Traveling the ALCAN in our Travel Trailer

The greatest RV trip we ever took with our Edge trailer was a trip up the Alaskan Canadian Highway, or ALCAN, in 2014.  We were living in Virginia at the time and had three weeks to make it from Virginia to Fairbanks, Alaska.  Having already RV'd across the United States, we decided that I would take the Edge and drive from Virginia to Seattle, Washington, as quick as I could.  My family would then fly to Seattle to join me.  This way, we would be able to meander along the ALCAN.

With long days on the road, and sleeping at night in Walmart Parking lots, my two dogs and I were able to travel about 700 miles per day and cross the United States from Virginia to Seattle in four days.  Along the way, I drove through Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, which to this day I think has to be one of the most beautiful locations in the United States. 

Since I had budgeted five days for crossing the United States, I had a full day to rest and recoup before my family flew into Sea-Tac International Airport.  I spent the day cleaning up the trailer and walking along the coastline.

Once my wife and boys arrived, along with my wife's parents (yes, planned to travel the ALCAN in a 24ft travel trailer with five adults, three kids, and two dogs), we promptly began our trip north.  We decided to cross over the U.S. / Canadian Border at Sumas, Washington.  We had hoped that, by getting off of I-5, we could avoid any heavy border traffic.  We were wrong.  It took us hours to get across the border at Sumas.

Once we got across the border, our pace quickly picked up.  We drove for hours through British Columbia, making our way into the Great Basin area of British Columbia.  Though people typically think of green trees when they think of British Columbia, large portion of British Columbia actually lie within the Great Basin, a relatively dry area of the continent extending from the Southwestern United States into Canada.  Growing up in the Western United States, I had been traveling in and out of the Great Basin for most of my life.  My father always noted that our family had a long history of living on the edged of the Great Basin.  The Canadian Great Basin was a mirror imagine of the Great Basin region within the United States--few people, living in rusty structured that appear to have been lost in a time.  There is a peacefulness to the Great Basin that comes from existing outside of the hectic progress of more developed areas.

The ALCAN highway begins in Dawson Creek, British Columbia.  Dawson Creek is near the British Columbia / Alberta border, within the plains region of the North American Continent.  Though it is a relatively small community, it was the closest thing to urban that we would see for the next 1,459 miles, when we would conclude our travels in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The ALCAN was amazing in its beauty.  During our trip we saw moose, elk, brown bear, black bear, buffalo, a linx (it moved before we could get a photo), and miles and miles of beautiful scenery.  The first night on the ALCAN, we stopped near the beautiful green and blue waters of Muncho Lake.  The next day, we drove on, stopping for lunch at Coal River Lodge.  Our stop at Coal River Lodge was made memorable by the machismo of a local dog, boldly facing off with a large buffalo bull.  The restaurant served buffalo burgers, but the owner assured us that the meat was not locally harvested (the buffalo apparently are protected by local laws).  After eating lunch, we traveled on to Laird Hot Springs for a nice, relaxing dip in its hot, sulfur waters.  It was a relaxing afternoon. 

That night, we made it to Watson Lake, which was on our "must see" list of placed to along the ALCAN.  Watson Lake is the home of the famous Signpost Forest.  The Signpost Forest started when a couple guys working on the the original ALCAN highway, which was being built as a military road, put some signs up pointing to their hometowns back in the United States.  My mother-in-law had traveled the ALCAN with her father and mother during the 1960s and had put a sign up at the Signpost Forest.  After hours of looking, we never did find my mother-in-law's old sign.  I imagine it has long since rotted away.  Nonetheless, it was still fun to look at all the signs put up from all over the world.  That night, we stopped outside of Watson Lake at the Nugget City RV park.

Our next major goal along the ALCAN was Whitehorse , Yukon.  Built along the Yukon River, Whitehorse is a beautiful town.  For anyone traveling the ALCAN, I highly recommend making time to walk along Whitehorse's river walk.  While walking around Whitehorse, I learned that Whitehorse is the home of the legend of Sam McGee.  Remarking upon this to my wife, she asked, "Who is Sam McGee?"  I was amazed that she had never heard the poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee.  I thought it was mandatory elementary school reading.  Apparently not.

