Countdown To Alaska Trip

I know, we just got home…why are we already thinking about our Alaska Trip?  Well, there is much to do between then and now, and we are just around 100 days away from our take off.  Frankly, we are not “sure” of the exact day we will leave.  We have paid up at the storage unit for the motorhome until May 1st.  We have to reload everything we are going to take, which will not include some of the stuff we just unloaded that we have determined we don’t need.  It will include a small list of more items we should have had, especially warmer clothing for those cool spring temperatures we anticipate headed up there….and we (I) did not have enough long pants for the fall/winter temps we faced this past trip.

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Our Alaska Trip will be between 12,000 and 13,000 miles of motorhome driving from May 1st through early December.  That’s doubling the number of miles we currently have on our motorhome.  Although we only have 13,000 miles, we are going to have our coolant hoses changed, transmission fluids changed, and a good look over by the local Ford dealership or place they recommend.  The HHR will need a few things too.  We know there is going to be a lot of driving….but we are going to take it at an easy pace, and keep our calendar very flexible.  Before we get out of the states we have to go through Arkansas for yearly medical checkups for me, and up to the Chicago area to visit relatives.  Then over to Glacier National Park (East side) via North Dakota, which will give me all 48 states.  From there, enjoy that part of Canada which can be enjoyed, and drive through those desolate areas which one just has to get through…or at least that is what I have been told.  I think I will just enjoy it all.  After we get back into the lower 48 in September, we will head to Sacramento area again to spend Thanksgiving before heading back home to Florida for Christmas.

For those who don’t get our blog through email, you can see our countdown calendar near the bottom or our blog page.  A constant reminder to us as to how much time we have to do what we need to do, and enjoy the family and friends we will see here in Florida.  It is also a countdown calendar to when we get our puppies back with us full time again.

Also, the new header on our blog is taken from the Sponge Docks here in Tarpon Springs.  When the Greeks arrived in America during the great European Migration, there were many Greeks who had been Sponge Divers in Greece, and this area of Florida was ideal for “Sponging”.  Down at the Sponge Docks there is this memorial for those Spongers who lost their lives in doing their trade.  A fitting header for our Blog while we are here in the Tarpon Springs / Holiday Florida area.  (you see, we can claim both towns because a) our post office box is in Tarpon Springs, b) our dogs are currently living in Tarpon Springs, and c) Marcia’s father lived in, and step brothers and sister grew up in Tarpon Springs)

And it’s not like either of us are having separation anxiety or anything like that….nope, not either of us…just BOTH OF US!

In the meantime, I will still be posting over the next 100+ days. Many of them, I hope, will be about exciting and interesting things going on around here…people we see, places we go.  But other times I will post some interesting shots, like the one above when we went to Sequoia National Park back in April, 2012…. we glued Skruffy up on top of the car because she would not stop barking.  It did not cure her, however…. I think both Marcia and I would give a dime just to hear her little bark right now….  (And before anyone calls the SPCA, no, we did not glue her on top of the car…the car was not moving, and  she enjoys being the “ham” of my photos.)