Starting a Road Trip to Alaska

[TerryH]

You will have a wonderful trip……great scenery all along the way, and with your preparation am sure your A will do just fine. Your trailer looks just great.

[David in San Antonio]

The best salmon steak I ever had was in Alaska. Have a great trip!

[Gold Digger]

Made that trip at least 20 times in the past with a 38 foot travel trailer in a 350 ford. Never had any trouble but always had plenty of fuel. I have a 120 gallon tank in the back of my truck. Depending on what time of the year you travel, some stations close earlier in the fall for the season on the Alcan highway. Had to travel 850 miles once between fill ups in the Yukon Territory.

[JoeCB]

Looking forward to seeing more pix. Your trailer is a wonderful piece of work, great job and an ingenious design. From the pix, the workmanship looks outstanding.
Good luck - be safe- have fun!
Joe B

[Dave in MN]

Greetings All,
I just arrived midday to Fort Nelson, about 280 miles up the Alaskan Highway from the starting point of Dawson Creek. Yesterday, I started the drive on the highway about 2:00 pm after talking to two parties that just finished the drive. They both said there would be no issues with wildfires and the road was in good condition.
I made it to Pink Mountain while driving in light rain for the last 50 miles. Rain is forecast for the next 12 to 16 hours so Pink Mountain is a good place to take a break.
I drove this morning in light drizzle until it ceased about 30 miles before Fort Nelson.
This area has not had much rain recently and the pavement was covered with a fine dust from the vehicle traffic. Light rain combined with the dust created a watery slurry of mud that the tires of the large trucks would to fog as they traveled at speed. Every time I met a truck or one passed me, I was coated with the slurry. It was a good thing truck traffic was light this morning as I only had to pull off and clean windows five times.
Almost all fellow drivers are polite given that I am usually traveling at speeds that delay them until they can pass me.

[Dave in MN]

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I am at a campground about 30 miles NE of Anchorage. The Mountain views the last days have been awesome. The show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s was also fun. My side mount spare tire arm broke coming into Dawson City. Luckily the spare stayed in the well until I discovered it. I had it welded but it broke again: Steve Becker is sending me a replacement. That is the only issue I have had with the car or camper. I checked my mileage today and keeping the speed between 50 and 55 it was a little over 18 mpg. I am at about 3600 miles so far. Great trip so far…

[Bruce of MN]

Is the last picture your entourage celebrating getting to the campground?

[Big hammer]

Keep the photos coming, keep the muddy side down and the buggy side up !!!!

[Dave in MN]

Originally Posted by Bruce of MN

Is the last picture your entourage celebrating getting to the campground?

“Entourage”. Well, I wasn’t going to let it be known that the number has dropped to four! The mosquitoes are awfully bothersome to any exposed skin. ��

[Bill's Auto Works]

Definitely keep those pictures coming Dave!

Very much enjoying following along. As I mentioned in a previous post on this thread, that is the only state I have not visited & have had the chance to quote transports up to Alaska, but it is just not fiscally responsible for the customers to have me transport their cars since putting their cars on a ship costs so much less. From what I have heard...the roads are really bad & would prefer not to beat up my equipment transporting up there but I still would really like to do the Alaska Experience in one form or another!

Safe Travels & Thank You for the thread!

God Bless
Bill
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...closed.614419/

[C1Nelson]

Did a 29 day road trip on a Goldwing MC about 8 years ago from Idaho to Anchorage and back. Rented a motorhome in Alaska for a week and toured a bit when the wife flew up. Would love to do that trip in my Model A. Good idea for the extra fuel tank. Buy gas when you can as it can be long distances to gas stations. Have fun, Be careful.

[Dave in MN]

My wife, Jean, flew to Anchorage and we spent a few days there also visited Seward, Denali Park and Talkeetna. We took a flight out of Talkeetna to view Denali and land on a glacier.
In Seward, we went on a 6 hour cruise to Kenia Fjords National Park. Jean was elated as we saw killer whales, sea otters, mountain goat, humpback whales, arctic seals, puffins and other Alaskan birds.
The photo of the car and camper has a clear view of Denali in the background.

[Randall]

Dave I have driven two times from Nc to Ca and loved doing it , but your trip is AWESOME!! Happy Motoring!

[David in San Antonio]

Dave in MN - perhaps I missed it. Have you shared the basic layout of the trailer here?
I’m fascinated with trailers that Model As can pull.

[Dave in MN]

The trailer has a self fabricated metal frame with 3/4” square tubing structure for the sides and portion that hinges to open. The rounded shapes are made of 3/4” wood blocking fastened to the metal tubes. Both the wood blocking and metal tubes are sandwiched between two layers of thin plywood. The wood ribs of the top that form the structure to hold the mahogany bending plywood are made from clear maple.
The top weight is offset by two gas struts.
The floor is 5/8” marine plywood and it is covered with vinyl planking for easy sweep out.
The running gear: Model A front spindles were attached to rubber torsion arms to eliminate the need for springs and the torsion system acts as a shock absorber. Front backing plates were fitted with the rear brake actuators to provide for a lever system to apply the brakes. Cast iron drums were utilized for good heat dissipation. The tongue of the trailer is mounted to the trailer frame with three rear brake shackle bolts which allows the hitch pole to move back when the car brakes are applied. The rear of the pole has a “T” bar attached that transfers this movement to the brake arms. A spring keeps the hitch pole in its forward position until the brakes are applied. When stopping, I don’t notice any difference in the ability to stop. The trailer is skinned in light weight aluminum glued with marine mastic. The aluminum body is 8 feet long, the opened headroom is over 7.5 feet, the door allows me to pass without ducking and I am 5-9. The camper body was designed to see over the top through the rear window of the Model A. The side canvas attaches to the opened shell with stainless snaps. It takes about 10 minutes to set up and take down. I carry two spare tires, one on the car and one bolted to the bottom of the trailer. Any spare will fit any location on the car and trailer.
The trailer weighs about 800 pounds loaded with gear and supplies. There are two small 12 volt batteries with a charger attached to maintain them when I am at a campsite with 110 volt power. The batteries are used to keep my phone and tablet charged for writing my travel log.

[Lawrie]

Dave, That is great, We made a small teardrop one to tow with our 28ccpu,it did a lot of miles and was nice and cost.
we used it for some years, but wife Carol wanted something we could sit in so we made a bigger one that the 33 tows now,.so sold the old one to a hot rodder, who uses iy=t to this day.
Lawrie

[David in San Antonio]

Dave and Lawrie - Bravo!

[KenD]

Dave, just was reading about this trip. figure you are about to get home. Look forward to reading about the final details of your trip. Jealous of the drive and sights you've gotten to see.

[2935ford]

What an adventure!

[Synchro909]

Those belly tanks interest me. Any photos of them please? We often have to carry extra fuel when travelling outback. Currently, we carry a 20 litre jerrycan on the drawbar of the camper and sometimes, two of them are needed.