Onward we traveled, making it to Haines Junction, Yukon.  By this time, the light of day lasted well into the night.  We had to put cardboard on the RV door window in order to to make our RV trailer dark enough to sleep in.

The next day, we traveled north from Haines Junction.  Actually, at first we missed the turn north and continued west toward Haines, Alaska.  My boys still give me a hard time about missing the only turn on the ALCAN.  Once we got on the right road, we continued through the beautiful and remote Yukon, stopping for lunch at Kluane Lake.  When I say we stopped at Kluane Lake for lunch, I mean we prepared some food from the RV and ate lakeside, since there were no stores anywhere in sight.  It is a beautiful and peaceful lake.  If you have a pair of binoculars, you can see Dall Sheep dotting the mountain side near the lake.

From Kluane Lake, we continued on to Beaver Creek, Yukon.  Once you pass Kluane Lake on your way to Beaver Creek, the ALCAN turns into a dirt road with a lot of potholes.  The bumpiness of the road was a fair price to pay for the nature we got to see, to include seeing numerous brown bears in the wild.  Unlike the black bears in British Columbia, these brown bears didn't seem very intimidated by humans. 

Beaver Creek is the last stop in the Yukon Territory before you cross back into the United States.  There's not much there, but the small cultural center did serve as a nice reprieve from the road.

Once we crossed into Alaska, the road immediately improved.  By the time we go back to the paved roads of Alaska, our car and trailer had become caked in dirt.  That night, we stopped in Tok, Alaska.  By this time, the mosquitoes ruled the dusk (I say dusk, because it never got dark).

After Tok, we headed on to the end of the ALCAN at Delta Junction.  Delta Junction is a neat little community.  The cultural center was a fun stop  Right next to the cultural center there was a neat old road house that was used by prospectors trekking north from Valdez in search of gold.  From Delta Junction, it is an easy drive north to Fairbanks.  My family would fall in love with Fairbanks.  For a small town, there is an amazing amount of stuff to do.  While in Fairbanks, we would even drive the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle.  Without a doubt, the Arctic Circle  was the most remote place I have ever been in my life.

All in all, traveling the ALCAN was a life event.  I know that my children will talk about it their whole lives.  I imagine that one day, they may even take their own children on the trek, remembering along their first trip up the ALCAN with the own parents.

The reason we took up RVing was to spend time with family, and to give our kids a childhood full of happy memories that they can draw upon when life gets tough.  I think our ALCAN trip will be a memory my children will recall throughout their lives when in need of a smile.

Happy Travels,

Scipio

    

While Driving Through British Columbia,
we Saw a Brave Dog Trying to Take On a Buffalo

Pulled Off on the Side of the ALCAN

GRIZZLY BEAR!!

Them Moose are BIG!!

The Last Part of the ALCAN is Unpaved

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

I wrote the below article for a graduate-level leadership course I recently completed.  During the course, we examined the art and science of organizational leadership.  I've posted the article on this website to help explain the motivations that ultimately led my family and I toward vacation Rving.  The article talks about how my grandfather's death in 2007 changed the way I view life.  My family and I bought our first RV a couple months after my grandfather's death.

Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas, in their essay, Crucibles in Leadership, argue that good leaders use crucible events to “force . . . deep self-reflection, where they examine their values, question their assumptions, and hone their judgment.”[i] Within my own professional career, the crucible event that caused me to critically reexamine the way I viewed my role and responsibilities as a leader was the death of my grandfather 2007.  My grandfather’s death, and the missed opportunities to spend more time with him in his later years, made me reexamine my “work first, family later” approach to work and leadership.  In recognition of my regrets over the missed opportunities to spend time with my grandfather, and in honor of the extraordinary support my grandfather always gave me, I have strove, and will continue to strive, as an organizational leader, to be an exemplar for subordinates, peers, and superiors of a work-life balanced lifestyle.

