Past Hana was the Haleakalā National Park Kīpahulu area:
Visitor Center:
We did a walk along the Kūloa Point Trail loop:
map
Maps of travel routes and campgrounds.
Maui: Road to Hana
The Road to Hana is a popular tourist attraction on Maui; a scenic drive along a long, winding, and narrow road. There are a number of guides, but this one was interesting.
The road continues past Hana to the Kīpahulu Visitor Center of Haleakalā National Park (which I’ll cover in a separate post). Beyond that, the road turns to dirt, and is intended for locals only. So we turned around after the visitor center, and retraced our path.
An interactive map of our route:
The road to Hana:
There were numerous waterfalls along the road:
View from Kaumahina State Wayside Park:
Aunty Sandy’s Famous Banana Bread, with a long line:
Very tasty:
Keanae Lookout:
Hana Hawaiian BBQ:
Interesting rocks:
Back from Hana, we stopped at Noodle Lahaina for dinner:
Our haul of Hana banana bread and other goodies (other than the couple of loaves we ate on the road):
Sunset:
Maui: West Maui drive
On the way home from the summit of Haleakalā National Park, we took a more scenic (albeit a little nerve-wracking) route:
Views:
Many miles of one lane road:
A stop at Karen Lei’s gallery:
Church:
More one lane roads:
Views:
Takeout from The Fish Market Maui for dinner:
Sunset from our lanai:
Maui: Haleakalā Summit District
On our second full day on Maui, we drove our rental car to the summit in Haleakalā National Park.
An interactive map of our route to the summit:
But first, breakfast on our lanai:
Wild chickens in the resort parking lot:
Tree tunnel:
Haleakalā National Park signs:
Above the clouds:
Haleakalā Visitor Center near the summit:
View from outside the visitor center:
Summit district signs:
Haleakala observatories:
ʻĀhinahina:
Summit:
Elevation 10,023 feet:
Birds:
Picnic lunch from the resort:
Nene crossing:
Headquarters Visitor Center:
Down into the clouds:
Winding road:
Recap and update on the truck’s frame failure that ended our Alaska trip
Back in June I posted a couple of real-time updates about how our truck’s front frame broke after a fuel stop, leaving the truck sitting at a service road intersection, with our coach dragging the bumper and tow base plate. This blog is usually a couple of months behind real-time, and now the posts have caught up with that and are back home after that incident. So this seems a good opportunity to recap those adventures, and give an update.
We were in Fort St John, British Columbia, Canada at the time of the failure, on our way to Alaska. A major trip, with lots of campground reservations, excursion bookings, and activities, that we had been planning and looking forward to for some time.
Here’s a news article from Wyoming’s Cowboy State Daily newspaper. Pretty well written and accurate, other than the typical assumption that I was driving, when Jenn is the driver, which wouldn’t have made any difference with the issue.
Here’s an interactive map of our route from our home base near Shelton, Washington to where the truck separated in Fort St John, with our overnight stops marked:
And our route back home:
To recap, we were about a thousand miles into our journey, just 46 miles into the Alaska Highway (aka Alcan) after Dawson Creek. We were leaving a fuel stop in Fort St John, when the front frame of our truck failed, and the tow base plate broke off. It had probably been weakening for some time, though we hadn’t noticed any issue… then a tight turn at the fuel stop followed by a rough service road were the last straws.
Fortunately the truck was stopped at an intersection when it failed; it could have been much worse if it failed in motion. Though a failure when starting from a stop was more likely, since that’s a more sudden force than just a continual pull. Luckily we caught it within about a minute of it happening. Actually a passer-by alerted us: they were attracting our attention, and we were wondering what they were trying to alert us to, when we looked at the rear-view camera, and saw that the truck was missing. We don’t stare at the camera all the time, since it just showed the truck, and when indicating while merging onto a highway it only shows the side view; the side mirrors are more useful for that. She was the one who recorded the video of our coach dragging the bumper (see below).
