Hello Everyone,

My name is Skip Blandford. My wife Mary and I live in Valdez.
I work for the US Coast Guard and have been with them here since 1977. Spend all winter on the night shift and summers on day shift when not charter fishing. My wife works for the electric utility and operates a Bed & Breafast in our home. You may have seen my green Excursion around town with "Valhalla Charters" and "Fisherman's Rack B&B" signs on it. I had the first Excursion the town of Valdez, five years ago.

I have a new, fully loaded, F350 Lariat CC DRW on the way from KTP to Pacific Coast Ford in Federal Way, WA. Plan to go down to Seattle the first of the month to complete the sale and get it rigged for our new Alpenlite Santa Fe camper we bought in November. I think we will go back down there toward the end of April and drive the rig home. As soon as the wife and I retire from our "real" jobs, which won't be too far off, we plan to commute from Arkansas each spring and then leave shortly after the tourists in the fall.

I spent a lot of time researching our truck and camper. I started about this time last year. I almost bought a Dodge from Gene's up in Fairbanks, but my wife talked me out of it. Glad I waited, because the new super duties are much more to my liking. So that's how I got interested in the FTE forum. I don't post much but read the forums almost every day.

This will be our first RV since we came up the ALCAN in '77. We had a '75
International Scout II and towed a new 21' Holiday Rambler Free Spirit, with
a 12' skiff on top of the Scout. Took six weeks to get here and had a
blast. It was my wife and I, our 18 month old daughter, and my
sister-in-law, who was 15 at the time. We added another daughter to our family in 1984. Both are grown and gone now. The younger daughter is a senior at UAF. We came into the State the same day as the first barrel of oil arrived here in Valdez. We were here about six months when I bought my first boat. (Now I'm on my fourth!) The travel trailer sat neglected after that, as I spent all free time out in the Sound, and sold it shortly thereafter. So, we've only driven the ALCAN one way, one time. I considered getting a fifth wheel, but I kind of like the idea of being to camp "anywhere". Needed to stay with a heavy duty truck because I still have to pull my 30', 15K# boat in and out of the water. Since there is only the two of us again (maybe a dog), a truck camper seems to be the answer.

We bought a house, a little over ten years ago, in a resort development
called Holiday Island, near Eureka Springs, AR. It's right on the 16th
fairway of their 18 hole course. Nothing fancy, but should serve us well
for the winters. I don't think I've picked up a golf club since I was
stationed in Hawaii, 30 years ago. After 28 winters, we're getting a
little tired of it, winter that is. I figure that if it gets nasty in AR, we can load
up the camper and head for Key West or Padre Island!

This winter has been particularly ugly for us because of all the ice. We
like to get out and walk but, it's been too dangerous most of the time
without ice cleats. I'm on my off week this week and don't normally
spend this much time on the computer. But the wind we've had has been the pits and I've spent about all my time web surfing and keeping the wood stove filled. It's still not as bad as the winter of '78-'79 though. I
remember that we had a three week period in February when the wind
didn't get below 40 knots. There were 14 tankers stacked up at Knowles
Head Anchorage because it was too dangerous to bring them in. Hope it
doesn't get that bad.

Haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do with the Excursion yet. I
might sell it and get one of those little Ford Escapes for bopping
around here. I don't know though, that Ex sure is handy for picking up
7-8 B&B guests from the ferry and it's a great ride to "town", either one. We also have a little red Ranger that my daughter has up in Fairbanks this
winter. It's been a little cumbersome with only one vehicle and us both
still working.

I realize I've been rambling on here quite a bit, maybe a little too long.
On the up side, only 42 more days 'til Spring! Stay warm.

Skip

 

Hey Skip! Welcome

Hope to meet you both soon. I believe a Valdez Meet is planned for June.
I also own a Excursion...a little TOO small of a rig for me, I still want something BIGGER!

 

JUNE? Good that gives me some time to clean the house. Skip is probley the person to talk to pertaining fishing charters. I know thats what most of you desire during that June trip. Gota say thank you to all the Fairbanks people, you do give our economy a good boost in the Summer.

 

Hi all, My name Matthew and I have 2 Fords, well actually one is my wifes and I let her drive it every now and then. Her's is a 98 Expedition we bought about 4 years ago and then I bought a 2000 F150 Extended cab(4x4) last saturday for 13 grand. I think I got a good deal for it but either way i needed something to replace my old Chevy that we outgrew and overloaded when towing.

I work for Carr's and have for the last 15 years. moved up here from Michigan with the intent of moving back after a couple of years but found that Alaska just grows on you and I could not even think of another state as home. I hunt mostly but with my kids getting older(3 & 6) it looks like it is time to get back into fishing again. They love to camp and ride wheelers and little guy has his own and already wants a bigger one, must be a guy thing(?), we buy something and beforre we get it home we want the next size up.

Live in Spenard area by Lake Hood for the last 9 years.

That is about all from here. Found this site just after we bought the Expedition and found it very useful tool.

AlaskaBoy.

 

Hello AlaskaBoy,

My name is heavnbound and I am the Chapter Leader for the Alaska Chapter. I saw your post in the Alaska Chapter Forum but when I went to your Profile, I noticed you are not yet "officially" a member of our Chapter.You are welcome to become part of our growing Chapter and it’s very easy to do. Simply go to

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13

and look for the Alaska Chapter. You will find a Join Chapter link there along with my name. Click on the Join Chapter link and it will guide you through the quick process of joining. I will receive your request, and authorize you.



I look forward to hearing from you and welcoming you into our midst!



heavnbound

Alaska Chapter Leader

 

Welcome Alaskaboy. Either my self or Wes will be sending out some information to you here real soon. If Wes has already done so just drop me an email and let me know.

Thanks,
Mike B - Assistant Alaska Chapter Leader.

