The next morning, I spent some time writing in my blog.  As I was packing, I spoke to Shaun James who was staying two doors down.  When I introduced myself, he said he recognized my car from Fort Nelson, BC, 1000 miles back.  I turned onto the Tok Cutoff  and headed for Glennallen, AK.  Garry had said Glennallen has the best gas price between Glacierview and the border.  While I am at it, I thought, I’ll stop in at Wal-Mart and get some better shoes for this area, warmer and waterproof.  I spent so much time looking for the town and Wal-Mart, that I missed the town and the gas.  Glennallen it turns out, has only 554 people and no Wal-Mart.  I was 10 – 20 miles out of town before I realized there was no big town.  I needed gas and decided it would be more economical to catch the next gas, which would be expensive, than to back track.  I stopped at the Mendeltna Lodge, another great log structure, and got more gas.  Can’t wait till the price is good enough to fill up!  I got to Glacierview between 3:00 and 4:00.  He was helping a neighbor, who had just had knee surgery, get ready for winter.  Jim is a very interesting gentleman who had worked for Sears in Anchorage and had also taken a Danish gentleman fishing many years ago.  This Dane had rescued King Christian IX of Denmark from the Nazis at the end of WWII.  From this friendship he has gotten to know may well-to-do Danes and has made at least 3 trips to Denmark himself.  He was fascinating to talk to.  We had dinner at Garry and Lisa’s with his Mom, Marge, and then went to Glacierview Bible Church for their Missions Conference.  The cabin I was to stay in was still rented by a lady working on the highway expansion just South of here, so I stayed at Danny’s house, where Mom and I stayed this summer.

 

Saturday I helped Garry with the work at Jim’s.  We continued to get him ready for winter by shoveling shale sand into the backs of his two show plows.  Then we started getting wood cut, hauled, and stacked.  We got about a cord done before lunch.  Jim’s wife, Cleo, made us a good, hot lunch and then we waddled back out to split some rounds and get them inside.  It was a good, tiring workout for this desk jockey.  We had large root beer floats for dinner at Garry’s and I could hardly stay awake.  I decided not to go to church that night and went back to Danny’s.  By the time I got there, I had woken up so I watched some TV before bed.

 

Sunday was worship at Glacierview.  It was a good time of worship with the last missionary message.  I did not feel God’s tug on my heart to go this time.  Guess I need to finish this journey first. J  I may have done some computer stuff, checking e-mail, etc. in the afternoon, can’t remember clearly and the evening’s activities are a blank also.

 

Monday I worked with Garry again at Jim’s.  This day we trimmed brush and trees from along the road from Glenn Highway to the bridge across the Matanuska River.  The road is about 1800 feet in elevation and the island where they  live is at 1500 feet.  The road snakes back and forth dropping 300 feet.  It is a sight to see.  After lunch we added bolts and reflectors to the guard rails of the bridge.  This is the last privately owned bridge approved by the State of Alaska.  It is made of steel scrounged from all over, the uprights are old oil well casings, the girders are from an old drive-in (this drive-in only lasted two years because it was too cold in the winter and light too late in the summer), and lots of used highway guardrails.  The bridge deck is made of guard rails across the girders and 3” wood planks making up the driving surface.  It is very sturdy and a marvel of engineering.  For dinner we went to Marge’s cabin for a great ham feast with some other friends and homemade banana cream pie for desert.  I got to drive back over the bridge after dark.  From the top of the hill, the car headlight make it look like the bridge is lined with luminaries, but when you drive across, it looks like an airport runway.

 

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent my daylight house on the computer, e-mail, blog, and working on the bus inspection software for Danny and Garry.  Later this afternoon, I will be going with Garry to Anchorage to take his Mom to the airport to fly back to WI for the winter.

 

I am up to date!

Picture this: It is 5:00 AM, 31 degrees, dark, you have no hat or gloves and only a polar fleece jacket, and you are going to sight see in a junk yard.  These were my first impressions of The Singpost Forest.  There are some street lights in the park/forest/junk yard but most is in shadow or just plane dark at this hour.  The more I looked the more fascinated I became and started having a great time.  The Signpost Forest is a massive number of signs nailed to 6x6 posts 10 or more feet tall from people’s home towns, 61,298 in Sept. 2006.  There are “Welcome to ... Population xxxxx” signs, license plates, homemade signs “2004 Alaska Adventure with Bill, Sue, Tom, Helen from Billings, MT”, Frizbees, tin plates, even hub caps (if I remember correctly), etc.  There are signs from all over the USA, many from Switzerland, probably Germany too.  It has been the best man-made thing I have seen this trip and it all started when Army soldier, Carl Lindley, added his home town to the standard Army signpost in 1942.

