RoadRunnersUSA .... On the Road to Cure Leukemia!

The End

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 04:06:00 +0000

Skilpad Unwrapped

On Christmas day we plan to leave for the coast again for about a week. So I went to the RV, wanting to pull the wrap off from the windows - one can see through them from the inside but it made everything just that little bit darker. Anyway, once the windows were clear, I had to patch out some partial words and figure out a way to add those now missing words elsewhere so the message still made sense. Needless to say, I did not have matching pieces for where I needed to patch and while I was making a really good but pointless attempt at achieving this, I pictured us back in an RV park, stuck at the back somewhere and having people walk big circles around us, avoiding contact. This was not what either I or Frank needed or wanted, so I started thinking that it was time. Time to pull the wrap off. At first we had said that we would keep it on until summer next year, but the reaction to the wrap was not what we had wanted it to be anyway, it was almost counter-productive.

So when today grew good and warm, out came the ladder and up I went. The wrap was pretty easy to get off at first, it was stuck on there pretty well but peeled of smoothly as long as I pulled gently with even pressure. That changed after the third blister popped! But it was good. When the lettering of PenniesforCancer.com came off, I spoke to Penny, thanked her for riding with us and everything else too - it was lovely up there on the top of the ladder in the sunshine talking gently.

As the sun moved, parts of Skilpad got shaded and the wrap became stubborn, clinging firmly to Skilpad. Frank moved her for me while I ran cold water over my hurting hands, but I was keen to get out there again. Frank knew that this was something I needed to do by myself - at least for the most part and he left me to do my thing while building me a jerky (biltong) drying box. It felt as if I was really pulling leukemia out/off, relegating it to an ugly pile on the ground. It felt good to see everything good and clean where the words were before.........was strangly cleansing and very therapeutic for me.

At one point in the middle of pulling the big word 'leukemia' off, I realised that Steven has had to drive past this every day on his way out in the morning. What a way to start his days with leukemia literally in his face at the start of every one! Wow. And then I really let rip and I found myself humming and smiling while blisters popped into sticky vinyl wrap! :-) Lovely! After hours of tugging at the vinyl, Frank joined me and grew his own blisters....... It was all good.

And now Skilpad is as she was before. If only I could make that happen for Steven too by the simple act of taking off a wrap. But he is doing so well that I am really not going to complain or anything at all.

I know for a fact that so much more could have been done with fundraising with that RV if only things had been done differently... but I looked inside myself and knew that we had to move forward and that that included removing the wrap. I am really glad we did that and we were really fortunate to have such warm weather so late in the year that allowed the relatively easy peeling of it.

I carefully cut out around all the names that were written on the sides and have those put on backing paper, in the shop. I am going to put them in the photo albums that I will be making about this trip. Right before starting to strip the wrap, I did my final walk around, dragging my hand over each name and sending positive thoughts and really big thanks to each one. Some people I am still in contact with but I will always hold each one of them close in my heart. I still say that those people who;s names were on our sides, were what truely made that adventure incredible.........

And so the RoadRunnersUSA trip has truely ended now. It was time.

Big smiles here tonight.

{{{*.*}}} www.penniesforcancer.com

Penny

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:42:00 +0000

24th October 2006 Today Penny passed away. The tears won't stop.

28th September - Love and Light.............

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 16:17:00 +0000

With an absolutely glorious sunset the night before, a gentle pink sunrise, tears in my eyes and a song in my heart, we unplugged Skilpad, hooked up the bakkie and left the beach on Thursday morning - heading directly north and back to Tennessee past enormous Pecan trees, through solid rain storms and with rainbows egging us on all the way. I first wrote that we are headed home - but we are home. Skilpad has become that place, the place my heart is and the place I am at peace. Our home.

How does one describe two months of awe, wonder, love, hello's and goodbyes. How can the feelings be put into simple words and still convey emotions that run so deep? We have covered so many aspects of life in a relatively short time and so much has touched my soul in a way that has changed me forever. I had to go through some of the many photographs to remind myself of the order of our journey. Glacier Park seems so very long ago, while meeting Penny feels like just the other day, yet those two were only days apart.

There was no definite conversation or thought about us heading back at all, rather a gentle, slow feeling that we have done all we can and seen all we wanted to see this time around and maybe, perhaps, we are ready to go home. Perhaps. Leaving this beautiful Emerald Coast and heading north is done with a heavy heart and at the same time with a definite feeling that there will be a next time, more adventures, more discoveries and yes - more photographs too!

We have spent many nights sleeping in out of the way places rather than campgrounds, spending quiet evenings under bridges next to rivers, high in the mountains, simply alongside the road where we saw those glorious and stunning northern lights dance across the sky. We have slept in places that felt eerie in their loneliness and quietness, and we have spent nights where the glorious views spilled inside the motor home through the open windows making us just sit and breath it all in. Other places were so noisy that it pulled our strings and made us 'tetchy' for days from lack of sound sleep. And always we have been at home.

We have seen the wonder of Glacier Park, that ever growing and very meaningful Sign Post Forest, the incredible Alcan Highway; glaciers that took my breath away with their shimmering silver and blues in Prince William Sound and along the many roads traveled; we have been beyond-cold and breathless at some of the awesome mountains and valleys along the way. It rained much of the time up north which literally put a damper on the days, but looking now at the photographs, still rendered so many wonderful memories and views.

Those ice-topped volcanoes, the Pacific Coast and the enormous boulders standing guard offshore; the smell of the ocean and the enormous waves crashing endlessly onto pristine beaches; whales cruising in the blue waters, spouting as we watched; that wonderful winding road along the coast; the incredible feeling and sights of Zion - those deep canyons, rushing waters and totally awesome cliffs - the silence, the peace; the sky lit by fire and the deep darkness of starless nights and other nights where the stars danced like diamonds and the milky way was crystal clear; the open loneliness of endless roads that were beautiful in a different way too, and bright orange scenery that went on for miles. The boat rides, the train rides and the joy of finding some gold sparkles in our pans - (Thanks Nancy!); the peace and ease of being on the water, whether in a bay or on a river as well as in the crystal clear waters at the beautiful singing white sands of Florida beaches.

Some days we were on roads so quiet and gentle that I photographed the clouds, other roads were so busy I simply had to close my eyes and stomp on the non-existant brake pedal on my side of the motor home with sweaty palms and feet at times. Often we drove for hundreds of miles covering an incredible amount of distance in what felt like no time at all. Other days we moved mere feet. And always the camera clicked trying desperately to catch the beauty and wonder of what was around us.

We saw enormous wood mosquitoes that stood taller than ourselves; we saw bears where they were supposed to be and in places we least expected them. Wendy even heard a bear when ….. um, it was not a bear! That laugh particularly has a way of returning constantly! Moose we saw plenty of; mountain goat and caribou and normal little deer littered the roads along the way. Seeing the condor was special and being bitten by a fish was different and a tad insulting; we saw the fattest squirrel I have ever seen at Zion; saw sea otters in Alaska and bypassed the Tiger display at a gas station along the way.

All these have added up to an incredible journey. But, as the adverts on TV say: "But wait - There's more! And there definitely is.

When I summarize this trip in my mind it goes something like this: We left Chattanooga saying goodbye to my family, after stopping at Glacier Park, we met Penny and her family, then up to Fairbanks where we met Debbie and her family, met some wonderful people there, picked up Wendy, went down to Seattle where we met more of Debs's family and some more great people. Then Steven and Laura arrived to see Dr Druker and more wonderful souls. After that we went to Zion and then Texas where we met Gale and Bill. There were so many wonderful people we met and many that we did not get to meet this time around. Sometimes we did not even exchange names with those that came to talk to us, and others we shared just an evening or a short chat - but they all became woven deeply into the fiber of this journey. People became the foundation of this journey.

And the names on the sides of Skilpad. I have had to rewrite them twice now - maybe the fading is because of the sun, or maybe it was helped along by the daily act of running my hands over them all, thanking every one for the trust shown in riding along with us, and sending a positive thought to each and all of you as well as your family and support groups, whether they are still fighting the battle or lost the fight - we had you in our heart all the way. If I could change something, the names of all caregivers would ride on our sides too. Along the way, I fully realized the incredible importance of that support those fighting these diseases. I know that all your names on Skilpad are what really touched the many that saw us - your names made it real, made it personal and a good few hands draped their way over them all while eyes teared up and hopes were shared.

