Road Trip from Houston, Texas to Fairbanks, Alaska. Any tips?
My family has a small tradition of "coming of age" road trips. My great grandfather drove from southern mexico to San Antonio when he was a young man, My Grandfather went on a motorcycle trip to Alaska when he was young, but had to stop halfway through because his friends bike was having trouble, and my Father drove from San Antonio to Colorado with his friends before he joined the military. I want to finish the road trip that my Grandfather started, only with a car this time. I plan on taking the whole month of June for the trip, taking my brother and my cousin with me. The destination is Fairbanks, and the surrounding national parks. One way distance is about 4200 miles, and we will be returning.
Car: I've got two choices, depending on how much money I can scrounge up between now and June 1st.
Choice 1 - 1993 Volvo 240 wagon:
This is my current daily driver, and it performs a lot better than its age would suggest. A cousin of mine was obsessed with funky older cars like the 240 and so he spent a lot of money repairing it to basically the condition it was in when it was new, then he gave it to me because he didn't have a place to store it.
- Gas mileage: 20 city, 25 highway (adjusted for time)- Total estimated cost of gas (just for there and back) $1500.
Choice 2 - 2003 Chevy Suburban:
Brothers car, has a new transmission with only about 30k miles on it, well taken care of, and very spacious. This would be the obvious choice if it weren't for the gas mileage.
- Gas mileage: 14 city, 18 highway
- Total estimated cost of gas (just for there and back) $2200
Our total budget will be around $3000 - $4000, so the difference in gas prices is a huge deal.
Should we take the wagon and keep the $700 for possible repairs, preparation, food, and lodging expenses or should we take the Suburban and eat the extra gas costs? Any other tips for a road trip to Fairbanks AK from Houston TX?
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