Alaska Planning and a Little Welding Too!

March 8 2009 by Darrin.

We’re about five and a half months from departure now.  Alaska!  It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and something I think I’ve convinced Anna she wants to do too.

Of course, the first priority is to get the camper finished.  For those who aren’t aware, I build “expedition campers” on big Class VI four wheel drive trucks.  I’m finally building what I hope to be our own camper, and as always, things are running a little bit behind schedule.  The current project is another set of folding stairs for an entry ladder.  You can see how they work in this little video.

Once the stairs are done, I need to put the top coat of paint on the inside of the cabin, install the windows, and get to building the interior.  With luck, I can have the interior finished by the end of May, and get her all wired up and functioning in June.  (Thinking of the work load makes me panic.  No time for blogging…)

On to Alaska…  The goal is Deadhorse and a bus ride to the Arctic Ocean.  Once that’s done, it’s back by Denali.  We’re seriously thinking about the Inside Passage on the way home.  Should we do it?  It saves some road miles and lets us visit Haines, Juneau, Petersburg, Ketchikan, and Prince Rupert.  But our puppy…  He loves going on trips, and loves the campers, but he has to stay in the RV when it’s on the ferry.  And he’s not a puppy.  He’ll turn eleven on this trip.  Can a 77 year old man hold his bladder for nine hours?  We’ll have to see!

I’ll close now with a thumbnail of our currently proposed route…

Posted in AATREC Construction, Alaska 2009 preTrip | 2 Comments »