September 9th

“Great is the art of beginning but greater is the art of finishing” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2 Countries….. 8 Provinces….. 18 states….

FINAL THOUGHTS as we drive our last 100 miles of 100 days on the road;

When Adam died I suddenly grasped a deeper meaning of what’s important in life… and maybe more importantly, what’s not. The trivial things that we invest our time and talents leave us with a house full of “stuff” and short on memorable moments. I have to agree with Dr. James Dobson who said, “life is all about the people you love and those that love you.” This 100 day trip to Alaska has confirmed those thoughts in my heart. I will remember the people that we met who spent time sharing themselves with us. Bert, who took time to not only fix our hitch but take us on a boat tour of his lovely little town, and Gene who spent an afternoon “teaching Gary everything he knew about catching salmon” on the Kenai River. There was Patty in the laundry room that sat for an hour while my loads dried and shared recipe after recipe on how to prepare salmon! We are still in contact with Pastor Don who we met on the boardwalk in Soldotna who helped me catch fish and couldn’t stop talking about what the Lord has done in his life. There were Mellissa and June who both lost daughters way before their time, and we shared our pain. We enjoyed an old friend, Matt, in Anchorage and made new ones like Jack Kimm. We enjoyed the hospitality of those we visited on the way home; Andy & Amy, Paul & Leslie, Harold, Dennis & Mary, Geoff & Kiersten, Charlie, Russ & Ruth, Dana & Sharon and Cheryl & Steve. People are important, not the nice car or house or clothes. It’s not how much money you have or where you went on vacation. It’s all about how you have served those that God has given you in your life to treasure and bless. With all of that said let the credits roll…..

To all of our 25 blogger friends (and other readers who chose to remain anonymous), we want to thank you for coming along on this trip over the past 3 1/2 months. It was a little crowded, I must say, to have you all here but it’s what made the trip that much more fun! Tim & Dave, you need to come out of the wine closet now, you guys need to dry out. Thanks especially to all those who commented on the blog. It confirmed that some one was really out there.

Thank you Kim & Tommy for watching the house for taking care of all the mail and bills.

Thanks Mary & Perry and Mom & Dad for picking up where Kim & Tommy left off.

Thanks Dowst’s & Byrd’s for the gift of Bruno who gave us all a laugh.

Thank you Tim & Sue for being on the receiving end of 100 pounds of fish! Is there any left?

Thank you Gail for my “midnight moon” body wash and cream… it made the fishing days of Soldotna a little more bearable…. And the books you lent that filled many hours.

Thank you cartographer & IT man, Dan for educating us all along the way. You did so much work on making this blog more interesting than I could have done alone. I appreciated all your comments and especially your humor.

Thank you Martie for being our off-site Editor-in-Chief.

Thank you Rick for informing us of all the bad men from Arizona and Judy for warm socks!

Thank you Bruno for putting up with the shower stall as a den for 14,077 miles. We made friends quicker because you were our friend.

Thanks Gary for the dream that led us to Alaska and all the miles & miles of driving…. And multiple repairs inside and out.

Finally, thank you Adam for the inspiration for this trip and whenever I see the flower of Alaska I will always think of you.

Ultimately, thank you God for giving us beautiful places like Alaska to travel to and see Your handiwork.

“He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled.” Joshua 24:17

September 8th

THE WEATHER: Another beautiful day for traveling. High’s in the 80’s, clear skies

THE DISTANCE: 359 from Bellefonte, PA to Granby, MA

Once again we broke camp and got on our way towards home. Everything continues to look more and more familiar. The recognizable roads, the oaks, maples & black birch trees, the roadside pumpkin and sweet corn stands and the typical New England white steeple churches. Ahhhhh, the feeling of goin’ home, there’s nothing like it.

