Talkeetna

A rainy day in Talkneetna, catching up emails, etc.   We are meeting the Beatty's for breakfast in the morning and them we will catch the Hurricane Train tomorrow.  It is one of the last flag stop trains in North America.  If you want to get on, flag it down.  If you want to get off anywhere the route just signal and it will stop.

along

Canada Day 1

May 21

Left Sumas WA mid-morning.  Uneventful border crossing, a few questions, checked our passports and said have a nice day, we didn’t leave the coach.  No forms. No duty, no search and a very pleasant young Canadian officer.  An interesting side note.  One of the questions was if we were traveling with anyone.  I said yes, the lady in the 5^th wheel in the next lane.  They wanted to know if we were friends or relatives, how long we had traveled together, etc.  They asked her the same questions and must have liked the answers as they waved us both through.  Another interesting little tidbit is that the Rand McNally Nav system automatically switched to metric as we crossed the border.  Great technology.

Drove up Canada Hwy 1 and 97 towards Prince George BC.  The drive is along the Fraser River and one of the most beautiful anywhere.  It is my favorite kind of road, scenic, wide, mostly 2 lane with well-spaced passing lanes and not much traffic.

Stayed the first night in Downing Provincial Park for a senior rate of $9.00.  It is a very small park (18 sites) with narrow roads and small sites.  We squeezed into the last 2 and settled in for the night.  No hookups, Cell service or Wi-Fi, but it is a nice, recently renovated facility.  We did not realize that in addition to being a Canadian Holiday weekend it is also the opening weekend for most parks and facilities so space is at a premium and we were fortunate indeed to find 2.

Wildlife score, 3 deer.

Redding CA

Next stop On the list was a visit with the Germones in Redding.  We decided to stay off the Interstate this time and drove back roads through towns and comunities that I had not seen in years, Lincoln, Wheatland, Yuba City, Marysville (my Dad;s hometown) and Red Bluff.  Stayed at the Elks Lodge in Redding where Larry and Judy are members as well.  As you can see we had some unvited guests when 4 Canadian Geese landed in the swimming pool and decided to stay for awhile.

A container train crossing the Sacramanto river on a high trestle near Redding.

The Sundial Bridge in downtown Redding is a pedestian bridge accross the Sacramento that connects trails from downtown all the way to Shasta Dam.

It was great to see a snow covered Mount Shasta and Lake Shasta full to the tree line for the first time in years.

North to Alaska

The first day of our trip north:  After a late start saying good byes to Julie, Andrew and Owen in Santa Rosa and picking up a part for the coach that we had ordered, we got to the Elk's lodge in Carmichael.  Had a great dinner with a small group of family and friends.  Colds and prior commitments kept the size of the group down.  It was a neat way to say good by to Sacramento for the year.  See you all in the spring.  Today's destination is the Elk's Lodge in Redding CA for a visit with the Germones.  Here is a map of our route from CA to Fairbanks AK.

A long day on the road

It was a long, tough driving day today.  Starting with a miscalculation of the distance to our next scheduled stop, we were faced with about 400 miles to our next stay, Nashville TN.   That's a bit more than the 250 miles a day we like to travel but certainly doable.
What we didn't count on was in that 400 miles was about 75 miles of construction pylons, stopped traffic and lanes closed on every Interstate we were traveling on.  It seemed like the whole world was under construction.
A stop for gas and a stretch, another for a bite of lunch and 9 hours and 1 cracked windshield later we arrived in Nashville worn out but safely tucked in for a relaxing couple of days in Music City.

Live from Sturgis SD

Good Times in the Badlands

First let me say the Darlene and I had an absolute blast hosting our first Full Timers Rally.  It was a great turnout and it was terrific to see and welcome so many first timers and new members to our ranks.  We hope that everyone who attended had as great a time as we did and that those who could not attend will realize what fun they missed and be at future rallies.

The first night wine and cheese party lasted a bit longer than planned as the chef (me) took longer to get the Hobo Soup pot up to temperature and ready to serve.  It appeared to be worth waiting for, however, as the pot was completely empty afterwards.  It is a fun concept and I can provide instructions for anyone is interested.  We also gave about 30 cans of soup to the local Crisis Intervention Center which they were very happy to get.

What an experience we had the next day when we were picked up at the park by “Alkali Ike”, aka Mike Kitzmiller, for a tour of Deadwood, including its famous historic cemetery, followed by lunch at the 4 Aces Casino.  Ike is a colorful native of the area and full of stories, jokes and local information.  It was interesting to learn of the misconceptions surrounding “Wild Bill” Hickok and “Calamity Jane” who are buried in the Deadwood Cemetery.  He got us safely back to Rush-No-More in time for happy hour.

Ed Miller, the owner of Rush-No-More, was terrific to work with.  He gave us the run of the facilities and provided some excellent meals.  He also donated some Bike Rally materials for a charity auction.

In true Full Timers tradition, the business meeting was concise and to the point.  We made a couple of rule changes and elected new officers.  Thank you Howie for your service as president, and we wish a warm welcome to Roy Holt as our new president.  Best wishes to all the other new officers as well.

The steak dinner and festivities the last night were a lot of fun.  “Sheriff” Sonny Gillespie was in his usual rare form.  He managed to zing most everyone in attendance at least once.  “That’s a quarter” will certainly go down as one of history’s famous quotations.  Thank you, Sonny, for another terrific performance.  Between the Sheriff’s quarters, the 50/50 drawing and Ed’s auction we presented a check to the local school lunch program for $215.00.  I ‘m not going to mention their name here, because I’m not sure they want  their good deed publicized, but a special thanks to the couple(who are new members as well) for donating their 50/50 winnings back to the charity fund.

A special shout out for Jim & Chris Guld, the “Geeks on Tour” for their interesting and informative seminars.  They actually held a couple of additional sessions during free time that were well received.  We are glad to have them as members.  Also thanks to new members, John & Diane Trujillo for helping to sponsor the wine and cheese event.

People started to leave the next day and more arrived for the Elk’s/Military Rally.  15 coaches, including yours truly, stayed for that rally as well before heading to Gillette.  It seemed to work well to schedule these rallies back to back so all who desired could participate.

Safe travels to you all and thanks once again for making our first hosting experience so terrific.

Mike & Darlene

Back to School

This week we are at the TechoGeek learning rally in Bushnell FL. We are learning all things tech and then some.  Jim and Chris Guld of Geeks on Tour fame and Phil May of Techno RV led classes on topics such as blogging, photo processing and management, internet access, accessories, navigation, and trip planning.  Great presentations and plenty of hands on learning. It has been 4 very full days including evening fun aactivities and plenty of great food.