On the road again!

After plowing snow twice in December, Les was so ready to head down to warm Florida.  Of course, we hated leaving our grandsons.  This year Les's mom, Meda, rode with us to SC where we visit Les's brother Kevin and his wife Peggy.  She will stay with them awhile.  She did really well with camping for a night on the way.

We left Saturday, Dec. 28th, arrived here in Camden, SC Sunday afternoon.  Kevin and Peggy have a nice place for us to park the camper in their backyard.  We enjoyed a nice 3 days with them and Meda.  Marty had us over for fireworks and a movie for New Years Eve.  They have LARGE fireworks here!!

Ivan and Cricket were good host and hostess for us also.

Oh here is a picture I took a few weeks ago in Middle Spring!  Yes, that is zebra in Middle Spring, PA!  Mama, Papa and baby.

We head out tomorrow, Wed, for Jacksonville, FL. 

Leaving Alaska/Visiting Family and Friends

Sorry All, we are are still well and still on the road.

 We completed our trip to Alaska July 27^th. Traveled from the Kenai Peninsula East on the Glen Hwy; north on the Tok Cutoff; East on the Alaskan Hwy and South on the South Klondike Hwy. On route we saw more amazing mountains, this time it was the Wrangell-Elias Ranger with the Matanuska glacier. The ferry we rode north and back south through the Inside Passage was named for this glacier.

We arranged to board the ferry in Skagway to get a chance to visit that town. So glad we did. The drive through the White Pass exposed us to territory unlike any we had see yet on our trip. Amazing rock formations, pictures could not capture it. We stopped for pictures here at Emerald Lake, so pretty!

 We stayed in Skagway 3 days and it was quite entertaining. We got a campsite facing the harbor to get a beautiful view of the water, mountains and cruise ships! A stream just behind us had King and Pink salmon running, a train offers rides up the pass, and the town had interesting museums and loads of stores, thanks to the cruise ships. Skagway has a very interesting and colorful history. One evening we attended a play with some “gambling” before the show. Les turned his “$1,000” into $10,800! Maybe we ought to stop in Vegas on the way home?

July 25^th we boarded the Matanuska ferry to travel south through the Inside Passage. The trip was 1 day and 17 hours this time as there were longer layovers and an extra stop. We were able to get off the ferry twice and walk into Wrangell and Ketchikan. Both of these communities boast having a large number of totem poles. We were able to walk to a number of them. They are amazing.

July 27^th at 3:15AM we arrived in Prince Rupert, BC. Having gotten some sleep in our vibrating cabin, we felt ready to drive and drive we did! 14 hours! We stopped south of Prince George. So tired that we put our payment with information in a baggy taped to our door and after supper went to bed. We slept for 13 hours! On the drive the next day south to toward the US on Rt 97 then to Rt 1 the environment made a drastic change, it became very arid. We even had Big Horn Sheep cross the road.

July 29^th we crossed the border into the US for the last time on this trip. Drove south to Deception Pass SP to meet up with Chris and Lori for a nice day of camping. Then to Seattle for a few days. While we were there, we toured the Boeing Assembly Plant. That was very interesting. They took us to see the 747, 777, and 787 Dream Liner lines. A very large scale assembly line.

 Aug. 1^st we stopped in Tacoma to visit our friends, Ron and MaryAnn. They took us to a beautiful park with an amazing flower garden. We had a great visit with them and hope to see them in Florida this winter.

Our plan was to travel south down the Oregon coast to California. Oh my, we learned a very important lesson: Don't travel Rt 101 in tourist season! Especially without reservations. We were able to find a county park with ONE campsite for ONE night (did I mention we were there over a weekend no less?). The next day, Saturday, the traffic grew to bumper to bumper. We turned off Rt 101 and headed east to I5. Good bye coast and crowds. Maybe not crowds as the campground for this night had only primitive sites available, which was fine for us. The next day we took Rt199 south back to the coast and California, stopping at Oregon Caves Nat'l Monument. An interesting stop and great campground on a stream and few people.

August 5^th we arrived at the Redwood Nat'l Park. Our plan was to camp there, but our lesson continued, don't travel in peak season here without reservations. Again, God rescued us with the last site in a county park just north of Trinidad. The next day we drove to the Avenue of the Giants was started seeing the “Campground Full” signs, Oh my. At the Visitor Center there was a park with a few sites available! We were able to camp there 2 nights, but we had to move from site to site. That works fine with our RV. We had a lovely time hiking and relaxing in this amazing forest of giants!

