2017 Florida to Alaska Trip

[bfisher003]

Originally Posted by jpharley

Make sure you are away from the border after crossing before activating your phone unless you have some sort of North American Plan. You will ping off Canadian towers and they try to charge you a bunch of money and are reluctant to refund. We had to talk with a supervisor to get the charges removed. By the time the phones had warned us (less than a minute) we had racked up $50 of charges.

Thanks for the heads up.

[bfisher003]

Originally Posted by LandKO

Been watching your progress on SPOT. Welcome back to the lower 48.

Thank you. It's great to be back! I. Guess. LOL

[bfisher003]

Day 51, 8/14/17: We broke camp, dumped the tanks and left the campground at 9:40 this morning and headed south to Kamloops and on. In Kelowna for some reason our Garmin 760 told me to turn East on 33 and we were out of town before I realized that was not the way we wanted to go, so I turned around and drove back through the city and took 97 south to Osoyoos and the border. The roads were great all the way down and south of Kelowna there was absolutely beautiful scenery driving high above the lake. We cleared US customs at 3:40 PM after having our first search—the agriculture inspector, a very nice lady, checked out our reefer. She came walking out with two potatoes and said they had to be commercially packaged, then looked at them and noticed both had stickers on them certifying they were US products (we bought them in Alaska) and she turned around and went back in the trailer and put them back in the reefer. That's it. Simple and easy. We headed south down US97 to Tonasket and took 20 east to Republic, WA and my wife found us a very nice little RV park called Winchester just east of there. Full hookups for $40 a night with the Good Sam discount. I think we are going to spend two nights here. We are doing a lot of laundry and want to explore the neat little town, Republic. The drive from 97 to here was good road, but with a lot of twists and turns. Fun drive and beautiful scenery. Well, it's time for a shower. The shower facilities here are immaculate!

[Superslif]

I would ABSOLUTELY love to do this trip again, but I doubt I could ever get my wife to because she hates being away from our youngest grandchildren this long. She has enjoyed the trip, but it was mostly to follow and enable my dream I think.

Take them with you next time...once they get to the age to absorb what a trip like this can teach them.

Our Aerolite ( 26' hybrid) held up very well. Yes, I had to get the screw driver out and tighten down some trim screws. The only two "issues" I had were: Got two screws in my trucks tire (slow leaker) from Top of the World section. I had purchased a tire and rim warranty from Toyota, so I got a new tire once I got to Fairbanks two days later.

And #2, while returning in a construction zone, a contractors truck, shot a rock thru one of my RV trailers window. This happened in Destruction Bay Yukon. Stopped to make a patch at the Walmart in Whitehorse. Stopped in Elkhart IN. on the way home and was lucky to find a brand new replacement at a surplus store ($45). Manufacturer wanted $700 plus a 2-3 month wait. So I truly lucked out.

We are currently looking for a new RV trailer. We have zeroed in on a Outdoors RV Timber Ridge (24RKS). Built like a tank...Full shock absorber suspensions, 16" tires and grease-able shackle bolts.

[bfisher003]

Sounds like a great trailer. I especially like the suspension build part.

[bfisher003]

Day 52, 8/15/17: Not much to write about today. We mostly just relaxed and did some sightseeing in the area. We drove into Republic late this morning and walked around—it's small, so it doesn't take long. LOL. We had a great lunch at Ester's Mexican restaurant (recommended to us by the campground owner. Small world, her husband has a cousin that lives in Palm Coast, FL where we live). We were both stuffed. We then picked up a few things at the grocery store. It's nice to be back in the lower 48 where everything is cheaper! After putting the groceries away we drove up to Curlew and checked out this tiny town. Not much to see, although they do have a restaurant that gets a 5 star rating and has prime rib, but it's closed today. We stopped at a couple of curiosity stores on the way back. I topped off my windshield wiper fluid and checked the water levels in the trailer batteries. My wife baked some brownies. Not sure what we are doing for dinner. The weather is beautiful. It got up to 82F today, but is cooling off now. Tomorrow we head east on 20 to 395 and south to Spokane, etc. One of our sons and his wife from Denver are planning to be in Durango, CO the 25th through the 29th to mountain bike, so now we are debating as to whether or not we want to really kill some time heading down that way, since we are going through Durango and see them there or just buzz on down and proceed on our way to get home.

[bfisher003]

Day 53, 8/16/17: We left the campground at 9:40 this morning and headed east in 20 after topping off the fuel at the Cenex station on the corner of 20 & 21. There was a long steep climb up to Sherman Pass, then a long descent before reaching 395. Good roads, though. We went straight down 395 to I-90, but we probably should have taken the bypass because it took awhile to get through Spokane. Lots of traffic and stop lights. I-90 east was pretty good road and we were soon in Idaho. Very pretty drive with some steep climbs and descents. One very high bridge! Awesome! We are camped at River Edge RV park next to the Clark Fork River near Alberton, MT at exit 75. They have a very good restaurant on site. The prime rib dinner was very good. The campground is maybe 50 yards or so from I-90, so there is quite a bit of traffic noise. Water and electric hookups for $32 a night with the Good Sam discount. Good Verizon and AT&T coverage.
Now my wife has decided we should see the upcoming solar eclipse from Rexburg, ID, so we have a few days to make use of getting there.

[LandKO]

Originally Posted by bfisher003

Day 53, 8/16/17
Now my wife has decided we should see the upcoming solar eclipse from Rexburg, ID, so we have a few days to make use of getting there.

