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We're taking an RV to Alaska, Now What?!

As I told you earlier, our family, as a whole decided in October 2006 to take an RV trip to Alaska.  Step one was done, we have our destination.  Now, those of you with families will understand that just agreeing on a destination is quite a feat.  However, in retrospect, that was nothing compared to what I was about to undertake.

Alaska is a gorgeous state, that is always covered with snow, has igloos and Eskimo's scattered about, and has polar bears and grizzly bears running around everywhere.  Sadly, that is what I thought Alaska was about.  I had researched Alaskan cruises in the past, and knew that travel to Alaska should be done in the summer, so that is what I planned.  As a resident of Southern California, cold is not my thing.  In fact, I moved after college from Boston just so I could escape the cold once and for all.  Luckily, a little research soon found that summer's in Alaska are anything but cold.  Average summer temperatures hover around the mid to high 70's, with  many summer days climbing as high as 90 degrees, especially in the interior.  Summer nights are cooler, but hey, that's what campfires are for!  So, I pulled out my calendar, and decided that we should leave at the beginning of May, and plan on being home just in time for Labor Day.

The undertaking of this trip was almost as large as the trip itself.  Outside of planning the route, finding and arranging campgrounds, and locating dump stations, you must make arrangements for so many other things that you may not have thought of.  I am a huge fan of checklists.  I think they are a wonderful resource, especially for scatterbrained people like myself. The internet is filled with RV checklists, and I have probably printed them all.  However, this one checklist was my favorite:  http://changingears.com/rv-checklist-departure-motor-home.shtml?sec-checklist.  Yes, it is quite long, and you may not need to check every box.  However, there is nothing better than leaving for a 4-month long RV trip knowing that you have left no stone unturned.

One of the aspects of this trip that I hadn't thought of previously, was whether or not living in such a small space for 4-months would be a hardship on me and my three children.  If I was traveling alone, or with an adult partner, I don't think it would be as large an issue.  After all, my RV was larger than some studio apartments I have seen in Manhattan!  But with children, you must take this issue into consideration.  Children need to move, and are extremely prone to cabin fever.  Even in an RV, where they are able to walk around the vehicle, it is necessary to stop often enough so that the children can get out and run.  They will need a change of scenery, and quite frankly, so will you.  I found this most evident while we were traveling large stretches of barren Canadian highway.  The children became antsy, which in turn made me antsy.  Not fun.  So be certain to plan ahead for this consideration.  You can also do some fun things to change the scenery of the RV itself.  My 7-year old daughter Natasha had fun putting up posters of her favorite teen stars, and my 10 year-old son Jay put up posters of his favorite skateboarders.  It might not have looked ideal, but it made my children more comfortable with their surroundings, and the change was welcome.

There are a myriad of books, websites, and newsletters on the market that are useful in helping you prepare for your RV trip.  However, I am cheap, and proud of it.  I will never pay for information that is freely available.  Provided you allow yourself enough time to plan, I would suggest you do the same.  Even if you aren't a cheapskate like myself, wouldn't you rather save that money and spend it elsewhere?  I guarantee that there will be hundreds of fun activities for you to do once you arrive in Alaska.  I suggest you do what I did, which was to schedule a weekend just for the planning of your trip.  For me, I chose the second weekend in January, 2007.  Christmas and New Year's was over, and I was finally free to devote myself to our trip.  I cleaned off the kitchen table, grabbed a legal pad, a bunch of pens, my calendar, and my laptop.  It was a fantastic way for me to devote myself to our vacation, and to make sure that I devoted enough time to it.  My only issue was that many of the Alaskan and Canadian campgrounds were seasonal, and therefore not open in January.  Luckily, most of these places had email, and did respond in a timely fashion.  By the end of the weekend, I was no where's near having the trip completely planned.  But, I really put a dent in all the research that was needed to be done, and more importantly, the work I did really got me excited for the trip we were planning to undertake.  I started an Alaska file, using a large RubberMaid RoughNeck Portable File Box.  This box was a great investment at just $15.  It kept me very organized, and the handle meant I was also able to bring it with us on our trip.  I was able to file everything in that box, and it was nice to have everything I needed right at my fingertips.

In future installments, I will detail everything I did to get ready.  In the months leading up to the trip, I really did just do basic research.  However, by the beginning of March, I really needed to get serious.  It was time to start making reservations, and planning our route.  Since we were traveling through Canada, special considerations had to be made. (Note: At the time of our trip, in Summer 2007, passports were not needed, just state issued identification.  However, as of January 1, 2008, passports are required for travel to Canada.)  As of March 1, 2007, we were knee deep in Alaskan planning.  However, we were missing one important thing, the RV!

Please come back on Friday, September 5^th for our third installment, "Don't own an RV?  No Problem!"  See you there!