We wanted to share with our readers tips, tools and resources we used when planning our epic 2023 trip to Alaska from upstate NY. BTW- planning to go to Alaska is not an overnight whim. It took us over 8 months to adequately plan. Some high demand camping places in AK require reservations even 8 months in advance. Luise started making key reservations, e.g. Homer Spit Campground in Dec/Jan/Feb for summer reservations. Do not wait to book, especially if you have a larger RV. Camper vans and small trailers/tabs have it a little easier. 99% of the campgrounds we had reservations at had very liberal cancellation/change policies because they know from experience it happens with AK travelers. We stayed at campgrounds (private, state parks, national park, Military Base FAM camps and county parks) about 85% of the time, some with FHU, some dry camp. We boondocked in pull outs, or parking lot overnights the other 15%.

In this article we have also outlined our pre-trip prep to our 1987 Avion Travel Trailer and our 2011 GMC 2500HD Denali pickup truck.

BTW—-our information is for ANYONE making a road trip to Alaska, anyone flying Alaska and planning on renting an RV there, or an automobile to traverse the state.

Be sure to also visit our Facebook page and our YouTube Channel since as possible (when internet is available up there) we posted both formatted and live video during our nearly 3 months in Alaska and our nearly 7 month, over 16K mile RV journey which started in NY state! Cheers!

WHAT WAS OUR PLANNING TIMETABLE?

We began planning for our “epic AK 2023” trip about 2 years ago (2020) with a VERY general route, some high points/destinations to see along the way (Banff & Jasper and Milepost “0” sign for the ALCAN) and what time of year we wanted to be in the 49th and therefore, when we would leave on the journey. At the time, we were residents in upstate NY close to the VT border and 3 hrs south of Montreal, Canada. In general, this was “pre-pre” trip planning…more like a dream state of planning and what out trip would look like.

Our hard core planning really began 1 year out when we knew what date Kevin would be able to retire on (April 30,2023).

THAT was the key that unlocked as to when our trip would begin since going to AK with our 1987 Avion travel trailer. A big trip to Alaska was to be his “bucket list” retirement present. (I questioned his sanity on this because of course, on this trip he would be doing most of the driving and did he really want to spend his first weeks/months of retirement driving?? after all–for 30+ years working for our State Department of Transportation—that is all he did…was a professional driver of those huge snow plows on major highways and various other wheeled equipment maintaining state roads!)

We have created “planning categories” based on essential needs to help illustrate our planning process tools.  These may or may not apply to you depending on if you are taking your own RV or not.  If you are flying or taking a cruise to AK, yours may indeed differ.  Many of these ideas may help you to plan a trip to anywhere!

Actually, the planning categories below can help you with ANY TRIP you are taking regardless of ultimate destination!

“TRIP” PLANNING CATEGORIES

(1)PLANNING BOOKS/APPS/GROUPS/ONLINE INFO SOURCES: What did we need to plan our routes and stops along the way for things like overnights, gas, attractions?

(2) OUTFIT OUR RV ACCORDINGLY FOR SUCH A LONG AND ROAD INTENSIVE JOURNEY: What did we need for equipment, safety, long hauls with no auto/RV services, no internet, no cell service?

(3) PERSONAL GEAR: What did we need to purchase for that we did not already have? Think -comfort in widely varying climates & terrain, personal safety while driving, hiking and camping.

(4) RESERVATIONS WE NEED (or not) FOR OVERNIGHT CAMPING STAYS, SPECIAL TOURS/ATTRACTION TICKETS: What types of and how far in advance can/should those be made, best deals, how to find?

(5) SETTING UP A TRIP BUDGET: Lastly what would the costs be and having a budget that we could live with but that had the flexibility we may need along the way for repairs, extra things we decided to do, and based on fluctuating costs for gas, food, etc. in Canada and Alaska. 

TIP- since gas over the time of our planning (2022-23) has ranged in NYS from$3.35-$4.99 per gallon, we based our GAS COST for this trip @ $6 per gallon (see below) since we know in CA and AK gas prices are always going to be higher.  Here is a snapshot of our “expense” side of our planning budget.  **We have used RV TRIP Wizard (RVTW) for all our RV trip planning since 2021.  YOU have the ability to preset and customize your anticipated budgets on various expenses at the beginning of each trip planned.  We will go into FAR more detail about RVTW and our budget projections as part of this article.

LET’S GET STARTED!

We will go into each of these “PLANNING CATEGORIES”  somewhat in depth in this article.  But my preponderance for going down a rabbit hole when writing “how to articles” is very strong- so I have/or will be creating dedicated sub-pages/articles which I will link out to in specific areas of this blog post- for you to take a “deeper plunge” with me. Hope you followed my logic on that! 

