Living in a Truck with a Dog: Dwayne Parton's Road Trip to Alaska

In 2015 Dwayne Parton moved into a Toyota Tacoma with his dog Bobby and drove across the American West towards Alaska, working remotely from the road and camping on free dispersed sites in the national forests. He shot the trip on an iPhone, and his pictures of Bobby gazing out at the mountains were widely shared online.

Living in a Toyota Tacoma camper

Parton kept his home deliberately simple. In the bed of the truck sits a platform made from two sheets of plywood on one-inch tubing braces welded by a friend, hinged with piano hinges so it folds flat. On top is outdoor carpet and a 3.5-inch full-size memory-foam mattress topper.

• Light: battery-powered LED rope lights clipped to the ceiling, with a wall switch.
• Power: a Goal Zero battery, held down with Velcro and charged from the truck’s bed outlet while driving.
• Storage: plastic boxes that slide under the platform; three were in use, with room for a fourth.
• Privacy: blackout insulation over the back window, with the side windows left to open for air.

After more than 50 days in the truck, he wrote that he preferred it that way, with as little clutter as possible.

From Wyoming to Montana

When his story first went round in 2015, Parton had reached Wyoming, with Alaska still the goal. He described long solo hikes, friendly people and places that were hard to leave. The lifestyle, he admitted, “isn’t convenient,” but it was “certainly beautiful.” One of his iPhone photographs hides a pika among the rocks for anyone who looks closely.

Driving the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks

From Missoula, Montana, Parton planned to visit friends in Seattle and take the ferry north to Ketchikan. In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, he was quoted $1,300 for the crossing, far more than the roughly $500 he had hoped for, so he turned north and drove instead.

In Jasper he picked up two travellers, Louis and Aurélien, who rode with him as far as Whitehorse in Yukon. The two guests slept in the back while Parton and Bobby slept up front. The route followed the Alaska Highway past Muncho Lake, Liard Hot Springs and the Sign Post Forest at Watson Lake. By his count it was 2,260 miles from Missoula to Fairbanks, covered in four or five days so he could be back at work on Monday.

Dispersed camping and working remotely

Dispersed camping means staying outside developed campgrounds on public land, usually free and without facilities. Rules on stay limits, fires and permitted areas differ from forest to forest, so check with the local ranger district before you settle in for the night.

Remote work on the road depends on reliable mobile coverage and power. Parton’s answer was a battery charged while driving; a test week near home is a good way to find out whether a similar set-up works for you, and for your dog. With a dog on board, build stops for water, walks and shade into every driving day.

His blog continues the story through Prudhoe Bay, an Alaskan winter and hikes such as the Crow Pass trail. For more van and road-trip ideas, see Travis Burke’s adventure van, our road-trip essentials and our dog-friendly outdoor trip guide.

Related reading

• Matt, Jessica and Georgie: The Early Years of a Sailing Life
• Poh’s Road Trip: A Family Journey Shaped Around an Older Dog
• Lilica’s Food-Carrying Journey in São Carlos
• Remembering Biddy: The Hedgehog in a Pacific Northwest Photo Diary

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