Hitting the Road………

          

March 6th, 2012 - After what has seemed like months of anticipation and getting ready, today has finally arrived! We hitched up the Airstream and hit the road. We are off on our next 'great adventure’ – a trip that is planned to take us from visiting daughter Sarah in Arizona, to meeting up with my sister and our traveling friend at the Grand Canyon in April, through the Utah National Parks, then on to California for oldest daughter Laura’s graduation from Berkeley Law school in May. From there, we will head up the west coast through Northern California, Oregon and Washington. Since we will be ‘so close’, we decided that we would drive on up to Alaska to spend the Summer, enjoying a ride up the Inside Passage on the Alaskan Ferry along the way.

Preparations for this trip have been extensive. If all goes as we planned, we may be gone until sometime in September, making this a 7 month trip – our longest yet. We worked on our plans a little bit at a time, making reservations where we felt like we would need them along the way. It has been fun researching each of the places that we want to visit.

This trip has also given us a good excuse to get several projects finished at home. Fred finished re-siding the barn/workshop, and built a shed roof extension to protect his tractor. I have been busy sorting out, cleaning and organizing the house stuff. Nothing like the feeling of coming home to a tidy place! 

Preparations done…..and goodbyes said…….the day finally came!   We got on the road this morning about 9 am. We had promised ourselves that we would not get in such a hurry that we would feel that we forgot something. Thanks to a penchant for list making, we managed to leave with a good, relaxed feeling - well....as relaxed as one gets when leaving on a trip.     : )

We decided to take the drive to Phoenix at a leisurely pace, taking 3 nights on the road. The drive this first day was easy, and we got to Mineral Wells SP (just west of Ft. Worth, TX) about 3:45pm. We got set up  without a problem..... and are feeling comfortably at home in the camper. All is well.    : )

We have a new addition to our travels. Our son, Brian’s dog, Jade is staying with us for a while, so she is coming along on our travels. Jade travels well, and doesn’t mind riding in the truck, where she has a very nice cushy mat. After we had gotten all settled in at Mineral Wells, we took Jade out for a nice walk around the campground. She loved that! So many different and new smells! As I write, she is settled on her ‘cozy spot’ in the camper.

         

We have had a good first day on the road. Our thanks, to all of you who keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

A note for those who are new to my blog – I will try to write of our ‘adventures’, and, of course, post pictures, as often as time and internet connections will allow. That means that my posts are often written up, then ‘published’ when I have an internet connection, and may run several days to a week behind. Don’t let the post dates throw you off.  I schedule the blogs to post each day at 5 am - an arbitrary time I picked to catch everyone who likes to read my blog before work.

Please join us on our travels…….And, please feel free to ‘comment’ on a blog post, or email us. We love hearing your thoughts…….

Sue and Fred