Alaska - North Pole Extended Stay

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

Due to limited access to internet service and Verizon Hotspot in Canada and Alaska we will be adding photos as we can. In the mean time we will continue to provide our RV adventure at each phase of our RV adventure in text.

The weather is expected to turn to heavy rain in the next 24 hours. As a result we decide to begin our return earlier than expected. We leave Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Marion Creek Campground in Coldfoot, AK and stop for breakfast at Coldfoot Camp Restaurant. Just before reaching the restaurant we spot a male moose crossing the street. He is the largest moose we have seen to date.

The breakfast is a true truckers breakfast. The omelette Lora orders is a 5 egg made to order monster meal. My meals was just a good and worth the cost.

The drive from Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Marion Creek Campground in Coldfoot, AK to Riverview RV Park in North Pole, AK is 9 hrs because of the road conditions. We drive much slower and are more aware of permafrost damaged surfaces.

We take pictures along the route absorbing the beauty of the terrain. The oil pipeline is an engineering marvel in its true grace.

We stop at the Arctic Circle Marker and Rest Stop.

We stop at the Yukon River Camp to gas up. The truck is caked in mud.

The road is mostly to ourselves. We take our time driving carefully using each side of the road.

About 60 miles from Fairbanks Lora sees a tire on her side appears to be going flat. We pull off at a clearing and confirm we have a tire going down. I find the hole and see the rear tires on the camper are extremely warn on the inside tread. I pull out the plug kit and begin to read the instructions. After a few tries, learning as we go, I deflate the tire more. Doing so I can plug the hole. We are able to run the air compressor with one of the generators. We are successful in inflating the tire and driving the remaining 60 miles to North Pole. We spot the areas we first picked up Blake on our way to Coldfoot.

We reached Riverview RV Park around 6:30 pm. we check in and then spend the next hour washing down the truck and camper. We find our spot and find time to relax. We will inspect the tires tomorrow and come up with a plan.

On August 7th we head over the Alaska RV Center. I sent an email to Grand Design inquiring about our warranty. Later in the day a technician from Alaska RV Center comes to the campground to inspect the unit and concludes out axles and springs need replacing.

We give our Grand Design Warranty and Extended Warranty information to Alaska RV Center. The staff will reach out to GD. They expressed their reluctance working directly with the manufacturer.

In keeping the blog short, Grand Design screwed us. They did not honor our warranty with the excuse the roads in Alaska are bad with permafrost damage. We had to pay out of pocket for tires, upgraded springs, and axles.

The only company that honored their warranty was Lionsgate for the tires.

We waited 3 weeks before we were able to complete all the repairs on the unit.

So what did we do during our stay. One morning I was searching the internet and wondered what the cost of property looked like. Searching between Delta Junction, AK and Fairbanks, AK I found a few properties that looked interesting. One appeared on Craigslist near Harding Lake State Park. I mapped the location and looked at satellite views. The property looked in good shape. When Lora woke up I showed her the listing. We agreed to drive down to the site the same day.

After visiting the site we reached out to the real estate company. A few days later we made and offer and closed in a tad over 2 weeks.

Some of the other highlights during our extended stay at Riverview RV Park was viewing the Northern Lights for the first time, meeting new friends at St. Matthews Episcopal Church, and having meals with Mother Betty.

On August 31st we packed up and drove to our new homestead in Salcha, Alaska.

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