A red flag which jumped out at me is, if you are retired, what age are your parents? That vehicle is not the most comfortable to sit in all day, five days in a row, not like a sedan, and at an advanced age, this can become very uncomfortable and tiring. 500 miles on any given day would equate to 9 - 10 hours sitting in a truck, for five days in a row, and then back again.

As an upper septuagenarian I find it sometimes difficult to sit in my van for 400 miles per day, and have for my current trip limited myself to less than 300 miles per day. In actual effect it has worked out to less than 200m miles most days.

With the older folk in mind, I suggest you plan to take longer than five days each way.

As mentioned above, for Alaska you can't do better than get The Milepost, the new issue of which will be available in March - you can pre-order. Meanwhile there is a lot of information in the Roadtrip Field Reports Forum written by those who have been there, done that! Three of my four trips are recorded there, among others.

Lifey