This adventure was so much more and so very different from our other journeys. The original idea was to gently tootle around the USA and western Canada as we have done before, but after Steven was diagnosed it changed to becoming my way of trying to apply that band-aid on a scratched knee that I, as a mother, could do so long ago. We had been dropped into the very middle of understanding the importance for research and progress towards the control and cure of cancers. It is truly wonderful that Steven's leukemia is now controlled by Gleevec and we really wanted to be able to contribute towards the possibility of a cure for this and other cancers.

So the People Connections started. After talking to a good few big companies about doing the RV wrap, Billy T and Tom who have a small, family owned, sign writing company in our area were truly fantastic in giving us a tremendous price to have Skilpad beautifully wrapped - they did a tremendous job of it too and I was really touched by their caring and concern and generosity. There was no way that we could not be noticed and many people were reminded of the movie "RV" - hmmmm … maybe that was not all good! LOL. Some people felt that we were very much and perhaps too much, in people's faces. Others said that it was good to be so loud and visible - what was really interesting was that those people that liked it were the ones fighting cancer right now!

We met people that just wanted to talk about their experience and move on - they did not all want their names on the motor home and a few did not even want to share their names with us, just a part of their story. So many times we sat inside and watched as someone stood and read the RV, some stood really close by reading even the names but as soon as they sensed us inside they quickly moved off - sometimes coming back later for more looking. We learned to sit very still and not talk, especially if the windows were open - reminded us of bird watching. When we sat outside, wide circles were walked around us, and we eventually we learned to smile about this and not to be upset - we started quietly making bets as to who would work up the courage to walk right by us or maybe even greet us. We also found that if we were busy with something like washing the bakkie or bikes or doing something else outside - that's when people would stop and chat. Us sitting and just enjoying the outside seemed to make people nervous - we could understand that totally!

In most instances, if the campground host or office person saw the RV when we checked in, we were given sites at the back of the park that would 'give us privacy'. One lady, Kathy, from a KOA camp broke that rule and paid for our nights stay! The general reaction to us and the RV was totally different to what we had thought it would be and very early on during the trip, we had to try to adjust our expectations of what we would achieve, especially as far as collecting donations went.

There were many that gave us encouragement simply by coming up to us, emailing; or showing their support in a smile and a hug; those that honked their horns at us, waved, turned their heads and gave the thumbs up sign; and those that opened their homes to us - all of you really made the difference, a really big difference and I thank you deeply. It was fun watching as people stood with gaping mouths as we breezed on through many little towns and big cities. It was good seeing people point in surprise as we went by, or even purposefully ignore us - they won't forget what they saw and in this way we touched them.P> Although we did not come anywhere close to even the low end of what we expected to raise on this journey, each and every donation was done with a tremendous amount of love and caring, and received with humble thanks. From the checks to the pennies left on the steps of Skilpad, each donation takes us one step closer to that day when a true cure will be found for cml and hopefully many other cancers too. I will remember the young girl who emptied out her penny-purse in the jar when we stopped along the road in Alaska, the man from the yard sale who had made nothing that day, but gave us $5 towards a cure, the other who's wife was in the camper next door hurting in the final stages of cancer, having a really tough financial time but insisting on giving; the guy who popped into the RV with a few coins between his fingers to add to the jar, the checks and cash and that pledge that was made. All of these and more were given with the same hopes and caring as we have - to find an end to this disease.

The appointment with Dr Druker eased my soul. Even Steven is more comfortable having his fast approaching bone marrow biopsy after meeting with Dr Druker. He listened carefully and with great attention as this wonderful man gave him hope and encouraged him not to make cml his whole life, rather, a carefully watched part of his life - like a well thought out chess game. "Do all you can to keep an eye on the cml," he said, "but live life to the fullest. Do things you would normally have done - and keep an eye on cml." Dr Druker and Carolyn Blasdel, and also Jennifer at the reception desk, really made the light shine on the second half of the trip. We know that Steven has seen the best of doctors regarding his cml and can see that we have the right doctors locally too. This is really comforting.

And I heard my son sing. Thank you, thank you, Dr Druker!

Since Steven's diagnosis we have found so many wonderful people, so much reason for hope in life generally. Meeting Penny on the internet and then in person was such a wonderful experience that those marks, the happy and the sad ones, will always be etched on my soul. Deeply etched. I have learned so much from this incredible lady and will carry her with me always. The website of Pennies For Cancer will carry on for a long time to come and hopefully through this site we will continue to raise funds towards cure and treatment and will realize Penny's dream too. Love ya, lady!

Meeting Debs, also a mother of a child with cml, the one friend that can truly understand what I am going through, was absolutely wonderful - it really felt as if we had a bond that goes beyond the normal things in life and I know that we will get together again in the future and hopefully have a lot more time to spend just chatting. It was really great to be so much 'on the same page' with someone in exactly the same boat. Her daughter, Laura, is a wonderful young lady, filled with sparkle and positive attitude and we could see that she was not going to let cml beat her in any way! Wonderful…..

Gale we met in Texas. She is the lady I refer to as the "Pink Energizer Bunny Lady". She and Bill came to meet us at the RV for the one evening we stopped there and we chatted so easily for hours that were way too short. She had been through pre-gleevec times with cml and listening to her stories made me really grateful for all we have today. Really grateful. I would love to join up with them again in the not too distant future - this was yet another meeting that I felt that there was still so much to share and way too little time.

So after traveling a total of 12 229 miles in the RV, in just under 9 weeks, this part of the journey has ended and I just know another one has already started - although it will definitely not involve rolling wheels for a while. Maybe someday we will do another cross-country, but for now we will relive this one through the photos and memories. Please stay in contact and let me know how you are all doing.

I have so many thank you's and am really afraid to leave out anyone that played a part in this adventure. I certainly will remember everyone that we met along the way, everyone that helped in any way, that read the emails, responded to them, kept in touch, donated, hugged, smiled, waved or encouraged us in the up and down times along the way. To the people that organized news and TV meetings and those that came out and interviewed us - thank you! There were many others that we spent some time with along the way and each of you were a tremendous help in my attempt to deal with this leukemia in Steven. Just to mention a few: Sandy in Fairbanks - you listened, you re-taught me that value and I hope I used it enough on the rest of the journey and will carry on doing so as much as I can; Tom in Cranbrook - you jumped right in with no notice at all and made a real difference!; Gloria - your daily emails kept me chuckling and kept me in touch; Trish - thanks SO much for helping keep me updated on Penny and how she is doing; Debs for the laughs and support - you are tremendous! To all the families of the friends we met along the way - you have made a really positive impact on my life; to all those that shared themselves with us - either in person or via email or phone call; to everyone that was so much more than a name on the sides of Skilpad - thank you! All of you will always play a part in the survival of my eldest child, my son, Steven. A very heartfelt thank you! If you feel that I have left you out of this list, please know that I thank you too! This journey will run through my mind for many years and each one of you made it complete.

I will also remember those that thought we were nuts and those that thought we were too blatant - we touched them too in some way and with a bit of luck and good fortune many people will know that we cared enough to be totally excited and do something really 'out of the box". Not much thought was given to the fundraiser side of things before we left -there simply was not the time. We reacted. We did. We did what we could and we did what we did. We did it with love and hope for Steven, we did it in the belief that we could make a difference to many people. Perhaps the difference we were supposed to make was not what we expected but something totally, well - different. We don't know. Maybe we never will. We do know that we did touch some people and we know that so many people touched us deeply and lastingly. I know that my three children saw that it is important to do something in the face of something as big as cancer if you have the opportunity - or at least give it a really good try!P> Although this adventure was primarily in honor of Steven and Penny, it was simply awesome to have taken you all along with us, to have had the opportunity to share this ride with all of you in the manner we did. We are truly honored to have carried you along with us, shared with you our adventures, sights and feelings. Every one of you. I sincerely hope that you all enjoyed the ride…….it meant so much to me having you all there. Every one of you has made this trip a total adventure, a wonderful ride and have inspired me to keep hoping and sharing.

Walking through those incredible canyons at Zion was a lesson in trust and belief. There are warnings all over about sudden and very real, flash flooding. We looked at the awesome beauty in front of us, keenly headed towards the turn up front excited about the view beyond, all the time heading deeper and deeper into a totally unknown area to us. Trust. Hope. Belief. All these were held tight as we walked an awesome trail. And it struck me - this is life! This is the only way to live life……. heading forward into unknown days on unknown trails, holding tight onto trust, hope and belief in something bigger than ourselves.

There is so much beauty out there on this continent, but the most awesome beauty is in the eyes of those that love and care. We had the most incredible fortune to see so very much of this all the way.