            For me, my grandfather was a giant.  He was the patriarch of my family and an unwavering advocate of everything I did.  During the early years of my professional career, my grandfather wrote me almost daily, despite the fact that my letters in return were few and far between.  My grandfather always had a way of bringing perspective to life's frustrations.  He was my greatest supporter.

            It is easy to take for granted such unconditional support and devotion.  My grandfather would give me his time, his ear, his compassion and his understanding, and yet I frequently failed to reciprocate.  As a young, ambitious professional, I often found that I had little time for family.  I was trying to establish my professional reputation; and in my mind, there would always be time for family later.

            My “work now, family later” mentality was not uncommon among the mid and senior level managers that I worked for during my early career.  I worked for an impersonal, result oriented executive.  Though my immediate supervisor was a devoted family man, he was held in low regard by his peers and superiors.  Since I desired to have a successful career, I tried to emulate the hard work ethic and long hours shown by the successful professionals at my workplace.  My efforts were rewarded with good evaluations and with more than one supervisor commenting approvingly of my strong work ethic.

            On 4 October 2007, I was struck broadside by the inevitable failings of my “work now, family later” lifestyle when I received a phone call from my mother informing me that my grandfather was in the hospital dying.  My grandfather’s health had been poor for some time.  I had been meaning to visit him, but there was always so much work that needed to get done.  I was proud that my superiors relied on me, and I continuously looked to validate their trust.  I believed that validating their trust meant working long hours and always being available.  Upon receiving that phone call, for the first time in my young professional career, I immediately dropped everything and traveled to California to see him.  I was scared that I would not make it before he died. 

            When I got to the hospital, my grandfather was lying in a bed, suffering from the pain of a failing body.  When I walked into the room, my sister said, “Look who's here, Grandpa!”  My grandfather responded with his familiar, “Hey Partner!”  My sister told me that my grandfather had been so happy when he heard that I was on the way.  That final “Hey Partner” were the last words my grandfather ever said to me.

            I am comforted in knowing that my grandfather lived a long and well-lived life.  His death nonetheless had a profound effect on me.  I felt, and continue to feel, regret over the missed opportunities to spend time with him during the last years of his life.  My grandfather’s death became a crucible event within my life because it helped crystallize within my mind an understanding that a “work now, family later” lifestyle would never provide a meaningful and happy life.

             As I look back upon the early years of my career, I recall that all my supervisors dutifully repeating a professed belief in work-life balance.  Yet, as a young professional, I, and many of my peers, failed to live work-life balance lives.  Our failure mirrored the failures of our leaders, who themselves preached, but failed to maintain, balance in their lives.  It was accepted orthodoxy that long hours on the job was the cost of a successful professional career.        

It is a commonly accepted axiom that the best way to bring change within an organization is for leaders to live the values they preach.  Actions speak louder than words, and therefore successful leaders must serve as role models of the professional culture they wish to impart upon their organizations.  The importance of personal example as a tool to institutionalize organizational values is particularly true for the organizational leader, whose daily interactions with the rank- and-file is far more limited than that of day-to-day supervisors. 

            I am a better leader and a better family man than I was when my grandfather died in 2007.  I still believe work is important; I just no longer believe it to be all important.  My grandfather’s death helped me realize the importance of living a work-life balanced lifestyle.  As a leader, I will strive to be an exemplar of work-life balance for others to follow; and to demonstrate that working long hours is not the only way to enjoy professional success.

---

[i] Warren Bennis and Robert Thomas, “Crucibles of Leadership,” Harvard Business Review, September 2002, Web, 18 Jan. 2016 <https://hbr.org/2002/09/crucibles-of-leadershiup>.