***Remember, because each RV is going to be unique, the section regarding what we did to fit up our 1987 Avion travel trailer for the journey may not apply nearly as broadly as the other “planning categories”- but nevertheless, it will be worth your read because there may be supplies, equipment and travel safety essentials we onboarded that you may have never thought about- and should have even if you are a weekend warrior routinely going less than 500 miles on your RV trips!

(1) PLANNING BOOKS/APPS/GROUPS/ONLINE INFO SOURCES:

This section will be the most extensive simply because…well–you wanted an article on planning right??!!  This section will be chocked full of resources that run the gamut from online to social media, from chambers of commerce I found uniquely helpful to trip planning resources that we simply would not be without!

RV Trip Wizard: https://tripwizard.rvlife.com/   This online program is part of the more extensive family of products under the RVLife.com umbrella.  Do check it out by using the link above.  For my planning purposes I almost exclusively used my laptop because I found that I could have multiple tabs open on my browser and easily revert back to my RVTW planning page once I found info on the web I was looking for.  The phone  APP, I have found is good for once your planning is done or just needs minor notes added to a particular stop, etc.  I would find it very hard to do the simultaneous researching needed on just the app.  I think those of you who use a tablet may find that would work just fine if you do not have a laptop or PC. 

NOTE:  we just activated the GPS APP and will be using it on this trip for the first time- so I cannot comment on its specific abilities/disabilities yet.  Watch our FB page for how that goes once we hit the road!  Other Vloggers have said it works well 85-90% of the time- so fingers crossed!

All the “trips” you plan are saved into your unique account library in RVTW.  You can save them as “Active”, “Tentative” or “Archived”. The archived is a nice feature if you do the same trip e.g. a snowbird each year, or want to repeat or perhaps tweak a prior trip- since you already did most of the work already for route planning!

Here is a short video that describes the program basics.

SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES:

This social media FACEBOOK GROUP is perhaps the most important #2 resource for planning we have found.   That is RVing to Alaska-Original

You must request to join and complete a short questionnaire. 

You are hearing from credible people who have done a trip-many multiple times (mostly geared towards RVers but there are many who have done trips using other transportation means).  It is a dedicated Facebook page that is only about traveling TO ALASKA from the LOWER 48 or Canada.  The Moderators do a super good job on this tactfully and succinctly.  It is moderated by veteran travelers, many who now have chosen to live in AK.  Stacey and her husband, Gary own a Class A motorhome and their trips and tips on YouTube can be found at Pau Hanna.  We loved watching their videos as they traversed several times from WA to AK- especially seeing the roadway conditions, tips on boondocking spots and what to do and what not to do along the way!  Needless to say, we learned a few things from their earlier mistakes.  They now live full time permanently in AK.   The group fB site offers tons of tips, insights, articles, FB page files, FAQs and occasional live or taped video chats by Stacey and Gary on specific topics, geographic area articles, current highway conditions, border crossing tips/tribulations are awesome to say the least.  If there is a fB group Bible on the internet for traveling to AK- this is it!

New, I believe beginning this year, they have modified the content format and the landing page above will be used every year, but then subscribed members of this group can join a sub-set FB group JUST FOR YOUR PARTICULAR YEAR OF TRAVEL TO ALASKA! But you also have the benefit of being able to access the archived previous years to do keyword searches!  This was a very smart move on the part of the owners of the site.  It keeps material far more organized from year to year, current and fresh, it provides greater access for us RV2AK23 members in closer touch specifically with each other to arrange meet ups, travel caravans and to just say “HI!! I saw you just pull off at a rest stop!” if we so desire to.

Plus you can support their channels and become more easy to recognize on the road by purchasing some of their RV2AK23 (name your year) MERCH!  Its quality stuff and we cannot wait till the weather is warm enough to put our clings on our truck and Avion windows and our pins on our clothing. How fun will it be to actually meet someone in a store or gas station that you have been communicating with online for months before!  It is a great service to the traveling public for sure and to belong to these groups costs absolutely nothing!

This is a sample of one of the stickers.  It is not a real metal license plate.  They have pins, stickers, clings, etc. at super reasonable prices.  We loaded up!

