July 31, Thursday, day 17

We arrived in Alaska yesterday and spent the time in Tok.  Filled with gas and then took advantage of their free car wash.  We encountered much rain and mud the last day so everything was caked with mud.  We enjoyed sunshine yesterday day and a dry night for the first time in several days.  The evening of July 29 was wet, wet wet. 
Will drive to Fairbanks today and spend some time there.  We are wondering if we want to drive to the the most northern part which is 225 miles north of Coldfoot.  We are reading and hearing that it is a difficult drive.  One article suggested we have TWO full size spare tires on rims!! We will see.  Also a person can not access the Arctic Ocean except through a $59 tour by the oil field people!!!
Will try to download some more pictures.
We are experiencing a bit of the Alaska chill as I drank my FP with gloves on this morning.  
Happy birthday to Elspeth, one today!!

we have arrived

a bison on the way to a party all dolled up!!!!

Terry with our sign which is maybe # 80,000+ in Watson Lake

sighting of our first moose

the flowers are beautiful

Day 15

I will write a bit and then try to download some pictures.  I have 30 minutes of Internet here and it is slow!!  We are in Whitehorse Yukon which is about 300 miles from Alaska and maybe 2900 from St. Paul.  All has gone well.  We have seen much wildlife along the road and have met many people. One couple we met are biking with their 17 month old baby.  They are on a 3 YEAR ride from Alaska to South America!!  Anyone want a challenge?
My FP is extra good this morning as I have espresso ground beans.  Here may be some pictures.

stone sheep by the road

a young caribou racing us

fancy out house for sure

our sign that we posted along with 80,000+ others!

Beginning of day 12

the first hotel at Lake Louise--two rooms??

the current hotel--550 room and they fill most summer days at $300-$600!

elk as we entered Jasper

a glacier near the road in Baniff Park

if I had not slowed down we might have hit this bear

As I sit in the campsite this morning it is the first time I have seen the sun in the morning for at least 4 days and it is great.  We plan to drive about 300 miles today and camp some place near Fort Nelson.  People say that once one get beyond Fort Nelson the drive is beautiful. 
Terry made ham sandwiches last night so we should be good for the day.  We are finding that most things are expensive here, at least in our way of thinking.  A burger that would be $10 in the states would be about $15 here.  Our friend Larry, who goes on fishing trips in Canada said that pretty much what ever one buys it is a $20 bill! 
We had a bite to eat in Baniff at a brew pub and purchased a growler and of course it was full!  The cost was about 40% more than any other place but we (I) did want a growler from Alberta and now the hunt will be on for one in BC.  Alaska, well they have more micro-breweries per person than any other state so that should be no problem.
We are camping very near a highway and it is noisy.  No problem, I just left the fan on in the camper all night--I know this modern camping is difficult!!!
Each morning before we pull out of our camp site we pray for protection against accident, illness and injury.  We are hoping to sail through these next 6 weeks with great weather, exciting times and wonderful experiences.  So far we have had fantastic roads, will see if that continues as we head farther north.  The Mile Post book says the highway is paved all the way but there will be stretches of gravel as they work on the road.  Our camper and car are so dirty now but maybe we can find a place to wash them some time.

John and Mary's Elspeth turns 1 July 31 and we say happy birthday today as we may not have any service in 5 days.  This picture was taken a few months ago and she is at least as cute today as then!
Enough for now.  Even tho I took my double walled stainless steel FP pot with us it still does not stay  hot too long.  By the way it was sure nice to turn the hot water pot on today rather than heat water on the stove, like I said this modern camping is difficult.

end of day 11

us with Larry as we left Havre MT

sitting by Lake Louise near Baniff

near Lake Louise

We are camping just outside St. John, BC which means we have been on the Alaska Hwy for about 50 miles.  We are now 3900 miles from Naples FL, 2050 miles from St. Paul and have another 1200 miles before we get to Alaska.  We stopped a bit early today, 3:00 PM, as we have had rain the last 2 nights and much of the last two days.  We are enjoying dry weather now so needed to stop, dry things out and get some work done--yes one must work some on trips too!
So far along the road we have seen deer, elk and a black bear.  I have a feeling that is just the beginning. 
For those of us who feel gas is expensive at home here it is sold by the liter and 3.8 liters = a gallon.  As we drove through St. John's the price was $1.39 per liter which comes out to $5.32 a gallon.  I am thankful we are pulling a small camper which allows us, to this point, to get a bit over 19 MPG.
Our car is dirty, our camper is dirty and perhaps us too but we are at a camp grounds with electric power, hot water and tomorrow it will be shave and shower before we hit the road.  In Dawson Creek today we watched a movie at the visitor center on the building of the Alaska Highway and I am thankful we are traveling in today's world.
Enough for now with pictures to come later.

