STUFF I DIDN'T BUY IN GALENA ILLINOIS

Knoxville, IL: I'm sure you are all waiting to hear if we are in a Wal-Mart parking lot again tonight. Well, I'm happy to say we are in a honest to goodness Good Sam campground. And we are able to find a strong wireless signal so we've been able to check and write email. Life is good!

This morning we went to the historic town of Galena, Illinois. Already in the 1830's Galena was a center for mining, smelting, and steamboating. By 1850 it had become one of the busiest Mississippi River ports, but when the railroad came in 1854 the city declined and became a quiet, backwater town. During the Civil War, Galena gave the Union Army 9 generals, including U. S. Grant who later became the 18th President of the United States. Today, the town has been rediscovered and restored, and is a charming town that time forgot, filled with speciality shops, historic sites and attractions, and fine dining. It seems to be a destination for women and motorcyclists! The town was filled with women shoppers and bikers that road back and forth on the streets.

We parked our truck and inquired about the red and green trolly car sitting in front of the information center. Ten dollars a person? I don't think so. We walked. When we got to the main street of town, we began our shopping spree. I saw a 6 foot tall camel with a jeweled blanket thrown over his hump, and wearing red tennis shoes. I didn't see a price and didn't ask and didn't buy. Next I saw a lovely sage green, fleece, full length coat with that squiggly yarn decorating the collar and sleeves. It was $475, and it is still hanging in the shop. Inside the next shop I saw a candle ring made up of ceramic pigs holding hands. $129. Nope, don't need that! Across the street was a three story shop full of furniture and home decorating items. I spied a unique tin wall hanging, about 4 foot square, seemingly made out of old tin ceilings. The price tag was tucked behind the frame, and I can see why! It read $4,000! Up on the third floor of the shop I found a white, bent twig chair, proudly proclaiming its $795 price on a large tag.

We stopped at a small cafe for lunch and then continued our walk through town, arriving back at our starting point at 1:17. I looked at the time we had punched the parking ticket and it read 11 o'clock. So our shopping trip was a bit over two hours, including the walk to and fro, and the time for lunch. Total money spent? Hubby bought lunch and I sprung for the $3.00 parking fee.

WOULD YOU BELIEVE????

Dubuque, Iowa: Would you believe that we are in a Wal-Mart parking lot again tonight? We stopped for lunch awhile back up the road, and hubby started checking the tires to see if anything had changed on our first day and a half. Seems he thinks one of the RV tires has become more bald on the inside. (This is part of the problem we need to have fixed in Indiana.) So we stopped early and he is trying to find a dealer in the area to see if we should have the tire changed now or if it's okay to wait and just keep an eye on it.

At least he did take me to a coffee shop this time, and I had a refreshing iced Chai tea. It was very good. We are going to walk a bit through the old part of this city. Some of the beautiful older homes (riverboat big wigs maybe?) have been turned into shops, this coffee spot being one of them. Next door is one of those good smelling places that carry candles, lotions, and potions to make you and your home smell good. There is a funky clothing exchange shop next door, and a yuppie baby store around the corner.

The drive down was very beautiful. It was a roller coaster type of road with lots of ups and downs and many curves and zig zags. We did go through one town that I'd love to see in another week or ten days. It was a small town that I don't even know the name of, but it had maple trees planted very 20 feet or so, all down both sides of the one and only street that was maybe 8 blocks long. The trees were just beginning to change into their fall costumes, some golden, some orangy, some scarlet, and some a deep rust. Oh, it's going to be pretty! The river, when it was in view, was covered with fishing boats and duck blinds, and the traffic consisted mostly of pickups with trailer behind them.

No plans for the evening, but I think I'll check out a book that my friend Lisa loaned me. The only thing this Wal-Mart lot has going for it is that we are a long way away from the highway! Last night was a long, sleepless night, and I'm hoping for needed rest tonight.

BIG CHANGE OF PLANS!