 

The gas station opened at 6:00 and I filled my tank with a mix of regular (1.22/L) and premium (1.33/L) and spent $90.00!  I left the gouge station and thought I was on the Rt. 1, the new route number.  Accidentally I got on Rt.4.  This road became gravel after a few miles.  OK, there had been gravel roads where they were doing construction but, when I saw a sign that said the next gas was 383 km (220 miles) away I knew I was going the wrong way.  Services on the AK highway are about 50 miles apart.  I turned around and found the right road.  Where Rt. 97 stopped and Rt.1 began the road just continued straight.  Watson City is just over the border in Yukon Territory.  The road dipped back into BC and up into YT again.  I passed through Teslin and on to Whitehorse, a good sized city of over 23,000.  While on Rt.4, I had noticed the wheel bearing whine the car had been making over the last year was getting louder.  I saw a sign for Klondike Motors (www.klondikemotors.com) in Whitehorse and decided to exit at Mile 884 and stop by.  I spoke to a gentleman in service and explained my situation, just passing thru, 4,000 miles from (former) home 1,000 to go.  He offered to take a test drive and within .1 mile knew what the problem was.  The left-front wheel bearing was bad.  He assured me it would get me to Alaska, however.  I thanked him gratefully, used his clean restrooms(!), and got back in the car to have lunch.  I bypassed an exercise walk/shop in Wal-Mart and hit the road to stop again for gas at Mile 888, Fas Gas & Kopper Kettle.  The people behind the counter were very helpful and had lots of information about upcoming road conditions.  Even though the clouds were low on the mountains, there was no snow and visibility was good.  I passed through Haines Junction and on to Kluane National Park.  This is another beautiful area where the mountains come right down to Kluane Lake and the road passes between them.  The only problem here was major road construction.  I was at the front of the line and had to wait for a Pilot Car to lead the traffic through.  This delay was between 30 and 60 minutes.  By this time all I wanted to do was get out of Canada.  After the construction, the road had great undulations in the asphalt.  I’m not sure if these were frost heaves or what, but they were bad.  Most places were marked with fluorescent orange flags but sometimes they were not.  These times my car would hit them and the nose would plow into the asphalt.  Thank Cadillac had anticipated this and put small metal skids below the bumper.  Needless to say, I was on heightened vigilance for road conditions and this just increased my level of exhaustion.  I stopped at Beaver Creek for a last sip of gas and saw a great bumper sticker if I end up driving back to MD, “I drove the Alaska Highway BOTH ways, DANM IT!”  I don’t usually go for this kind of stuff, but I liked this one. 

 

30 miles past Beaver Creek, I reached the US border.  I took pictures of the “Welcome to Alaska” sign but was too tired to try the timer to get me in it too.  It was so good to get back home, even though I was only in Canada for 2.5 days.  I spent the night in Tok which is just over 100 miles from the border at the Tok Motel.  I checked in at the liquor store/convenience store/front desk and my main credit card had filled up.  I had to go digging in the car for my backup.  Finally got in, ate something I had, and fell asleep.

I am writing this on Friday and it is hard to remember what happened on Wednesday, thank God I scribbled a few notes in my Milepost magazine/guide (the milepost.com).  After breakfast I found the actual Mile 0 milepost.  The milepost is in the middle of the intersection of two busy streets.  I tried to ‘do it myself’ with the timer on my camera like I did in Drummond, MT, but gave up after one try.  I then forced myself to ask a lady, with a vicious teeny-tiny dog in her car, to take my picture.  Weakness usually works better than prideful, self-reliance.  From there I continued out of town, stopped and took some other beginning pictures than continued on to the Visitors Center.  Got some nice books and post cards (which I forgot to pay for) for Grace and David and asked where the Post Office was.  The lady pointed out the window, ‘Go past the 0 Milepost 2 blocks and it is on the left.’  I had just traveled in a triangular circle and had gotten nowhere.  Went to the Post Office, mailed the packages and learned that Canada does have Right-Turn-on-Red.  Back to the Highway!

