We have now been fulltime RVing since 2018/2019 and we are preparing to RV to Alaska. The last few months have been an absolute whirlwind. Since purchasing our first motorhome in 2018, we have stayed almost exclusively in RV parks. While at a park in central Florida in January, some good friends mentioned wanting to RV to Alaska this summer. I mean who WOULDN’T want to do that!? Of course we jumped on that opportunity! But, that meant we had to start preparing…like…yesterday.
Having never really done much boondocking, we knew we were nowhere near ready for a trip to Alaska. After all, we would be boondocking a lot of the time and we didn’t even own a solar panel! We went immediately to adding things to an Amazon boondocking wish list. We wanted to at the very least, get a solar panel! Then, we started thinking about all of the other things we would like to have to make the trip to Alaska easier or more enjoyable. I figured I would share a few of those things below for those who are wondering what all we ended up getting in this process!
First and foremost, we needed a solar panel to help keep our batteries charged during the day and we wouldn’t have to run our generator as much. We ended up getting a 200W solar suitcase by Renogy. We know 200W is not a whole lot, but with having all LED lights in our camper the 200W goes a decent way in keeping the batteries charged.
Here is the exact one we got: RENOGY 200W Solar suitcase
With doing a lot of boondocking, we knew we wouldn’t want to have to drive the RV into town just to fill up on water and dump tanks so we also picked up a few things to make that the tanks easier to deal with. We got a water bladder and water pump. That way we could take the water bladder into town and fill it up and then fill up our fresh tank no matter where we were. But, that still left the grey and black tanks to deal with. We ended up ordering this Camco Portable Tote Tank. That way if we are at a place that has a dump station we can simply dump into this honey wagon and walk it over. But, that still leaves an issue if we are in the middle of the woods somewhere camping. How would we get the tank to town? I realized we would need some sort of hitch mount carrier that we could put the tote tank on and take it into town to dump it. We purchased THIS LUGGAGE RACK that mounts to the hitch of the Jeep. That will allow us to drive the tank into town rather than having to drive the whole RV into town.
Then, we started thinking about how difficult it would be to get parts and started thinking about parts we have had to replace multiple times. For us, that is things like the water pump, the door handle, etc. AND, since we would be putting so many miles on the motorhome and also running the generator a lot, we would need to do several oil changes! So we purchased all of those spare parts and enough filters for 2 oil changes along the way or both the generator and the motorhome itself.
Next, we started thinking about all of the outdoor gear we would want. We will be going to Alaska during rainy season. So, that means rainproof jackets and several friends recommended mosquito net hats. We ended up going with the OTU Rain Jackets as the price was just unbeatable. We got those in and were very pleasantly surprised with the fit and quality. They should work out great.
One of the last things and honestly one of the most important was a good camera. For years we have talked about getting a good DSLR camera. Since departing Florida in 2019, we have shot all photos and videos with our cell phones. After doing a good bit of research and looking at both quality and price, we settled on the Canon EOS Rebel 2 lens kit. Getting this camera of course meant we had to also purchase a good rain cover for it, tripod, etc.
There are lots more little things we ended up purchasing for trip. But honestly, after 3 months of preparing for this trip I can not even remember it all!
One of the most important things we had to do was get some RV spots booked and camping areas planned out on the way. We actually booked 2 weeks in Banff this summer on the way up to Alaska. But we still had to GET to Banff! I decided to take full advantage of our Passport America membership and book some campgrounds for half price on the way up to meet our friends in Montana to cross the border. That is saving us a ton on campground costs on the way up. That’s great because we have already spent a ton to prepare for the trip!
As one of the final things we needed to do, I started detailing the rig before our trip. I know it will be a long time before we can actually wash and wax it again, and being OCD, I didn’t want to start the trip with a dirty camper. Angela had flown back east for a reunion. So I took the time to not only clean the camper, but also do the oil changes before we left. I feel like we are now about as ready as we will ever be, and we are so looking forward to the journey with our friends!