To my three lovely, young-adult children - the U3 you saw at the bottom of each email - you amaze me! Thanks for showing such responsibility at such relatively tender ages. Your phone calls and text messages were wonderful and your missing me made me smile all along the way. You are all incredible. My son, Steven, my daughters, Lisa and Joleen - I salute you and your ability to live your lives to the fullest - go for it! I love you all tremendously.

Frank, my dearest, my driver, my equalizer, my partner and husband. A very deep thanks for the many, many miles; the laughs, the smiles, the support, the gentle days and the encouragement. Thanks for incredible dinners and the joy in sharing and the oh so many detours! Thank you, my love, thank you.

All of you made this possible - you will forever be deep in my heart.

Love and Light to each and every one of you

Especially U3

Annie and Frank

XXXXXXXxxxxxx

With special thanks to:

Billy T & Tom Signwriters

My son: Steven K;

Penny and Michael E;

Gale B; Carien K; Marie H.W; Laura B; Beverley F G; Marge C ; Abby M; Bonnie B;Charlotte B; Ruth MB; Susan Butcher; Terry G; Shelley S; Moe S; Eric S; Judy T; Christine S; Karen B; Patricia R; Thaddeus R; Mary B; Susan K; Marisa B; Judy M; Kathy B; Rachel L; Sara W; Shawn R; Roy and Anjana; Leah P; Anita A; Claudia N; Fiona H; Jackie S; Judy M; Kathy Q; Dalton L; Yogi K; Diane P; Shiela W; Herb W; Jane P; Nicholas Y; Lynne A; Jon G; Lori A; Zavie M; Bob J; Tony D; Mary K; Tracy K; Don E; Sailaja K; Bob W; Kathy N; Amy F; Susan R; Daphny D; Tommy B; Tracy D; Sharon T; Shimon B; Nancy C; Dana S; Jonathan S; Bob D; Marque L; Carol H; Lori H; Mary Lou L; Marcia B; Amy B; Donnie B; Lottie D; Andrew C; David RV; Jack M; Gloria D; Ida JB; Denise F; Shawn R; Annie Shelly W.

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

27th September - A Day at the Beach........

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 03:18:00 +0000

This morning was moving day again - but not far at all - maybe an eighth of a mile - right onto the beach! The view filling the windows all blue sky, white sand and blue waters, pretty umbrellas and beach chairs - absolutely glorious! We have the spot that is right on the end of a row of rv's facing the ocean - the one with the uninterrupted view of the beach all the way up the coast to where the lights glimmer and flicker in the now night light. The gentle breeze keeps everything cooler here and the butterflies flutter by in packs of about 5 - but they keep coming and hundreds must have passed us by today. The seagulls cruise on the windcurrents, at times only just missing the awning that is gently flapping, making the sunlight dance around inside the RV too. There are a gazillion little holes all over the beach where tiny crabs shelter during the day, only to come out and party at night time.

After moving up here this morning, we headed down to the water again. The temperature of the air and the water was perfect and it was like coming home, sinking into that clear water again. This time it was low tide and we headed out to a sandbar not too far offshore - I am not fond of swimming in the ocean at all because this is home to things with bigger teeth than I have..... But we got to the sandbar safely where the water was not quite knee deep in most places and defiinately deep enough to float in others. What a different world out there! The sounds from the shore disappeared, the feel was different and we gently bobbed around there for a good long time. The butterflies flittered overhead, the gulls yelled at us - I kept my mouth firmly shut when I looked up at them! There were a good many little fish darting around us but one fair sized one that had a green/blue color to it just kept on circling our ankles, never coming too close and never giving us the opportunity to look at it really well. The sunshine made the water look almost like that glass many people use in their bathrooms, either for the window or the shower door - bending vision and casting doubt on everything you think you see. Many times a fast moving shadow would catch my eye and my heart would fly to my throat only to realise that it was simply that - a reflection of the water, Frank moving or even myself! Well - I really dont like the idea of shadows in the ocean! At one point we thought we saw dolphins. They were a good distance away and I already started backing up towards the shore - my eyes are not good enough at that distance to see what they really were - dolphins, sharks or some other glurby hurtling our way for a quick, easily picked meal. We watched and watched until we figured it out - a snorkler! We laughed, me with relief and Frank with some concern for the state of our eyes! Every now and again we would feel a little pinprick somewhere on our bodies, nothing serious but a small but definate jab but could not see anything at all. Frank got zapped a good few times all at once and then I started feeling them. They were not enough to drive us out of the water, just leaving us a tad puzzeled. Then one landed on Frank's finger - a small jellylike blob, no bigger than the 'oh' key on your keyboard and a bit sticky. At least we now knew what was feasting on us.... and we played some more, with the fish still dancing around our legs, not touching, just checking us out.

I love the space that is between the top of the water and the sand underneath and kept trying to stay down to enjoy the clear water and quiet world under there, but it was almost impossible to stay under. Either the water is incredibly salty or I have way too much bouyancy - now be nice! I am still on vacation and the 'bouyancy issue" will be tackled once we get home again! :-) Anyway, after a good few tries, I asked Frank to hold me down under the water for a little while at a time. I can only imagine what the people on the beach thought each time I came back up spluttering and coughing sea water! After a little while he did not want to do this anymore - I think he was afraid beach patrol would come and nab him for attempted drowning or something........

There were no breakers out there this morning, just the gently rolling ocean, the sunshine and such amazing peace - if life could just always be this quiet, gentle and easy on the soul...... I touched something with my foot and gently picked it up with my toes - a tiny, unbroken sand dollar - boy did I feel really rich at that moment! It still had fuzz on it and I cradled it carefully in my hand for a good hour while we enjoyed the water. There are not many shells out here at all - not many that are whole anyway and finding this was really special. After a good long swim/float we headed back to the RV where Frank made a de-licious lunch, we spoiled ourselves with a twirly-whirly icecream, relaxed for a few hours doing absolutely nothing except watch the breeze play on the ocean, making ten billion glittering diamonds that danced endlessly on the top of the water.

Then we headed back to the water for another float. By this time the tide was coming in and the water was a bit cooler and quite a bit stronger and more determined than earlier on, but in we went looking for that sandbar again. The water was quite a bit deeper now too and neither of us was quite comfortable in going out there again. Strange. So we spent a good while playing closer to the shoreline. The waves, yes - waves by now, pummeled us endlessly and it was more of a workout than a gentle float - but we could both do with a workout so we stayed and enjoyed trying unsuccessfully to dig our feet into the sand and create personal anchors. The shadows under the water were more definate now too and we both felt a bit more jumpy, laughing at each other while watching for that next shadow. I don't think it helped that we were the only people swimming - safety in numbers, and all that.

The fish were back and one started harrassing me - I am serious! He bumped up against my legs continuously in a manner that was just not fitting for a fish! He was not even the length of a ruler so had no business messing with me, but he did....... again and again. I really started feeling picked on and kicked out at him next time he came at me. That flippin fish bit me! Frank laughed and laughed, thinking that I was fooling around, until I stuck my foot out of the water and in his face - swallowing water while I did this! That fish actually bit me. I could not believe it. Not a big bite - more of a scraping of a tiny piece of skin off the side of my toe, but it changed the idea of fun in the water. We were definately in a place where I felt that even a little fish could mess with my brain and, besides, it was starting to get cold. The wind had picked up and the water was no longer easy to see into, which made the shadows more.......... ummm, well, you know! And the dry white sand and the warm RV looked rather comfortable up on the shore. So with one more mean word to that fish we left. Thinking about it now - this whole display must have been hilarious from the shoreline....... It's quite amazing how it can be warm under the water and almost freezing when running up the beach in dripping t-shirts and shorts.

After a good warm shower, another restful hour or two, the sunset arrived again. We watched as people with their chairs streamed past the Skilpads to the waterline and plonked themselves down to watch yet another stunning display. I noticed a good many people assuming 'the stance' to take their photos and had to chuckle. Tonight it was simply awesome again, with clouds littering the sky, turning from white to orange, pink and then fire red, the gulls sailing the air currents and the moon lighting up as the sun dropped below the waterline on the horizon. There is no way to describe the glorious colors, the reflections and the feeling of a sunset on the beach. Everyone is quiet as the end to yet another day arrives and it even felt as if the water was less troubled. There definately is something really special about a sunset on the beach. Right as the sun dissappears, most folks picked up their chairs and head back to their campers. I wanted to tell them to stop as the sunset was not done yet! They missed the clouds changing colors, they missed the deep red in those last rays sent upwards by the now long gone sun, they missed the deep orange and then purple all around the sky and the single mysterious light here and there as an airplane flew by. They missed so much!

