is that rust from seward? or is it a wasilla vehicle before you got it?

 

Nothing more then light surface rust down there. MUCH better then my old 2004 or 2000 i had before. This truck came from Oregon in 2007 or so says the Autocheck from when i bought it. the previous owner lived in Talkeetna. so i assume it saw some salt off the highway for 3 years before i bought it in 2010.

 

cleaned her up today alittle, no crazy deep cleaning but made it alittle better.

 

Looks good, Russ! I bet you wish you had a paved driveway to help keep her clean

 

actually we just laid down 40 yards of RAP (recycled asphalt) so its almost as good as regular pavement. no more dust or mud its great! i'm loving it so much! i will not miss the dirt/mud driveway i've lived with for 11 years

 

alrighty so on friday the 5th we headed out for McCarthy,Alaska again. about 700 miles all said and done. truck ran fantastic as always and the MPG's were mid 13s. i did better last year on the same trip got 14..oh well.

so loaded up and heading out












i have to say the worst part of road trips for me is having to stop for bathroom breaks for my passengers. i can go 400+ miles without stopping..why cant they?





stopped off at Liberty Falls just outside Chitna,AK




saw a moose in a lake near Chitna.

 

Chitna is the last of the paved road you see on the way to McCarthy. you cross over the Copper river and then onto McCarthy road. 61 miles of gravel road. the road was in fantastic shape this year..much better then last year. normally traveling the road takes 3+ hours at 25mph. i was able to do it in 1 hour and 20 mins averaging 42mph.









made it to the end of the road, ready to set up camp. the truck was absolutely filthy from the drive. it was a very silty mud covering the whole truck.







on Saturday we headed to Kennecott mine.

 

went on a hike, along the trail was a old f-350 owned by the state. it was set up with a water tank, hoses and pump in the bed for remote fire fighting. the truck sat unlocked with the keys in the ignition ready to be called into action at a moments notice.




after a good day at the mine we decided to head back. time to get back into the shuttle van and go 5.5 miles back to the foot bridge crossing over to the camp site. there is a bridge over to McCarthy but only residents can drive over/use the bridge. public has to use the foot bridge and either walk/bike or take a shuttle into McCarthy/Kennecott mine






these 5.4 Ford Econoline Vans sure take a beating! there whole life is spent shuttling people on these rough gravel roads. the oldest van they had in service was a 1997 and in amazingly good shape for the use it has. the one we rode in was a '06



back on the foot bridge over the kennecott river.




we decided to head back to camp and pack up and head home. the weather was not the greatest and i did not want to deal with the sunday traffic so we set off for home.








all i could see out the back window!


another potty break...







about 5 1/2 hours and 325ish miles later we were home, average speed of 55mph


i had to pressure wash that crap off before it set-up on the truck



i rolled over 127k on the trip also


the whole trip i think she did pretty good!

 

Love seeing the pics of the scenery up there!!! Id love to go on trips like that but its just not the same in Florida lol.

 

Looks like you had a blast, Russ! Thanks for sharing the awesome pics!

 

I feel like I was there with you Russ, thanks so much for sharing, great scenery man, much appreciated.............. I really feel like I've been to AK now........

I guess the trans leaks/repairs are all good huh

 

Thank you for posting all the pics Russ. I really enjoy seeing other parts of our country. They also remind me of the trip I made to Alaska a few years ago. Alaska is the place to go if you want scenic beauty and remoteness!

 

Finally subscribing because I am tired of having to find your thread here

 

russ your seat has a tear.

 

its not a full tear, just a crack as it does not go all the way through. i've been eyeing a new seat bottom for awhile but since its only on the very side of the seat and the face of it is ok i have held out. it has not got any worse over the last 3 years.

i'll update this with pics from my first trip with my camper about a month ago...i've just been lazy.