There are plenty of other fB groups that focus on trips to Alaska and a plethora of state, city, villages that have their own dedicated fB pages as well so do some searching and decide which you find most helpful. Trust me, the algorithms will find you and you will be inundated with opportunities to see what’s out there! Here is another few we joined. Personally I prefer the ones that have some vetting so you get less tire kickers and spammers and more relatable content. These are ones I did find useful to a degree. https://www.facebook.com/groups/alaskatraveltips (Alaska Travel Tips) https://www.facebook.com/groups/535465954734135 (RVing the AK Highway) https://www.facebook.com/groups/667926326628373 (Alaska RV Travelers)

TOURISM GUIDES, GUIDE BOOKS AND SOURCES FOR PASSES:

YOU MUST HAVE PAPER! Don’t let anyone tell you that you do not need printed maps, guide books, printed reservation confirmations and your trip printed out on paper….you do! There are huge swaths of Canada and Alaska that have zero cell coverage much less access to the internet. Do NOT depend on campgrounds to have any internet to speak of and you will save yourself a lot of grief! (Ok, if you have Starlink- you may be ok-but we don’t, and won’t)

The Milepost is revered as the “go to book” for all things for the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway) and all of the major routes (paved or gravel bed) throughout Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory in Canada. (On our trip we will actually be camping through the Provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory. We ordered our ’22 edition and our ’23 version from Amazon. I personally think as long as you have the year before your travel year you will be fine- but Kevin wanted the latest version too just in case. Most veteran AK visitors will tell you the prior year’s is fine along with belonging to some of the groups i have mentioned above for other tips and current road conditions. The book is a little daunting, but I have plowed through it and dog eared pages, put stickies on “must see” places. Some have said once you are actually ON the road where the listings begin, it becomes much easier to use and many keep it right on their passengers lap and follow the “mileposts” on the highways to allow them to anticipate what is coming up soon, what trouble spots the book tells you to look out for e.g. high volume of logging trucks, or wildlife and when gas stations are coming up OR few and far between!

TIP: the book tries to come out in FEB/MAR. So far with us they are 0 for 2. We got our ’22 at the very end of March 2022 and are still waiting on our ’23 hoping it will get to us before we leave on May 1. We have gotten 3 notifications of delays in publishing. Ugh! Glad I already went through our ’22. So my tip is, at least order the prior year’s version to get it and become familiar with it. It is NOT what I consider your base planning tool. Use the RV Trip Wizard for route planning, then use the Milepost to dig deeper into details, sites to see, services along the way and their tips.

MAPS:  The Milepost does come with quite a decent map but I strongly suggest  you purchase a reputable USA (including AK) paper map of a manageable foldable size that shows sufficient details of smaller provincial and local roads as well as major routes/highways, border crossings, etc.  We purchased this Rand McNally Map for our trip.

Other obvious sources for maps (and remember to ask to be sent their hard copy guides!!!!) will be:

• Alaska State Tourism   (their website is outstanding too!)
• Canadian Government Tourism Sites (will depend on your starting point)
• The State Tourism offices of those you will go through in the lower 48.

Speaking of Paper- if there is ONE TIP I can offer you that in my mind is a MUST DO for planning a trip like this it is to go back to “old school” and buy a 3″ wide spine ring binder notebook!  Here are a couple of photos of mine that I have been putting together over our 7 months of planning!

With this notebook…..

• We don’t need internet
• We don’t need cell coverage
• Heck, We don’t even need electricity or batteries to make it work! 

How NOVEL is that these days?!!!! But we will have NO problem accessing our trip routes, campground reservations, passes, pre-purchased tickets. We have heard countless reports of “internet down” at various gas stations, tourism offices and attractions especially in AK. Don’t be that person—–make yourself a notebook with hard copies of everything! (PS- I do also keep file folders of all on my laptop and OneDrive too! Just in case my notebook gets burned up, stolen or eaten by a wayward dog…or bear…or wolf in the backcountry!)

In this notebook I keep the following:

Photo copies/print outs of:

