Trip Report: Dalton Highway in an 80, Plus Introduction (2 Viewers)

[jvazquez53]

Excellent write up!!!!

 

[Aloha Jen]

This is what every man and his 80 should do alone time ,you,the road ,and the 80 well done sir

or woman!

 

[TrickyT]

...The trip was pretty brutal on the truck...

Okay, so you wore out a set of tires and no doubt added a bunch of wear-and-tear to your shocks and other rubber components of your suspension. Plus maybe some chips in the windshield glass and nasty gunk to wash off the undercarriage (the latter was needed anyway since you also went to Pismo Beach). I'm not hearing about any real issues here. In fact, it sounds like a pretty problem-free trip and hence we can't ask you to provide a list of "must have" spare parts we need to bring along if some of us make the same journey. What are your thoughts if you would have run into mechanical difficulties?

I know you were on a mission to get to the arctic circle and had limited time available, but if you go back again you should work your way west to the coastal areas of AK, especially a little later in the year (July-Sept). The fishing is outstanding -- I guarantee you nothing like that in Arizona.

 

[jvazquez53]

Those tires were not new when you started. You were lucky, the Dalton highway eats tires like crazy...

 

[White Stripe]

Really cool trip. The pic with your 80 by the water should be framed.

 

[sea bass]

or woman!

Oh yeah women too

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Nice write up. So, you gassed up in Coldfoot and Prudhoe, right? How low did the beast's gas tank get?

 

[ZackR]

Awesome write up. I was just reading about the dalton highway from some bike travelers based out out Bend, OR.

BLOG

Just so it's clear I'd rather do the trip in my 80!

 

[TexasJack]

Now for the VHF radio....I used a Yaesu FT-60R dual band, coupled with a mag-mount antenna.

You can see it's set to ARROW-1, which is 155.190 MHZ. Of course, the Yaesu can receive on this frequency, but not transmit. The day before I left Arizona, I made the decision to perform the MARS/CAP mod. See here:

http://www.r6-ru4montesecchieta.it/modifiche/yaesu_modifiche/FT-60R.PDF

I realize for the serious HAMS on this forum, this is sacrilege. However, communications on this road can be life and death, and I decided the ability to transmit on the commonly-used frequencies outweighed the risks. Fortunately, the MSRS/CAP mod was easy to do. Man, that resister is small! To "remove" it, I crushed it with a pair of tweezers. On radio checks throughout Alaska and Canada, I got "loud and clears!"

It's too bad amateur radio isn't used more commonly in the lower 48 among truckers. It is remarkable how clear the transmission came in using this handheld with simplex transmission. And to be able to separate out the chit-chat from the critical information is a neat concept.

One of my favorite stories was making friends with a trucker on the radio. I got out ahead of him about 4 miles. Suddenly he says "Driver, turn around! Come back and check out the grizzly bears." So I pulled a U-turn and as I approached, he had stopped his Kenworth in the middle of the road to check out 3 grizzly bears. Such is Alaska.

Now that is a cool story!

 

[Hank Tank]

That's pretty rad Scott. Thanks for sharing. Guess I need to add that to my bucket list now.

Cheers,

Hank

 

[Lowbudgetlc100]

thank you for sharing. i would like to make that trek on day from los angeles

 

[Hornd]

Thanks for collecting your thoughts & pictures.
Great information on the Radios.
Did you write a Journal?

I'm curious your packing list, and items you wish you had?

Anything else fail on the truck other than a tire, paint damage, and windshield chips?

 

[jdayment]

Great write up and sounds like a fun trip

 

[92LXAZ]

Amazing. Thanks for sharing. A trip like this for me seems unlikely with my job, family, and 2 weeks vaca a year so again thanks for a taste.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

Ambient temp, as verified thru Weather Channel, was 38 deg F with a 20 mph wind. The water probably was a little warmer, but as it was I couldn't feel my feet for 20 minutes.

Imagine it in winter! A couple days ago the temperature spiked to 84 degrees at Prudhoe, which was an out of this world record high.

 

[alltel05]

Thank you very much for the great write up.

 

[msahr]

Really great trip. Thanks for sharing. $1500 to ride the ferry, though?

 

[rc51kid]

I was looking into this same trip just a few weeks ago. Just for my own info what did gas cost per gallon up in Alaska?

 

[jamesurq]

Very cool trip. Makes me want to pack up and leave now!

 

[PabloVTA]

great pictures, awesome trip. Good luck finding a new career. Maybe you were meant to drive and write?