Wal-Mart parking lot, LaCrosse, Wisconsin: Good evening. I'm sitting about 10 feet away from the highway in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Do you think I'll get any sleep? We thought we'd go see a movie this evening, but the theater that had 8 movies showing didn't have a single one that I thought was worth my money, so we forgot that idea and came back to the RV. We connected to an unsecured wireless site that has only so-so signal strength. I will really be angry if I type a whole page and then it decides it's not strong enough to send it.

We have made a total change of plans. The original plan was to go to Indiana to the factory, get our repairs done, and then head west. However, on Thursday we found out that we can't get into the factory until November 13. Why we were lead to believe that we would get right in is beyond me. So, we decided to follow the Mississippi for awhile and visit Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. We'll head to the Ozarks and spend the next month just seeing things we've not seen before. I am excited to go to the Ozarks as I've always wanted to visit there. After we head back up to northern Indiana to the factory we will maybe head southwest. That decision hasn't been made for sure yet, but we will keep you posted. In any case we will be back home for Christmas.

The drive from Stillwater to LaCrosse was very beautiful today. The skies were a bright blue with big cotton puff clouds and the temperature was in the upper 60's. Lake Pepin was full of sailboats out for their last sail before winter forces them out of the water. There were many huge boats already encased in their shrinkwrap for protection from the elements. The trees were starting to show some color. I think we are about 10 days ahead of the peak leaf season, so we won't see the brilliant reds and oranges. Maybe if we drive slow the colors will catch up to us!

We did find a church about a mile and a half from here, so we'll be attending worship services at 8:15 and then we'll head down the road towards Dubuque, Iowa.

MY HOUSE IS IN THE SHOP!

Dunn Bros: It's not like we can call a repairman and have him come to our house and fix the problem. It's a little more complicated than that. I have to first remove anything that may be sitting on the counters, desk, or dresser tops and place those items in the two baskets I have designated as the spot for them to travel safely in. I turn the two recliners sideways and push them right up against the rear wall. The dining room chairs must be hooked into the table legs so they won't fly around the room, and the table needs to be secured so it won't crash into the cupboard. The TV gets strapped into it's spot in the entertainment center. We use a trunk as a coffee table/storage space and that has to be moved to one side of the room and placed in such a way that it will fit in the small space created when we put in the two sides of the room. When all looks ready, I push the top button on our control panel and in comes the little alcove where the headboard of the bed is attached, and the bedroom is now a room the exact size of the small queen sized bed!

Next I push the second button which brings in the desk and entertainment center with the TV and other assorted electronic equipment, and with the coffee table/trunk balanced on the edge of the carpet in front of it. Then the final slide comes in which holds the small couch and the table and 4 chairs. My home is now only 8 feet wide 34 feet long. With the two 3 foot slides in the living area that room is 14 feet wide, but only when we are parked! The front steps are folded into their storage space, and the railing is folded over the front door. Now we unplug the electricity.

While I am doing this, hubby is doing the outside duties: He puts up the rear jacks, backs up the truck and connects it to the RV, and gets all the proper connections plugged in. Last to come up are the front jacks and the RV settles into the bed of the truck for it's ride to the shop.

Our home is getting a new spring attached (the one that the repairman fixed along the Alaska Highway was not strong enough and needed to be redone) and the aliegnment is being corrected. The plan is to leave our spot in the state park on Wednesday and travel two hours northeast of here to our oldest son's home. We get to attend grandparents day with the two grandsons on Friday, an activity which we are very much looking forward to. Then it's on to the West Coast by way of the RV factory in Indiana. Not exactly a shortcut, I know, but our house needs to have another checkup there for some other problems. When it gets a clean bill of health we will head off to Wyoming to visit dear friends, then, depending on the mountain passes, we'll head either northwest, straight west, or southwest. We will then be back to searching out wireless computer connections, hopefully finding them more abundant then we found along the Alaska Highway in the Yukon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KARI!

Tomorrow is the 41st anniversary of me becoming a mother for the first time, the most important job I have ever held. We were living in Maine where DH was stationed with the Air Force. Having been there for only a few months, we knew very few people, just those that worked in the same area as DH did. So when we brought Kari home from the hospital and DH went back to work, it was just me and a brand new baby in the house! Our parents and other relatives were all half way across the country. I was scared to death.

