Last Leg

I am sitting in a 108 year old hotel looking out the window at yet more amazing mountains with lots of snow on top.  This is Haines, AK.  The town is about 2,000 people strong and 1,990 of them work at fishing or in gift shops!  It's a charming little place.  There used to be a fort here and the hotel is where the commander lived. 

Today has been a day of rest for us.  We got off the boat (ha ha) around 9:30 this morning, did a little exploring, and then took naps, or in my case, tried to nap.  I hate sleeping in a situation like this because I'm afraid I'll miss something.  :)

The trip on the ferry was great.  It was a large ferry and so, had many amenities------observation room, game room, bar, cafeteria, but not internet or TV.  We had a "state room" which was a way of saying VERY tiny room with bunk beds and a closet-sized bathroom.  The room was so small that you had to back up to turn around, and if you felt the ship sway while you were in the
 bathroom, there was no reason to worry.  It was way too small for anyone to fall down!

No matter about all this.  There was such incredible scenery to watch out on the many decks that  in the "state room" was not where you wanted to be.  Of course it was rather cold and windy on the decks.  The temperatures during the day were in the 50's but the wind took care of any feeling of warmth .

Tomorrow we head out early to Tok (pronounced with a long "O").  We have been told to watch out for moose and bear.  It's a two lane road through  more than 400 miles of very remote area.  Can't wait!  We are both enjoying this trip so much.  It's a real gift to be able to do this, and we are grateful.

A couple days ago Nels found a coin on the ground.  I commented to him that he's really good at that, and then he told me this story.

It seems there was a young boy who was good at finding pennies on the ground.  He was so skilled at spotting them that he purposed to always be looking for them so he could save them.  By the end of his life he had collected $17.94, but he had spent his life looking down and had missed all things seen when looking up.

Nelson and I spent the last few weeks literally looking up at the glories of nature.  We have spent the last 38 years looking up symbolically.  And that, my friends, is the only reason that we will be celebrating our 43d wedding anniversary right at the time we move into our Homer house.  I highly recommend "looking up".  Sometimes dreams come true.  Sometimes they don't.  But God is good either way.

(One) Liner Notes May 29-31

-  South Dakota is truly beautiful.
-  The Missouri River really is wide.
-  South Dakota on the west side of the Missouri looks completely different from how it looks on the east side.
-  The Badlands is an incredible sight, and I'd like to return.
-  Some of the Badlands topography looks like conglomerate rock and some looks like elephant skin.
-  The texture of the formations in the Badlands is like wet, sticky clay.
-  Wall Drug is really like a mall with many stores and a Western theme.
-  The good thing about the rain on May 29th was that is wasn't snow!

-  The Corn Palace is a large building covered in murals made out of corn and other grains, and the murals are changed yearly.
-  Mt. Rushmore was awesome!
-  The Master Weatherman was sooo good to us on Monday, parting the clouds to reveal glorious sunshine and crystal blue skies while we were at Mt. Rushmore.

-  Devil's Tower was interesting.
-  Sheridan, WY is an impressively clean, neat town.
-  Deep fried dill pickles with either ranch dressing or peanut butter are available in Sheridan WY.
-   When driving across the plains you cannot tell how fast you're going until you glance down and see the odometer needle much farther to the right than it's been since the last time you were in WY-----fun!
-  Because WY is so uber large, it still takes a very long time to get from point A to point B even though you're hurtling down the road at 90 MPH!
-  The Sheridan, WY phone book covers approximately 8,000 sq. mi.------I'm dead serious.
-  We saw a horizon 60 mi. away and our road 9 miles away at one point.
-  It's still fun watching for antelope.
-  The Western sky is incomparable with amazing clouds that change constantly.
-  The wind still blows incessantly so that wind chill should be part of the weather forecast all year long.
-  William Fredrick Cody, aka Buffalo Bill, was not only busy hunting buffalo and putting on shows but also visiting many bars in many towns that have later boasted about his visits.

-  Montana should be called, " The Mountain State" instead of "Big Sky".
-  Temperatures across southern MT this morning were in the 30's and this afternoon in the 50's-low 60's.
-  Montana is also HUGE with very high mountains everywhere.
.  The mountains are still very snow covered, looking like someone dusted them with a heavy coating of powdered sugar.
-  Nels saw a coyote and I saw a sand hill crane today. (Tues.)

-  We have now driven almost 2,500 miles.
-  We have enjoyed every minute of it---honest.

-  We have now driven half of the amount we have to drive.
-  Tomorrow, Wed., we drive to Seattle where driving on the interstate system way too fast ends!
-  Above pictures top to bottom: 1) Badlands, 2-4) Three Rushmore pictures with the weather improving, 5) along the road in Montana, 6) the Corn palace.

-  Finally, a Maserati doesn't really look any different from other sports cars, and sometimes it's a fat, old man in shorts driving instead of Fabio.

Dreaming

No more looking out windows (see blog titled "Dog at the Window").  No more waiting.  Whatever isn't packed gets left behind.  We are on our way!  After more than five years of planning and dreaming, saving and preparing, we are leaving for Alaska in a few days.

There was a time when dreaming wasn't part of what we did.  We were busy with careers and raising four kids.  Life was good but intense.  We kept our heads down and our motors running.  Even vacations were few and far between.  Oh, we got to travel quite a bit, but most of that was in conjunction with Nelson's work so that I got to see the sights while he got to give seminars and attend meetings.

I'm not complaining.  We have had a great life together.  Dreaming was not a highly developed skill in either of us though until the kids began leaving home, salaries became more than barely adequate, and the edges on the daily "gind" smoothed out somewhat.  Slowly we lifted our heads and began to see a fun and interesting world out there beyond kids and work.

I honestly can't remember when this particular dream took on a life of its own.  It was a birthday; so new binoculars were purchased.  It was Christmas; so we bought fishing equipment and a NOAA weather radio.  Our car had an argument with a deer and lost; so we replaced it with an all-wheel drive SUV.  Slowly and steadily our dream took shape, and we collected what we needed for our adventure.

That adventure is here now.  We're like kids on Christmas Eve.  There's much to be done in these last few days in Pennsylvania, but we're up for it.  Dreaming is a good thing.  Realizing a dream is even better!