Day 90- I Love NY

Or at least I love the part of NY that we traveled through today. We left Dickson City, PA late. When Carl opened the door this morning to fill the generator, he couldn’t even see the end of the parking lot the fog was so thick. I stayed in bed with another headache over my left eye but by 9:00, I was feeling really guilty for holding up our departure. I had scheduled 369 miles to travel today and knew it would be a long day. By 9:30, we were on the road, Rte 81 North which we would stay on until Watertown, NY. The further north we traveled, the more I noticed the reds of the swamp maples popping out. It would have been spectacular if the sun had been out. As it was, we were traveling under this massive dark cloud. After turning onto Rte 3 East, storm damage from Irene became evident, roads and culverts washed out as well as lots of mud encrusted foliage way above the water line of the rivers and streams we were crossing. We traveled through some of the places I’d only ever heard about, Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake and even a little town called Fine. At one point we entered Mexico which was kind of cool but later when we hit Peru, I knew we hadn’t actually turned south. Apple trees became more prevalent and signs showed us entering and leaving the Adirondack State Park several times. For a while, we traveled along the Saranac River, a beautiful and fully flowing body of water. I ’m not sure what it normally looks like. From Rte 3, the AAA trip tik sent us on back roads, a mile to the right, 3 miles to the left and so on for about 20 miles until we rounded a corner and found ourselves looking at Rte 9. I made an educated guess to turn left. Yesterday, when I was at the AAA website I plugged in the address of the campground and was informed that no such address could be found so I chose an address they suggested. My hunch proved right. We found Ausable Chasm about ¾ mile down the road and the campground appeared shortly thereafter. I’m excited to be here. As we passed over the Chasm, I looked to the right and saw 3 waterfalls. The office was closed when we arrived but they had put out a note with our site assignment. We’ll check in with them in the morning . All of the roads in the campground are named after trees. We’re in Ash 12. It’s a drive through site and although there is no wi-fi, Carl has 13 TV stations. We decided not to unhook tonight because Carl is sore and tired, I’m okay with that. My head is still pounding. I helped him with the electric and then went inside to put out the slider while he hooked up the water. Then I went outside to inform him of an overly friendly chipmunk but he wasn’t in our site. Sure enough, he’s over at the neighbor’s who is hanging Christmas lights in their site, by the way. He’s such a social butterfly.

Day 89- On The Road One More Time , September 12, 201

I think we lulled ourselves into a state of disbelief where Tropical Storm Lee was concerned. Today, we left Carlisle, which was relatively untouched, and headed for Hershey. We knew the park had had some washout issues and were uncertain what we might find. What we found was muddy high water marks more than 6 feet up on trees. Whole fields were flattened and a section of roadway will need to be rebuilt about ¼ mile long. The ground and asphalt was gone on either side of the guardrail. I can’t figure out what was keeping the guardrail there. In other places, you could see debris hanging from branches 4 feet above the ground, road signs were flattened over from the force of the water and large areas of roadside where covered with mud and trees. When we arrived at Chocolate World, the signage indicated the amusement park and the sports complex was closed until further notice and the parking area in front of the Experience Center had only one bus and perhaps 50 cars total. I haven’t a clue how many of those cars belonged to staff members. Once inside the building, a gentleman handed us a map of the building and explained our options. We decided to take the free factory tour and add two paid additional experiences, the Chocolate Tasting Seminar and the Build Your Own Candy Bar. We could have added a trolley tour of downtown, a create your own dessert and the 3-D extravaganza. The factory tour was a mock up of the real thing. They changed this around in the late 80’s because so many people were touring the plant, they couldn’t get anything done. Then we went to the Chocolate Tasting Seminar and were the only two people in the room. There were five pieces to try, starting with milk chocolate, the lowest percentage of Cacao all the way up to a 45% square. We were invited to snap in half, smell and take a nibble to melt on our tongues. The “Guest Lecturer” encouraged us to figure out what the finish of the candy was, similar to a wine tasting. I explained to her I was a dismal failure in the wine tasting experience, but, I could pick up some of the after notes like coffee, cinnamon, fruit and caramel depending on a variety of reasons. I asked about the higher percentage of cacao and she said Hershey makes a Sharffen Berger Bittersweet Chocolate that is 70% cacao. They gave me the last little sample square they had but I haven’t tried it yet. After I share it with Carl, I suspect I’ll be unable to afford the bar. This seminar was entertaining and I did learn to just melt the chocolate on your tongue instead of biting and chewing. I also learned the average milk chocolate candy bar takes 10 days to make ( from Cacao nib to bar ) while the Sharffen Berger sample I haven’t eaten yet takes 45 days. I have a new respect for the common candy bar. The last thing we did was to make our own candy bar. We had to put on aprons, hair nets and sanitize our hands before putting on a plastic glove over my wedding ring. Carl even had to cover his beard. Then we entered the mini-factory and chose our base chocolate, milk or white. They were out of dark chocolate today, bummer! That's the one I would have chosen because it's loaded with antioxidants which are good for you. Then we could choose 3 ingredients to add to our bar. I chose raspberry bits, pretzel bits and butter toffee crunch bits. The other three ingredients were crisped rice, chocolate bits and almond slivers. We watched as each ingredient was added and then followed our bars through the robing process (pouring milk chocolate all over the bar ) until we lost sight of them in the cooling tunnel. The bars would spend 6 minutes in this cooling chamber which would give us time to design our own wrapper in the production studio. It was a touch screen process which allowed us to choose colors, logos, wording and other additives. The board on the wall notified us when our bars were leaving the cooling tunnel and heading to the boxing machine. This was a fun thing to do although I have to admit I would have liked different ingredient options from what they offered. I would have chosen to add coconut or mint chips to my bar with almond slivers on top. There was a space at the end for us to give them suggestions for other ingredients to be considered. The computer also compiled statistics from all the people who have built candy bars. My bar was completely unique. No other person has chosen those exact ingredients. I don’t know if this is good or bad. I spent some time in the souvenir shop and then we hit the camper in the parking lot for lunch. It was the fastest two hours I’ve spent in a while. We were supposed to head to the Crystal Cave in Kutztown but the lady at the souvenir concession thought they were closed due to the flooding so we passed and headed to our “campsite” for the night. When I built the trip tik for this alternate trip, I may have put in the wrong information and had I not read ahead we would have driven 25 miles north to turn around and drive 23 miles south. It saves us time and gas. Our generator is puttering away while Carl is watching TV. And me, well you know what I’ve been doing. You’re gonna miss these daily blogs when this journey is over, aren’t you?

Day 78- A Quick Trip Home

It’s weird that two people should be so in tune as to come up with the same idea at about the same time. It doesn’t matter who came up with the plan. What matters is we both thought about heading home a day early. So we did. By 9:30, breakfast was eaten, we’d collected the dirty clothes and recyclables, done up the dirty dishes and taken out the trash. And then we headed north. We stopped for gas twice, a pit stop or 4 and a quick lunch on the go. By the time we hit Northampton, MA, it was time to stop and eat supper and then it was back on the road. We did hit a bit of traffic around the Waterford and Hartford, CT interchanges and some construction on the Rte 91 corridor but we encounter few serious delays and arrived home by 9:30 PM. In some ways, it doesn’t seem as if we’ve been away. Not much has changed. Tomorrow, we’ll see about the generator, I’ll work on some photos to be printed and matted, we’ll load up the show tent, racks, tables and everything else I’ll need to do a show for the Honda Gold Wing Road Riders Rally at the Hotel Carlisle from Sept7-10th. Not sure what we’ll be doing after that. I have to be back to do the Littleton Art Show on September 24th… I know I’ll see some of you there.

