Key West to Dead Horse -- Possible on a Grass Roots Budget

As a yute', was going to enroll in the Veterinary School at the University of AK in Fairbanks.

Had it all planned out.  Get a degree, help animals get better and see a great part of the world. Hunt, fish, hike camp & all those things.

Then came the March 27,  1964 earthquake.

Things changed, AK got left behind.

Get a degree in Petroleum Engineering.

Worked all over the US and 5 foreign countries drilling oil and gas well.

Career change led me to Managing IT Projects.

Current Job (or lack of same) has a time window that is very attractive for a trip

Budget will be Challenge similar, nothing new or fancy.

Plan to drive from Mile Maker 0 in Key West to Dead Horse. (5,929 miles +/-)

Breakfast with the Chickens at Blue Heaven, Lunch at Cuban Coffee Queen, Dinner at Louis's Back Porch.  (Not Challenge Budget eligible)

Next day the adventure begins, 60 years in the making !!!!

Vehicle will be donated to a charity in Fairbanks / Anchorage after  the trip back from Dead Horse has been completed.

The question is, can this be done at a Grassroots level?

Anything with a small block Chevy or Buick 3800 should make it.

People go from Alaska to Peru on a 50cc scooter.  I'm sure your easier and all English speaking route can be done in a car. 

I recommend picking a very popular car.  The guy who did it on the 50cc scooter chose it because they are everywhere and good parts availability in South and Central America where he feared the highest likelihood of fatigue failure.  

In another thread I pointed you to a mid aughts Chevy Trailblazer SUV.  A combination of rough/tough enough with significant popularity for parts availability 

John  

Thank you , You did and we are looking at similar vehicles (the seller raised her price because she had LOTS OF INTEREST, LOL)

The discussion on "What is GRASSROOTS" in another thread prompted me to start this thread.

As this will be at least a 10 - 15 day on the road sage, just wanted to get input and guidance from the Group.

The small block Chevy or Ford vehicles have a definite attraction both from an initial buy in and a FIND A PART in East Belt Buckle Montana or Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Though is the simpler the vehicle the less that can / will go wrong. (Ex work / Public Utility / Military )

Up in the air on gasoline / diesel for the prime mover power.

Anyone want to come along as a navigator / communications specialist?

More to follow !

Someone I know did a similar trip in a TDI Beetle with no issues, and still drives it many years later.

Suzuki GS850 and a Vetter or similar fairing is the first proper vehicle that comes to my mind.

Why the donation at the end?

Remember, Alaska is not part of the Continental United States and as such, it's similar to living on an island in that it has high costs to have items brought in.  

My guess is that your "lower 48" vehicle is worth more in AK.  I'll bet few people "bring in and leave" a vehicle like you are. 

If you donate, are you expecting to loose $4k on this vehicle?  Why then not just bring in a $15k vehicle and offload it for $11k in a fire sale.  But, I don't think you'll need to sell it off that low. 

I'd put up an ad on the Fairbanks FB or CL page about 5 days before the trip is over.  Tell your tail of how I just put 5k trouble free miles on the car and buyers should flock to you before you leave town. 

Decades ago a friend rode his Honda motorcycle from Elizabeth City to Kodiak (coast guardsman). 
Roads were far worse then, gravel for much of the Alkan. 
 

He laid it down, slid under a semi trailer and made it out the other side. Truck driver only saw him go under, locked up the brakes, and collapsed when he jumped down from the cab. 

Nothing specific to add, but one guy did it in a Ferrari 308, so something more "commonplace" should work, too.
 

Road & Track:

https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a37693798/ferrari-308-to-arctic-ocean/
 

Forza magazine

https://www.forza-mag.com/issues/197/articles/spur-of-the-moment

If I was looking for a vehicle to make this trip it would be a Suburban. Preferably something I could sleep in the back of.

Edit to say: If you don't do a trip report with lots of pictures, I'm going to vote we ban you for life. 

You can probably keep it under $100 per day in gas plus food and accommodations, say $100~$150 per night for a decent cheap room. Driving my Toyobaru from near Toronto, ON to Gainesville, FL and back took 4 days on the road with one night stop each way and was about $700 total, highway MPGs are decent although it runs on 93 octane. So if you spend about the same 10hrs on the road per day that I did, which I would say is a comfortable amount but with minimal stopping, you'd be looking at 9 days on the road at probably around $280 per day, which adds up to $2520 one way.

Do pick something common so that you can get parts easily, maybe a Crown Vic if they're not too old now?

