A summary

The time has come to say good-bye to a wonderful 14 month excursion. during this time we visited 38 States and 3 Provinces and two Territories, met some wonderful people and saw sites that are impossible to describe. Our travels covered 50,390 KM or 31,310.89 miles. Where possible we traveled on the two lane roads rather than the expressways. Afterall, the trip was to see the country (s) not the pavement.
Some of the highlights included the walk on the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska, the scenery and wildlife in Northern BC and Yukon. Charlestown S.C. and Savanaugh GA. were very beautiful having survived "the war" intact. The Top of The World Highway in Alaska and the Yukon, as well as the Cassier Highway in BC were spectacular. Our steepest road was entering Skagway AL. with a grade of 11% covering 11.5 miles. The fishing expedition out into the Gulf Alaska holds special memories as well. The people and facilities at Deer Run RV Park were great and we look forward to next year.
As usual there were a couple things that were not enjoyed as much as other experiences. The Winchester House was a disappointment and the road (?) between Whitehorse Yukon and Tok AL. was honestly not as good as a plowed field, with frost heaves across the road combined with splits in the road running the same direction as the traffic flow.
It would take volumnes to list everything we experiened, but suffice to say, it was FANTASTIC !!!!!
To show the difference 3 days can make...the top picture was taken in Troy Alabama on Feb 26 of a Pear tree beside the camper.......the last at Shelburne on March 1.

Pear Blossoms Troy 2-26-11

Spring 2-21-11 Troy

Last Post ( for a while)

Yes, our on the road time is quickly coming to to an end. We'll be leaving Alabama on Sunday morning ( 27th ) early and hope to overnight at Cave City Ky.

This past week had us enjoy a campfire on Tuesday night and a visit to the property of friends on Wed. Thursday and every day since has been a bad time for my back...thank goodness for Advil and my massage cushion. The friends in the next trailer came over on Friday to see our "home movies". Sunday the church that Sue attends had a "thank you "day for all the Snowbirds and gave a very nice hand bag to the ladies and a cap or the guys ( all Alabama labels ). This coming Saturday there is a men only Swamp Supper in Laverne which a number of us will attend. Hopefully you will be able to see the menu below

A summary of our trip will be done sometime after we get home.

Menu Didn't work

Oh yaaaaaa

Although hard to see, there are about 50 Robins in this picture, part of a flock of around 200-300.
We both had a hair cut this past week....that's not a big deal, but the barber that owns the shop, has been cutting hair for SEVENTY TWO ( 72) years.
The ads for that special gift for the female in your life at Valentine's are a little different in Montgomery.....how about a Tazer for the the little woman or a discreet hand gun for pocket or purse.
We aren't starving yet....had a Valentine's supper at the church Sue attends and another set for the campground tonight. We ate at an old school house (Mossey Grove) the other night. It's gonna take a long time to weened from this habit. Brandy had a trim this past week as well, which should make it more comfortable in the 70 F weather we are expecting this coming week. Last but not least.....Green Bay won the Super Bowl !!!!!!!!!!

Weekly update

Well, Green Bay came through the way we had hoped, by winning the Super Bowl. A number of the guys went to the rec center and watched it on the 60" big screen .
Sue is finally over her lingering cold. It seems most of the women in our area of the park had it too.
Monday a number of the guys went over to see the private airplane collection of a local business owner. All of the 18 or so planes are maintained in flying condition, including a B25 bomber, P51 Mustang and 1943 DC3. There is also a 3/4 size Mustang, fitted with a V12 engine and cruises at 450MPH. It is for sale....asking price $1.3 million.
In less than 3 weeks we'll be home.....weather permitting. Speaking of which....it's been about the mid 50's this week and dry for the most part.

Early Spring ????????

