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Hello from Arizona. New to the site. Have been looking thru differant areas and havent found anything on RVing it to Alaska from AZ. Wife and I would like to take that drive the Fall of 2016.
Welcome aboard, lot's of friendly advice and folks willing to share.
I realize it takes all kinds of RVers to make up this group, but your tossing out a trip from AZ to AK in the fall of 2016 sounds rather daunting, given the amount of time it will take and the weather conditions you will likely face. Unless of course you are a hardy soul that enjoys winterlike environments. I had visions of Ice Road Truckers at best and the Donner party at worst, especialy for a "newbee". If not, I'd recommend being well on your way back to AZ by the fall based on reports from those that have made that journey on here. We plan on an AK expedition when we hit the road in a few years, and hopefully we can hook up with others to travel with.
I've gone from AZ to Whistler, BC in the fall and it was a great trip. Met up with some folks that were coming back down from AK and they were already complaining about the conditions in mid October. The coast line from Oregon up to Canada is pretty spectacular. We made our way out through Portland and the Columbia Gorge for a week or so along the way. Well worth the time if you have it!
Alaska is a depart the end of May from the Seattle area trip, return about Labor Day. Are you going to spend the summer in Arizona? Hopefully up at altitude. We leave Mesa by the 15th of April (usually early) and spend the spring going up the coast.
Barb
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Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
I think you've greatly underestimated the distance and time it would take you to make a trip to Alaska. With just a quick check, assuming you'd be leaving from the Phoenix area it would be over 3,000 miles just to get to Tok Alaska which is the first major town in Alaska. Also, the roads are not expressways by any means and you won't be traveling at 65 mph. Also, remember that Alaska is a huge state and to see any of the main cities or major attractions, you could easily add on another couple thousand miles. Then you have to travel another couple thousand miles just to return to the lower 48.
To miss a chance of bad weather, I'd recommend returning to the lower 48 by the middle of October at the latest.
We took 3 months, June, July and August, to make the trip and didn't even come close to seeing everything.
Jim
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Jim and Linda Full-timers from 2001 to 2013 http://parttimewithjandl.blogspot.com/ 2006 Dodge 2500 Diesel pulling a Heartland 26LRSS TT May your days be warm, and your skies be blue. May your roads be smooth, and your views ever-new.
Thanks for the welcome. I guess I should have said early fall LOL. Susan wanted to go up in Oct but I convinced her Sept after all the kids have gone back to school would be better. Not my kids, they are in both gone and married, meant all the vacationers. My only at home kids are 2 puppy Shih Tzu's I'm retired now but Susan still works. I would be out and about all the time if I could. I enjoy the drive and scenery. I hear at a minimum it takes about 3 weeks round trip but thats without stopping much. We plan on 4-5 weeks. It may be a little ambitious but what the heck, we figured after having spent 24 years in the AF (retired from there in 95) and traveling all over, this will just be another move of some kind.
Ambitious? That is not the word I'd be using. While you might be able to accomplish a round trip in 4-5 weeks... you will be covering 200 miles or more per day. That's assuming nothing goes wrong, weather is perfect, roads are perfect, you both enjoy anxious moments on winding roads and so on. If something breaks, and odds are high that it will, if you don't have a spare for it or can't install it yourself.... you could be stranded for a very long time. Bad weather conditions could seriously and very suddenly impact your travel plans at the worst possible moment. Those pesky deer , moose and bears are around every corner... I'd hate to hear of your tales about colliding with one of them.
In short, head the cautions of those that have driven this route, not my armchair opinion.
FWIW, Brian
-- Edited by BiggarView on Wednesday 30th of December 2015 11:38:10 AM
I did a round-trip by motorcycle from Kansas to Alaska in 6 weeks in July 2015. And that was a fast trip and I missed some of the things I would do on a return trip. (But if I go again, it'll be by plane or ferry.) The Alaska Highway is very, very long and the distances are very great. NW of Whitehorse the facilities are further and further apart until you get to Tok. If you want to see lots of stuff in AK and along the way, I'd recommend taking at least 2 months.
Thanks everyone, thats what I was looking for, honest opinions from many. We have always been a little "over ambitious". Our intentions were to drive up, turn around and come back. Then maybe later when Susan retires spend more time. The more I have read this past week I have been thinking of maybe just Montana and back. We shall see. I live year around in the Phoenix area and the heat doesnt bother me that much. I was born and raised in Iowa so know what the winter can be like. And my body doesnt like the cold anymore.
