I just posted this on my blog and FaceBook (RealDonJohnson). Susan and I will posting in separate threads. She says she won't read my posts until after the trip. I'll read hers as we go. We're both retired publishers and journalists, and our observations and styles will be very different.
We've been talking about our great Alaska adventure for a couple of years and preparing for tomorrow's launch since last summer.
Of course, we're both reporters and researchers and readers.
And we've been doing our homework as well as our planning even though we won't remember every tiny detail we've read and won't follow every detail of Susan's 17-page (single-spaced) plan. Memories are short and planning is a learning experience.
We agree that when we break our plans and forget what we've read, we'll still be better off and having more fun than we would if we hadn't done our reading or planning.
So we both began our reading on RVForum.net. That's where many motorhome owners journal, blog and show pictures of their trips to Alaska from the lower 48.
Then we bought, read and still are using these guide books for RV and motorhome travelers:
1. The Milepost (2012 and 2013 editions) themilepost.com.
2. Travelers Guide to Alaskan Camping; Alaska and Yukon camping with RV or tent.
3. Guide to the Alaska Highway, 2nd ed., By Ron Dalby. www.menasharidge.com
4. Brochures from TravelAlaska.com and NorthtoAlaska.com.
5. Pacific Northwest Camping Destinations; RV and car camping destinations in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, 3rd ed., by Mike and Terri Church. rollinghomes.com.
6. Alaska & Canada's Inside Passage Cruise Tour Guide. Coastal Tour Guides, publisher.
7. Frommer's Alaska 2011.
History books:
1. The Klondike Fever; the life and death of the last great gold rush, by Pierre Berton, 1958, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 457 pp. Fantastic, must read for history buffs.
2. Coming into the Country by John McPhee. 1997 (438 pp.)
A couple of coffee table books not worth mentioning.
Fictionalized history
1. Alaska by James Michner
2. Two Old Women, by Velma Wallis. Search web for the title to get to Amazon, Wikipedia coverage of this book. Quick, interesting read.
3. Call of the Wild, by Jack London, a Kondike gold rush survivor. I've downloaded from Amazon for $2.99 the Delphi complete works of Jack London and a collection of his short stories about Canada and Alaska. When the mood strikes me, I'll read some of the stories.
4. Tisha, a somewhat doctored autobiography of a teacher in Chicken, AK, as "told" to and embellished, etc., by Robert Specht, who didn't bother to put the teacher's name on the cover of the book. Interesting and entertaining, but online reviews make me take the story with a grain of salt.
5. Sitka, by Louis L'Amour.
Links:
Susan's planning thread: http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,59422.0.html
My thread on buying the 2013 Itasca Reyo; a product review, I guess. http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,55980.msg584119.html#msg584119
RvForum.net. Go to the message board, search Alaska. You'll know our contributions when you see them.
A YouTube tour of our 2013 Itasca Reyo (T model) motorhome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COuaZxL50Jw
My blog: Link in signature line.
We've been talking about our great Alaska adventure for a couple of years and preparing for tomorrow's launch since last summer.
Of course, we're both reporters and researchers and readers.
And we've been doing our homework as well as our planning even though we won't remember every tiny detail we've read and won't follow every detail of Susan's 17-page (single-spaced) plan. Memories are short and planning is a learning experience.
We agree that when we break our plans and forget what we've read, we'll still be better off and having more fun than we would if we hadn't done our reading or planning.
So we both began our reading on RVForum.net. That's where many motorhome owners journal, blog and show pictures of their trips to Alaska from the lower 48.
Then we bought, read and still are using these guide books for RV and motorhome travelers:
1. The Milepost (2012 and 2013 editions) themilepost.com.
2. Travelers Guide to Alaskan Camping; Alaska and Yukon camping with RV or tent.
3. Guide to the Alaska Highway, 2nd ed., By Ron Dalby. www.menasharidge.com
4. Brochures from TravelAlaska.com and NorthtoAlaska.com.
5. Pacific Northwest Camping Destinations; RV and car camping destinations in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, 3rd ed., by Mike and Terri Church. rollinghomes.com.
6. Alaska & Canada's Inside Passage Cruise Tour Guide. Coastal Tour Guides, publisher.
7. Frommer's Alaska 2011.
History books:
1. The Klondike Fever; the life and death of the last great gold rush, by Pierre Berton, 1958, Carroll & Graf Publishers, 457 pp. Fantastic, must read for history buffs.
2. Coming into the Country by John McPhee. 1997 (438 pp.)
A couple of coffee table books not worth mentioning.
Fictionalized history
1. Alaska by James Michner
2. Two Old Women, by Velma Wallis. Search web for the title to get to Amazon, Wikipedia coverage of this book. Quick, interesting read.
3. Call of the Wild, by Jack London, a Kondike gold rush survivor. I've downloaded from Amazon for $2.99 the Delphi complete works of Jack London and a collection of his short stories about Canada and Alaska. When the mood strikes me, I'll read some of the stories.
4. Tisha, a somewhat doctored autobiography of a teacher in Chicken, AK, as "told" to and embellished, etc., by Robert Specht, who didn't bother to put the teacher's name on the cover of the book. Interesting and entertaining, but online reviews make me take the story with a grain of salt.
5. Sitka, by Louis L'Amour.
Links:
Susan's planning thread: http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,59422.0.html
My thread on buying the 2013 Itasca Reyo; a product review, I guess. http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,55980.msg584119.html#msg584119
RvForum.net. Go to the message board, search Alaska. You'll know our contributions when you see them.
A YouTube tour of our 2013 Itasca Reyo (T model) motorhome. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COuaZxL50Jw
My blog: Link in signature line.