[Backpacker Joe]

I'll be taking a drive in my land cruiser up to Fairbanks next summer. I'll ultimately be driving the haul road up to prudhoe bay too. I wanted to know whether I could get XM reception throughout Canada and into AK. Well, the XM people said "SURE BUDDY" we dont have license for outside the continental US. I was turbo bummed. Then I found an XM message board and I started asking questions. It seems that there IS coverage throughout Canada. It gets sporadic as you go way far north. One guy said that he drove from Vancouver to Anchorage and had good reception the entire way. I'm posting this incase anyone else has had interest. XM costs 9.00 per month and you get a very large selection of all types of radio. I'm a talk radio freak and XM has a lot of choices there too. I'll be installing it in my HJ60 and testing it out all over Washington before I go. I love radio, it's under rated as far as Im concerned. http://www.xmradio.com/index.jsp http://www.xmfan.com/index.php TB

[sarbar]

I LOVE XM-The boyfriend has it in his Xterra. Except for when in super dense forest or deep canyons it is awesome for long road trips. My favorite channel is the classical pops

[RollingB]

[quote="Backpacker Joe"]I'll be taking a drive in my land cruiser up to Fairbanks next summer. I'll ultimately be driving the haul road up to prudhoe bay too. I saw a story in the paper several weeks ago about a couple that had planned on driving to Prudhoe too. The problem is that the road is not a public highway and is under the control of BP so you might want to see what you have to do to get clearance. Here is the link to the article. Pretty amazing trek they made from South America. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/139078_alaska11.html

[Larry]

BPJ: Just keep the talk radio in the proper channels, okay? Anything that includes Joe Lieberman, Al Gore, Joe Biden, etc. I'm sure that's what you had in mind anyway, but just wanted to remind you. Do not tune in to any of the conservative stations on your way up there. If you do so, there is a possibility that you will turn to mush.

[Backpacker Joe]

BRBLE, BRBLE, BRBLE, BRBLE! Dah, ok boss. I am a good konzerbatib I am. Da, hello. Da, I boated phor Ahnold ShvartzinAger I did. Da. Hello. How's that for a good Jack Benny via the internet imitation? TB

[Backpacker Joe]

Anyway, i've looked into it and XM is the way to go for radio reception in the back country. TB

[sarbar]

To which I should add, The boyfriend used his XM while crossing the country last October when he drove from Virginia to here. And there is nothing like crystal clear music when at 5,500 ft in the middle of nowhere flitering out of the truck while we work on photoshop with our laptops....true comfort in the wilderness

[Larry]

[frankm3]

This is really exciting technology! Having driven across country a number of times (and needing to do it again soon), that's a great way to stay connected. It always seems there's a huge area (the 'Dead Zone' as one of my friends calls it) of limited/ questionable quality radio stations once you get out in the Heartland. I mean the Farm Report can be interesting and all, but as a programming format? Not my favorite. Do any of you all know if there is a small/ portable/ packable receiver available yet? When that comes on the market (if it's not already), the old 'hand-crank' radio is going to get the heave-ho for sure!

[Dean]

Actually all you need is one cassette 90 min tape. On one side you have Creedance Clearwater Revival and on the other side The Eagles. Voila. Magic, you sing along and never get tired, it is just amazing. Of course, no one ever wants to ride with me (can't figure that out)

[frankm3]

[Backpacker Joe]

Well, I intend to use it more for the talk portions. Oh I'll listen to music too, but the talk/news/sports function is why im getting it. TB

[Larry]

frankm3: Which reminds me...off topic...but, I've been watching the History of the Blues on PBS...had Eric Clapton on there. For some reason I never was a huge fan of Clapton...but he's certainly an intelligent speaker, and he CAN play the guitar, can't he? Also had Jeff Beck on there, just sort of twiddling with his guitar...wow, a MASTER guitarist. It's like the thing is part of him! Impressive. Had never paid much attention to Jeff Beck either, but MAN....

[kiliki]

You know how when you drive around the west, you can always count on getting a country station, a christian station and a Spanish language station no matter where you are? I wonder if its the same way through Canada to Alaska.

[Backpacker Joe]

Quark, ya wanna come along? I'll have open seats. Leaving Seattle around June, maybe May I'd guess. I'm going to take my time driving up there. Maybe hit spend some time in the North West Territories. Then its off to fairbanks. I couple days later I'm hitting the Daltom highway and cruising it up to Prudoe bay. I'll spend the night, and come back to Fairbanks. After that its off to Denali National park. I'm going to apply for one of the lottery drawings to let me and my cruiser INTO the park! I doubt that I'll get it but it doesn't hurt to try. After That its going to be playing around Anchorage and south until its time to get on the ferry and take the inside passage back to Vancouver. I figure 6 weeks or so. I plan on taking LOTS of pictures. Has anyone here read Krakhauer's book "Into the Wild"? It's about this poor bastard that decided to go on wilderness sabbatical and SURVIVE off of the land. Trouble is, he didn't know what he was doing. It's actually a sad/moving story. Well, I plan on visiting the site (read school bus) that he finally died at. Anyway, there is an explanation for Quark on my AK trip. TB