By Todd Moning
FMCA.com Editor
April 19, 2007

What happened when a trial attorney and a police detective put their jobs on hold for three months for a motorhome trip to Alaska?

Arguments and danger, of course.

Joanne Sommer, 55, and her husband, Bob Potts, 58, of Doylestown, Pa., squabbled over directions, had a close encounter with a black bear, and survived a precarious drive along the Top of the World Highway.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

'Incredible beauty'

“Overall it was a dream-come-true trip,” Joanne said. “We saw some wonderful sights, met some nice people, missed our friends and family and got to commune with nature."

She still gushes with enthusiasm about the journey, which lasted from May 20 to Sept. 5, 2006.

Whether driving, hiking or on board a sea cruise, the scenery washed over them in escalating waves of beauty, engulfing them in one jarringly beautiful site after the next.

"Seeing the incredible beauty of nature was a chance to renew a connection with the more elemental parts of life; a reawakening if you will," Joanne said.

Keeping in touch

Their laptop computer, cell phone and Verizon Wireless' national wireless Internet service enabled them to stay in touch with family and friends. (In remote Alaska and parts of Canada, cellular coverage and Internet connections often weren’t available.)

Using MyTripJournal.com, they created a travel Web site containing photographic images and map points so folks back home could follow their journey.

Joanne used her Nikon D50 digital camera, with assorted wide-angle and telephoto lenses, to capture gorgeous images of wildlife, wildflowers and glacial landscapes.

For anyone who saw the posted images, it had to trigger a deluge of Alaska envy.

Goals fulfilled

Joanne and Bob, FMCA members since 2004, set three goals for their 109-day trip:

• Stay married while cooped up in a 40-foot motorhome.
• Have great fun and wonderful adventures.
• Return safely.

When they pulled their motorhome onto its concrete pad behind their home in suburban Philadelphia on Sept. 5, they had traveled 13,147 miles in their motorhome and an additional 3,500 in their towed vehicle, a GMC Sierra pickup truck.

And they had satisfied all three of their goals.

“It was a renewing experience,” Joanne said. “I’d go again tomorrow if I could.” That might not be feasible now, but Joanne and Bob are fairly certain their maiden voyage to Alaska won’t be their last.

'Young and fit enough’

To make the trip, they took three-month leaves of absence from their jobs. Bob is a detective with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. Joanne is a partner with the firm of Eastburn & Gray, P.C. She specializes in education and employment law.

Joanne, who earned her law degree from Temple University, often litigates employment- and discrimination-related cases. With clients to serve, legal briefs due and the firm’s financial requirements to meet, it wasn’t easy for her to take a hiatus.

“But we decided we wanted to go while we were young and fit enough so we could do the kinds of things we like to do,” Joanne said.

They like hiking and kayaking, although the rivers in Alaska were much too wild for the latter.

Joanne runs and walks nearly every day with Dixie, their 7-year-old Australian shepherd, who accompanies them on all their motorhome trips.

In fact, Joanne vowed to friends that she would run/walk at least 30 minutes every day during the Alaska trip. Except in bad weather, she and Dixie did just that.

Departure day: a Wal-Mart memory

Joanne and Bob’s hometown of Doylestown is located in southeast Pennsylvania, about 50 miles north of Philadelphia.

They bought a 2004 Newmar Dutch Star 4010 in July 2004. “We went from a tent to a motorhome,” Joanne said.

The diesel-powered motorhome has two slideouts, but the king-size bed is Joanne’s favorite feature.

The couple departed for Alaska on May 20, their sixth wedding anniversary.

Joanne laughs when recalling that “romantic” night, spent at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Clarion, in western Pennsylvania. “We had shrimp cocktail and filet mignon by the lights of the Wal-Mart Supercenter, then watched a DVD.”

There was a playful bet in their neighborhood as to whether they’d still be together following the trip.

They had taken one- and two-week motorhome trips together, but never one this long. Were they ready to spend all that time together in a 40-foot motorhome, making decisions on where to go and where to stay?

Could they handle the stress that can surface during long drives on unfamiliar roads — in all kinds of road conditions?

