Planning for Alaska....in earnest.

Well, it's after Christmas. We "made" ourselves wait until "after Christmas" to really begin our preparation for our trip of a lifetime. As you can see here, Chris has begun "practicing" on our new laptop. If the truth be known, he is playing games, but that is learning to use the mouse, which is quite different for him. Hopefully this will be our means of communicating with our kids to let them know that we have not been eaten by a bear, or some other fate. With the laptop I will also be able to add posts to this blog to tell about our adventures.

We have started lists and more lists of things to check out, buy, or "don't forget" to pack something. We're looking into fishing licenses, park passes, etc. and trying to figure out which is the most cost-efficient. I've been reading about the Dalton Highway, which follows the Alaskan pipeline from Fairbanks to Prudeau Bay (1000 mi. round trip); a rough trip on mostly gravel road. So, we decided to take a second spare tire...just in case; it's a long walk. We're told that gas is $7.00 per gallon further up that road! I wonder if I could tap the pipeline.

Tommy the timid beagle

Here is Tommy, the soon to be international traveler. She loves to travel, and does so very well. She just jumps into the car, cuddles down in her spot and sleeps through the car ride.

Thus far she has traveled to the Upper Peninsula of MI, New Jersey, Chicago and Baldwin, MI. She seems to win every body'sheart because she is a very non-aggressive dogie, and just seems to chill wherever she is. When we visited the Picture Rocks in the UP last summer, she had to be put in a kennel while we went on the boat ride; the rest of the dogs there were having separation anxiety....but not Tommy. She just hunkered down and snoozed. Just don't let any bunnies walk past!!!!

This was the beginning of the trek to Yellowstone in July 07. The camper will be our "home on wheels" for 3 months in the summer of 08.

Getting Started

This blog is an exciting "first step" toward all of our plans of traveling to Alaska, by way of Canada, the Alcan Hwy, etc. in a camper next summer. It has been suggested that we have a blog so that we can share the wonderful and exciting experiences these wide-open spaces will present. I have my stereotype visions of what western Canada & Alaska are. Only seeing it will prove me right or wrong. Those "stereotypes" I'll keep to myself, so as to not "prove" how naive I have been. This huge adventure is going to be in our new (to us) truck, pop-up camper.