Interest in an Alaska run?

[Wilson]

Wish I wasint just a bystander

 

[lane_change]

I'm glad I found this thread. The wife and I have been planning to do this next summer already...except we were not wanting to do some mad dash to Alaska and did want to take in some sites along the way from Houston to Alaska. Then head up to Fairbanks and up the Dalton Pass some, but I don't need to see where it ends, maybe to Coldfoot or something inside the Arctic Circle just to say we did it, unless everyone wanted to make the 400+ mile trek up to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. We are planning for a around a 3-4 week run from Houston, TX to Alaska and back.

Our trip will head up from Texas through the Rockies of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana into Canada through Calgary and Edmonton on our way up to Fairbanks, AK. On the way back though, we planned to drop down the West Coast and take the PCH down to San Diego and back across through the desert SW. Just to have some different sites to see along the way. All in all, it will be around a 10k mile road trip. So I'm not sure how we could meet up, unless other people were interested in driving up together, but I don't want to do 14hr driving days back to back to back. We want to see some places along the way since I doubt I ever drive to most of these places again.

10k miles divided by 21 days would average out to 475 miles a day where 28 days would lower it to around 350 miles a day. At 60mph, it would require almost 8hrs of driving a day for 21 days or 6hrs a day for 28 days. Some days would be less, some would be more. Just depends on where we are and what there is to see in that area outside of what we see out the windshield. Fuel costs will be upwards of $3,000 and lodging for 21-28 days would be another $2,000-3,000 or so. Food and ******** may cost another $1,000 for two people assuming we pack essential foods so we don't have to eat out or eat at a gas station every meal and take in some continental breakfasts at the hotels when available. Plus whatever else happens along the way and you could easily drop $7,500 on a trip like this.

 

[2014RubyRed]

I'm glad I found this thread. The wife and I have been planning to do this next summer already...except we were not wanting to do some mad dash to Alaska and did want to take in some sites along the way from Houston to Alaska. Then head up to Fairbanks and up the Dalton Pass some, but I don't need to see where it ends, maybe to Coldfoot or something inside the Arctic Circle just to say we did it, unless everyone wanted to make the 400+ mile trek up to Deadhorse and Prudhoe Bay. We are planning for a around a 3-4 week run from Houston, TX to Alaska and back.

Our trip will head up from Texas through the Rockies of Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana into Canada through Calgary and Edmonton on our way up to Fairbanks, AK. On the way back though, we planned to drop down the West Coast and take the PCH down to San Diego and back across through the desert SW. Just to have some different sites to see along the way. All in all, it will be around a 10k mile road trip. So I'm not sure how we could meet up, unless other people were interested in driving up together, but I don't want to do 14hr driving days back to back to back. We want to see some places along the way since I doubt I ever drive to most of these places again.

10k miles divided by 21 days would average out to 475 miles a day where 28 days would lower it to around 350 miles a day. At 60mph, it would require almost 8hrs of driving a day for 21 days or 6hrs a day for 28 days. Some days would be less, some would be more. Just depends on where we are and what there is to see in that area outside of what we see out the windshield. Fuel costs will be upwards of $3,000 and lodging for 21-28 days would be another $2,000-3,000 or so. Food and ******** may cost another $1,000 for two people assuming we pack essential foods so we don't have to eat out or eat at a gas station every meal and take in some continental breakfasts at the hotels when available. Plus whatever else happens along the way and you could easily drop $7,500 on a trip like this.

Easy decision, then. Right?

 

[CoronaRaptor]

Im bringing my portable propane barbecue and cooking on my tailgate a lot, cant eat big macs or bacon-pizza everyday.

 

[lane_change]

Easy decision, then. Right?

We've already decided we were making the trip, just weren't sure if it would be the summer of 2016 or 2017. So if there was a group of trucks going, it may make the trip better or worse depending on what everyone has planned. Our trip was designed around seeing some new places and things.

I know the wife wants to do the Baja RaptorExpedition run as well. We decided earlier this year that we wanted to see some places and experience more while we're younger. We have 3 kids as well, so we also have to plan family vacations as well, but these types of events will require the kids going to the grandparents house for a few weeks because I'm not dragging children around in a truck for multiple weeks. They'd go crazy and they'd drive me crazy.

 

[SuperRaptor]

For a trip like this, that's going to be at least 2 weeks total even for us who live "1 state away" we should start throwing dates out. I know for me personally June would work the best as I have annual trips that fall on big holidays like memorial day weekend and 4th of July.

 

[Prybar]

Sounds like you guys have a good plan[MENTION]lane_change[/MENTION]

I am imagining that this sort of trip for most is a pretty big deal and everyone wants a little something different out of it. I would guess the easy way to do it is to plan for the rough time that everyone is planning to go and actually be in AK. Then just hook up with people as is convenient. Maybe do a couple days here and a couple days there with others as a group but plan to be your own boss most of the time. I would say if we planned say a week to do the actual group runs here we could hit most of the biggies. Trucks could just come and go as they please and hit the ones they want to and not the others. I'm sure some will want to go fishing or hiking or to the hot springs or normal tourist stuff or whatever. Like I said before, big boy rules will apply and we are all big boys and girls

 

[Prybar]

For a trip like this, that's going to be at least 2 weeks total even for us who live "1 state away" we should start throwing dates out. I know for me personally June would work the best as I have annual trips that fall on big holidays like memorial day weekend and 4th of July.

Throwing dates out is a great idea. June is usually nice, mild weather but depending on the previous winter and snow pack, not everywhere will be free of ice and passable and not all roads will be open. Especially the northern parts of the Dalton. July is usually pretty nice, hot in the interior, and not a lot of rain. August is a crap shoot and could be rainy. September is rainy and by October we should have freezing weather and snow again.

 

[SPRSNK]

I would be tempted to send my truck up on ferry then fly up to meet it.

 

[Prybar]

I would be tempted to send my truck up on ferry then fly up to meet it.

Yeah, that's a good way to avoid a weeks worth of driving in each direction for sure. Last I checked you can get a truck barged up from the Seattle area for about $1500.