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.

August 29 - Home Again

After a nice cool night in Jacob Lake, we started down the hill, quickly leaving the ponderosa pine  and juniper behind. It felt a bit strange to have been in Jacob Lake and not spend any time on the north rim of the Grand Canyon.

As we continued drifting lower, the Vermilion Cliffs were showing their glory in the morning light.

We stopped near Soap Creek so I could get pictures of the balancing rocks

and the house that someone had built around one of the rocks.

The Colorado River at Marble Canyon was muddy, indicating the Paria River had flashed with the hard rains yesterday. I was going to go up to Lees Ferry to see if any raft trips were preparing to launch for the trip through the Grand Canyon but they were repaving the road so we avoided the construction.

The bridges over the Colorado at Marble Canyon (old on the left, new on the right) are the last picture from our 4 1/2 month Alaska trip, bridging from a wonderful road trip to whatever comes next.

August 28 - Jacob Lake, AZ

We went out to breakfast at IHOP and appreciated the plant growth in their back parking lot before heading south from Springville, Utah this morning.

After some additional freeway, we got to enjoy the quirky nature of the small towns and wonderful scenery of Highway 89. Someone in Gunnison decided that the world needed a Dodge version of Tow Mater.

The towns had their share of old buildings in various states of repair like this building in Marysvale

as well as beautiful, often brick, homes.  This one was in Panguitch, but nearly every town had homes of similar vintage in excellent condition.

In between the towns was either sagebrush and beautiful scenery,

or green fields and beautiful scenery.

Every now and then there would be buildings or foundations indicating a location where someone had once lived. (The pictures would be better but most were taken on the fly.)

On the south side of Kanab, Utah, in the midst of road construction, we spotted a sign that confirms this four and one-half month trip is just about over.

Home for tonight is the USFS Campground in Jacob Lake, Arizona. This is posted via our Millenicom Mi-Fi using our Wilson amplifier and external antenna to pull in a 3G signal.