9/15/12 WACO, TX

We made it to Waco two days ago. We got our other RV out of storage and moved everything over yesterday, but it’s a big job and we’re still putting things away.  We dropped off our old RV at the shop to have some repairs done.  The slide started giving us trouble on the way home, then we had a tire blow out that did a lot of damage to the slide and rear of the rv.  We’ll get things buckled down here in Waco then move down to Belton for a while to see the kids and gkids.  I will post some statistics and final thoughts on our Alaska adventure soon for those that are interested in visiting Alaska. 

9/12/12 BOWIE, TX

We enjoyed touring Bishop’s castle and the state park in San Isabel National Park. It’s amazing that the castle was built by the hands of one man over the last 42 years.  And it is still a work in progress.  We left Colorado City and stayed the night in Amarillo, Texas last night in an RV park just off Interstate 40.  We are in Paradise RV park in Bowie, TX tonight and will make it on in to Waco tomorrow with only 150 miles to go. 

9/10/12 COLORADO CITY, CO

I woke up on my birthday camped in back of a Flying J.  There was a Denny’s restaurant across the street.  Norm treated me to breakfast.  They give you a free breakfast on your birthday.  That Norm really knows how to treat a lady.

We stayed in Cheyenne, Wyoming for 3 nights so we could get the truck’s 30,000 mile check and oil changed. Plus it’s within 50 miles of Norm’s sister Debbie and nephew Jordan.  While Norm took the truck in I stayed home and cleaned the RV.  The RV gets filthy inside and out after driving over those dusty gravel roads on the Alcan Highway.   I dusted, wiped down, vacuumed and moped.  Ahh, feels so good to get cleaned up.  The outside is more of a chore; we’ll wait until we get home to wash it.  Saturday we went to Laramie to spend the day with Deb & Jordan.  The weather turned out perfect.  Jordan made us a breakfast casserole and Deb had a nice table setting outside in the beautiful weather.  We sat outside for some time chatting and the day flew by way to soon.   We debated staying another day so we could all go do something either in Cheyenne or close by, but it seems everything closes up on Sundays.  So we decided to head on toward home.  We traveled about 260 miles yesterday and are now camped at a National Forest campsite near Colorado City.  It’s farther off the road for an overnight but we couldn’t resist the temptation of going up to almost 9,000 feet in elevation and the lake sounded nice.  It is nice up here, gets real cool at night.  Aspen and spruce trees up on a ledge that over look a small lake.  Bishop’s Castle is within a few miles of here.  We plan to check that out today.  The castle belongs to a private individual who started building it many years ago.  What started as a cabin turned into a castle and he allows anyone to come tour the place at no charge.  Because we love it here and want to go see the castle we’ll stay 2 nights.  Only thing is I find it hard to breathe at this altitude.  Just sitting doing nothing I feel out of breath.  

9/2/12 SHELBY, MT

I made an attempt to see the Northern Lights again last night. No such luck.  We left today around 11:00 with less than 200 miles to go today.  We crossed the border with little trouble.  Norm has grown a beard since we drove into Canada about 3 months ago.  When asked to see his passport or drivers license, where he has no beard, people question whether or not it is him.  The US border patrol looked at him a long time after inspecting his passport.  Then asked to see another form of ID with his picture.  After inspecting his driver’s license he asked Norm to put on his glasses.  After Norm put on his glasses the agent was satisfied, not 100%, but let him pass.  This is the 2^nd time someone has really questioned his identity because of his white beard.  Too funny!  We are now in Shelby, Montana at a City Park, Lake Soulette, or something like that.  The wind blows like crazy here to.  We made arrangement for our mail to be delivered here general delivery so hopefully we’ll get it tomorrow (Monday) and can move on.   

 9/4/12 SHELBY, MT

Oops, yesterday was a holiday, Labor Day.  We had dumped this morning, took on fresh water and drove to the post office to find it closed.  So back to the rv park for another day and night.  It’s windy as heck here and this morning looks like it will rain.  I don’t know how far we’ll go today, depends on Norm, we’re just freewheeling it.  If we keep driving everyday we’ll make it to Waco, Texas in 7 days.  We’re anxious to get home to see the kids and gkids and also get settled down for a time.  But if there are roses along the way I’m sure we’ll stop to enjoy them.
FYI - I saw very, very dim northern lights last night. 
 
Update:  Our mail didn’t make it here.  After verifying it was sent with our UPS Store we found out they sent it UPS Ground.  WHAT!!  Doesn’t everyone know post offices do not accept UPS packages????  I can’t believe it.  The good thing is we caught up with our package at the UPS main hub in Cut Bank which is 24 miles from here (the opposite way we would be traveling).  The bad news is they don’t open to customers until 4:00 pm.  We had to wait all day.  What a fiasco this turned out to be.  At this point I’m just glad we got it so we could be on our way.  We drove about 90 miles to Great Falls, Montana and are over nighting in a Flying J parking lot just off the highway.  Tomorrow we'll head to our next destination, Pueblo, Colorado.  It will take 4 days to get there.