Summer on the road

[Dughlas Stiubhart]

Anyways, the things you learn on the road. Oregon has been great, did a nice scenic drive and then realized - OREGON HAS A COAST. So we hightailed it to the Pacific and dipped our toes and camped right near the beach, two nights in a row. In incredibly heavy rain.

Has anyone else spent sleepless nights in a FWC because of heavy rain? The roof is LOUD! I mean, tin roofs are romantic but this was ridiculous. Like drums.



With a little more time in the Pacific NW and bit more practice bedding down in the rain, it will soon start putting you right to sleep.

 

[Barko1]

Has anyone else spent sleepless nights in a FWC because of heavy rain? The roof is LOUD! I mean, tin roofs are romantic but this was ridiculous. Like drums.




Try some hail and 50 mph+ winds

Kind of like being in a Cessna in heavy rain

Funny I did the same "let's go up this closed road" thing. It wasn't closed just posted as no winter maintenance. When it started getting ugly I bailed and had to park the trailer at 90 degrees, disconnect, turn around, reconnect Not a great turning radius.

 

[Gormley Green]

Not a great turning radius.


Pulling a trailer is brutal. Kind of ruins the purpose of the FWC! So many dirt roads and everytime I look at one I wonder if I'll be able to turn around...then I continue driving on the blacktop My girlfriend is *slightly* afraid of getting stuck somewhere, and since we're 24/7 in the truck/camper I try not to push my luck too much.

I might as well be driving a Winnebago!!

Can't wait for the next long trip without towing.

 

[Gormley Green]

And a few stats so far, courtesy of Road Trip for iPad. Sorry for the mix of km and mi, we use km because that's what my odometer reads, but switched our fuel cons to mi when we crossed the border. Prices are in $USD.

Total 8,304.2km (at last fuel up)
Avg. 377.5km/day

Avg. $82.69/day
$0.205/km
$4.207/gal
694.8km/tank

Averaging 12.57mpg

 

[robbie]

I bought gas in Faro, Yukon today...6.82 a gallon...

robbie

 

[SunMan]

Epic journey GG, looking forward to the next installment(s)!

 

[Gormley Green]

Alright, a couple of photos...

Mammoth Hot Springs

Idaho

Yankee Fork Rd., Idaho - GO HERE!

Custer Ghost Town, Idaho

Oregon Coast

Nice and very quiet USFS campsite in Oregon

My leveling block

 

[K7MDL]

Tin roofs and rain. My house has a fancy aluminum, warranted for 50 years. 50 years of rain pinging off the roof as well! You get used to it mostly over time. Some people play recordings of that sounds to relax with, along with beach waves and aviary noises.


My solution is either a Zune play on random with some good in-ear buds, or when on my motorcycle event runs with random travel buddies, whom most snore severely, I wear my 30db rated attenuation soft foam ear plugs, the same I use daily under my helmet when riding. Also helps you sleep better while the bears are ravaging the campsite at night

Happy travels. I will be in Hood River next weekend for a motorcycle event out of Odell (Hood River Fairgrounds).

- Mike

 

[Gormley Green]

Quick iPad update. We're in Whitehorse, YT. Tried to take the Cassiar highway up here but it was closed due to a forest fire. So we headed east a bit and have taken the Alaska highway since Fort St John. Nice driving, spent a nice night at Liard Hot Springs last night - one of my favourite spots. Hope to be in Girdwood, AK by Wednesday latest. We're not doing too many miles each day now as we've been driving for over a month every day! Loving the trip, truck and camper are performing flawlessly.

FWC sightings are on the rise on the Alaska highway. I'm waving at all of them, so if you see us I hope you'll say hi here if we don't meet in person!

 

[Gormley Green]

Oh yea, we've got about 13,000km on the tripmeter so far. Seem to be averaging just under 12mpg these days. Been playing with different pressures in my airbags and have my tires at 70psi now (rear anyways). The alcan is bumpy road with this load! I hate pulling a trailer everyday for a month. Live and learn.

 

[BillM]

Great trip, hope you have a chance to do the Cassiar on the drive back down, it's definitely worth it.

 

[busboy66]

1976 - My dad drove us (3 boys) from Victoria to Alaska with a Datsun truck hauling a full height slide in camper.

Two indelible memories:

Whitehorse - only flat tire of the trip. Caused by a wire from a street cleaner
Liard Hot Springs - nuff said

Thanks for the memories and keep on enjoying.


