Well, for those of you who have been checking back every day for an update (one that hasn't come in, what, two years), we finally have one for you. We're starting to gear up for our travel back to the Outside (Alaskan word for the lower 48). We plan to start our drive on the 13th of August.
The trip this time will be a little different. Instead of heading south once we get into Canada, we will head south and then east, through Edmonton, Winnipeg, and then to Thunder Bay, around Lake Superior, and down through Michigan. We are going to visit the Dunn clan in the Detroit area so we'll take the travel eastward.
So, instead of three cats and Mike and Char in a Subaru and an A-liner heading up, we have two cats (our cat named One has gone on to kitty heaven after a bout with kidney disease), an Eli, and we'll make the first leg of the journey with Char's sister Carol. Carol is a national park ranger and will be a joy to have along on the first part of our journey.
So, how do you pack all of that in an A-liner, you ask? Well, you upgrade your camper and your tow vehicle and try again. We now have a 21 foot hybrid travel trailer that we will pull down the Alcan highway. It officially sleeps eight, but Eli takes up room for four, so we have four spots left, using three of them for Mike, Char, and Carol, and one for the cats.
Well, the movers come on Monday, so we're busy packing up. But I'll give you more details of the trip as time permits and keep a log and pictures up-to-date as we get on the move. Cheers!

Mike

As you may have noticed, I've added the pictures and some entries from the final two days of our trip. It certainly was quite an adventure - thanks for following along!

You can stay tuned here to see what we're up to in Anchorage (what mountains we're climbing, trails we're hiking, rivers we're kayaking, cats we're scooping up after). You may also be able to see some random comments about the world ... politics, religion ... and, as we're snowed in come January, maybe some pictures of the Northern Lights.

We're actively looking for houses around here at the moment, which can be exhausting. Tomorrow, we're moving hotels to one that has a kitchen--we're really excited about cooking some chili tomorrow night.

Well, we made it to Anchorage, AK, after over 6,000 miles of travel. I still owe you a couple of posts and plenty of pictures yet! Look for them later today or tomorrow - I will have to back-date them so they make sense. We had a great dinner tonight at the Glacier Brewery, where they brew their own beers (and even root beers for Char).

So, if you've reviewed the pictures from Day 15, the day of many animal sightings, you may notice that I have mis-labeled some large game ... confusing moose with caribou with elk with mule deer or who knows what. Just understand that we're from Florida, and the largest game we've seen up to this point has been the racoons in our trash cans. SO .. we're working on it! Any help correctly identifying the animals in the photos will win you a kick in the pants. Send an e-mail or, better yet, post a comment!

OK, so, on a picture caption from Day 1, I made a comment, "Char crying in disbelief." Well, in reality, this was some creative license. There's no crying on Dunn Car Trips (that's Rule #2 -- for Rule #1, ask Josh Gaines). Anyway, we were laughing at it all almost the entire time. The only time the mood on this trip has been anything other than bliss and excitement is the 20-minute stretch where Pi WOULD NOT SHUT UP. I mean, really, she is obnoxious. Also, if Char gets hungry ... that'll put things on edge too. But that's it. NO crying. Char has received several e-mails of concern for her well-being. She says, "MIKE, TELL THEM I WASN'T UPSET!" So, here you go!

Admin: Adam let me know that the "Contact Us" link was broken. That's been fixed. Thanks Adam!

Redwood and Sequoia trees are gargantuan. I felt like a dwarf roaming among these trees. When you approach a tree that you can’t even begin to put your arms around you, you get the feeling of small. We had a good time walking among the trees and seeing their grandeur and bigness.

We decided to take a detour from Redwood to go toward Crater Lake National Park in Oregon. I think that was a good decision. We’ve arrived in Prospect, OR, to camp for the evening. What a great small town this is! Our camp site is wonderful—great people who are so excited to have us around. The town is small—population of about 1,000 or so—but there is still a lot to see! We’ve taken the waterfall tour here in town that includes three different waterfalls. It was a great, relaxing evening.

Tomorrow, off to Crater Lake!

All Day 9 pictures ...