Day 74- Oh! Is For Ohio

Last night was awful. Before I shut off the lights, there was only one tractor trailer in the rest area with us. But, by the time I climbed into bed, there were about 50, including one who pulled up right beside our open windows. And even though it was still uncomfortably warm, the exhaust was blowing right into our camper so I had to close the windows. The trucker let his truck idle all night long and before morning, another truck had pulled up on our other side just not quite as close. All that noise kept both Carl and me from getting the rest we needed to push on in good spirits today. For the first time, I was concerned we might not make the 400 + miles Carl had set as our goal during this push from Moab, UT to Gettysburg, PA. But push we did and continued on through the last of Illinois and into Indiana. I have to confess I don’t know much about Indiana. In fact, other than hosting a couple of very important races every year and my favorite NASCAR driver, Tony Stewart, claims Rushville as his home town, the only other trivia I can recall is Larry Byrd lives in French Lick, Indiana. So, today, I was enlightened with the knowledge that Indiana also claims Abraham Lincoln as one of it’s own. Apparently, Abe lived here as a child. But, as far as the scenery is concerned, if it weren’t for the big sign welcoming me to Indiana, I couldn’t tell it apart from the section of Illinois we drove through. Rte I-70, surprisingly, cuts through some really nice agricultural countryside in several states. So, if you take photos of fields of corn in Illinois, well, Indiana corn and Ohio corn for that matter, looks about the same. What I’m trying to say is I had a photo drought today. I did discover part of I-70 has been dedicated at the USS Indianapolis Memorial highway. For those of you who do not know the story of the Indianapolis, it was the aircraft carrier that was responsible for delivering the atom bombs to Tinian which helped to end World War II. It was such a secret mission no one missed them until they were 4 days over due. The ship had been torpedoed and sunk, putting almost a thousand men into shark infested water. Only a few hundred were pulled out almost a week later. The story was first brought to light in the original movie, Jaws, but since then it’s been the subject of several documentaries. We’ve been traveling some pretty rough roads all day, some just as bad as the Alaska Highway while others were giving Wisconsin’s pot holes and washboard concrete a run for it’s money. And to top it off, yesterday’s encounter with Jon El’s BBQ had an unfortunate side effect on me today so I asked Carl to pull over so I could use our traveling rest room. When I got into the camper, I was met with a minor disaster. One of those nasty dipsy doodles had tossed everything in the bathroom about, stuff in the sink and all of the recyclable bottles and cans had been thrown onto the floor plus a brand new gallon plastic jug of water had ruptured and emptied onto the floor. The water had run the entire length of the camper soaking the carpeting and rugs by the sink and door. We had a small dry braided garlic hanging over the bathroom door, a gift from Dad and Adena, was also on the floor. Sadly, it wasn’t dry any more and now the camper reeks of garlic. Let’s just say I won’t be getting any visits from my Twilight favorites any time soon. Carl’s goal of reaching the other side of Columbus came one step closer when we drove under this huge arch welcoming us to Ohio and another sign a bit later stating we had just entered Clark County, the birthplace of 4-H. Now, in Ohio, they must take their pipe smoking rather seriously because at one of the convenience stores where we got gas today, they sold 5 blends in 4 different size plastic bags with a press and seal closure. The flavor that got my attention was a generic version of Paladin Black Cherry in a 16 ounce bag. Our final destination was a rest stop about 50 miles east of Columbus but after our troubles last night, we were a bit leery of a second night with little sleep, we opted for a Wal-Mart near the highway. It’s been a while since we’ve stayed in one.

Day 72- To Topeka, Kansas

Our stay at the truck stop was brief. Carl couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep with all the trucks running. It really was quite loud so we moved. First Carl thought he’d drive to the next rest area but when he went out front where the restaurant was closed, he noticed a couple of buses and campers parked there. That’s where we spent the night. And it was considerably more quiet than it would have been among the 50 or so trucks out back. As we got closer to the Colorado Kansas border, we began to see evidence of corn, lots of corn, which brought out a conversation about the number of varieties of corn there may be very much like the potato. We even posed the question to one another, is it a special breed that produces baby corn or do they just pick it immature. I suspected it was it’s own variety. We must have been in high spirits because the levity continued with guessing why towns were named the way they were or in the case of Bovina, CO, I broke into very bad song, “ Nothing could be finer than to be in Bovina in the morning”. Carl didn’t get it so either I sang badly or he isn’t a fan of that musical genre. Our very first stop in Kansas was at the Visitor Center where we found out overnight parking was welcome at all rest areas which was good news for us. We checked the area out and could see a lovely paved loop away from the road noise with covered picnic tables and fire pits for charcoal cooking. At the end of the parking area, just before rejoining the highway was a dump station to empty your tanks before heading on your way. It was perfect but way too early for us to pull over. Carl estimates we must make 400 miles every day on our push from Moab, UT to Gettysburg, PA. The very nice ladies at the visitor center also told us where I could find sunflowers in an unfenced field with their heads held high. It was a short but productive side trip. I spent about ½ hour in the field shooting and all the while wishing the sun was out. Everything else was perfect, several acres of accessible flowers in all stages of blooming, complete with honey bees and butterflies. On our way back to the highway, we passed a Wal-Mart out in the middle of literal no where in a tiny little out of the way community of Central Brewster, KS. Back on the highway, we were treated to long views of corn which you’d expect in Kansas plus several more large fields of sunflowers but none as nice as what I had been able to roam in freely. What we didn’t expect to learn is that Kansas is called the Wheat state. We didn’t see any wheat but we did see miles of fields that had already been harvested and I suspect those were the wheat fields. Another surprise was the amount of oil wells we saw during today’s travel. And the people of Kansas sure do like their museums. I should have counted the number of signs proclaim thing the way to the Cavalry, Oz, Stover, Zoo and farm machinery museums to just name a few. Carl was only slightly tempted with the Stover factory store while I really was interested in the Cavalry museum. We even passed the Eisenhower Museum and Presidential Library. And there were so many other claims to fame, counting 3 astronauts and many collegiate championships. Fort Riley, home of the Big Red 1 appeared on our left, a couple of miles of sand colored vehicles, tanks and other items needed overseas. Towards the later part of the afternoon, I spotted a beautiful church off in the distance, the sign read St. Fidelis Church, one of the 8 great wonders of Kansas. I can’t wait to discover what the other 7 might be.

