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Old 10-05-2014, 10:51 PM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
773 posts, read 1,938,248 times
Reputation: 353

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Does it matter which route? 37/16 or 97?
Seems I remember someone telling me not to take the route closest to the coast (37/16), something about the road being the worst of the two routes.

I'm trying to figure out which is the better/faster route, When I use Google maps for directions it has me take 37, which looks to be 2 hrs shorter to Whitehorse, than using 97, but looks like it has fewer places to stop or gas up.

Last edited by msta999; 10-05-2014 at 11:42 PM..
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Old 10-05-2014, 11:50 PM
 
310 posts, read 685,782 times
Reputation: 498
Quote:
Originally Posted by msta999 View Post
I'm trying to figure out which is the better/faster route, When I use Google maps for directions it has me take 37, which looks to be 2 hrs shorter to Whitehorse, than using 97, but looks like it has fewer places to stop or gas up.
37 is shorter and more scenic, but road maintenance can be slow. This is probably not an issue since you are driving in 10 days or so. If there is a bunch of snow that gets dumped on the road then they are definitely slower to clean that up than the crews on 97. There definitely are fewer places to gas up. Most people say to get gas whenever you can because you never know whether there's an issue with the next gas stop.
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Old 10-06-2014, 10:08 AM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
2,795 posts, read 5,612,445 times
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Highway 37 is also know as the Cassiar Highway. It is more scenic, but there are a lot less services. For me, it's not worth saving two hours of driving to run the risk of breaking down and being that remote.
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Old 10-06-2014, 10:13 AM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
773 posts, read 1,938,248 times
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I agree, thanks.
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Old 12-16-2018, 12:24 AM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
773 posts, read 1,938,248 times
Reputation: 353
I know it is a little late, but I wanted to thank everyone for the help/advise, it took us 8 days to drive a 28 ft U-haul with a car trailer, to Wasilla, mainly due to the 5 flat tires on the trailer! They were using ground up rock for sanding the roads and that causes a lot of flats! After the second flat, I try'd buying a tire/wheel, but no one would sell us one till we got to Distruction Bay?? or something like that and the tire guy they sold us one, then we had one more flat before we made it to the Alaskan boarder, once in Alaska, no more flats. I don't think I'll drive that route in the winter again.


Merry Christmas everyone!!!
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Old 12-16-2018, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Juneau, AK + Puna, HI
10,545 posts, read 7,735,179 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by msta999 View Post
I know it is a little late, but I wanted to thank everyone for the help/advise, it took us 8 days to drive a 28 ft U-haul with a car trailer, to Wasilla, mainly due to the 5 flat tires on the trailer! They were using ground up rock for sanding the roads and that causes a lot of flats! After the second flat, I try'd buying a tire/wheel, but no one would sell us one till we got to Distruction Bay?? or something like that and the tire guy they sold us one, then we had one more flat before we made it to the Alaskan boarder, once in Alaska, no more flats. I don't think I'll drive that route in the winter again.


Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Wow, that's a real bummer having to change so many tires in the dark, cold winter. Thanks for the update!
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Old 12-16-2018, 04:50 PM
 
Location: Wasilla, AK
7,448 posts, read 7,580,581 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Cleric View Post
Wow, that's a real bummer having to change so many tires in the dark, cold winter. Thanks for the update!


I've heard a lot of bad stories about U-Haul auto carriers and flat tires. If I was bring a vehicle up to Alaska I would buy my own trailer and upgrade to 10 ply trailer tires. You're much less likely to have a flat and you can most likely sell the trailer for more than you paid for it.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:32 PM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
773 posts, read 1,938,248 times
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We got lucky, on the first flat, a guy from Fairbanks was hauling a travel trailer up and stopped, he showed me how to use a piece of log between the frame and the leaf spring to take the wait off the flat tire and we were able to limp into the next town and have it changed. I had then toss the log and we got another flat the next day, so I cut another log so we can limp into the next town, then I had them toss that one too. but on the third flat, I kept the log and it was used for the next flat, where we limped into Destruction Bay and we were able to buy a wheel and tire there. We only had one more flat after that, then we were in Alaska and made it the rest of the way with no problems.....but yes, if I do it again I will get better tires...better yet, I won't do it in the winter.
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Old 12-16-2018, 06:37 PM
 
Location: Houston, Alaska
773 posts, read 1,938,248 times
Reputation: 353
Oh, if anyone is heading down with a car trailer, I have a new tire and wheel that fits the uhaul car trailer, if you get a flat you can change it and have the other one repaired at the next tire place for free.....if your towing a U-haul car trailer..
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Old 12-19-2018, 01:23 PM
 
1 posts, read 504 times
Reputation: 10
Merry Christmas everyone!!! And happy new year!
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