Saturday June 26 got up Early, accidentally, we didn't realize we crossed over to Pacific time. We are now 2 hours behind you. Had a little breakfast and headed to downtown Dawson Creek to see the town......it took all of 2 minutes. It was only about 7:30 so we parked the motor home in the middle of the street, got out and took pictures at mile zero of the Alaskan highway. We found the farmers market that was open looked around and then went to the visitors center and watched a really good movie about constructing the highway. We got fuel( $3.70 per gallon) and hit the road. Some of the highway was very good and some was not. There were huge hills .......down and up,,,,,which were hard on the RV. It was all you could do to keep it under control down hill and max of 30 mph at times up hill. Overall another good day. A little rain, picnic lunch and got to Ft. Nelson about 4:30. Pizza and salad in the RV, Church at 7:30 mass ......all 16 of us and back for the night. Tomorrow we head for Watson Lake. Running low on beer, will need to spend some money soon. John

Greetings from the guest blogger of the day~! That would be Carol and Jerry! WE arrived in Edmonton yesterday after 2 fine flights and Beth and John were waiting for us at the airport.

Went to the RV park, had happy hour and drove downtown for a while. Back to RV park and

John cooked dinner, sausita and spaghetti. Heard the Cardinals lost 5 to 0 so we were glad we

missed this game. This morning we headed to Dawson Creek in British Columbia - had good

roads and saw pines, pines and aspen. Beautiful country - very small towns. Fixed lunch in

the motor home - arrived Dawson Creek about 4:30 -pm - fixed dinner, roasted chicken,

baked potatoes and corn on the cob. After dinner, we plan to go to town and see mile marker 0 where the Alaskan highway starts. WE will also try to catch part of the Cards game.

Special hello to Tammy, Ahren, Stacy, Ellie and Emily. And all the Duda grandkids. We are

having a great time and miss all of you.

Thursday the 24Th. Did a little computer work this morning, made mean ham, egg and cheese sandwiches for breakfast and took a half hour walk around the camp ground. It was a very nice morning after a late night shower. Picked up Carol and Jerry from the airport and took a site seeing trip around town. Made Italian sausage and spaghetti with garlic bread for dinner. While we were out we went grocery shopping and made a terrible discovery that will completely screw up our budget.......beer is very expensive. A case of 24 Bud Light is $37.......that's 37 dollars for a case of beer. Then Carol and I bought a few bottles of wine at the grocery store, got home and discovered they are non alcoholic......but, vodka and grape juice isn't bad. Tomorrow we take off for Dawson City B.C. about 6 hours away. I hope it is not bumper to bumper RVs. John

Today, Thursday, June 24 we are picking up Carol and Jerry at the airport at 1:30. Our camp site is OK, just outside the city. Weather is sunny and warmer.....might get to 80 this afternoon. Talked to work and kids......it is good to be in communication again. Need to go grocery shopping today for tomorrow we head for the wilderness. I hope at&t does a good job for us. John and Beth

I think this is day 10 Thursday and we finally have cell phone service again. We are in Edmonton Alberta and I will try to summarize the last few days. Sunday we were in Billings, had a hard time finding a church, but finally got to 9 am mass. Got on the road about 11, went though Great Falls and on to St. Mary Mt. which is on the east side of Glacier NP. We had a wonderful camp site at a KOA with a great view of snow capped mountains. The first day was very cloudy and a little rainy but the second day was bright sun. Temps were 40s to 60s......just great. The main road though the park is the Going To The Sun Road over the top of snow capped mtns. It is normally open by mid June but this year, because it has been cold and wet ,it still was not open the last 10 miles at the top. We drove in from both sides as for as possible. Awesome views with lots of water falls from melting snow....I hope our pictures turn out.
Had lunch at the visitors center and generally a couple very nice days.
Wednesday we took off, crossed into Canada without a problem, and drove to Edmonton.
A couple things I forgot earlier......In Wyoming we saw a huge open pit coal mine with a couple of loaded trains heading east. I think this is where Ameren gets its coal. Second we went by Custer
battlefield in Montana.....the only big battle the indians won. Continued