Day 71- From The Desert To The Mountains

Two states, Utah and Colorado share a border and a river but similarities, at least for the beginning of the day , ended there. Once we left Moab and got onto Rte I-70 East, the land flattened out into those rolling dry plains like so much of the Southwest is made up of. I made a comment to Carl how there was a good looking hunk of a young man behind every tree. Of course, there wasn’t anything larger than a 3 ft tall bush in site. What I was seeing, however, were these metal step ladders placed over the 4 strand barbed wire fences every mile or so. At first, I thought this was strange but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I mean 4 strands of barbed wire is nasty business so if you need to get over to the other side, well there are limited options. Farmers and ranchers tend to frown on cut fences and people in need are not happy about getting clothing and skin shredded to bits. Shortly after crossing into Colorado, we began to notice several of those rocker arm pumps bringing oil to the surface. Wherever these are, there are also a collection of tanks and sometimes a little tool shed. One of these had a red light glowing by the door and we couldn’t help but laugh. Customers would be few and far between in that district. Those gently rolling plains became high sandstone mesas with huge skree piles on all sides. Off in the distance we could see what I considered to be serious mountains. And sure enough, we began to climb gradually at first. We pulled off in Rifle, CO for some gas. I mention this because the guy I used to work with, Ernie, lived in Colorado for a while and Rifle, specifically. The mountains loomed closer and ski are signs with names like Copper, Steamboat Springs and Breckenridge popped up. Now, we’ve become somewhat of a whiz in finding Wal-Marts. Call it a second sense if you will. But, here in the Vail area, we didn’t have a clue. When all of a sudden, on the highways signs that point out services such as gas, food and lodging, there was the familiar bright blue Wal-Mart name and logo so we turned and sure enough there it was only ¼ mile off the highway. We pulled in to get the few provisions we needed to take us to Gettysburg, PA. We had no intentions of staying the night but wouldn’t have been able to anyway. We had just encountered our 2nd “No Camping or Overnight Parking Allowed” store. After a 45 minute break, we hit the road once more and began seeing signs about a 3 day Bike Race in the area which list traffic restrictions, road and exit closures and parking bans through Vail Pass. I’ve since found out it’s the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. As we drove, we caught glimpses of support vehicles laden with spare bikes, riders peddling like crazy, motorcycle escorts, a helicopter for aerial coverage, the banners over the course announcing the near finish of the race and finally the finish line. There were thousands of spectators strung out over miles. We figured the winner of the stage had already come in because hundreds of amateur cyclists were leaving the area including one tall lanky fellow who I could have sworn was Lance Armstrong ( not racing, watching ). Did I mention during this whole exciting bit, we were still climbing only now it was much steeper. Most of the tractor-trailers were down to 50 mph and so were we. Finally, we leveled off just before entering the Johnson Tunnel, finished in 1979, at 11,158 ft above sea level. As we came down the other side of the Rockies, I looked down to see chairlifts below us. You know you’re up high when you look down on ski lifts. And as much as I enjoyed the desert with all of the impressive multihued rocks and weird weather and water worn shapes, I just love seeing full sized forests all over the place. After a time, we reached Denver and wouldn’t you know, it was just 5:00 PM, rush hour. The west bound lane seemed backed up in real good order so I was feeling pretty good about our east bound lane which was still moving steadily. Carl mentioned it might change when we hit the middle of the city with people leaving and sure enough, not 2 miles later, traffic slowed to a crawl. There was an accident up ahead. We hit the choke point in time to see a car being loaded onto a tow truck. The front end was smashed pretty good. That was in the high speed lane while in the breakdown lane was a utility trailer just sitting. It looked undamaged except attached to the ball hitch area was an entire Reese Hitch system, the receiver portion having been ripped off whatever vehicle it had been attached to. After we passed this exit, traffic resumed it’s normal pace and we were out of the city about 15 minutes later. Clear of the city, the landscape was now more agricultural and grazing lands. The were small farms or ranches on the horizon, but there were also quite a few abandoned homes and falling down barns near the highway. Anytime you have grazing lands, there is the probability of grazing animals so I wasn’t surprised to see large herds of beef cattle and saddle horses. I mentioned to Carl how strange it was to have such a drastic swing in just 40 miles. It was nearing the end of the day and we started looking for a rest area. We found one which was closed to overnight parking and another in the west bound lane so after driving an additional 45 miles, we pulled into a Flying J Truck Center along with about 50 big rigs. Our little camper is backed in next to a “no parking” zone where trash barrels are. That way, we take up only one spot and can still open the slider without getting into any of the truckers’ ways. Space is so tight, Carl doesn’t dare to leave our steps open all the way. It ought to be an interesting night. Yesterday was the end of the 10th week and we have traveled a total of 12,236 miles so far.

Day 67- Arches National Park , August 21, 2011

There is no way to describe the incredible works of nature before my eyes. It’s hard to believe this area was all under water a couple hundred million years ago. Eventually, with upheaval, rain, wind and time, these breathtaking formations were created. It’s a very slow process, even by geological time. My photos are poor substitutes for the grandeur in front of my lens. We slept too late to get out and tear into the park so we ended up doing exactly what I had said I wouldn’t do, hike in the park between the hours of 10 and 2 when the sun is the strongest. By the time we took care of a little bookkeeping error on the part of a Yellowstone Ranger, it was almost 11. We drove in, stopped at a few places on the way, the Three Gossips, Sheep Mountain, Balanced Rock, The Windows and then we arrived at Delicate Arch. We hiked into the viewpoint at high noon and by the time we got ¾ of the way up, I was toast so Carl took the camera and went the additional distance. When he returned, he said it was only another 200 yards or so. I was really angry with myself for not pushing further especially when I saw the photos he took. It’s his picture attached to this blog entry. It’s a good thing we have three more days, in the park. I want to be at some of the more famous arches at the right time of day. This is going to mean hiking in before daylight or hiking out after the sun has set. We went back into the park sometime after 6:00 PM. My time is vague because we had a sudden thunderstorm which delayed my decision on where to go, when to go and even if to go. We got some nice late afternoon sun on the Courthouse Towers but by the time we made it to Balanced rock, the sun was obscured behind a wide band of very dark clouds. We waited about ½ hour and then it happened. The sun broke trough for one glorious finale, splashing that gorgeous afternoon light just where I needed it. The down side to this was I used up all our time before sunset and I was out of position. Carl always has some good ideas so up onto a high layer of racks we went to find something interesting in the foreground of whatever sunset we were blessed with. Sadly, the day was spent and so was I. we ate our supper sandwiches right where we parked as the last rays of light faded. The alarm was set for 5:00AM with a decision made to go to Double Arch for sunrise.

Day 66- Salt Lake or Bust

The road through Idaho was more or less uneventful so we started guessing what sorts of crops we passed. I thought I spotted Beets and Alfalfa but was delighted when my eyes picked out the now infamous Idaho Potato plants with their tell tale mounding of soil around them to stimulate more tubers. We did have two final impressions of Idaho. One was of a burned out car on the westbound brake down lane. That in itself should be noteworthy for I can’t see the highway department leaving an immobile hulk there for very long. It was the man sitting on the edge of the grill that caught both Carl’s and my attention. We were past it so quickly I couldn’t get a shot and since my mind was already on “did this just happen” or “where’s the rest of his belongings” and I think I even thought “where did the engine go” ? If not for the camper, I just know Carl and I would have turned around at the next exit to backtrack for the photo. Oh, well, you can’t have everything. I’ve gotten used to having the traveling bathroom with us. Sadly, the last impression of Idaho was two bad experiences with rest area toilets. The one in Twin Falls was so bad you felt you needed to wash your hand before you used it. Carl said, “It’s like they schedule a cleaning once a year and tomorrow’s it” . And the one after that was also bad. The ladies side reeked of chlorine to the point of burning my eyes and Carl said the urinal had no water running to it. Just before the Utah border we came upon an unnerving sight. In the meridian, facing the wrong way and almost into the east bound lane was a truck and travel trailer. It appeared to us, they were traveling west bound, perhaps passing another vehicle and caught the soft shoulder. What we couldn’t see was if a blowout was involved. We do know both people in the truck were out and walking around, shook up, I’m sure. And a few minutes later, we saw police responding to the scene. We hadn’t been in Utah very long before we saw our first pronghorns. Remember, they are not antelope as most people say. We learned that in Yellowstone. These were noteworthy because the small herd was grazing just a couple hundred feet from an irrigation line. I sure hope the farmer is a tolerant man. A visit to the Visitor Center got us information about Moab and a couple of other things to do besides visiting Arches National Park. He suggested a side trip to Antelope Island which is in the Great Salt Lake. I thought that would be a nice diversion and I could get photos of the lake while we were there but Carl didn’t see the value in the stop. Unbeknown to me, he had a plan to drive through Salt Lake City before rush hour so my impressions of this huge and sprawling city are just that. It’s huge and sprawling. There are gated communities where the church is built first and then the houses are built around it, much like in early settler times ( minus the gates, of course ) because the church was the center of all activities. I spotted a huge domed building which I made the assumption was the capitol building and I caught a glimpse of the Great Mormon Tabernacle high up a contour overlooking the city. Carl asked if that’s where “The Choir” sang and I had to admit I could only guess the answer was yes. One of more annoying novelties of our trip has been billboard watching. Since New Hampshire outlawed them on our few hundred miles of high speed roads, I don’t miss them. In our travels, they have been prevalent in many states. Carl spotted this one and we both laughed. The words “Eat More Chicken” were scrawled across the board. The last “n” had a paintbrush sticking out from it with a 3 dimensional Holstein cow trying to balance on the shoulders of another cow who was on a ladder. The whole affect was quite amusing to think cows would be suggesting another alternative. What most people probably missed from this cut little tableau was Holsteins are milking cows and not beef animals. I’m sure they used the characteristic black and white spots which most people use to illustrate the “cow idea”. I mentioned Salt Lake City is huge and sprawling. What I didn’t tell you was the temperature was low 90’s and I had been pushing the fluids. We were more than an hour into the cross town travel when I had to go. I waited, hoping to get out of the city so Carl could pull over easily but the city just kept on going and so did we. Eventually, it got too much for me and I had to ask him to get off the highway so I could go. The very next exit was a Wal-Mart so we took that opportunity to get the rest of our groceries for our desert stay and I went to the bathroom not once but twice. And then, the most amazing thing happened. Off in the distance, the sky looked ominous, clouds were building against the mountains and I could see wisps of rain falling. We’re in the desert and it’s raining. But, it was the lightening that grabbed my attention. I set out to capture it on film, no easy task in a moving vehicle I might add. After about 50 shots, I managed one photo and I’m very proud of it. As we moved closer to Moab, the landscape became way more impressive with tall pinnacles and huge cliffs of multicolored sedimentary rock, some heaved up at an angle from all the tectonic movement. The finish to the day was a gorgeous rainbow falling against an equally hued rock butte and a sunset like nothing I’ve seen during the 10 weeks we’ve been on the road. I grabbed a shot in the rear view mirror but Carl was the one who made the decision to stop on the side of the road and told me to get out and take the photo. It was well worth the few minutes we were delayed. I love that man!!!! We saw lots of flashing lights ahead of us and had to slow down for single lane traffic. A police officer was doing his best to be seen in the pitch black and controlling the traffic flow past an unrecognizable large object, perhaps a motor home or a tractor trailer, that was burnt on the side of the road. The emergency response people were still on scene pouring water on the skeletal remains of the vehicle. It certainly put a damper on the last 15 miles we had to travel to the Arch View RV Park. We almost missed it but Carl remembered the lady on the phone mentioning a Shell gas station.

