After a chilly night we woke early to get started on the longest leg of our trip. After a quick breakfast, we broke camp and continued east. I know, you're thinking, "But Alaska is northwest." We're heading over the Canadian Rocky Mountains to the official starting point of the Alcan Highway located in Dawson Creek, BC. We took the lead again to start the leg and an hour down the road I realized I'd left my phone in the trailer. We were now relying solely on Mike's phone for communication as well as navigation. This is not good because his phone has been having issues connecting to the internet and we kinda need that to help us get from here to there. All was going smoothly for about half an hour when I screwed up while ... read more

The rush is on to get everything together for our next big trip! In two days we meet up with our friends Teri and Dave for an epic adventure. One item on each of our bucket lists is to visit The Last Frontier. Specifically for me, I've wanted to drive the Alcan Highway. This year the four of us will be able to check this off the list. Going along for the ride will be our fur babies Charlie (ours) and Vinny (Teri and Dave's). They're both really good travelin' and campin' dogs, let's hope they're equally good when it comes to long days on the road. Our longest stretch will be about 390 miles; luckily (?) it's our second day on the road so we shouldn't already be burned out and dreading that much time ... read more

…the LAST day on the road. Our epic road trip has come to an end. The drive home was uneventful, save for all the smoke. It was still smoky this morning, we couldn’t see Lake Coeur d’Alene as we drove by it and the bridge crossing the Columbia River into Vantage was shrouded in the haze. Keechelus Lake, on I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass, was dry due to the extremely mild winter. I’ve never seen it without water. I wasn’t even sure it was Keechelus Lake as we drove by it, but all the construction that’s been going on there for the past few years confirmed it. The thing that struck me the most about coming home was seeing all the Washington license plates. After two months of rarely seeing a Washington plate and getting excited ... read more

…the morning after a night of train whistles…three times. It was cold this morning and smelled like a giant campfire. We’re heading northwest from Casper, Wyoming…might as well make it interesting and cut through Yellowstone. Plugged our plan into Rosie and got underway. Wyoming is full of tumbling tumbleweeds. Tumbling tumbleweeds look nice when they’re tumbling across the prairie…but not so nice when they tumble and SMACK into the side of your truck. From the direction we were approaching Yellowstone National Park, we’d have to go through Grand Teton National Park. We have our America the Beautiful Pass, let’s go! When we approached the entrance I saw one line was actually dedicated to pass holders. This was the first time we came across that. We zipped over to the far right lane (we were only one ... read more

…another day being chauffeured by my seester. Today we went topless. She has a school bus yellow Jeep with both a hard and soft top. She has the soft top on for summer and since today’s tour included a drive through Garden of the Gods Park, she put the top down. Garden of the Gods is a Colorado Springs city park. Portions of the park were once owned by two gentlemen in the mid- to late-1800s. Upon each of their deaths the parcels were donated to the city: the first designated that it become a free public park, the second added to the park. The city bought more land to make the park the size it is today. The park has a nice paved one-way road, a paved walking path and several unpaved hiking trails that ... read more