Well, the out of country health insurance and passports are both running out so we will start our final packing up shortly. The under trailer storage is a bit messy so once this rain lets up, I'll tackle that job.
We went to a Storytelling Festival this past Saturday. The full name is Pike Piddlers Storetelling Festival. Basically, it's four people telling humorous stories of their childhood or younger years. VERY funny. None of it is scripted although the foundation of the stories are in place. Three performances morning afternoon and evening and each one different plus one show the night before.
We are lucky here is missing the poor weather around the States and Canada. There was heavy wind and rain last night and it's overcast today and cooler at 40 or so. It was 70 at the end of last week

Drags etc

Another week has come and gone....times goin' way too fast.
On Friday we went to see True Grit...new version. This followed seeing the original on TV a couple of weeks ago. The new show seemed to followed the first one fairly close, with a bit extra at the end. Good movie regardless.
Saturday had 3 of "us guys" travel up to Montgomery to the "Hangover Nationals" a drag race that was supposed to have happened on Jan 1 & 2, but were delayed because of poor weather. It was a good bracket race with
everything from a very fast V8 powered VW to rail style dragsters . They were only using the 1/8 mile strip but got up to 120MPH. Times were under 8 second area at times.
Sunday lunch, now.... a ritual, was out to It Don't Matter, again....great food in the middle of no where.
Sue has a date every Monday for quilting and usually another date on Wed. at a different place as well.
We were hungry again yesterday ( Tuesday ) and found a eating place none of group had tried before "Country Kitchen"...again a great place. A number of "famous people" have eaten there ( more than once).
The bottom picture is of two cars that are powered by a 2 cycle engines and driven by kids under 12 years old. The speed was still close to 80 MPH in the 1/8th.

Warmer !!!!

The weather has finally decided to warm up a bit. We've had a couple of days in the low 60's. Sue's glued tooth is still in place !!!!!!
We went to a play at Troy University the other night. It was based on a book that Sue had read ( Life is so Good). The book was better than the play.
It was time to get Brandy groomed again, so it was off to Montgomery with friends. To put in the time until Brandy was ready, we ate at a great Italian Restraunt, then visited the Hank Williams Museum. Sunday is always a lunch out day and this past week it was Sister's again, a buffet style place...good too. Sue has accepted an invitation to lead a group to Papua Indonisia in July...I expect we'll be home by then :-) Yesterday a group of us men went to Luverne to see a fellows 'plane. He has it stored there while he finishes building it. I'll be going up in when the weather gets a bit warmer, to help bleed the brakes. That's about all the needs to be done in order to get it flying ( it also needs a bit of reassembly as it was taken apart to transport it to the hanger). Of course we stopped in to eat again at "It don't Matter" eatery.

Al's wrong !!!!!!!!

There ain't no Global Warming. We've been cold here in AL., as has most of the South. Tonite ( Wed) they are calling for a low of 18 here. Heavy snow in Nashville, airports shut down in NYC. and Montgomery AL., Geeeeeeez !!!!!!!!
Last Wed., Sue had a tooth extracted. She had experienced quite a bit of pain for 2 weeks and finally paid the dentist a visit. She had badly infected gums on her lower front jaw causing a couple of teeth to become loose. One of them was taken out.
Friday we did a drive on some of the country roads in the area with friends from the park. We'd heard of a restaurant in one of these towns and paid it a visit. It's called "It don't Matter"....great place in the middle of nowhere. Sue had another tooth come out on it's own that night. It had been pinned and the top part came off.
Monday there was a ice storm warning out.....schools cancelled ( they actually cancelled them on Thursday in anticipation of a storm on Monday!!!!!). Things around here weren't too bad as most of the ice was North and East of here . That night we watched the Auburn/Oregon BCS on the tube....good game.
Yesterday we had heard of an old time ice parlor in old Troy....in we went with another couple only to discover it was no longer "old time" but we had milk shakes anyway.
Sue was into the dentist again this morning to have the tooth upper portion glued on to the pin. She was told it won't last and she will likely lose two more front teeth as well because of the damage caused by the infection. That will happen in Canada !!!!!!!

2011

Has arrived with warmer weather. It is 63 F now at 5;00.
On New Year's Eve there was a camp fire and fireworks display overlooking the ponds. Although there was a light periodic drizzle, it didn't stop us from having a good time.
New Year's day had us drive into Waffle House for breakfast with our friends Dale and Ester. At noon there was a pot luck in the hall. As always, it turned out well.
There are a couple more of the "regulars" here now and some more coming shortly.
We haven't done much exploring of late, but will shortly, as we have picked up a local map showing some of the smaller towns in the area.
More to follow !!!!!