2gypsies

If you have the Milepost and Mike and Terry Church's book of Alaskan Camping (includes Canada & the Yukon) then you're set to go. Also get the TourSaver 2/1 Coupon book. One glacier cruise will pay for it. We did them out of Valdez and also Seward. The cat shouldn't be any problem. Don't cross into Canada until at least mid to end of May... still ice on lakes and possibly snow if any earlier. Sumas, Washington is an easy crossing. Plan to spend the first night in nearby Hope BC (awesome totems lining the street) and replenish fresh foods. We also went to the local bank and exchanged some money into Canadian because we planned to use Provincial parks & many have no attendants... just the iron ranger to put money. Go to Canadian web site for current crossing information on food, pets. Don't try to hide anything when going through check points. Drive on the top half of your tank and don't try to price compare even though fuel will be expensive. We boondocked or used public campgrounds for the whole trip. The only reservations made were for the July 4 weekend and staying in Denali Nat'l Park. For those we made them only 3 weeks prior when we could better judge when we'd be in the areas. As it turned out we were a little early for Denali so on a whim we boondocked at a lovely place nearby and drove in early morning. We easily secured an additional 5 nights in the front campground - Riley Creek. We then drove to Teklanika campground for another 5 nights. We saw THE mountain for almost 7 full days. (Some never see it.) We saw every one of the big animals... more than once. We got the TEK bus pass so at Teklanika we were able to take a ridge deeper into the park whenever we wanted. Sometimes we just got off and walked the road in complete silence in the huge expanse.... just us! If you want to do any hiking in Banff/Jasper parks plan to stop on your return otherwise the trails will be snow packed early in summer. Go up on the Alaskan Hwy and return via the Cassier in order to stop in Hyder, Alaska to view the bears fishing in mid-August.... a must! We returned at the Roosville crossing near Glacier Nat'l Park - Hwy 93 Another trip we took the Alaskan ferry from Washington and rented a Class C so we could tour for a few weeks with friends who were flying in from Michigan. We enjoy driving the whole way much better. Hopefully, you can spend the whole summer on this trip and don't rush it. Have a good one!

You're talking about the ferry; not a cruise. 😉

You don't want to cross the Canadian border until at least mid-May. Otherwise you'll still see frozen lakes and fast streams and very possibly snow. If you can, drive to Alaska. You'll see a lot more than on a cruise and you can take your cat. Spend the whole summer for the trip and begin the return late August. Return via the Cassier and you can stop in Hyder to watch the bears fish. That's the time they are there.

Wow! that bear pic had his ribs showing. 😟

Hwy 16 from Buffalo is Powder River Pass EL9600' Westbound from Buffalo: About 3 mi from the summit is steep grade for 18 miles - 5-7% Then 9 mi from the summit is 6% grade for 10 miles with a runaway truck ramp at 16 mi down from the summit. Then another 4 mi of steep grade. Many curves on this hill. Get into low grade before beginning down; not in the midst. Use brakes as little as possible. That said.... take it easy & you'll be fine. Many RVers drive it.

Yes, you really can't go by printed material as to if you'd fit or not. We volunteered and national and state parks and we found that they don't measure sites. They guesstimate! Plus, non-RVers usually state the size of RV that would fit. In fact, at Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park one of our gigs was assigning incoming reservations with a campsite for the day's arrival. They had an old list to go by for size. We knew from walking the campground often that there were many more big sites than what was on the list. We offered to measure each site and create a new list. The rangers were amazed at how many more big rig sites we found.

16 is definitely the way you want to go. We've done it a few times with no issue.

I hope he's not planning to visit Yosemite soon as it's closed because of heavy snow! https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/us/yosemite-national-park-closed-snow.html We were measured at Organ Pipe Cactus National Park, AZ...... don't know if they still do it. They had lines marked on the pavement and you had to fit in them.

Oh my! That's heartbreaking. I did see the home across the street with the upturned car on the news. She was right in the heart of it. Hopefully, insurance will help. Where did you end up staying? There might be claim adjusters in town taking up some spaces.

I-70 west of Denver is not recommended. It has 11,000' elevation.... definitely a biggie!

We've stayed at many fairgrounds and all seemed to have big sites. People stay there with long horse trailers so they need long sites. We found them good places to stay when there's nothing big going on.