Others stayed firmly in their chairs until way after dark put it's blanket over everything. I saw them when I went for a short walk to the waterline much later tonight, looking for those little crabs that come out after dark. There they were (the crabs, of course :-)) - all scuttling like spiders in the shallow waters.............. As soon as I shone the flashlight on them, they quickly scooted away not allowing me to get very close at all. There were so many of them and I wondered if my fish would harrass them too. I have to admit that I really did not want to stand on one of them out there almost alone on the beach - I just knew I would yell and that would start something that I did not want.......

The moon cast its shadow over the water in a thick, glistening, silvery road from way back on the horizon to right at my feet and I stood there for a long time, quietly thinking of all the people we have met along this road and all the people we carry with us.

I am sitting here in the RV with the door open, the sounds of the incoming waves pounding the shoreline continuously, the lights of Fort Walton Beach glistening in the distance and Frank gently snoring in the room. There is almost total dark outside and a really wonderful stillness covers everything and we could be alone for the total quiet from all the other campers. We are definately tremendously fortunate.

Love and light and a glorious sunset for you all

Especially U3

Annie and Frank

XXXXXXxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

26th September - Blue, Blue Beach!

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:20:00 +0000

We tootled on past Grand Bay where it started raining in a serious way. One minute we still had a goodly amount of blue skies and the next it was all blanketed in sheeting rain, washing most of the the bugs from the windshield and getting our windows closed in a heartbeat! Not so long ago I was leaning forward in my seat up in the front of Skilpad, straining to get the camera to take in the full picture of mountains in front of us - today I was doing the same, but trying to capture the billowing, fast-building clouds. Each time I blinked, another picture appeared in the cloud, another shadow or tip of light - it really was beautiful. And then the rain scrubbed it all out.

We drove past bayou's and rivers who's names we could not begin to pronounce, let alone spell, past little unfortunate armadillo's lying feet up in the road and over dead, dark, still water that looked so dense and ominous that I was glad we did not have to wade through that lot - some were scattered with brilliant green algae that just looked as if it would perfectly hide that ginormous alligator! The swamps were littered with stumps of dead trees and created a beautiful scenery of a very different type inbetween all the full green trees around it. The traffic over one long bridge was really slow and I had a good amount of time for some really nice shots. And on we trundled into Mobile, Alabama where we went in a tunnel that goes under a river, but cannot find the name of it right now - over the Battlefield Parkway bridge where we could see the big battleship parked way to the side in the bay. I have always loved that bridge - it seems to go on and on over that water, is so smooth and easy to drive. Just nice. And then we came into the Gulf Shores and sunshine again. The big billowing clouds were decorating the sky again and seemed less threatening this time. We heard on the radio that some of the storms we had been running just ahead of, had created some havoc behind us and we were really glad to be ahead of most of these storms.

It was really great to have all the windows open, feet on the dash with a beautiful breeze floating through the house. At times the noise of the traffic became a bit much and we reverted to the airconditioner, but it was a good drive into Florida. More people were waving and honking at the rv and it is quite amazing how different people bring different reactions to me. One lady gave me goosebumps the way she waved and turned and waved again..... I knew we were driving past some people I would have loved to meet but had no way of contacting them and also needed to get to the beach again. We dropped south off the interstate west of Panama City and saw a billboard of a campground in Destin that looked really lovely. And so we are here.

The water is incredibly clear with little fish swimming in clusters, the bigger fish just a tad deeper than these little ones as if protecting them, but Frank says they are waiting to eat them! That is like Laura and the 'strangle tree' in Oregon. Right before the waves broke, I could see clear through them and watched as the sea sand was sucked up into the wave before it crashed down, crushing any chance of finding any whole shells..... It is truely lovely here - the sky and the water have a kind of crystal look to them and just looking that far over to the horizon is such a wonderful feeling - free and open and breathable! The waves crashed unendingly on the shore, almost becoming too loud at times and the fine white sand sifted over our feet as it sang as we walked on it. We saw dolphins playing way out and they jumped a good few times while gently moving on their way. There was almost always a butterfly flittering over the shallow water - not close at all, but determindly heading one way or the other......

Early the next day we headed down to the store on the bikes. We found the store but kept riding for a good long way to see what there was to see. It is so sad that so much of the beach is fenced off to the general public. We rode for about an hour without finding any place we could get onto the beach - all entrances were posted as private or for exclusive use by the guests of enormous hotels and resorts all along the road. There is a tremendous amount of construction going on here, all slowly but surely totally blocking the view of the ocean. We passed one open lot that had a for sale sign on it and checked the listed price - one and a half million dollars! For just the land that was not even on the beach and had houses going up in front of it which would totally block the ocean view! We gulped and figured that we could come down here once a month for a week for the rest of our lives and the kids lives and still come out cheaper than buying that lot! So we did our megre shopping and headed back to the RV thinking that we are really fortunate to be able to move around in the way we do, finding new 'back yards' and lots almost every day.

Then we headed to the beach again for another walk Frank went in the water pretty early on, but I just got my shorts wet - at first. I walked in the shallow water while Frank floated like an otter in the rollers with his head up and the tips of his toes also sticking straight up and an enormous grin on his face - it looked so relaxing so I joined him! We floated around there for about an hour acting like kids and having a wonderful time. The waves kept pounding and throwing us up on the beach like flotsam, sandpapering our legs and letting free so many laughs. The purple flag was flying but no sharks came for dinner - the water was warm and clear and it was so beautiful to see the world totally dissappear behind a wave or roller......... just lovely. I have not felt that free in a very long time... we laughed and floated and dug out many broken shells - the best views those of our smiles and freedoms in our eyes. The taste of that sea water was not something I thought I missed, until I got a mouthful again. Funny how that brought back so many memories of endless days at the beach so many years ago. Lovely memories. I also wondered just how much sand each person carries out in their clothing when they have finished swimming..........

Later that night we walked to the beach for the sunset - again with no camera. It was awesome but happened so fast! The clouds were amazing wispy shapes all across the sky that picked up the different shades of the setting sun. The sun itself was the most incredibly bright orange ball, painting the sky all around it in the same color and putting a touch of gold on the ocean. Pelicans flew across this picture making me scream inside for my camera! Simply lovely. People stood dotted all over the beach, quietly in awe of this display......... The setting sun is the end of something, but also the beginning of another set of trusts and beliefs - one being that there will be another tomorrow. So much hope in a sunset.

Today we went for a bicycle ride down the other way to see what there was to see. We should have looked at a map first or at least remembered that this road took us further away from the beach. We passed a dead, possum, racoon and a beautiful colored fox that was also now no more. Its not easy to hold ones breath for as long as it takes to get past the smell and we both stood on those pedals and sped on by as quickly as we could. I wondered where these creatures had left to live. On one side was the six lanes of traffic and the other was a thin band of trees, behind which enormous vacation buildings loomed up tall again. The skies regularly reverbarate with the thunder from the fighter jets screaming overhead - they look like they are having an enormous amount of fun but I am sure they are doing something serious up there.

And then at one cross road with me following reeeeaaally close behind him, Frank came to a screaming stop thinking that a van had not seen us. I did not have the time to get my brakes working and ended up stopping pretty well after crunching into Frank at full speed. I am sure we compacted into an interesting bundle judging by the guy in the van's eyes, but we managed not to fall down. It felt as if we connected in at least ten different places, jarring everything from ankles to chins and something scratched Franks back open and a sad little trickle of blood dripped onto his shorts. But we survived, laughed and kept going. With me a tad further behind him than before....

I managed to load a good few albums of photographs from the trip onto the website - almost caught up! And tomorrow we move to a campsite that is right up on the beach and I plan to spend the whole day in or near the water, filling up the camera again and I really want to see at least one sunrise over the ocean - that will take some doing for Frank to wake me up on time! It really is beautiful and relaxing here...

With thoughts of all of you.

