By Barry Zander, Edited by Monique Zander, the Never-Bored RVers
A few days ago, I received a comment via email from Diane Lamirande of Quebec, Canada, that begins: “I know you are seasoned travellers and you probably have this info already, but I am submitting just in case. My husband and I travelled from our home city in the province of Quebec, to the Yukon and Alaska. Our best piece of advice … buy the thick directory ‘The Milepost.’ INDISPENSABLE.”
Yes, Diane and all RVers interested in traveling to Alaska, we too strongly recommend having “Milepost” handy when you plan and travel on your trip of a lifetime.
BUT, NOW THERE’S ANOTHER INDISPENSABLE REFERENCE!! My website is officially launched, and, while still in the formative stages, it includes all the blogs I did while traveling to Alaska, complete with comments
from readers.
The site is ontopoftheworld.cc [cc is the new extension for “Cross-Country”]
While more items will be added on a weekly basis, the primary entries are photographs taken on our journeys across North America in our recreational vehicle and articles published on the RV.net website that fostered hundreds of comments.
▪. Richard Gregorie on August 20th, 2010 8:22 am Wow! We have just started RVing and your series was terrific. It will be a while before we will make such a venture, but you have given us something to look forward to. Thanks so much for taking the time to bring your great adventure into the homes of others who may not be able to go to Alaska but live through your experiences. God Bless and safe travel. Richard
A quick guide to two website areas:
Barry’s Blogs – Our trip through British Columbia and the Yukon Territory into Alaska was a trip of a lifetime. Thousands of RVers and people interested in traveling, especially in the Great Northwest, followed our trip through 36 blogs with more than 150 photos – a mere sampling of what we experienced. Hundreds of thousands of people make the trek every year, but very few will see and experience as much as we cover in these articles.
Much to our surprise, although the trip was in 2010, we still meet people or receive emails from folks who feel they have a personal relationship with us because of the travelog. The tour spawned several articles published in RV-related magazines.
Photography – Presently the link takes you to my Smugmug site. You don’t have to sign up or buy anything (although that’s an option), so I hope you will take a quick look at Vistas of North America and, as time allows, browse the other sections.
Several parts of the site are still under construction (my web designer is working to trim the fringes), but, in the meantime, I welcome your comments and suggestions at [email protected].
▪. William Robinson, Jr. on August 12th, 2010 7:45 pm I started out saying, “Ahh, I’ll never go to Alaska, so who cares.” Well, I ended up caring!! Great series, kinda sad it’s over. Well done. Robbie
Quoted above are just two of the hundreds of favorable comments received during the series. Even if Alaska isn’t in your plans, I think you’ll enjoy reading the articles and comments. And the pictures will take you to many places you’ll wish you had experienced.
And now for Diana’s email [edited for length]:
“I know you are seasoned travellers and you probably have this info already, but I am submitting just in case. My husband and I travelled from our home city in the province of Quebec to the Yukon and Alaska. Our best piece of advice … buy the thick directory, ‘The Milepost.’ INDISPENSABLE.”
Just in case you don’t know about it, it gives you information on every inch of the trek, whether you are coming from the east, west, south, etc. i.e. “at mile such-and-such, watch on your left, there are often bison” … “you will notice a little cabin” … “you must stop for the biggest cinnamon bun” (not false advertising either … it took us 3 days to eat it.)
For your info, we also visited Newfoundland. When you get there, you feel “Poor them, they are so isolated.” When you take the ferry back, you think “Poor us, we have to go back to the rat race.” It is a beautiful, relaxed and friendly province.
As mentioned above, we are from Quebec. Don’t think all Quebeckers are as you hear on TV … and that you have to speak French to visit our province. There are many, many, lovely accommodating and bilingual people in Quebec, and you are generally very able to be served in English. Sure there will be an accent; that makes it even more beautiful. I presume your wife has made sure Quebec city is on your map. [NOTE: Yes, Monique is a native of France, very interested in the history of the Old World French in North America, and has Quebec as a ‘must see’]
Diane Lamirande
I just wrote about 30 minutes ago, and my husband suggested I add two items. Re: Alaska — if you’re thinking of taking the “Top of the World Highway” (Highway to Chicken, Alaska), better inquire before if your RV is not too wide/long/big to tackle that part of the state. We met a “wide load” and wondered how he managed to go thru, and how we would manage to go by. Challenging (gravel/sand) route, but beautiful scenery. [NOTE: We took the road with 18 other rigs in our caravan of all sizes – No one had any problems and thousands of others do it every day during the summer months. Just stay alert and be aware of the weather!]
Re: Newfoundland. We had no warnings, but saw 18-wheelers, which had pulled over. It was too late for us as we drove by and there was no way we could stop, nor turn around. Saw a fifth-wheel overturned in the ditch. Needless to say after arriving in Port aux Basques, my husband stopped at the first liquor store for some brandy. Only after the first few sips did his knuckles turn from white to pink and he was able to reopen his hands :-)! ”
And a final “plug” for visiting the Alaskan blogs at ontopoftheworld.cc
▪. Bill Forrest on July 14th, 2010 8:43 pm I have really enjoyed this series of your Alaska trip. I have been there a few times by boat, air, and cruise but never to these many places you write about. Thanks for sharing. For me and my motorhome, I will just stay down here and read your articles. Bebop Bill
I’ll have additional very interesting and informative comments from readers in an upcoming blog.
From the “Never-Bored RVers,” We’ll see you on down the road.
Because of the numerous Spam comments on this site, the comments section has been deactivated. Please email us at [email protected] and I will pass along your comments.
© All photos by Barry Zander. All rights reserved