Couple of folks drove up from Maryland and PA to Alaska on here

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/chasing-dreams-maryland-to-alaska-on-a-wr250x/49643/page1/

https://classicmotorsports.com/forum/trips-adventures-and-get-togethers/car-camping-to-alaska/193423/page1/

In reply to Coniglio Rampante :

You can get away with using non-commonplace more easily than you might expect because cruising the interstate is mostly pretty easy on a car, except for the suspension if it's a pothole-ridden mess. If something breaks it's either going to be a freak occurrence that was hard to predict, possibly a known weak spot if it's something in the drivetrain that is aggravated by higher speeds like a wheel bearing, or because you hit something - and if you spend enough time on the road that's not a negligible risk, you'll be dodging multiple road gators per day, you'll probably see at least one large bit of roadkill that could damage your car per day, maybe the occasional huge mattress-looking thing left on an unlit North Carolina turnpike at night for you to dodge at the last second. That can be a butt-puckering moment in a high-grip sports car, never mind a Suburban.

But if you gamble and lose, it can mean adding days to your trip while you wait for parts to come in, and if you can't camp in your vehicle then accommodations are the most expensive part of being on the road.

My parents drove from Montreal to Alaska in a Datsun 710 wagon 35 years ago. Only trouble was one flat tire, and the highway is far better today than back then. Buy some sort of 4wd truck  and sell it there, like John suggested.

My buddy did his 4 Army years in Alaska. He was from GA, and drove his Accord up there from GA, had a battery heater and oil pan heater added when he got there, drove it the 4 years he was there, then took the loooong way home with all of his earthly belongings packed in the Accord. Came down West Coast to California, then started wiggling East to GA hitting friends and points of interest along the way. Met me in VA, if that gives you an idea of the circuitous route he took. Claims he had essentially no car related issues, ever.

So... Accord?

If the car will be donated to someone in Fairbanks, it better be something with 4 wheel drive that's appropriate for their winters.  A Miata for instance is probably not a good choice.

Did I miss the bit about where you plan to eat and sleep? If this is budget-limited, that suggests maybe a really small RV, or even a pickup with a slide-in unit. Are you always going to eat in restaurants? Willing to lug cooking and sleeping gear in and out of the car every day? A small RV or camper is nice because you can just pull over, eat and sleep with zero planning. Trip completed, sell it locally at such an attractive price that it goes in a day or two. Heck, maybe even drive it into a dealer and ask what they'll give you for it. A million ways to do this.

Agree completely on 4WD; depending where you are, getting stuck could be life-threatening, and buyers will expect 4WD no matter what it is.

Another it-doesn't-have-to-be-a-common-car response. My buddy and I did the Alcan 5000 some years back in an '85 Saab 900 Turbo with 250,000 miles on it. Winter event (Feb); drove on the frozen MacKenzie River to the Arctic Ocean. I think total mileage was around 5,600 in ~10-11 days. Yes, we went over the car pretty thoroughly, and brought some spares, but we had no troubles. All that said, it'd be easier to take a common car is something goes wrong.

And if you're going solo, I think you'd want a sat phone or locator beacon. At one point, we saw a Saturn that had gone off the road and would have been nearly invisible to other cars if they weren't able to get out, no lights. It had been there for months (per date of newspaper in the back seat).

Here's the car. This is on the Dempster Highway:

If it were me going, I'd get some sort of small/medium sized CUV, just big enough to sleep in. Sleep in it every other night and find accommodations in between. Anything with AWD will be easily used in Fairbank's winters, and there are Ford, GM, Honda, Subaru, Toyota and Nissan dealers there, so I'd look at one of those brands. The highway is paved over its entire length, but it will have construction zones in the warmer months.

Edit: The four most popular vehicles in Alaska are full size trucks, followed by the Toyota RAV4 in 5th spot. You could buy a southern truck and possibly cover some of your expenses by selling it for more than you paid.

VWAC Baja Beetle

Minivan. Like a suburban but better MPG

I'm not really a Ford guy, but don't leave out the Panther platform.

Crown Vics, Marquis, and Town Cars are reliable, everywhere, and ride well. Some have returned 20-23mpg with a light foot. They are Rear Wheel Drive, however. This might scare some people off. I say get tire chains.

Good luck!

I drove a 1971 Renault R10 from Fairbanks to Pennsylvania via Wyoming in the previous century. One of those little jump-start boxes would have been nice so I didn't have to hand-crank or push-start it myself. Other than no-mans land between AK & Canada having marginally worse road surface than Scranton PA, the ALCAN not difficult to drive in any way.

Take more time to take your time and maybe bring an extra spare tire would be my advice. If I did it again I'd go with a minivan so i could sleep wherever comfortably and get reasonable fuel economy.

In reply to John Welsh :

Thanks John

The donation was for a Tax Write off, however, you make an excellent point.

In reply to Coniglio Rampante :

Brock did it in a Corvette and we had seen the Ferarri adventure.

Thanks