Driving

It was not difficult to drive Dalton Highway. Part of the highway has been paved, and the gravel portion was pretty well maintained. The only pretty tough spots were the areas where road work was being conducted, but we had never got stuck there. We had to use 4WD only in a few places when we wanted to pull over to the river or lake.

Don't believe it when people tell you that you are almost guaranteed to get a flat tire or at least a cracked windshield. Our truck didn't have a scratch when we returned it. If you drive carefully, observe road etiquette, slow down and pull over when you meet a truck, you should be OK.

The speed limit on the Dalton is 50 miles per hour. But the road is so beautiful and it is so much fun to drive it that you probably don't want to go that fast. We usually kept our speed at 35-40, although we could have gone much faster.

If you need to rent a car in Fairbanks you should be aware that most car rental companies do not allow you to drive their vehicles on unpaved roads. However, only Dollar honestly tells you this on its web site when you make a reservation. Imagine that it took you several months to prepare for this trip just to come to Fairbanks and find out that you could not go. What would you do? Probably you would go anyway. Even if you want to find out about the situation in advance and call the car rental companies, it won't do you much good. In the main office they don't know anything. If you call directly to Fairbanks Airport chances are you'll get an incorrect answer anyway. We called Payless in Fairbanks three times, and every time we received a different answer. So this is what we eventually found out:

- Payless Payless allows you to drive the full-size SUVs on the Dalton (Ford Expedition and similar). They may tell you otherwise, but you can read this in their rental policy on their web site;

- Budget allows you a special rental of a Ford F-350 Extended Cab truck to drive on the Dalton. It's expensive, they charge you I think 60 cents per mile. You must call Budget in Fairbanks to make this reservation;

- National might have similar deal to Budget;

- Avis doesn't explicitly prohibit you from driving on unpaved roads, but specifies in the Rental Agreement that whatever happens to you there is your responsibility.

Please remember that this situation was in the summer of 2003, the rental companies may change their rules at any time.

But what does it mean when the rental company doesn't allow you to drive on certain roads? That means first of all that if you purchased insurance from them it will be void. But what if you bring your own insurance? You should be covered - check with your insurance company.

But whether you're covered or not, try to avoid breakdown by all means. It could be a very costly experience. The towing charges may exceed $5 per mile - probably no insurance would cover this. Be prepared for an emergency - on the Dalton you may not see a single car for hours.