Especially U3

Annie and Frank

XXXxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

20th - 23rd Sept New Mexico, Gale & to the Gulf

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 04:15:00 +0000

We left the RV park in New Mexico this morning after I managed to get online for just long enough to download my email. It was very windy and Frank had a battle to keep us between the lines on roads that had no shoulders and especially when the wind gusted. It was not fun watching huge tractor trailors headed our way, waving their way all over the road......... Great patches of plowed land turned into mini dust storms and a goodly cover of dust collected all over everything. Frank does not like dust. At all. I have to laugh when we approach flying dust - I can see the tension build up in him and then we both just laugh - and wipe all the surfaces later! After stopping for a break and a much needed sandwich, we passed a sign board that pointed to a small, winding, dusty road that led to the UFO crash site. I photographed the sign and we tootled right on down into Roswell. The Walmart there has big UFO's on the front of it, the main roads have lights that are in the shape of space aliens - rather cute - and every other shop has some or other UFO connection. Interesting looking town and we had driven through here a few years ago so we scooted right on through, heading east and into Texas.

The hawks playing in the wind welcomed us into the lone star state - they glided so beautifully on the air currents that we both strained our necks to keep watching them float their way across the sky. At times there would be one that would just float in the same place, dipping left and right as if to keep its balance up there. It seems so gentle, so relaxing and so carefree. Until the eagle arrives, I guess! There were a gazillion white and yellow butterflies flittering across the road, all headed for the wheels or the radiator - or so it seemed. Such a pity and later I hand picked about ten beautiful yellow ones off the rv radiator. The purple flowers stretched their way across the countryside, mixed in with more subdued yellow and orange patches. The long grasses on the side of the road whipped their silvery tips in the wind and I tried to capture the full effect on the camera so that I could look at them later and maybe even paint them one day.. if wishes were pennies......

The oil pumps were gently dipping their heads in slow motion, pumping their treasure from underground. Their movement is almost eerie in its slow and constant motion - I would have to paint big bunny pictures on them, or roadrunner heads - something to make it a truely surreal view. Maybe thats why I am not in an oil family - I can just picture the scene of this mad woman running between pumps with cans of paint! We drove through many towns that were obviously dying communities, some of them seemed only to have one or two residents left and so many times we wondered what people do when their little town dies and everyone moves on. It's not like you can even sell your property and start over somewhere.....and must be very scary for that to happen. We could not help but be very thankful after seeing how and where some people live. One of the living towns had a red brick road through the main section and a real, genuine tumbleweed tumbling down the middle of it all - Texas! Many of these places have beautiful wall paintings on a good few of their buildings... they vary from beautiful scenes of the countryside to humongous pictures of people and carraiges and boats and lighthouses..... really lovely. Many buildings were obviously old, not as in falling down old, just beautiful and character-ful old. Some of the signs on these buildings would no doubt bring a fortune on ebay and some of the antique cars slowly rusting in the yards would have definately made some restorers heart sing!

After a long day battling the wind and small roads we found a campground that said it was free! It was difficult to believe but it really was free - there was nowhere to pay at all. This campground is in Brownsfield Texas and was much appreciated! The grounds were level, there were electric and water hookups and a dump station too. Everyone treated the area with respect and there was no trash lying around at all and no one had moved in on a permanent basis either. Really a good stop - thanks Brownsfield! When we left in the morning, one of the other campers stopped us to chat and find out what we were about - what lovely people. After chatting for a good little while they waved us on with good wishes and lovely smiles! A good start to the day.

We took the 380 E which was flat, dusty yet beautiful in a very strange way. There was a patchwork field made up of cows of all colors and sizes - it was truely incredible and really lovely. There were so many cows that we were quite stunned and it really looked quite fascinating with pure white 'tickbirds' dotted inbetween all the cattle. Yes, I got many photos of that too....well, there were miles of cows and the camera had been mostly quiet all day long! All this area is farmlands and we quickly gave up the idea of finding some dead charro (I think!) cactus to take home with us. This cactus has a beautiful wood when dried, but we definately did not want to mess with any of it when still alive and full of those prickles!! And then a beautiful multicolor butterfly flew in my window and sat on my foot for about half an hour before walking its way slowly up the door, waiting for the right wind to pull it out........we just watched each other. Very strange.

There are some really odd road signs along the way - many I have tried to catch on the camera but one that really gets me is a regular along this road - it reads "Hills Obstruct View". No, really? Wow......... In some places there are so many oil pumps going that it looks like some really weird moving metal forest as the pumps line the horizon and everything intween, moving in their slow purposeful way. Somehow I think that being caught out here alone at night could be really uncomfortable. What happens to the spaces where the oil comes out of? Do they refill them or just hope that sinkholes do not appear? That thought held my attention as we scooted down that long, flat road into Benton and to meet a friend there. By this time we had been driving for a good 7 hours, the traffic was a madhouse in Benton and we were both very tired, but looking forward to meeting Gale B, a lady I had met online who also has cml.

After settling into the new campground, Gale and her husband Bill arrived to meet us. What a wonderful couple! This is the lady that ran a marathon in a pink energiser bunny costume that they made, powered by Gleevec bottles on her back and putting her finger on others that were slowing down saying "I energize thee!", spurring them on to finish! What a lady. We chatted non stop for three hours, not getting everything said by a long way, or having enough time at all! It was such an easy evening with many laughs. I listened to some of her stories of pre gleevec times and shuddered to think what would have been for Steven and so many others, had the progress to gleevec and now others not been made! I counted my blessings so many times that evening while I listened to some of their stories. I also listened to how Bill went through everything with her and realised just how absolutely important a caregiver, partner and or friend is. Cancer is not something just experienced by the person that has it and the help, understanding, love and patience of a caregiver is critical. I honestly think that someone who is close like that should write a book of their experiences and thoughts - it would really help other newly diagnosed caregivers to know what can be expected along the way.

A good few photos later, more laughs, sad goodbyes and hopes of future visits, they left and we sank into bed, wishing that the evening could have gone on for a good lot longer. Hopefully soon.........

So we left Benton and headed south with good gentle jazz music playing, airconditioner pumping in good cold air and feeling wonderful after a good nights sleep. We both need the beach, the gentle wind, open spaces and the sand between our toes again.... The airconditioner in the motorhome was already kicking on at 8am and it was hot already, inside and out. We found a road almost directly south, past the Big Thicket National Preserve, Jasper, Beaumont, into Louisana where we spent one night - dropped a few coins in a machine - won nothing and today we scooted across into Mississippi on the interstate. We have not done much interstate driving at all and it was great, making good time and bringing us closer to those long lazy beach walks. We could not see much hurricane damage along this road at all, although there were a goodly number of trees snapped and twisted off in a few areas. In places the road was terrible and the noise inside the rv was stupendous. The cutlery drawer flew open with all its contents screaming at each other; we could hear the stuff in the refridgerator bouncing around and just waiting to jump out when we opened it; the crockery rattled as did the pots and pans and the whole 'house' generally screamed at every seam. We drove right between different storms and heard on the radio how one right behind us had dropped a huge oak tree on someones car - fortunately no injuries, but the sky looked a very ominous gray/black and we were glad to have missed that one.

The cows gathered in big beef puddles under the shade of the few trees that were in their fields and one could almost hear the beef cooking! My favorite road sign arrived on this road - "Beef - Why The Space Aliens Steal Our Cows!" I laughed for a good few miles about that one.......

We are now stopped at some or other park along the way - it has high speed internet and I have been able to catch up on my emails, post more pictures to the site and read some blogs that I have missed keeping up with. We had some really bouncers of storms earlier right after we stopped, thankfully! The RV literally vibrated and bounced with each boom and lit up with the lightening that seemed to be all around us....... interesting, to say the least. There is no space under the bed, so I was brave and just sat it out..

Today while driving along the interstate, a good few people waved at us or gave the thumbs up, but one will always stand out in my mind. The kid could not have been older than about ten years old, but he turned and waved and smiled at us with such purpose, for as long as we could see him. I don't know if its me - but he knew. He knew more than other kids knew. He knew more than he should know at that age with his ball cap covering what looked like a bald head. His smile was wide and excited. I wish I could have hugged him. It's this that really makes this trip worthwhile - this kid knows that there are yet another couple of people that care. He knew.

I have been really honored by Notes and Hopes (projectbenefit.org), a Canadian group that is raising money for cancer. They have put out a cd single with my "The Penny" painting on the cover of their first single and asked whether they could use my painting of "Happy Apples" for their next one! If you have the time - go and see what they are doing - we are all in this together and just seeing that others are doing everything they can is wonderful and empowering. Every step is a step closer.

And for Penny and her family, please spare just a moment and a good wish, a happy thought, a prayer for them all in this very difficult time. Read her blog pensclc.blogspot.com - it's truely awesome and really heartwrenching. She is an incredible lady who is losing the fight with lung cancer. An incredible lady.