Tips for Traveling in a Travel Trailer

As described in my March 20, 2016 post "RVing Family--From Tent Trailers to the Edge to the Sunseeker and Beyond," my family and I spent years RVing in a 24ft Heartland Edge Travel Trailer.  It was a great little rig, and provided numerous enjoyable trips throughout the US and Canada.  We would pile three adults (the mother-in-law, as well as the wife and I), three kids, and two dogs in our 24ft travel trailer.  Along the way, we learned a few things about crowded RV vacations. 

Lessons Learned

(1) Maximizing Space--The longest trip we did in our 24ft travel trailer was a little over three weeks.  During the trip, we traveled from Alaska to Kansas, with a couple day stop in Oregon.  On half of this trip, my father accompanied us.  Then we substituted my father for my mother-in-law for the remainder of the trip.  The effect was the same--within our small travel trailer, we crammed three adults, three kids, and two dogs for a trip that lasted a little over three weeks.  It goes without saying that the key to making this trip successful was to maximize the little space we had.  The first and most important step for maximizing space was getting rid of the dinette table.  For the whole trip, we kept the dinette table and its legs stored in the largest storage compartment in the trailer.  We never once used it.  This provided a lot of crucial movement room for multiple lanes of "foot traffic" throughout the trailer.  Often, we opted to eat outside of the trailer.  But sometimes we would be chased inside the trailer by rain or mosquitoes.  When we ate inside, we just didn't use a table.  Yes, our seven year old boys would sometimes spill stuff; but let's be honest, they would have spilled stuff even if we had used the table.  The second "most important" space optimizing step was managing dirty laundry and shoes.  The kids hated to wear their shoes and would inevitably kick them off at the first opportunity.  Plus, they had multiple shoes--a pair of sneakers, Crocs, and a shower shoes each.  This made for a minefield of shoes to navigate through.  In order to solve the shoe problem, my wife bought a bunch of the plastic hanging shoe racks, which we fastened to all the beds.  This is where the shoes went.  As for laundry, the best solution we could figure was to give everyone a small mesh bag to put dirty laundry in.  Other than bed time, these mesh bags would remain on the end of everyone's bed.  At night, they'd be put on the trailer floor.  These bags also made doing laundry easier, because I could just dump the entire content into an RV park laundry machine without having to figure out whose laundry was whose (I usually do the laundry when RVing, and I refuse to sort it--white, colors, don't care--it all gets washed on cold).

(2) Managing moisture--Three adults, three kids, and two dogs produce A LOT of hot, wet air.  This hot air, coupled with outside moisture, can quickly create a lot of moisture build-up within the trailer.  The key to managing moisture is leaving as many windows as possible partially open when in the trailer, as air circulation helps keep the moisture down.  Add a fan if possible.  The A/C will also remove moisture from the air, though far up north it might be too cold to run it at night (even in the summer).  In order to manage moisture, you can also find small kits that absorb moisture from the air, such as Damprid, or you can use a small plug-in dehumidifier.  Additionally, cook outside if possible, as cooking adds moisture to the air.  My wife loves cooking on a fire.  Finally, don't store anything wet in the RV.  If you have wet clothes, leave them outside hanging on the awning at night.  If you have wet clothes that you need to put somewhere while driving, I recommend putting them in your vehicle if possible.  If you're running the AC in your vehicle, the AC will help remove the excess moisture from within the vehicle.

(3) Develop a routine--The best way to efficiently utilize small spaces with a lot of people is by developing a routine were everyone knowing where they are going to eat, where they are going to sit, etc.  Effectively, everyone gets their own assigned space.

(4) Spend as much time outside as possible--This really goes without saying.  The whole reason we RV is to spend time outside.  Who wants to RV just to stay in the RV?

(5) Enjoy yourself--Let's be honest, you don't need a lot of space to be happy when you're having fun.  But when you're not having fun, well, things really start to feel cramped.

Happy Rving!!