Somehow we made it. Fortunately Kari was a very good baby which made me look like a good mother. She was all girl. When she was old enough to voice her opinion she picked out her clothes every day, and it was always a dress. As she grew older, she took great pride in her hair and makeup, rising before anyone else in the family so she could have the shower first and then have plenty of time to dry and curl her long hair. She was a beautiful young woman, inside and out and when she charmed Mike and brought him home to meet the family, we knew this was it. She wanted to get married and have babies.

Now, over twenty years later, this beautiful baby girl is the mother of six children and is the most amazing woman I know. Kari is intelligent, passionate about her family and her work, and is the most beautiful Christian woman that I know, always putting others before herself. She and Mike have shared their home and their love with over 75 foster children through the years, strongly believing the Bible verse that admonishes us to take of the widows, the fatherless and the orphans. She hates injustice and when she sees a wrong she tries to right it and she is not afraid to speak the truth even if it is an uncomfortable subject.

Kari, you can't begin to know how proud I am of you! It it a privilege and an honor to call you daughter and I thank God for for you. I wish you a happy birthday and pray God's richest blessings on you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Saturday will be my mom's 84th birthday. I am taking this opportunity to publically thank her for the 62 years that I have been her child! As a little girl growing up in rural 1950's Iowa, I thought she was the most beautiful mom ever. She had lovely long black hair; mine was merely brown. She had beautiful brown eyes; mine were a greenish brownish hazelish color. She wore a "housedress" every day. In fact I never saw her in slacks until after I was married!

My mom was a hard working woman. She raised five kids, often having to do more than her share because my father was the busy pastor of two small rural churches. She also had to wash, hang out, starch and iron six white long sleeved shirts a week for my dad, plus keep up with the mounds of laundry that five active kids can create. Mom always had a tasty meal on the table, even when she had to invent it out of sparse ingredients. I marvel at her feeding our family of seven, plus the teacher of our local Christian Day School who lived with us, on one package of hamburger or one small chicken. She made a wonderful chocolate pudding cake that baked with the cake part on top and the sweet chocolate syrup on the bottom that we often begged for.

Mom was an excellent role model for her four daughters and one son. My father was the head of the house, and my mom never questioned that. She loved, honored, and obeyed, and did it happily. She loved her children and never failed to provide open arms to cuddle us when we were little, or to offer a hug and a listening ear to us as we grew. It was from our mom that we learned to pray, and at bedtime she never failed to tuck us in, hear our prayers, and say good night.

Life has thrown my mom a few curves, but she has kept her sense of humor and good attitude through it all. When I became a mother for the first time I wanted to be just like my mom, an ambition that I have failed miserably at, but one that I am still working on. I pray that God will permit my mom to have many more birthdays, because I still need her.

Thank you, mom, for your years of caring, for your example, and most of all for your love. You can't begin to know how much I love and appreciate you.

IT'S GOOD TO LIVE IN A STATE PARK

This picture doesn't begin to show the beautiful colors we are now seeing from our front door. There are yellows and golds in several shades, deep reds, bright reds, orange reds, rich browns, and of course the different greens, all combining to make a gorgous view for us to enjoy, even if the skies are gray and cloudy. After our hike the other night, DH said "it's good to live in a state park!" Yes, it is. We don't have to mow the grass, pull the weeks or tend the flower gardens. We don't have to pick up the sticks after a wind storm, or see that the bumps and holes in the road are filled in or smoothed out. We just walk the trails and roads, enjoying the ever changing colors of the prairie. Last night we walked for an hour and only met one man and his dog on the road. The evening before we met one couple hiking the same trail we were, only in the opposite direction. Most of the time, however, we don't see a soul. We are also the only people in the campground most of the time. It's quiet, peaceful, and very beautiful. Yes, it's good to live in a state park!

AFFLICTING THE COMFORTABLE

Yesterday my daughter shared with me this quote she had read and told me she wanted it printed on her tombstone: She comforted the afflicted and afflicted the comfortable.

