Alaska to Arizona & Back Winter Trip

[Wheeldog]

A little over a year ago I stopped by to get info on re-doing my tear. My goal was to spend the winter in AZ. The wife and I were able to pull it off this winter. We loaded up the motorcycles in the pickup and headed out.



Spent the first night at Destruction Bay. It was just barely freezing out.

We saw some Elk between Haines Jct and Whitehorse.




Spent the second night at Liard Hot Springs. Took a dip around 10:00 PM. Over the years we have stopped there quite a bit in the winter and it is quite nice. This time it was well below zero and we got cold. The top foot of the water was nice and warm, but is was colder down towards the bottom. This was the coldest night we spent in the tear. We used a Mr Heater to warm the tear up.....which it did a good job......we shut it off when we went to sleep. We have 1 sleeping bag rated to 60 below and 2 rated to zero and several blankets. Keeping warm wasn't a problem. BUT Moisture was a BIG problem. Got frost in the cabinet and our clean clothes stuck to it. The windows were froze open.....water was dripping from the vent. Everything was damp.

We ran the heater for a while to dry things out. Gonna have to do something to fix the moisture problem.

The campground at Liard is open year around.



Saw a few Stone sheep......





To be continued.............

[Wheeldog]

This time of year there isn't all that much light. We stopped and camped in the dark and took of in the dark.

Here are a couple shots along the Alcan.





We spent the next night in Hudsons Hope. Saw a sign for a city campground and checked it out. The campsites weren't plowed out but the parking lot was. The out houses were open so we stayed there.

Got into a snow storm in the mountains on either side of Prince George. That was the only bad road conditions on the way down.

We cheated and got a hotel room.....we both needed a shower. We crossed back into the US near Vancouver on I 5. Campgrounds were open so we stopped at one in WA. We both enjoyed the warmer weather.



We took I 5 down to 30 and went to Astoria to start our trip down Hwy 1. Got to admit that drive is beautiful along the ocean. We drug our feet and spent 4 days getting through the area.









We went through the Redwoods.......our dog Rocky enjoyed them too.



After the Redwoods we headed over to I 5 and south to Bakersfield. I couldn't believe how they screwed up the scenery with those windmills.



We caught I 40 and took it to 95 and 72 till we got to our destination, Bouse, AZ

We keep a 5th wheel year around in an RV park there. We will stay in it for 3 months. Our tear would now become a "red neck" spare room. We also used it to travel the area......cost too much to drag that 5th wheel around.



Guess it's a small world as we ran into a forum member "deserthawk" several times in Yuma. He used to live in Alaska. Between teardrops and Alaska.....we had lots to talk about.

Stay tuned for trips around the south west and back to Alaska.........

[SamR]

beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing

[Miriam C.]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. What a wonderful trip. Perhaps a thread on how to get rid of the vapor

[clkelley564]

Beautiful!!!!

Looks like an adventurous trip!!!

[Mike C.]

Great looking pictures, but too cold for me. If I was younger, I would love to take a trip like that. Looks like fun.

[deserthawk]

Hey Wheeldog,

It was great running into you guys! Have a safe and fun trip home and say hello to the glaciers for me....

[neal b]

great pictures looks like you had a great trip like the elk,sheep pics


neal b

[Socal Tom]

im a little late to this thread,. We drove the alcan when I was about 12. I have an uncle in Soldatna. We had 3 kids and 2 adults in a van for the trip . It was quite the adventure in 1976. Ive heard the alcan is paved now, it was 1500 miles of dirt road at the time. The yukon is beautiful though. Ive also beem to bouse, talk about a wide spot in the road...
Its a very small place. Nice people though.
Tom

[Vedette]

What route are you taking on the way home?
If you are coming thru the Okanagan Valley we have lots of room for a teardrop and hot showers.
Feel free to drop in.
Good Roads
Sandi & Brian

[Gage]

What route are you taking on the way home?
If you are coming thru the Okanagan Valley we have lots of room for a teardrop and hot showers.
Feel free to drop in.
Good Roads
Sandi & Brian

Excuse me, but I believe you should check the date this thread was posted. They made the trip in 2008. Although it does look like they may make this trip every year or so.

[Wheeldog]

What route are you taking on the way home?
If you are coming thru the Okanagan Valley we have lots of room for a teardrop and hot showers.
Feel free to drop in.
Good Roads
Sandi & Brian

I appreciate the offer of a place to park. We used the teardrop going to AZ for 2 years. Then we drove a pickup with a camper down. We leave the pickup/camper in AZ and fly back and forth now.

We still have the tear, but it needs to be refinished. For now it is on the back burner, as I have too many other projects going.

[Mukilteo]

I have a sister and a niece in Tok, AK.
Always thought it would be cool to drive up there.

[Wheeldog]

I have a sister and a niece in Tok, AK.
Always thought it would be cool to drive up there.

Go for it! The Alcan is paved, but you will prolly run into some dirt in construction zones.

[sakuragi2012]

wow awesome photo shoots up there! how i wish i can get there in your trips. best of luck TS.