Scipio    

The Edge Crossing Into Shoshone National Forest

RVing Family--From Tent Trailers to the Edge to the Sunseeker and Beyond

Welcome to my blog.  I've had it for awhile, but never had anything interesting to say.  No guarantees that I will have anything interesting to say in the future.  But at-least I've thought of a blogging topic.  I've always enjoyed reading other people's travel blogs, so I decided I might write a travel blog too.  If you enjoy it, or have any thoughts or recommendations, I'd appreciate the comments.

As for traveling, my family and I are RV'ers.  We got into RVing slowly, buying a used tent trailer about eight years ago.  During our first trip with the trailer, near catastrophe struck when, after slamming on the brakes to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of us, the tongue of the trailer buckled, nearly breaking off.  Luckily no one was hurt, but we had to get a tow truck to pull the darn thing away.  I never trusted, and therefore never used, that tent trailer again.  In short, we pretty much flushed the $2,000 we paid for it down the toilet.

About three years later, my Grandma gave me her old tent trailer.  It had been sitting in her garage, unused, for at-least 20 years.  She lived in California, and we were in Virginia at the time.  In hopes of having a little adventure, my wife and I piled our three-year-old boys (triplets) and two dogs into our SUV and drove from Virginia to California's San Joaquin Valley.  We visited with Grandma, grabbed the trailer, then proceeded to take a two week RVing trip to the coast of California, up to Oregon, and then across the country, with stops in Yellowstone, Devil's Tower, and the Badlands.  The trailer was small and cramped for our two adults, three kids, and two dogs, but the trip was amazing.  Upon getting back to Virginia, a simple interest in RVing had grown into a commitment to make it a permanent part of our lives.  But we needed something bigger.

Bigger was a problem, since our SUV only had a 5,000 lb tow capacity.  When I went to one of the local RV dealers and explained what I was looking for--a travel trailer that I could use for my family of five, plus mother-in-law, and pull with my SUV, he convinced me to buy a travel trailer that had a "dry" weight of 4,800 lbs.  When I pointed out how close that was to my tow capacity, he assured me that it was no problem.  He told me that all I had to do was pull it without water; and when I got close to my RV destination, fill it up.  Of course this isn't true.  As soon as you start adding extra passengers to the vehicle, and clothes and food to the trailer, you quickly exceed the 5,000 lb tow capacity.  In short, the RV dealer was a sleazy, lying, untrustworthy, scammer.  But his scam worked.  I bought the trailer he recommended.

Only after the fact did I go on the various RV forums and learn that I had been taken (lesson--RV forums are a GREAT source of information).  Angry, I went back to the RV dealer and told them I wanted to trade the travel trailer I had just bought for something lighter.  They agreed; though all-in-all, I paid about an extra $2,000 for the lighter travel trailer.  What can you do.

In the end, we ended up with a 2012 Heartland Edge, which had a dry weight of about 3,700 lbs.  We loved it.  It had a queen bed, a dinette that turned into a bed, and bunk beds.  In all, it slept six.

We took the Edge all over the place--local camping trips in Pennsylvania; up to the Maritime Provinces of Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia; and Prince Eward Island); across the United States; and up the Alaska-Canadian Highway to Alaska.  While in Alaska, we did a wonderful trip to Seward, with a stop at Denali National Park.  Finally, we brought the Edge back down the Alaska-Canadian Highway.  The mother-in-law often joined us on these trips. With three adults, three kids, and two dogs, our 24ft Edge would get pretty crowded.  But it worked.

Recently, my wife found out she was pregnant.  ITS ANOTHER BOY.  We decided that our wonderful little Edge trailer probably would be unable to accommodate the new addition.  So it was time to go bigger.  Figuring that the mother-in-law would continue to join us on our trips, last week we went ahead, traded-in the Edge, and bought a 32 ft Forest River Sunseeker 3170DS Class C motorhome.  Equipped with a loft, bunk beds, queen size bed, a couch that converts into a bed, and a dinette that converts into a bed, we can sleep 9 people in this beast of an RV.  Thus ends the adventures with the Edge. I hope it ends up in good hands. It is a great little trailer.

Driving across the US with the Edge in Tow