I grew up in the Peace River area of northern BC and Alberta and I was about ten years old when Johnny Horton came out with his song "North to Alaska". It's not a surprise that my siblings and I fell in love with that old country tune, considering that we lived in a little farming community called Bonanza, very near to Dawson Creek where the famous Mile Zero Post marks the beginning of the Alaska Highway, and considering that the song refers to going "way up north" and "finding the 'Bonanza' gold"! The north has a special call to anyone who grew up in that area so it's long been on my travel bucket list as well. However, it's not something one can just "do" on a whim because it's a daunting 3,500 km +/- each way from where we live in Vancouver, Canada, has limited accommodation and the roads can be challenging. BUT - this is the year! Michael and I are blessed with excellent staff who were willing to take over the Bee & Thistle for the month of July, so we started looking at the logistics. First step is figuring out transportation. We looked at every option we could find. Staying in hotels and lodges seemed pretty limiting because everything we read suggests they are often full unless you book them well in advance, which would take any spontaneity out of the trip. Next option was to rent a camperized van or motor home - which turns out to be VERY expensive. Then we explored the idea of renting a travel trailer. This seemed initially like our best option. We went as far as locating a few smallish trailers that would rent for $100 - $150/day, which still adds up over thirty days. Also, it's difficult to get insurance for them since ICBC Roadside Plus will cover if you rent for no more than 30 days from an "established" rental agency, but not if you rent privately (though we did eventually discover that ICBC has a little known policy called APV281that covers rental vehicles and trailers for $10/day (another expense). Of course, even fairly small 17' trailers require a vehicle with minimum 3,500 lb tow capacity, but better yet 5,000 lb capacity, so our old Dodge Caravan would not do the trick. By far our favourite travel trailer that we looked into was a 17' Escape Trailer manufactured by a company called Escape Trailer Industries in Chilliwack, BC (owned by my wonderful niece, Tammy, and her husband, Reace). They are light, beautifully designed and, best of all, by going on their forum we found an owner willing to rent us his "baby". Decision made! Now all we needed was a car to tow it! We've been saving for a new car for years so we took a deep breath and wrote out a cheque for a new Toyota Highlander SUV with 5,000 lb tow capacity. Then, just as we were about to finalize the trailer rental, Escape Trailers had a used one come on the market to buy (not rent), which was exactly what we'd been looking for. Whoa! What started out as a few week driving trip has mushroomed into the purchase of a pricey new car and now a travel trailer! Who knew we even wanted to buy one of those! But we are assured that these fun little trailers are in great demand and that we can resell it at the end of our trip for as much or more than we paid for it, thus saving us the cost of renting one. We'll see how that goes! The danger is that we may fall in love with our new toy, and with the camper lifestyle, and want to keep it! And it seems we've now entered a whole new world! Never having owned a travel trailer or towed one before, we have a lot to learn. Luckily, Escape makes it very easy and fun. Michael enthusiastically watched their video of how everything works on the trailer, then we spent a few hours at Escape showroom learning how to hook it to the car, distribute weight correctly, how to turn on the fridge, stove, water pump,furnace, how to fill the water tank and empty the toilet tank (definitely Michael's job!). Our new little home even has a microwave and air conditioning! So we're all set - we have a car, a place to sleep that is hopefully secure in grizzly bear country (plus we have two cans of bear spray donated by former guests who never had to use them!), a pile of maps, two copies of the Milepost, which is the ultimate guide to the Alaska highway, and....(you get the picture!). Our minds are spinning with tips, suggestions and advice on how to tow a trailer, what the Alaska highway conditions are, how much traffic there will be on the highway, "must see" spots in northern BC, the Yukon and Alaska, etc., etc.. I think we're good to go!
By the way, I had hoped to post photos but as I'm writing this blog we're already on our trip. It turns out that most (in fact, ALL so far) of the campgrounds advertise wifi don't actually have wifi that works. 😣 Therefore, I can only write this in my iPhone because it is our only device that has a data plan. The type is minuscule and I can't seem to get Google photos to work with my blog. I'm giving up for now and will add them to my Bee & Thistle Facebook posts.