 

At the start I would like to say that the Milepost guide (I like that better) is a fantastic volume and best used by a navigator.  I was usually so tired I never managed to read it the night before and was always checking to see where I had been.  With time allowed of course, the Navigator should be reading ahead and suggesting stops to make an enjoyable vacation.  You wouldn’t have to worry about daily progress because there are plenty of Rest Areas to park your 40’ RV and cook your steak and lobster for dinner.

 

Back to reality, my 14 year old Cadillac, with every nook and cranny stuffed, headed out.  Dawson Creek ended quickly, as did all cities and towns, and became, as I recall, wilderness.  There were no farms surrounding the towns.  At mile 19.4 (keep in mind CDA is metric and all signs are km, except those referring to the original or Historic mile markers) you top a mountain peak and there is a magnificent view of another mountain on the other side of the Kiskatinaw River near Taylor.  The topsoil is gone from this mountain revealing the multi colored strata forming the mountain.  It was breathtaking, but there was no turnout, lots of traffic going down the mountain, and I had to deal with inserting the camera battery every time to take a picture.  Nonetheless, this one got away.  Pressing on, I passed through Fort St. John with no memories.  Got some snow flurries at Mile 124 and took a short nap at Suicide Hill, Mile 144. 

 

Historical Aside: 

After Pearl Harbor, the US realized it needed a land route to Alaska.  The US and Canada agreed that the US would build the road, Canada would allow virtually unrestricted assess to the country for the project, no sales tax would be charged, and materials would freely be available.  After the war the road would be given to Canada.  Over the years Canada has maintained, improved, and rerouted the road to the point that it has lost some of it.  Huh?  By Mile 144.7(232.9 km), Suicide Hill, is listed at Historic Milepost 148.  By Beaver Creek, YT Canada has lost 33.3 miles of road due to realignment.  In Alaska the original mileage counts are resumed.  A boon if you are keeping track of MPG.  J

 

Suicide Hill was an original name from WWII.  I thought the hill descending into Taylor was much worse.  Taking a nap in the Cadi was not easy.  I think I have already said the seat could not recline, so I had to wedge my pillow between the seatback and the door pillar and sleep semi-upright.  My other choice was to clear off the top of my ice chest on the passenger seat, lay my pillow on top, and rest my head there.  This lead to short naps but helped refresh me.  After a sandwich, I was off again heading towards Fort Nelson.  Again Fort Nelson, Mile 283, is a blur of asphalt, hills, valleys, RV parks, etc.  At Mile 365 I had a bit of excitement.  There is a bridge over the Testa River and it has a metal grid deck instead of concrete.  The dash said the temp was -1C, I had changed to metric readings.  I hit it fast and felt the rear end start to fishtail.  There was a sharp jolt when the tires hit asphalt again at an angle instead of perpendicular.  Thank God it was a short, one span bridge.  About 25 miles further along was another metal deck that was twice as long, two spans.  If I had come to this one first, my trip would have ended right there.  Thank you again Jesus!

 

Somewhere along the way there was snow along the road, but not on it.  At Mile 373, Summit Pass, I stopped to use the facility.  Some people stopped heading South and said the snow was stopping soon and there was good lodging within an hour.  I thanked then and suggested the lady wait if she didn’t have great need.  I passed the first place, The Toad River Lodge, and THEN it really started snowing and sticking to the road.  I pulled off to see where I was and how far I needed to go.   It was still early and I decided to push on.  The snow soon stopped and I got to beautiful Muncho Lake.  The lodge is a great 2 story log building where I would have loved to stay but the cheapest room was $110.  It was only 7:00 so I decided to push on, but I needed to buy some gas at only $1.44/L for regular.  I haven’t figured out how much per gallon US this was and don’t want to.  I got to the Laird River Hotsprings around 8:00 but it was too late and dark to stop.  That would have been fun!  Got a little more gas here, only $1.40/L.  I finally mad it to Watson Lake around 12:00 or 1:00.  Found a little park and took a nap.