It worked out that after 350 + miles and 8 hours of driving Gary’s sister’s house, Cheryl & Steve is in Granby, Mass. where we will camp for the night. Before reaching them we made a slight detour into Northampton, Mass. to visit with Gary’s nephew’s family, Dana & Sharon. They were all very happy to meet Bruno in person as they have been following his adventures on line! This is our last night on the road and calling our RV home. No more hook-ups at the end of the day, no more climbing a ladder to get into bed, no more saying, “excuse me, could you move so I can get into the kitchen”, no more moving Bruno before we take a shower, no more seeking out WIFI hotspots, no more pulling out the kitchen table to have dinner or asking myself in the wee hours of the morning, “Where am I?” We can now look forward to settling into all the familiar surroundings….. And watch the first Patriots game on Sunday!!! Wooohooo!

PS: BTW: The final score in cribbage is: Debbie; 13 (2 skunks), Gary; 12 (2 skunks).

Septemper 7th

THE WEATHER: Perfect for traveling other than a little warm. We used the air conditioning for the 2nd time this summer. High’s in the 80’s

THE DISTANCE: 443 miles to Bellefonte, PA. Staying at the KOA

So we said goodbye to Uncle Charlie and got on our way by 9:00. We wanted to cover some miles today and again tomorrow to hopefully make it back for Christen Shiebler’s wedding on Saturday. So far it’s looking pretty good. We are finally getting back into some familiar looking hilly territory with lots of trees. As we drove through the Allegheny mountain range and climbed 1,000 foot inclines the RV is once again huffing and puffing. In spite of the distance it continues to do well. I think it may get us all the way home!

So it’s beginning to look a lot more like home. The traffic and congestion and Eastern uptight attitude is unfortunately looking way too familiar also. We drove through 3 states today; Ohio, West Virginia & Pennsylvania. It’s funny how out west you can drive for 2 days and still be in the same state but out East you can drive one day and go through 3 states!

Holding to a family tradition created when the kids started going off to camp or sporting events by themselves, We would ask them 3 questions: 1) on a scale from 1 to 10 how would you rate your event? 2) What was the best thing that happened? 3) What was the worst thing that happened?

So Tonight, we asked ourselves the same 3 questions.

Here’s Gary’s answers:

1) 9.5.… The King Salmon fishing could have been better
2) The best thing was catching a chum salmon. (is anyone surprised by these answers?)
3) The time in Sterling when the RV kept dieing and Gary couldn’t figure out what it was and it was late.

Debbie’s answers:

1) 9.5.… The weather could have been better
2) The best thing was seeing bears in Hyder, running after and catching big fish in the river
3) While in Soldotna, carrying 3 heavy fish to Gary to be filleted, I had a pretty bad fall. That story didn’t make it to the blog.

September 6th

THE WEATHER: Yup, beautiful. 80’s, windy, high thin cloud cover

THE DISTANCE: 377 miles to Uncle Charlie’s house! Hamilton, Ohio

I have never been more thankful for God’s creative side…. He did not leave the world as flat as the Midwest. We crossed the final time zone today, we are now in Eastern Standard Time once again.

We have taken a slight detour south to visit my Uncle Charlie’s home. It will probably be the only time we would be even close to this area to drop in so we decided to bypass Chicago and go through Cincinnati. We also had the pleasure of visiting his son, Russ (my cousin), his wife, Ruth and family for a cookout at their house. It was great to meet more of my cousins and have a very mini reunion! They were all properly introduced to Bruno and we got a family picture before leaving.

September 5th

THE WEATHER: Beautiful. Do I sound like a broken record? We’re making up for the cold, rainy days of Alaska! It was in the 80’s today, high thin clouds.

THE DISTANCE: 350 miles to Champagne, Illinois.


DUNKIN’DONUTS! DUNKIN’DONUTS!!! Life is better on the east side of the Mississippi River.

The Midwest winds continue to blow today and we continue to spend the majority of our time in the car, covering as many miles as we can each day. I liked that all Iowa’s rest stops have wifi! And I liked the message you would see on billboards across South Dakota: “Arrive Alive, Don’t text and drive”. If it weren’t for this part of the trip being so long (and boring), we would spend more time out west and going to Alaska! Even though it’s Labor Day weekend we haven’t had any problems with traffic. We did have a bit of trouble booking campgrounds! Everything is full this weekend, but we did get a spot for each night after calling around. Last night we did laundry, and it seems strange to think that that will be the last time we’ll be doing laundry on the road! This is the last Sunday without church! That’s the last time I have to change the bed which has been such a pain to do because it’s up above the cab of the truck. So there are some good and bad about seeing this trip come to a close. I wonder how much my house will have seemed to grow since we left! After spending 100 days in an 8 X 20 box! I have to say, it’s been very comfortable, and it makes me wonder how much room does 2 people really need??