Last night my daughter, Kari, was out doing what she does best, afflicting the comfortable. She had a presentation to a group of mentors in a town about an hour southwest of here, and she invited me to ride along. I did, and once again she made me so proud of her! Her passion is to educate everyone about the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. She loves to give these educational presentations about FASD (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder) and she gets right into the faces of those who are comfortable remaining in their little world of denial and ignorance. By the time she has finished her talk, she has the audience a whole lot less comfortable and quite a bit more educated. They ask questions and absorb the answers. They wonder aloud why this message isn't being loudly shouted for everyone to hear, and they vow to tell everyone about the dangers of drinking during pregnancy.

Her message is being heard. And if each one who hears it tells just one person, imagine how many babies will be spared the experience of being drunk in the womb! Just think of the kids who won't suffer from the problems associated with FASD and the families who won't be torn apart because of FASD! FASD is 100% preventable by not drinking during pregnancy, and with Kari, and those who share her passion, out there shouting out the dangers, they will make a difference for these kids.

Meanwhile, she is out there, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. You go girl! Your dad and I are so proud of you!

RV AND TV UPDATE

Just a quick update this afternoon before we head back to the state park to cook dinner. We stopped at the Farmers Market and have lots of lovely vegetables to fix tonight.

We are still in limbo regarding the RV, as we haven't heard whether the spring was ordered or not. We will assume it was. And we hope it will arrive shortly and we can get the RV in to the alignment place on Monday. If that happens we will be on the road next week. If the spring doesn't come in or if we can't get the RV in on Monday, we are here at least until the next week Monday. When we do leave we are headed west by way of Indiana where the manufacturer of the RV is located. Hopefully we'll get to Washington and Oregon before the snow flies!

I haven't blogged about the TV problem because it was really making me angry. First of all, I didn't even want this satellite dish but DH claims he needs to see football games, so he ordered it. The guy was supposed to install it at 1:00 on June 1. He finally showed up at 4:30 and quickly threw the system into the RV and called it done. No explaining, no demonstrating, no training. Over $200 for nothing. While we were parked in Grand Forks, ND, visiting our son and family, DH called an installer there to come out and set it up. The guy did nothing. That was another $50 for nothing. We had so many outside things to do in Alaska that we didn't miss TV, so we just let it go for the time being at $30 a month for June, July, August and September. Now that we're back in the locality where it was installed to begin with, DH has been calling for help. None available. He read the book and tried about 379 different combinations of things to set it up, but nothing worked. He called another installer from another town who told him a few things to try. Nothing. He called the company headquarters. THREE TIMES. THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE. No help. He called back to the place that installed it and was brushed off. Finally this afternoon he found the correct alignment and all the right combinations by himself, and we have the channels we've been paying for since June 1!

About ten minutes after his success the local place called and offered to sell him an $89 something or another that would help! I don't think so! DH politely explained how disgusted he was with their lack of help and service, and the gal reminded him that he would be charged for the advice they gave him when he stopped by for help one day last week! DH's response? "I am not paying for anything!"

As far as I'm concerned, he should get his almost $400 back and they can have the dish.

MAKING NOISE

We made some noise this morning on this day that is designated as Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day. At the 9th minute of the 9th hour of the 9th month people around the world were ringing bells to bring awareness to the fact that a woman must not drink alcohol during her 9 months of pregnancy. Fetal alcohol disorders are the leading cause of mental retardation in this country, cannot be curred, and are 100% preventable! How can we get this word out to everyone in this country? We need to make a lot of noise!

As my daughter, Kari, who works for MOFAS (Minnesota Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) stated in her speech this morning at the bell ringing event: "We don't need to wait for a vaccine or for an identifiable genetic marker to stop FASD in it's tracks. We don't need stem cell research to find the answers we seek. We just need to make a little noise."

Please join me in making some noise. Learn all you can about FASD. Find out what you can do to help educate everyone about the dangers of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. And, please, contact your Congressmen and Representatives and urge them to support bills S1722 in Congress and HR4212 in the house. Tell them that they MUST support these programs that will provide education, prevention, treatment and support services. Please make a little noise. NO, instead, make a lot of noise!