 

Wildlife Watch: 

I’m not counting the bridge encounter.  During the afternoon and evening hours I saw many deer, 3 caribou, 3 stone sheep, a large (wild) horse possibly of the draft breed, and possibly an elk, large, brown, with no antlers.  No bear or bison sighted.

Tuesday morning I spent so much time updating my blog and looking for Fred Meyer for gas it was after noon by the time I got to the Canadian border.  Guess what, it was raining and I was concerned that the Canadian border guards would want to search my stuffed Cadi.  Two agents approached me while in line and asked questions about destination, time in Canada, what I was carrying, and any weapons but did not pull me aside.  When I got to the crossing agent he asked to see my registration, the camera could not read my 24 year old license plate (wonder why?), and more questions especially about weapons ‘Any guns, rifles, stun guns, tasers, lasers, phasers, or photon torpedoes?”  “No, sir!”  ‘Enjoy your visit to Canada.’  Praise God, my crossing was easier than when David and I went to dinner at his parents Saturday night.  He was pulled out of line and we had to leave the truck while it was searched.  It took only a few minutes, but it was his first time in 18 years.  I figured it was because we were talking about something serious as we approached the border and our faces showed it.  On the way back to the US I suggested we talk about dinner, especially the Empenadas, and we had no problem laughing and joyful countenances.

 

I crossed into Canada at Sumas and Abbottsford was the first city I entered.  It was a fantastic international experience.  I followed Dodges and Fords past Denny’s and McDonalds to a Wal-Mart where I could buy Pepsi and Pringles.  I needed to charge my phone again and only the Burger King had an outlet in the dining room I could use.  I washed up in the American Standard sink.  It was such a mind expanding experience. 

 

Seriously though, on of the first sights I had in Abbottsford was a Drive-Thru Corn hut.  It reminded me of the world-renowned corn hole games for sale in Dry Ridge, KY.  The place was worth 3 visits trying to get a picture with a dead camera battery.  I finally got the picture after a lunch of a Spicy Chicken sandwich and water at BK.  I chose the cheapest thing on the menu, so I could use their electricity, and then remembered “I don’t like spicy.”  After lunch and Wal-Mart I headed north.  The first part of the trip went through some beautiful hill country.  Lots of scenery, but not much in the way of civilization.

 

Political Interlude:

While traveling through the farms and ranches of MN, ND, and MT, I started thinking about the Over Population crazies, and ZPG loonies (not to be confused with the Canadian dollar coin the Loony and it’s big brother the tuny).  I saw so much farmland, pasture land, and open spaces I figured all these people must live in New York, LA, London, or Tokyo.  Then I got to British Columbia.  This province gave a new meaning to open space, under populated, and lonely.  It is very beautiful with lots of room to spread out.  Can’t wait to see rush hour in the Yukon Territory.  STEP (The sound of one getting off soapbox.)

 

Where were we, hummmm, Williams Lake was first large town I approached after leaving Canada 5 (similar to Interstates) and getting onto 97 (similar to US Route Nos.).  I had been following the lake or a river flowing from it and approached just after sunset.  The lights of the town were shining at the end of a long narrow body of water.  It reminded me of Lake George Village, NY from my childhood.  I reached Prince George around ten, a larger city than Williams Lake.  I wasn’t  tired yet so I decided to push on after gas and a sandwich.  Dawson Creek was about 400 km from Prince George.

 

Educational Sidebar:

For the base 10/digital life forms still living in the base 12/duodecimal world (that would be everyone I know in the good ol’ USofA) Canada is a metric society, although many roads, landmarks, and natural features have names like 10 Mile Creek, 150 Mile House, etc., and all speed limits are in km/h (kilometers per hour).  A 10k race is the equivalent of 6.1 miles in distance so a speed of 100 km/h equals 61 mph (multiply both by 10, the scale or label is irrelevant).  With out going into detailed explanations about decimal places and such (my apologies to any Math-U-See users or distributors who stumble on this blog) a simple way to convert speeds in Canada is to drop the units place (70 becomes 7) and multiply by 6 giving approximately 42 MPH.  So as you are speeding into a 50 km/h curve from a 100 km/h straightaway that you are actually traveling 70 MPH on, will you make the curve or end up in the ditch?  Quick, what is 5 X 6?  Of course it’s 30 (MPH).  You are going way too fast and need to slow down or crash. 

