Sunday, February 12, 2012

Taking a Break from all the Sunshine!

Let's think about going to Alaska! We're tired of all the sunshine and warmth after weeks and weeks of staying in sunny Florida! (We ARE? You're kidding, right? asks an incredulous Eldo.) Absolutely kidding, but  seriously, why not think about heading to Alaska? Other than the worries about getting big chips in your windshield and having to watch for frost heave in the pavement and other such things, how about going if it's NOT your rig? We've got the info you need.....Nick, our neighbor, has found a way to take a trip to Alaska and not have to use your rig. You are "hired", so to speak, to drive Winnebago Class C's from the Iowa factory to Alaska. You do have to pay for your own gas and a fee on top of that, but you are not using your own coach. If you are thinking of getting into RVing, this would be a great way to try it out without paying the extremely high rental fees that are out there for motorhomes. AND, you are getting to see a bit of ALASKA, which is nature's wonderland in its most pristine environment, for the most part. And, your windshield on YOUR motorhome remains intact because you are driving someone else's Winnebago.  You get to decide whether you want to pay for the windshield or Winnebago when it more than likely gets a big chip traveling down the Alaskan Highway by taking the insurance or not!

There are several rental options out there. Nick and Ritchie Boersma, our neighbors, wrote a blog about their Alaskan trip renting the Winnebagos and are mentioned in this link that takes you to Great Alaskan Holidays. Here it is:  Great Alaskan Holidays. If you'd like to directly read the Boersma's Alaskan travels in their blog, here is their link:
                                   http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog/nboersma/1/tpod.html

Here is another link to renting to go to Alaska, along similar lines: Renting an RV to drive to Alaska

Anything else happen today, Sparky? Naw....just spotted this HUMONGOUS tortoise just outside the RV park today, on a bike ride out of the park. He was making his way S-L-O-O-O-W-L-Y across the county road, patiently waiting for traffic to go by. There wasn't much, lucky for him! He was the size of a Thanksgiving platter! At least he could be seen, perhaps. He made it! Whew! At least, I didn't see any squashed remains of turtle soup on the road on my way back...Gopher tortoise, maybe?
After quite a bit of rain, we had to try and get the excess off the awning toppers, as they were really sagging. Sparky had the brilliant idea of pushing the water off the topper from up above. Unfortunately, she almost got stuck! It's the bathroom window that's small, not that Sparky is all that big, dontcha know? :-) Eldo is wisely remaining quiet in the wings here......

We're definitely getting a break from the heat right now...a big, windy cold front came in last night with lots of rain. The rain has gone away, but it's darn right chilly out there today! High fifties and supposed to get down into the twenties (!) tonight. Tomorrow will be another cool day and the warm up starts back up early next week. We have just a couple more days here at Florida Grande...sniff, sniff....getting a little sad about leaving our friends we've made here.....BUT, Sparky is going to head out on another bike trail today or tomorrow, and do a possible kayak paddle at Crystal River before we leave to see if the manatees have come in from the cold weather the past couple of days, so stay tuned for a possible manatee report.....See you later!

6 comments:

  1. We have decided to forgo a motorhome trip to Alaska and go by cruise ship instead:)

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  2. We did a cruisetour to Alaska in 2001 that took us all the way up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Ocean before returning to Vancouver from Anchorage by ship. We then did our bear trip in 2010, which took us to parts of the Katmai Peninsula that are not road-accessible and spent time exploring the areas around Seward and Anchorage. We do plan to go to AK with our motorhome -- but after we've been on the road a while and the coach is 'not-so-new.' The idea of driving a rental sounds interesting, but I imagine there are some time restrictions that would but a crimp in our exploration style - we seem to need twice as much time as most people. Still, it's an interesting concept and I made note of the links to read up some on this idea.

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  3. I pulled a trailer on my trip to Alaska, and the only mishap was one flat tire on the Top of the World Highway. It's not as bad as a lot of people think if you drive cautiously. :)

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  4. We have one slide topper that seems to sag after every rain. When it does, we just run the slide in for a minute to let the water run off the top. Then, we run it back out and we're as good as new. Nobody has to get on a ladder or risk getting stuck in a window. You might give it a try. Enjoy the sunshine!

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  5. Hubby did an inside passage cruise up and then fly back with his dad and brothers.

    But we are thinking it would be great to leave our big rig at a friend's place in Washington, and buy a reasonable pickup camper and truck combo to use for the summer. Then on the way back to list it on Craig's list and hopefully recoup most if not all of the purchase price by the time we get back to Washington.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

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  6. Very interesting information. We've done a cruise which was terrific but not really our style. But want to go to the interior Denali etc so this is food for thought.

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