Alaska Bound

[Galway Girl]

Hull 505 - Galway Girl Made it to mile 0.  Updates later.

 

[Patriot]

Awesome!!! We look forward to lots of photos! Continued safe travels!

Great looking rig!
 

Patriot🇺🇸

[shhQuiet]

I would love to make this trip!  It's on my list once I pull the trigger and retire.  Please keep us updated on how well the Oliver does on the Alaska highway.  I've heard it is pretty rough through Canada, especially.

[Galway Girl]

Made it to the Yukon.  First problem on trip.

At Watson Lake turned on pump and heard splashing sound under bed  by pump

We had been in bad washboard roads which broke the PEX connection at the T out of the water heater.  Thanks to previous posts I  knew of this trouble spot and had replacement parts on board.  Took 30 mins to fix.

 

 

 

 

 

[SeaDawg]

Congratulations on having parts on hand. The Yukon truly is "larger than life."

Our favorite days of our Alaska trips have been northern bc, and the Yukon. Especially,  the Yukon. 

Enjoy!

[rich.dev]

4 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

I  knew of this trouble spot and had replacement parts on board.

Good on you for having the parts on hand, do you maybe have links of the parts? 

[Galway Girl]

I think it was this one.  Best if you go get a few of the fittings at a HW store and a couple short pieces of PEX tubing. 

[Shawna and Scott]

@Galway Girl You may have covered this somewhere else if so Im sorry just havent seen it mentioned anywhere.

What did you use on the front of your Oliver and how did you attach it?

[Galway Girl]

23 hours ago, Shawna and Scott said:

What did you use on the front of your Oliver and how did you attach it?

Cheap yoga mats from Amazon.

We cut out templates out of paper grocery bags, then cut mats to fit.

we used 3m no-residue duct tape on edges.

Items are listed on the Amazon Oliver’s Outfitter Guide here:

 

Amazon Olive Outfitters Guide

 

Cheers,

Craig & Rose

 

 

 

 

 

[Shawna and Scott]

20 hours ago, Galway Girl said:

Cheap yoga mats from Amazon.

We cut out templates out of paper grocery bags, then cut mats to fit.

we used 3m no-residue duct tape on edges.

Items are listed on the Amazon Oliver’s Outfitter Guide here:

 

Amazon Olive Outfitters Guide

 

Cheers,

Craig & Rose

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks, very helpful !!

[Galway Girl]

Made it to Congdon Creek CG on Kluhane Lake -Yukon A beautiful campground.  
 

Starlink is working great at our site 7 because the trees are a bit back from the trailer.

 

 

[SeaDawg]

That's a very beautiful campground. Do be mindful of bear precautions.  We've been there several times. One of the few places we've camped with a separate area for tenters, enclosed by electrified fence. 

Congratulations.  You're almost to Alaska! Last time we were there, the road between there and Tok was riddled with frost heaves. Hope it's better this year, but look ahead.

The three bears grocery store, and the visitor center in tok, are really nice. Excellent free car/rv wash at Northern energy if you fill up the truck.  Outdoor, cold water, bring your own soap. Two lanes only. Free dump station and potable water, too. Truly a great welcome after the long dirty road. And, nice people.

We've camped a few times at the state cg just before the bridge, down the hill, on the river.

There's another lovely campground (weekdays) south of Tok. Don't know which way you're going from there. Moon something. Weekends very crowded, weekdays, pretty empty. Beautiful views, but if it's busy, you're stacked up like sardines. Gravel. No services. 

Enjoy!

 

 

[MAX Burner]

We really like the StarLink mount you've placed on the leading forward section of the street-side awning...   Very clean, nicely done!

[Galway Girl]

A few pictures as we move forward in Alaska.  Now at Fairbanks for a few days.

Any attractions that are “not miss”?

Chime in…

 

 

[SeaDawg]

Which way are you going from Fairbanks?

In town, Cookie Jar restaurant is great.  Excellent, really.

Just outside, in Fox, Silver Gulch brewery. There's a good viewpoint stop along the way, explaining the oil pipeline. https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/15097

Fairbanks is a nice small city. There's a lovely park just outside of town. The campground in town can get kind of buggy .