Day 8

We are in a great campsite in Claresholm AB.  We took all of 3 or 4 minutes to get through customs yesterday, that was great.  Drove through a very very bad rain/hail storm but have not seen any damage on the camper or car.  Terry found this campsite, which is city run, and it is $15 for the night.  Plan to get to Banff before noon and spend the day there. 
We are excited to see what new things day 8 brings!
FP is good as always this morning.

Day 7

We will try to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow starting today

It will be on the road again today.  I feel like our Alaska trip really starts today.  We plan to travel about 250 miles today and find a camp site about 100 miles into Canada. 
The picture was taken last night after a short light rain.  I could not get the entire bow across the sky in one picture but it was brilliant and stayed for about 10 minutes.  It seems each day is another of God's artistic master pieces!
I think both Terry and I are excited but yet there is a bit of, not concern, but rather "what are we really doing going on a 12,000 mile trip into an area so remote, so rugged, so unknown in some ways?" I sometimes say that life is really not worth living unless one kind of lives on the edge and allows God to be present on a daily bases.  We expect, pray for and hope for a trip of excitement, safety and free of difficulties so we head north, northwest with much anticipation.
O my, the FP is ready and so am I.

Day 6 and 1020 miles in

bison in camp!!

nothing like a reunion on the tower

for the second time in 2 years we went big time and stayed in the Malta city park

We woke up at our high school friend Larry's home in Havre MT.  Drove a short way yesterday after getting up early in Malta.  Had a lazy day full of talk, food and clothes washing.  We are 145 miles from our entry into Canada which will happen tomorrow.  It will then be about 2000 miles to Alaska.

Day 4

pick and eat at Dave's

second trip here and we still love it-bison, wild horses and ........

camp site on night 3

brother Dave as we left Jamestown

We arrived in Theodore Roosevelt np about 6 yesterday and grabbed one of the last camp sites. Will be in MT in about 15 miles. Will stay in Malta MT tonight. Last year we stayed in the city park there for a donation of $3!  We told the ranger here that we maybe could not afford the increase in the park here as it went up to $5!  He then told us where a state forest was and camping there is free!
  We thought about seeing the burning cold mines but ran out of time. I think my Dad showed us at least a 100 pictures of them.
It's after 8 and will start the generator to charge things, yep for sure this is camping!!!!
My FP is ready so it will be a walk around the park as I sip my AM java.

Morning of day 3

Our first stop, our 66th Mn state park in the last 2 years

Second stop, park #67

We thought about trading for this!!!!!!!!!

#68 and counting

#69, we now have only 3 parks left and this was our first day destination

I am guessing Ma and Pa out on their evening fishing trip--hope they don't have any ocean plans!!

You bet Ole just caught a BIG one--fire up the pan

A huge part of camping is what one sees, God is always the ultimate painter

The morning of day 2, if you look closely my FP is on the table!

As we drove to Fargo the lakes were glass and this boat was painting the picture of the day

We are in Jamestown ND with brother Dave and Marlys.  We had an interesting day 2.  We arrived in Fargo in time to get Terry's glasses adjusted at Lencrafters (looked them up with our car GPS-we love our GPS), then stopped at Costco and arrived at Grandma Saunders about 11:00.  Grandma is 93+ and doing quit well thank you!!  After having lunch with her we hit the road, I94 west, and by Valley City this car honked and passed us, Dale and Deb Binde, Deb was Gail's sister were on their way to Williston ND so they pulled over and we visited for some time.  As we talked Gail's brother Mark called so the only Saunders family member not in our day was her brother Allen.
We arrived at Dave's about 3:00.  We talked, we are raspberries, we picked raspberries and sat down to a steak dinner.  After dinner Dave said he made a power point program of the steps in making a classical guitar.  Dave is an amazing woodworker.  He made a guitar back in the sixties and it is beautiful.  A few years ago he made one for his daughter and now is in the process of making #3.  We watched this great power point presentation of each step in making it. (he is not finished with it yet) In the last picture he wanted to show his label on the inside which tells who made it. and there on his huge TV screen was a picture of the label which said "made by Dave V. Lee for Carmen J. Lee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I was stunned and still am this morning.  Now I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar so this winter it has to be guitar, tennis, writing and then I am not sure!  I don't think Dave could count the hours put into it but I would say they number for sure well into the 3 digits.  He made all or most of the devices for making, bending etc.  UNBELIEVABLE.

