Not only is the Managing Editor of The MILEPOST a fellow truck camper, but she’s also the co-founder of the hugely popular and highly respected RVing to Alaska Facebook group. Want to go to Alaska? Bookmark this.
For as long as Truck Camper Magazine has existed—and for decades before that—Alaska has been one of the ultimate destinations for truck camper owners. For many, the dream of exploring Alaska was the very reason they purchased a truck camper in the first place. The freedom to travel long distances, reach remote destinations, and camp almost anywhere makes a truck camper uniquely suited to one of North America’s greatest adventures.
That same sense of freedom is what makes an Alaska trip both exciting and intimidating. The state is enormous, the distances are vast, and even reaching Alaska from the Lower 48 requires well over a thousand miles of driving through Canada. With so much to see and so many route options, planning the journey can feel overwhelming.
For nearly eight decades, one resource has helped travelers confidently make that trip: The MILEPOST. More than a travel guide, it is a mile-by-mile reference that is researched and updated annually, covering the highways, communities, attractions, campgrounds, services, and history of Alaska and northwestern Canada.
Over the years we’ve interviewed dozens of truck campers who have traveled to Alaska, and one recommendation has been nearly universal: bring The MILEPOST. Time and again, they credit it with helping them discover unforgettable places, find camping opportunities, and make the most of their journey.
That made our next discovery even more meaningful. The Managing Editor of The MILEPOST, Stacey Quimby, is also a fellow truck camper. She and her husband, Gary, not only help produce one of Alaska travel’s most trusted publications, but also explore the region in their Lance 1172 truck camper. Their firsthand experience traveling the same roads as their readers brings an added level of perspective and authenticity to their work.
Beyond The MILEPOST, Stacey and Gary are also the co-founders of the private RVing to Alaska Facebook group, where more than 20,000 RVers share advice, ask questions, and help one another prepare for the trip north. The community has become an important gathering place for both first-time visitors and seasoned Alaska travelers.
To learn more about the people behind The MILEPOST and RVing to Alaska—and why both have become trusted resources for anyone planning an Alaska adventure—we talked with Stacey Quimby, Managing Editor of The MILEPOST and co-founder of RVing to Alaska.
Stacey and Gary Quimby with the Welcome to Alaska sign, logging for The MILEPOST on the Top of the World Highway
For those who may not know, what is The MILEPOST?
The MILEPOST is a physical book and/or eBook that covers Alaska and the four major routes to get there. That includes Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territories.
Over the years, approximately 15,000 miles have been logged by The MILEPOST team annually. In the past, hired field Editors would also look for changes. Gary and I have personally logged 8,000 miles while verifying pull-offs, restaurants, attractions, campgrounds, and amenities mile by mile.
Every single page—and there are currently 640 pages—gets reviewed, edited, and refreshed every year. The 2026 MILEPOST was the first edition that I fully edited from cover to cover.
“Every single page—and there are currently 640 pages—gets reviewed, edited, and refreshed every year.”
How many years has The MILEPOST been publishing annually?
The MILEPOST started in 1949, and 2026 marked The MILEPOST’s 78th edition.
We work a year in advance. I’m currently one-third the way through the 2027 edition. We’ll be finished by Christmas so that we can go to press in January. The MILEPOST is released in March. It’s intensive because there’s a lot of attention to detail.
We don’t just log Alaska’s main highway system, but also the hard-to-reach places. This September we will be traveling in southeast Alaska logging that section. We also use the ferry system and report on those places. We are going to Juneau and flying to Sitka to log the roads and fly back.
I have the mentality that if I am going to be the expert, I want to have driven those miles myself, so I know what I’m looking at. There are only a few roads that we haven’t touched yet. We feel fortunate that we have done almost all of them.
Gary and Stacey’s Ford F350 and Lance 1172 on the MV Tustumena; one of the certified ocean class ferries in the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet
“I have the mentality that if I am going to be the expert, I want to have driven those miles myself, so I know what I’m looking at.”
Do things change much year to year?
Yes. Even roads can change year to year. We went from Homer on the ferry to Kodiak and found changes. It’s important to have fresh eyes on it.
I also send emails every spring to the visitor centers and cities and ask them if there are any changes to things like farmers markets and major attractions. I’ll add that information in as an editorial. I also verify prices. There’s so much current information in The MILEPOST.
Before you started at The MILEPOST, you were running a private Facebook group called RVing to Alaska. What is RVing to Alaska?
We started RVing to Alaska in 2016 before our first RV trip to Alaska. I was looking for information about Alaska to better understand what to expect. Our first RVing to Alaska Facebook group had 600 people. After our trip, we were going to put it to bed. Out of the 600 people, many were planning their trip in 2018 or 2019, and asked us to keep it going.
One member started a 2018 group. He hadn’t been to Alaska and asked me to help moderate. I started running it like I did before, and it grew from there. He started the sticker trend. Quickly he said, “Stacey you know what you’re doing” and turned it back to me. Gary and I were planning on going back in 2019. That’s when we realized our YouTube channel needed to be focused on Alaska. That’s also when we got involved in the RV Nomads documentary.
RVing To Alaska RV rally location
By the end of 2020, we decided to move to Alaska. In January of 2021, we found our property. In 2019, we did an Xscaper convergence and an RVing to Alaska rally. After Covid restrictions lifted and borders reopened, people asked for another rally. In 2022, we had our second RVing to Alaska rally with over fifty RVs in the middle of nowhere. From 2022 on, we’ve had a rally every summer.
