Wasilla

We had a good dinner & nights sleep here at DR Susie's. Susie has, I believe 10 Siberian Huskies, which she raises, trains, shows & some of her dogs have run in the Iditarod.

It is cloudy again this morning so we are going to wimp out & take Susie's car to Anchorage & look around today so we will up date tonight.

Wasilla

We left Beaver Creek, Yukon yesterday about 10:30, it was raining & rained hard all day, causing the roads in construction to be an interesting ordeal to say the least. We went through one place where Don thought for sure he might lay the bike down in the mud but with his good driving & my prayers he didn't. It was the worst roads that maybe we have ever been on. At one point & time the pilot car lady came running back to the back of the line where we were & said she wanted us right behind her so she could keep track of us, sounded good to me. :) Any how its been a good trip, a lot of rain, cold & wind but it hasn't rained all day today for which we are very thankful. We know the scenery is beautiful, although so far we haven't been able to see that because of the clouds & rain. We have come some over 3100 miles, have been to DR Susie's clinic & will connect up with her about 4:30 & go home with her. It has been too cold for many bugs. Eating breakfast we met up with a couple from Gypson, CO on trike bycles & they were quite interesting. They have a blog also http://triketrips.blogspot.com/. I (Don) will try to put on three pictures, the first is of me at a historical momument at Beaver Creek, the second is of the couple on the trikes, and the last is of Susie Dillon's place of work.

Leaving Beaver Creek

Don just got back, 85 year old man fixed trailer & it was only 52 bucks, so we are very thankful. Don said lets load up & leave so will keep you posted & praying Don keeps rubber in the mud & we make it safely to Anchorage.

Beaver Creek

We went to the Rendez-Vous musical last night & it was really good, there were probably 200 people at it, tour buses, the main guy has been doing it for 19 years & the gal that sang with him for the past 9 years.

It rained hard all night & is still raining this morning. Don is at the machine shop hoping to get the trailer fixed. There is construction ahead of us & we've told it is slicker then slick so Don is trying to decide if we should stay here another night. :( would rather be safe then sorry.

Eating breakfast a lady asked us where in ID we were from & when I said where, she said they were from, small world, gets even smaller, they were Dave & Vee, a brother to Jake who is married to Don's cousin, Joy. We had a good visit.

Hopefully the next post will be from Alaska but will keep you posted. Thank you to all who are praying for us. God IS good.

Dumb don

Can't always get the pictures I wanted on the post. Will try one last time.

more pictures

Here are some more pictures.

Beaver Creek

Today has been a little bit different then we had planned, but we are doing OK. After we left Haines Junction this morning & ate breakfast about 8:30 we were just doing really good, but the roads are atrocious & dodging all the pot holes is an experience, Don noticed the trailer didn't look right so we stopped & the trailer tongue was bent so he reorganized the trailer, trying to get the weight to the back, we drove really slow for about 25 miles & got to Beaver Creek, where there is a machine shop & he will open at 8 on Monday. We are in a cute cabin with an OK price & I don't think either one of us knew how tired we really were till we slowed down. We are 2,714 miles from home & about 400 miles from Anchorage. The scenery is beautiful & it goes for hundreds of miles.

It has rained on us every day but the night we set camp in the rain it wasn't cold, for which we were very thankful. Was glad that Joy updated the blog so those who are following us would know we are OK, just on the other side of civilization. :) Will put on some pictures that we took. The nice picture of a cinammon colored bear is on the internal memory of the camera so will have to wait until we get home to post it. I, (don) did see a momma bear with two small cubs just outside of Watson Lake. Have seen elk, moose, buffalo, bears, deer, some foxes, coyotes and a beautiful bald eagle today. No caribou yet but hopeful. Thanks for all your prayers and we are safe.

Haines Junction, Yukon Territory

Another post from Joy. Know we'd all rather these be from The Preacher and His Babe but I wanted to keep you all in the loop.

Received a call tonight that we unfortunatley missed. Big bummer but got some information to pass on.

Staying the night in Haines Junction, Yukon Territory. They saw lots of bear today, one being a honey colored one. Weather was "nice" at 58-60 degrees. (This may be nice by some standards and yes it didn't rain which is more than nice, it's great! However, 58-60 is NOT nice by my mother's standards. Nice would be 80...)

They are doing great and hope to make their own post from Tok, Alaska tomorrow. By my handy mileage chart, they should make Anchorage early Monday afternoon. Haines Junction is closer than Haines but I'm not sure how much. Perhaps if they ride hard tomorrow, they can make 500+ miles and nothing surprises me anymore with them. 400 miles is an easy day so much depends on the weather.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Let's pray the next post is from them! Until then, yours truly, Joy

Liard, Watson Lake & Whitehorse

Post from Joy - partially dicated by Don via phone, 12:15 PM MST:

Stayed the night in Liard, 130 miles South of Watson Lake. Headed to Whitehorse but may not find time to post since they really want to make it to Tok to spend the night. That being said, they are 397 miles from Tok once they reach Whitehorse. (I found this cool mileage chart to help me.) They would like to make up some time today and there are about 20 hours of daylight so it is possible... nothing is set in stone so will play it by ear.

They set up camp in the rain last night. It was cool and rainy this morning but it seems to be clearing up now.

Wildlife seen: wood buffalo, black bear, moose & elk.

There wasn't any service last night, not even a pay phone. They are safe and doing well! Thanks for your prayers.

Joy

Pictures from Departure Day

Post from the daughter on departure day.

The Preacher and His Biker Babe:

The Bikers and grandkids there to see them off:

The Biker Babe:

Getting hooked up so they can communicate with each other:

Leaving for Alaska:

I fixed the comment option so anyone can comment and you don't have to have an account.

