 The day before our scheduled departure from our winter RV location, we still hadn’t put the fifth-wheel hitch in the bed of the truck or topped off our propane tanks. Nor had we done any packing to speak of — although we had fixed some upholstery issues, defrosted our freezer, cleaned our ceiling fan, and lightened our load by getting rid of some rarely used items. We didn’t feel ready to travel. But the mobile home/RV park we were at had a strict 179-day maximum RV stay. This led to a very unordinary RV travel day. Preparing to hit the road Due to local responsibilities we wanted to complete, including helping our son finish a drywall project and tying off loose ends at the Commemorative Air Force, we decided to stay close. With high temperatures in the forecast, we knew we’d need an electric hookup, but all of the campgrounds in the area were booked, as it was still prime snowbird season. Thankfully, our friends Peter and Janice graciously offered to let us moochdock on their property, 5 miles away — our shortest point-to-point distance ever. The morning of our departure, Bob busied himself with inflating the six tires on Gulliver and the four on Tagalong while I worked on preparing the inside of the trailer for travel. That meant clearing areas to allow the slideouts to come into the rig and securing any loose items for the impending earthquake that would rattle all of our belongings.  I was most excited about the prospect of seeing our table again. It had become a dumping ground for things that needed our attention or we didn’t know what to do with. Normally, I would have started packing the night before to make for a smooth and relatively quick trailer closing so that we could connect it to the truck and get on the road. Our brief travel distance eased our pressure, giving us time to make sure we did everything properly — an important aspect after getting out of the habit. Four hours later, after taking care of a number of other tasks, including resealing the rig’s underbelly, we dusted off our checklists to ensure we wouldn’t forget any steps when closing Tagalong’s slideouts and connecting the truck to the trailer.  Finding a way in Getting situated at Peter and Janice’s required backing in a long distance. But first, we had to turn around to get into position to go in reverse. We had two options:
We attempted the first option, which meant backing down a hill to turn the trailer around. It started off well. Then CLUNK! Bob thought he hit a gate. I assured him he wasn’t close to the gate, and we wrote off the sound as “normal” truck and trailer noises while moving. We were wrong and learned a very important lesson: If the truck and trailer aren’t mostly level, we shouldn’t attempt a 90-degree turn. Trying to make that maneuver on an incline caused the fifth-wheel pin box to hit the edge of the truck bed, bending the frame that holds our tonneau cover. Oops!  On to the second option. Bob backed up the trailer farther to get into position to drive around the neighbor’s U-shaped drive. As he pulled onto the neighbor’s property, he caught the flank of the trailer on a rebar post, ripping the side camera off Tagalong. We didn’t use the side cameras much anyway, so we didn’t think it a big deal.  If at first you don’t succeed After backing up again and re-entering the property, we had no issues. Bob drove the trailer around the drive and got it into position for the lengthy backup procedure, which involved avoiding large rocks, making a turn, and staying out of a pit. It proved a great way to get re-initiated to trailering for our travel season. The process went slow but successfully. Bob avoided all the obstacles and parked the trailer. We disconnected and leveled it and started setting up. That’s when we discovered that our electric cord wasn’t long enough to reach the receptacle — even with an additional 30-foot extension cord. We needed another 3 to 4 feet. We reconnected the truck to the trailer, and Bob scooched Tagalong’s tail closer to the outlet. The electric cord reached, and we were able to disconnect the truck and trailer and set up our home. In our debrief afterward, we realized we still need to work on our communication. Bob thought I was pointing at a bush when I tried to stop him from hitting the rebar. Instead of yelling “Stop!” through the walkie-talkie, my words could have been clearer, such as, “You’re x inches from hitting rebar on the driver side of the trailer.” We did both stay calm through it all, so that’s improvement. Although we didn’t travel far, we appreciated the change of scenery — beautiful mountain views and desert landscape — as well as the quietness of being farther from the city. And the issues we encountered were easy fixes that Bob already repaired. You might also like Our top RV lessons in 5 years of RV travel.
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 Having been stationary for nearly six months — a seeming eternity for full-time RVers — we were itching for a travel experience. When some friends wanted help moving a trailer from the Phoenix area to Yuma, Arizona, we jumped at the chance. It would get us back on the road and allow us to visit my parents — a win-win. The plan included leaving Gulliver behind in Mesa, Arizona, and using the friends’ truck to tow the trailer. Ultimately, it led us to find adventure in unusual places. When you haven’t towed in a while, it can be easy to forget steps, such as checking connections and performing a pre-travel vehicle walkaround. We had to get back into our on-the-road mindset. We took the route through the city of Maricopa, which led us over numerous rolling hills before reaching the halfway point in Gila Bend. While on those hills, we heard a scraping noise a couple of times and determined it to be the trailer tires oscillating. Upon reaching Gila Bend, we pulled over to check on the trailer and quickly realized the true source of the scraping. The extendable leg of the electric trailer jack had come loose from its housing, allowing its foot to hit the asphalt on the hills and bending the extension. With it in that condition, there was no way to get it back into its housing. The right tool for the job Bob was able to remove the foot of the unit. This allowed him to get three fingers underneath — not enough clearance for safe driving the rest of the way.  We checked the Love’s truck stop for a sledge hammer to knock the extension back in alignment so that we could raise it into the housing but didn’t find one. We did, however, have a hacksaw with us. That turned out to be the right tool for the job. Bob lay on the ground and painstakingly cut through the metal pipe with the saw. With that done and out of the way, he loosened the bolts holding the electric jack in place and removed the unit from the trailer’s tongue. Although that rendered the trailer essentially stuck to the truck, it made for safe driving to our destination.  In Yuma, we secured a replacement electric jack from Harbor Freight and installed it. Problem solved and crisis averted. On the road again Fortunately for us, that was only part of the adventure. We enjoyed some time with my parents, and then we learned that our friends needed us to move the trailer again, this time from Yuma to Tucson. Although less excited about this relocation, we were up for it. Our travels took us through expansive desert, past Picacho Peak, and into Saguaro National Park — with more rolling hills. Good thing we had replaced the trailer’s electric jack. After we reached our destination, our friends told us they were going to fly us back to Mesa in a private Twin Commander plane.  We buckled in for a comfortable, roomy ride that gave us an aerial view of the Central Arizona Project canal system and the airplane boneyard in Pinal Airpark, a place we tried to visit once but didn’t have security clearance.
