2011 X5 35d 7500 Mile Alaska Gold Mining Trip

[Lambeau]

With 1500 miles remaining to get back to Tyndall AFB Florida from Wisconsin, the 7500 miles covered so far have went perfectly. Pulled a 4K# trailer all the way and am very glad I went with the DPF/EGR delete & ECU reflash done by Alex at BimmerOEM. The power this mod gave me definitely helped on the many mountains and passing of other vehicles. My 2011 35d has 115K miles and I performed a trans filter/fluid change before the trip and never had a problem with the transmission as some here predicted. Don't let the doomsday predictors on this board scare you into not changing your fluid/filter. I also changed the transfer case fluid, front diff fluid, rear diff fluid, & fuel filter before the trip. FYI, I used an Ebay trans pan/filter & Pentosin trans fluid.

Averaged 17.1 MPG over the entire trip and for pulling the heavy trailer over all those hills I was very happy with that. Had the cruise set at 70 MPH for much of the way when possible. Installed Dick Cepek Trail Country tires before the trip and they were amazing.

Diesel in Fairbanks was about $2.75/gal. Diesel in Canada averaged $1.50/liter (about $6/gallon) ONE tin of chewing tobacco in Canada = $28, ONE pack of cigarettes = $17, ONE case of beer = $48. That's their "FREE" socialist healthcare they enjoy. I don't think "free" means quite what they think it does.

We did get good gold on our seven 40-acre gold claims near the Yukon border so it was a great trip overall.

Pics are of Muncho Lake British Columbia and of our gold claims area.