Friday, August 30, 2013

Alaska - By The Numbers

Our trip started and finished in Mesa, AZ. We were on the road 135 days, at least one of us stayed in the Scamp each night with the exception of the two nights we spent in a yurt.

We drove 15,331 miles: 5,355 northbound to Eagle River, Alaska via the California gold country, the Pacific coast, Oregon & Washington, the Okanogan, Lake Louise, Jasper, and the Alaska Highway. We drove 5837 miles in Alaska after arrival in Eagle River. The southbound trip from Eagle River to Mesa was a bit shorter at 4139 miles via the Cassiar Highway. Of the 15,331 miles, 3,891 were driven without the trailer including trips to Deadhorse and to McCarthy. Of the bobtail miles, 733 miles were specifically related to care for Turk.

We used 1055 gallons (I converted Canadian purchases to gallons) of gas, averaging 14.56 miles per gallon. I figure the canoe and associated racks cost us about 1 mpg. Gasoline cost averaged $4.43 per gallon. The most expensive was $7.19 at Muncho Lake Lodge and the least expensive was the gas we bought yesterday at our neighborhood station at $3.28.

We spent 11 nights in boondocking situations, typically roadside pullouts, 10 nights compliments of our favorite Bentonville, Arkansas retailer, and 6 nights at other stores. We spent 49 nights in public (town, county, state, national) parks that varied in cost from $0 (7 nights) to $35; 4 nights in commercial RV parks, and 53 nights (quite a bit more than originally anticipated) in private driveways. Average cost for the public sites was $16.22 while the commercial parks averaged $29.85. We did leverage Golden Age discounts when available and selected 30 amp rather than 50 amp sites when available in commercial parks.

We planned to travel no more than 200 miles on a normal travel day which worked very well for us. We did end up with some 300 mile days, especially southbound when the navigator started showing signs of gethomeitis and I did over 500 miles one day on the solo bobtail trip to Deadhorse &  return.

10 comments:

  1. Great recap.....and helpful to those who are contemplating the trip. Our mileage and time is less...will be pulling our figures together is a couple of weeks, or less.

    Hope your adjustment to the Southwest is easy!

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    1. I'm looking forward to winter in the Southwest but right now it's still HOT!

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  2. What an epic journey! Those mileage figures are mind boggling to me. I need to get out more. :)

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    1. I was surprised how close the miles were to my original assumptions. The beautiful country and some wonderful people made it worthwhile. I'd love to do a Yukon, Haines, Skagway, Valdez trip some day.

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  3. Nice recap. Hope to have the opportunity to use some of your posts for my planning.

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    1. Have fun planning! Fair warning - Alaska is big enough that you can't do it justice in one summer. I'm dreaming of a return to concentrate on the Yukon and the eastern edge of Alaska from Skagway north.

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  4. Over 15,000 miles...WOW! It was a cool journey...really enjoyed it! Not sure I'd do it...maybe after we get a full year under our belts we'll be looking at trying it.

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    1. It's a loooonnnng ways but very rewarding. Lots(!) of people fly up and rent an RV to avoid the miles getting there and back, but Canada is just as pretty and friendly, even if their gas is more expensive.

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  5. Your numbers are really helpful & confirms why I haven't made the trip!
    It is really a wonderful story of adventure. Be sure to let us know how your little dog is progressing.
    I can hardly wait for your next Alaska trip ! I guess if Alaska was easy & closer , it would be full of people and have no animals.
    Thank you for your logging of this great part of your lives..
    Philip...

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    1. There will be an update on Turk coming soon - surgery #3 tomorrow but we think this one is much less involved. Glad you enjoyed the trip!

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