As soon as we noticed, we pulled off on the side of the road. A digger operator who had been working near the incident and had seen it pulled up in front of us in his pickup, and helped us disconnect the tow bar and loaded the bumper in the back of his truck. We collected it from him later. He was super helpful; everyone we encountered during this issue were helpful and sympathetic, which was much appreciated.
After removing the tow bar, we turned our coach around and headed back to the site of the incident, parking the coach at a nearby Kal Tire facility. Then we moved the truck (which was still drivable). We took it to a nearby Chevy dealer, but it was beyond their ability to help. They referred us to a nearby body shop, who didn’t have any availability, but looked at it and wasn’t sure it could be fixed, but kindly said they’d do some research. We then headed to a nearby RV park to await more information from the body shop.
After sleeping on it, we decided to head home. We considered driving the truck separately to Alaska, or storing it in Fort St John and renting a car in Alaska, but either would impact the enjoyment of our trip. The big issue was that even if the truck frame could have been repaired, the tow base plate would be an extra complication. We decided we’d rather come back again in a year or two and do it right.
Here’s a video from someone who saw us dragging the bumper (and then flagged us down). The video went viral, with millions of views in various Facebook groups, TikTok, etc. Reading the comments provides an interesting sample of humanity; some sympathetic people, but a lot more trolls showing a lack of empathy for a significant event, or making irrelevant comments or incorrect assumptions (it’s not a Jeep, we didn’t drag it lots of miles, we’re not Boomers or rich, etc etc). Disappointing, but not surprising.
Unfortunately I didn’t take photos of the incident itself, so I was glad to find that video. I did take some photos when we got to the Chevy dealer:
The bumper and other parts loaded into the back of our truck:
The tow bar was mostly intact, but its electrical cable was shredded from being dragged on the road:
I zip-tied the loose wires etc, and we drove separately home over the next few days, as shown in the recent posts:
After driving our motorhome and truck separately for about 950 miles (1,529 km), we made it home safely.
Here are some photos of the broken components laid out on the ground at home:
Truck, front frame, tow base plate, bumper, tow bar; all damaged:
We dropped off our truck at a local body shop, so they could investigate further, and get it inspected by the insurance adjuster. A few days later, the insurance company told us that they decided to do a total write-off of the truck.
So this concludes the story of our truck’s incident, and the end of our ownership of this truck. It was a great vehicle, very reliable, well traveled all over the country, though with low miles for a 10-year-old truck (being towed doesn’t count on the odometer). A most unfortunate result, that had a big impact on our plans. Stay tuned for what comes next!
It was a disappointing end to our Alaska trip, but we aren’t entirely missing out on Alaska this year: we also have an Alaska cruise coming up in September (that we booked several months ago), so that helps us feel this was the right choice for us. We’ll be back to see the rest of Alaska in the next year or two, and would like to explore more of Canada too.
Hope, British Columbia, Canada to our home base near Shelton, Washington, USA
Jenn drove our coach and I followed in our truck (due to the tow failure) 261 miles / 420 km, about five hours of driving, from Wild Rose RV Park in Hope, British Columbia, Canada across the border to our home base near Shelton, Washington, USA.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Again, not a lot of pictures of this trip, since I was driving the truck.
Waterfalls behind our site at Wild Rose RV Park:
It wasn’t the quietest campground, with a train just across the road:
A little narrow driveway:
At a rest stop:
Fuel stop in Washington; we’d missed easy fueling at truck stops:
We didn’t make it to Alaska, but we did check off British Columbia, so we marked the occasion by replacing the faded states map with one that included Canada (we had previously been to Ontario when we visited Toronto for a Blue Jays game):
Our coach at home, freshly cleaned:
Williams Lake to Wild Rose RV Park in Hope, British Columbia
Jenn drove our coach and I followed in our truck (due to the tow failure) 251 miles / 404 km, about five hours of driving, from Stampede Campground in Williams Lake to Wild Rose RV Park in Hope, British Columbia, Canada, continuing to return home. Our last stop in Canada.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Again, not a lot of pictures of this trip, since I was driving.
