Well, today's trip was rather interesting, we got up this morning, to VERY stiff winds, lots of rain and as we headed W. on Rt 2 across northern N. Dakota, it got stronger and stronger gusts, and soon after we turned N. at Rugby, N.D., it became cloudy and was almost unable to see due to the fog, by the time we reached the border South of Brandon - We were able to quickly go through Customs with only one minor glitch - we had purchased a "sort of gun style" pepper spray thing to keep with us in case we encountered a Bear while in Alaska, thinking it was a safer way to protect ourselves than the canister type sprays.. We did not KNOW that pepper spray of THAT type is not allowed!  We had to "Surrender it to the Crown" and hubby had to sign papers to that effect.  Oh, well, I guess that the 'Bear Stick' will just have to suffice!  (or just staying in the TRUCK when we go exploring! LOL! )  The officer was VERY kind about it - even mentioning that we could go back down the road a short ways and send it at the UPS office to our home - or ALSO that their Custom's Office could hold it for 40 days and we could pick it up on our way back down home - but we will not be going back down into the States by this route., so not an option -  So, we are spending the night in the town of Brandon - very nice size town, with lots of the same stores that we see in our area in Illinois.  We will go exploring tomorrow and spend another night here, hoping the weather is better by Saturday!  Great wifi, but NO TV reception here in this park!  Perhaps we will have to bite the bullet and invest in a dish before we make another trip up in the wilds!  For now, the box full of VHS tapes and DVDs that we have, will have to suffice!  No pix today, too rainy out there... don't want my camera wet! Maybe something interesting tomorrow!

May 29, 2013

Here is the site we woke up to this morning on the Mighty Mississip!  These 2 swans were paddling around behind our camper!  What a beautiful sight!

Pulled out about 8:30 this morning and went on up the road to Grand Forks, MN and took route 2 heading West, spending the night at "Spirit Lake Casino and Resort", pretty nice campground on Spirit Lake..., south of Devil's Lake.  Very quiet!

Our campsite at Spirit Lake Casino:

Hopefully, tomorrow we will be in Canada!  Sort of planning our route this evening, we kind of travel along and decide while we are DRIVING! Sort of flying by the seat of our PANTS travel!  Hopefully more to add tomorrow!

May 28, 2013

Well, after several months of planning and preparation, adding more storage, etc, and securing some of the needed items in MORE bins,  loaded the fridge and had the rig detailed.  We even managed to squeeze in an emergency dental appointment and 2 funeral visitations in the last few days.  Pulled out from our North central Illinois home about 8:00 A.M., heading up through Wisconsin to Minneapolis and north.  Spent the night in Monticello, MN.  Quiet little "Mom and Pop" type campground, but we had a nice blacktop pad for our site with the back of our camper about 5 feet from the Mississippi River!

May 19, 2013

We are about a week and a half from our Departure date!  Trying to cram in last minute visits with our many Wonderful friends, Making sure we have our Meds up to date and prescriptions filled for 6 months.  Giving more instructions to our house sitter, lawn mower guy and neighbors who will be watching our place.  Den has packed the wheel bearings, new seals, adjusted the stuff that needed to be adjusted or checked.  He has already finished the minor things on or inside the 5th wheel itself - Making sure the solar panels are doing their thing, adding any extra tools to his 'basement storage area' that might be needed.  I am a VERY organized person - (some might call it OBSESSED with organization!), so I have been getting canned goods loaded in, all of the dry goods - flour, sugar, spices, pastas, rice- in similar sized containers, and labeled, so they all fit in their spots, and will not be sliding around in cabinets.  Same with cleaning supplies,and  my tools that I keep inside the camper, eliminating duplicates..

Not a very interesting post here, but wanted to post a bit about our background things necessary to be done before a trip of this Distance and time.... We have updated our wills, made preparations to put cable, phone, etc on "vacation mode" and informed our bank of our journey, so that they will not STOP our cards or such when they start getting credit or debit cards being used in Canada and Alaska!  Truck and Camper are scheduled to be detailed this coming week.  On a minor note - I have lined up a "baby sitter" for the few houseplants that I have - usually take them with us when we travel in the states, but thinking they might not be allowed to cross the border into Canada..  If anyone knows better, please let me know!  LOL!  Sure hoping we are getting all of our ducks in a row - this is a FIRST for us, to be gone this long and this far away.

More news when I HAVE some!  Donna

Pre Departure Preparations!

Well, we plan to leave our homestead here in North Central Illinois within the next 4 weeks or so, just HOPING it will NOT be snowing !!  Been a dreadful winter here...

When Hubby and I got married almost 24 years ago, he informed me that he did not "Do" tents, so our first camper was a slide in truck camper, then over the years, we have tried 2 Old Winnebago Motor Homes, and a Travel trailer, till we finally decided that a 5th wheel would be the best "Fit" for us.

We finally settled on a 2007 Cardinal 5th Wheel by Forest River.  It is SO comfy for us and we have really been enjoying adding our own touches to it, inside and out..  We have lightened the load in our 5th Wheel and Honey has been inspecting and doing all the "Guy stuff" that is required to a rig before any journey begins!

We have put more than 65,000 miles on our rig in these past 7 years and have been to 30 States so far in our Cozy Home on Wheels!

Our journey will begin in a few short weeks and we will be heading through the Beautiful Country to our North, Canada,  to our Wonderful state of Alaska for this upcoming trip! And "On The Way Home'' from Alaska, we will be going back through Canada, and down into Washington, Oregon and California, (we get to add THOSE states to our State Map! )"WE" decided that those last 3 remaining states on our map of Western states  were going to be "On The Way Home", due to the fact that we will be finishing up this 6 month trip with a continued journey down to Albuquerque, NM for the Balloon Festival!  Although we have been to ABQ several times, we have never been there during Balloon Fest !  Really looking forward to the Fest as well as the opportunity to see our friends who are in our Cardinal RV Club group, for our Southwest Rally.. We have SO much fun at our Rallies, and to date we have attended 14 Rallies!

So, if you are interested, Check Back occasionally to follow our progress on our Great Alaskan Journey! I will try to get pictures added as we travel along on our journey.