Class Dismissed!

 

Having mentioned the use of Miles in place names above, right after I passed 70 Mile House I encountered my first snow in the road.  It was very wet but it was still snow.  At 150 Mile House the sky began getting really dark and I drove into a thunderstorm with rain and snow squalls   I was glad I left Bellingham and did not wait to hear about the job.  By nightfall the rain had stopped and I just ran into wet roads once in a while.  From Prince George I traveled about 200 km (How far is this in real miles?) and decided to take a break.  As best I can figure it was about 12:30 or 1:00.  I pulled into the parking lot of the Lake Azouzetta Resort to take a nap (3,915 miles).  It was closed up tight and looked nice but more like an RV campground.  I ended up sleeping intermittently until just before 5:00, sitting up in the driver’s seat.  The car is so packed it would not even recline.  I got back on the road a bit groggy, but more awake than before and somewhat refreshed.  I got to Dawson Creek right about 7:00 and the sunrise was just beautiful.  I got some great pictures of the Welcome to Dawson Creek sign with the sunrise in the background (97 North heads E right into DC.)  Found Ma’s Place (or some such) for breakfast, a camera charge, and blog update in Word.  The waitress didn’t know if the bacon was Canadian or not and my scrambled eggs were flat and white with yellow juice in the middle.  Ma’s is no Denny’s!

 

Wildlife Watch: 

I spotted a red fox, not Redd Foxx, running off the road into the bushes.

 

Time to get back on the road.  Aye?

 

It is Tuesday morning and I am almost ready for to tackle the US/Canada border.  I have been staying with a friend and his family in Bellingham, WA for the last 5 days.  I arrived last Wednesday afternoon to a beautiful day.  I got directions to Davids office, Moving and Storage Solutions, agent for Arpin Van Lines, (www.movingstoragesolutions.com) and we had a great reunion.  He took time off to show me around some.  We stopped at Boulevard Park, a beautiful park on Bellingham Bay and refreshed ourselves at the newest Woods Coffee location, the closest coffee shop to the ocean/water on the West coast.  From there we met DAvid's wife Kim at Anthony's (www.anthonys.com), a great seafood restaurant on the bay also and enjoyed their Early Bird Special.  I had Planked Salmon which was great!  That night we watched a movie called "Stranger Than Fiction" which I wasn't too sure about fron the cast and description.  It was great movie but I think it was mainly becaues of a Sunday School calss I had attended at Uptown Church in Charlotte (www.uptownchurch.org) called Theology of the Movies.  It helped me analize the movie from a Biblical perspective instead of my usual 'watch, what's next'  MO.  In short: check it out!

 

Thursday I went into the office with David to update my Blog, check e-mail, etc. We had had such a good time the day before, David asked if I could stay longer.  His church has a Saturdey evening service so I thought it wouldn't hurt to stay till Sunday morning and head North then.  We found out that Kim's cough was actually 'walking' pnumonia.  She has been out of commission and almost invisible since then.  We had some rain Thursday. David and I had a great lunch at PadThai (www.padthai.us).  I have no idea what I ordered but it was great with 0 hotness.  We had Olive Garden (www.olivegarden.com) take out and I slept in the kid's play room on my Aero Bed. 

 

Friday was another beautiful day and a completely unexpected thing happened.  All through my planning and travels I had been telling people that I had sent out a dozen or so resumes for programming jobs and if I got a call for an interview I would find the nearest Rest Area and do the interview.  If I got the job I would I would turn around and head to CA, TX, FL, or even Antarctica (via CO).  I was so surprised when I got the call, I realized that I didn't really believe what I was saying would really happen.  The call was from a recruiter and he wanted to set up an interview for Monday.  I asked David if it would be OK to stay until Monday.  He said yes, but his concern was for Kim to get rest.  This was no problem for me.  To complicate matters a bit more, D's brother Stephen was coming in from TX to play golf with D and then go up to Canada to visit their parents.  Friday night the men ate out again, but I can't even remember where.