CHANGES

Dunn Bros Coffee Shop: I have started a blog entry 4 times this morning and I have been dumped 4 times. The title was going to be Changes, and now I'm wondering if I have to change my blog spot or my coffee. HELP! Seems I always get dumped when I'm here, but I don't have that problem elsewhere. Is my computer allergic to the beans or something? Would switching to decaf instead of a 4 shot Americano help? I guess we'll move to a different location to see if that works before resorting to anything as drastic as giving up my coffee habit.

CHECKUPS..........

In the past two days, the RV and I have both had checkups. I believe one of us came out much better than the other, although the jury is still out on a small portion of both. I am only waiting for a blood test to confirm what I already knew...I am healthy! Maybe the diet of fish, fish, and more fish this summer has something to do with that.

On the other hand, the RV seems to have suffered a few scrapes and bruises; maybe even frame damage. They have ordered a new axel, and after that is repaired in about two weeks, we will probably need to head to Indiana to the factory where our RV was manufactured to see about a couple of other problems. It seems the frost heaves along the Alaska Highway have claimed another victim. Stay tuned for the final results of both checkups.

HOME IS WHERE YOU PARK THE RV

We have lived in many different places in the three months that we have been on the road. At first we had a change of scenery daily as we traveled through Canada on the Alaska Highway. Sometimes our home was in the flat farms or rolling hills of southern Canada. Later our view was the beautiful mountains of the Yukon. After ariving at our destination in Seldovia, Alaska, we lived on a cliff at the edge of the forest, overlooking the ocean, with beautiful mountains in the background. We also called an Air Force base home a couple of times as we parked at the military base campgrounds in Anchorage, Alaska and Great Falls, Montana. When we arrived back in the States, we parked in a beautiful valley surrounded by lovely mountains at Many Glacier campground in Glacier National Park. Here in our hometown we have enjoyed the hardwood trees and prairie of our local state park. However, our RV is in for it's post-Alaska Highway check up and repairs at the dealership where we purchased it. Last night our home was the parking lot of the RV dealership, railroad tracks on one side, and a four lane highway on the other side. Not the most scenic place we've called home, but it was probably the loudest! Do you think the traffic will decrease over the holiday weekend? I can dream, can't I?

(The photo was taken one hour into our trip on the first day.)

INUKSHUKS

Thursday, August 24, 2006, Dunn Bros Coffee Shop:


According to a native in Northern British Columbia, the Inukshuk has been used by their people for centuries. It is usually made of rocks in the shape of a man and it is often called a blessing for travelers. Originally it was used to mark the way, or to indicate that a food cache is located nearby. The Inukshuk can also be a sign of friendship or just the simple notation that their people had been there. This woman also told me that it can be used as a kind of thanksgiving altar, as in the case of a successful elk hunt. We saw several along the road in the northern part of British Columbia and in the Yukon. The grandsons thought they were neat, so they took to building their own Inukshuks to show that they had been there. You will find them along the bumpy frost heaved roads in the Yukon, at a pull out along the Cassier Highway in British Columbia, at the top of the narrow mountain road overlooking the Salmon Glacier in Hyder Alaska, and in the middle of a stream, on a sandbar, at Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park, Montana. You could say it's the kind of graffiti that I approved of, as opposed to the painted "kilroy was here" kind.

BACK HOME IN MINNESOTA

Wednesday, August 23, 2006


This is one of the beautiful places we saw on our trip. This is Salmon Glacier in Hyder, Alaska. We drove many miles up a narrow, winding dirt road to the top where we could view the glacier miles back into the icefield. The grandsons delighted in walking next to the edge of the cliff and causing my already gray hair to turn a shade or two grayer! I love mountains, but am deathly afraid of heights. Does that make sense?

BACK HOME IN MINNESOTA

We have been on the road since June 3, about 9000 miles ago. It's been, for the most part, an awesome trip, filled with wonderful memories. Traveling with a teen and a preteen grandson has been a trip back to the past when we were raising our own 5 boys and 2 girls, challenging at times, but something I wouldn't have missed for all the money in the world. A big thank you to the parents of these two boys who trusted us to spend the summer hauling their boys all the way north through Canada to Alaska and back. It was a blast!

