The Great Alaskian Adventure

We are on our way......We just came from Stevens Creek Grovetown. Giving hugs to a bunch of awesome people we were now on our way. We hadn't said goodbye to everyone we wanted to but, goodbyes are so final..I prefer see you laters. We are really going on this crazy journey. Cross country with gas cans and tires attached to our jeep. David had (with some of our amazing friends help) packed meticulously according to weight things into our trailer so we we could lessen the chance of any kind of blowout. Starting out on the right foot we took exit 101 for a minute, then its back on the road. We get back on the highway and..yup you guessed it. Back to AUGUSTA! Thinking at this point we really don't think we actually have to leave.

First stop........blimpies with big painted condiments on the wall ....wow...first landmark stop on our ALASKA trip. Before we get really into it, Here's a little background. Before, we did this trek, we shipped off our poor, sweet kids to Grandpa and Grandma in California where we know they are just extremely sad (can you detect the sarcasm even in the type?) They didn't look back. Now a month into it, our phone calls and skype sessions have become more frequent and sweet. We'll take them anyway we can get them.....We are missing them insanely and can't wait to settle in.
We will tell you it's been a little insane. We can't say that its all been easy, but because of our absolutely wonderful friends, and you know who you are, we can't say thank you enough. This last 5.5 years in Augusta have been nothing short of extraordinary. Nothing like we expected but in all things, God knew what he was doing. Then again is anything like we expect? We try and predict what things are going to be like, (usually trying to control them) but we have the safety in knowing that God has a plan for our lives and it's not going to be what WE expect and want. What's comfortable for you? You know we were comfortable here, but that can be a problem sometimes when God had bigger plans. But I digress...

Day 1...
We stayed with wonderful friends of ours and in typical Lana fashion I misplaced my glasses....again....and yes we could have afforded laser surgery with how many types we have replaced my glasses. Our friends came out saying that miraculously had located those wonderful spectacles! I jumped! I was so excited I just couldn't hide it! People look at me often and I've become increasingly okay with it.
We realized quickly that the trailer looked like it was sagging and it was making us more and more apprehensive about driving all the way to alaska with that happening the first leg of the trip.

Our leg ended up being more like,well, a pinky toe. Atlanta was where we were going to settle for the night. Really? Atlanta? Why? Well, the jeep and trailer was looking more like a matchstick ready to break, than a vehicle ready to make a hearty cross country journey. We found the coolest guy who owned something called the Hitch House. Emailed him and now its Day 2.
Day 2
Hitch House in Atlanta called at 7am and said they would take us before they opened as soon as we could get down there! REALLY? Who does that? Those guys! They were amazing! They changed the hitch and had us out the door by 8:45. It was a extraordinarily impressive display of teamwork and work ethic that we had much admiration for. It was downright impressive. Eager to get back on the road, we were told that the traffic would be a nightmare if we attempted it and to go across the street to Ogas restaurant and have breakfast. That is exactly what we did. The quaint place you could tell that had been there for years had made its impact on the local businesses in the area. The inside was all updated circa 1970 and you could tell that that is the way it had stayed until present day. Service was quick and kind and the food was good but the company was better :). We looked out the window and realized soon that we would be on the road to a northern location with no need for air conditioning.
Speaking of air conditioning, did I mention that we didn't have any in the jeep? Well,we won't need any! The houses do not have air-conditioning in Alaska mainly because they don't need it in the northern parts of the country. Funny thing though we were still in the south and it had been a little warm. About a heat index of 119 degrees. That qualifies as a little warm to me. Made me fully realize how air conditioning has conditioned us to not be able to tolerate the heat as much. So when we were done with breakfast we loaded up and started toward Nashville.
The heat advisory warnings were blasting all over the airwaves and it was just plain sticky. If we ran into you this day or the next…I want to apologize profusely…we were offending without saying a word. Yup. Sorry to anyone who was in the vicinity.
You'd think there wouldn't be anyone around our vicinity, if we were in a jeep right? Wrong. Its been one of the things on my bucket list to go to Mammoth Cave someday.When we moved to GA, I was so excited because we could go one day on a long weekend with the kiddos to Tennessee or KY and here we were driving right past it unseen by the Coon family. You bet we stopped. As we walked down to the entrance of the cave it was instantly air conditioned, naturally!! Thank you God! I didn't expect that and yet there it was. A refreshing cool that we would have never got otherwise until we got further north. It was beautiful!!! I can just imagine being the first one to come across this so long ago. How cool would that have been? God makes such beautiful things and they are right in front of us…if we just took the time to see what them, we all might find peace in our busy, crazy lives. We could have kept going, pushing harder, moving faster. Let me tell you there will always be the destination but the trip is what is making this a blast!!!

