Chamberlain, SD—Lewis & Clark, Sioux Museum, Sacagawea Statue

Planning

After three full months of planning, Dan and I are within a month of heading out on the road.  Our destination: Alaska. Here is Dan, last October, with the RoadHouse and the BAT.  (That truck is a monster but so plush in the interior!) Last year we did a big trip right before COVID locked us in--a month in Estero, parked on a pad in the same park where Ray and Clarice overwinter, then on to the panhandle; Montgomery, AL: Rome, GA and after a one-nighter in Columbus, home. Dan does 95% of the driving, usually handing off to me after lunch so he can nap. We listen to podcasts and audio books and my job is to choose mutually satisfying "reading"!

This photo was taken before we left a winery in Virginia, the first time we stayed on a Harvest Host property. We had the winery in one direction and the vineyard in the valley, below us. It was gorgeous. We didn't have electrical or water hookups but we were seeing what we could do with just battery power. We did fine.

My plan is to go dark on social media (other than the occasional craft post!). We have the local Parker Brothers to look after our mail and yard; Matt will have Fleur. I will miss her SO MUCH. But...if we DO get into Canada (more later on that), then we won't have to plan for her. She's not allowed in many National Parks, and what about when you're just parked and you want to go see a museum?  With no electricity, she could end up in a sauna in either the truck or camper, so that would be awful for her. Plus, Dan ends up doing all the "doggy duty" while I slowly get ready in the mornings (nope, not a morning person!). We can be "more efficient" without the dog but man....I will miss her. (Fleur, on the other hand, will be in doggy heaven with Matt!)

Here she is, last February in Estero: 

About Canada: we really don't know if we will be able to get in or not! With the COVID situation and the status of the vaccine penetration, and the new variants gaining strength, we can't predict if the border will be open to us or not.  We will have our vaccine cards with us in case we need them, along with our special ID driver's licenses and passports. If we can't get in, then we will miss Joan in the Vancouver area, Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Sonja in Calgary, as well as Alaska. 

If that is the case, then we will not be using all the planning that Dan has done and will be flying by the seat of our pants. Normally, that would be a great adventure, but we've heard that campgrounds are filling up quickly these days as families and seniors have found RV-ing to be a great way to stay relatively safe in these COVID months. So, finding a campsite could be more challenging than we'd like!  

That said, how bad would it be to explore the PNW (Pacific Northwest) at our leisure? Washington, Oregon, NoCal...that would be YUMMY. So, it's really a no-lose, but just different than what we'd planned out!

We'll be leaving on May 24, and spend our first night in Columbus seeing Andrew and Madison and Jelly Bean, then on to the heartland on the 25th.

This blog will be our way to keep connected, so feel free to comment! If we don't have internet access, the posts may be less frequent. But it will be a fun way to "journal" our trip for us! We plan on being back at the "Leroy Ranch" at the end of August.

PS--there'll likely be a couple of more posts as we get closer to departure. Stay tuned!