This Is Just a Test....

I have passed my first test. Tah Dah! I have successfully connected with a WiFi outside of my own home.....30 min. away from home. So, now, I CAN DO IT! Baby Char had her 1 yr.. pictures taken today. I came along for the ride. She was totally photogenic today so it was lots of fun. She really hammed it up.
For lunch we came to Panera Bread so I could connect to their free WiFi.
And for lunch I had a wonderful cheese & broccoli soup in a sourdough bread bowl. Yummy....getting hungry? Andrea had a portabello mushroom & mozzarella panini. Yummo!
Does this mean that I have to stop at every Panera Bread all the way across Canada?

This “equipment” should keep us on track. You saw the laptop that we already acquired for our blog, for e-mails, and for paying bills. These added items should compliment the computer. All truckstops have internet these days, so that is a place for us to stop and log in. This book, the National Truckstop Directory, lists all the truckstops in north America, and the services available at each. (other places have WiFi access also.)
The Good Sam Club has its own little perks. But the biggest of which is the “2008 Trailer Life Directory Campground Navigator”. Besides locating all the campgrounds & services provided,it has maps of the U.S. & Canada for trip planning…but, tah dah…it has the capability of linking our Garmen to it. Then we can see a bigger map of where we actually are! (and not on the 2” Garmen screen!) and we won’t even need the internet for this feature. This is a super biggie to have along! Especially because our wonderful OnStar has been deactivated because it is analog and now they are only digital. And for once it would really be nice to have the OnStar…and can’t have it. (Kind of burned us when this happened Jan 1st of this year.) We obviously have all the hard maps, too. And if the truth be known, there aren’t that many possibilities of taking the wrong road when one is in the Canadian British Columbia, for example. Take a look at the map…not that many roads to begin with! So, we shouldn’t really get lost….but it’s always nice to have the “big picture”….gives me some kind of security.
AND, although you are not aware of a test I just accomplished....it worked well. I just wrote this blog on Word, that copied and pasted it into this blog on line. That proves that I can write the blog at any time on our trek, then post it when I have internet access. This is a good thing.
So long till later...

Tommy, the Traveling Beagle, is ready to go, too!

"Never leave home without it." Can't remember where that saying came from....but it sure applies to Tommy, the soon-to-be, international traveler. We have been taking all the necessary

steps to make sure she is ready for D-Day (departure day). We got her a new fleece bed for the back seat of the truck, so that she is nice and comfy. You see her perched on it in the pic. We got her some new smaller food bowls....not like we use in the house, which could hold enough food for a mastif! There's also the screw-in-the-ground short tie-up for her when we are camped. They had a huge one for "up to 50# dog"...I can't see her enjoying that at all; she's never on a tie-up. So we got one that was for a 10# dog (she's about 23#) because we won't be walking away and stressing her anyway. She'll be walking with us or in the camper or truck. So, that problem solved. Not pictured is a hunting collar, that has up to a 1 mi. radius. We'll be using that, when appropriate, to let her get some running in. (and thanks to our new little Honda generator) we'll be able to recharge it as needed. We'll only be using the hunting collar when we're also watching. She would be good bear-bait....and that would be aweful! Truth-be-told, she doesn't even wear that hunting/training collar when she is bunny hunting any more because she listens to Chris so well. He can even call her off of a hot rabbit trail. That's one good dog! But way up in Alaska & Canada....don't want to take any chances. That collar also has our name, address and phone number on it. We have to get another name tag for her pink dress-up collar. (That was her Christmas present)

In May we have to stop in at the vet to get her annual check-up and be up to date on her rabies shots. We have to take all that documentation along, too.

Ready for Anything....I hope

Well, here's our latest little addition to our Alaskan Trek. We researched little generators, and the one that seems to be the best, hands down, is the little Honda. This is fairly light weight (47#), and very quiet (59 db). It will enable us to use lights, etc. inside the camper. But also, it has an inverter, that makes it very safe for use with high tech electronics, like our computer.

In addition, this little red baby has an extra cable that we purchased ($12) that will charge the truck battery if needed (but we plan on getting a new battery before we leave)....but ya never know. We aim to be ready.

