I Departed in early June, 2023 and arrived back at home base around early September, 2023. I logged 12,800 miles from Talladega, Alabama to Deadhorse, Alaska and back to Talladega, via Las Vegas, Nevada where I spent a week each way with friends.
I drove my 2021, Silverado 3500 pulling my 43', 21,000 lb, toy hauler. I left the trailer in an RV park in Fairbanks and drove the truck up to Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope oil field. I spent one night each way in Coldfoot Camp and two nights in Deadhorse. On the off-travel day, I went swimming in the Arctic Ocean to officially become a member of the Polar Bear Club. By the way, you cannot drive your POV to the ocean through the oil patch. You have to take the little tour bus to the ocean. They give you plenty of time to get wet and they carry clean towels on the bus.
Although I think you could take a big RV up the Haul Road (aka AK-11) I would suggest you not. I had to have a new windshield, or they wouldn't let me back into Canada, according to an Alaskan State Trooper I spoke with in Fairbanks. $500 for a windshield. Then down the street to the Chevy dealer for an oil and filters change. I took two small rocks right in front of the driver's position. One had cracks running in opposite direction over a foot long in each direction before I got back to Fairbanks.
Although it was an easy drive, good weather, well maintained dirt/chip road, I took five days for that 1,000 mile round trip excursion out of Fairbanks. I could have made the trip faster, but I took my time for photo ops and other breaks.
Other than the fact there was just one picture postcard view after another, there were two things that pleasantly surprised me. One was the grocery stores in all the towns where I bought groceries along the Alaska Highway in Canada had as nice or nicer fresh produce than you can buy in the lower 48. To be sure, they didn't have the variety, but they all had a good selection of all the common basics.
The second pleasant surprise was the cost for a hotel room in Coldfoot Camp and Deadhorse was only $150 per night. I was expecting a lot more. Heck, you can't get a decent room in the lower 48 for hardly any less than that. But diesel was $750 per gallon in both places.
I spent most nights in gravel rest areas which were nothing but areas large enough that you had plenty of room to turn around if you had to. Most of the areas were double-ended, meaning you could pull in at either end and out the other. You didn't need to turn around. Most of these had "Jonnies" but some do not. That doesn't make much difference for us though.
On the way up and back from Fairbanks, I would do about 300 miles per day and stop for the night. With all the stops I made, and not being rushed, that would take me to about 4:00 to 5:00 pm. There are many of these pull-out gravel areas to overnight. I would fire up my generator, open my main slides, fix some dinner, and take walks to get the exercise. Then put on a movie. No rush in the morning either. I carried my air compressor in the back of the truck for easy access. I would pull it out, fire up the generator and plug it in, and check and air up all twelve tires usually about every five to seven days. I checked tires daily in my pre-trip inspection, but didn't add any air until one was down four or five pounds. This is not the country where you want to have flat tires. So keep them aired up hard.
Here's a hint for this trip. My trailer tires call for a max of 125 psi cold and 80 psi for the truck. So I had to have a compressor to do 125 psi in a reasonable time. So I bought the smallest compressor they had at Home Depot that would do that. It's rated at 155 psi. I kept my tires aired up to the max given the road conditions I knew I would be traveling. And I'm very glad I did this. No flat tire stories from me.
When I needed to dump my tanks, I would stay in an RV park, usually for three days. I would dump, do laundry in my residential laundry machines I installed in the garage of my toy hauler, buy groceries and send emails and make long phone calls. I spent five days in Dawson Creek doing all the above plus got a haircut, took in some history, and walked a lot. Dawson Creek was the official starting point of the Alaska Highway that the US Army Corp of Engineers cut through the north country all the way to Delta Junction, Alaska during WWII. That was like their first base camp and staging yard.
On my way back southbound, I spent a night in a pull out a few miles north of Calgary, AB. While doing my pre-trip inspection the next morning, I realized my middle trailer axle had shifted a couple of inches rearwards. I limped in to a big RV dealer on the north side of Calgary. They don't do suspension work and referred me to the trailer shop that they use. I limped in to the trailer shop. They took my trailer in right away and found broken bolts. With new bolts installed, the axle realigned and everything torqued down properly, had me back on the road in two hours. I was surprised they only charged me CA$250. Of course Dave had cash to pay them. I took advantage of not having the trailer hooked and went down the street and filled up on diesel, bought of jug of DEF and returned to the trailer shop right about the time they were getting ready to pull my trailer out of the shop.
From Calgary, AB to Las Vegas, NV is a pretty nice drive south, easy money. And I had no issues crossing borders either way at all.