Next up our first run in with the trailer and other large vehicles on the road. Mountains in Tenneseee can be kinda crazy. We were surrounded on all sides by very large, very fast MACK trucks going down a mountain. As we were going down the trucks started accelerating quickly and we couldn't figure out how we could change lanes. These trucks weren't slowing down. It looked like we were going to be the cream in an oreo for a minute there. I don't think I have ever heard Dave say with all sincerity that that was really close. Makes you think about if you have your life insurance up to date. And for the record we do…but don't get any ideas okay? Praise God for close calls..some people think of them as a negative thing…but I can't seem to get past that it shows that He loves us and is not done with us YET and that is always a reason to rejoice.

Day 3
Off to Indiana, a place I had never seen only heard about. Kentucky was fantastically beautiful too. Lots of bridges and lots of corn, and corn, and corn and it stretched into Indiana as far as the eye could see.

It was so peaceful in Indiana. Wildflowers bloomed all over, we commented that if you could drive into heaven this is what it must be like. We were going to visit a part of Davids family I had never met before. It took me back to when I met Dave's mom and dad, george, jackie, and sisters for the first time, THE WEEKEND of our Wedding. and realized how truly blessed that I was going to soon be part of this sweet family. Only now its been 10 years.

Before we arrived we stopped at a Dairy Queen rest stop. If you grew up with me you might know that I have a weakness for butterscotch candy shell dipped soft serve cones. We used to go to Cape Cod when I was little and get these cones of sweet deliciousness, eat them, and go jump at the trampoline park. By the time we were done, we wanted nothing more than to go back to my Aunts house and fall asleep. I know the adults loved that :) I have been on the hunt since they discontinued the butterscotch shell flavor and from what I thought never to return…. Until this fantastic day. Have you ever seen a little kid jump up and down with excitement? We'll lets just say I got a couple of stares. Not only for the cone but for the monkey.
Let's talk about George for a second. We saw and bought a stuffed monkey. We wanted to take pictures of something everywhere we go but hand't found the right subject. In Kentucky we found that sweet monkey and named him George. Original…(not so much) but he sure is cute and we really didn't fancy gnomes a whole lot. They kinda creep me out a little…

In short we had a blast!!! Indiana folks are super sweet! Thank you guys for an amazing visit!! Nothing is better than food, family, and new memories!! ;) Went to Lake Michigan, which looked nothing like a lake but more like the ocean. Not at all like we would have imagined. Dave's cousin asked him to climb a "DUNE" and let me tell you…..it didn't look difficult but my calves were on fire once we got to the top..I'm not going to lie. We could see Chicago from up there across the lake! It ROCKED! Dave said that he had never been there and was so happy he got the opportunity to go this time! We got down by leaping top speed in the sand until we were at the bottom of the hill. Dave carried George, and I'm thinking George had quite a ride ;)
We skyped with our little wonderful, smart, intelligent, amazing (I could go on here but I'm sure you know it won't end anytime soon) children. They talked to everyone in Indiana via Skype and were introduced to all her cousins from the little phone Skype camera. Then Taylor said….."um How many cousins do we have!!??!? Everyone laughed…it was a cute snippet of what I love about that girl!! Oh how we miss them both! .