 

Saturday was over cast with some rain.  D & S played golf and I hung aroung the office.  For dinner we all (the men) went to Abbotsford, BC to have dinner with the Powell clan.  Four of David's eight siblings were there with many kids and we had a great time.  I was introduced to everyone and did well to remember the adult names.  We had homemade Empenadas, an Argentenian meat pastry.  Both baked and fried were great.  I, however, was still stuffed from the gorging I has been doing over the last three days, I could only eat two.

 

Sunday it rained on the way to church (www.cornwallchurch.com).  The praise and worship was definitely youth oriented, ie. loud, but God was honored.  The pastor preached on Jonah 4 and the part of the sermon the Lord directed to me was in verse 4 and 9 when the Lord said to Jonah "Do you have good reason to be angry?"  Do I have good reason to be angry at my ex-wife, at my situation, etc. NO.  I pray that He will continue to heal my heart and replace my anger towards others with a greater love for Him.

 

Monday dawned, you guessed it, with rain.  1:00 finally came and my phone interview went great.  It lasted over 70 minutes and the time just flew by.  I was able to answer most questions easily and just took my time to choose the right words.  I was told my answers were appreciated and some he had not heard before.  Hope this is a good thing. :-)  I am so grateful I was able to stay in Bellinghan for the call.  In Canada, if I was able to place the call, it would have cost over $50 for international, long-distance.  After the call I went with David to Ferndale, WA for a Chiropractic visit.  While waiting I asked the receptionist if there was a dentist nearby.  Earlier in the day, I thought I had something stuck on the front of my top right front tooth.  As I tried to pick it off, a chunk the size of a round pin head broke off.  The surface was sharp and the cutting edge was rough too.  I went to the Ferndale Dental Clinic (360) 384-1271and explained my problem (passing through, broken tooth) and asked for some orthodontic wax to smooth it out.  They said the could smooth it out for me.  Dr. Tucker saw me within 5 minutes and ended up repairing the tooth with dental 'Bondo'.  The biggest surprise was NO CHARGE!  Thank you Dr. Tucker and Thank you GOD!  Monday night I got to meet some more of David's friends and we had dinner at Denny's (www.dennys.com) which for reasons that have been explained to me, but still can not comprenend, David likes more than places like Anthony's. 

 

It is now Tuesday morning, the sheets and towels I used are in the dryer, and it is time to get the final things in the car.  I have had a great time in Washington and looking forward to the continuing adventure in Canada.  God bless y'all!

 

Note:  For the next four days or so, while in Canada, I will not be using my phone except for emergencies.  I will check e-mail and update my blog when I can at night.  I just found out from Verizon that text messaging is not excessive so I can do that, but don't go overboard guys.  In spite of all the plasma donations over the last two years, I still have lots of Scottish blood running through my veins!

 

Todays blog was sponsored by: Moving and Storage Solutions, Anthony's restaurant, Pad Thai restaurant, The Olive Garden, the Ferndale Dental Clinic, and of course Denny's.

9/26 3,200 miles done 2,200 to go! (60%)

While traveling in MT on Rt. 12, I was traveling on the Lewis & Clark highway.  I'm not sure if I really followed in their footsteps but it sure sounded good.  ID was only 70 miles wide where I crossed and Couer d'Alene is near the WA border.  WA was surprisingly flat in the western part, again slowly rising to the Cascade mountains and Mt. Rainier.  I crossed a low range of hills/mountains and there it was, in snow covered glory, Mt. Rainier.  I pulled out my camera and again the battery was dead.  Rats!  I then made several calls to Fuji and to a Seattle repair facility hoping to get a new battery quickly.  This is not going to happen and I will have to send the camera in to be checked and repaired or replaced.  I did get a suggestion from the camera shop guy to keep the battery out after charging to enable picture taking.  I hope this works.

 

I passed through Spokane, WA about rush hour, the first of the trip.  This was not too bad.  Seattle, however, had traffic that would make NJ or NY proud.  The I-405 beltway around the city had heavy traffic but was in pretty good condition.  I-5 was another story.  There was construction and new lane patterns.  The lane dividers were not painted, but groups of three reflective bumps.  In some places they seemed to just wander back and forth across the road and the condition of the concrete was not great.  I was so glad to get out of there and head North to Bellingham, WA.  I decided to rest up a day with David and Kim before tackling Canada, but fter a great dinner at Anthony's on the waterfront, lunch at a great Thai restaurant and then take out from Olive Garden, it was getting hard to leave.  This morning I went on a 5:30 AM walk with David and his friend Mark and had a great time of fellowship and made a new friend.  After a thorough arm twisting, I decided to stay until Sunday morning.  David and Kim's church has a Saturday evening service and it is very busy crossing the border on Saturday mornings.  Bellingham is another really nice place I wouldn’t mind living.

