Route Complete
~Thursday, March 3, 2022~
Day 627
Overcast morning, but our warmest day yet. There’s been a lot of low key days in California and Arizona lately, but we promise you that things are going to get very exciting come early to mid Spring!! Thanks for sticking with us while we figure things out.
We’re thrilled that our Canada/Alaska route is now completed, with the hardest part behind us. The spreadsheet is really looking snazzy thanks to my meticulous hubby. Now that I have the details of the campgrounds we’d like to stay in and the list of what we want to experience, now it’s just a matter of making sure everything fits into the route. If it’s too far off the beaten path, then we won’t use it. Thanks to “The Milepost”, it will hopefully make our job much easier to see exactly where everything is located. I’m telling you, this guidebook, which almost has TOO much information in it, is like the yellow pages. It was first published in 1949 starting out at 72 pages. It is updated annually and is now up to 752 pages. We read about one particular campground (dry camping) that we’re considering, that looked amazing, set a few miles off the Alaska Highway. The caveat……a 14% grade to get to those lakefront sites. And I saw photos of them, so you know it’s doable. But, is it 1 mile at 14% or 5 miles? So it’s stuff like that that you have to really investigate before hauling the trailer to it. For us, the factors in selecting a site are:
Whether we want just an overnight pull on the side of the road kind of thing (there are tons of those in Alaska) or a longer stay
Maximum number of days allowed. Some allow 1 night, some are 14 nights
Water availability and if not, the closest location to water.
Sewer or Dump station availability. If not, closest location to a dump station. Carrying a little extra weight with semi-full tanks is not that big of a deal if you’re on paved roads for a short time. Not so good if you’re on gravel, which quite a few of the roads are.
How many campsites are available. Some have 2, some have 62. The more there are, the better our chances are of getting in.
Reservable or first-come, first-serve basis. There’s pluses and minuses to each. The plus side with reserving a site ahead of time is for the obvious reason you can count on it. However, if plans change, it can be difficult to cancel or get a refund. The first-come, first-serve route (which will mostly be our preference) will be good for not being locked into something, however, you better arrive in the morning on a Sunday thru a Thursday.
Will our rig fit? Getting site size information is super important factoring in of course, both the trailer and the truck.
Mixing in an RV park once in a while for a break from boondocking or dry camping. Having full hookups as opposed to the reliance on solar, propane and the generator is a welcome change. Unfortunately most RV parks in Alaska, in our research look like dirt parking lots with very little space between rigs, that could really eat into a budget at $60 to $80/night. I’d rather spend that on a nice dinner out. All in all, it’s all about what we’re seeing, not where we’re staying.