For our rally, we bring in local experts. This year we have a seminar series with a nature guide out of Denali who is doing a naturalist talk, an inspirational speaker who ran the Iditarod and has a non-profit that helps veterans, and an RV tech talk. We host a band, a hot meal, and a painting class.
RVing To Alaska RV Rally Group
On our RVing to Alaska Facebook group from October to May, it’s mostly me posting educational posts and community spotlights. People may ask questions. But, then in May people start traveling. That’s when I back off and let the people who are traveling fill in.
Yesterday a truck overturned on the Alaska Highway and shut it down for 24 hours. The detour was 1,000 miles. We put a post up on the RVing to Alaska Facebook Group to inform people that they wouldn’t be able to get through. I have to give credit to my volunteer team in Canada and in Alaska who help us give real time updates to the community. There are other Facebook groups, but we have moderators, volunteers, and vet our members, so our information is accurate. Every post has to be approved, so it keeps the clutter out.
Meeting up with the RV2AK Community at a restaurant
Can our readers join your private RVing to Alaska Facebook group?
Absolutely. They can press join on the RVing to Alaska (the original) Driven By The MILEPOST group. We have some questions to make sure you’re serious about traveling to Alaska. Then, you’re approved.
The page is moderated to keep it on topic. Once someone reaches the Canadian border, they can post travel reports. That’s when the comments become relevant to the group. It’s fun to sit back and watch people experience what we experienced when we first came to Alaska as visitors.
For example, you can warn folks about the rough roads, but they sometimes don’t believe it. We always say, “What do you think your roads would look like if they hit -50 degree Fahrenheit in the winter?”
Stacey and Gary meeting MILEPOST readers on the road
How did you come to work for The MILEPOST?
We are members of our local visitor bureau and go to the monthly winter meetings to learn about tourism in our area. At one of the first meetings we attended, The MILEPOST was there.
At the meeting, we met John Lunn, Vice President of Morris Media Network, and introduced him to our RVing to Alaska Facebook group. The MILEPOST sponsored our rally that year. At the end of the season, we ran into him again at the state convention.
During the Christmas season of 2024, John’s editor gave notice and he needed a new editor. He knew what we did with RVing to Alaska and thought Gary and I would be a good team. He specifically wanted a husband-and-wife team that could go out on the road. Just a week prior we were discussing quitting RVing to Alaska altogether because there’s not a lot of revenue outside of the rally. We have never taken a paycheck from RVing to Alaska.
John texted me and asked us to work for The MILEPOST. Finally, we had the opportunity to get paid for something we enjoy doing. We thought about it, talked to the previous editor about what to expect, and made the decision to try it. It was a big learning curve because we had never done anything like this before.
Gary and Stacey log the roads in Alaska and the four major routes to get there for The MILEPOST
Tell us what it’s like to be in the field updating The MILEPOST.
I transferred each section of The MILEPOST into a Word document. As we drive, I sit with The MILEPOST in my lap and check things off to verify the information. If there’s something new, I take note of it.
The previous field editor went to Whitehorse. She’s a tour guide and noticed a new pullout there last year. She contacted me to tell me that, at mile marker 1248, there was a brand new beautiful pull-off. That’s what we’re looking for. That will be entered in next year’s edition as something new.
The hard part for me is that we edited it too thoroughly. We only have so many pages and can’t easily adjust the page count because it’s set a year in advance. When we do add pages, it has to be in multiples of eight to accommodate how printing presses work. We talked about adding pages for 2027, and have until August to make a decision. I personally would like to add a culture section for the Indigenous people.
Stacey advocating for RV Travelers
You moved to Alaska in the spring of 2021 after traveling to Alaska a couple of times. Did you use The MILEPOST when traveling to Alaska in 2017 and 2019?
Absolutely! Being tied to The MILEPOST after traveling to Alaska all these years has been a full circle experience. We used The MILEPOST when we came up here as visitors. And for the past decade, we’ve educated others about travel to Alaska, frequently recommending The MILEPOST. It’s an honor to be named in it.
Over the years, fellow truck campers who have traveled to Alaska have praised The MILEPOST again and again. Do folks who live in Alaska use it as well?
Yes. It seems like everyone in Alaska and the Yukon knows what it is. The locals know it as, ‘The Bible of the North’. You can go hundreds of miles in Alaska without a cell signal, so having the mile-by-mile description in the book can be extremely helpful. Of course, Starlink is changing the game.
The MILEPOST’s website has lots of good articles and information
What kinds of things are referenced in The MILEPOST?
The MILEPOST goes beyond buildings and businesses. We include amazing hikes, pull-offs with scenic waterfalls, geological features, and the history of different areas.
You might be driving by and see a placard on the side of the road, but you’re going fifty miles per hour and miss it. The MILEPOST will have the information on the placard. You don’t have to get out and get eaten by bugs.
Every travel-related business on the routes we log is mentioned. It may not be a huge mention, but people will know it. You can’t even Google it all because not everything is online.
How can someone get a copy of The MILEPOST—in print or digital?
The print version is available on The MILEPOST.com and on Amazon or national bookstore chains. Make sure you order the most current version, The MILEPOST 2026. If you buy the print version, you have access to the eBook that can be downloaded via digital PDF download.
The digital PDF version is also available via the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, or via download from TheMILEPOST.com. The big advantage of the digital version is that it’s more portable, and half the price as the print version. This is very important for motorcyclists and backpackers. Others just prefer to read The MILEPOST on their iPad because they can zoom-in and out of pictures and other items.
Check out Stacey and Gary’s article, Essential Alaska Tips From The Experts.
