Huntington KOA, Milton, WV

With a fairly early departure, we take a lunch break in Louisville at a nice city park, before heading to West Virginia...it's Friday night and there is an Applebee's right at the exit from the interstate.  We have a nice dinner and reminisce about our trip.  Never ever will we do another 2 month trip, but it really took hat much time to do what we wanted to do in Alaska and see both of our sons.  So it was the right amount of time for Alaska...now, we've been there...done that.  Next year, will be the jubilee trip...back to redo everything we really enjoyed!

It's our last night...tomorrow we're home.   We're ready for big bathrooms and big kitchens.

Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park - Whittington, IL

What should have been a rather ho-hum day, got interesting at lunch.  Outside of St. Louis, we stopped at the Route 66 State Park for lunch.  After the second half of our Philly Cheesesteak, we walked one of the trails in the park, hoping to end up at the Visitors Center, but there was no decking left on the bridge across the Meramac River(any one in our extended family might be surprised by a homophonic river in Missouri).  Anyway, the visitors center, which has a Route 66 display section, and a Route 66 store, with many potential Christmas presents, was a Roadhouse on the outskirts of Times Beach, a ghost town, which had to be evacuated because they treated the roads with oil laced with dioxin.  The town was leveled and incinerated, and is now a state park.

On to Illinois...our Campground is immaculate, everything is perfect...except we are totally alone...kinda spooky!   We are coming very close to the end of our trip, and we are just over 800 miles from home...1 - 800 mile day, 2 - 400 mile days, 3 - 270 mile days....we settle for the 2 day option....tomorrow, Huntington, WV

Lake of the Ozarks State Park - Osage, MO

We took a respite from Interstate travel in Lawrence, KS.  We had a few grocery items to pick-up, especially: dog food, a couple of proteins, and some vegetables.  We found a local co-op in Lawrence. It was like walking into a specialty store you would find in San Francisco.  They had an entire row of bins with such things as Western Barley Groats and Pink Cambodian Rice.  I  bought some Golden Beets...tastes just like beets but no red stains! For Drex, I bought some high end dog food...grass feed beef and lamb with organic garlic, carrots and sweet potatoes.

For lunch we stopped at a county park on a small reservoir. With some fresh ciabatta bread, we made Philly Cheesesteaks.  We arrived in Lake of the Ozarks State Park, and were led to our campsite by our host...who only got a little lost...twice.  In fairness, it was a long drive, and the site numbers aren't totally logical.  We have a site 10’ from the water...and we are here for two days.  The campground is nearly empty.  It turns out, this is the first week of school.

This was our last rest stop before heading home. We spent the morning on a nice little walk with Drex.  He is getting so old, it can take a really long time to walk a mile or two.  After lunch, we

decided to rent a boat and leave Drex to recover from the morning with some air conditioning.  The wind was strong on the lake which meant that high freeboard of a canoe would be a problem; however kayaks could be a problem because we couldn't support each other.  As it turned out, they had double kayaks...the perfect solution.  Although the wind was strong, we made good headway and we could hide on the lee side of the lake,  then the rain came...buckets of it (the weather forecast called for clouds), and then came the lightning. We high-tailed it for our campsite...once we got there Deb jumped out of the kayak, heading for the RV, leaving me in the kayak, in the rain, with the keys....after returning the kayak, we settled down for an evening of heavy rain....maybe we can dry things out tomorrow..

Salina KOA - Salina, KS

We are in the high plains.  From Limon, CO to Salina, KS is pretty much straight road across 350 miles of corn and sunflowers.  The most exciting find is that all of the rest areas on I-70 have an RV loop...lined with trees and picnic tables, but there is only one small sign for it, so most of the RVs park with the truckers.

Our site in Limon was described as satellite ready...which, of course, really meant NO SHADE!  In Salina, we were in the shade which helped because it was 96 degrees. Tomorrow we head to The Ozarks for a two day stop.