Love and Light to each one of you

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXxxxxxxxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

19th September - Moving Along

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 00:33:00 +0000

With the pictures of the canyons still fresh in our minds and our muscles not complaining too much we left Zion on Monday morning. We headed towards the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, gently entertaining the idea of a mule ride into the Canyon. As the miles dissappeared under our tires we became more and more convinced that today and even tomorrow was not the right time to do this! Wednesday and Thursday promised gusty winds and some thunderstorms. The idea of a mule ride down those tiny, teeny winding little paths did not really make my heart sing - especially when I read somewhere that the mules walk on the outer edge of the trail! So I was not madly dissappointed when we "missed the turning" and kept on going through a beautiful and relaxing forest, promising ourselves that we would book ahead of time and do it next time...... aaaah - those next times - they are wonderful!

The scenery all along the roads was simply beautiful - the orange cliffs entertained the camera non stop and it was lovely to see different sculptures in the cliffs - from enormous stranded war ships to bent over older ladies - all changing as the sun moved around. We drove over the Colorado River and stopped to walk back over the foot bridge. The arch on this bridge is 616 feet high and the length of it is 834 feet - quite an amazing bridge. I don't like edges and heights too much(see why I am not sorry about that mule ride??) and gripped the rails with one hand turning the knuckles snow white in seconds! The water reflected the cliffs and was dotted with multiple rafters gentle drifting downstream. Of course I stood and waited till the rafters were right below us and took photos. When I later enlarged them on the computer, it showed that most of the occupants were lying down sleeping as they drifted downstream. Made for some really lovely photos though. And then this enormous Condor swooped past us, gently gliding into the side of the canyon and settling in, determined not to let me catch a pic of it in motion..... Their wingspans are up to 9 feet, tip to tip - simply enormous! It sat stubbornly on the side of that cliff and I am absolutely sure it took off again as soon as I got back into the RV - thats life :-)

We drove on the 160 east till sunset - the sky turned the same orange as the cliffs had been all day and the cliffs seemed to light up even more, creating absolutely stunning scenery. It was just getting dark when we found a wonderful pull off near the little town of Mexican Waters, just wide enough for us to turn around in and we settled in for a good nights sleep. The traffic was something else and as we were close to the road we could feel the wind from each passing car. It was beautifully quiet inbetween tho and the stars were awesome - we had stopped just about an hour earlier to make something to eat and when we found this pull off, we simply stopped and went to sleep! We were both very tired and were fast asleep way before full darkness hit. We did wake up many times during the night with the cars, but had a good long sleep and felt much more human the next day.

Pretty soon in the day we found ourselves near the Four Corners - this is where Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico meet. There is a monument there where you can stand with your feet in four states at once....... it was very crowded, the parking area littered with RV's and cars of all shapes - yes, we bypassed that photo op too and went happily tootling further up the road towards Mesa Verde to see what it was all about. We were not allowed to take the RV into the park and the bakkie still had its not-starting problem, it was too early for us to find a campground for the day and we simply decided that that too would wait for the proverbial 'next time'. At this point we had both decided that we wanted to definately head towards a beach - it was just a question of which one. We had seen so much beautiful scenery, so much awesome sandstone and rocks and cliffs that to miss out on Mesa Verde did not feel too bad a thing at this point. Now once I get back online and check it out, we will probably be very sorry we did not take the time - but, next time.

The scenery changed yet again as we headed towards Durango and then down into New Mexico. The lands were almost barren with the most awesome natural monuments towering over everything - it was simply amazing. The sunlight caught each one and changed them as we drove by and the ones in the far distance seemed to have an aura of mystery surrounding them - they never got closer and had a misty haze around each one. Definately different and very beautiful.

We found a Walmart at Cortez and did a much needed food shop and bought a new battery for the little Skilpad. It felt rather like towing a dead fish along with us not being able to start the bakkie without the emergency power supply doing the job. What a wondeful sound to hear her crank right up again! She blew a lot of dust out from under the hood when she started and it was as if she came alive again. We hope! We drove over the Continental Divide, again - this time at 7380 feet and north of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The roads were lined with beautiful, delicate purple flowers that created enormous puddles of color on the flat surrounds. The grasses were many different colors too and the tops seemed to be silvery and made a definate lining alonside the road for many many lovely miles. There were also enormous fields of yellow flowers that were so bright that they seemed to light up the air around them.

We passed over the Rio Grande River which was nothing spectacular up here at all and rather caught me by surprise, into the town of Bernalillo and then towards our first interstate in a few days - the 35 south through Albuquerque at rush hour! There we had a good few people waving and honking horns and giving us the thumbs up sign. It's really a good feeling to know that we are making some difference along the way. After getting sweaty palms and even feet while being a really good passenger through that big city rush hour traffic, we stopped at a campground again for the night.

We had a beautiful view out of the front of the RV of the city lights and they twinkled their different colors in the evening light as I sat quietly in the front seat and thought of Penny and her family who are going through such a difficult time right now. With a sad and heavy heart I sent her some gentle thoughts and headed south to the room where Frank was already gently snoring. I remembered when, as a very young child, we would drive around the mountain in South Africa and see the twinkling lights of Cape Town, glistening beautifully far below us on the way home from a late visit to my aunt. Us children were supposed to be asleep or at least lying down on the back seat - but I could never resist those multi-color, sparkly lights. Even then they were special and held a certain type of mystery and a definate beauty in my heart. They still push me to some thought provoking questions........

Love and twinkling lights to you all

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXXXXXxxx

15th September - Zion By Bus and Bicycle

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 04:53:00 +0000

And into orange land we drove. It was like coming home again and the camera clicked again endlessly.. The different layers of orange and white and beige are glorious and seem to go on forever. We stopped at an RV park near the little town of Virgin right on the Virgin River. Up here the river is not really big at all - just pretty. Early the next morning we jumped in the bakkie to go and explore the Zion National Park. We drove all the way through to the East entrance of the park, stopping as much as we could to take short walks out and hear the silence and capture some of the beauty. The road is a twisty, windy, narrow and absolutely stunning drive through awesome scenery. There was a surprising amount of traffic but it flowed well and we only had a delay at the tunnel where some roadworks were happening, apparently fixing up a recent rock slide. The hills all around looked like they were, once upon a time, a huge cake mixture. Remember when we had to mix a cake from the beginning, sifting the flour, adding the salt and then it made those glorious huge folds that lay, fat, rounded and glorious on top of each other, sometimes with big airbubbles inside pushing the mix into a strange shape? Well the hills were made like that, or so it seems - huge folds of different colors rising up all over the place with determined little trees and shrubs growing in impossible places. Other hills were flat shale, or what looked like it, laying in huge slabs on top of each other, looking as if they were ready to slide right on down at any time. And then there were the "cow pattie hills" - yup, they looked just like that, only a beautiful mix of colors. The many dead trees made for amazing props for countless photos. At one place we stopped to walk, it felt as if no one had ever been there before. The rains had obviously washed some debris along and the multi-colored stones littered what looked like a little river bed. The peace was incredible, the noise of the cars did not reach down into that area and we could not see the road or any form of human input into the scenery at all. There were big cutouts or holes in the hillsides and we sat in there quietly trying to imagine what it must have been like here many many years ago. The gecko's ran everywhere - way too quick for the camera to capture. We both felt really fortunate to be able to feel this peace and quiet where we could breathe deeply and a smile just happens.

After looking at the map and info brochure that we were given at the gates, we noticed that the other part of the park is only accessible to the public via shuttle busses during this time of the year. All the main hiking trails were up that road and the views there promised to be stunning too. So we found the visitors center where we left the bakkie and hopped on the shuttlebus. These busses run up and down this park road, one arriving at each of the 8 stops along the way, every 20 minutes or so. Its free to ride the bus and you can get on and off at as many, or all, of the stops along the way. It was great that both of us could sit and enjoy this ride without having to concentrate on driving. We rode the bus all the way to the last stop which is approximately 8 miles and got off at The Temple of Sinawava. This is an incredible place where you are totally surrounded by towering orange cliffs with the river meandering through it and the most glorious of green trees, cactus and other vegetation. We took the one mile River walk to the entrance of The Narrows - this is a river hike through the canyons that I had seen on tv many years ago and really wanted to do. But not today. So we took pictures of us at the mouth of The Narrows, just so we could say we had been there......All along the path were gorgeous little places where the water was leaking from the sandstone, creating its own little ecosystem with stunning red, orange and white flowers all surrounded in glorious green. The ferns grew all over the place on the rocks giving the place an almost rain forest feel at times. And the river ran along the other side of the path. It was all muddy from the storms the day before and rushed along carrying branches along with it as it pushed itself over the stones and boulders all along the way. Numerous little waterfalls were created by big logs or rocks piled up. This is one of the last rivers out west that has not been dammed up. It really was a beautiful and easy walk up here.