PS: Steve, the crop we were asking you about turns out to be soy bean! You might want to think about growing some…. It’s all over down here.

September 4th

THE WEATHER: Gorgeous, 75 degrees, dry & clear.

THE DISTANCE: 345 miles to Newport, Iowa


TREES! TREES! And more fields of crops. I think the majority of them are potatoes and corn. I didn’t realize that Iowa is big on wind energy. There are windmills all along the interstate. It is good to be back in green pastures though, rather than the brown of South Dakota & Montana. The road was constantly climbing and then descending which is a little more interesting than the flatlands. On average we have been around 1200ft., which puts us in the high prairie. We are thankful for the beautiful travel weather and the traffic is light. So it’s been an easy trek across the Midwest so far.

September 3rd

THE WEATHER: Cobalt blue, cloudless skies. Dry, 70’s…… no hurricanes!! The wild west winds are still blowing.

THE DISTANCE: 345 miles to Brandon S. Dakota.


So once we crossed over the black hills we were back in the flatlands of the Midwest. Nothin’ but crops as far as the eye can see. Wheat fields, sunflower fields, sweet pea, hay, corn. What would we do without these farmers that feed us? And of course miles and miles of horses, cows and sheep.

We crossed over the Missouri river and also another time zone. We are now only 1 hour different from those in NH! We are in Tommy’s time zone!!!

Bruno had a particularly good time at the campground we chose today. He met all kinds of new friends, Yogi, Booboo….. and…. ah-hem…. well, he kinda’ fell for Cindy. Notice the sign behind Bruno’s vehicle? He still has hopes of becoming a Ranger some day.

PS: I thought those of you who remember our grandma Max would appreciate the restaurant in town.

September 2nd

THE WEATHER: Gorgeous day. Started out in the 50’s and climbed into the 70’s. Partly cloudy and dry.

THE DISTANCE: Left Hardin around 9:30 and arrived in Rapid City at 3:30. 230 miles


More of what Montana has to offer… rolling brown hills, high plains terrain. But almost like a snap of the fingers the scenery changed as we crossed into South Dakota. We began to see more trees and green grass. We saw a lot of prong horn along the road today. Large herds of 75 and one or two by themselves. We also began seeing the familiar rocky ledges that are the beginning of the Black Hills. The tri-colored buttes inspired the “black hills gold” jewelry that you find here. Pastel sage green, a pink or rose color & yellow gold. It’s beautiful and reminds me of the wild wild west. We also had a wild wild wind today! It was at least 25 to 35 knots. Gary had to hold on tightly to the wheel, especially when passing some of these big 18 wheelers.

After arriving in Rapid City we did some grocery shopping and then waited for Geoff Sheehy to pick us up at the RV park. He’s a regular commenter on the blog, so everyone should be familiar with him. He is a guy that used to be in our youth group who is now an English teacher in the local high school of 2,500 students! He’s married and has 3 amazing kids! We had a blast playing with the kids, having dinner and staying way later than we should have talking! It was a miracle that Bruno escaped in one piece…. The kids LOVED him, and showered love ON him. It was great to catch up on all they are doing.

September 1st

THE WEATHER: Cool, partly cloudy, highs in the 70’s. There were multiple rain showers all around us today which was interesting to watch the precip fall like clouds to the ground, but we stayed dry all the way.

THE DISTANCE: Drove 275 miles from Butte, MT to Hardin Mt.. Staying at the KOA


September 1st! Already! How did that happen? Where has the time gone?