• ALL Campground reservation confirmations in date order and travel segment section.  if we are doing a boondock or pull off then I slip in a sheet of copy paper with Longitude/latitude degrees, notes to self from other camper’s reviews/comments, etc.- so basically each day or night is accounted for during the trip 85% of the time.
• Our Rand McNally USA Map, and other smaller maps I have pulled from inside visitor guides that were mailed to us (free maps are always great!)
• Printed confirmations and details of tours we have booked (yes we are going on a puddle jumper airplane on a “flightseeing trip” around Denali and surrounding mountains–wait for those pictures!)
• Plastic sleeve protectors holding our Veteran’s AK STATE Pass (US Vets stay FREE at AK State Campgrounds- we saved over $200 so far with this pass and its free for the asking and proof of your DD214) and verification letter (good for 5 yrs) , our BC National Parks Camping Pass* (good for 1 yr), our US NPS National Park Lifetime Senior Access Pass.  You do not need to be a Senior to save money with other types of passes that NPS offers.  Use our link to find out more!  (PS- the LIFETIME ACCESS Senior pass is a super deal at $80 if you qualify- we get all our camping with NPS at 50% off plus discounts for some tour tickets too!)
• Copied sheets showing locations of BC Provincial Parks, Yukon Parks, Locations and Times of Operations of US/Canadian Border Crossings (yes, during our entire 14K mile trip we will be crossing the border upwards of 4 or 5 times!)
• Specific pages on attractions we do not want to miss that I have torn out of the tourism guides that have been sent to me.  We learned this tip decades ago by professional veteran world traveler Rick Steves.  Tourism guides are great but only carry with you the actual pages where you plan to be traveling.  We are only doing a small vertical section of Montana– so I only need those 3 pages from their 78 page guide!
• * NOTE ABOUT THE BC NATIONAL PARK PASS:  The BC Parks pass is a good value ONLY IF you know you will be visiting the participating parks of the program AND you will be spending at least 5-7 DAYS total/combined in the parks during your trip.  I really liked using the Banff-Lake Louise Visitor Center’s website to get our pass because they eplain things very well and there is a calculator you can use by putting in the # of days you plan to be inside the parks and it will auto calculate for you which pass is the best to get (if any- they may say its best to just pay as you go each day you enter a park.  Yes, BC charges for each day you enter one of their national parks like Banff, Jasper, etc.)  For us, the cheapest route was to purchase the FAMILY PASS.  It is good for the year and since we will be in Banff & Jasper parks for 7 days total just on our northern leg- we can visit any other parks on our full trip now without a care!

(2) OUTFITTING OUR RV (and Truck) FOR ALASKA  AND CANADA:

This is a very case-by-case specific planning category.  Your mode of travel and/or type and age of RV is going to determine much of your “to do ” list before lift off!  So I have broken down into “general outfitting” and our “Avion specific” projects we did. 

Promise….this section is NOT as long as the previous one!

General Outfitting of your RV (and TRUCK!):  These are based on our 10++ years of RV experience as well as, and more importantly lots of fellow RVers who have done trips to AK and through Canada.

• Spare Tires  (ideally one for trailer, one for truck especially if you have odd ball hard to source tires). 
• Speedy Tire Repair Kit (there can be 100’s of miles between you and civilization!)
• Windshield Repair Kit (buy 2) (we ordered ours from Amazon)
• Portable Air Compressor (we have a Viair)
• Bug Repellent, Bug Lanterns, Thermocell Lantern or portable unit, head nets, bug badminton style rackets (again, Amazon has all of this and way cheaper than the stores will gnab you in AK for!)
• Flashlights and Headlamp flashlights
• Emergency flares & at least 1-2 Orange Safety cones (we travel w/ collapsible orange cones bought on Amazon)
• New or nearly new sets of tires on both RV and vehicles.  Check your tires DOT Date code and if more than a couple yrs old—we recommend replacing with new!
• Road Atlas (get the most current available at the time) Canada WEST Map and Alaska State Map

FOR OUR SPECIFIC NEEDS AND DESIRED UPGRADES TO OUR ’87 AVION- HERE IS WHAT WE DID TO PREPARE FOR THIS TRIP AND FULL TIME LIFE ON THE ROAD:

on the Avion Travel Trailer:

• Installed new MORryde Independent Suspension System (blog post link)
• Installed Kodiak Hydraulic Disc Brakes ( see link above)
• Installed 6 Battleborn Battery bank system with a Victron Multiplus 3000 Inverter (see our blog post about details on this)
• Installed 2 Bluetooth Mopeka LP Level Gauge sensors
• Installed new BAL Scissor style Stabilizers front and rear with SNAPpads
• Fabricated a Spare tire mount (with license plate holder) for front of our GMC truck (bike rack is on rear hitch of trailer)- this mount will carry our spare Avion trailer tire.

On the Truck Specifically:

• Installed Rhino-Rack roof top carrier and cage for bulky items such as our portable sewage tote and large patio rug we using only on 1wk+ stays.
• 

  Rhino Rack roof bars and cage specifically made for our 2011 GMC 2500 HD Denali. Easy to install, works great!
• New Tires and spare all the way around.  NOTE:  We purposefully ordered our tires from Discount Tire Direct and had them shipped to us and had our local tire place mount and balance them.  DTD is the national company where you can purchase, for a small additional per tire, (0urs was less than $37 per tire) a full 3-yr Warranty on the tires-no questions asked. We wanted to have tires from a store we knew we could find in many states across the country.  Worth looking into! 
• Installed a DC to DC Charging system to recharge our Battleborn batteries in trailer while we are driving.  
• Installed a Mechman Heavy Duty Alternator (goes along with the DC-DC charging system
• Undercoated the Truck Rustproofing
• Installed Kleinn Truck Air Horn System (the factory horn was WAY too wimpy! Boys n’ their toys!!)