Alaska trip in 2022 Tab 320 Boondock

homerd

We made it to Alaska! Tab has worked well as we did not have any issues finding places to stay! We camped in Harvest hosts, provincial and Government areas. We stayed in a Canada Supermarket 2 days in Whitehorse, Yk. Problems with tab are, cushions compressed really bad by the 12th day! Very disappointing. The gray tank valve stuck after 1st use making it very interesting when emptying. The fire extinguisher fell off the door day 12. It has followed my Toyota 4Runner beautifully without sway bars! The 100ah Battleborns are having no problem keeping us powered. I do have 100 suitcase I have used sporadically. Overall happy with tab but disappointed withe the issues. 

elbolillo

homerd said:

We made it to Alaska! Tab has worked well as we did not have any issues finding places to stay! We camped in Harvest hosts, provincial and Government areas. We stayed in a Canada Supermarket 2 days in Whitehorse, Yk. Problems with tab are, cushions compressed really bad by the 12th day! Very disappointing. The gray tank valve stuck after 1st use making it very interesting when emptying. The fire extinguisher fell off the door day 12. It has followed my Toyota 4Runner beautifully without sway bars! The 100ah Battleborns are having no problem keeping us powered. I do have 100 suitcase I have used sporadically. Overall happy with tab but disappointed withe the issues. 

Cushions are a major disappointment for sure. Very low quality foam used. Definitely not the type of quality one would expect for the price. 

homerd

I agree, at this price point of camper it should be better

Denny16

The fire extinguisher is too heavy for the weak mounting in the door, with added stress from opening and closing the door.  We mounted ours on the end of the dinette bench next to the door.  Much better spot.  We are going to get the new road flare size fire extinguisher tubes thst might stay put on the door panel cubby.

Cheers 

AnOldUR

Hey @homerd, we’re right behind you in our 2020 320S. Starting from NJ, we crossed the Washington State border into Canada yesterday morning and spent the night at a roadside pull off on Rt 1. Road noise, but a great view. Tonight we’re at a small, cozy campground just north of Stoner on Rt 97. We had planned to stay at a Provincial campground, but got there and found they had a water contamination problem. All for the best. We got a nice waterfront site. Might spend two nights here before continuing our journey to Alaska. Where are you or will you be in Alaska?

View from our first night.

Tonight’s looking out the window.

Sharon_is_SAM

@AnOldUR - glad to see you two are continuing to have fun!

homerd

Where currently in Eureka Mts north of Valdez. Heading to Fairbanks today to my daughters. Enjoy your trip, you’re going to love it. Provincial Parks water is not potable at any we visited. If you have the IOverlander app you’ll find good water. We preferred these parks and free firewood and large spacious sites!

AnOldUR

@homerd we had a little trouble crossing into Canada. The arrivecan app asked for a destination in Canada where we could be contacted. We didn’t have one and the app wouldn’t let us go further without it. The crossing agent gave us a onetime pass since we had all our paperwork, but said next time we’d have to use the app. He said we could use any address in Canada. In other words, lie. Any tips on how to handle this?

Denny16

I have a mate in Victoria, and would use his address.  Find a fellow TaBer here that lives in Canada, and see if your can use his address.  Isn’t there a separate application for just going through Canada to get to Alaska?
 Cheers 

AnOldUR

@Denny16 the agent even suggested using a campground address. I’m just not liking the idea of not being truthful, especially when it comes to border crossing. We didn’t see a separate app for just passing through Canada and the agent didn’t mention it when we told him that Alaska was our destination, but we’ll look into it.
 We’re just thinking about how to handle crossing back into Canada after leaving Alaska. Although we are considering a ferry ride as a return option. Not having a lot of luck researching it. Any information would be helpful.

VictoriaP

@AnOldUR Are you looking to ferry from Alaska back to WA, or something else? The AK to WA ferry is this one: https://alaskaferry.com/FerrySchedules/AlaskaFerryInformation From what I can find, the furthest south stop in AK is Ketchikan, and the ferry ride would end back in Bellingham. There’s a fare calculator on the site that you can use to figure out your cost.

AnOldUR

Thanks @VictoriaP. That was a reality check. We thought that with high gas prices the ferry might be a reasonable option, but at a rough estimate of over $6K that’s not even close to our budget. Unless I did something wrong, we’re back to plan A. Too bad. It would have been fun.

