Story and photo by Clint Ragan

[Clint Ragan was born and raised in Fairbanks, AK. He and his wife Barbara are both teachers. With their children Keegan, 12, and Kelley,8, they love the outdoors provided by their home state. Here’s what they did last summer –ed.]

Where did it start? We have all heard the stories of how people get hooked on Land Rovers; for me it has been a lifelong adventure with only a few non-Rover years mixed in. When I was 7 years old my Dad purchased a then ten-year old 1966 IIA 88”. Being young, I had no idea of the impact that 88” would have on the rest of my vehicular experiences for years to come. That trusty 88” served my family for the next 20 years, shuttling my sister and I to all our activities over the years, and serving as my means of transportation though college. I ended up letting that Rover go after college, one of those decisions that we look back upon with regret.

After several Rover-less years I picked up a two year old ‘95 Disco for my wife Barbara- or so I thought. That car immediately revived my Land Rover lust and the Discovery quickly became my vehicle. I spent the next five years driving and loving that Rover. Working over the years with my son Keegan, we bought every expedition goodie from Rovers North we could find.

I guess that the love for a Series Rover never quite left, though. After thinking about finding a 109”, I quickly sold my Discovery and started searching. Alaska is not the best place to find a good Series Rover; there are only 5 Series driving around Fairbanks including ours (as well as two Defender 90’s). After about a year I had pretty much given up, I read the trip across Newfoundland by Colby Morris. I showed Barbara the 109” and wished I could find one as nice as his. Several months went by and I saw that he had that exact 109” for sale. Needless to say I was extremely excited, but being in Alaska creates some problems when looking at Rovers on the East Coast. Colby quickly sold his 109”, to my disappointment I was back searching for my perfect 109”.

I had a stroke of luck when Colby emailed me saying that Lanny Clark, a restorer in Colchester, VT, and the creator of his 109”, had a 1962 II-A 109” Dormobile for sale. Lanny had restored it for the current owner who then decided to sell it. It had less than 1000 miles since the restoration. I was not to sure about the Dormobile at first but the more I thought about it, it was the perfect Rover for our family. Like a motor home, which my wife knows I will never own, and a Rover all in one. How could we go wrong?

After over three weeks, and one extra due to the late spring blizzard in Vermont our new 109” arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska. True to his description, Lanny delivered a great clean 109” Dormobile that looked as good underneath as it did on the outside. I was immediately amazed at how clean and new the underside of the Rover looked, nothing pieced together, all neat and tidy.

After having several months to get acquainted with our new Rover we found out that my wife’s brother, Kyle and his girl friend, Lisa were coming up from Nebraska for a few weeks this summer. They wanted to make a trip to Valdez to fish for salmon, and we would also plan a two day stop at our cabin at Summit Lake in the Alaskan mountain range to fish for the ever elusive lake trout. The perfect first test for our new Dormobile! Having little time to prepare, Barb asked me what we needed to do to get the Rover ready for the trip. Mechanically the 109” was perfect but the pop-up top needed some attention before we could get started. Keegan and I quickly got to work. We disassembled the bunks, stripped the paint off and repainted the bunk assembly. We then went shopping for some new canvas for the bunks. Barb broke out the sewing machine and stitched up some excellent replacements, which were tested thoroughly by our Keegan and Kelley. The candy-striped top was a different story. The best shop in town (the Badger Coachworks of Alaska) would not be able to complete it in time. Keegan and I examined the top and assured Barb that we could fix the few small areas that had worn through over the years, making it waterproof. Valdez is known as the snow capital of Alaska with over 500 inches of snow in winter being common. So you can usually expect five out of seven days to be raining in summer. After some stitching and adhesive, a quick hose test proved that we would stay dry in Valdez.

We planed to tow our boat with the 109” so several upgrades were needed. The 109” had the standard pin hitch and I had used it to tow the boat around town but felt we needed a better set-up for the 750 mile round trip from Fairbanks to Valdez. A quick call to Rovers North and two days later we had a new class three receiver hitch, a pair of mud flaps to keep the rocks from the road (Alaska is not known for the quality of the highways) from damaging the front of the boat, and a assortment of decals to spruce-up the 109. I was impressed with the quality of the hitch and with all the hardware that was included. After removing the old plate and pin hitch from the rear cross member it was a simple bolt on instillation. We had to clean off the galvanizing from the threads with a tap but that took a matter of minutes. The only addition we made was adding a pair of shackles to the mounting plate to attach safety chains. Alaska is a big state and most of the time you’re hundreds of miles from help. We wanted to be able to charge our cell phone in the Rover, even though it seems like in Alaska you don’t have service 75% of the time [sounds like northern New England –ed]. I made a mounting plate out of brushed aluminum and installed two AC adapters in the dash. These not only were handy for charging the cell phone and Ipod but the kids were able to watch DVD’s and play their game systems along the way. With the Rover packed and the boat ready to go we met up with Kyle and Lisa, who followed us in their car. It quickly became apparent that the 2.25 in the Rover towing a boat would be too slow for Kyle and Lisa, who scooted on ahead. We were on our own driving the first 175 miles to It’s A Family Affair It’s A Family Affair Story & photos by Clint Ragan Summit Lake to spend the night and next day fishing on the lake. The day we left was a hot 85 degrees out and Barb quickly joked for me to turn on the AC. As I reached over and opened the vent she asked if “this thing has a outside temperature gauge.” “Sure,” I replied, and stuck my finger out the window. “About 80 degrees,” I said.

The first 100 miles featured only two sightings of moose on the side of the road. The Rover was running great and cruised at 45-50 mph with the boat all day long. One thing I really noticed on this trip was that I’m not a big fan of overdrives. This is the first Rover I have had with one. Yes, the Rover will run at a bit faster and at lower rpm, but the trade-off in increased noise is not worth it. I think a R380 five -speed gear-box upgrade might be in our future.