Codeword ‘puppy’

"The only difficulties between us were over directions,” Joanne said. “My job was to navigate and his was to drive.

Driving the motorhome/towed vehicle combination in campgrounds and on narrow roads with little or no shoulder posed challenges, Joanne said. “You can’t turn a 65-foot motorhome/towed vehicle easily. If we were lost and had to turn around, sometimes we would have to go 20 miles or so just to find a place to turn around or unhook.”

In Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, they broke off the cellular antenna while trying to negotiate a sharp turn along a tree-lined route leading out of the campground. That mishap also took some paint off the awning cover.

Then there was the parking lot in North Pole, Alaska. “It was not big enough to turn around in, but Bob decided he was going to try it anyway,” Joanne said. The tow shield on their pickup truck fell victim.

Joanne and Bob had a feeling situations like these could arise.

“When getting annoyed with each other, we had a code word — ‘puppy’ — that we would say to each other. When you say that word you can’t help but smile and it breaks the tension.”

Joanne evoked a few “puppies” while passing through Michigan, en route to FMCA’s Great Lakes Area Rally in Berrien Springs. “I read the directions wrong and we wound up having to turn around,” she explained. “Bob was not a happy camper.”

Heading for the Highway

They arrived at the FMCA rally on May 28, enjoyed the many activities and displays, met new friends and had their motorhome weighed.

The states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana were next on their route. After three days at Glacier National Park, they arrived in Alberta, Canada, on June 12. They were headed toward Dawson Creek, in Northeastern British Columbia, and the start of the Alaska Highway.

In Grand Prairie, Alberta, which is about 80 miles south of Dawson Creek, diesel fuel cost about $4 per gallon. Everyone they met was headed to Alaska, and the RV parks were filling to capacity. They phoned in reservations for two days at Tubby’s RV Park in Dawson Creek.

On the way there, they passed through the little town of Beaverlodge, Alberta, home to the world’s largest beaver statue. It warranted several pictures.

At the Dawson Creek Visitor Centre, they picked up information and watched a film about the building of the 1,390-mile Alaska Highway. Then it was outside to take the “official” picture at Mile 0 of the highway.

They traveled north on the Alaska Highway through British Columbia and into Yukon Territory.

In Whitehorse, they were in town for Canada’s Longest Day Street Fair, and a celebration was taking place.

Joanne and Bob left Whitehorse and followed the "Klondike Loop" itinerary, an alternative to the Alaska Highway route into Alaska. They couldn’t resist stopping at Braeburn Lodge, at mile 55 along the Klondike Highway, where the cinnamon buns were the size of dinner plates.

On June 23 they arrived at Dawson City, the last stop before Alaska. It’s a small restored mining town with wooden sidewalks. Joanne and Bob toured a six-story-high gold mine dredge.

By this time, The Milepost trip planner already had begun to prove its worth. “It gives a summary of everything along the highways up North by the kilometer and mile markers,” Joanne said. “It’s invaluable because it not only tells you everything that you are passing but tells you where the pullouts, rest stops, campgrounds and fuel stations are.”

On Top of the World … yikes!

After crossing the Yukon River by ferry at Dawson, their adventure on the Top of the World Highway (Yukon Highway 9) began. This highway covers 79 miles between West Dawson and the Alaska border, where it joins the Taylor Highway in Alaska.

On the Yukon side, it’s known as the 60-mile Road. Alaskans refer to it as the Taylor Highway. To most travelers, it’s the “Top of the World Highway.” Joanne and Bob, no doubt, have other words for it.

“I cannot describe what it was like to take a 40-foot motorhome with a towed pickup truck, across and over the Top of the World Highway and the Taylor Highway,” Joanne said.

The Alaska Highway in British Columbia and Yukon Territory had sections of narrow, winding road without shoulders, but it was paved an in fair condition, she said. The Top of the World Highway was another story.

It wends along ridges and crests the tops of hills overlooking the valleys below. Narrow and plagued by potholes, it is open only in summer.

In retrospect, Joanne understands why some RVers unhook their towed vehicle and drive the highway separately, or avoid it altogether.

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