Searching for our future Alaska adventure-mobile

In order to successfully navigate the Florida RV SuperShow, you need a plan. Perhaps you're looking at specific rigs, either by type, brand, or features. Maybe you are just browsing and don't mind only seeing a few different RVs. Or maybe you're there to check out the vendors, which range anywhere from resorts, to RV equipment, to services for your home. Yes, at an RV show.

We went to the show with the idea in mind to grasp the experience of first-timers who go just to check it out. After all, that is what we were. But, considering our experience took a turn even before we got through the gates, that plan went out the window pretty quickly. So we pivoted and decided to narrow our focus down, so that we could look at rigs that might be of interest to us someday in the future.

We love our ATC and aren't looking for another full-time rig anytime soon. We also have no reason to get a second rig at this time. However, one topic that comes up often when we discuss future travels is Alaska. RVing Alaska is amazing, but it's not for the faint of heart, and definitely not for a weak rig. We could travel up there with our ATC toyhauler and be just fine, but we've often wondered if, for that trip in particular, we'd want to go smaller. If we did, though, what rig would we choose? We set out to find our answers at the Florida RV SuperShow.

The road to Alaska is long and rugged. You have a choice of two routes to get you from British Columbia, through the Yukon Territory, and into the remote 49th state: The AlCan, aka Alaska Highway, or the Stewart-Cassiar Highway. Though the AlCan is known as the more traversable route, both have difficult road conditions, mostly due to the frigid winter weather which creates frost heaves.

Because of this and the fact that we'd want to immerse ourselves in nature on our Alaska road trip, a high clearance rig is a non-negotiable. We like the idea of being small and contained, potentially driving an overlander-type rig. Overlanders are typically set up like truck campers on steroids. The tires are rated for the most rugged terrain. This overlander that caught our eye at the show is the Storyteller GXV Hilt. After a merger in 2021 where Storyteller bought Global Expedition Vehicles, the company has been working to create an Adventure Truck Series. The Hilt is their latest, "more affordable" option. How much, you ask? You're looking at a price tag of about $400,000. That's more than we paid for our house! That said, Adventure Truck is an apt name. The exterior is coated with a carbon fiber and Kevlar composite, designed to be impervious to rocks and other debris. It's built on a RAM chassis with a 6.7L Diesel powered engine and has a hydraulic smart suspension system. It's set up with Lithium Ion batteries, two 3000W inverters, and over 1300W of solar so that you can sustain yourself off-grid. As for the interior, it's much more homey than you might expect, with a giant sitting area and surprisingly large kitchen counter for the space. Storyteller notes that the decor is meant to be "soothing for the senses" in its color palette, so you can go hardcore all day and then bask in spa essence at night. Sounds like my kind of rig!

But clearly, for $400,000 we will not be buying our overlander anytime soon. Besides, we've grown accustomed to having our separate living space with our trailer. When we want to go places, we just hop in the truck. We wouldn't want to need to bring this bad boy everywhere we go, especially if it's for a quick errand or resupply...though part of me would want to see the heads that turn if this baby was sitting in a shopping plaza parking lot.

It was time for us to look for something a little less extra. Perhaps we could get away with living the Alaska life more outdoors, with our dwelling designated mostly just for sleeping. Enter: the teardrop trailer! First off, they are adorable, and they certainly check the high clearance box. They have an outdoor kitchen, and even have a teeny, tiny solar package! Okay, so 180W isn't going to get us very far, but if it's got a roof, might as well put a solar panel on it!

Probably not an appropriate adventure-mobile for traveling for an extended trip into the boonies of Canada and Alaska, but for $30,000, what a cool getaway trailer this would be for those who want to experience camping life but still want a hint of the glamp?!

A few other small trailers caught our eye, like this RŎG14 Adventure Series trailer made by Encore RV. Set up similarly to the teardrop, the main interior is designated sleeping space and the kitchen is outdoors, but because it's larger overall, there is some room to fit what the nuCamp can't. Now it's not big, but this trailer has a full bathroom in the rear! It's a wet bath, meaning that the shower shares space with the toilet and sink, but it's impressive to even have a bathroom at all.

Besides the lack of living space, our biggest problem with the small trailers is that we are big people. The last thing we want to do is spend our days crouching inside our home-on-wheels.

We also need to factor in the Alaskan weather. An Alaska RV trip sounds like a dream, but that state is pretty rainy, especially in the summer months when most RVers plan their trips. We might envision days where we're outside basking in the landscape, but in reality, we will probably be spending a lot of time indoors.

This meant we would need to make ample living space our next non-negotiable. That's when we came to the display of inTech RV trailers. We have seen these quite a bit in our travels and are intrigued by their unique and sleek look. The trailers come in different styles and sizes, and they come with Rover packages, which offer some of the more rugged features we would be looking for, like a 3-inch lift to give the trailer more ground clearance.

We will say, as cute as they look on the outside, some of the floorplans were questionable. We don't know anyone who wants a toilet right in the middle of their bedroom. But, then we found the Terra Willow, which utilizes the space really well, with a shower across the hall, kept separately from the toilet and sink. That means no wet bath, and no bedroom bathrooms!

The inTech RVs are made with all-aluminum frames, which are great for durability. Hmm, so are ATCs. Think we have a type? inTech even makes some more rugged adventure trailers with off-grid packages, like their O-V-R series. And, despite us quite enjoying outfitting our interior to our liking, we do think that these RVs have decor that meets our tastes a lot more than other RVs on the market.

The Terra Willow clocks in at 26ft in length, which means we wouldn't actually be saving much on size compared to our current trailer, which is 28ft. We would also lose on tank space, as this rig as half the fresh water capacity as our behemoth 100gal tank. Speaking of behemoths, ATC trailers offer a 10-year structural warranty, which is unheard of. inTech's warranty is a standard 3 years.

So that brings us right back to our beloved ATCs. Would we ever spend the money on one of their smaller trailers? The honest answer is, we don't know. We had to do a lot of work to get our trailer set up for living the way we want to, and while we enjoy the process, it costs quite a bit of money. ATC trailers aren't cheap to begin with, and we appreciate that because they're worth the quality. We just don't know if we would be able to swing it. At that point, it might make the most sense to save the money and stick with our current trailer. Even though we might not be able to fit everywhere, there would still be plenty of space for us on our Alaska adventures.

Someday, when the time to take our Alaska trip nears, we will revisit our options. Who knows, by then something new and fantastic might come along! But for now, we are very happy with our RV choice. It's been a staple in our lives for the past two years, and we can't wait to see where it continues to take us.