Glacier National Park!

It was raining lightly when we woke up this morning but it did not look as if it was settled in for the day, so we made sandwiches, packed the bakkie with the camera stuff and snacks, extra jacket and headed towards Glacier Park! There were so many things that I remembered from the last time we were up here, but there is nothing that can take away from the absolute glory of those mountains! Every turn of the road delivered another stunning view....... There is very little snow left up on the slopes but a good few waterfalls still cascaded down the mountainside and everything is beautifully green........ I took photographs as fast as my finger would allow and Frank pulled over in every pulloff so we could just breathe that air - its definately different and somehow fills the lungs better too! There was not much traffic at all which was lovely too. At one stop there were little chipmunk thingys scrounging for food and I managed a good few really close up photos while they begged us for something to eat. The mountains are truely awesome (Wendy, I need that list of descriptive words again!), there is no way a camera can capture the majesty and enormity of this place. I tried taking a series of photos and will stitch them together in a while to see if I managed to get the panoramic effect........... We went up the "Going to the Sun Road" to the visitors center up the top of the pass. This is called Logan Pass and it crosses the Continental Divide with an elevation of 6646 foot. It was decidedly cooler up at the top and we were really pleased that we had jackets and jeans on today. There was also very little snow and ice up there but the wind whipped whatever cold it could find directly onto the lookout point making most people run inside with frozen teeth! The road to the east end of the park was closed because of a fire last night so we had to go back the same way again which was fine with us both. The fire was the main reason for the lack of traffic coming in this morning, but by now everyone had come around to the west entrance and there were literally hundreds of cars headed up the mountain.. I am not really good on these little roads - at all. At all. I actually get nauseaus when I look out of my window and see............. nothing! I love barriers between me and a drop that I cannot even see the bottom of! Frank knows this by now and wisely hugs the center line and knows not to use any of the outer pulloffs unless they have good solid barriers. Even he says I kinda go pale near the edge - he always says this with a little laugh in his face and voice......... But all this makes for good gentle driving and more photo opportunities. The views are truely stunning and on the way back the light had already changed and we were coming from a different angle, so the camera again clicked away endlessly capturing even more little bits of this place to take home with us. Lake McDonald is beautiful - the color of the water is an unbelievable blue/green with lighter shades around the 'coast line'. The pebbles are an incredible array of different colors and with the wind whipping up the little white horses, it made for some really amazing views. The clouds started closing in as well, which made for sun rays through the thin spots and this made for some lovely sunspots in an otherwise darkening scenery. I normally get my feet in all sorts of water - but this was just too cold... so I just let my fingers do the work this time around. Yes, I did pick up a few rocks and will add them to the rock collections of the other travels.....we could make a really pretty rock garden by the end of this trip! Even Frank picked up a pebble or two. The Skilpads are normally a good many pounds heavier going back home as we pick up interesting stones/rocks wherever we go. We did not do any hiking as Frank is still not feeling really great and we did not want to push that side of things right now - we still have a long road ahead of us. But after most of the day at Glacier Park, we did explore the little town of Whitefish and ate some Chinese food. Neither of us felt much like shopping and decided that we would do without the things we need for a few more days - nothing urgent at all. And we headed back to the campgrounds. I think we passed about 20 other campgrounds that all had level lots and no 'back of the park' section. We are learning. It will take a few days to get into the swing of things and learn to go and see where they want to put us before paying for the site....... but it's good and quiet here and apparently that is what we need right now. It has surprised us just how tired we are and we are sleeping a lot more than we had for the past months at home. I think the stress is catching up with us, but we know that will pass on too. This morning we woke up to a really special text message on the cell phone from my eldest daughter, Lisa - she is making me Granny Annie! Mom, you will be a Great Grandma! Somebody, anybody - tell her I am too young for this! :-) I have a feeling it will be a girl :-) .... Later today Steven called and we had a good chat - he sounds great and is in the process of applying for a different job - good luck on Friday, my boy! Right when we came out of Glacier Park the phone rang with a voicemail. My youngest daugher, Joleen had called from Marines training in North Carolina - she had earned a phone call and no one was answering their phones! She sounded so tired and sad, it broke my heart. But she is good and tough and will make it through. So. I managed to be in contact with the U3 group all in one day, and to know they are doing well is simply wonderful! Tomorrow, Monday, we plan on heading into Canada. We want to spend a couple of days up on the Icefield Parkway before heading into Alberta. And Penny! Oh yes! The huckleberry shake was fan-tastic! Too many of those could spell big-hip-trouble....... Love and Light Especially to U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