All in all, it was a great trip. It was much easier than some folks might like you to believe. That is except for the frost heaves. My trailer took a beating from the frost heaves.
Dave
I drove my 2021, Silverado 3500 pulling my 43', 21,000 lb, toy hauler. I left the trailer in an RV park in Fairbanks and drove the truck up to Deadhorse at Prudhoe Bay in the North Slope oil field. I spent one night each way in Coldfoot Camp and two nights in Deadhorse. On the off-travel day, I went swimming in the Arctic Ocean to officially become a member of the Polar Bear Club. By the way, you cannot drive your POV to the ocean through the oil patch. You have to take the little tour bus to the ocean. They give you plenty of time to get wet and they carry clean towels on the bus.
Although I think you could take a big RV up the Haul Road (aka AK-11) I would suggest you not. I had to have a new windshield, or they wouldn't let me back into Canada, according to an Alaskan State Trooper I spoke with in Fairbanks. $500 for a windshield. Then down the street to the Chevy dealer for an oil and filters change. I took two small rocks right in front of the driver's position. One had cracks running in opposite direction over a foot long in each direction before I got back to Fairbanks.
Although it was an easy drive, good weather, well maintained dirt/chip road, I took five days for that 1,000 mile round trip excursion out of Fairbanks. I could have made the trip faster, but I took my time for photo ops and other breaks.
Other than the fact there was just one picture postcard view after another, there were two things that pleasantly surprised me. One was the grocery stores in all the towns where I bought groceries along the Alaska Highway in Canada had as nice or nicer fresh produce than you can buy in the lower 48. To be sure, they didn't have the variety, but they all had a good selection of all the common basics.
The second pleasant surprise was the cost for a hotel room in Coldfoot Camp and Deadhorse was only $150 per night. I was expecting a lot more. Heck, you can't get a decent room in the lower 48 for hardly any less than that. But diesel was $750 per gallon in both places.
I spent most nights in gravel rest areas which were nothing but areas large enough that you had plenty of room to turn around if you had to. Most of the areas were double-ended, meaning you could pull in at either end and out the other. You didn't need to turn around. Most of these had "Jonnies" but some do not. That doesn't make much difference for us though.
On the way up and back from Fairbanks, I would do about 300 miles per day and stop for the night. With all the stops I made, and not being rushed, that would take me to about 4:00 to 5:00 pm. There are many of these pull-out gravel areas to overnight. I would fire up my generator, open my main slides, fix some dinner, and take walks to get the exercise. Then put on a movie. No rush in the morning either. I carried my air compressor in the back of the truck for easy access. I would pull it out, fire up the generator and plug it in, and check and air up all twelve tires usually about every five to seven days. I checked tires daily in my pre-trip inspection, but didn't add any air until one was down four or five pounds. This is not the country where you want to have flat tires. So keep them aired up hard.
Here's a hint for this trip. My trailer tires call for a max of 125 psi cold and 80 psi for the truck. So I had to have a compressor to do 125 psi in a reasonable time. So I bought the smallest compressor they had at Home Depot that would do that. It's rated at 155 psi. I kept my tires aired up to the max given the road conditions I knew I would be traveling. And I'm very glad I did this. No flat tire stories from me.
When I needed to dump my tanks, I would stay in an RV park, usually for three days. I would dump, do laundry in my residential laundry machines I installed in the garage of my toy hauler, buy groceries and send emails and make long phone calls. I spent five days in Dawson Creek doing all the above plus got a haircut, took in some history, and walked a lot. Dawson Creek was the official starting point of the Alaska Highway that the US Army Corp of Engineers cut through the north country all the way to Delta Junction, Alaska during WWII. That was like their first base camp and staging yard.
On my way back southbound, I spent a night in a pull out a few miles north of Calgary, AB. While doing my pre-trip inspection the next morning, I realized my middle trailer axle had shifted a couple of inches rearwards. I limped in to a big RV dealer on the north side of Calgary. They don't do suspension work and referred me to the trailer shop that they use. I limped in to the trailer shop. They took my trailer in right away and found broken bolts. With new bolts installed, the axle realigned and everything torqued down properly, had me back on the road in two hours. I was surprised they only charged me CA$250. Of course Dave had cash to pay them. I took advantage of not having the trailer hooked and went down the street and filled up on diesel, bought of jug of DEF and returned to the trailer shop right about the time they were getting ready to pull my trailer out of the shop.
From Calgary, AB to Las Vegas, NV is a pretty nice drive south, easy money. And I had no issues crossing borders either way at all.
All in all, it was a great trip. It was much easier than some folks might like you to believe. That is except for the frost heaves. My trailer took a beating from the frost heaves.
Dave