We continued our easterly route today on I-90. Montana is a big state… they call it “Big Sky Country”. I can understand why as we drove across the flat planes of eastern Montana. You can see for miles and miles. There’s more sky to look at than there is land. We caught a glimpse of some prong horn grazing in a field off I-90. We’ve seen many osprey, a pelican! and a bald eagle. What is a pelican doing out here?? They were mostly seen flying over the immense Yellow Stone River. It goes on and on for miles. Gary had a hard time passing up four rivers notorious for fly fishing; the Madison, the Gallatin, the Jefferson and the Yellow Stone. All within a 200 mile span. A fishing mecca!! We actually considered dropping down a few miles into Yellowstone National Park just for the fun of it, but I figured out it would have been about 100 extra miles out of our way and we’ve been there before. So onward we travel. We arrived in Hardin for the night. Tomorrow we’ll cross into South Dakota!

August 31st

THE WEATHER: It’s been in the 60’s today, partly cloudy and a cool breeze.

THE DISTANCE: 190 miles to Butte, Montana


Montana is a beautiful state that where you are driving can be as flat as a pancake but there are mountains in the distance that soar to 12,000 feet. Gary told people before we left on this trip that he wanted to be on the east side of the Rockies before the snow fell. Well, he didn’t quite make it because there is fresh snow fall on the mountains that we drove through today.

Bruno has been making the rounds. He’s been introduced to all our friends and he’s such a social guy! First there was a friend of Gary’s who used to run a fly shop in New Hampshire. George now runs a fly shop out of Missoula Montana. So we dropped in unexpectedly to see him. It was good for them to get reacquainted and share fish stories. And then there was Harold. Leaving Missoula we finally made our way to Butte by 4:30. Harold, his friend Mary and an old acquaintance of ours, Dennis were at the KOA parking lot to greet us. We met Dennis 16 years ago on one of his gold claims. He is one of the last claim-jumpers in Montana. That means if someone leaves a claim he legally can jump on to that claim and work the mine. He also hunted rattle snakes for their skins in Arizona. There were hugs all around, everyone saying hello and then off we went to dinner. It was so good to catch up on this old friendship of 24 years. Harold was noticeably walking with a limp and when I asked him about it he said, he broke his foot while riding bulls, one of the bulls stomped on his foot and it never healed. He is such a character!

So we are now settled into the RV for the night and prepared to cover some miles tomorrow.

August 30th

THE WEATHER: At the RV Resort this morning it was 75 degrees. As we left and climbed the 2,500 feet onto the Idaho mesa’s the temperature dropped to 63. We have a thin layer of clouds and sun.

THE DISTANCE: Left Clarkston, WA and entered the panhandle of Idaho. Drove 215 miles to St. Regis, Montana.


As we left today we continued to drive through wheat fields as far as the eye could see. It looks like they have all been buzz cut by very large hair clippers! The perfectly uniform lines run through miles of fields and up and down the hilly terrain. It was hard to drag Gary out of Clarkston when we found out it is called the steelhead capital of the world!

About midway up hwy 95 the scenery suddenly changed and became more wooded with pine trees. The green color is a welcome change to the fields of gold. It continued to get thicker and greener the further we went and we are now once again in mountains.

We drove through the town of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho today because some friends of ours told us how beautiful it was. Annie actually grew up in the town and Don had been there many times. Before we ever left for Alaska they had told us we needed to make this town part of our tour. So the day finally came that our motor home crossed into this town that turns out to be a luxurious resort town built around the 5 mile long Coeur D’Alene lake. The National Geographic called this one of five most beautiful lakes in the world! We arrived, saw the beautiful resort buildings, perfectly manicured lawns and stopped by the lake for lunch but couldn’t figure out what there was to actually do in the town. So…. We called Annie! When I told her where we were and asked her advice on what to see or do, she said excitedly, “I’m in town too!!! As a matter of fact, I’m only a couple of blocks from you!!” She went to pick up her husband and they were at our RV in 15 minutes. We were all dumb founded by the coincidence and spent the next 2 hours catching up on our trip and all of what’s going on at home. It was so much fun and soooo random! Only God can orchestrate such perfect timing! They have been reading the blog and were VERY anxious to be introduced to Bruno and were thrilled to get their picture with him.

We crossed another time zone when we entered Montana. We’re now only 2 hours behind the east coast.

August 29th

THE WEATHER: Judy‘s socks got pulled out this morning! 32 degrees! But warmed up nicely… and quickly to the mid 80’s. Clear skies, puffy white clouds, beautiful day.