Day 65- Tonight We Slept In Bliss

Now before you jump to all those sexually explicit ideas, I should probably explain and I will get to that, eventually. As you recall, lat night we were in WA state at a Wal-Mart which, by the way, was a great place. After doing our usual morning chores and getting gas we were headed down Rte I-82 and a few miles later, we were on Rte I-84, our designed route for the day. Along with all of the fields growing, being harvested or resting, there were some that looked burnt. And as it would happen, we saw smoke off in the distance. We’ve found the ranchers and farmers both will allow fire to help enrich the land along with water and/or fertilizer. It was easy to see the patchwork quilt this created because the land was so flat for mile after mile. Off in the distance was Oregon but before we could get there we would climb gradually more than 4,000 feet. Once at the top, there was a pull off to allow us to take in the valley and the view that sprawled out before us. The temperature in WA was due to be in the 90 degree vicinity and it will only get warmer the further south we go. While at a Visitor Center in Oregon, I confirmed the reason behind the dry desert like area we were driving through and just as I suspected, it’s the same reason that WA state has a lush green north western side and a much drier south eastern side. It’s the rain shadow cast by the Cascade Mountains. The mountains act as a huge barrier holding the clouds on the Pacific side so most of the rain stays there. In due course we found ourselves back among the evergreens with the land around us taking a much hillier attitude. We stopped for fuel and lunch in Baker City before heading off for Idaho. We’ve been having these multi grain Ciabata rolls purchased at Wal-Mart as the base for our sandwiches. They have great substance but are on the softer side. The skies remain virtually cloudless as we travel past huge ranches and tiny farms. In one of these little fenced in pastures were several head of cattle but the one who caught my eye had immense horns. Carl made a joke about these being Oregon Longhorns while I proposed the possibility , just for argument’s sake, this longhorn may in fact be from Texas and he’s visiting is relatives in Oregon. The steer wasn’t talking so we continued with our travels eastbound. A tractor trailer went by with this immense white item strapped to a flatbed. It sort of liked like a giant Nike swoosh. Carl got it right away. This was a replacement blade for one of the many wind generators we have passed today. About 20 minutes behind the first truck came a second. Logic would dictate a third should be along shortly but while I had camera in hand, it didn’t show up. Carl has put out the premise, again for consideration, the wind farms creates the wind he fights when he drives through these areas. He isn’t ready to admit the wind generators are here because of the steady and sometimes strong winds whistling across the open plains. Personally, I think he knows but just wants to try to get me started. Just before we cross the river into Idaho I spot a huge manufacturing plant. The sign on the building reads Ore-Ida and although I’ve purchased this brand of French, Curly, Steak and Shoestring fries for years, it just now hit me where the name came from. The aforementioned river behind us, Idaho’s countryside awaits us. Ever notice how you will often cross a river from one state to another? It seems as if these waterways are natural boundaries. This was pointed out in a show we watched often called “How The States Got Their Shapes”. Somewhere along the highway I’ve spotted a sign which announced our return to Mountain Time loosing another hour which makes us only two hours earlier than home now. What this really means is I get to listen to the Red Sox game earlier than Dylan and thankfully, we are no longer in the latitudes where the horizon interferes with the satellite. The visitor center in Idaho has an historical information sign which tells of an Indian gather on this very spot where all of the tribes would bring what they had an abundance of to trade with others for what they needed. This gathering was called the Salmon Festival. It mentioned the trading of not only fish but horses, teepee poles, herbs, baskets, buffalo meat and hides. I surmise the name comes more from the time of year the swap meet happened, when the salmon swim upstream. Carl has another one of those days where he’s not ready to stop when we reach Boise so he decided to keep driving another couple of hours. There’s one last curious item to mention before I wrap this up. It’s about onions or more precisely the aroma of onions that is so strong inside the truck as we drive we are baffled. On either side of us were miles of cow corn and wheat but I didn’t see any onions growing. The odor lasted a few miles and then vanished. By now, you trying to figure out the title of this entry which could have just as easily been “3 States In One Day”. Well you don’t have to wait any longer. The pull out Carl decided to stop at for the night is called the Bliss rest Area. As it happens, we are about 5 miles from the town of Bliss but it will do. There is a clear view of the western sky but so few clouds, I have little hope for sunset photos. I can see another bank of wind generators in the distance and while I was eating supper, an enormously long freight train passed behind the giant three armed beasts. Who knows where we’ll stop tomorrow. It’s supposed to be Salt Lake City but it’s anyone’s guess.