Limon KOA - Limon, CO

2017 Terry Bison Ranch

1999 Terry Bison Ranch

We are now on track to pick up our planned route, with 320 miles today and tomorrow.  In the morning we got to the highest point on I-80, at about 9,000 ft.  At the rest stop there is a nice hiking trail.  We walked for about a mile or so...it was great to stretch our legs.  We haven't done any hiking since we were in Washington. From there we took the back roads through some huge boulders ..some day we will be be smart enough to call them by their proper geological names...but for now huge boulders.  We head down I-25 toward Denver.  Right on the Colorado border there is a placed called Terry Bison Ranch.  We had dinner here once when we took the kids to a dude ranch, which must have been close to twenty years ago, so we stopped for lunch...I had the Bison BBQ, made with chipotle and raspberries.

From there it was just Denver and the high plains to Limon, CO.

Rawlins KOA - Rawlins, WY

Coalville, Utah

Another fairly long day, starting along the salt flats...they had an event going on at Bonneville, cars were coming back all covered in salt, sort of looked like snow.  Out of Salt Lake City, we climbed up to the high desert.  It has gotten a little cold again...the heat even came on this morning!

We have figured out how to get back on our original plan...two more days and we catch up!

Our lunch spot

Wendover KOA - Wendover, NV

Utah salt flats

It's a 411 mile day, which is quite a bit for us; however, it's all interstate driving with an 80 mph speed limit, so it goes fairly fast.  We go right by Winnemucca which is the town called out in the Johnny Cash's song that we have been trying to learn for the entire trip.

Wendover is another gambling oasis and it's Friday night, so we head up the hill to the closest casino...which seems prudent with Nevada sun beating down.  All the restaurants in Wendover are in casinos, and we pick the one with the most customers, actually the only one with any customers. We order an appetizer with our meal...and Deb says, "I bet the appetizer comes at the same as the meal!" Wow, these people will bet on anything...by the way, she won.

Tomorrow, we head through Salt Lake City to someplace in Wyoming.

Boomtown KOA - Verdi, NV

Boomtown Casino

Went to Justin's apartment for a breakfast of waffles with apples and cinnamon.  It was sad to have to say good-bye, but it was time to start heading home...2,907.miles.  Our first leg sort of depends on when we leave, how traffic is, etc..  By lunch time in Benicia, CA, we have decided that we can make it to the Nevada border without too much trouble.  Over Donner Pass on I-80, a fairly familiar route. We pull into Boomtown and are sent to the very back of the KOA lot, right to the edge of a cliff, with a pretty nice view...we're happy!

After dinner I convince Deb to walk to the Casino, just up the hill.  I figure we have to bet something, so I slide $3 into the slots. I bet $.50 and loose it all.  Deb slides in, bets $1.50 and wins $45.  After a complimentary drink, and a few more bets that netted us about even, we went back down the hill in good spirits.

Tomorrow we will traverse Nevada to the Utah border.

Marina Dunes RV Park - Marina, CA

Justin, Mom & Dad

We started out with a scenic drive through Northern California, with a few more redwood groves, but that soon gave way to Bay Area traffic with aggressive drivers and lots of smog.

We pulled into Marina about 2:00.  Justin took some time off from work to see us.  We saw his new apartment, went out for dinner at a brewery in Monterey...very nice.  Back to his apartment to watch Hidden Figures. He has a projector which makes a huge image on the wall, and has really nice wireless headphones.  Of course, Drex was confused because we were all sitting there in total silence.

Tomorrow, we'll have breakfast with Justin before heading home.

Benbow KOA - Garberville, CA

We have continued our trek down the Oregon Coast.  We have 733 miles to go in two days to get to Marina, CA to see Justin  The best solution is 413 today and the rest tomorrow, to make an earlier arrival...but we typically max out our days at 350, so this is going to be stretch.  The coast road turns out to absolutely gorgeous, with high cliffs, and pounding surf.  Once we get to Eureka, CA, the road turns inland and turns to a narrow two lane road winding perilously close to giant redwoods that are right on the edge of the road...apparently in road construction, redwoods still have the right-of-way! Meanwhile, we are dealing with microclimates, it was in the 50’s on the coast and is in the 90's inland.

Tomorrow is the leg south, some lovely drive still left in "the 101," but it will be short lived as we get into the Bay Area.

