Overall Picture: Getting ready to do battle with the Alaskan Highway
Overall Picture: Getting ready to do battle with the Alaskan Highway
By: Bill Mead
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Posted by editor Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
Viewed 362 times
0 responses 0 comments Over the past 25 years my wife and I have enjoyed traveling with a succession of recreational vehicles. We have owned two motorhomes and a fifth wheel trailer at various times, plus two other trailers we kept in place at our favorite getaways. But the years are catching up to us and our current RV, a motorhome, has been sent to live with our granddaughter and her husband in San Diego. They are making frequent use of the Winnebago which is a lot better than having it sit on flattened tires here in Tehachapi.
My wife and I both have age-related problems that make RVing increasingly difficult. She has mobility problems due to a long-ago back injury and I have minor vision problems that don't bother me when I'm driving a car but which make me uneasy when I'm herding a 32-foot box on wheels through traffic. The last few times we have vacationed in the Winnie it had to be driven to and from the RV park by our grandson-in-law.
It's probably a good thing for human society that this 80-year-old has turned over the keys to the motorhome. But like they say, it ain't over till it's over. I plan to make one more run in the Winnie next summer, a memorable one to Fairbanks via the Alaskan Highway.
Before you make a frantic call to the Canadian Mounties warning of this impending disaster, let me assure you I won't be driving. The current plan is to hit the road in our Winnie plus another motorhome owned by our daughter and her husband. The total passenger load will consist of eight family members, four of whom are veteran RV pilots. That assumes, of course, that in the meantime we won't be stricken with problems such as pregnancy, felony convictions or the collapse of one or both motorhomes which aren't exactly showroom new. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
The plan is a bit more complicated than what I've just described. Five additional family members who can't make the entire trip due to health or employment reasons will meet the motorhome inmates at Prince Rupert, British Columbia as the hopefully-intact vehicles head back south. From Prince Rupert the whole gang will take the famous ferry ride to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. I have been told the Prince Rupert-to-Port Hardy ferry ride holds several international records for rowdyism. Who wants to die without being part of that?
I was pleased to discover good airline connections to Prince Rupert from just about anywhere. I already knew Victoria has excellent airline service. That's where our five tribal members who won't make the Alaskan Highway part of the trip will catch a plane back home after the wild and wooly ferry ride.
I'll bet you're rolling your eyes over this demented scheme but I don't think it's all that crazy. I'm told the Alaskan Highway is now paved all the way, or at least most of the way, to speed up the flow of tourist dollars. Alaskan and British Columbian tourism hucksters tell me to forget those mental pictures of a dirt road pocked with holes deep enough to bury a dead elephant. Remember those old photographs of ten-wheel army trucks sinking out of sight during the spring thaw? I've been assured it's not like that now. If it is, I'll call you to bring us some shovels and a tow chain. You'd do that for me, right? I don't like the way you're looking at me.
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