Day 64- On The Road Again

Hind sight being what it is, I probably didn’t post very interesting blog entries for the past couple of days and I only have one excuse. It’s because we had so much catching up to do and we were on the go most of those two days. I have given the highlights, though and I may add things as I remember them or as they become relevant. Like now, for instance. Dad asked about our route out of Bellingham and down towards Arches National Park which is our next destination. When he discovered we would travel through the busy highways of Seattle, he suggested a more scenic and less congested alternative which we accepted. Any time I can get away from the interstates and on to more rural roads for photo ops, well I’m going to take it. And then it was time to say goodbye. This was hard. It had been such a great visit and I’m already looking forward to the next time. Our departure was made a bit easier by the gray skies overhead. We swung in for gas and I did my usual window washing while Carl pumped the gas. I must be so out of practice between all the rain we had and the past couple of days where I didn’t need to wash them because the truck sat at Al’s RV Service. We took the extra time to have the wheel bearings repacked and the brakes checked over before we turn for home. Truth be told, we turned for home when we left North Pole, AK. We hit the sunshine somewhere around exit 198 on I-5. We pulled into a rest area where Carl got some coffee and I took a moment to sort out some of the stuff we hauled out of the camper while sleeping at Dad and Adena’s. Then we were off on our new route but not before we passed this gorgeous place called The Plant Farm At Smokey Point. They had lush colorful hanging baskets all along the highway drawing your eye to their front entrance. Wish I’d had time to stop but where would I stash plants while we traveled? Anyway, from Everett the new road took us up over Stevens Pass, 4061 feet and along windy twisting narrow roads thick with forests of spruce, fir, pine and cedar as well as several deciduous trees. I was fighting a bit of frustration again. We are hauling the trailer and it’s not that easy for Carl to pull over to allow me to take photos wherever I want. For instance there was some old machinery that had some beautiful flowers planted in among it, a huge cedar stump from an old growth cut with two new trees growing out of it. The old stump must have been 4 feet thick while the “new trees” were at least 12 inches through. I’ve seen smaller trees grow from stumps before but never anything like this and I would have loved to document it. There was also a fence with carousel horses atop each of the upright posts and there was a stream where people had built rock cairns in amongst the flow. All of these things would have made for interesting pictures and there wasn’t room for Carl to pull over. I know he feels bad, too. Our beautiful scenic drive continued along until about mile 84 when we were forced to detour adding another level of strange experiences to today’s travel. Eventually, we got back on the correct road but by now, Carl has started to look at our fuel gauge. We made the turn off of Rte 2 onto Rte 97 towards Wenatchee and noticed a bluish haze hanging low in the mountains. There was a faint whiff of smoke in the air so perhaps there was a minor forest fire somewhere nearby. It’s been very dry in this part of WA. After climbing gradually up Blewett Pass at 4102 feet, we descended into the valley below rather quickly. We had a good view of Mt Adams although Mt Rainier stayed hidden even though the sign pointed where it should be. Once back on the highway, we noticed a remarkable difference in the landscape around us. Instead of the lush rich rainforest drenched with moss and the wind whispering through the tops, this world was harsh, brittle and dry. The wind was hot and the only sign of green was where there were sprinklers at work. And we saw a lot of sprinklers, drenching grapes, corn, apples, cherries, apricots and so many other crops. From the scenic overlook, it looked like a checkerboard with green and brown replacing the red and black. It was a long day filled with interesting sights but finally Richland pulled into view and we found a comfortable parking spot at the Wal-Mart. We each had a bottle of water and then went in to pay our “camping fee” in the form of $85.00 worth of groceries for the next few days. We’ll have to stop one more time for some essentials before we hit Moab. We’ll make Boise Idaho tomorrow and Salt Lake City the next day. I can’t believe this trip is winding down so fast. But, in the mean time, it’s the end of the 10th week and we’ve traveled 11, 029 miles.

Day 60- To Somewhere , August 14, 2011

Our night at the Wal-Mart campground in Prince George was peaceful right up to the time when the murder of crows decided our camper looked like a good place to hang out. At first, it seemed as if a couple of children had been turned loose to run about and knock on the doors of the dozen or so campers resting up for their days’ travel, us included. I was getting ready to climb out of the sack to find those irresponsible parents. It was the squawking and gurgling that made me think otherwise. I’m not sure what time it was but I do know I’m glad I’m not I that parking area tonight. It was also right about that time, I realized I had an awful headache so I got up, tool some Tylenol and went back to bed. I heard Carl get, make his coffee and have some cereal and all I did was keep my eyes closed hoping it would go away. Carl planned to put another 350 miles behind us. Yesterday, he drove 444 miles on just a few hours’ sleep. We hit the road and immediately turned the wrong way. My sense of direction and navigational skill were way off. It was going to be a very long day. The countryside we drove through was pretty much the same as yesterday including the sulfurous odor of pulp mills. Carl pulled over for lunch and I crawled onto the couch and slept for 2 ½ hours. Then it was back on the road. We made it a few miles past a nice little town called Cache Creek and pulled into a long deep rest area where a couple already had their tent set up for the evening. The view outside our camper is more reminiscent of South Dakota with it’s rolling hill and scrubby trees. We even thought there might be a sunset so after the supper was finished and I’d done up “the crockery” as our friends across the pond might say, it was outside for about 20 minutes watching the sky turn a pale orange and then nothing but gray. It was a great idea for a sunset photo since this is our last night in British Columbia. I only have two notes of interest from today’s travel. The first is about a well maintained little gift shop we stopped at with signs boasting of their RV friendly circular drive. Off a ways from the parking area was the prettiest outhouse I’ve seen in a long time. There were flowers hanging from both sides of the door and planted around it as well. And the second item is we are more than 500 miles from the ocean but we have traveled over numerous creeks and streams with signage designating the water below us as salmon habitat and to use it wisely. Neither Carl nor I figure they mean to keep you from fishing those waters, just to remind you to use them responsibly. I know some salmon travel great distances up stream before they reach their spawning grounds. I just wasn’t prepared for all of this distance. Tomorrow is another boarder crossing back into the United States. I wonder if the other Carl Hill Jr is still at large.

Day 59- Between Two Princes

Before we went to bed last night, I made sure to set the alarm on the cell phone for 3:45AM and turn it on. It went off, we got dressed and waited in our stateroom for the announcement telling us we were just 30 minutes from Prince Rupert. But the announcement didn’t come and no one knocked on our door to make sure we were awake as we’d been told they would do. Something had gone wrong with the system but was it theirs or mine. After about 45 minutes, I realized what happened. My phone contacted a local Canadian tower and discovered it was on Pacific Time, 1 hour later than the Alaskan Time the ship runs on. So the alarm went of at 3:45 AM Pacific Time. Technology isn’t perfect and neither am I. What I should have done was to just wait for the announcement or the knock on the door which came about an hour after we were ready. The call came to go to the car deck and it took a few minutes for everyone to get their stuff hauled down over the stairs. The guy in front of us must have been in a hurry. He started his vehicle up and started rolling off the ship before he was told to and people started yelling in all directions. He almost took a mirror off of another vehicle on his passenger side. Then it was our turn. The same very capable young man took control and Carl eased our truck slowly forward and up the ramp, adjusting inch by inch as the deck hand directed. We had a chance to thank him and shake his hand as we were given the all clear sign to continue up the ramp on our own. A dock worker directed us into the Canadian Customs line and it was just a few minutes before Carl and the Customs Officer were doing the 20 question dance, “Have we any weapons?, How much alcohol did we have with us?, Any fruit, vegetables, $10,000 in currency or instruments?” ( Yeah, right!!! ). He took our passports, consulted with the computer screen and then asked us to pull off to the right and park. Someone would be with us in a moment. Another customs Officer came to the window, asked a few more questions, “where was home?, how long had we been in Alaska? Did we have proof of our social security numbers with us?” Well, it was then he told Carl to shut off the truck and to come with him. I started to get out of the truck but the Officer said I didn’t need to come inside. So, I sat in the truck and waited and waited. It seemed much longer than it really was but finally Carl returned to tell me a Carl E Hill Jr. was wanted in Indiana. It didn’t take long to realize my Carl wasn’t the one, the other guy was younger, so we were free to go. What a start to the morning, eh? The excitement just kept on coming when we drove through town with names like Trout Creek, ( Montana ) , Houston (Texas ), Hudson Bay and Burns Lake. If we had a GPS, I’d say it might be broken because we never left British Columbia. The region we drove through today is rich in timber production while huge fields of hay, in various stages of growth or being baled, are on either side of us. Somewhere among the piles of useless trivia I’ve accumulated is the knowledge that Lawrence, Kansas is the geographical center of the contiguous United States and I can now file, in that same trivia drawer, Vanderhoof is the geographical center of British Columbia. Just thought you should know this. Carl pushes the driving today, in spite of only getting a few hours of sleep, getting us all the way from Prince Rupert to Prince George, 448 miles. He was pretty pleased with himself right up to the point where we pulled into the Wal-Mart in Prince George and see the sign, “No overnight camping”. Just three words but they sure had an impact on me. We wander into the store and head straight for the customer service desk where we are informed not to pay any attention to the sign, it’s fine to park in their lot. Oh and I can tell we’re in timber company in spite of driving by huge lumber yards filled with huge piles of logs and massive stockpiles of wrapped kiln dried lumber ready to be shipped. The moment I stepped from the truck, there was that unmistakable rotten egg smell we used to get in Whitefield when the paper mills in Berlin were operational. The photo was from last night's sunset. We didn't get any photos today, moving too fast!

