Randy?You will have a FABULOUS trip! Here are a few answers based on our experiences in summer 2013?116 days on the road in our itasca Reyo. Loved every minute of the trip!
-- Best time of summer to cross into Canada? From what we heard, anytime! We crossed at a small border crossing northeast of Glacier Natl Park, on Hwy 89. Crossing was a cinch. No slowdowns, boarder crossing guards were very courteous, speedy. We did NOT take a gun with us, specifically because we did not want to have to go through the rigamarole of inceptions etc regarding firearms. We never felt as if we should have a gun for protection, either. Felt perfectly safe at all times without one.
--permafrost can be a problem if you go too early? Permafrost can be a problem any time of the year?permafrost really never melts, but things can get very muddy if you plan to take unpaved roads when the surface heat creates a lot of moisture in June-July. In early June the only way to avoid permafrost problems is to proceed fairly slowly so you don't hit the road-heaves while going too fast. We avoided unpaved roads?we didn't end up feeling we missed a lot, either. We had friends a few days ahead of us who sent email warnings of road paving projects (i.e. a lot of tar on vehicles!!) that we avoided north of Tok, as well as extremely muddy conditions that caused us to decide NOT to go to Dawson City. The roads were really terrible up there, with some closures, at the time we would've been going there last year.
-- tough customs folks at border crossing? We are scrupulously honest and forthcoming about everything, and had no problems at all. We did have bear spray with us going into Canada, which we'd been told would be confiscated at the Canadian border and/or going into Alaska. It wasn't. So we didn't need to replace it once we got into Canada and then into Alaska. We've heard from many friends who have taken guns to Alaska that if you don't try to be a smart aleck, you're fine, and the boards will be quite respectful and accommodating. You get irritated, act nasty, so do they!
--necessary to make reservations for camp grounds along the way?? If you're flexible and don't need to stick to a schedule, you're probably just fine. We definitely wanted to stay right downtown in Anchorage, so we reserved there?so we could walk everywhere from our CG. We like cities a lot, but only if we can park and walk?didn't want to be driving a lot. We reserved on Homer spit very early?probably would't have had to, but we faced the water and loved our spot, which we wouldn't have been able to get had we not reserved ahead. Yes, there re lots of CGs, but a good many CGs and gas stations have closed in recent years during the economic meltdown?so I was happy to have reservations in places where we really knew when we would be there and exactly where we wanted to stay. We often changed our itinerary on a moment's notice because we wanted to stay somewhere longer, or wanted to add another spot to our plan?had no problem altering our CG plans.