Day 1-Fargo

June 12

 

481 miles
8 hr 40 min drive time
69.7 gal gas

 

 The plan was to hopefully be on the road by 9 am.  Miraculously we rolled out at 8:58.  I don't think we have ever left early for anything.

 

It didn't take long before we had a bit of excitement.  Before we even got past Ankeny my TPMS alerted me to a high temperature in one of the trailer tires.  It said it was 345 degrees!  Obviously it was a malfunction but it was still best to check it out.   I pulled over at the next exit and used my IR temp gun to check the tires.  The tire face, sidewall, rim, brake drum and the sensor itself was all around 100-110 degrees.  A quick power cycle of the unit and all was right.

 

 

 

The rest of the trip was uneventful.  Ran into a rain storm around Owatonna otherwise the weather was really nice.

 

 
                       

 

We got to the campsite about 5:30.  I had not made reservations because why would a campground be full on a Wednesday?  I was shocked when the guy said he was full until about an hour earlier when someone cancelled.

 

 

We had our usuall first night of camping dinner.  Walking taco's.  After dinner the girls wanted a treat but I didn't have room to pack ice cream treats.  We found a cute little ice cream shop in the downtown district.  We had good timing as just as we sat down there was a line out the door and around the corner.

 

 

Overall we had a great first day.  Tomorrow we cross into Canada.
 

Home Sweet Home

In 2019, not long after Jen was diagnosed with cancer we decided life was too short to always play everything safe,  Sure we had a nice house, nice cars and took fun vacations.  But we both had a few dreams that were big purchase items that we always put on the back burner for one reason or another.   Time to make some of them come true.

I have always loved camping.  My parents had a truck camper and despite being cramped it was always fun to camp and fish.  I was also in scouts so there were many weekends camped out under the stars.  It was only natural that I wanted to pass my love of camping on to my kids.  We did the tent camping for a number of years, it was fun, but honestly it was a lot of work.   Jen's idea of camping was staying at a Holiday Inn and going hiking, returning to the enclosed pool and hot tub later.  I think the only reason she agreed to two week camping trip around Lake Superior was because she knew she was getting a ring out of the deal!

I had been wanting a camper for a while, however Jen always had visions of the campers from the 70's and 80's where they were dimly lit and packed in like sardines. It wasn't until we visited her friend at a campground that had recently purchased a camper and realized that, while not a Holiday Inn, they were pretty nice.  A few weeks later and we had a similar model.  

We got a 30ft Keystone Hideout.  It was a bunkhouse model but was pretty spacious for a travel trailer.  While she didn't fall in love with camping, she did join us for dinner and s'mores if we were local and the girls and I did convince her to go out with us once or twice a year.  In the end this was daddy/daughter time and we all enjoyed it.

We really liked this camper and it worked well for our weekend trip exploring Iowa and the surrounding states.  With this camper, along with Iowa we visited Minnesota, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska.  The later were trips Jen joined with.

For as much as I liked our camper I really did not want to pull a bumper pull 8000 miles and through the mountains.  Not only is a 5th wheel easier to tow but it also has more storage room, something we would need a lot of for a 2 month trip!

Looking at floor plans, I was continually drawn back to Keystone.  They had an identical floor plan in two different lines.  One in the Cougar line and the other in the Arcadia.  Luckily my local dealer had both of them on the lot.  The main features of the floor plan I liked was the opposing slides in the main living area and the rear bedroom with a loft for the girls to sleep in.   The bunks in the last camper just did not work out as well as I thought they would, hopefully a full bedroom with actual beds will work out better.  Instead of more reading I made a little video tour of the camper.  I hope you enjoy!

What was I thinking?

 The idea of going to Alaska is a relatively quick story, but why is a much longer tale.  

In the fall of 2021 my wife, Jen, was told that the cancer she had battling for the previous 3 years was no longer treatable and was now considered terminal.  I suppose you could say that we were smart in the fact that once we considered having kids we purchased life insurance.  Pro Tip: figure out how much you need to pay off all debit's and then double that.  At the time I bought enough to pay off debits plus X amount and 15 years later I wish I had doubled that amount.

In any event we eventually had the conversation of what I would do with the money.  Of course I said I would pay off our debits.  Make a few repairs and upgrades to the house.  And maybe a nice vacation at some point.  She told me we should go on a trip of a lifetime.  As a gift from her.

Jen was a beach girl so the majority of our vacations in the past had included the sand and ocean.  Any camping was generally the girls and myself.  If we were semi local Jen would come out and have dinner and s'mores and then head home to the comfy bed and puppy cuddles with the dog.  However, after her first round of cancer we had planned a trip to Arches National Park with the camper and I was really looking forward to that.

I always did enjoy our beach trips but if this was going to be a trip of a lifetime it was going to be something that I really enjoyed but thought I would never have a chance to do.  So I decided that we would go to Alaska.

We could have went anywhere but Alaska seemed fitting.  Jumping into the way back machine brings us to the mid 90's.  Jen's brother, David, was battling cancer.  He was 12-13 at the time.  He had a type of bone cancer that was best treated in Seattle.  There they met a family who also had a son the same age and had the same type of cancer.   The boys became instant friends and the family spent a lot of time together at the Ronald McDonald house.  At some point, both families went home and the boys passed away.   However the family's kept in touch.  The mom of the other boy was born in Iowa so they visited family and would reconnect with Jen's family.   Her parents also did an Alaskan cruise and visited them as well.

Fast forward many years, the mom of the other boy battled leukemia herself and because of her experiences with cancer she became an Oncology Navigator.  When Jen was diagnosed they were in touch often, even more so once she was diagnosed as terminal.  Jen called her, her Alaska Mom.

Several years back they had purchased a resort, P&K Anglers Retreat.  I always thought it would be really cool to take the camper up there at some point.  It didn't seem right to go anywhere else than to visit Jen's Alaska Mom!

Alaska by RV is not a trip you do in a standard two week vacation.  Even with driving 8-10 hours a day it will take about 6 days just to get to the Alaskan border.  Ever since Jen and I married it was assumed that I would start working for her dad and eventually take over.  Because I now have the freedom to take a leave I was now able to take the time needed to drive and see what we want to see.   My current itinerary has us gone for 70 days.  It would have been more but my middle daughter is in dance so we had to wait until after her dance recital.  And of course we have to be back before school starts.

The purpose of this blog will be as a journal for the girls and I to look back on as well as for friends and family to keep up on where we are and what we are doing.   I hope to have an update for each day.  Of course we will have a lot of places where we just do not have internet access so there will probably be gaps where there are several days updated at once.