Montana and Mountains

Around midday today we saw our first snow peering through the hazy sky - we could not yet see the mountains but the white patches of snow kinda gave the idea that they really were there! Soon dusty blue shapes appeared and we both felt a whole lot better - there really still were mountains in the world! The road was great and apart from having to pass impossibly slow, impossibly large farming vehicles that looked a bit like enormous dinosaurs, the drive was really smooth. I always have my heart in my throat when we pass on such little roads. Our total length is just about 50 foot and that feels awfully long when overtaking.. I never got used to that. It is amazing just how fast the scenery changed - one minute we were in flat wheat lands with cows and horses using every bit of the shade from the billboards, and the next we had the Skilpads screaming up beautiful lush green mountain sides! We could breathe again - it was wonderful....... The trees were tall and elegant (and made me think of you, Tilda - tall and elegant! ) most and the rivers ambling alongside the roads had the most beautiful green blue color and were dotted with splashes of color from all the rafters heading downstream. We switched off the airconditioner and had the windows wide open which then got me leaning out of the window trying to catch as much as I could on the camera. Simply beautiful and we are not even in the "proper" part of the park yet. That comes tomorrow... We are going to leave here early in the morning (yes really!) and make a full day of it in there. We decided to take it easy this afternoon (code for doing nothing at all), Frank cooked our lunch while I tried to upload pictures to the website. So now we are drinking a pot of coffee and it feels like naptime is getting closer. Yup, it did - a good four hour nap........ did us both the world of good. Now we are all showered and the wind is blowing and it terribly dusty outside and we are relaxing inside with the rv gently rocking in the wind. Our site is not very level at all and we had to move the picnic bench to be able to fit us in, but we are only a few miles from the entrance of the park and on the road to the 93 north which we will take going into Canada. We camped really close to here in 2003 when we came up this way last time - and it's around here that our first little bakkie was towed while in gear and did not make it into Canada - she spat her engine pieces onto the roadside - very sad it was. And yes! we do know that this is not a good idea :-) (to say the very least) and we are really careful, chanting "bakkie out of gear" at least three times before pulling out after a camping stop these days! Just making sure........ Saturday means free online time through the cell phone! But. We had zero reception all day long......... until we got to the park just outside Glacier Park itself. There they have wireless internet! But. It does not reach our site...... We were put RIGHT at the back end of the park again. Ah well. It's so peaceful here under the pine trees and the bugs absolutely love us! Put a foot outside without bug spray and you instantly have the pleasure of being some bugs' dinner! The main culprits look a bit like little yellow jackets - they like me; the no-see-ums looove Frank! We are busy charging all the camera batteries for a full day tomorrow. I have to re-learn how to take night photos - I did have all that in my head before Steven was diagnosed - I think that info leaked out. But I do have the papers here in a file and will look at it again tonight. What a pity it would be not to be ready to get the northern lights on camera! We have done some serious driving over the past four days and it will be nice to take it a bit easier for a day or three... and we are reeeaally looking forward to those mountain views again! We do need to get the bakkie washed before going to Glacier NP in the morning - its difficult to see out of the windows with all the dust and dirt she has collected while being dragged along. I am still trying to upload photos to the RoadrunnersUSA.com site. Maybe it will work...........if not - I will do this as soon as we get high speed... Lotsalove Annie & Frank Xxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

