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Alaskan Trip Report
Yahoo Message Number: 47273
In May of this year Alice and I packed up our new 2004 26.5' MB Blue Lazy Daze, hooked up the Tracker toad, loaded in our 80-lb Golden Retriever, Chester, and off we went toward Alaska from Scottsdale, AZ.  This was our first RV and our first trip in it other than a couple-night shake down cruise.

Yes, we made it to Alaska and back.  We were gone 89 days, drove 10,500 miles and took 4,500 digital images plus some video.  It was quite an adventure.

It's hard to sum up the trip since it covered so much differing territory and time.  We had no problems with the Lazy Daze -- it performed beautifully and we were very comfortable in it.  Actually we slept better in it than we do at home for some reason.  It took us a little time to stop bumping into each other but once we got used to a routine the space was more than adequate.
 Chester was a real asset as well and I think he adjusted more quickly than we did.  Only one night was a problem when the thunder caused him to jump into bed with me.  'Not much sleep that night...
 We were in a caravan with three other rigs, two big motor homes and a fifth wheel.  All the others had problems, including a broken spring, brake and transmission overheating, failed coach water pump, malfunctioning slides, etc. etc.  The roads go from excellent to awful but most of their problems were from overloading and poor quality RVs.  We were continually glad we had picked Lazy Daze.

The Chevrolet Tracker also performed well and was a blessing.  Not only was it very useful for side trips and going to the grocery, it was also Alice's pantry for food and supplies that wouldn't fit neatly in the LD.  We were never sure how long it would be until we found another supply of goods, so we bought enough to last and the Tracker became a trailer of sorts.  It also was easy to pull. Despite it taking extra time to hook and unhook, we were glad we had it.

We had good weather with very little rain after California.  The major problem was smoke from the forest fires.  At Dawson City, YT, we had to turn back and retrace over 300 miles because the road to Chicken was closed.  Fairbanks was the smoke capital of the world that week with visibility down to 1/8th mile or less. The weather was quite warm and sometimes even hot so I had too many flannel shirts and not enough light ones.  We didn't use the portable propane heater once but the air conditioner came in handy in many places.

Almost every day there were wonderful new sights to see and photograph.  We never tired of the many snow capped mountains, trees as far as the eye could see, beautiful lakes, glaciers, colorful little towns and a wide variety of wild life.

Basically there wasn't much that we would do differently.  Many of the custom things we added to the LD really added to the enjoyment.
The Big Foot levelers worked beautifully and easily.  The cabinet between the rear beds/couches was very handy as was the medicine cabinet in the bath.  The front "console" held the computer with GPS navigation system, cups, water bottles, pens, handi wipes, etc. etc.

The nearly automatic system for topping off the coach batteries is really slick and easy to operate.  'Just put the hose in a gallon bottle of distilled water, squeeze the pump until it stops and you're all done.

The Wilson Tracker antenna mounted on the roof for the cell phone really brought in the signal where there was one, but in many places we were out of reach.  Using the cell phone for Internet and e-mail was also difficult to impossible.  I usually went to Internet cafes and other places along the way and rented time to communicate via e- mail.

We averaged 8.4 MPG for the entire trip, which included towing the Tracker, usual highway speeds of 60-65 and some use of the generator.  Total fuel cost was $2,961.00 and the highest we paid was
2.918 $/gal (equivalent)in Fort Nelson.  We added no engine oil --
 just oil changes.  The highest propane cost was 2.30 $/gal in Whitehorse, YT.

Our camping costs averaged $18.93/night -- from zero at roadside pullouts to $54.48 at the Sparks Marina RV Park in Sparks (Reno), NV.  The Sparks park was new and beautiful but expensive since we were there during the Hot August Nights classic car event.  Total camping cost was $1,647.14.

I should add that the Lazy Daze really got a lot of attention along the way.  The styling is very distinctive and the full-body paint is much superior to nearly every other rig in a campground.  Often people would come over to inquire and admire.  We saw about three other LDs in California, but none above the Canadian border.

All in all it was a great adventure and we're so happy we went.
We're going to be doing some European travel over the next couple of years so our LD will soon be up for sale.  It will be a bit sad to see her go but we bought her just for this trip and we'll be happy to see another family enjoy her as we have.

Let us know if there are any questions.

Ed (and Alice) Mertz
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47275
"Ed"  wrote:
 In May of this year Alice and I packed up our new 2004 26.5' MB Blue Lazy Daze, hooked up the Tracker toad, loaded in our 80-lb Golden Retriever, Chester, and off we went toward Alaska from Scottsdale, AZ.
 Thanks for the report, Ed! I enjoy hearing about others' on-the-road adventures; there's *so much* to see and enjoy...

Joan
2003 TK has a new home
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47279
This was our first RV and our first trip in it other than a couple-night shake down cruise.

