Of all the reading and research I did for our trip to Alaska, I don't remember reading about the camaraderie we found on the Alaskan Highway. We had never experienced this before. Let me explain. Once you get on the Alaskan Highway in Dawson Creek, BC, you become a part of a group that is either going to Alaska, or coming back from Alaska. A large percentage of this group is made up of RVers. As you pull into the campground for the night and get setup, most of us need to get outdoors and walk around. Small groups begin to form as people gather to exchange experiences and ask questions. We stood around and talked for hours every night. We met people who had done the trip many times and had lots of good information. There were also many like us who were making the trip for the first time and had lots of questions. A couple of times stand out in my memory. We pulled into a campground in the Yukon. It was a government park with no hookups with perhaps 40 sites very widely spaced. As we walked around at night, we counted a total of 3 campers in the whole park. Since we were parked very far away from any other campers (at least when we went to bed), we did not hesitate to run the generator at 7:00 a.m. for coffee. As we stepped out of the motor home with our coffee, we were surprised to find a tent right next to us. We felt very badly that we had made so much noise so early. When a gentleman finally emerged from the tent a while later, I expected him to come over and tell us how rude we were for running the generator so early. Instead, he came over to ask about how he was to pay for the campsite since there was no campground host. We offered coffee. He accepted and we spent the next 3 hours visiting with this man from Switzerland over breakfast. He gave me a Swiss pocketknife which will always be special. One of my favorite spots on the Alaskan Highway is Mukluk Annies. I found an ad for this restaurant in the MilePost book. They offer free camping and you don't even have to eat dinner there. I was expecting a parking lot and nothing more. We pulled in and indeed there was a huge parking lot. I went into the restaurant to inquire about the camping and they told us to just pick any spot. So we walked around and found a short road that lead to the lower camping area which overlooks a gorgeous lake. As other campers started rolling in around 4:00 p.m. the place filled up quickly and the visiting began. We had dinner at the restaurant with 2 other couples and then we had a campfire. Lots of people joined us around the campfire as we exchanged information. Another thing that was new to us is travel cards. People make up a business card with their name, e-mail address and phone number. This makes it a lot easier, since you frequently want to exchange this information. Since I had my computer with us on the trip, I made up cards for us to use. Aside from just exchanging information you find a lot of people who are willing to help. The Alaskan Highway takes you through some wilderness areas. It gives new meaning to being "out in the middle of no place". There are very few places where cell phones work. We stayed in campgrounds that generated their own electricity because there was no service. If you have a breakdown on the highway, you may find yourself stranded far away from help. Whenever we saw someone pulled over, we stopped to check. We decided to use the Top of the World Highway to exit Alaska. As the name implies, you drive along a ridge of mountains where you can see forever. As we were driving, my husband said to me, "Someone up ahead of us is in trouble." I looked but did not see anything. He pointed out the trail of redish fluid on the road. Eventually, we found the 5th wheel that had been leaking transmission fluid for many miles. One by one, campers pulled over. The guys jumped out and scrounged around in their own storage compartments to come up with 9 quarts of transmission fluid. We donated 2 quarts plus our spout. The 5th wheel made it to the next town and our spout caught up to us in the next campground. We continue to travel but have not experienced the camaraderie that we found on the Alaskan Highway. We keep in touch with some of them. It was a wonderful trip and I hope you get the chance to try it someday. Get your travel cards made up and hit the road! Happy Camping Donna Flanders info@rvvacationplanner.com RV Vacation Planner www.rvvacationplanner.com