Home Is Where You Keep Your Stuff.

We’ve seen it all on this trip, from the one room rustic cabin to the multilevel mausoleum, from the double wide mobile home to a beat up truck topper on concrete blocks in a Wal-Mart parking lot. We seen single containers with smoke stacks and we’ve seen stacks of containers with a roof over them. We’ve even seen mobile office units set up as motels. We’ve seen abandoned homes, homes for sale, homes with rivers running through them and even homes under construction. It doesn’t matter what you call home, it just matters that you have one. With the weather conditions as extreme as they are in the state of Alaska, there is still a large homeless population. When the weather turns bitter, the police and some church groups drive the back streets, looking under bridge overpasses and in parks for people who are at risk so they can get them in where it’s warm and maybe even get them a hot meal but they can’t make them stay. So what do you do? You thank God for what you have and make the best of the situation because no matter where you call home, there is always someone out there in worse shape than you. Oh, and there’s one more thing. I always wondered about the amount of “collectibles” there always seems to be around the average home in AK. Now, I’ve seen it first hand and the photos and television shows don’t exaggerate. There is stuff everywhere, left to deteriorate among the elements. And it’s not like there aren’t places to take the stuff but I heard one guy tell another at a gas station today, “ If I throw it away, that’s when I’ll need a part off it”. And so you have the universal reason why humans as a race have become packrats. It’s because they might need it some day.

Day 55- To Haines, AK

When you’re on the road like we’ve been, there really are no boring days. There is always new scenery, weather or conversation to be had. Even after being married for 40 years, Carl and I still have conversations and consider each other our best friends. Both of us we perplexed this morning with the bright light that was in or should have been in the eastern sky. The map says we are traveling due south and yet, there it is, straight in front of us, shining in our eyes. Notice, there are no complaints here. The route for today takes us on the previously traveled and extremely rough and bumpy section of the Alaska Highway from Beaver Creek to Haines Junction. There are several small communities along the way and one of them has employed a plywood cutout of a police cruiser and officer which, from a great distance, is almost believable. I guarantee as you get closer, you wouldn’t be fooled. I suppose it gets a few tourists to slow down when the flashing “your speed is….” sign doesn’t work. The Ice Field Mountains are on our right and the sign at the scenic / photographic / view / rest area signage tells us this range holds 7 of Canada’s highest peaks. There is evidence, even from where we are, of glaciers on most of the peaks. It doesn’t appear that I am tired of them yet. They are larger than life forces of nature with immense power on the terrain they travel. I encountered a couple of unusual signs today. The first read “ Be Aware: Snow Removal Equipment May Be Oncoming In Your Travel Lane” . That was a shocker!!! The other was one of those international picture signs, a rectangle with a diagonal divider. The upper triangle in white showing a bed and the lower is blue and shows a soft boiled egg. It took me a moment and then the light came on “Bed and Breakfast”…… hmmmm. There is a Bald Eagle Preserve that borders the Chilkoot and Chilkat Rivers. More than 3,000 eagles call this area home during the months of October through January. I’m going looking tomorrow. The promo on this preserve states there are more than 40,000 Bald eagles in the state of Alaska. I think Alaska ought to share them with the rest of the country.

Day 54- Ready, Set, Go!!!!

Even I realize I’m sounding like a broken record, here, but it was still raining when we got up this morning. So, if life hands you lemons, well, you try to do something with them. You haven’t got any sugar in the house and it’s definitely not lemonade weather. Still, there was a plus, at least for me. I got to see what actually happens when we bring in the slide out room and it’s been raining for two days. There is a squeegee gasket all the way around plus an awning to keep most of the rain of the roof so I thought everything would be great. And it mostly was. However, when you bring an outside room inside, well there is a certain amount of water that comes with it no matter how good that squeegee is. A quick breakfast and a well practiced pack up saw us off in good time and as we passed by the site of Old Valdez, wiped out by the earthquake and Tsunami of 1964, I caught site of the grain silos in town. Captain Stan, on the boat, told us the town built these gorgeous silos and a bridge to get to them with anticipation of shipping Alaskan grown grain out of the port. Here’s where the story has one of those good / bad things going on. The good news is all of the grains grown in Alaska stay in Alaska and the bad, well, Valdez has this eyesore on their horizon that sits pretty much empty all the time and the townspeople are reminded everyday of the cost the entire facility, bridge included, has set them back. The trip through Keystone Canyon and up over Thompson Pass was not the sunlit and photographic experience I’d hoped. In fact the weather was worse today than it was on Friday when we came in. So, no great photos of the Bridal Veil and Horsetail Falls. I also could truly get a feel of how majestic the scenery was around us. We would get small glimpses as clouds and fog rolled in and out, but it was just a tease. I could imagine how very beautiful the Chugach range was, though. As the road continued on to Tok, we passed this “gas station” where I saw absolutely no sign of any pumps whatsoever. There was a satellite dish and the driveway was not blocked with debris like so many other places we’ve seen that just dried up or withered away. Still, it’s been a while since it was in operation. How do I know ? When was the last time gas was $1.45 9/10 per gallon? Sometime before noon, we came upon a 12 mile stretch of road construction complete with two flag people holding traffic up while 3 state workers literally leaned on shovels and brooms. Carl and I got a chuckle over this for a couple of miles and we were still laughing when a pickup truck coming towards and by us threw up a rock and hit our windshield. We’ll be looking for a glass replacement shop when we get to Washington state. Right in my line of sight are not one but two craters with spider webs. Eventually they will work their way into full blown cracks. Carl wished he’d packed the super glue. That might have helped to hold the little devil together a bit longer. Most of the mileage driven today was a repeat from earlier but we did have new territory from Glenallen to Tok and I declared that today would be the day I’d find that bull moose. At the time, I had no way of knowing this stretch of road would contain the best moose habitat we’ve driven through. And all I saw was one cow very far off from the road. I am beginning to think there are no big bulls in the state of Alaska. And now, we’re back in the Yukon for the rest of today and part of tomorrow. While I was trying to convince Ms Moose to come closer, I looked up at the mountains to see a fresh snow fall happening which reminds me, on last night’s local news broadcast, they mentioned Denali National Park had a substantial snowfall this weekend. I told you the signs were all there for an early and harsh winter. This photographer has to fess up with something. Today, we drove past an airplane in one of those pull outs they put every so often so you can get off the road and let faster traffic go by. Why is this noteworthy, you ask? Because we were in the middle of no where and there was no runway. This plane landed on the road about mile 101 and taxied to this paved pullout. There was a pickup truck there and it appeared to us as we drove by, they were working on either the tire or the strut. And I didn’t think to take a picture. Camera on the front seat right beside me and we continued on our trip. I’d say his landing was definitely “off airport” and I suspect that’s how he’ll be taking off again. These bush pilots are an amazing and hardy bunch with nerves of steel. They will and do put down almost anywhere from a gravel airstrip or sand bar in the middle of a river. For a boring day, it was pretty exciting.

