ALASKA: Here We Come!

Tomorrow we store our Airstream here at the Washington Land Yacht Harbor Airstream Park and drive to Bellingham, WA, which is north of Seattle. There we will drive our GMC onto the Alaska Marine Ferry and sail the Inland Passage Waterway to Haines, AK. The fee for a big SUV and two passengers is $1600. By using the ferry, we will see the beautiful coastal area, which is inaccessible by auto. As well, we will get to briefly visit four costal cities, including Juneau, the Capital. The water route to Haines cuts off 1700 driving miles from Seattle, and the highway is the same one we will be taking when we return to Seattle in early September.

We do not mean to imply that we will be on a posh cruise vessel. We will not have a room, as none were available when we registered three weeks ago. Therefore we must rough it by pitching our small dome tent on deck or by spreading our sleeping bags in the Solarium. Oh well, that's part of the adventure! Gloria has made cookies and oat bran muffins, plus we have packed lots of healthy snacks. We'll let you know how it feels to travel low budget fare. Once we get to Haines, we will drive toward Valdez, Seward, Homer and Anchorage. After that we hope to catch the train to Denali (Mt. McKinley) National Park and Fairbanks.

One of the joys of RVing is meeting new friends along the way. That probably would not happen if we were of the motel set. We first met Michael and Heysuk back at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and learned that they had recently sold their home in Fairfax County. Michael has retired from the Army and Heysuk from DOD. Next, we both happened to park at the famcamp at McCord AFB. Today we had a good time visiting them at their latest campsite at Fort Lewis. We both love being on the road but agree that one can travel the entire nation and find it hard to beat Northern Virginia as far as owning a home is concerned. We will probably meet up again in New Mexico in October.