Trip to Alaska and more...

[efritz]

Well this may not be a picture of a brand new truck and the fun things I've done to it. Its's more of a story, and hopefully everyone enjoys it...

 

In august of this year, I left Swisher, Iowa on a 14,000 mile adventure that would take me 7 weeks to complete. The road would take me from Swisher, through Canada to Alaska (almost everywhere accessible by road in the state), then on to Montana, south through Utah, to Texas, Georgia, and finally to my home in Minnesota. I would see 25 US states and 4 Canadian provinces along the way. The map isn't quite right, I took quite a few scenic routes and side trips, it was just for illustrative purposes. It was the experience of a lifetime and I would recommend that if you have ever aspired to do anything similar to absolutely do it, you will never regret it. Oh, and by the way, I convinced the wife to join me!

 

My vehicle for the trip was my trusty old 2001 suburban 1500 4X4, that currently has 310,000 miles on it. The only notable modifications are the scrap steel bumper I made, an Eaton E-locker differential in the rear, and some home made skid plating underneath. I had the topper on it to carry most of my supplies, and cut an old memory foam mattress to fit in the rear, and it was really very comfortable and enjoyable. I only stayed in ONE hotel room the entire way, yes, one in 7 weeks. In my opinion that made the experience just that much better.

 

Now for some pics:

 

This was my approximate route:

 

 

This was on the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory in Canada, an amazingly beautiful road:

 

 

This is Seward, AK right on the oceanfront:

 

 

Farther down in SE Alaska is Homer, the most westerly accessible place on the continent by road. That is where this was taken:

 

 

And heading back up towards Anchorage we stopped at Kenai lake for a beautiful night there:

 

 

On my way up to Prudhoe Bay, we took the Dalton Highway, i'm sure many of you saw it on Ice Road Truckers, or some other Alaska TV show. If not, watch some YouTube videos on it, it is a great experience, HOWEVER I would absolutely not take a car or nice truck on it or you will be sorry, it is 400 miles one way of unpaved mud/rock mixture and sections of broken up pavement. That said, I obviously did not take a new vehicle so it was great for me. Since this is a truck forum, how about some more rig pics..

This Picture was taken on the Dalton near Atigun pass:

 

And finally, as far north as you can go by road, the Prudhoe Bay oilfields in Alaska on the Arctic Ocean:

 

 

And from there we went through British Columbia to Montana to visit family and did some wheeling in the Elkhorn mountains:

 

After Montana, we went down through Yellowstone in WY to Moab Utah where we did some hiking and wheeling in Arches National Park. Always a great time:

 

After Utah we went to Texas but I didn't take much for photos there, I visited family for a bit then back on the road to my last spot in Savannah GA to visit more family, this picture was taken on Tybee Island, My last of the trip:

 

 

 

After Savannah we rolled up to MN where we live. A pic from the back porch...

 

 

 

Well thanks for taking time to read my story and I hope you enjoyed it, and we got some Chevy pics in there too! leave any questions below and I will answer them.

 

 

 

[sdeeter19555]

I hope to do something similar at some point later in life...

 

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[RyanbabZ71]

Very nice, thanks for sharing

 

 

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[Daryl Z71]

Looks like a good time!

[efritz]

It was a great time, I would recommend it to anyone!

[cpttimerestraint]

Great write up. I love road trips

 

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[NEFisher11]

I cannot explain how jelous I am of your trip nice write up.

[Dnt]

Say you only stayed one Night at a Hotel. Fascinating

Just kidding I loved the story and I am sure that you guys were hitting the truckstops and camp grounds

[efritz]

Say you only stayed one Night at a Hotel. Fascinating

Just kidding I loved the story and I am sure that you guys were hitting the truckstops and camp grounds

 

I wasn't too bad, the longest I went without a shower was only 5 days... eventually I had to think about all those around me though. Speaking of that, I did meet a man in Anchorage who lived with his 12 cats.. IN AN EXTENDED CAB F250... that was a sight to behold.

[dc1515]

Awesome road trip. Looks like a fun.

[Singer-Man]

That must have been a terrific pleasure. I've been thinking about something like that myself -- maybe in the spring.

 

 

I know you said the truck is a 1500, so I'm assuming it's a stock 5.3L 4-speed with overdrive. I'm guessing that you had about 290,000 on it when you began the trip. That's pretty good mileage on a vehicle to start a trip like that, but clearly your confidence in the vehicle was justified. Very cool!

[efritz]

That must have been a terrific pleasure. I've been thinking about something like that myself -- maybe in the spring.

 

 

I know you said the truck is a 1500, so I'm assuming it's a stock 5.3L 4-speed with overdrive. I'm guessing that you had about 290,000 on it when you began the trip. That's pretty good mileage on a vehicle to start a trip like that, but clearly your confidence in the vehicle was justified. Very cool!

If you decide to go ahead with it, I would do it in the fall, the bugs up there are atrocious in the spring and early summer. I left in late august and spent til the second week of September in Alaska and had minimal bugs and sunny days. Yeah its a stock 5.3/4 speed. got about 16 mpg average on the trip, no real issues either.

[barry G]

awesome journey.

 

I'd be confident too, great choice of vehicle.. don't have to think of how beautiful it has to stay.

 

Something funny, as miles have gone by on my own truck, the front end gained positive camber... not loaded enough. I got a look at your home made bumper and liked it.

[efritz]

awesome journey.

 

I'd be confident too, great choice of vehicle.. don't have to think of how beautiful it has to stay.

 

Something funny, as miles have gone by on my own truck, the front end gained positive camber... not loaded enough. I got a look at your home made bumper and liked it.

 

The bumper has worked out great, kept many deer off the front end. A little heavy though at about 200 pounds.