Enjoy your stay, and resupply here. Better, and bigger,  stores than you'll find til Anchorage. 

Two Fred Meyer stores, and a Costco, also. Every service you can need, in other stores. There's a really nice car wash by the close in Fred Meyer.

If you decide to visit the arctic circle, I'd really recommend leaving the trailer at the campsite,  and drive up and back, get rhe obligatory photo (batting the bugs away), and drive back, same day 

The cg at the arctic circle isn't much, and really, really buggy when we were there. I think it was free, and worth exactly the price.

 

[katanapilot]

8 hours ago, SeaDawg said:

If you decide to visit the arctic circle, I'd really recommend leaving the trailer at the campsite,  and drive up and back, get rhe obligatory photo (batting the bugs away), and drive back, same day 

 

 

Exactly.  Doable with the Ollie, but not recommended.   Road is quite messy, especially if wet. Take extra fuel unless your TV has really long legs.  Yukon River Camp was out of fuel the day we passed through - so I'm glad we had Jerry Cans with extra fuel.  It would have been very tight to make it up and back in our small tank supercharged Tundra.

[Galway Girl]

Great tips for Fairbanks.

Visited both Fred Meyer and Costco.

stayed at KOA Chene River. 
 

Some pix:

Museum of the north, Pioneer park, Sternwheel Cruise. Eskimo Olympics.

 

 

[SeaDawg]

Looks like you are having "chamber of commerce" weather. Hope it stays the same. 

What's your next destination?

Thanks for the great pics. 

[Galway Girl]

Next is Denali NP

Rain for next week.

[SeaDawg]

Do you have reservations? 

The hop on hop off bus is a great ride. 

Best cg is the furthest out (Teklanika?) Longest bus ride. Not so great (certainly not the worst) as cg's go, but best tours from there.

I hope the clouds and rain let up, so that you see Denali in all its glory. Rare, but so very beautiful. 

[SeaDawg]

After Denali?

[Galway Girl]

Southbound:

Trapper Creek ( to double back to Talkeetna)

Eagle River CG in Chugach

Homer (2 nights)

Seward (4 nights)

Williwaw CG ( By Whittier Tunnel)  2 nts

Glen Allen  - 

Tok

Cassiar Hwy towards home

 

[SeaDawg]

So, no time to head up to Valdez?

Valdez itself isn't so much to talk about, but every trip we enjoy the scenery of the 50 miles or so of highway heading into Valdez. I truly think it's one of the most scenic stretches of highway in the US. (And, it's paved, with lots of pullouts.) Best thing about Valdez is a trip on Lulu Belle, to the glacier, imo. We've camped/boondocked a number of times in old Town, but last time it seemed pretty sketchy. If you decide to go, there is a nice state cg outside of town. The intown municipal is simply a parking lot. 

Homer is interesting,  camping on the spit. Are you fishing? Lots of opportunities for a day of fishing.

Seward is actually a really nice town.  If you can, take a cruise on one of the fjord cruises. It's a great way to spend a day, and really beautiful. 

Whittier is really ugly,  kind of Eastern Bloc buildings. The tunnel (shared with the rsilway) is most interesting.

The cassiar is beautiful,  and pretty empty and wild. Our favorite campground is Boya Lake. The lake is stunning. There's not much for services, so gas up when available.  When we first drove it, there were stretches of gravel, but it's pretty much paved everywhere now. Other Provincial campgrounds are nice too, but none compare with Boya.

[Galway Girl]

Fairbanks Golden Days this weekend, saw the rubber duck race.
 

Southbound:

Trapper Creek ( to double back to Talkeetna)

Eagle River CG in Chugach

Homer (2 nights)

Seward (4 nights)

Williwaw CG ( By Whittier Tunnel)  2 nts

Glen Allen  - 

Tok

Cassiar Hwy towards home

 

saw pipeline on Dalton Highway

[Boudicca908]

At Denali, I highly recommend the End of the Road bus tour with the guide -- it was one of the highlights of my 3 weeks in Alaska (sans Oliver)...