Getting Ready for Rough Roads in Alaska & Canada

We have checked off one more big item from the "To do List for Alaska". Today we purchased a nice beefy grill guard. Because some of the places we are planning on traveling to are out of the way, gravel roads, with no services for hundreds of miles, it would be not very nice to take a stone through the radiator...the towing would be kind of pricey....if we even had cell phone service to call for a tow truck. So...we have to be on our own! and there's nobody with whom I would feel more safe with, if stranded in the mountains of Alaska, than Chris. He's always got some trick up his sleeve. However, we're trying to make sure that the "tricks" aren't needed.While we were at the recent Camper Show at the Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, we found a vendor who had just what we were looking for: Auto & Truck Restylers. Jamie Hopper was very knowledgeable about his product. The picture above shows Chris holding the guard for Jamie...he just couldn't keep his hands off. Look real close at that picture and you can see the protective metal in the grill guard that will shield the radiator. I'm real glad I convinced Chris to have it installed by the Restylers....it might have been a bit of a challenge. Baby Charolette, our little side-kick, came along, and loved watching what was going on. She was good natured as usual. When Jamie used the impact wrench, it sure got her attention! tah Dah! Done! Finally! Only I'm told it won't protect the truck from wayward moose! Even had to get a truck wash to show off the grill guard. Two more items to check off our list soon, will be a second spare tire to take along, and getting heavy duty shocks installed next week.
A couple of weeks ago, we checked out the room for extra bins for clothes, etc. inside the camper; and it would take us only a matter of minutes to pop them into or out of the camper.
We then decided that we could make this trip without an extra pull-behind utility trailer.
Less than four months to go to D-Day...Departure Day...June 1.