Road Trip From Florida to Alaska

Bought a used 2007 Nissan Frontier, and a new 6x12 Georgia Trailer, and hit the road from Holt, Florida, to Saint Mary's, Alaska.

The trailer was loaded down with supplies for Faith Baptist Church, in the bush village of Saint Mary's, Alaska. A Harbor Freight sawmill, Evenrude 115 outboard, wood stove, generator, and too many other things to list. Was just under the max towing capacity for the Frontier.

We go down to the Lower 48 every 3rd or 4th winter for 3-4 months to visit family and report to supporting churches that support the church, which is still a mission work. This trip began with us flying from the village 400 miles back to the road system of Alaska, so our third child could be born with the assistance of a midwife in Palmer, Alaska. No hospital in Saint Mary's. Nathan Forrest Warren was born on February 26th.

After he was born, we headed South, where I preached and reported on the ministry in 45 churches in three and a half months, in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska. We are so thankful to the churches and individuals who donated to the ministry!

It was good to see family and friends and renew old acquaintance.

I made sure both trailer axles had electric brakes, and installed an electric brake controller on the truck. The trailer was bought to get all of the equipment for the ministry back to the road system, and then to be sold to buy a 20 foot container to put the truck, sawmill, boat motor, and other items into, with the sale of the trailer also paying for trucking the container from Palmer, Alaska, to Nenana, Alaska, where it would be put on a barge to go down the Tanana and Yukon Rivers to our village.

I had not one bit of trouble from the trailer, despite being the cheapest price on the market. I got a few extras, such as a foot of extra height, 6 recessed d-rings in the floor, 2 spare tires on wall mounts up high in the v-nose, electric brakes on both axles, diamond plate on the v-nose to prevent road rash.

Looks like fun.
Cost me $2,800. to barge my full size pick up from Fairbanks to Saint Marys.

Only paid $3,200.00 with the extras.

Choosing the truck was difficult. It had to be crew cab for my family of 5, and fit in a 20' connex with the back 2' taken up by a sawmill and boat motor in crates, so it could be barged out to the bush village where we live to replace the Honda Foreman as our main ride. It also had to pull all of the ministry supplies from Florida to Alaska. This is why out of the only 2 contenders length wise, the Nissan Frontier won out over the Toyota Tacoma. It's max towing capacity was 1,500 pounds more than the Tacoma. When we got to Mississippi, the radiator leaked coolant into the transmission, causing it to go out. The nearest dealership in Oxford drug their heels, and took two weeks to get a new radiator and transmission put in. Other than that, it ran good, pulled good.went over a LOT of mountains no problem. Averaged 8 miles to the gallon pulling the trailer. Used a long trailer hitch to get more leverage on the trailer when backing up, and to give me better turning radius without jackknifing.

The truck was the Nismo 4x4 package, locking differential, moon roof, roof rack, topper. Lord willing, it will provide years of service on the little 26 mile road system we have out here, being used to haul me to the 3 bush villages that I can drive to to hold church services, picking up freight from the airport and dock as it is flown or barged out, doing visitation to the elderly and sick, launching the boat to go to other villages on the Yukon to minister, hauling logs back from the river for firewood or lumber, etc. God is good.

This is my third trip driving from Florida to Alaska, every one was done in a used vehicle. Just go through them with a fine tooth comb, fix any known problems, change all of the fluids and filters, make sure the brakes are in good shape, have good tires with two spares for each vehicle, especially a trailer, as it can be a pain to get new tires on the AlCan.Have a good set of tools, I always buy a Craftsman 1/4, 3/8, 1/2 inch drive socket set in it's case with wrenches, pliers and screwdrivers that are on sale. Much cheaper to work on your vehicles than to pay someone else. Buy a floorjack to take along. Have two five gallon cans for extra fuel on the AlCan.

Stop by the tank fest in Everett, WA if you can, well worth it.

Stopping by Civil War memorials and Parks was a must, as I want my kids to see them before history is changed. Vicksburg is always hit up if we are passing. Went to many others as we traveled.

Stayed in a bed and breakfast in Oklahoma that was fashioned after an Old Western town. We stayed in the jail, put the kids in the cell, wife and I got the sheriff's bed. Only 70 bucks.

Going through Western Canada is always amazing to me beautiful. Too many pictures to post. Saw a ton of black and grizzly bears. As A white, conservative male, I have found that the guards expect me to have a gun. The one time I didn't, the Canadian border guards looked for the gun I didn't have for 6 hours. I have always taken guns across the border since then, and have never even had them look at the guns. I just have the appropriate paperwork filled out, they take the paperwork, make sure it's in order, and I'm on my way in a few minutes. My wife somehow thinks I'm somehow cheating when I buy guns for this purpose, but she was there when they looked for the guns I didn't have, so she grudgingly goes along with it! I enjoy driving through Canada. Nice people.

Go by this place if you have a chance. Every exhibit was phenomenal, but the gun room was amazing! Drawers of guns you can pull out and look at!

When we got back to Alaska, I had one week to sell the trailer and use the money from the sail to buy a container, load it, and find someone to haul it fro Palmer to Nenana to be loaded on the barge. I made a phone call to have a friend pray for all this to happen, he said his brother's jobsite tool trailer just burnt down, give him a call. With that one phone call, I traded the trailer for a brand new 20 foot container, and he also trucked it to Nenana as well for part of the trade. So much less stress than trying to sell the trailer on Craigslist or Alaskaslist! God is good like that.

Will post more tomorrow.