Here are the greatest memories for each of us:

The Redhead: Hauling in a 98 pound halibut (Thanks Tim!)
Waitresses
More waitresses (and I don't think he means you Amy, Demara, or Diane)
That one girl at the swiming pool in Aberdeen, South Dakota
Pot lucks in Seldovia, Alaska

The Dude: Catching his first Salmon
The 4th of July and all the fun activities that day
Flying to Uncle Gary's cabin (Thanks Gary!)
Grizzlies
Going on the boat to the restaurant and fishing with Jeff (Thanks Jeff!)

Dear Husband: Catching a 33 pound salmon (Thanks again Tim!)
Flying to brother Gary's cabin (Thanks again Gary!)
Watching The Dude in the parking lot at Glacier try to explain to people where
the grizzlies were on the hillside
The mountains through Jasper and Banff, British Columbia, Canada
Supper at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton Lakes, British Columbia, Canada

Me: First sight of son Chris as we stepped off the ferry in Seldovia, Alaska
Having Chris stop by the RV before or after work and just visiting with him
Meeting girlfriend Amy's parents (Love you guys!)
Potlucks in Seldovia with Chris and Amy's friends (Best eating of the whole trip!)
The peaceful mountains and ocean seen from our campsite in Seldovia

We also did a Top Ten List:

1. Top Campground: The Wilderness RV Park in Seldovia, Alaska
2. Top Restaurant: The Tide Pool in Seldovia - (Thanks for all the Classic Burgers with cheese and bacon Matt and Sarah!)
3. Top Mountain: Red Mountain in Seldovia
4. Top Fish: 98 pound halibut!
5. Top Boat Captain: Tim (I think it has something to do with #4!)
6. Top Beach: Outside Beach
7. Top Waitress: The one at Ricky's in Whitehorse, Yukon (Sorry Amy, Demara and Diane!)
8. Top activity: A tie here, fishing and kayaking
9. Top Wildlife: The wolf at White River in the Yukon
10. Top Meal: The first potluck on the boardwalk in Seldovia

Thanks to all who made this trip such a great memory for us and for the two boys. They will never forget the summer of '06!

Above all, we thank God for being with us every day and for keeping us safe for all the miles that we traveled. This world He created is an awesome place!

THE PRINCESS AND THE DRAMA QUEEN

Great Falls, Montana:

After traveling for two months in the back seat of our big truck, the boys were complaining about the uncomfortable seat. They said it was too hard and they had sore butts. So I said I'd buy them each a pillow if we came across a Wal-Mart. Of course they spied one and reminded me of my promise, so we had to stop. I found some neat pillows made of long white hairy stuff. No. I found a solid colored one. Nope. I found a manly looking striped pillow. No, not that one either. They finally found what they wanted. The Dude has one that says Drama Queen, and The Redhead found one that says Princess! And I actually paid $8 apiece for them....silly me! It did stop the complaining about sore butts. Now they are complaining when I call them Princess or Drama Queen. Well, what did you expect boys?

THE GOOD OLD USA!

Great Falls, Montana, Sunday, August 13:
Just a quick post to say we are back in the USA! The drive down through Jasper, Lake Louise, and Banff Canada is beautiful, but I have never seen so many tourists! It was terribly crowded and that is not my cup of tea. We spent two nights at Many Glacier Campground in Glacier National Park, and that was also crowded. And two trails that we had planned to hike with the grandsons were closed because of grizzly bear activity, so plans were changed. I'll NEVER take chances with grizz! Glacier is one of our favorite places, and just being there is relaxing.

We are now at the Air Force Base in Great Falls and will stay here two nights. I have not done laundry in almost two weeks, so that's what I plan for tomorrow. We also can shop at the commissary and BX and stock up on a few things.

So, we're on our way home! I can't wait to get back to Minnesota to see the grandkids and kids, and my mom and siblings. And we now have phone and computer access, so we should be able to keep in touch more often this week. Should be home by the weekend.