We rolled through Delta Junction (home of one of the U.S. missile defense systems) 100 miles into our trip and I was happy to see that we still had a just over half tank of fuel. We began a 3000 ft climb to Summit Lake. Just outside of Delta is a long stretch of road by a mountain named Donnelly Dome. In all the years I have driven this stretch of highway I never really noticed the altitude gain until we drove the Dormobile towing the boat. We were quickly reduced to 25 mph in 2nd gear moving slowly for the next 5 miles. The slow speed worked to our benefit when we stopped to allow a large caribou herd to cross the road.

The next 60 miles or so to Summit lake are quite possibly my favorite. The 800-mile Trans Alaskan Pipeline parallels the highway and crosses it several times during this section of road. With the Dormobile running strong we made it to Summit Lake at an elevation of 3100 ft. With no more trees in sight we are greeted by our favorite place in all of Alaska. The road runs right next to the lake and there is always a family of loons each summer at the waters edge. Our cabin is set on a bluff about 200 ft. above the shore looking down on the lake. The road up to the cabin is more of an off road trail rather than a road. It starts off with an extremely steep hill for the first 1/8 mile littered with rocks and ruts and is not passable after the first few inches of snow because of the grade. (I learned this the hard way after being stuck on two separate occasions with chains in our Disco.) As we pull up to the base of the climb, Barb looks at me with the look of are we going to make it with the boat? I just looked back and said “give me a break, it’s a Rover.” I hopped out and locked the Fairey hubs with the lug wrench – way cool – dropped it into low range and started up the hill. The Dormobile crawled up without trouble. We maneuvered around the large basketball sized rocks and though the ruts to the top, I was more concerned about the boat trailer with its low axles and the big rocks than with the Rover. With all the low-end torque of low range we were able to carefully skid the boat axles over some of the large rocks. After arrival Keegan’s first comment is “should we pop the top and sleep in the Dormobile?” With some chuckles from his sister Kelley, Barb said “I think I will sleep in my bed in the cabin tonight.” Keegan a bit disappointed agreed after we assured him that he would have time to test it in Valdez.

The next day was spent in somewhat ominous weather fishing on the lake; one thing we have learned over the years is in the mountains the weather can change fast. We had a great day of fishing with the family on the lake and caught two 22in lake trout, loaded up and headed off for the remaining drive to Valdez. The last obstacle on our way to Valdez was Thompson Pass, a mountain pass with an elevation gain of 2500 ft in about 3 miles. To my delight the Rover ran all the way in 3rd gear, Barb was unable to use her favorite line – “Kids, would you get out and push” – as I drove up the steep hill.

Even though we live in Alaska a stop at Worthington Glacier is always fun. It runs right down to the parking lot and if you are brave you can cross the stream and go climb around on the ice. Worthington Glacier, covers an area of about five square miles, it also serves as the object of an extensive research project funded by the National Science Foundation. Worthington Glacier serves this purpose well because it is actively moving. In the warmest time of the summer it flows, on average, more than 22 feet per month. Barb and the kids look around a bit and I make my way to the edge of the Parking lot to take some photos, looking like a real tourist. Barb and the kids make fun of me, as they know I’m not taking photos of the glacier but of the Dormobile.

As we rolled over Thompson Pass we are once again reminded of how the weather changes in the mountains. At the glacier it was sunny and 75 degrees out, just over the pass it changed to rain and 55 degrees. The first night in Valdez was, of course, rainy. While everyone else went to a hotel, Keegan and I set up camp in the Dormobile. With our sleeping bags we set up in the bunks and enjoyed a dinner cooked on the propane stove in the Rover. We then tested the sink by brushing our teeth and washing up. It is really amazing the amount of room inside the 109 with the Dormoble top up, that along with the walk through 2nd row seats it creates a very livable space. Truly impressed with ourselves and the Rover we settled into the bunks, which we found to be very comfy, and watched several episodes of Star Trek on the DVD player before falling asleep.

The next morning we awoke to more rain but were surprisingly dry, a quick high five with my son for our handy work in sealing up the top. We packed up used the sink one more time, stowed the top and met the girls inside to brag about our night in the Rover and eat the free breakfast. We had a blast fishing in the bay; the pink salmon were so thick they were almost jumping in the boat. We spent some time fishing for halibut, with no luck and drove over to Allison Point to the Alyeska Pipeline terminal for some fishing off the bank.

The trip home was just as fun, and the Dormobile ran fantastic the whole way back to Fairbanks. Surprisingly we averaged 15 mpg towing the boat for the entire trip. We definitely came away impressed with the capabilities of the Rover, along with the functionality of the Dormobile top. We did have several items that we plan on adding before our next family adventure. Number one being a set of parabolic springs from Rovers North; the stock 109” springs, though new, don’t flex much on the Alaskan roads. We also want more sound proofing for the inside. A new set of seats is in the works; the Dormobile seats are great for around town and the ability to fold flat into a second pair of beds is nice, but after four hours on the road our backs and rear ends were not in the best shape. Our current plan is to install four Defender seats with custom mounts in the second row to keep the walk through design. We already have made a second set of lower bunks that fold down from the upper bunks allowing us to still sleep four people in the Rover. A nice sound system is already in the works with a Tuffy box with stereo mount already waiting in the garage to be installed.

One exciting thing that happed on the trip back was Kyle proposing to Lisa in Keystone Canyon outside of Valdez. We recently found out that they are planning a June wedding in Nebraska. Barbs first comment was “why don’t we drive the Rover out.” Like two kids with a Christmas catalog, Keegan and I ran off and marked every thing in the Rovers North catalog that we will need for the long trip. Life is good!

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