The cabinet between the rear beds/couches was very handy as was the medicine cabinet in the bath.  The front "console" held the computer with GPS navigation system, cups, water bottles, pens, handi wipes, etc. etc.

Ed (and Alice) Mertz
 Wow, what a gutsy move, first RV and first trip, to Alaska yet!!! 89 days. I'm impressed.

Two questions: I have an '04 26.5 MB...what cabinet bewteen the sofa/beds? Also, what console? Can you post pictures of both on the forum?

Thanks, Paul
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47282
Quote
Wow, what a gutsy move, first RV and first trip, to Alaska yet!!! 89 days. I'm impressed.
Thanks Paul, but I think we lucked out having this forum to teach us so much (even before taking delivery), such a high quality rig as the LD, and we caravaned with three full-time couples who had the experience if we needed it.

Quote
Two questions: I have an '04 26.5 MB...what cabinet bewteen the sofa/beds? Also, what console? Can you post pictures of both on the forum?
I designed and built the bed-side cabinet, medicine cabinet and console, among other things, before we left.  The bedside cabinet holds a lamp plus space to dump pockets at night.  It also has a drawer and cabinet below with a door where we stored books and DVDs.
This cabinet does not allow the sofas to be pulled together into a king bed, but we wanted to use them as twin beds anyway.

I don't have good pictures now but will be putting a group together soon.  I'll post here when the site is up.

Ed
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47284
Quote
I designed and built the bed-side cabinet, medicine cabinet and console, among other things, before we left.  The bedside cabinet holds a lamp plus space to dump pockets at night.  It also has a drawer and cabinet below with a door where we stored books and
DVDs.
 
Quote
This cabinet does not allow the sofas to be pulled together into a king bed, but we wanted to use them as twin beds anyway.

I don't have good pictures now but will be putting a group together soon.  I'll post here when the site is up.

Ed
Thanks, Ed. I guess I suspected you'd opted for permanent twin beds.

Paul
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47287
Paul,
 I should have mentioned that the cabinet is fastened to the rear wall by only three screws, so it can easily be removed if a king bed is desired on a particular trip.

Ed

Quote
This cabinet does not allow the sofas to be pulled together into a
Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47319
Ed, I enjoyed reading about your Alaska trip. It's always nice to hear about different trip that people are taking and what they learned, and saw along the way.

I have a Tracker as well that I wish to use aa a toad in the future. Could you tell me a little about your towing setup.

What type base plate was put on the Tracker ?

What brand of tow bar do you use ?

What brand of supplemental brake system do you have ?

And did you use a rock guard of any kind to protect the Tracker ?

Thank you for endulging my questions

JC
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47337
Hi JC,
 I bought a Roadmaster Falcon 2 All-Terrain towing kit from Camping World.
They installed the system on the Tracker which has specific brackets that fit that model.  It's a "hidden bracket" design so that when all the removable items are disassembled, the remaining brackets can hardly be seen on the Tracker.  When you're on the road with the RV, one cross-car rod and mating brackets stay on the car while the main tow bar remains on the motor home.  If you don't tow for a month or two you can take everything off the car and no one will know you're a RVer...
 I found the system very easy to hook up after a bit of practice.  The only trick is getting the toad the correct distance from the RV and centered.
After a few days you can hit it on the first try about 90% of the time.
 I bought a Brake Buddy supplemental system which worked very well.  It's light and easy to hook up.  The only trick here is to make sure you release the parking brake before starting out.  I missed that one time and flat-spotted the rear tires.  Embarrassing.
 As to rock guards, I started with three levels of protection:  1-a rock catcher on the rear bumper of the motorhome, 2-an "invisible bra" on the front of the tracker, and 3, a cover for the windshield made from outdoor carpeting and held in place with bunge cords.  However, one day when driving (not towing) the Tracker, the windshield was hit with a rock which created a chip so I didn't use the windshield protector after that.  I got one more chip as a result.  The "invisible bra" coating seemed to work well and there are no dents in that area.  I came to the conclusion that rock protection can become a compulsion and you finally have to realize that the toad is there for you to enjoy and spending many hours and dollars to prevent a little dent or two isn't worth worrying about.
 We don't plan to sell the Tracker so if you're interested in buying the towing system and Brake Buddy let me know offline.  

Ed
[Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47367
Ed,

I really appreciate you getting back to me with the answers to

my questions, this will be very helpful !

Thanks,

JC
 
Re: [Life With A Lazy Daze RV] Re: Alaskan Trip Report
Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 47515
If you're referring to our Alaskan trip, no, we didn't have any problems with the back end scraping on the ground.  The rig was running within the prescribed weight limits, which is important.  We just didn't have any problems at all, except the mosquitoes weren't much fun...

Ed Mertz

--- Did you have ground clearance problems or the back end scraping on the ground?