Nabo's Adventure to Alaska 2017

[dlw930]

Where did you stay in Columbia? Cottonwood? You were in my old stomping ground. Lived in CoMO 30 years counting college. I'm sure you're looking forward to getting back home. You've had a great trip! Enjoyed your pics and info...helped us out lots! Going to Haines AK from Skagway (just on a tour) tomorrow, then head slowly south and east ourselves. We'll have to get together at a rally sometime and compare stories.


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[Nabo]

Yes - Cottonwood in Columbia. Nice campground near the fairgrounds. Would recommend it to anyone.

Monday Aug 7th and Tuesday Aug 8th - Monday was a travel day from Paducah KY to Nashville TN. YEAH - Tennessee, Home Sweet Home. We are at the Nashville KOA on Music Valley Rd. It's been interesting watching the improvements of this campground over the last 8 years, especially after the massive flooding in May 2010 right before the National Heartland Rally. It's expensive but now comfortable. We got into Nashville in time to celebrate Judy Winkle's birthday - Happy Birthday Judy. On Tuesday, we continued our visit with both Jerry and Judy Winkle at the home and seeing their new Landmark 365. Tomorrow will be our last leg of the journey back home.

 

[Buster537]

Byrd,
Thanks for taking us along for the ride. I have toughly enjoyed all the comments, reviews, stories, and pictures. You and Nathan have done a super job of giving us a window to your trip. Hope to see you guys at a rally soon.
James B.

 

[speedcat]

Welcome home! Thank you for sharing your adventure via pics and posts. I have enjoyed each and every one. I followed you with google maps and looked forward to hear and see your travels on a daily basis. We hope to see you in the future!

 

[For20hunter]

What an amazing adventure that was! Thank you for sharing!!

Rod

 

[JohnD]

Yes . . . I enjoyed it, too!

We are at least 10 years from our trip like that . . .

Being a retired photojournalist (but still working in the photo industry), I'll document the trip like you guys did.

 

[Dan & Sally Sullivan]

Hello Byrd & Nathan,
we loved meeting up with you, and also following your Adventures. We are 2 days from home, sad and happy about that. We hope to see you in the future.
Safe Travels,
Sally & Dan

 

[Nabo]

We are so glad everyone enjoyed our adventures (and mishaps) across Canada and Alaska and back. The stats haven't been compiled yet but will post soon.

Home Sweet Home. August 10th - After 80 days and 13,286 miles, home sure looks good.

 

[brianlajoie]

We are planning a trip to Alaska and would like input to into a specific part I'm working on.

I'm planning to come up hwy 1 and then go to Chicken and then on to Dawson City - pulling my fifth wheel. I will go back to Chicken afterwards and continue to Tok and so on.

Seeing the description you gave and trying to save (a little) time / wear and tear I thought of dropping the trailer at Chicken and driving just the truck to Dawson city (and back). Would I need more than a long day to check out Dawson City? I could probably find a room for a night if needed.

 

[Nabo]

We ran into a lot of folks who dropped their coach in TOK and drove only their car or truck across to Dawson City, staying over night and then drive back to their rig. We found alot of stuff to do both in town as well as the surrounding area.

 

[brianlajoie]

When you went to Skagway, did you take the trailer or just do a day trip? We would also like to do the train ride (to the pass and back), but concerned with overall timing and we have 2 dogs to contend with.

 

[Nabo]

Yes, we pulled the Landmark down, and I mean down, to Skagway. It is a long 11% grade for 11 miles but we didnt have any problems. If I remember correctly, there are only 2 campgrounds, one coming into town and the other one which we stayed in was near the docks. We did the 4 hour train ride which was doable with the dog.

 

[travelin2]

When you went to Skagway, did you take the trailer or just do a day trip? We would also like to do the train ride (to the pass and back), but concerned with overall timing and we have 2 dogs to contend with.

We went to Skagway from Haines AK on the ferry. The CG in Haines (hitch up RV park) offered (a local resident) pet walking service during your absence.


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[brianlajoie]

What advice would you offer going from Palmer to Tok? Is the different route better than retracing your steps back?

If you didn't have company to see in Valdez, would you recommend the side trip going there? The Valdez tourism board does not offer much to do. Your description of the road does not inspire me to add the stop.

 

[travelin2]

What advice would you offer going from Palmer to Tok? Is the different route better than retracing your steps back?

If you didn't have company to see in Valdez, would you recommend the side trip going there? The Valdez tourism board does not offer much to do. Your description of the road does not inspire me to add the stop.

Well the only other way to Tok is back up park road to Fairbanks then down to Tok. Why wouldn’t you want to see new sights? It’s a good road IMO.

We stayed in GlenAllen overnight and did a side trip to Valdez and the road to McCarthy although we didn’t go into McCarthy. That’s for the next trip.


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[travelin2]

IMO, after driving thousands of miles, one needs to take their time while there and see everything possible. The expense is getting there and back to the 48. For most it’s a once in a lifetime trip, why abbreviate it??


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[brianlajoie]

Well the only other way to Tok is back up park road to Fairbanks then down to Tok. Why wouldn’t you want to see new sights? It’s a good road IMO.

We stayed in GlenAllen overnight and did a side trip to Valdez and the road to McCarthy although we didn’t go into McCarthy. That’s for the next trip.

It is good to hear that the road to Tok is good. I am into seeing new sights. I will definitely plan for that. The road to Valdez sounded very rough and I didn't see the value of going to Valdez. Is there something I'm missing about Valdez?

 

[travelin2]

All roads in AK, the Yukon and BC to and from have some hazards due to permafrost so when I say it’s a good road, that’s relatively speaking. Don’t expect to sail down any of them indefinitely without slowing down from time to time!!

We did a day trip to see the pipeline terminal and glaciers along the way. From another PA HOC’er who stayed there, they went on a glacier sightseeing/whale watching cruise.


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[Nabo]

We stayed in Valdez for 3 nights and enjoyed it. The downtown campground we stayed at is called Eagle Nest with real nice workers and had long 30/50 amp sites. There were some good restaurants and a couple of museums that are well worth seeing.

 

[brianlajoie]

All roads in AK, the Yukon and BC to and from have some hazards due to permafrost so when I say it’s a good road, that’s relatively speaking. Don’t expect to sail down any of them indefinitely without slowing down from time to time!!

We did a day trip to see the pipeline terminal and glaciers along the way. From another PA HOC’er who stayed there, they went on a glacier sightseeing/whale watching cruise.

I understand about the roads in general. It seemed that the road to Valdez appeared to be much worse than average. If not - then it's an optional side trip worth considering. We plan to fly from Anchorage to Juneau for a week to do a small ship cruise so I was looking to see if this side trip was like Haines - would be nice if I had more time. The plan is over 70 days currently and trying to optimize our time.