Our "ready for anything" attitude has prompted us to have two spare tires, since the Dalton Hwy to Prudeau Bay is 440 miles of gravel road. And of course, what travels up that road, must return....on 440 miles of gravel road. We've been told that road service is pricey up there. And, we shouldn't need it. Will show you that one when it gets mounted on the grill guard in front of the truck.

Which Way Do We Go???

This is the absolute bible for anybody planning on traveling in western Canada and Alaska. An ooooooooooold friend of ours, Jerry Ross, whom Chris has known most of his life, told us that the book is an absolute MUST. Jerry lives in Brooklyn, MI (right accross from Michigan International Speedway ). He and his wife, Del, drove to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada once, and another time to Alaska. (Inuvek is on the Arctic Ocean; brrrrrr)

This book is the size of a telephone book....not the Waterloo telephone book. More like the Chicago telephone book white pages! It's huge! AND they put a new one out each year. It comes out in March and is update annually. The main information is the same, but incidentals, like road work places, etc. are updated. The folks who put out the Milepost drive EVERY road each year, and note the changes. The whole thing is written in some kind of shorthand, that one needs to get accustomed to to read it. It tells what is at each mile of the roads. It tells how far you are from the next big city, and how far you came from the last one, where there are gas stations, telephone service, WiFi, camping, good fishing, etc. It gives the history of different places, towns, etc.

I've read loads of this book already, and it gets me more and more excited to leave on our trip. It tells what to expect at each mile along the Alaskan Highway (formerly known as the AlCan Highway). You will have to read this summer when we write about the mountains, hot springs, fishing and much, much more! Can't wait!

Rainy Season in Alaska: January 1st to December 31st!

Ready for the rain....yes....check that off. We now have our rain suits. Notice mine is a stylish
cranberry w/ black pants. The horrid thing here is that I NEVER wear hats....it'll mess up my hair. I guess that came from my early Catholic "bringing-up" having to wear hats in church... or perhaps, my years in the convent, ALWAYS having my hair covered. So, I guess that is just a way of saying that my psyche is warped...and I never wear hats! It also means that when it rains, I'll either have wet hair and look stupid or wear the hood and keep it on all day, even when the rain stops, so that nobody can see my messed up hair. Guess this will get solved when it rains.
Chris has the very nice camo set that is well used. Hope I don't have to find him in the rain....I won't be able to see him! Both rain suits are made of GoreTex (trademark) and do a wonderful job of repelling water. I went sledding with the grandkids several weeks ago. Not having snowpants, I just wore the GoreTex pants over my jeans. Never got wet, and therefore didn't get cold. Worked like a charm.
The pup in the picture is not the Timid Tommy....it is Colt, Jacob's doggie with her M & M kerchief on.

Getting Ready for Rough Roads in Alaska & Canada

We have checked off one more big item from the "To do List for Alaska". Today we purchased a nice beefy grill guard. Because some of the places we are planning on traveling to are out of the way, gravel roads, with no services for hundreds of miles, it would be not very nice to take a stone through the radiator...the towing would be kind of pricey....if we even had cell phone service to call for a tow truck. So...we have to be on our own! and there's nobody with whom I would feel more safe with, if stranded in the mountains of Alaska, than Chris. He's always got some trick up his sleeve. However, we're trying to make sure that the "tricks" aren't needed.While we were at the recent Camper Show at the Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, we found a vendor who had just what we were looking for: Auto & Truck Restylers. Jamie Hopper was very knowledgeable about his product. The picture above shows Chris holding the guard for Jamie...he just couldn't keep his hands off. Look real close at that picture and you can see the protective metal in the grill guard that will shield the radiator. I'm real glad I convinced Chris to have it installed by the Restylers....it might have been a bit of a challenge. Baby Charolette, our little side-kick, came along, and loved watching what was going on. She was good natured as usual. When Jamie used the impact wrench, it sure got her attention! tah Dah! Done! Finally! Only I'm told it won't protect the truck from wayward moose! Even had to get a truck wash to show off the grill guard. Two more items to check off our list soon, will be a second spare tire to take along, and getting heavy duty shocks installed next week.
A couple of weeks ago, we checked out the room for extra bins for clothes, etc. inside the camper; and it would take us only a matter of minutes to pop them into or out of the camper.
We then decided that we could make this trip without an extra pull-behind utility trailer.
Less than four months to go to D-Day...Departure Day...June 1.