April drive to Alaska (travel, good, fun)

[Bob Blockus]

most popular gas stations in Canada? with major gas card lowar 48. can use mom's gas card..

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Bob Blockus

half of the battle won = Mr bob has Denali job, Mckinly Chalets. now drive to the Alaska state with confidence.

Mr. Bob,

We just got back from Wisconsin. We have to leave for N.Y. in couple days to handle some business.

Last year we did the Alaska trip two times; one in June and one in September. You can DO it. Take your time, stay alert and you are going to be fine. I haven't had time to catch up on the forums, but are you driving alone or do you have a driving partner going with you?

It is an absolutely awesome trip! The beauty will astound you, trust me. Don't lose confidence in yourself. You just take it a "mile at a time." When you're tired, pull over. Travel the Canadian areas off-hours for the work flow traffic. You can and will do it; I have complete faith in you my friend!!

[stiffnecked]

Originally Posted by Bob Blockus

most popular gas stations in Canada? with major gas card lowar 48. can use mom's gas card..

I think all my receipts are from Petro Canada or Husky for gas in Canada.

[warptman]

Here's something interesting, although I've never did this myself. You can get money back from the GST tax that Canada has.

GST/PST/HST Sales Tax Refund For Visitors To Canada

Has anyone bothered with this?

[shyeeyore]

Well we made it! I will say that if I was ever to do it again I wouldn't do it until later in the year. There are stops about every 50 to 100 km but they fail to tell you that 95% are closed down for the season! Make sure if you make this trip you top off at EVERY small town you go blow though as you never know if the next one wll be open! Also MapQuest wasn't as much of a help as I would have liked. (I know they have the warning on it that it might not be accurate but geez) I am so lucky that my Husband talked me into him flying down to Portland and driving with me back up here. We left Thurs. night about 9pm and got into Soldotna on Sun about 11:30 pm. We stopped a few times to catch some winks and let the dogs run but we were really bombing. The road signs in Canada are teeninsy and almost like Fred Finstone made them LOL .
Anyways it was an adventure to say the least, Hubby & I got in only one argument and that was when we got into Ancharage becuase the freeway went into the city and there wasn't any road signs that we could see letting us know that we are going the right way.. I told him to just follow the road sometimes citys do this. We are staying here until tomorrow then we get on the ferry to Kodiak! At least we are in a bed and out of the car!

[warptman]

Welcome to Alaska! Now start posting pics of the drive!

[Grannysroost]

Welcome to Alaska! Welcome to Soldotna (not too scary) At least you have a day or so to unwind before the last leg of your trip...

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by Bob Blockus

Mr bob is Scared very much. big world United States Canada. traffic weather people and keeping in means of budget fiance of 15 day trip. got special permission from Sarah at Denali if Mr bob is few days late. Leaving on trip Thursday. work job Denali starts May 7. at least Mr bob has Alaska Job. oh more driving when get to denali. drivers team job as laundry truck driver eight hours five days a week.

Bob, you can do this.

Will you be checking in with us while you're on the road?

[Bob Blockus]

Mr bob not in Fantacy Land. its real. started to pack Ford Taurus. leaving thursday. have two thousand five hundred in travel checks.

[Alaskapat528]

Originally Posted by Bob Blockus

Mr bob not in Fantacy Land. its real. started to pack Ford Taurus. leaving thursday. have two thousand five hundred in travel checks.

Bob, don't forget to use a credit card for gas or purchases in Canada since they automatically do the conversion. The banks charge a small fee for this but well worth it. We never dealt with the travelers checks but instead used credit card and usually kept about $100 in cash on us. Another thing we did was never let the gas tank go below half full, even in the Canadian cities. We also found in Canada that their gas stations (some of them) didn't open until around 7 am. Sorry can't remember where that was in Canada.

P.S. Dang, I wish the trunks of our vehicles were as clean as yours LOL.