The cliffs were so high up that we could look out of the windows that were on the roof of the bus and only then see the tops at times! Some people were climbing those cliffs and were only about one quarter of the way and we could only just see them. There were mule deer and wild turkeys alongside the road too. Then the bus driver stopped for a snake crossing the road. We were on the wrong side of the bus and could not see it, but apparently it was a King snake. We waited a little while until it had cleared our side of the road and then we all noticed a big tour bus heading our way - it did not stop for the snake, much to the absolute disgust of all that saw it being run over and especially our bus driver! He had tried to stop the other bus by honking and waving, but the guy just kept on going. It was only after this that we saw that the snake was at least 5 foot long. The other driver must have been half blind to have missed seeing that. Sad and everyone was quiet for the rest of the ride. We had noticed that the busses had bike racks on them and the driver had said that the park encourages bike riding on that section of road. Yesssssss!

Early the next morning, we drove back this way, loaded the bikes on the front of the bus and headed back to the Temple of Sinawava where we would start our ride back down. We had packed some snacks, water and jackets and were ready for a wonderful day! It was - it was wonderful. The only traffic on that road were the busses, and the understanding is that they will not pass us while we are moving, so every 15 - 20 minutes or so, when a bus came by, we just stopped again and enjoyed the scenery as they passed. We also made use of the time we had to do some of the shorter hiking trails along the way. The first one we did was to the Weeping Rock. This is only a short hike of about half a mile, round trip, up to this enormous wall of rock that leaks water in the most incredible way, creating a beautiful area of greenery. The water was cold but crystal clear and the wall curved over the top of our heads. It was definately a few degrees cooler under there and absolutely lovely!

We stopped many times along the way, following little paths down to the river or up into a hillside, stopped to snack on our goodies and just enjoy the scenery. Again, it was so beautifully quiet up there. We then decided to go and see the Emerald Pools. This is a longer hike and quite steep, but they looked lovely and we had plenty of time so off we went. The path is a tiny little band of orange sand that wound its way up, sometimes becoming pure rock that we had to scramble up and almost always with a drop off to the one side that churned my innards! The views down onto the Virgin River were stunning and after about two miles we came to the pools. Its strange how some places just feel different. There is a quietness, a stillness and a beauty that affects everyone that comes there. There was no loud talking, everyone sat quietly, resting or eating snacks and just enjoyed. Then one guy spat in the pool! The silence that followed that was definately felt by him and they left rather smartly after that and the general mood was restored again... it was quite funny and there were quiet smiles on many faces after the spitter left.

We took a different trail back that wound itself beautifully through more vistas and water-leaks and pretty flowers and ended up having to walk half a mile back up to the bicycles, but before we did that we found an icecream! The trail took us to Zion Lodge where there were stores to buy all sorts of goodies - we had eyes only for the icecream. It was a rediculously enormous vanilla and chocolate swirled cone icecream that froze our mouths and was absolutely superb! We could have taken the bus back up to the bikes, but the walk looked good and gentle.

And so we tootled further down the road, riding in big circles absolutely enjoying the lack of traffic and the feeling of freedom a gently downhill open road gives one. At one point I was taking a photo while riding and did not notice that Frank had stopped. That was a really close call! We could see many things that could not be seen from inside the moving bus, we stopped a gazillion times and the cameras clicked us all the way down to the Pa'rus bicycle trail. This is a trail of about 1.5 miles that keeps the bicycles off the road for the last section and leads right back to the visitors center while winding itself along the river, in the shadow of towering orange cliffs and over 5 bridges. On the first bridge, I stopped to take yet another photograph and grabbed hold of the iron railing - man, did that thing zap me! The static electricity was incredible. Frank touched it too and I saw the spark jump........ needless to say, the other bridges were crossed untouched by either of us.

As we left the trail, we could not help looking back one last time - the sun was changing the colors of all the cliffs and everything looked beautifully different again. It was an absolootle wonderful day!

I added two more albums with photographs to the website and added photos of Steven with Dr Druker and Carolyn to the "Steven and Beach" album.

Love and Light to you all

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXXXXx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

14th September - Into Zion National Park, Utah

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 05:28:00 +0000

We were both very tired after the drive from the coast and through the smoke and fell asleep while it was still light. There was a gently flowing stream right outside the window which kept us both running to the bathroom regularly, but we have found that if we dont put the light on -we dont wake up and the night does not seem as broken apart. We woke up at 9am with a road crew making quite a bit of noise and the sky still very smokey. Time to move. We headed trhrough Redding and on the way to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We have heard that it is lovely there. It's hot, but we are not complaining at all - yet! :-)

The roads were still very narrow all the way with many blind corners with trucks screaming around them some almost skidding around just touching the middle line. It makes for some tense driving and its surprising just how many trucks there are on these narrow roads. Anyway. We headed into Lassen National Park - it was beautiful and lush green in a really lovely forest. Unfortunately there was not electricity or water on the sites and we really needed to charge up all our electronic goodies after a night out on the road - I had forgotten to do this during the past two days and everything was running low. So after taking some lovely photos of the beautiful green moss on the trees, the ice on the volcano, we moves on over Eskimo HIll Summit of 5993 feet, right near Lassen. The forests were really lovely and easy to see inbetween - it looked as if the logging was only done on every second tree - leaving a full forest, a really beautiful one too. We were driving with the windows open, feet on the dash, classical music playing, smelling that glorious smell of the tall slender pine trees and admiring the blue skies...... simply and rottenly spoiled and absolutely wonderful!

We drove through Susanville, California, towards Reno, Nevada. (Will keep KK from Janesville, Calif in my heart) The scenery changed - no trees, barren ground or very small little scrub shrubs and a very low lying lake that reflected the clear hot sky. This scenery went on for miles intermittently dotted with fire burned areas with blackened trees standing like ghosts all over the place. At times the smell of sage was strong and those plants became more as we got closer to the Nevada line. The traffic was insane, everyone seemingly in a hurry and most of them really pushy. We had cars and truckers honking their horns at us and waving, giving the thumbsup as they drove past. At the first honk, we both automatically look behind us to see if the bakkie is still with us and then relax and wave back at them.

There was a tremendous amount of road works going on all along the way both yesterday and today - and at times we followed rows of orange barrels that looked like long snakes for many, many miles before coming across yet more road repair of some kind. And then we found ourselves on "The Loneliest Road in the World" where we passed the loneliest telephone on a pole in the middle of nowhere. This is highway 50 across Nevada. Why did we pick this road to drive? Yes, Wendy - because it was there! The hills were mustard color, barren with small tight scrub and then suddenly everything changes and a lush greeness appears - no trees but a gently grass type of greenery. Blink and its barren again! At times it looked as if we could be on the moon and it was easy to understand why this is called the Loneliest Road!

The sun started setting when we went through this strange little town with the most incredible uphills and tight curves. We decided that that was enough for the day, found a good an level spot at some or other summit and stopped for the night. The problem was simply that this was the top of a hill, a serious hill on both sides of the top. And all trucks going on this road had to stop and do a brake check before heading down the hill - either way! We had many, many trucks stopping all night long. Well at least we stopped being lonely on this road! The wind came up and there was this little weather station with solar panels and a little thingy with three small cup-like things on it that spun around with the wind. This one needed balancing. Badly. It rattled around its centerpoint making sure we knew it was there. The trucks huffed up the hill, screached to a stop, the drivers checked the tires with their hammers - thud, thud, thud - at least 10 times per truck and then headed downhill using their airbrakes. Great entertainment all night long. At first when we stopped there, I was a little uncomfortable at the remoteness of the place - after the 10th truck I realised that no one would mess with us - there was simply too much company! We just had to laugh and actually slept surprisingly well and it was lovely to listen to the coyotes howling all night long.

This morning at around 7.30am - I only discovered that it was this early once it was too late to do anything about it - the wheels were turning already and the camera was in my hand when I looked in horror at the time! Frank snuck that one in on me really quietly - his grin told all....... The scenery did not change much at all and it looked a bit like Death Valley at 6000 feet up! The mountains were laryered with different shades in an enormous circle around us - strange how this did not seem to change no matter how far we drove - the mountains were always all around us. We drove over and through the Toiyabe National Forest and could find no tree higher than 2 foot. The scenery changed between that short, tight scrub and green grass with the ever present bright yellow bush on the side of the roads. Once or twice beautiful fields of yellow appeared and then somehow they were gone again and the scrub was back. Very odd. We went up one mountain to the summit, down the other side, across a valley, up the next mountain range, to the summit and down across a valley again and again and again. It seemed as if we were forever caught in a pattern and just not actually getting anywhere. A few good spooky stories were born along that road......