 We arrived Aug 8^th in Petaluma where Aaron has relocated. In fact, we arrived just in time to take him to an appointment to sign a lease for his apartment. Jane, Aaron's dog, and Aaron stayed with us in the Navion to get some good visiting time and because his apartment is totally empty! ;-) Saturday, Aaron and I took a tour offered from this campground to San Francisco. It was a wonderful tour made better because the guide was born and raised in SF so he took us to a lot of out of the way places.

We plan to leave Tues, 13^th, and begin to work our way east to PA. Should arrive at the cabin around the 20^th. It has been a super trip with lots of memories.

The Kenai Peninsula

July 8 and 9 We toured Seward. The first day we took a boat tour of the Kenai Fjords Nat'l Park. What a lovely day. Perfect weather and great wildlife. There were puffins, gulls with babies on a rookery rock, sea lions, and seals.

And then there was the whales! Again we were blessed with multiple sightings of humpback whales. A mother and calf, a whale breached for us (popped up out of the water), a group of 5 together frolicking. What a treat.

We stopped at a glacier. And amazing experience. The temperature dropped significantly while we were stopped here. There was some ice falling from the sides, thunderous cracks and then pouring down the slopes. Much ice floating in the water. The blue appearance of the glacier is due to the extreme density of the ice and how the light is absorbed.

July 10 to 16 We moved to Soldotna and the Kenai River. A world famous river for sockeye salmon. The peak run for the salmon is the 15^th to the 17^th. We arrived at a city campground on the river and snagged the last of the river sites. After that the campground began to fill and within 3 days the place was full with people trolling for sites. We were so blessed. They have a daily fish count: Sat: 6,798 fish; Sun: 23,052 fish; Mon: 92,734; Wed: 214,000. As the fish increased so did the number of fisherman. Thankfully, Les got great fishing done by Tuesday before it got too crazy and it did get crazy! Ask our stories.

July 17 and 18 We explored Homer. We camped on the spit in a city campground again on the water. A large barge was beached there waiting to be taken for repair. The eagles liked perching on it. Otters again were feeding off shore and fun to watch. The weather was sunny there but very windy.

July 19   I took a bush plane across the Cook Inlet to view bears. Just as we arrived a mother and her 3 cubs came down the bluff, across the stream and up the other side. She then disappeared and no more bear were sighted! Thank you Lord for them. While on our way back the pilot flew us over Double Glacier. How beautiful!

We camped that evening at Russian River and took a 3mile hike one way to a falls where you can see the salmon trying to jump up the rushing water.  Amazing that any make it!  The Fireweed here is sooo beautiful and everywhere!  This track was not on the road when we went up to the trailhead but was there when we returned!

We are now heading east to Skagway, a little more than 1,000 miles. There we will board the ferry and head south to Prince Rupert, BC. Then down to Seattle to visit Lori, Tacoma for a visit with Maryann and Ron, and San Francisco to visit Aaron. Our trip will be complete then! Only thing left is to drive home. Only another 3,000 miles!

Four Days in Hope, AK

We traveled south from Denali and camped here just below Palmer. The scenery has been wonderful. Unfortunately the campground this picture was taken at was anything but picturesque. More like a trailer park and feet from a very busy highway with a barking dog beside us. But there was beauty even here. A lake nearby had a loon that we enjoyed watching. One night and on down the road!

July 4^th, we traveled south of Anchorage to Hope, AK. This is the location of the first discovery of gold in Alaska. Once a boom town in the 1890's it quickly lost its appeal as the strikes in other areas drew the people away and it now close to a ghost town with 150 full time residents. This gives us a true feeling of old Alaska. We are here to visit our old friend from Shippensburg, Denny, who now lives here. He has been a great tour guide of this area and is very proud of this gem in the mountains.

 Friday, we rode our bikes around the town. There is a library, espresso shop, a couple artists/gift shops, museum, cafe and bar. A number of old miner's homes and cabins through out the hillsides. While in town we saw a cow moose with twin calves feeding along the road. We had lunch at the Cafe, Les had halibut fish and chips, while I opted for the Caesar Salad with grilled halibut. Very good and fresh fish.

 In the afternoon we saw a cow moose grazing just behind the campground. You are living with the wildlife here. Later, Denny took us on a drive through an alpine valley, Palmer Creek. July and snow still by the road. On the way back we caught a glimpse of the lights of Anchorage. We are noticing the evenings are getting a bit darker. This picture was taken at midnight.

Our last day, Denny shared one of his “spots” with Les for mining gold. Resurrection Creek is a favorite site to dig gold. Many people come here, set up camp and work the stream. There is a right way to shake that pan and show the gold you shoveled from the bank. Les provided the back work of shoveling the gravel and Denny showed him the technique.

July 8^th we move on to explore the Kenai Penninsula.