We made it!

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1

We have Psalm 121 marked in our Bibles. This Psalm was read to send us on our way by our church family.

We’re here safely. Thank you for your prayers.

It took us 7 days!

Going through the Northern Rockies in British Columbia was amazing! God blessed us with abundant wildlife to see right along the road side. We saw black bears, caribou, ram sheep herds, buffalo herds, wild horses, a moose and a rabbit. Yes, a rabbit coming up the middle of the road on the yellow line. We took a picture of every one of them, except the rabbit.

The picture of the lake is going through Muncho Lake, BC. Look at how the water is so emerald green. Doug noticed this was a sign of clean, pure water. Linda noticed it was still somewhat frozen and now worried that this summer might be a cold one.

The people we’ve met along this trail have been from all over the world. Places like, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Hong Kong and Germany. We don’t have pictures of them, though.

One of the nights we stayed at Destruction Bay, Yukon. It was in the Kluane National Park with a spectacular view of the Saint Elias Mountains. Kluane Lake was still frozen. The wind blew a cold chill over our camp site and it snowed in the morning. Burr it was cold. (see why I'm worried.)

We stayed at Tok, AK last night and are now in Palmer, AK. We took so many pictures coming up through the mountains. There were even a couple of glacier pictures. Our jaws dropped at the new beauty given to us in every turn of the road.

Everywhere we look is breathtaking scenery. And even in these remote areas, we saw many churches. It reminded us that no matter where we go, God’s creation, God’s people, and the great commission are everywhere.

We'll be attending church this Sunday at the Eagle River Church of the Nazarene. Doug said he didn't have time for God when he was up here the first time. Now, the first Sunday he's back in this state, he wants to worship God for all He's blessed him with over the last 35 years by giving honor to him in church.

This week we'll be off to the Anchorage area to tour then down to Homer, AK for some King Salmon fishing!

Traveling Through Canada

Yesterday we entered Canada at Sweetgrass, MT and made it as far as Whitecourt, Alberta. We had traveled 493 miles and it felt as if we were going up hill all the way. The truck's engine is always gearing to handle the hills. We can see the Canadian Rockies to the west of the road we're traveling. They're snow capped, majestic giants. This highway is heavily traveled towards Calgary and Edmondton, AB.

It is interesting to read the signs along the road. Names like,

"Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump" (We wondered what happened?)
"Gopher Hole Museum"
"Are You In Texicated? Don't Text and Drive" (who would do that?)

So many funny signs to read on the freeway.

We were glad to finally travel on a more scenic route. Hear we see pine forests as far as the eye can see. Fast moving streams viewed from bridges. It's gorgeous! Doug isn't stopping though to take pictures. He says I haven't seen anything yet. Wait until Alaska. The picture I did take was from the car coming into a deep gorge.

We knew we were getting closer to Alaska when we finally entered the Alaskan Highway at Dawson Creek. And we knew we were getting closer when we started seeing Moose Crossing signs.

Another funny sight was as we traveled through the Indian reservation. The natives had placed couches and chairs along the road to watch traffic go by. I'm sure the migration of people going north is a sight for them to see.

We're meeting a lot of people as we stop at the camp sites. Some couples from Oklahoma we hope to meet up with in Anchorage. She gave me a recipe for making omelets in a Ziploc bag and boiling it in water. It sounds funny but she promises it tastes good and comes out perfect.

Doug is reliving his past as he remembers the highway being all gravel in 1972 when he first came up to report for duty at Fort Richardson. It was the same time of year as we're traveling now.

The days are getting longer now. It's almost 10 p.m. and it is still light outside.
Tomorrow will be another long day of travel.

We're on our way

Our first night out was spent in Jamestown, North Dakota. There is a frontier town which displays a huge statue of a buffalo. Doug though it would be fun to make buffalo burgers given the size of the buffalo, we could eat a long time (if it were real).

We're traveling through North Dakota on our way to Montana. North Dakota has badlands, too. Who would have thought the badlands could be so beautiful and massive. We drove in it for four hours on our way to Fort Peck, MT.

We're spending the night in Fort Peck. This is where Doug's grandfather help build the dam and where his uncle managed the water flow for many years.

Along the way we saw many birds, antelope with their babies and pronghorn. Pronghorn are the fastest animal in North America. They can run as fast as 60 mph.

The bottom picture is of the Fort Peck dam area.

Getting Ready

Departing May 21, 2009!

Four more days of work, twelve more days until we leave!

Going, going, going, going fishing!

On Friday, May 8, the truck was parked as pictured with the back tailgate down.  While pulling the truck out from underneath the trailer, Linda needed to close the tailgate for travel.   But instead of putting the truck in park to jump out to close the tailgate, it was in reverse.  Needless to say, the truck went backwards on its own.  The tailgate went through the basement and knocked the trailer off its holding stands and smashed onto the two sides of the bed of the pick up truck.  

The damage was extensive but Doug put it all back together again.  We'll have it all rebuilt when we get back.  Except for the tailgate.  We had to buy another one, this time a 5th-wheel tailgate.

We're still going.