I really think the eastern 'hills' are worse than western interstates in winter. Shorter hills in summer in the Ozarks are worse than an interstate mountain pass. Short hills are always more difficult than a longer gradual stretch especially if they have curves. The route I'd recommend to keep you south the longest is I-40, I-35N to I-70W to Denver. Then I-25/I-90 to Bozeman. If you take I-29 to Sioux Falls then I-90 you'll have a long stretch driving north and west. You have plenty of experience with a big rig. You'll have no trouble. Hopefully, you can allow extra days to get there just in case you have to spend a night to wait out conditions. Monitor the weather carefully hourly. You can do it!

Although this Escapees forum is awesome and someone here may be able to help with your question you might want to post your question again on irv2.com It has a special section for Alaska/Canada and there are a few folks who post on it who live in Alaska and travel back and forth. Hopefully, they will see your post. Have a great summer!

I guess flying is not an option since it's a 5th wheel.... you'll need a way to haul it home. Unless .... you fly and hire someone to put it in storage until you can drive there in better weather. Lots to explore in the Bozeman area so that would be a good place to break it in when you go and pick it up. Or.... try calling storage places & perhaps they can recommend someone to move it to a storage place. You don't need to be there for the financial settlement. Yes, Montana uses salt on the roads. https://www.uppermissouriwaterkeeper.org/roadway-de-icer-rubbing-salt-in-the-wounds/ Yes, you need to carry chains. https://www.mdt.mt.gov/mdt/mdt-faq.aspx Here's the route: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Gulf+Shores,+Alabama/Bozeman,+MT/@38.3060541,-112.34804,5z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x889a1ad89231ee4d:0xc6ba715075f6d16f!2m2!1d-87.7008193!2d30.2460361!1m5!1m1!1s0x5345444c4fba8813:0x63f5d064f73b60aa!2m2!1d-111.0319925!2d45.6814733!3e0

For full-timing I feel you should concentrate on the RV and then work around it. The attached outdoor kitchen takes away from storage space with a small RV which full-timers need. They are 'cute' but not practical. Instead, get a nice covered propane grill. Grilled food is also healthier than fried food. If you need fried then go out occasionally to satisfy your taste for it. You'll have less cleanup with a grill. Some have multiple uses. We carried a Weber Q and that was the first thing that came out once parked. We used it daily. It's not too large to store. One of us was in charge of grilling and the other the inside veggie/salad. Keep it simple.

It didn't seem like it. Kirk asked him ..... "You don't give us much to go on since you didn't list any year" It seemed like Kirk was asking about his car..... not the OP's. Oh well..... I'm out of here!

Yes, Scottie asked in 2019 about towing his Mazda 3 but Alan Carbo asked today if he flat towed the Mazda 3 which is what Scottie was asking about. That's why it seems like Carbo was asking Scottie. Oh well...... I've been wrong before and I think you have, also. 😉

I think he was asking the OP.

Keep in mind that water weighs a lot. .. 8.34 lbs. / gallon If you have: 40 gal X 8.34 = 333.6 or 334 lbs. rounded 30 gal X 8.34 = 250.2 or 250 lbs. rounded X 2 =500 lbs. Of course, you don't have to drive with a full tank of fresh water but you, most likely, will have partial liquid in each of your tanks... fresh, grey, black. So.... if you have partial in all 3 tanks you could possibly have 300 lb of liquid that you're carrying. Your figure of 265 lb of potential cargo isn't going to go far. You're carrying food, dishes, cookware, clothes, toiletries, towels, possibly a few toys for the kids, etc.

I don't understand exactly who your policy is with.... All you mention is FM... " I told her I guess FM was for the policies thru FMCA but I was thru Escapees." Is your policy thru FMCA? Escapees isn't an insurer.

If you use the Escapade web site to register I believe I saw a space to check if you want to be parked with a specific group.

If staying on the grounds you can request to be parked with the Boomers, Xscapers or Solos if that would interest you. They all boondock a lot so you may have more in common and get some great boondocking help.

Interesting.... in our area 2017 was 50% and 2022 was 56%. This is a retirement community.

I keep it simple. I have Windows Defender and AdBlock and don't get any ads or misc. junk in my email. I don't click on files I don't recognize and my computer has never been compromised. I would imagine we all have stuff 'out there' that we don't know about. I don't worry about it. Wait until Artificial Intelligence really takes hold. "AI is already being used in facial recognition systems that can result in an intrusive public and private surveillance state where both the government and private corporations can know exactly where you are and what you are doing." from The Week magazine.

I just now clicked on Ray's post with the link. Under the black graphic IS a red, underlined line. I did NOT create it myself & I wouldn't even know how to do it within a link!