Working our way West

The bakkie and Skilpad now look as if they have been on the road for a few days. Frank particularly hates dusty roads, and the campground for Wednesday night was a good few miles down a really dry dusty road......... The Interstate 90 West was such a bad road that the screws holding the microwave in place landed on the counter and we found a screw for the screen door on the step too - small repairs. This is our first trip in this rv and there are bound to be little niggles to work out. We passed a camper that had been done up and had the website almostwillie.com all over it - The guy driving looked a tad like Willie Nelson and the picture he had stuck on the back looked like him too! We passed rather quickly as it looked like the wheels were going to fall off - or at least he had one verrrry bad spring! He looked quite happy though....and definately quite a character just merrily croozing along the highway. And then we stopped for gas and the bakkie nearly escaped! When we pulled out of the gas station we went through a particularly bad dip and Frank saw the front of the bakkie in his rear view mirror - not good! She had broken one of the pins holding the towing outfit onto the bakkie and was trying to escape! Fortunately there was a turning lane right there and we made good use of it. The bar was really badly bent and so we took the other side off too, drove a llittle way down the road road in separate vehicles and parked. I stayed with the rv while Frank went off to get it all straightened up again. Fortunately he was not gone too long and we were back on track about an hour later. Maybe the bakkie knew we were headed into long boring roads? While I waited in the rv, I had three wireless high speed connections available - but not one of them would tie me on! It was terribly frustrating, to say the least. This side of South and North Dakota is ummmmmmmm - flat and not many "oh look there!"'s happened at all! The camera sat on standby most of the day and we were rather please to get to the Turtle River campground. We took the bikes out for a ride and quickly discovered that there were hills here after all and were very thankful for the airconditioner when we got back! It had been too hot in Chattanooga to ride for about a week and we were definately out of practise. :-)We left the campground fairly early this morning, wanting to get out of the Dakota's and into more interesting countryside. We had wanted to see what it was like up here - now we know! Yes, Debbie, tell Tom we are now in 'warp 9' and headin' out - looking for Scottie himselft to beam us outa here! The road is pretty good and there are little white butterflies all over the place. There are mostly wheat fields and cattle farms around here now and the wind is blowing us around quite a bit. We are driving on the #2 state road just a few miles south of Canada. We passed through the little town of Rugby, which is the geographical center of North America. And Devils Lake was big and pretty. There certainly is not a whole lot of anything around here at all! The roadworks all across this state is incredible - it goes on for miles upon rattling mile. There are more dead skunks than live ones and their smell attaches itself to Skilpad and stays quite a while too.. We got briefly excited at some hills and then, after about 5 minutes, it was all flat again. Every now and again the fields turned yellow with the sunflowers all hunting the sun - that was really pretty.We are pushing quite hard to get to Glacier Park. We have seen what there is not to see on this side and want to move on now. People are staying well away from us and the rv - lots of looks, waves, horn honking and thumbs up - but as soon as we park anywhere and are accessible, everyone has something else to do. At least they are being affected one way or the other. A major point of all of this was to 'get to' people, to make them think. In some way - its working. One couple with an Alaska tag passed up waving and giving the thumbs up sign - maybe we will bump into them again when we get there. We are stopped for the night in a small town called Havre, Montana. We took the bikes for a ride to the local grocery store about two miles down the road and stocked up just a little. We cannot carry too much on the bicycles! Now sitting and enjoying a bottle of South African wine that a customer of ours gave us, with a good Frank-warmed lasagne. We should reach Glacier Park tomorrow evening and will hang out there for a day or three. Then it's up and over the icefield parkway, Banff National Park and to Alberta Canada to meet Penny! I cannot wait......... The days have passed in a blur with very little high excitement so far. I think we are still both realising that we are out here again, no schedules, no work - just the road and us and everyone riding with us. We cannot wait to get to some mountains! Thanks for all your emails - I promise to answer them all whenever I can.That's me for the night... Love to all Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXxxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

Corn and Beans, Corn and Beans.........

