Epsilon Adventures

Week 4 and 5

We joined up with the North to Alaska 2025 Airstream caravan in Dawson Creek on July 12^th.  That was three weeks ago, and I thought I would share with you what life has been like on an RV caravan. 

Traveling to Alaska was the dream, but traveling so far with little knowledge of the area was daunting. Due to our great experiences with our international and local club, and their regional and international Rallies. we signed up for a caravan with Airstream . The Airstream Club has been traveling to Alaska since 1965, and it gave us confidence to travel where so many have traveled before (Technically the club was named after its founder, the Wally Byram Caravan Club International or WBCCI and recently is also known as the Airstream Club International or ACI). 

One of our major concerns was going to Alaska as our first caravan because it is a 2-month commitment. What if we didn’t like traveling with other people? What if we don’t like our fellow caravanners? What if we don’t like the planned route, or want to visit somewhere not on the plan? How will the leaders and other caravaners handle conflict? How much do we need to prepare? What do we need to pack? What replacement parts do we need to bring with us? What happens if we get sick? valid concerns which we did evaluate before committing. 

Steve and I determined to lean into adventure, so we signed up, paid our caravan fee, and prepared as much as we could. We forgot things, and we brought stuff we did not need. We also found we needed things we would never have thought to pack. (Solder iron to fix our hot water heater for example). We prayed for our group by name as soon as we got the finalized list. We prayed God would bless us our group with unity and safety.  We then traveled a bit more than a fortnight to meet up with the group in Dawson Creek. We are traveling with 27 other Airstream rigs (about 53 people) and have been amazed by kindness the of our fellow travelers. It is wonderful to connect with a group of people who love to travel, to learn new things, and share new experiences. So far, our rig (Smaug and Epsilon) have suffered a chipped windshield, broken water heater, and a flat trailer tire. We had wonderful help to fix our water heater which was out of our scope of experience, and enjoyed keen fellowship changing a tire along the highway. 

In our brief time together as a caravan, there has been a broken trailer window, a broken bone, and broken parts of Airstreams as well as other concerns to think through and solve. Throughout the mishaps this group has been supportive and has overcome the setbacks working together. It has been a joy to be involved in a group so committed to the success of the endeavor, helping one another experience the beauty of Alaska as only RVers can. 

We were recently asked what we loved about this caravan,(some of this is a recap of what I listed before):

1. The people!!! Their kindness, their welcoming spirits and their willingness to help in hard circumstances. 
2. The planning. I’ve not needed to make reservations, or book many of the excursions. We do have free days, and I have planned some extra excursions, but it is nice to have someone else do so much of the planning. 
3. Traveling with like-minded travelers who have become friends. Many of us are wanting to visit the NPs in Alaska. We can’t visit them all, but just recently traveled to the Gates of the Artic with several of our group. Some of the group exercise and hike together. 

There have been some things we have had to learn along the way. 

1. The pace is slower and takes different paths than we would, and it has been an adjustment. We are learning to embrace the slower pace. We get to know our fellow caravanners due to the pace, and there is more time to enjoy the area we are in. 
2. Some the things planned are not in our comfort zone. For example, we would not have chosen to drive to Chicken, AK because the roads are dirt and in terrible condition, and … why would anyone want to go to Chicken, Alaska? But now we have more confidence to go to places less traveled and have bragging rights — we traveled the entire Top of the World Highway in our Airstream. 
3. Being comfortable being authentic in the group. We like to have alone time, and to go our own way now and again. The group is supportive and we never feel judged for pursuing our own agenda.