Thursday, July 31, 2008

North to Alaska




So, after spending the night in a rest stop (first picture) we headed for the Alaska border and Tok. The sky was completely overcast and it rained most of the day eliminating almost all photo ops. And now the road is getting really bad. There are frequent large dips and frost heaves that appear without warning and remind you of a roller coaster ride. We could only go about 40 or 45 MPH because if you hit them to fast it will turn everything in the trailer upside down. Then there's the road construction. My truck and trailer have never been that dirty before. We regret not getting a picture before I washed them. The good news is that we are now officially in Alaska!
The SPOT tracking web site was not working for a day or two and I don't know why but seems to be working now. Let me know if your having trouble.
Tom


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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Kept On Truckin





We're back online. We had no internet last night so this is a day late. Yesterday didn't show us anymore game but we had some beautiful scenery. We didn't get many pictures though because there isn't always a place to pull off of the highway with a trailer when you want to. We spent a little time in Whitehorse and we had some intermittent rain in the afternoon. Then we got into some road construction and just bad road after Destruction Bay. We had planned on staying in an RV park at Destruction Bay but they didn't look to good and we were on down the road before we realized there weren't anymore for a long ways. Long story short, we spent the night in a rest stop.

Tom

Monday, July 28, 2008

Big Game

Today the scernery was great but the main event was animals. We saw bears, caribou, dear, moose, sheep and buffalo. We got some good pictures of most of them. Not to bad for just one day and we haven't even made it to Alaska yet. Tonight we are in an RV park in the Yukon somewhere between Watson Lake and Whitehorse.

By the way, when you post your comments on the blog I do see and appreciate them. I'm just not sure how to respond to them. Thanks.

Tom



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A Familiar Road




Sunday's drive up the highway from Fort St. John was uneventful except for the fact that we were seeing the part of the road that we had driven so many times in the past. It was fun to check out all of the old land marks and see what had changed, not that much. By the time we got past May's kitchen the road was more or less new for us. However, for the rest of the day until we stopped, the scenery was pretty much all the same. The scenery was just starting to get good when we stopped for the night at Summit Lake. The pictures should speak to that.

Tom




The Property

First of all, sorry I'm late with this. I could be late quit often from here on out. If so I will end up posting several days worth all at once. Internet service is scarce in this neck of the woods. Tonight we are at an RV campground with wireless internet but no cell service. Cell service is almost as rare as internet. For those of you interested in following us with the SPOT satellite tracker I'm going to ad the link to this post. I'm not sure if they change the address or what, but it doesn't always work for everyone. I may need to update it from time to time so I'll just do that on the blog. Ok here is where we left off:

Saturday we went out to the Diehl's property and spent the night. It was Bill and Sandra, Tom and Connie, Justin and Jessica and Sam Fallin. We rode motorcycles and quads, took pictures, played games and ate. A good time was had by all. We would have liked to have stayed longer but need to make more progress on the trip North so we left the rest of them there and head out abouit 9:30 Sunday morning.

Tom
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/gogl.jsp?glId=0jTXqxc7roqaf2U32Nrsn1BenYtfn0b2q

Sometimes the page doesn't open for me. Sometimes it does. Email me if you can't access it.




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Friday, July 25, 2008

To Shiloh Farm and Behond





Today Dave and I went flying. Many of you will recognize the pictures of Shiloh Farm. The large building that sits on Bower's old sight is the root cellar and it was moved there. Most of the cabins are gone now. There is a picture of the horse barn with a collapsed hay barn next to it. I have many more but this is all you get for now. We flew from there up into the Rockies and then back down the Graham River over Christina Falls. If you check the satellite map today you can see exactly where we flew. Tomorrow it's off to Bill and Sandra's property.
Tom







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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Luke's Birthday

Today Dave and I did a little sight seeing while Connie had a spa day with Tabitha and Jessica. Connie came home looking super and I came home with a few good pictures. This is the Pease River, some rape fields in full bloom, a buck in the rape field and the Dave Diehl family in front of their house after dinner and Luke's 19th birthday party. Dave and I will be going flying in the morning. The current plan is for us to head North on Sunday.

Tom





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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Perfect weather and more good friends, what more could you ask for. Just visiting and having fun and getting ready for the second half of the trip North. I may get out and get some pictures around here tomorrow.

Tom



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She Bearly Slept

Monday night we stayed in this beautiful little spot next to a creek that we found last time we were through Jasper. We stopped at about 4:00 and had all evening to enjoy our surroundings. However, before we started dinner several cars pulled into our road and I could see people looking at something with cameras in hand. I didn't see any animals but one of them told me they saw a bear. This was about 50 yards from our trailer. We were fine but decided not to cook sausage for dinner like we planned to and had a cold dinner instead. We didn't want to tempt fate. I never did see the bear and we were all safe and snug in the trailer that night but Connie didn't sleep well worrying about bears.

Tuesday we drove to Fort St. John. There's not much scenery on that leg except for a coyote a fox and some fireweed but only the fireweed would hold still for me.

Tom




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The Icing on the Cake

Unbelievable, we slept in again! Hooked up the trruck and headed towards Jasper. This was a leasurly sightseeing day and there's hardly a better place for it. Made it almost to Jasper before camping next to a pretty little creek for the night. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking for today. No internet most of the time though. From here on out the post could be late.

Tom

PS: One of these pictures gave me todays title.
























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Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The Calgary Connection

Slept in a little today. Unhooked the truck and headed for Calgary about an hour and a half away. We met Garry Diehl down town and took a tour of the camera shop that he manages very successfully. He's quite a talented young man. Then we had lunch together and it was off to Susan Lin's house where Lester and his family were staying also. We visited there for a while then off to Alan and Jane Lin's for a fine barbecue dinner with all of the Lin's and David Vittler. So much fun to catch up with our good friends that we don't see often. Everyone looks great and they are all doing so well with the exception of Susan who broke her foot quite seriously. She might not be walking on it again for 6 months. Then back up the hill to Banff for one more night.

Tom




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