OVER HALF WAY!!!!

MT is a really long state!  I checked the map and State Rt. 12 seemed to be a bit more direct than I-94/90 and the VC lady said it was a 70 MPH road.  I decided to take it beacuse it was 20 miles shorter and she said the grade was not as steep as on I-94.  The Cadi has been running great, but I didn't want to tax it more than needed since it is 14 years old.  MT just went on and on and on.  Saw lots of horses, mountains, and crossed the Clark Fork (River) at LEAST 8 times.  The town of Coeur d'Alene (Cur de Lane) is on the lake and it too is beautiful. Another place I wouldn't mind living.  Spent the night at a nice, mid-priced motel called the Budget Saver Motel.  Tomorrow on to Bellingham, WA!

Roger suggested I take a county road, Rt. 4, through Lake George, MN on my way back to I-94.  It is a beautiful little lake and I wouldn't mind living there if I were to move to MN, assumng I wanter to stay out of the BIG city (Bemidji).  Found I-94 with little trouble and headed west again.  SD is about 350 miles wide, and I-94 is almost exactly straight East to West.  It seems flat, but it is constantly rising up towards the Rockys.  The car had no problems on the roads, but every 100 miles or so the average MPG dropped .1 MPG. For 320 miles it was the same, fields of hay with big, round harvested bales, cows, rolling hills, and straight roads.

 

The last 30 miles before MT, however, things changed drastically.  The hills lost their covering of grass and exposed the layers of colored, sedimentary rock they were made up of.  There were reds, blacks, grays, whites, yellows, etc.  The first time I saw it I came around a curve and there was this small valley off to my right with all
these colored layers of rock.  I quickly stopped the car to take a picture, but of course my camera battery was dead.  I tried to use my phone camera, but am not expecting great results.  This geographic feature lasted about 20 miles and then changed back to the rolling grasslands. 

 

I was hoping to stay in Bozeman, MT but when I stopped at the Visitor Center, at 3:00 (plus 1 hour for time zone change) the lady said Bozeman was still 400 miles away.  Needless to say I didn't go that far.  I stopped at Miles City at a nice motel with a Jaccuzzi to sooth my weary body, and then never managed to get into it.  Oh well.
 

The drive through WI and MN was beautiful.  Saw lots of signs for CHEESE but  the one time I stopped it was just as expensive as the stores, so I didn't get any.  There must be somewhere in WI that you can get good cheese at a good price.  I crossed the Mississippi River at 11:58 AM as I drove from St. Paul to Minneapolis, MN.  I was oficially west.  I took about a 250 mile side trip to  Bemidji, MN to visit Roger and Denise, some good friends.  Bemidji is a beautiful town of about 12,000 people right on Lake Bemidji.  We had a great time at the laundromat, then to DQ for a snack and back to the Laundromat to fold cloths.  Then we did some shopping at Ace Hdwe and on to Appleby's for a great dinnner.  After dinner Roger and I got to go to Wally World.  This evening just kept getting better and better (I'm serious!)  We got to there new home on a lake (can't remember the name, but it is MN Lake #9,027 of the 10,000 lakes.)  It was dark when we got there, the moon was out over the lake just bigger than half, and a warm wind was blowing.  It was a fantastic evening.  I helped Roger get the guest bed set up so I would have a place to sleep.  The mattress was awesome!  The next morning I had cerial and a Swanns #942 for breakfast before hitting the road.
 