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE!

WHITEHORSE, YUKON, CANADA, AUGUST 4, 2006
This picture shows us sitting at milepost 1238 of the Alaska Highway in a crippled RV. Seems the rocks and frost heaves (or should I say frost canyons) have taken their toll and we have a broken spring on the RV, 85 miles from a service center! (sorry, the picture won't load....signal is too weak.)

After we saw the smoke from the tires rubbing on the underside of the trailer, we found a flat spot to pull off on and we unhitched and drove ahead 9 miles to the Tetlin Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center where a kind employee gave us her phone card to call back for a wrecker from Tok. (Cell phones are useless up here.) The man at the service center said someone would be out in 2-3 hours and they would bring several springs along and would attempt to fix it on the spot. Otherwise we'd have to be towed back to Tok, 85 miles in the direction we just came from. That would have meant we would have to spend another night there, and the next day we would have had to travel back over those same frost heaves. That would have been a bummer.

But it could have been worse. We could have not activated the Good Sam membership card with roadservice ---the day before! Can you believe that? We activated our membership the day before.....hope they don't think something is fishy here!

Or we could still be in Anchorage waiting for an appointment for The Dude to have toe surgery. As it was, he got right in on Monday, had his toe nail removed in the afternoon, and the doctor said we could travel again on Tuesday, which we did. (By the way, his toe is doing just fine.)

And we thank God that the RV damage wasn't caused by an accident. No one is hurt and it was just a few hours delay out of our planned milage for the day. We just adjusted our schedule and all is fine.

And, I am most thankful that the boys were so well behaved during the 4 1/2 hours we spent on the side of the road. They could have been cranky or whiny, but they did what boys are supposed to do-----played in the dirt! It would have been very stressful if we would have had to deal with undesireable behavior. Thanks guys!

As mentioned before, cell phones are worthless here in the wilderness, and computer access has been difficult to find, so we beg forgiveness for the lack of phone calls, emails, and blog enteries. Hopefully things will improve as we get closer to the good old USA.

PS: It was $686 and the guy fixed it right on the side of the road. And he took a check!

PS#2: It could be worse, right? Last night we took the boys out for dinner ($60) and to the Frantic Follies ($70), and when we came out we were treated to the sight of a flat tire ($75.) It's peanut butter sandwiches for the next few days, guys!

LEAVING IS HARD

WHITEHORSE, YUKON, CANADA, AUGUST 4, 2006:
Leaving is always hard for me and I cry at anything and everything. I bawled when I said good-bye to my mom to go on this trip. I really sobbed when we left Seldovia last week Tuesday after saying good-bye to our son. And I shed tears again on Sunday evening when we said good-bye to hubby's brother and wife in Anchorage.

We arrived in the big city on Wednesday afternoon, and after doing 3 loads of laundry we had dinner with all the Alaska relatives at the home of brother and sister-in-law. On Thursday after doing 9 loads of laundry (can you tell Seldovia had no laundry facilities?) we had dinner at our RV with the same brother and sister-in-law. We were planning to say good-bye that night and leave first thing in the morning, but we were offered a deal we couldn't refuse and we quickly changed our minds. Hubby's brother has a cabin on Alexander Creek, about 30 minutes float plane ride across the inlet from Anchorage, and he offered to treat us to a weekend with them at the cabin.

We had a wonderful time visiting and relaxing. The grandsons were in their glory playing horseshoes and badminton, running around and fishing, and best of all, riding the 4 wheeler. They even eagerly helped stack firewood if they could haul it on the back of the 4 wheeler. One of the highlights for me was a bath in the banya (not sure how it's spelled) which is the Russian name for a sauna. I asked hubby to build me one, but he said we couldn't tow it behind the RV! I don't see a problem, do you? It's just a very small log building with a dressing room and the bath room, a small wood stove and a few galvanized pails of water.

After the wonderful restful weekend it was tough to say good-bye to brother and sister-in-law. Thank you so much G & G! It was great! You are so generous and we love you dearly.