Might want to check on campground reservations. Understand a lot of campgrounds in the path of the eclipse are filling up fast.

[bfisher003]

Day 54, 8/17/17: We had a leisurely breakfast at the campground's steakhouse restaurant ( I had biscuits and gravy; two large biscuits cut in half and covered with sausage gravy and a big helping of potatoes and onions). Very good food and generous portions for reasonable prices. We ended up leaving the campground at 11:00 AM; our latest start ever on this trip. I-90 between Exit 75 and Exit 96 was really rough. We fueled up at the Flying J at Exit 96 ($2.34 for 87 Octane). The road was much smoother after that. We headed south on I-15 a few miles before Butte, MT. I-15 was in very good shape and smooth. We stopped just north of the Idaho border to fuel up again at an Exxon station ($2.85 for 88 octane) and spent a few minutes in a rest area across the street while I researched free or nearly free campgrounds in Idaho close to the border using Campendium (disclaimer: I am a Campendium Supporter and beta tester.). I quickly found three just a few miles across the border and we decided to check out the Stoddard Creek Campground about a mile or so off I-15 at Exit 184, in the Targhee National Forest. Nice place, with nice, well equipped, level campsites and very nice camp hosts. Most of the sites were reserved for the eclipse as the campground is within the eclipse zone I guess, but were mostly deserted tonight, so they gave us what the hosts call the "honeymoon site" (#5). It is a sweet campsite. All the campsites here are dry camping, but there are some water spigots around. The bathrooms are pit toilets. I am showing 2-3 bars of Verizon 4G/LTE and 3 bars of AT&T. I guess tonight we will use our inverter to watch some Netflix via our AT&T Mobley.

With our Senior Pass it is $5 a night, half off. When we crossed the border into Idaho I-15 turned into brand new asphalt surface, so new they don't have all the lines painted yet. Super smooth!! I will try to remember to update tomorrow's post with how long the new section is or at least where it ends. I think we drove around 277 miles today. Beautiful weather, but still saw a lot of smoke. It was in the low 70s when we got here and at 8:30 PM it is 65F and is supposed to get down into the 40s tonight. We are at 6,360' elevation.

[Superslif]

That is a nice looking campsite. I like how the gravel is around the table and fire pit. I wish our state parks here in Ohio would do that. We have to deal with mud and then people put down straw.

Until our AK. last summer, I don't believe we ever stayed at a US Forest Service park. I love them now...Can't beat the price ($5 - $15). In June we stayed 4 nights in KY USFS park (Zilpo) and have a reservation for another 4 days in a NC (Uwharie) next week on the way to Myrtle Beach.

[bfisher003]

Day 55, 8/18/17: We broke camp and left the campground at 9:15 this morning. I think that was about our earliest start of the trip. Beautiful day. Was 48F at 7:00 and 58F by 9:00. That new asphalt paving on I-15 ended a few miles past the exit. We stopped at a couple of Flying Js for fuel and had lunch in the trailer at one of them. There was an almost unbelievable number of RVs of all types heading north for the eclipse Monday. I'm sure glad we won't be caught up in that mess and will be a few days ahead of them. The traffic in the Salt Lake City area was a mess! Of course we hit it right at rush hour. Stop and go for miles! It finally picked up speed a few miles north of Spanish Fork where we got off to head east and south over to 191 to take down to I-70 and jog east a few miles before taking 191 south to Moab. We stopped at a Walmart Supercenter in Idaho Falls for some stuff and then the Camping World. My stick on levels keep falling off, so this time I bought some that stick and screw on and some silicone dealer for the screws. We also had a propane tank filled that was empty—$8 and change and I dumped the gray water in their dump. The temperature got up into the low 90s—quite a shock after the nice cool temps up north! My wife found us a campground called Spanish Oaks Campground high above Spanish Fork. It is right next to the Spanish Fork Gun Club on one side and a small reservoir on the other. $20 a night for out site that includes electric and water, although I'm not hooking up to the water. The young guy serving as the campground host is very nice. This campground is a bit out of the way and up some steep climbs and is almost deserted and it has a nice view out over the valley. I-15 was mostly pretty good with some nice smooth stuff and some a bit less smooth, but through Salt Lake City it was very rough.

The AC feels good! First time we've had it on for a while.

[jacwjames]

On our way back for AK we went through Salt Lake City, what a mess, stop and go traffic without many options to bypass. I believe we ended up driving to Price Utah and spent the night at a Walmart. Memorable in that there was a significant lightening storm that night, what a sight.

Either way I'd do the trip in a minute. My wife not so much.

[Superslif]

Back in June being in Yellowstone & the Tetons for 3 weeks and then traveling to KY. The heat and humility just hit us in Missouri....

We Wally-docked that night (East of KC.) and found a shaded bushy hill area of the parking lot, until the sprinkle system went on at 1am and I had the windows opened wide...They were not aimed right and shot right into my window. I woke up in a "panic" not knowing why I was getting all wet.

Were setting out (tonight) for Shenandoah NP. and Myrtle beach for 3-4 weeks.

[Golferdave78]

Hi bfisher003
I really enjoyed reading your thread about trip to Alaska
Looks like your on about your 50+ day and headed back
We are planning to go to Alaska from Atlanta in 2019
I'll be sure to revisit your post as I plan out our trip.
One question.
Did you feel like the 55+ was enough time for the trip our would you plan more time if you were to do it again.
And if you were going to spend more time where would that time be spent
Again thanks for the thread
DH