Quick iPad update. We're in Whitehorse, YT. Tried to take the Cassiar highway up here but it was closed due to a forest fire. So we headed east a bit and have taken the Alaska highway since Fort St John. Nice driving, spent a nice night at Liard Hot Springs last night - one of my favourite spots. Hope to be in Girdwood, AK by Wednesday latest. We're not doing too many miles each day now as we've been driving for over a month every day! Loving the trip, truck and camper are performing flawlessly.

FWC sightings are on the rise on the Alaska highway. I'm waving at all of them, so if you see us I hope you'll say hi here if we don't meet in person!

 

[craig333]

Wow, epic trip. Keep the pics coming.

 

[Gormley Green]

We're in Tok, AK at a super nice RV park. Should be in Girdwood tomorrow and ready to chill for a bit! Have a nice place to stay for as long as we want and we're looking forward to using our legs for a bit instead of our tires. I'll throw some pics up when we get there, though I've been slacking a bit recently as we've been just putting miles on.

Thanks for reading and for the comments. Definitely not done our trip yet so stay tuned.

 

[Gormley Green]

1976 - My dad drove us (3 boys) from Victoria to Alaska with a Datsun truck hauling a full height slide in camper.

Two indelible memories:

Whitehorse - only flat tire of the trip. Caused by a wire from a street cleaner
Liard Hot Springs - nuff said

Thanks for the memories and keep on enjoying.


Sounds like a trip. Alcan in the 70's I'm sure was more of an adventure than it is today! My parents did their honeymoon up here in '72 and have always talked about it. They had a Ford camper van. I'm happy this is my 3rd trip on the highway in my 20's. Too forgetful to remember how long and bumpy the road is! The last 200km in YT today took half a day!! Worst frost heaves, potholes, gravel, and construction one could imagine. Just awful driving. My truck was new..."was". so was my poor motorcycle in the trailer.

You said it about Liard. Amazing spot. Forgot how hot it was near the outflow, over 50 deg C!!

See you on the island fall time likely.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[clikrf8]

I see from your Spot postings that you did travel Highway 20 through North Cascades National park and also Hw9 9 heading east into Canada. How was it? We are leaving tomorrow morning for several days stay near Winthrop.I hope you enjoyed it. The road just opened in time for you.

 

[Gormley Green]

I see from your Spot postings that you did travel Highway 20 through North Cascades National park and also Hw9 9 heading east into Canada. How was it? We are leaving tomorrow morning for several days stay near Winthrop.I hope you enjoyed it. The road just opened in time for you.


We loved the North Cascades! Didn't have the best weather, rain and low clouds and lots of snow at higher elevations. Tough for mountain photos as they were seldom visible. But when it cleared the views were outstanding. It was definitely a highlight of our entire trip and glad we did it. Thanks for all the info!

We loved the drive up there from Hood River and then up to Canada as we basically avoided the interstates for all but very short traverses.


As an aside, we arrived in Girdwood today. So we're settled into my friends house and ready to chill for a bit! 13,500km of driving since May 3rd. Not setting any speed records but for sure breaking in the truck seats and ready for a break.

I put wing nuts on the turnbuckles and never had to tighten any of them. Glad I did that. Everything in the camper worked perfectly everyday, couldn't really have asked for more. Except maybe a fridge, solar, another battery, an inverter, roof lifter struts, and.... I guess I'll have to get back to work soon enough to raise some $$$. Lots more travel before then, and a move to BC. We're already talking about our first trips to the desert, though I doubt they'll be until next year sometime.

Stay tuned for some photos and more travels throughout AK. Probably on my motorcycle as we are, quite frankly, TIRED of my truck at the moment!

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Gormley Green]

It's been a while, we're still alive. Loving our time here in Gidwood, AK. My favourite town. Have been hiking and recreating around here a lot and stretching our legs. Spent a few days at the Russian River campground last week after the sockeye salmon opener. I managed 3 reds and was happy as the fishing technique, though essentially just snagging, was new to me. I snagged and released over a dozen fish but legally caught/kept 3. Camper is still great.

My girlfriend will be driving to Dawson tomorrow following my cousin and I on our motorcycles. Not the original plan but I'm stoked as now I get to stay in the camper and not a tent - and we'll have cold beer, a BBQ, and all the other luxuries provided by the FWC.

Our arrival to the last frontier, truck in background

Typical AK roadsign

Me with some reds

Russian River camp site

 

[Gormley Green]

We're trying to keep the blog going too, but friends, activity, and beer are getting in the way. I haven't even been working on my photos much. But we'll at least have the SPOT going on our trip to the YT starting tomorrow, which is something!

Happy solstice all, and thanks for following along.

 

[ski3pin]

.......... but friends, activity, and beer are getting in the way..........