Driving through downtown Peoria, endless roadworks, pouring with rain and serious bolts of lightening all around us - NOT my idea of a good start to the day! We already had to start the day with a talk to ourselves. We decided that we would have no expectations of what this trip will bring. We will do what we can - and what will be will be. So. With a different attitude we headed into the rain. Frank has no problem at all with driving in this weather - but I slam on brakes on the passenger side and suck in my stomach as we pass by the concrete barriers a mere inch from my side - or so it seems! I should go and bury my head but dont want to miss anything, so I sit there trying really hard to stop the squeaks as the trucks scream by and erase the rest of the world by dumping the road water on our windshield! It seems as if the noise is ten times worse when the road is wet too. But, as usual, Frank got us out of there quite smoothly. He just looks across at me and smiles. There are cornfields everywhere here - right up to the roads and really close to the houses too. We see many boards advertising that it is being grown for biodiesel which I find very interesting.... They really do make use of every inch of ground to grow this stuff. The plants looks really healthy and many places are selling corn on the cob right out of the fields. Maybe we will stop tomorrow. We were driving along a small country road this morning and saw a railway bridge up ahead. Nothing said to slow down, yield or beware of anything unusual - except a normal looking roadsign that we could only read when it was too late to do anything about it. The sign read: "Bridge only designed to hold ONE truck! Yield to oncoming trucks." Oh. There is no way you can see what vehicles are approaching - its a bridge! And by the time we read this sign and it actually sunk in, we were already on the bridge.........with the train going underneath us, knowing that there would have been no way to stop if there was an oncoming truck....... very strange and breathtaking in its own way. We stopped laughing about a mile down the road. We drove most of the morning with the windows and vents wide open, barefoot and music playing. Yes, the radio actually worked until just after 1.30pm when it switched off and simply wont wake up again. We have an external hard drive with tons of music on it, but have not yet found where we packed it. We drove through Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and both almost gagged! I dont know what they are doing there, but hoo boy, there is no way we could have stopped there at all. It was unbelievable! And we found that Iowa's rest stops have high speed internet! We found two reasons to stop at them before leaving the state and I managed to get some emails fired off and had a short IM with Katie. Very nice. :-) And then right as we were leaving Iowa this evening, I bought a newspaper. The front page was all about Lance Armstrong and that he was going to be riding in Iowa today, giving a speech about cancer, this evening and riding a little more tomorrow. This morning we had been15 miles, at most, from where all this happened and had no clue! How good would that have been to have got in the middle of all of that?? It was WAY too late to turn around and go back...... We had a good few people waving at us today giving the thumbs up sign and even a train tooted at us while the driver waved out of the window. We have added 4 more names to the sides today as well. It was a quiet kind of day, but Skilpad is feeling more like home every minute. Slowly we are sorting out the different containers that have anything from face cream to a camera in them. The cupboards in the kitchen have already been repacked and I am sure that will happen again. We did bring a goodly amount of food with us as we dont often eat out - Frank cooks too well for that! :-) We found a little campground off the I90 interstate headed directly west down the bottom part of Minnesota. The manager came and chatted to us for a good while, but eventually the mosquitoes drove us inside again. We went for a shower and I blessed the fact that I had "shower shoes". Even in the shower, the bugs were horrendous! I got to eat three of them before learning to keep my mouth firmly shut, ever tried shampooing your hair with your mouth closed? And then I saw a big brown bug crawling up the wall right next to me. I could not identify what type he was as I did not have my glasses on, but lets just say that my legs did not get shaved and all the soap came off in record time! Tomorrow we will head west into Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then up directly north on the I29 into North Dakota. Last time we came up this way we went across South Dakota, so want to do it a little differently this time. We will then head directly west again towards Montana and to Glacier National Park. We alternate between the interstates and the smaller state roads. Both are good in their own way and we really enjoy the little towns along the way. Thats it for today. It was a good one. Love to all Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXXxxx

DAY ONE :-)

Starting odometer reading in Skilpad: 8220. Odometer reading for the bakkie: 84 202 (abt 30 000 of those are from the previous trips!) This morning early the news people called saying that they are on their way. We quickly packed the rest of the stuff, tv, computers and cameras.... The interview went smoothly. Katie and Jess and my mom came to make sure that we left! When Steven came from work to say goodbye - channel 9 interviewed him too - he did really well and even posed rather cheekily next to his name on the rv! So nice to see. And then we left. It was lovely to see my family standing in a puddle waving us goodbye. I am going to miss them! We headed up Highway 111 from Soddy Daisy, into Kentucky - the Cumberland River looked beautiful and had a good few barges all over. We then headed up through Paducah Kentucky into Illinois - Effinham, Champagne and now in Peoria for the night. We drove a good 400 miles and more today and are both deadbeat! Many people honked as they went by and it was great watching the reactions of people noticing the rv as we tootled past.........I have figured out how to get the gps to work but am not enjoying having the laptop literally on my lap as we drive, so have gone back to the trusty paper version map book, only using the gps when we go through big and busy places. That gps is quite an amazing little thing - we got the cheapest little one available and it hangs by its suction cup on the windshield just waiting to be of some use. When I plug it into the laptop - it shows us exactly where we are, I mean exactly!, shows us what elevation we are at, how fast we are driving and something else too that I now forget! Quite a little piece of equipment. You can tell its the first time I have used one, right? It only took a few miles to stop the few rattles we have had no cupboards fly open - yet. There are a million and ten cords lying everywhere all tied to something that is charging. Its something one does not notice in a 'normal house' - they are spread around a tad more than they are in here now. It will take a day or three to get all this sorted out..... Opening the fridge is quite a trick and its interesting to try and catch 10 things at once as they leap out as soon as the safety clip is pressed! This evening when we stopped, the contents of the food cupboard did the same and I can see that quite a bit of reorganising is in order all around. The roads are generally pretty good here with some bad patches and thankfully almost no construction at all. It is beautiful and green, lush looking with many many miles of corn and soy beans growing. We saw a buck standing on the side of the freeway - almost looking as if he was waiting for the traffic to pass before crossing - hope he made it! There is not much to see along the roads we are using right now. We want to head up to North Dakota and then we will slow down, take the smaller roads and see what there is to see. The radio in Skilpad is very strange. It plays for a few minutes and then switches itself off for hours, coming on later for no apparent reason. No amount of punching buttons, flipping switches or muttering will get that thing to come on when we want it to, or stay on....... I bet its something simple.. The refridgerator also took a little while before it would work - helped when we switched the propane supply on.. :-) We figured it out that we get about 9 miles to the gallon - thats towing the pickup as well. Very close to what we estimated. Thats me for the night. Frank is already gently snoring in the room and its raining - sounds wonderful on the roof! Its really lovely being out on the road again and we are loving every minute of it Love and Light Annie and Frank XXXxxxxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

