THE WRAP UP 8)
We have been back in Washington state for a few days now, and are getting back to what we call "normal" routine. I have washed the Jeep and today, the motorhome. It was unbelievably dirty. It still needs detailed as there are tar specs and mud still scattered all over, and it needs a good coat of wax. But that will happen after I rest up a bit.
I have totaled up the damages from the Canada/Alaska trip, and as expected, it was pricey. But I must add a disclaimer here. Not everyone RV's the same way. So our costs may be different than yours. One of the things we rarely ever do is pull over and boon dock on the side of the road. We don't do it in the lower 48 in rest stops or WalMarts, so I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be doing it in Canada/Alaska either. It just doesn't fit our lifestyle and we are not comfortable doing it. Part of that is traveling with a pet. She is still a pretty young dog, so regular walks are required several times a day, or night. Road side pullouts just wouldn't work well for doing that.
We spent a total of 50 days from the time we crossed the border into Canada, drove up the Alaska Highway into Alaska, and returned down the Cassiar Highway. I do admit that once we left Stewart/Hyder on the way back down the Cassiar, we were moving pretty quickly. The last 3 stops were just over nighters with a fuel fill and on the road the next morning. While that would not affect the fuel cost for the trip, the daily travel amount (fuel and lodging) would have been a bit lower.
Fuel
We traveled 6,135 miles in just the motorhome. I used 710.7 gallons of fuel, costing $3311 dollars. The highest price we paid was $5.29 a gallon, and the low was $3.99. We averaged $4.58 per gallon for the trip. I averaged 8.6 MPG in the rig, and that was always towing the Jeep. I didn't track the Jeep gas as close, as that varied quite a bit depending where we were. Some stops the Jeep never unhooked from the rig, we just walked everywhere. Careful planning is a must when traveling through Canada. If you have a large motor home with 90 gallons of on board fuel (as we do), you can be a little picky about stopping for fuel or not, in most cases. But the folks traveling by TT or 5ver usually can't be as selective. Some of the stations we ran across on the Alaska highway in the remote areas were just plan rip offs. A few stations were charging approximately $7.50 a gallon for diesel. If you didn't have the tank capacity to drive past, you were kind of screwed. I rarely let the fuel needle get below 1/2 before I started looking. If I found a place that I thought was a good price, I would fill even at the 3/4 mark. Our trip cost us about .54 cents a mile.
Campgrounds
We found that campgrounds on the trip were pretty pricey, especially for the level of amenities that they offered. We did not stay in the cheapest campgrounds we could find. We used full hook ups if they were offered, as we have an on board washer/dryer and doing our own laundry was not only convenient but saved quite a bit of money. We would pull into a campground and Diane would do one or two loads a day. It kept us caught up, and didn't require using the campground laundry which was often pretty expensive. Washing in the laundry would often run in the $3 - $5 a load range, not including dryer time. The low we paid for a campground was $20 and the high was $46.58 per night. The average was $36.39 a night. Again, we did no road side pull overs. Total campground fees was $1819 for the trip.
Food
This is another category that I didn't keep exact data on. It ranges quite a bit by each individuals eating habits and style of cooking. It is safe to say though that the grocery's themselves were about %50 higher than in the lower 48. Diane cooked nearly everyday on the trip, as eating out was extremely expensive. An average lunch with a beer each easily hit $60-$70 with tax and tip. We still ate out occasionally just to mix things up.
We did note that some folks in the campgrounds would pile into the car and go out to eat 3 meals a day. I would be as big as a house! And if you like wine and spirits (like we do) you really have to be ready for sticker shock. Even a 12 pack of cheap beer is over $20 in most places.
Traveling the roads.
The one thing I was happy to find was the roads were not a horrible as we had been led to believe. Some stretches of road were definitely in need of repair due to frost heaves, pot holes and wash board surfaces. That was the exception rather than the rule though. We did find several sections of road construction in BC and the Yukon that were in process of being repaved (I think). Some were as long as 10 to 15 miles of gravel and dirt, and if it was raining, gravel and mud.
The old joke about there being 2 seasons in Canada/Alaska, winter, and road construction, is true. Alaska roads were actually much better than what we found in Canada. However, we DID NOT drive the Top of the World Highway. You do need to slow down on some of the road surfaces though. If you are in a motorhome of some sort, you realize how rough and bumpy some sections of road can be. If you are in a towable that may not be the case. Your truck or SUV may be floating along but your trailer is getting slammed. This explained why the guy next to me in Valdez was getting the pin box of his 5th Wheel trailer welded back together.
Another disclaimer here is, timing plays a significant role in road conditions. Those that enter Canada early, say around the first of May will encounter the worst road conditions. We didn't enter until the end of June, and a lot of holes and the like had already been repaired. Many orange coned areas on the sides of the roads indicating road damage had already been worked on. They weren't perfect, just better.
Miscellaneous
A few other thoughts I would pass along to anyone else considering this trip. One, I never needed to run with full water tanks. The most water I ever had on board was 1/2 a tank, and never needed that. My usual 25% would have been sufficient. (Remember, I don't road side camp)
The $200 Canadian cash I got at the border was rarely needed. I handled most of my transactions via a credit card, and had no issues. Most of the remaining Canadian funds I had left over I used to pay the campground fees on the way out of Canada.
If you don't already, carry a selection of hand tools with you. Periodically walk around the rig, and check things. The roads tend to shake stuff more that usual in the lower 48, and you can save yourself a headache just by tightening a screw here and there.
I never had an issue with tires on the trip, but I did see a few folks that did. Most were older rigs and their tires may have been too. I highly recommend a TPMS system for your rig, if you don't have one already.
Our biggest incurred damage on the trip (costing the most) was a blown out Jeep side window. That was while traveling a long stretch of gravel road in BC. The whole road surface was gone, we were taking it easy about 40 MPH. However, the semi that passed us at 60+ the other way was not so concerned. I collected about 5 new rock chips in the front motorhome window. I repaired one, three others are smaller sized, and one I still need to fix. It is not bad enough to require a window replacement though. The front Jeep window came through unscathed. Towed it for over 6,000 miles without a ding in the front window. I used no shield or cover of any kind. I do think that it has to do with the Jeep sitting up higher and the MH lower.
I had a water fitting break on the back of the Water heater, a electronic connector pull apart on the side of the transmission, and a few cabinet latches come loose, all of which I would contribute to the rough road spots. I had the back up monitor blink out, and a holding tank monitor panel quit working for a while. I had to pull them out and fiddle with the connectors to get them back working. I also had a slide out room gear fail that I think had nothing to do with the road conditions. I had some water leaks in a few of the storage bays, that I'm not sure why started to leak. I am still working on that one.
The Telus air card that we bought to use in Canada was a great idea for us. With Diane and I both on the net several times a day, it just made sense to have the most reliable service that we could. Combined with the exterior antenna, amplifier, and router, if there was any possibility of signal in an area, we would get it. Often better than the campgrounds were. I had a month to month service, so after I pay the last months bill, I will cancel the account.
That's all I can think of at this point, let me know if I left anything out. I did have fun doing this journal, so I may start one for the domestic wanderings we do. It's all about the adventure!