Day 5 June19 got up at the usual 6 am and had oatmeal, fresh blueberries and some of Janet's Apricot Bread, coffee and orange juice for breakfast. ( Just a thought, if anyone is really reading this, you don't have enough to do). Left Custer about 8:30 on our way to Billing Montana. The first 60 mile or so was very nice two lane though the hills and forest. Went though Deadwood the home of Wild Bill Hickok. Hit I-90 the rest of the way, a very nice highway. The amount of open space is immense. You look 180 degrees from right to left over rolling grass land seeing many many miles in all directions and there is not a building, person. tree or anything else in sight. Sometime you can see tiny black and brown dots in the distance which turn out to be cows. This is very big ranching country. We cruise at about 65 mph but once going down hill the RV got up to a little over 80( don't tell Beth). Beth sat on the couch in the back all day today instead of the co-pilots spot and it worked out a lot better. She has turned out to be a very nervous rider in the front but is very comfortable in the back.Pulled into Billings about 6 and making the rest of Carols hamburger casserole for dinner. The plan is to go to 8 am mass in the morning.

Day 4 June 18 Spent the day looking at beautiful scenery in the Black Hills. They are a combination of tall pines, aspens, and what we know as elephant rocks. Very beautiful. There is something mystical about standing in a pine forest, smelling the pine, hearing the breeze blow though the trees and looking up to see blue sky though the trees. We went to the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore and had lunch at Mount Rushmore and drove though Custer State Park. Saw Buffalo and antelope and some great looking lakes. The weather was very nice, lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. Made polish sausage(heart healthy turkey) , sauerkraut and potato's for dinner. Took a walk in the evening to get some exercise.We would come back to this part of the world anytime.

Day 3 June17 Left Minden about 8:15 for Custer SD and got here about 6;30 Mtn. time. Went though Scotts Bluff and saw Chimney Rock, both important land marks on the Oregon Trail. Made a couple wrong turn which necessitated us taking a few less traveled roads. You can't turn this thing around just anyplace. Saw a lot of prairie and then a lot more prairie........ It really is very pretty and you can't help wonder how the pioneers made it. I found the first thing I don't like about driving the RV. Strong wind. We drove much of the day in unusually strong winds even for this part of the country. Sustained winds of 50- 55 mph with gusts higher. Very difficult to keep this big sail in a lane. I hear it is hot at home......wanted you to know in was 62 in the RV this morning so I turned on the furnace for I while to take the chill off.

Day 2 June 16 Very nice relatively restful day. Up at 6:30, breakfast of oatmeal,fresh blueberries and Janet's apricot bread. Put Beth's electric scooter together which only takes about 5 minutes and we were off to The Pioneer Village. Spent 4 hours looking at 30 buildings of everything imaginable from 1830 to the 1950's.The collection of antiques is huge but in some disrepair. It is a private collection, basically in the middle of nowhere. There were a few other people here but it was not crowded in the middle of tourist season. Weather is warm but not hot, sunny, and breezy. It was sometimes hard to tell if some of the other people in the village were part of the display or just visiting.......lots of old people. Tomorrow we pack up and head for Custer South Dakota. We are parked under a tree so have not been able to get the satellite TV or radio working. I did a little work on our potential deal. Rucker is also going on vacation starting on the 18th so not much will happen soon.

June 15, day one of the great adventure. It stared out a little slow because our electricity was out in the morning and it took us a little longer to get away. We were up at 5 am and on the road at 7:15, not fast, but OK. It was a very good driving day, overcast with some rain, traffic was not heavy and everything worked as it should. Stopped for fuel and breakfast in Kingdom city, early, and a couple other short rest area stops and pulled into Minden Ne. a little before 7 pm. Staying at the Harold Warp Pioneer Village camp ground and will go though the village tomorrow....30 buildings "showing man's progress since 1830". Talked a lot about Brinkley, the family, and our lives. Decided we must be the most fortunate two people in the world. God has blessed us in many many ways(but I can still only type with one finger). Things look super green and clean. Lots of water setting around, but the sun came out in the late afternoon. The rivers and streams all look to be at flood stage and there is water setting in the fields......they have had lots of rain.

June 14, the day before we depart on the great adventure was a busy and sad day. Maureen stayed with Beth while went I to work ,finished a few last minute details, double checked the RV and did some last minute packing. Tim installed a Sirius radio which will help a lot on the trip and Katie, Jim, and Taylor were at the house, living there while we are gone.
To make a long story short, our dog Brickley, who was 16 years old, we had to put to sleep. She had been getting consistantly worse and could not even walk up or down one step to go outside. We didn't want the kids to have to do it while we were gone and Katie and Jim voluntered to take her becasue I was busy and other reasons I don't want to go into.
She was a great dog, a member of the family at home and at the farm. She had a great life and we miss her.

Farm House in Winter

065, originally uploaded by John and Beth Duda.

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