Two Days! Well........ only one left now

We have started packing the rv - there seems to be a never ending river of stuff to put in there! Most of our shopping is done and the house is starting to feel empty and lonely. The shop is almost all packed up, has the phone message changed and the closed notices on the windows and doors. I am sure that there will be some people that are going to have a hissy fit at us being away for so long! We are always welcomed back with open arms by almost desperate customers after we have been away! When we did the other long trips, we did not have to pack as we lived in that motorhome full time, so it was almost a case of "unplug and drive"! This is a new/different rv and we are still trying to find place for everything. I am sure it will take a few days to get everything in its place and stop the unstoppable rattling of cupboard contents. We have learned the hard way and are keeping most of the heavy stuff at floor level. We had Steven and Laura in here today, showing them how to handle the bills and alarms system and the many other little things that need to be taken care of while we are gone. Steven is looking really well and is looking forward to starting college in late August. He graduated 4 years ago and has now seen the need for a degree so is going to Chattanooga State College to study CAD - Computer Aided Drawing/Drafting. It's a two year course which he will have to do in evening classes as he works full day and cannot afford not to, but he is going to give it a really good try. He has always worked for everything he has and realises that he will give himself an even better chance at a good life if he has a degree. We are hoping that some of the tiredness from gleevec leaves and that he will do ok with the extra load. What a 'kid' this is! My youngest daughter is a newly graduated and stunningly beautiful US Marine and is leaving for North Carolina on Monday evening for the next step of training. My middle child is getting married in late October and being on this trip will stop us from being involved in much of the planning, but she also has a goodly amount of sense and will do just wonderfully. I am proud of all three my children and prone to share.... :-) Here are some words that I will be using during the trip and in the updates. . Bakkie. This is the pickup truck, the Chevy S10. Also known as "little Skilpad" Skilpad. This is an Afrikaans word for a tortoise. Afrikaans is a language of South Africa where I was born and raised. The motorhome is our "tortoise" as we take our house where we go. Our first Skilpad burned this past Christmas Day when we were on our way to Florida. This one is named Skilpad 2, or SP2. Biltong. This is beef jerky that we make. U3. This is when I refer to my three 'kids'. If there are any other words I use that you don't understand email me and I will explain. So many are just second nature to use and I don't realize that they dont make sense to anyone around me. Frank gets this puzzeled look on his face every now and again and I have to stop and explain myself before going on. He is getting used to it now after 4 years, but I do tend to pop in a new one every now and again. Skilpad looks stunning. The wrap is awesome and I cannot thank Billy T & Tom for doing such an awesome job. I have written almost 100 names on the sides so far. Each time I write a name, I sent a thought/prayer/positive vibe to the person and their family. The caregivers are not forgotten at all! The names add such a wonderful personal touch to this adventure and we are proud to take everyone along with us. If there are any others that have CML or any blood cancer and want their name on there - please email me and we will add you! We will be adding names all along the way. It is really so wonderful to be able to make a journey like this. Not only that we are going back to Alaska and can spend this amount of time away from home, but that we can do something that we feel will really make a difference. I really feel as if we might be able to help in the fight against CML and hopefully other cancers too by doing this fundraiser. It takes away so many of the helpless feelings, makes my 'freaking level' go down a tad and is simply an honor to take so many people with us! We are indeed very fortunate. We will be leaving Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, on the morning of Tuesday 25th July. We hope to travel a total of 15 000 miles or more, be on the road for two months at least and raise as much money as we can for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Pledges per mile would be wonderful - we will be taking the odometer reading of Skilpad and the bakkie before we leave. Almost ready to go......... Love to all Annie and Frank XXXXXXxxxx

The True Beginning!

And so it begins! Is this Big Colorful Bus not absolutely beooootiful? We got her home today looking like an absolute wonder. Her official name is Skilpad2. A skilpad is a tortoise and the 2? 2nd rv . We will be leaving on Tuesday next week. Not sure yet what time. Keep coming back for information! Tomorrow I will be writing the names on the sides and will post new pics on the RoadrunnersUSA.com website. This is incredibly exciting!

D- Days

There are a good many D-Days before we leave. First we drop off the motorhome on the 12th - next week! - so that the wrapping can happen, then we leave on the 13th to get my youngest daughter from Parris Island where she is graduating from Marines Boot Camp, then we have a doctors appointment for Steven early the following week. On the 24th Joleen is scheduled to leave for another step on the Marines road and then we will start our adventure either on the eve of the 25th or morning of th 26th July. We are slowly packing up the house, the business and organising everything that goes along with closing up house for two months. Steven's flight plans will be finalised in mid August so we dont even have a definate date for that yet. As soon as we are out on the road, I will update to this site on a regular basis, via email. You can access this blog from RoadrunnersUSA.com as well. Also - Steven's blogsite is linked through there too. Please visit us at Penniesforcancer.com as well. Thanks! Annie