Denny16

I think you did something wrong, I ran 2 adult sr., 1@ 2 berth roomette, 1 vehicle 14’ and 1 vehicle 18’ and got 2950.00 from KTN to BEL.  Sounds like you punched something wrong in.  Even with a inside 2 berth stateroom it would be $3200, not $6K.
 Cheers 

AnOldUR

Good to know @Denny16. We could probably swing that. Figuring the gas for the return trip will be in the $1K area anyway and the great experience it would be. I’ll check in person when we get to Skagway.

pthomas745

There is some info today about serious Alcan Highway damage up toward the Yukon near Liard.  Not sure on detours, but it happened a couple of days ago.

AnOldUR

Yes @pthomas745, we saw that and it had us worried. Turns out that the route we’re taking hits the Alaska highway above the damaged section. Thanks for the heads-up. We could have very easily missed it.

Jake_Elwood_and_us

VictoriaP said:

@AnOldUR Are you looking to ferry from Alaska back to WA, or something else? The AK to WA ferry is this one: https://alaskaferry.com/FerrySchedules/AlaskaFerryInformation From what I can find, the furthest south stop in AK is Ketchikan, and the ferry ride would end back in Bellingham. There’s a fare calculator on the site that you can use to figure out your cost.

From what I know of Alaska, Ketchikan has no roads to anywhere out so that's not an option.

AnOldUR

@Jake_Elwood_and_us. It looks to me like the route would be Skagway to Haines to Juneau to Bellingham with Haines being a stopover then picking up a second ferry in Juneau. 

VictoriaP

@Jake_Elwood_and_us Ah, good to know. The ferry makes multiple stops, so I’m sure they can catch it somewhere along the line.

Denny16

Catching the ferry further north, will probably add to the cost as well.  Good idea to double check it from the port of departure.  Have fun and stay safe.
 Cheers 

AnOldUR

Denny16 said:

Have fund and stay safe.

Laughed at this typo since funding this adventure is what has me worried. 

pthomas745

I drove to AK from California in 2016, (not towing yet) and it was quite a fun trip.  I had heard about the Alaska Marine Highway System by some campers in Glacier Bay, and decided to take the ferry back.  The route was from Haines to Bellingham, WA.  Took about 4 days, and it was pretty spectacular. (The drive is probably "more spectacular, however.) But, the Ferry was a lot of fun, and nice to see some "real" Alaska along the inside passage.  I had a small stateroom with a bath, the ferry had a restaurant and a "snack bar" sort of setup where there were microwaves, etc if you had your own food along.  There seemed to be many coolers brought onboard.   The price then for my vehicle and the small stateroom was $2200.  I just went through quickly this afternoon, and the same route with the same vehicle was anywhere from 2300 to 2700.  I did not include the trailer in my search, by the way, so this estimate is probably at least 1/3rd too low.

 I know the Alaska Ferry System has experienced some ups and downs the last few years, and it seems there aren't as many "sailings".  But, it was a perfectly fun thing to do, and was the topper of my trip.

Denny16

The inside passage is grand, and a fun trip.  We went from Vancouver Island up the inside passage in a converted Sea Going tug, twas a grand trip.  We flew back to Washington afterwards.  

Cheers 

AnOldUR

Have to ask. When on the ferry, do you have access to your car/trailer for food or a place to rest?

Jake_Elwood_and_us

AnOldUR said:

Have to ask. When on the ferry, do you have access to your car/trailer for food or a place to rest?

Nope. We were considering a return trip on the ferry but we have two dogs and I could never agree to the rules as stated below.

• You will not have random access to your pet since there is no access to the car deck while the ship is underway and all animals remain on the car deck. This rule applies whether they are in a car or not.
  
• During longer sailings where there is no port of call, the purser will announce over the loud speaker that the car deck is unlocked for 15 minutes. At this time you can walk or feed your pet or retrieve something out of your car.
  
• There is no designated pet area on the car deck for walking and your pet will be going on concrete and it is up to you to bring cleanup supplies.

Well, I guess you could go grab some food during the unlocked period but no resting.

AnOldUR

@Jake_Elwood_and_us thanks for that information. We have a dog also and can’t see these restrictions working for us either.