 

Hello, my name is Loyd and i live in Wasilla just north of church rd., i have lived in Alaska since 92 and love it, i am a house painter and stay pretty busy in the sommer with lots of playtime in the winter, i own one Ford, a 04 F-350 Lariet CC LB 6.0 6 speed manual, love the truck and hopefully will be able to work out all of the problems with the help of the dealership (Nye) by the way how do you get the header on your posts that allowes u to post a pic of your truck????

 

Welcome to our group painter! I have recieved your request and authorized you - you are now a member of the Alaska Chapter!

That header thing you are talking about is an avatar and you can get one for yourself through your User Control Panel. Just go to the link at the top of your screen (on the left side) and when it opens look down the list till you find avatars. You may have to resize your pic (if you need help in this let me know, I have a couple programs that can do this) and once it's the proper size, you can upload it to your gallery and use your new avatar in your "header" If you have any questions, I'm only an email or PM away!

Once again welcome to our crew!

 

Thanks heavnbound i will attempt to set up the avatar and see how it goes, again thank for the info.. smitty

 

seems i gotta introduce myself. well... my names jeremy, i work on fort rich, but am not in the military, most people think i'm arrogant, conceited and selfish,most of them are right, just ask my wife. uhmmmmmmm i just bought a 96 ford f-350 s/c cause they look cool not because i need to haul anything or for any practical reason. i just happen to like the way it looked in the cal worthington ford commercial. yes i bought that white one. actually signed up here to see if anyone knew where i might find a straight, cab height sleeper with just a solid rear window and no side windows? already tried alaskakap and custom truck accs on old seward to no avail.. well thats not entirely true, i gotta call back monday to custom truck and see if they could special order one from someplace.... but i figure theres no problem that can't be solved on the net and by throwing lots of money at it!!! thats about it i guess, dont want to get too personal as the ladies might start stickin my good lookin self...

 

Hi all,

My name is Eric and I live down here in Kenai. My current vehicle is a '78 F150 with a 351M and a C6. Used to be my dad's, who bought it back in the early 80's, so it's been in the family for a while. I started working on this project this past August and it's taken a fair amount of work to get it into it's present condition. So far I welded in new floor pans to replace the old Fred Flinstone floors, replaced the front axle u-joints, put on an Edelbrock intake manifold and 600cfm performer carb, heater core, cd player, door panels, carpet, and of course the styling new saddle cloth seat cover. This summer I have plans to fix the body rot, which really isn't as bad as other similar year trucks that I've seen, finish up the body work my dad started years ago, and repaint it with the original midnight blue.

 

When we see Ol' Smokey, our 1991 F350 Diesel (red) crewcab out on the road, my 3 boys still get excited and point 'im out. I gave (sold it cheap) to a man with 7 kids from Nome, a carpenter by trade. My sweet Alaskan gal never loved Ol' Smokey 'cause he earned his handle. A "real man's truck."
Now the family goes camping/fishing/sledding/tree cutting in our 1997 (blue) crew cab, nicknamed Big Blue. He is powered by a 7.5L gas powerplant.
Our disgusting, old, leaky pre-1980 11ft camper is the weekend getaway fishing cabin. We love it, and we love being out in beautiful Alaska whenever we get the chance.
The best thing I ever did for this truck was to let Chuck and his crew clean the injector system and replace the #2 Oxygen sensor. Big Blue is completely stock, but runs like a charm, with over 98,000 miles having passed under the big 16-inch tires. Loaded, with a camper on the full-size bed, and even hauling a tandem-axle trailer, I climb Turnagain Pass and never overheat.
I work way out on Shemya Island, so it is good to know Big Blue will start on the coldest winter days, when both our other vehicles are stuck in the driveway, and my wee (4'11") wife can still get the boys to school.

Scott-N-Pearl

 

Welcome Alaska Dad,

My name is heavnbound and besides being one too (an Alaska Dad!) I am also the Chapter Leader for the Alaska Chapter.

I noticed on your Public Profile that you are not yet a member of our group. This can be fixed very simply. Just go to the Alaska Chapter in the Regional Chapter section of the main forums page and once you find our Forum, (it's where you posted this thread) click on the Join link next to the Chapter Name. This will take you to another page where you can sign up.

Once you have signed up, I will authorize your admittance and bingo - you're official!

Our next Chapter Meeting is slated to be on March 18th at 7:00 p.m. in the FTE Chatroom. If you've never been in the chatroom and would like to attend the meeting, please go try out the chatroom to get a "feel" for it.

Welcome to the Chapter!

 

Hi, my name is Jim, I live in Eagle River with my lovely wife, daughter (15) and son (14). We got stationed here in 1992 at Elmendorf AFB and got out in 99 so we could stay. We love our 97 Powerstroke that we've owned for 4 years. We tow a 12 1/2' Cab-over and a 24' enclosed trailer full of toys to all our favorite camping spots.
We enjoy snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, dirt biking, fishing, camping, gold panning (we never find any, lol) and of course playing with the truck. Our latest hobby has been running our truck at the local drag strip with our friends (bragging rights). It good family fun, my wife likes racing the truck more than I do.
Anyway, were are into family stuff and don't much care for the "Party life style" we just enjoy this great state as much as we can.
JIM

 

Welcome Jim to the Alaska Chapter. Just to fill you in we have been conducting the majority of our meetins on the FTE Chat room approximatley every 6 weeks. We also have had a few area get togethers so far. This Memorial Day we have a get-together scheduled up by Denali Park and another get-together later in the summer in Valdez for fishing, rafting, ect.

I do see that you are registered as a Alaska Chapter member so tommorrow, (At work right now) I will send you some general information and hyperlinks to Heavnbounds web site that has some general Chapter information, bylaws, ect.

Welcome and have a good day.