Thirty minutes after takeoff, we touched down in Mesa, culminating a few days’ worth of adventure and whetting our appetites for more. You might also like A Jurassic adventure.  The state of Alaska offers vast expanse, abundant wildlife, incredible beauty, and friendly people. Located about 500 miles as the bird flies from the contiguous United States, the Last Frontier is not easy to get to by vehicle. But you can drive an RV on the Alaska Highway through Canada if you prepare for what you’ll encounter. After much research, we set out to make that drive in 2023. Thanks to our preparations, we enjoyed the experience and plan to return in a few years. Here are RV upgrades we found worth the investment — at least for a fifth wheel — in order of importance. New tires Before pulling out on the 1,387-mile Alaska Highway, we purchased six new tires for our Dodge Ram 3500 dually, Gulliver, and four tires for our fifth wheel, Tagalong. Not having experienced any issues with our truck tires, we got the same kind we’d been using: Goodyear Wrangler all-terrain adventure with kevlar. With our trailer, however, we had encountered a number of tire challenges. Not wanting to experience anymore on our adventure of a lifetime, we chose to upgrade Tagalong’s tires from E-rated Goodyear Endurance to G-rated Provider HD by Taskmaster to better handle all of our belongings riding on them. Although the investment was costly, our 10 new tires gave us comfort. And they sustained us through our Alaska expedition with no issues whatsoever. Suspension system We didn’t know we needed a suspension upgrade on our rig. We took it to United Spring & Brake in Dawson Creek, British Columbia, the starting point of the Alaska Highway, to get the leaf springs checked, having heard the road to Alaska could be rough with frost heaves and potholes (and indeed it was). We had added shock absorbers to our fifth wheel about nine months earlier to cushion the effects of the potentially rough roads and were pleased with the results. So we were surprised when the inspection of our suspension system revealed a broken leaf spring hanger on our rig. That could have led to some serious damage en route to the 49th state. With no replacement part in stock, the technicians at United Spring & Brake welded the piece together and secured it to the RV. Method for carrying extra fuel You may have heard stories about not being able to refuel a vehicle for many miles on the Alaska Highway. We didn’t find those accounts to be true, but we took measures to address them just in case. In reality, it’s not unusual for Alaska fuel stations to lose power and not be able to operate their pumps. Because we use a tonneau BAKflip cover to protect the bed of our truck when not towing, we didn’t want to purchase an additional fuel tank that would sit higher than the sides of the truck bed. Instead, we upgraded our 32-gallon diesel tank to a 55-gallon one. It didn’t take up a lot more space underneath the vehicle but almost doubled our driving capacity on a single tank of fuel.  Grille guard
A grille guard isn’t necessary, but it can provide peace of mind by protecting your vehicle’s radiator and other vital parts. That’s exactly what it did for us. Since we don’t own sticks and bricks, we can’t afford to have something drastic happen to our truck. We rely on it to be able to move our home as needed. For that reason, we didn’t want an aftermarket add-on grille guard. We replaced our entire front bumper with a robust Ranch Hand Ram Legend Front Bumper grille guard. Throughout our Alaska adventure, we never got close enough to any wildlife that we had to rely on it, but we rested easier knowing it was there. We did come pretty close to hitting a moose crossing the road on our way to Homer. Thankfully, we were able to stop our truck and trailer in time. Other RV essentials for Alaska In addition to those upgrades, we made sure we had some other pertinent items with us. Purchasing new tires is important, but perhaps more important is a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). For us, this is a must-have on our trailer tires as Gulliver pulls Tagalong with ease. We could burn through a tire without knowing if not notified by the TPMS. Starlink provides great satellite internet in Alaska’s vastness. And it can double as an emergency communication enabler. By providing Wi-Fi, it allows us to make Wi-Fi phone calls where cell service might be unavailable. We even took our Starlink dish on the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Ocean for that purpose. If you drive a diesel truck or RV, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) is essential to carry with you in Alaska where, unlike in the contiguous states, you won’t find it available at fuel pumps. And you may not find it at your fuel stop of choice. You might also like Is a trip to Alaska all it’s cracked up to be? |
AuthorThis is the travel blog of full-time RVers Bob and Lana Gates and our truck, Gulliver, and fifth wheel, Tagalong. Categories
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