Day 4

We woke and Dave went running while I packed up to hit the road. He came back excited about all the beautiful trails he found. We had planned on eating with some of Dave's family at a place called the Viking Chilli Bowl Restaurant that is only open for breakfast and lunch. I thought this kinda funny…and despite the unconventional name it was Great!! The outside landscaping was surprisingly familiar. It was a neatly arranged garden, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, chillis. and marigolds. It was so nifty! I think that these kind of gardens would be such a change from flowers and grass that had no other effect than to be pretty for a season. Off we went in the corvette back to David's cousins house. THAT was AWESOME!! Thank you for the ride guys!
Upon leaving, our goal for the day Eau Claire, Wisconsin. WOW! Never heard of the place. Let me tell you…in the middle of nowhere there was this place called the Metropolis http://www.metropolisresort.com based on a movie, David told me, that I had never seen.

As we were driving we took our once every 100 mile break and took a little hike at a rest stop. We ran into a bus of what we believe to be Amish families who were, very colorful in their clothing like they were on their way to somewhere pretty important. They looked like they were anyway. They were very sweet and spoke Dutch. We smiled and hoped they were having good travels. By this time the temperature was not what it was before but much much cooler. I prayed that the people on the bus were not going to be going South with their long sleeves and pants and head gear. There was a cleared path that went to a little bit higher elevation so people could look down and see the beautiful hills and flowers all around. We were fortunate enough to stop when the sun was about to set and just gaze at the fantastically, gorgeous hills, wildflowers all in bloom and the peaceful silence that had come apon that hill. We were smiling inside.

Our first Bear sighting...in Wisconsin? That's right. Traveling down the highway and who would have thought that the bear would look both ways across the street and then just dart out in the middle of the road without stopping....right in front of us. We almost had bear roadkill folks and we hadn't made it into Canada yet. I thought Wisconsin had cheese! What is up with that? On we went to a place to stay, Dave found the previous night while mapping out the route.
The rooms were meticuliously decorated and inside there was bowling, a waterpark, an arcade, a restaurant, an orange julius, an indoor electric go cart track (yes we did this at around 10pm at night and we giggled the entire time), as well as an excersise room, a shoppe, and a great breakfast buffet. YUM!! And we totally feel like we need to take this trip again with the kiddos. And if you are ever in this area and are traveling with kids....don't miss the opportunity. We got to feel like kids all over again!

Day 5
I woke up wanting to run. Two miles later...we both just wanted breakfast and to get on the road. We were a little behind but only because the trailer and jeep, petal to the floor, went 65 max. We have averaging a speed of about 50 miles an hour. This trip is going to be upwards of 4500 miles with detours. Minot, ND is still very flooded. Please take time in your day to pray for people in this area. They have suffered major devastation and loss. So unexpectedly thier lives were changed in an instant, as any of ours could be.
We have been listening to books on tape and that is really been making the time go fast...along with laughing and talking and observing different parts of the country. Its really nifty to see different people and hear their stories and what they like to do. We drove today stopped and had the most interesting pizza of the peach and shrimp kind. It was a cool 67 degrees in Minnesota. LOVE!! LOVE LOVE!! So happy!!
While we were at the pizza place, we called about our roaming in Canada. So we have to update everyone that it will not be frequent blog updates like I would have liked but we will keep everyone updated as much as we can.
We decided to stay in Grand Forks, ND tonight and hit customs through Canada tomorrow. We were told that if they inspect.....they aren't going to help to repack...and that's going to be fun. We would have hit the border in the dark tonight, while it was drizzling, if we went. Did not want to do that in the dark.
We decided to stay at a place called Canada Inn. We thought that the last place we stayed at was great. We pulled up amazed by how large this "inn" was. It was a city! Go check it out and please stay here if you are ever in the area. We were upgraded to a room with a jacuzzi and that ROCKED! .
We settled into our room and went downstairs where one of the restaurants in the "city" had live jazz music. What a pleasant evening. Wow and I was under the impression we were going to be camping out of the back of our jeep. This is a far cry from that. We are totally spoiled. Then again I am saying this with only about 1/3 of the trip under our belts, but even still if we had to sleep in the car the entire way up there from this point on, we would still be spoiled. It is now morning of day 6.
Day 6
We wanted to let everyone know we love them and while in Canada we will not be able be in contact unless there is a wifi available. Our phone service is very limited because of the route we are taking. We love you all and will be in contact in a couple of days! We love you and we will talk to you soon! :) And hopefully we will be getting more photos up. :)



Dave and Lana