grass. Had to have in Idaho. Anyway it is owned by a family of Samoans. Very nice and welcoming.

Now we’re in Wyoming. We’re staying at “Little America”. No grass in any of the rv spots, just at the ends for a dog walk. A little expensive but I wanted the buffalo burger at their restaurant and a drink. On the way back I looked into one of the shower rooms for the Rv’ers. Wow! A carpeted sitting room, closet to hang your new cloths. And a bathroom with huge shower.

 

[Rich W.]

We left Woodburn Oregon on the 4th of July and went north on I5 through Portland to I84. While going through Portland I saw a lot of Graffiti everywhere, cars abandoned, stripped and graffiti painted on them. I never saw that much stuff in a town and not cleaned up! Crazy.

We ended up in a little town called Caldwell Idaho in a campground called Country Corners. Very well kept with thick green grass. Had to have in Idaho. Anyway it is owned by a family of Samoans. Very nice and welcoming.

Now we’re in Wyoming. We’re staying at “Little America”. No grass in any of the rv spots, just at the ends for a dog walk. A little expensive but I wanted the buffalo burger at their restaurant and a drink. On the way back I looked into one of the shower rooms for the Rv’ers. Wow! A carpeted sitting room, closet to hang your new cloths. And a bathroom with huge shower.

Yeah Little America is a bit on the pricey side and a busy place, but the take-out from the restaurant is good and they have ample fuel there and friendly staff.

 

[BGMAC]

Well guys we got back from our trip just a few days ago. The issues with mom resolved itself when we got home. Spent a day resting, then the rest of the week cleaning the RV. With all the miles of dusty dirt roads you have to traverse, we had dust/dirt everywhere. I pulled everything from the outside storage cabinets and washed them. Twila pulled everything out of the inside and cleaned every cabinet, corner, floor etc. The RV was filthy. It is back to being spotless now.
As you know we had some things break down on our trip.
1. The main AC quit working. I don’t attribute the trip as the problem. I think it was slowly going out for a while.
2. The chassis AC quit working. I do think a rock from one of the dirt roads may have damaged it. Getting it looked at Sat to know for sure.
3. Windshield damage. Definitely the trip. Getting it repaired tomorrow.
4. Last day of trip my converter went out. I think it may have been a power surge at last RV park.
5. Fridge/Freezer out. Same reason as above.

I had a lot of things happen all at once it seems, but I did travel a little over 10,000 miles so I just put it in perspective.

One question is: would we do it again? Answer is yes.
We would do things differently like,
1. Leave 2 weeks earlier. This would avoid the group RV’s on their trips. When 15 rv’s show up at once it kind of creates havoc at the Rv sites. Also avoid more bugs.
2. Do more boondocking. You can spend the night anywhere on the highway where there are “pull overs”. So when you want to stop, you can.
3. Slow down more. When people tell you the road is bad, it’s really, really bad.
4. Cover yours toads windshield. I had a rock guard on the back of the Rv and still ruined the toad windshield.
5. Stay longer at each destination. We had a great time especially seeing all the animals and sites, but stay a day or two longer to refresh yourself.

We hen it comes to repairs, there are few and far between. Bring tools. If you have a problem you will probably get help from a fellow camper, but getting parts could be 100’s of miles away.

Below is the route we took.

 

[Rich W.]

Great synopsis and I agree - sounds like a very worthwhile trip. I also like the “things I’d do differently” list. I had a Dometic AC fail on my 2016 a couple years ago and I haven’t done a lot of driving on bad roads - some but not that many miles all at once.

 

[Buster]

Congrats on surviving that haul. When we go, we're going to make it a 5 month journey just so we can do most of what you have on your list. Plus, we have heard western Canada is just as nice to visit as Alaska. Might as well hit both with all the miles that that will be driven. Enjoy your next trip there, you'll be an expert.

 

[Texas Clodhopper]

I'm thankful you made it home safely and I enjoyed following your trip. We plan to go to Alaska next year in the motorhome.

 

[John&Andrea]

Glad you are home safe and Mom is good. Were you gone for two months? You had several things go wrong but 10,000 miles puts it in perspective.

 

[Jim]

Congratulations on surviving the trip and thank you for the great pictures all along the way!

 

[BGMAC]

Glad you are home safe and Mom is good. Were you gone for two months? You had several things go wrong but 10,000 miles puts it in perspective.

We were gone about 6 weeks. A lot of driving. Like a kid, I wanted to see it all, but you just can’t. Lol