Day 51- First Day in Valdez, August 5, 2011

Neither of us slept well last night. Me, it was the medicine. I get weird dreams but also don’t feel like I’m actually asleep. Carl reported the same symptoms but I know he didn’t take my headache pills. We are both baffled by our inability to get consistent sleep. I mean it’s the same mattress, pillows and bedding. It’s just the place we park that’s different each night. Anyway, it was a late start to the morning and didn’t leave Tonsina River Lodge much before 10. Valdez was only 79 miles so we weren’t too concerned. In fact, we’re a whole day early so we hope the people at Eagle’s Rest Campground and RV Park will have room for us. The weather for the beginning of our drive today was wet but as we got closer to the Chugach National Forest, we could see some really impressive mountains in spite of the low ceiling. Up ahead of us was a break in the mountains. Later we learned it was Thompson Pass at 2,680 ft. We knew we had a long way down because Valdez is at sea level. We passed by Worthington Glacier, easily visible from the road, but still a couple miles from it’s terminus. There was a tiny community of businesses nearby specializing in ice climbing and treks to the glacier. We traveled several more miles, all downhill and arrived at Keystone Canyon. For just a brief second, I was whisked back to the Hawaiian Islands again. So many waterfalls everywhere you look. One of the most impressive drops is called Bridal Veil Falls followed closely by Horsetail Falls. Both have large volumes of water, both have a drop of more than 200 feet but Bridal Veil has several channels than fan down over the rock while Horsetail comes down more than half way before it divides into thin strands the rest of the way to the bottom. Some of the water cascading down is seasonal while others are year round glacial melt water and it’s difficult to tell which is which, especially with the large amount of rain this area gets. Once we’re checked in at the RV Park, the lady at the desk tells us about a Hatchery with a fish ladder over on the Dayville Road. She puts the icing on the cake by mentioning the area is frequently visited by bears. Sure enough, we head over about 6:00 and are amazed by the immense numbers of salmon waiting at the mouth to the weir. We’re told by a fellow who lives here the fish are being made to wait until the eggs are ripe. Normally this process would happen over the weeks it takes the salmon to travel from the ocean into the fresh water streams to the place where they were born, to the place where they will spawn the next generation. By the Hatchery creating a generational crop, they are assured of the fish returning to “their place of birth” to be harvested for canning. It’s an amazing process, a new form of aquaculture that is catching on in many places and it just makes sense to let nature feed and house your livestock for four or five years before they come home. They do have their natural perils such as eagles, gulls and bears. In fact, while we were sitting there, a small black bear came down from the mountains, walked under the bridge and proceeded to the water’s edge to grab a few fat salmon. Then, as easy as you please, he headed up to the bridge, crossed the river by using the pedestrian walkway and climbed two fences to get into the fish ladder for easier picking. Then it was up over one more fence and out onto a large rock in the bay surrounded by thousands of fish waiting for their turn at the ladder entrance. He fought off a flock of about 50 gulls and grabbed another couple of fish before heading off to another part of the shoreline. Apparently, he decided there were just too many humans around watching what he ate. It was getting late and I was hungry so we turned for home only to come up on a bear jam. On the right side of the road was about a dozen people all with cameras so I grabbed mine and asked what was up. I was informed there was a black bear sow with three cubs feeding at the base of a really pretty waterfall. There were hundreds of gulls and crows, all standing around making a racket and sure enough, out of the thick brush on one side of the creek, came Mama Bear. She would go to the creek, grab a salmon and take it back to the bushes. The scene was repeated several times and then she disappeared. I though the show was over but all of a sudden the sow burst from the bushes, sending a screaming cloud of gulls skyward. Behind her, we could see one of the cubs. I never did see all three. It was definitely a nice day. We’ve decided to go on a 9 hour Prince William Sound wildlife and Glacier tour tomorrow. I hope the weather will be good.

Day 46- Two Lakes Trail

The hard drive on my new laptop is about 240 GB of memory. The last time I checked, I had filled about half of it so I’ve begun burning my images to DVD. It’s a good back up system in case something happens to my laptop as we travel, too. Now, you might think I should just back off from taking as many photos. That thought never crossed my mind. That’s why I brought 39 blank DVDs with me. Earlier today, I watched the RED SOX play the white sox. The game started at 10:00 here in Seward. That is so cool, I still get a kick out of it. It took us a while to find the Two Lakes Trail after we had lunch. The trail head was behind a technical school building with no signage to direct us. The first lake and a nice picnic area was within sight of where we parked the truck. The easily laid out pathway led us around the second little pond as well as a rather marshy depression. The forest on either side of the trail was thick with vegetation, mosses, bushy ferns, skunk cabbage and lots of other mid level browse. The canopy was made up of several types of spruces with some smaller deciduous trees mixed in. We not only heard but saw numerous red squirrels although we would have known they were in the area anyway because of the huge piles of cones collected at the bases of many of the trees. They’ve been gathered as a winter cache. The squirrels with gather thousands of cones, hauling them underground so they can be found when the snows come. We even saw evidence of where millions of seeds had been eaten as they worked. A ranger in Denali described it as “ if it looks as if a Spruce tree exploded” which is exactly what it looked like. Those ranger talks are starting to pay off. We actually knew what we were looking at. Those squirrels were the only wildlife we saw during the 2 mile round trip although we found quite a few clear impressions of moose hoof prints in the mud and lots of scat in and along side of the trail. I have to confess I am not an expert on scat but if I were asked, I’d have to say I saw lots of dog and even some horse manure. The trail was perfectly adapted to be ridden with horses with the possible exception of low limbs in one section. Even though the day was overcast, I mentioned the other path, the Tonsina Point trail and Carl said okay. Unfortunately, we still couldn’t find where it began. We found ourselves on the beach near Lowell Point watching about a dozen people salmon fishing in the low surf. We splurged and had some really great ice cream downtown across from the Major Marine office and then we fueled up for our trip to Soldotna tomorrow. Supper was fresh salmon caught on Carl’s trip yesterday. He didn’t catch it but when no one claimed it, he decided to give it a good home. I hope we’ll have plenty of our own caught on Tuesday.

Day 43- Late Start To A Gorgeous Day

Can’t believe we slept so late. Carl got up at 8:15 and I didn’t climb out of bed until almost 9:00. The sun was streaming through our night shades like they weren’t even there. Now, it’s so late, I’m not sure what we’re doing today but it will be a shame to waste it. A visit to the Chamber office in town gave us a couple of ideas. Just beyond town, on a dirt road, is Lowell Falls, a melt water creek and waterfall from the Lowell Glacier. It was such a beautiful day, my plan was to get photos of the falls. And when I got there, I was disappointed to see the heavy electric lines running across the face. Carl suggested we go under the bridge and get a different perspective so that’s just where we headed. It was the right idea but the spray coming off the water’s surface overwhelmed the lens very quickly. We continued our drive along the western shore of Resurrection Bay out to Lowell Point, home of a vast RV / tent / backpackers campground. It’s also the trailhead for a couple of walking trails the people at the chamber suggested. Sadly, it’s also a fee usage area connected with the Lowell Point State Park. It isn’t much of a fee, $5.00 per day or $40.00 for a yearly pass. I think it’s just the idea of it. We may go back there another day. Today, there were no parking spots. There was one other walking trail that was suggested, the Two Lakes trail, a 2 mile loop around two different lakes. I remember seeing the sign and so we headed out of town to where I thought it was. We drove 40 miles round trip and didn’t find it. We did have lunch in a pull out along the Kenai Lake which was a brilliant turquoise in the sunshine. Then, upon returning to the camper, I discover the trail is in the opposite direction. I hate it when I’m wrong. Carl has a fishing trip lined up, connected with the resort we’re staying at. I might have gone but there was only one space left on the boat and, well, I’m not much into fishing and I don’t figure these guys will be looking for much wildlife. I may do that Two Lakes trail or I may go to the Library where they have a movie on the 1964 Good Friday earthquake which measured 9.2 and just about wiped Seward and Homer off the map.