 Today I left Dry Ridge excited to get back on the road.  The visits with friends, time with the Lord, and just chillin' out were great.  I got on the road about 10:30 and made good time around Cincinnati, through Indianapolis, and on to Chicago.  Had some confusion with the trip map and took a wrong turn.  I pulled off the highway to find out exactly where I was and ended up at the exit for Northwestern Univ. where Blake is studying.  I called Brad about this wierd coincidence since we had been talking about him just a few hours before.  Not the time to visit however.  I figured out how to get out of Chi-town and hit the 4:30 PM Saturday rush hour.  BIG City traffic is awesome, NOT!  I arrived in Madison about 7:00 but could not find the hostel.  I called once for directions, but it didn't help much and then my phone died.  I stopped at a hotel across from the Capital to ask directions.  That did not help either.  I finally stopped in the middle of a street to ask a Motor Cop.  He gave directions but I kept saying, "I just did that, but the street is One Way, the wrong way."  He finally said "Follow me."  He took off fast and I followed fast.  He turned on a street he had not mentioned and we found the place.  I wonder how many people show up here with a Police mototcycle escort???  Didn't want to deal with eating out or cooking so I had PB&J, got my PC hooked up and updated my blog.  While typing I noticed a map on the computer table for Hostels in Canada.  Great! except there are none in Northern BC or Southern Yukon.  Bummer.  I'm going to bed now so I can get up early and on to Bemidji, MN!!!

Although I am a Pepsi fan and not a Coke fan, this old advertising slogan fits.  I had planned on stopping my first night in Dry Ridge, KY and visiting some friends at in the area.  It seems the Lord had other plans in mind and I believe He wanted me to stay two days extra.  It has been a great blessing; time to spend in the Word, prayer, fellowship, and resting.  It truley has been a pause that refreshed spiritually.

 

Wednesday, 9/19   I left Charlotte at 6:30 AM to make sure I missed rush hour traffic.  It was great.  I made it to Asheville and only missed one turn getting to Laura's school.  We had a great visit for a little over an hour.  She introduced me to her roommate, showed me her room, and around the campus.  It is a beautiful school and seems to be just right for her.  She has worked very hard and made some great decisions.  I am so proud of her.  From Asheville, I continued west to Knoxville, TN and had lunch with my friend Judge.  It was good to see him again.  From Knoxville I headed north to Dry Ridge, KY.  I arrived about 7:30 PM and got to visit some and to bed early.  Several people suggested I stay for a while and the next morning was when I got the impression I needed to stay two more days, not one and not three, but two.  This area of KY is so beautiful, quiet, and restful.  I really love it here.

 

Thursday, 9/20

After meeting with the staff at the ministry for morning prayer I went out to The Ridge to spend some time with the Lord, reading the Word, and praying.  It was refreshing but hot in the direct sun.  After a few hours, I took a walk over The Ridge and down into the small valley.  A small, black dog named Suzy was with me as I read and followed me on my walk.  Down in the valley it was very cool because of the large trees and the small, clear stream flowing there.  Soon after we got down there, Suzy decided to take a swim to cool off.  She jumped into the water and churned up a cloud of black, stinking mud behind her.  She didn't even notice.  She just kept swimming and lapping at the water.  When she got out of the water, I didn't even want to touch her.  She startes rolling in the grass, seemingly trying to get the smell off her.

 

While I was at the ministry, I had asked the Lord to show me what my sin looked like.  I realized this was a picture for me.  Sin is like a beautiful body of water with a stinking, muddy bottom.  It looks refreshing and fulfilling, but when we are in it, it is black, foul smelling, and clings to us.  The only thing that will wash us clean is the blood of Jesus.  "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus."  At the Thursday evening Worship Service I felt the Lord's propmting to share this with the students at the ministry.  Along with the picture/parable I shared the Good News from I Cor :9-11 "...Such were some of you: but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."  After a long evening talking to friends, I fell into bed just before 1:00 AM.

 

Friday, 9/21

I awoke at 8:30, and just had enough time to shower, inhale a banana, and drive to the ministry for the staff prayer time.  We heard a good sermon on tape by A.W. Tozer on Worship.  The Ridge was calling again and I spent a while enjoying the Lord's presence, reading and praying some.  I also started getting ready to leave, repacking, reservation for Saturday, and some calls.  Lunch with more friends and to the ministry office for computer time.  This evening I get a haircut from Brad and will be ready for anything!  Tomorrow on to Madison, Wi.

 

Loose ends are being tied up. Real estate is being spun off and closed out.  Notice on hovel has been given and belongings are being sorted, trashed, and packed.  Good byes are being made.  It looks like Tuesday, September 18, 2007 is the day the great trek to Alaska begins!