Lincoln City KOA - Otis, OR

We have decided to head south and see Justin in Marina, CA.  This adds approximately 1000 miles to our trip, but Deb says that she is up for it...there are two ways we can do this....the interstate or the coastal highway.  The decision has to be made 10 miles from the campground, and to make matters worse, we don't have any cell coverage, so we don't know if he is even available.  The decision is made...the coastal road, by the time we get to Fork, WA, we have confirmation that he is can see us.

The northern part of the Oregon coast is filled with little beach towns...with hundreds of little trinket shops...a thousands of RV's and SUV's all towing something and driving way slower than we would like.  Our plan is to get in by 3:00 to do laundry, but we don't get in till after 5.

We are now rethinking our strategy...with a fairly short haul over the mountains, we can pick up the interstate...or we can continue the coastal road...we decide to decide at dinner...

Sol Duc - Olympic National Forest, WA

We are back in the USA.  The sun is bright red, blocked by the fires in British Columbia, and there is enough of a chill to encourage sweatshirts.  Once off the ferry, we restock the refer in Anacortes, and head for yet one more ferry to Port Townsend, and then to our destination Sol Doc...part of the Olympic National Park.  A quick look at Find-a-Friends tells us we are 6 miles behind our son, Nathan and his friend Richard, who are going to join us for the week-end.  The road is windy and it is clearly the race between the tortoise  (that would be us) and the hare...but we are more real world than the fable...and we lost the race.

Deb, Chris, Nathan and Richard

At Sol Duc, the tent sites are to die for, the RV sites are reminiscent of a parking lot, with a dozen or so Asians camping next to us.  So we decide to cook in the RV and then carry everything to Nathan's tent site.  Our first night, we had curried chicken with rice, but on the way to the car, the rice spilled, Deb screamed and one of the Asian women came over to find out what happened.  Of course, the Asian camp had plenty of rice, and offered to refill our rice bowl, we graciously accepted their rice and dinner was saved.

Sol Duc is in a temperate rainforest....although it's best known for it's hot springs (another place that heats their chlorinated pool with hot spring water), we opted for hikes in the virgin redwood forests.  We even had a campfire with humongous  marsh mellows.  It was a wonderful weekend filled with family, good food, and memorable times.  

Tomorrow we are off for....TBD

MV Malaspina - Alaska Marine Highway

Glacier Gardens Rainforest

We woke up to sunshine!  This is a first for us since we got to southeast Alaska.  Apparently, a rare event for the locals, as well.  It is the tenth sunny day this year!  And by Alaskan definition, a sunny day is when the sun peaks through the clouds occasionally.  We took advantage of the sunshine with a walk to Nugget Falls, and a trip to the Upside-down Rainforest Garden.  They turned dead Sitka Spruce trees over a stuck them in the ground roots up, then planted flowers among the roots...interesting.

Tenters were allowed on the top deck!

In preparation for our 4 day ferry trip to Bellingham, WA, we emptied the refer.  We still had a piece of beef and a small salmon

Stern of the MV Malaspina

fillet left.  So we had beef stew, with a salmon spread for an appetizer.  The ferry left Juneau at 12:30 in the morning, with our first stop at Sitka.  We have a nice Stateroom (2 double bunks and a bathroom) with a window.  Drex has the RV to himself, with alpha visits every 5 hours or so and whenever we are in port.  

At Sitka,  we got off and took a short walk to Old Sitka.  Next came Petersburg, at 9:00PM, with a shorter little dog walk, then came Wrangell at 3:00AM with an even shorter dog outing.  Then an on-board dog walk at 6:30 AM.  Drex is starting to get tired of me waking him up all the time.  

Day 2, we have about 5 hours in Ketchikan...after a quick dog walk, we catch a cab to downtown Ketchikan...5 cruise ships are in port....so the place is hopping...and for some strange reason, there's not a cloud in the sky. (This is a place that gets 180" of rain a year! ).  We end up at the New York Cafe for beer and salad.  There are no cabs for the trip back, so we hoof it for two and a half miles...then another quick dog walk.

Nothing says nap-time like getting up every few hours all night, a beer with lunch, a sunny day, and a long walk.