Leaving the campground:
Rocky Mountaineer train passing at a rest stop:
Campground map:
Our site, #7:
Mackenzie to Stampede Campground in Williams Lake, British Columbia
Jenn drove our coach and I followed in our truck (due to the tow failure) 273 miles / 439 km, about five hours of driving, from Azouzetta Lake Lodge & Campground in Mackenzie to Stampede Campground in Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada, continuing to return home.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Again, not a lot of pictures of this trip (and the next couple), since I was driving. But I had to take a few more of Azouzetta Lake Lodge & Campground:
We went to the cafe again for breakfast, and got some croissants for today and cinnamon rolls for later:
More views:
Rest stop on our way:
Fuel stop for the coach and truck:
Arriving at Stampede Campground in Williams Lake:
Campground reservation board:
Campground map:
Our site, #45:
Fort St John to Azouzetta Lake Lodge & Campground in Mackenzie, British Columbia
After our truck decided it didn’t want to go to Alaska after all, we made the difficult decision to head home, rather than try to continue our trip in a sub-optimal way, by either driving separately or leaving our truck in Fort St John and renting a car in Alaska. We’ll try again in a year or two.
Jenn drove our coach and I followed in our truck (due to the tow failure) 150 miles / 241 km, about three hours of driving, from Rosco’s RV Park in Fort St John to Azouzetta Lake Lodge & Campground in Mackenzie, British Columbia, Canada.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading southwest:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
No pictures of the road from this trip (and the next few), since I was driving, but still a bunch from our stops.
We stayed at Rosco’s RV Park for two nights, and had lunch at TJ’s Country Kitchen, out front of the RV park:
I zip-tied the loose truck components before departing:
Checking on the truck at a rest stop:
Lunch stop at A&W in Chetwynd:
Arriving at Azouzetta Lake Lodge & Campground:
Check in at the cafe:
Campground map; we booked site #22:
Opening the gate for our coach:
Our site, #22; no hookups, but very scenic:
Nice views all around:
We had pizza and poutine for dinner at the cafe:
Back to our site:
Dawson Creek to Rosco’s RV Park in Fort St John, British Columbia
Not what we had planned!
We drove our coach just 46 miles / 74 km, about one hour of driving, from Mile 0 Park in Dawson Creek to Fort St John, British Columbia, Canada… where our truck’s front frame broke off while leaving a fuel stop, leaving our truck behind while being towed! So we stopped for the night at Rosco’s RV Park.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
The Mile 0 RV Park site was rather unlevel, which may have contributed to the failure, though perhaps not:
Wildlife corridor:
Kiskatinaw River bridge:
Steep grades ahead:
10% grade:
Taylor bridge over Peace River:
We attempted a fuel stop at a Co-Op Cardlock station, as they alleged they accepted credit cards:
But we couldn’t get the machine to accept a credit card:
The truck was still fine here:
We gave up on that, and headed to a Petro-Canada station:
Petro-Canada fuel stop:
Soon after leaving the fuel stop, the front frame broke off our truck, ripping off the bumper, and leaving the truck behind:
Stay tuned for a post in a couple of weeks with a summary and update on this incident.
We took the truck to a nearby Chevy dealer, but it was beyond them. They referred us to an auto body shop, but they didn’t have availability to help any time soon, though were kind enough to take a look at it, and investigate whether or not it could be fixable:
We looked around for a nearby RV park, and found Rosco’s RV Park just down the road. We drove the truck there to check in, then went to get our coach, which we had left in a yard near the incident.
The managers of the RV park were very friendly and sympathetic, as were everyone else we encountered.
Our site, #67:
We stayed there two nights, while waiting to hear back from the body shop and insurance, and deciding what to do.