Travel to Alaska

One of the sessions today was a report on the trip that 4 of the couples who are members of WOG took to Alaska this past summer. It sounded SO neat, and a little scarey! I hope Dwayne and I can do a trip to Alaska at some point.

Some things I noted:

• They didn't make any park reservations before going. They boondocked about 2/3 of the time and stayed in RV parks just 1/3 of the time.
• Their fuel costs were about $4800 round trip. 11,000 miles (one of the couples kept very detailed records, they were from near Branson). Costs for RV park stays was about $1600.
• The 4 coaches kept in touch via CB radio (we would have to learn how to use ours!).
• They took AlCan highway up (east of the Canadian Rockies, I think) and came back down further west. They talked about information that they found on the information signs on the way up on how fast the AlCan highway was originally built.
• Things to research before going: look up rules on what can be taken into Canada - e.g. amount of cash limited by Canadian dollar value. Check on pet health certificates - will probably need to get a certificate in Alaska to be able to return through Canada (needs to be within 30 days). Would be good to have specific documentation for pets such as rabies certificate, not just the tag. Also research what is allowed to bring back into US.
• At the Top of the World Highway, you take a ferry across the Yukon in Dawson City that is evidently pretty hairy. Dawson City on Google Maps   Satellite view of the ferry crossing on Google Maps
• If I understood correctly, only one Bluebird could go at a time. They may have other vehicles on the ferry too, but not two Bluebirds.
• Commercial traffic has right-of-way, so if there were tractor trailers or buses, they would go first.
• I think Randy said that the banks of the river are constantly being washed away, so there was a dump truck dumping rocks to rebuild the on-ferry/off-ferry area constantly. The area where you drive on/off is just a gravel area.
• They said that the biggest damage-causing vehicles were folks who were towing travel trailers or 5th wheels. Many seem to go very fast and kick up a lot of rocks. Plan to replace windshield when return to US. Maybe headlights too.
• They left US in late May (5/21, I think) and returned late August (8/20). 
• I think I understood this correctly: If you have ever had a DUI on your license (even if you are just a passenger in the motorhome), you cannot be in the vehicle being driven through Canada.