THE DISTANCE: 200 miles to Clarkston, WA at the Hells Canyon Resort.


We got an early start this morning…. 9 am! The further we drove into northern Oregon and Southern Washington the land became “amber waves of grain”! Well, maybe they weren’t waving but there were miles and miles of golden wheat fields that had been harvested and lying in bundles waiting for pickup. I think Oregon is one of the most diverse states in America. Colt & Sarah should be very happy here, if they can ever sell their house in Lynchburg! Many of the towns still have the old west look with buildings and streets that resemble things I’ve seen in movies. We crossed the Oregon Trail and are camped on the Lewis & Clark Trail. You can see why they chose this route, it being so flat and easy to travel. As a matter of fact, we are staying in Clarkston, Washington, right on the border of Idaho where the first town over the border is called Lewiston! Very apropos. Just to our south is a place called Hell’s Canyon. It can not be accessed by road, it is only seen by boat tours. It is called the grand canyon of the north due to it being the deepest river gorge in North America. We won’t be taking the boat tour this trip…. maybe next time! This is also the area where the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers meet where boats actually make their way 465 miles to the Pacific Ocean!

August 28th

THE WEATHER: Cold, rainy & cloud covered. High’s in the 60’s

THE DISTANCE: Drove 220 miles to Rte. 395 Dale, Oregon.


The scenery is changing as we drive east in Oregon. No longer the forested areas we’ve been seeing, it is now high prairie dessert. Lot’s of dry, brown ground interspersed with green scrub pines. It’s like a scene out of Bonanza! Sorry if you’re too young to remember the show. We would drive through that type of area for quite a distance and then all of a sudden we would turn a corner and enter into rocky ledges and we would descend into a valley of cliffs and steep rock faces. We saw countless deer as we crossed this area. At times you could see for miles with no sign of vegetation and then hit a spot where there was the tiniest bit of water and voila there would be pines all over the place. The area is full of either large ranches or farmland. The Oregon trail is close by but we haven’t crossed it yet.

August 27th

THE WEATHER: Another beautiful day in Oregon. BTW, I saw a bumper sticker and that is pronounced: orygun. Partly sunny skies and highs in the low 70’s.

THE DISTANCE:

Rick, I included the picture of Gary & I to PROVE to you that we did NOT forget this one!


The drive started out pretty uneventful. Flat, lots of little towns, a few larger ones with a Fred Meyers in them…. that’s like Walmart out here in the west. Though they have Walmarts also, it’s Fred Meyers every one seems to like. It took a few hours of driving into the mountains before things started to change and become more remote. Gary was wondering how the RV was going to handle a 6,000 ft. climb, but we found, to our relief, it was a steady, long upgrade. We reached a total height of 7,960 feet and I could certainly tell when we crossed over the 6,000 ft. mark. My throat felt constricted, I got a headache and my joints ached. Weird. Gary didn’t feel it at all but I definitely got a little altitude sickness. The car also had a little altitude sickness due to lack of air. We would stop to look out over a vista and then the car would have trouble starting. So Gary removed the air filter and ….. Eurekaaaaa! It worked…. Of course.

It was all worth it though because at the top we were able to view the deepest, purest & bluest lake water in the United States! Crater Lake is 5 miles wide and 1,943 feet deep which makes it one of the deepest in the world. The dramatic 2,000 foot cliffs were as interesting as the gnarled trees along the ridge line. Crater Lake at one time was a volcano which collapsed in on itself and became a lake. It was an interesting geographical structure. We drove the full 33 miles around the rim and enjoyed watching the sun cast different colors and shadows on the cliffs as it descended in the sky. We also caught a glimpse of a herd of deer. The drive up to the rim road was steep with many switchbacks and no guardrail on MY side. Mom, we would have had to medicate you on this one.

While up there we noticed a forest fire was burning in the distance. Bruno couldn’t contain himself, he immediately put his hat on and jumped into action. We didn’t see him for hours! Julia, you’ll be happy to know that Bruno is being treated well. We drove out of the park a few miles to the west to the nearest campground to set up for the night. We are staying at Diamond Lake RV Park.