Friday Morning

We are ready to leave Ft.St. John. Had a good hot breakfast here at the motel & a good nights sleep. It is still cloudy & we are putting rain gear on, have learned by experience that it's easier to do when in a dry place then by the side of the road when it's already raining!! Experience can teach us a lot, eh as the Canadians say :) more when we are where there is WiFi.

Ft. St. John

We are stopped for the night, looked around Dawson Creek a little, got a few things to eat, ate supper & headed to Ft. St. John. Got into rain so we decided it is a motel again tonight, they, who ever they, who ever they is, say tomorrow is to be nice & for several days, I hope "they" are right. :) Dawson Creek is Mile Post 1 of the Alaska Hwy, we are half way there, we have gone 400 miles today. We have gained an hour so are no longer on ID time. More the next time we can find WiFi. We have direct access to the internet so things are a little faster and easier.

Here are a couple of pictures of Alfreda and Dawson Creek.

Grand Prarie

We are having a good day & so far no rain although it looks like it could before night time. When we get to Dawson Creek we will be half way to Anchorage & are about an hour from there. Have come 240 miles today & need to get down the road. Will get some groceries in Dawson Creek just in case we need them. :) Dawson Creek is the last Starbucks till Anchorage so if we have WiFi in camp grounds we will try our luck at this there.

Drayton Valley

We had a good ride this afternoon, warm but then a terrible rain storm came up so we decided to stay in Drayton Valley & it's a good thing we did as oh my how it did rain, we got wimpy & got a motel & are glad we did. We haven't taken any pictures today but we did see buffalo today, on Sunday out of Mt. Home we saw elk, & on the trip we have seen a red fox, a black fox, 2 deer, a lot of antelope & waiting for the bear & moose, promise we will take pictures. Want to get an early start in the morning, when we get to Dawson Creek we are half way to Anchorage from home. Only rode 323miles today. We are 1187 miles from home. Will try and download a picture of the Missouri river falls at Great Falls.

Red Deer

We are in Red Deer, Alberta, just south of Edmonton. We stayed last night at Ft. McCloed, nice camp ground, it didn't rain & we were both woke up in the middle of the night by a pack of coyotes howling, reminded us of grown up days in E Colo. Weather is nice about 72 & don thinks its a heat wave. Wifi isn't easy to find, said it was at the camp ground but we couldn't get on. Trying to get to Whitecourt tonight.

North to Alaska

OH MY GOODNESS, have we had a time getting registered with Starbucks but some nice young man helped us a lot & now we are on! We left Hailey yesterday morning & had a good day getting to Great Falls, MT where we stayed the night with Lynn & Charlene, Adam & cute little Bryce. We had a good dinner & a warm bed for which I was greateful :) This morning Lynn took us to see the Great Falls & it was spectacular, woner what Lewis & Clark thought when they first saw that?? We got to Shelby where Don tried to buy a Funeral Chapel, think the wife would have sold it in a heart beat. We crossed into Canada & are now at Lethbridge. We aren't sure where we will spend the night. Tried to buy an electric blanket in Great Falls but they were put away for the summer?? I have been on the cool side of comfortable until today & it has really been nice to be warm. Someones prayers are being answered. :) enclosed is a picture of the falls on the Missouri River.

in Hailey

We left home about 3 & got into a terrible rain storm before we got to Mt. Home & we DID get wet but the rain didn't last long & we made it to Hailey by 6:30. spending the night with Troy & Emily & just got home from eating a very good Mexican dinner.

Ready??

I think we are ready :) I only yelled at Don once this morning & I DID tell him I was sorry, Honest. Windy here this morning & I was hoping at least the first day out would be no wind & sunny, it is sunny. We are going to Hailey tonight to Troy & Emily's. So many have told us that they are praying for us, Thank You. God IS Good.

Trying to post new pictures

Alfreda took some pictures and we are trying to learn how to post them.

almost ready

We are in the final stages of being ready, in the AM it is putting our clothes & food in the trailer. Some of you have wondered how our trailer looks when it is made out. You may or may not see depending on if I can follow the instructions or not. :)

still getting readyt

Well, we are zeroing down, Don has the new battery but this has been a very busy day doing things that need to be finished up before we actually pack & get all the final details done. Hopefully a picture will come, as soon as I know for sure how to do it :)

Getting Ready

Don was going to bring the bike & trailer down to the Elks where the Soroptimist meet, he was all ready & the bike wouldn't start, he managed to get the battery charged up enough to get it down there when we were through so the gals got to see how the trailer opens up & etc. He then went & got a new battery & was told that a battery only last a year?? Thank goodness that happened today & not on Sunday.

Next post??

Getting Ready

We have just celebrated our 50th Wedding Anniversay, the kids, Larry, Mahlon, Troy, Joy & families, threw a really nice "party" for us last Sat. 4 of Don's 6 brothers came, Gibert, Kay, Louis, Lauretta, Ronnie & Lyn from CO & Lynn from MT. Nieces & nephews, Cheryl & Bob from OR, Pam & Terry from CO, cousins, Harry & Carol from CO, friends from CO & OR. All of our family, 25 in all, counting grandchildren, spouses & 3 great grandchildren. It was absolutely wonderful. The song keeps coming to my mind "How can I say thank you for the things you've done for me" God IS good.

Now, we are trying to think of everything that needs done before we leave for a month. Have church, house, business & things in order, like paying bills & etc. Don has been working on the bike, changed the oil, plugs & everything else that he thinks needs changed, bought or found :) for this long trip that we are going on.

My next post will be from another location. I still have to figure out how to add pictures to this OH MY!