the beginning of my guitar a year ago--the form on the bottom was made by Dave

the guitar he made 40+ years ago

a closer look at Dave's work

After lunch we will hit I94 again and camp in Theodore Roosevelt NP tonight. From there we will get to MT and then to Havre on Saturday night.  As I often say, this retirement is terrible as there is never a day off and it is very difficult to keep track of what day it is.  As I write I am enjoying my third cup of Marlys' Keurig "dark magic" coffee.  It actually could rival my FP.  
I am thinking that there will be many days when we do not have internet so I am taking advantage of the days we do.
Maybe, just maybe another cup of DARK MAGIC

Try again

We arrived at Maplewood state park after visiting 3 others. We have a site near Green lake with a great view. Went on the 1.2 mile nature trail about an hour before sunset with NO bug spray---not one of our best decisions I the last few days
As I sit here this morning all I can hear or see are birds--no sights or sounds of  the people, nice for sure
Will get some pictures tomorrow as we will have the computer up I think. Ism on my phone and have never used it for the blog in the past. Wait, the FP is ready and I need something to warm my hands in this 49 degree weather.   As I looked at the temp this morning a tiny voice said----wait for Alaska!!!

Day two

it is almost here

We leave tomorrow.  It appears as if we are ready and I am not sure that is a good or bad sign.  We made a decision Saturday that was a super decision.  We had thought about using much of Sunday to take in three more state parks but in the end decided it best to stay home and prepare for the trip.  That was huge!!!  We pretty much have spent the last several days preparing for the trip.  I say that and then there is Terry.  She is a gem in doing things the right way---That is not MY strong point!  She has cleaned, ordered, scrubbed, put away and many other things so that when we leave tomorrow the house will be in perhaps the best order it has been in for a long long long time.  NOW that is not to say that things are done, as unfortunately "not finished" seems to be my middle name even tho my birth papers say my  middle name is James.  Anyway as I have focused in only on the trip Terry has focused in on that PLUS leaving the house with some kind of order.  That is great.  We even have birthday presents and Christmas presents wrapped and waiting on top of the fireplace for family to pick up when they are here this summer.  MUCH better than mailing them!!  All of which Terry has done.
The car and camper are pretty much packed and ready.  Tomorrow we need to put things into the camper cooler, put the phones and computer in the car, check the check lists, made an extra FP pot and then head north-northwest.  We plan to stay in a MN state park tomorrow night, have lunch with Grandma S Wednesday and stay with brother Dave and Marlys that night.  From there it will be MT and then into Canada by next Monday. Our plan puts us into Alaska by the end of the month.  Lets hope that we have the things we need.
Can't even end with a FP note as it is after 9:00 PM and FP is not popular at that hour.

The count down starts!

waiting to get on the ferry, the picture tells all about our camping trip!!

our 40th national park

a half mile rainy walk in the park

how is that for a super duper smore??

What should I say about our 5 day camping trip?  Four nights in the camper, 4 nights of pouring rain!  A broken bike that needs to go to the repair shop, a car that wouldn't start, more rain and more rain and more rain BUT we did see spectacular fireworks over Lake Superior from our living room camper bed!!  Our Tiny Camper kept us dry and warm BUT it was interesting!
We now have 6 days to regroup, pack, purchase a few things and then hit the road for 9-10 weeks.  I think we need to rethink our packing skills and camping skills as the last few days they seemed to have gone south on a trip north.  More order, more order and more order. 
I also have work to do on our wood projects that are intended for grandchildren Christmas presents.  I think I will take one last sip of FP and head out to the wood shop.