It was fun Jeff. You'll have to come down to FL with me next time and hunt some hogs and bush hook catfish, fresh, pristine river caught, not the farm raised fish you eat in restaurants.

Sounds like you had a great family trip. Thanks for posting.

How far and how long is that float trip?

Awesome Post!

Looks like a grand adventure congratulations on the new addition ! I've been getting my money's worth out of the spotting scope looking at elk and I hope black bears before to long.
I'm glad your trip went well nice bunch of fish too !
Allan

Congrats on the new one!
Thanks for posting!

Congratulations on your new baby. Nice family.

Keep up the Good Work! Congrats on the little one. "Blessed is the man who's quiver is full."

Congrats and great post! Thanks

Congrats. Looks like a great adventure

Wow, what a trip! Very interesting post.

It is about 600 miles from Nenana to Saint Mary's on the Tanana and Yukon Rivers I believe. Ruby Marine is who we use to barge our gear down. About forty cents a pound to ship a vehicle if it's in a container, about a dollar a pound if it's not. You save money buying a container, and you get a free shed to boot.

Glad you are getting good use out of it.

To every one who said congratulations on the baby, thanks. We lost our first, Jubal Early is our second and is 9, our third passed away as well, Kezia Jane is my 4 year old baby girl, and Nathan Forrest is 6 months old now. I am blessed with a beautiful wife and healthy children.

Saw these guys in Glenallen, Alaska after we crossed the border back into Alaska from Canada. Any guess who they are? They had just got back to the road system from killing some bears.

Out of all the restaurants I ate at, this one was the best. Got swordfish steak and a pile of sides for $14.00! Big steak too. Miss Myra's BBQ in Birmingham, AL used to be our favorite, but it's went downhill, or either we just hit it on bad days. Never did get around to going to Hog Heaven BBQ in East Brewton, AL.

Alaska Airlines lost my ordination Bible in Seattle when we flew down, I never figured to see it again. A lot of people were praying, and a worker was cleaning the conveyer belts out and found it. His wife looked up Crestview Independent Baptist Church, Crestview, Florida, the church where I was ordained, and they gave her my address. I was surprised when it showed up 6 months after it was lost. Praise God.

A little roughed up, but the Church brand Bibles have real leather covers. Nothing was hurt on the inside. KJV.

(forgive me if I'm stating the obvious and looking like a jerk......)

Pretty sure that's Buck from Tim Wells' show...... (the crazy hair guy). Shoulda asked him to shlock a bumblebee with his blowgun. You'd know for sure!

It is. Anyone know who the other guy is? Hint: he has to do with knives.

Once we flew about 400 miles back to our village from the main road system of Alaska, it was just a matter of time till the next barge from Ruby Marine came in with the truck and other supplies. Got there and unloaded our container about 1 o'clock in the morning ( Notice the sun is still out!), we got our truck out minutes later after unpacking everything on top of, underneath, on each side, and behind it. The whole family was excited to get a nice enclosed vehicle, in stead of having to all pile on a one person ATV. We went down to the village zoo (aka the dump), and the kids got to watch the brown bears for the first time since moving there a few years ago. Our quality of life has already went up due to having an enclosed vehicle! I didn't want to take the down there to see the bears on our Honda Foreman, in case we were charged by a bear.

Looks like a great time. Thanks for sharing the pics.

LOL, that's a riot.

Wild guess on guy with knife........David Baker from Forged in Fire?

Owner of Cold Steel Knives.

The truck will allow us to be more faithful to minister in Pitka's Point and Mountain Village, the other two villages on our little 26 mile gravel road. I don't do visitation by myself for testimony's sake, and my family couldn't go on the Honda Foreman if it was too cold out due the babies, didn't want them getting frostbite.

With the help from some Brothers in Christ from NC and AK, got the new motor on the boat that also came in the container, and went out and got a green log that was drifting in the Yukon to test the new mill out with. Then we went to some other villages to do Vacation Bible School.

great read thanks for sharing

Turn the log into shelving for the new container. It was 22" at the big end of the log, 18" at the small end, and just over 17' long. Made (32) 9' 2x4's, and (34) 8' 2x4's. The Harbor Freight sawmill does a good job, I brought an extra engine, 30 extra blades, two extra drive belts. Got a bunch of 2x2's out of the log as well.

I figure I had about 100 dollars worth of gas and oil and wear and tear for the chainsaw, boat, Honda, and sawmill and six hours of time in getting the log, adjusting the mill just right, figuring out how to use it most efficiently, and then mill the lumber. Had great help from a 76 year old friend from Glenallen who flew over to help set the mill up. I hope to get better at it and really cut my time milling down, and get more boards per log in the future. Any tips are appreciated.

I have paid up to 9 dollars for an 8 foot 2x4 out here before, so I've already saved money with the mill.

Sounds like a God driven and guided plan.

Where's the bear pics?

Here's some.

I'm just curious about the picture in the first post on this thread.
Is that in Washington State somewhere? I could almost swear I've been in that parking lot.

It's at Bible Baptist Church of Everett, WA. We stayed in their prophets chamber a few days. Can see it from the interstate.

Tks for bear pics. Blacks and grizz?

Top is a black, middle a cinnamon, bottom a griz sow and cubs.

Saw a lot more, these were the best pictures. Of course, as soon as I crossed the border into Alaska, I got the 9.3x62 out, but didn't see any more bears after I left Canada.

Awesome. I assume there will be moose hunting, trapping pics, stories to come? Len Fabich used to have some good trapping stories from KSM area.
mt
You missed the King Salmon run!