Day 42- Soldotna and Exit Glacier

By yesterday’s standards, today was a quiet one but don’t be fooled by my opening statement. We traveled about 100 miles over to Soldatna, through some more of Chugach National Forest. Our main reason for heading over there was to book Carl’s fishing trip and my bear watching trip. Lucky for us there are several companies that offer qualified guides to do both. Right after we turned off the Seward Highway, Alaska State Highway 9 and onto The Sterling Highway, Alaska State Highway 1 on our left was Tern Lake. On the lake was a single Tundra Swan feeding on the abundant aquatic life. Then things started getting busy. I’m not familiar with the area but apparently Carl was. He knew we were approaching the Kenai River, the Salmon fishing Mecca of Alaska. And sure enough, there were campers and boat trailers in every turnout, parking lane, rest area, picnic area and even at the Visitor’s Center. There were people in the river on both sides as far as the eye could see. There are 5 types of Salmon that leave the Pacific Ocean and head up the streams of this area. Right now, 3 of the Salmon species are working their way from salt water into the waters of their birth. It’s the responsibility of every good angler to stop as many of them as possible. And then, there are the bears who do their fair share to eat as many of them as they can possibly catch to put on the much needed fat layer that will see them through the winter. In very heavily used area of the river, the town of Soldatna has erected a boardwalk for people to use to access the river. They’ve provided picnic tables along the way for families to enjoy the out of doors while the parents fish. Behind the visitor’s center is also a table with running water where you can clean your catch and toss the bones and entrails back into the river. All of the unwanted parts of the salmon provide valuable nutrients for the river ecosystem which includes birds, bears and even other fish. I guess I came away a bit perplexed by the actions of these “anglers”. Each stream or river has certain rules and regulations. It’s the angler’s responsibility to know what they are on the section of water they are fishing. They have a rod and reel in their hands but may not be able to use bait, lures or weights so they thrash the water over and over hoping to hook a fish as it swims by. There is no skill in this, only luck and that luck extends to any fish that are snagged. You must hook them in the mouth or gills, not snag them on fins or in the body. The guy next to you could be Fish and Game. They’re out there “fishing” too. The decision to use Talon Air was made after visiting their operation and asking a few questions. Our pilot will fly us out to a gravel bar on the Cook Inlet. We’ll be met by our guide who will take just 4 of us out in an 18 foot boat. We’ll fish, take wildlife photos and with luck, while Carl is fishing, there will be both Brown and Black bears fishing in the same place. We’ll have lunch cooked right there on the beach and then do a bit more fishing and photography. On the flight back there will be photo opportunities for other wildlife and two of the most active volcanoes in Alaska, Mt Redoubt and Mt Spur, both more than 10,000 feet high. With any luck, I’ll have some awesome photos to post next week and we’ll be looking for a place to flash freeze and ship Carl’s fish back to NH. It will be my first trip in a float plane. The weather here is even more crazy than in New England. Out the window of the truck is a bright sunlit sky but it’s raining. Off in the distance, there are black clouds piling up against the mountains but to our right is blue sky. One minute the tops of the mountains are obscured and then I’m experiencing one of those jaw dropping moments when I’m struck by the sheer beauty of the area we’re driving through. Part way back to Seward is this little place called Moose Pass, population 90. Next to the coffee shop / gift shop / grocery store is this operating water wheel. When I get out to take a few photos, I notice what’s really going on here. Someone is making a political statement. I notice a long belt coming of the wheel turning a grind stone very slowly. The sign next to this set up says “Moose Pass is a peaceful little town. If you have an axe to grind, do it here.” I think that’s pretty cool. It’s still early when we get back into Seward so we head off to Exit Glacier. Along the approach to the Visitor’s Center are dated signs posted every so often. I didn’t think anything of the first couple but noticed the numbers going up, 1815, 1849, 1894, etc. It’s Carl who figures out the dates reflect where geologists estimate the glacier was during that year. It’s a visual reference to how far the glacier has receded in just under 200 years. The hike in was just about a mile and was well worth the effort and strain on my knee. Carl pointed out where the bedrock had been scoured quite deeply from trapped rocks caught up in the ice as it retreated and even though the glacier is one of the smaller in the area, it was still pretty cool, both literally and figuratively. We could feel the cold coming off the glistening surface. The path took us close enough to hear the melt water pouring off it in little rivulets. But it also brought us close enough so we could see the gravel and dirt imbedded in the ice. So many of us have this impression the ice from a glacier is crystal clear and it’s anything but. Bottom line, Exit Glacier has retreated more than 10 miles in the past 200 years and shrunk in width as well. There may come a time when there is nothing left of the glacier in the valley. The Harding Ice Sheet is still immense but all glaciers around the world are receding. As we were leaving, we spotted Mountain Goats above the glacier. The wind was pretty stiff but I managed to get one good photo. Before I left the camper this morning, I through a pot roast into our little crock pot. The camper smelled so good when we walked in and best of all, supper was ready and all I had to do was get out a couple of plates. Now, that’s called planning!

Day 40- In Seward

Welcome to Seward, Alaska. The weather is typical Pacific Northwest, low clouds with occasional light rain. The trouble is the temperature is only about 50 so if you get wet, you’re cold in minutes. Everywhere you go, they recommend you dress in layers with synthetic materials and bring a rain jacket. I guess we’ll use today to sort things out for the next few days. I’ve checked the weather from 3 different locations and they all vary. Some say Tuesday is gonna be okay while others have said Thursday will be the better day. So, I spent the morning doing laundry while Carl solves a couple of minor issues with our house on wheels. The cost of doing laundry during our trip has varied a great deal. In most places it’s been $2.00 to wash and $2.00 to dry but in British Columbia, they wanted $5.00 for each process. Needless to say the laundry remained dirty until our next stop. Here, the washer and dryer are $1.25 per load and I’m happy to pay that. By the time I return, he’s already eaten lunch. After lunch we head to the Alaska Sealife Center for the afternoon. It’s a great place that specializes in rescue and rehabilitation. Happily, there were very few animals in their facility in need of rehabilitation. The aquarium exhibits were nicely done with lots of interpretive signage for a positive self guided tour. There were lots of hands on stuff for children while maintaining a thought provoking atmosphere for us adults. And we can all use an opportunity to be challenged. And best of all, I managed to get out of the gift shop without spending any money. Carl and I then drove by the commercial pier, checked out the town operated camping area right on the shore ( wish we’d know about that before ). The only grocery store in town of any size is the Safeway and prices, as you might expect, are high. $3.00 for a small head of iceberg lettuce, $1.20 per pound for bananas and $4.50 for a bag of Doritos. Carl wandered over to the Liquor side of the store and found a 6 pack of Alaskan stout made in Juneau with his name on it. After supper, Carl went over to book or passage for tomorrow to the Kenai Fjords National Park. With any luck, I’ll get some nice photos of the glaciers calving. I may even get a chance to see some wildlife. There is a National Park ranger on board who will tell us what we are experiencing. The tour is 7 ½ hours long and we’ve opted for the all you can eat Salmon and Prime Rib buffet during the cruise. Weather permitting, we’ll travel to Aialik Glacier and Holgate Glacier. The course also takes us past several islands and up and down both shorelines of Resurrection Bay. Should be a great day on the water.