Then we took the 93 south right after Ely, Nevada. Going through Reno had been very easy, thankfully and Ely did not really feature as a problem at all. Except for the storms we hit around that ears. The lightening zapped down around us and one strike made a really bright red burning spot on a hill really close by. We did not really want to become a hotspot in this way at all and had really no option but to keep on going. I have to admit to closing my eyes and just leaving it all up to Frank. I was quite happy to try to capture the lightening on camera when it was a fair distance away, but when it crowded my space, I just closed my eyes and thought of Florida! It worked and a few minutes later we were cruising between two different storms watching each side light up but no rain on us. It was quite a sight.

In the early afternoon we crossed into Utah - nothing much changed except the quality of the roads - they got worse and the farm equipement traffic picked up. I really hate passing other vehicles on these little roads but had no option other than creeping along. The wind had been blowing badly all day and Frank was tired from wrestling with the wheel for hours and hours. A humongous truck decided to try and pass us on the right in a short turning lane - all Frank saw was the truck disappearing and presumed that it had turned as that was a turn-only lane! Next thing I knew, this big red monster was breathing in my side of the RV! It was a close call and that driver really lit our fuse - mostly we were glad that we had not connected - he was really pushing his speed and that would have been a nasty picture.. Finally we connected with the Interstate 15 South and to Zion National Park. We found a really lovely, clean park - immediately headed off for much needed showers and hairwash - even before checking my email!

Tomorrow promises lovely weather, beautiful views and happily clicking cameras. We will be here for a few days, maybe moving into the campgrounds inside the park for an extra few days - who knows. We are planning at least one good hike through the park and have already loaded the refridgerator with bottles of cold water. Now to get the hiking boots out again.

The past few days have been a mad dash across a good few states and now we are both needing a good few days to slow down again. This is a really good place to do so.

Love and Light to you all

Especially Penny

and U3, of course!

Annie and Frank

XXXXXXXXxxxxx

11th & 12th Sept - Mist and Fire.....

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:05:00 +0000

The coast road, US101, is a beautiful road that winds its way gently around the coastline. At times we were so high that it took my breath away to look down and of course there were no barriers along the road and some really serious drop-offs which put my stomach muscles into clench mode instantaneously. Near Depoe Bay we saw whales blowing, but the pull-off was full up so I watched them as Frank watched the road....... It was a quiet day for me - I could not find that peace nor that smile that usually comes with the wheels of the RV turning. The views were amazing and many photos of the most awesome rocks in the sea were taken - I just knew Steven would love it! I was not a happy lady at all and finally that night when we were in the campground, I just crawled into bed and howled it all out on Franks shoulder again - I should have done it at the airport then it would have all been out already. I always cry at airports but tried to be a 'big girl' this time - HAH - fat lot of good that did me!

Anyway - we stayed the night in a KOA Campground and when the lady at the register saw the RV, she paid for the night! That was really so sweet. We took that amount and put it into the collection bottle we have and it will go to the LLS too. Thanks Kathy!

The campground was right on the dunes and was gravel with a good few fourwheelers buzzing around. Frank does not like dust, so it was really early the next morning before too many of the fourwheeler campers got up, that we left there. It was a good place for me to catch up on some emails and reading that I had been missing out on as they had free high speed internet.

Tuesday was much better all around. Steven and Laura were home safely and had even managed to find their luggage which had not followed them on the same airplanes. The mist was very thick, at times totally hiding the ocean from view. We drove through Coos Bay which is now big enough to warrant 2 Mc Donalds! One on each each end of town.... We passed by a Minnehaha street - camera missed that one. Some street names are really weird - maybe I will start watching them at home too when we get there.

We stopped for a break in a glorious pull-off with an absolutely stunning view of the ocean and as an added bonus saw more whales too! They were not really close in but it was a really special feeling to stand and watch them breaching and blowing, gently moving along with no time constraints at all. There were a good few other people up there watching too, some with camera lenses I drooled about! The ground we were standing on, this was waaaaay high up from the ocean, was cracked in multiple places - kinda like it had been pulled apart or rattled apart in an earthquake. I must admit to being chicken and standing way back from the edge.

All along the coast were the most amazingly humongous rocks littering the ocean. Some have trees and plants and pretty flowers growing on them, others are barren like volcanic rock. They were all ringed with the white water crashing along their bases and dotted with hundreds of sea birds that also swirled around them. It was with views like this that we entered California on the US101. The road took us around a corner, slightly away from the sea and brought us back in much higher than before. While we were driving, the mist ate the world! I looked out of the window and saw nothing, absolutely nothing except a few ghostly skeletons of trees reaching up through a total white-out.......... for a moment it was very disconcerting. It was as if there was simply nothing there anymore, as if a big flood had come in and everything was gone - very weird. On the road we could see the mist still rolling in thicker and thicker and wondered just how long we could keep driving like this. It really was very eerie with trees and rocks only barely visible at times and then nothing again. After about 10 minutes of this white world, it all cleared in a second and we were eye level to enormous redwood trees! Sometime during the whiteout, the trees had grown up - it was simply stunningly beautiful! After having the lights on for the mist we now had to put the lights on going through this amazing forest of giants. We had driven into the Redwood National Park and were really soaking up the sunshine and warmth that streamed through the wide open windows.....

There was one really enormous stump of a redwood tree with other trees grown up all around it - it was almost as if, once the Big One had been chopped down, the other grew around the stump in protection. So many really big stumps littered the forests everywhere - quite sad. We looked for a campground inside the National Park, but must have missed it so we kept on going, following the Klamath River for a while. We stopped at a beach to stretch our legs and see if we could find some shells or white sand to take back with us. The sand was gray and coarse and beautifully warm! The beach seemed to be lower than the water and I was quite uncomfortable there. The waves were really big and strong and crashed like thunder onto the sand - all seemingly higher than us. We collected some pieces of driftwood - once again there were absolutely no shells at all - and headed back to the RV. I did stop and take some pictures of those waves - they were really menacing and I would have hated to have been caught in that water!

The mist was still swirling inbetween the trees and covered much of the ocean view - the photos of those waves look very eery indeed with the mist putting a veil over it all. We had checked the weather for the coast further south and found that it was going to be or get colder than what was comfortable for beach walking, so right before Eureka, California, we headed inland on the 299 E. The forests were a beautiful mixture of greens, folding in over themselves in different shades on each hill. A good few of the hills had been logged bare but there was so much more that was just beautiful. Our first reasonable summit was reached - Lord Ellis Summit on the 299E - 2263 feet. Skilpad did not even heat up slightly - just puttered her way happily to the top....... now for the downhills! Uuurghhhh.

The road got worse, there were sunken grades, crumbling edges (my side, of course!), no barriers, narrow winding road and then we noticed the smoke as well. These were some of the signs on one short stretch of road: rough road; slides; rock falling; sunken grades; sharp curve; no shoulder; slow trucks; trucks entering; cattle on road; bump; 20mph curve............ there was a time when we wondered why we picked this road! It had been getting increasingly hot but we were not going to complain, still remembering the cold on the beach, we saw rocks littering the road and the smoke really started to black out the sky too.

And then on the side of the Trinity River I spotted some bears! Frank quickly stopped in the well placed pull-off and I jumped out with my camera - straight into a bed of spikey thorny weeds! That will teach me to get my shoes first..... There were four bears, two adults and two cubs. The biggest adult bear left pretty soon, but them mama and cubs stayed while we took a good few photographs. The one cub was brown and the other black and one of the other gentlemen that stopped said that they were grizzlies. Mama Bear allowed us a good few more photos while she stood staring at us and then they all left. What a wonderful opportunity that was! We saw a few helicopters flying with their loads of water and hoped that someone would give us fair warning if the road was closed. The Summit of Oregon Mountain Pass was 2888ft. Still no groaning from Skilpad - just a smooth beautiful ride! The sky was a lovely pink/orange color, the cars still coming from the other side and at the road works sections, no one turned us back, so we relaxed about the fire and concentrated on the road and the views. All the campgrounds around there had been closed because of the fire or were filled up with fire fighters tents and equipment. There were still many firetrucks heading towards us and we saw a helicopter filling its bucket up as we passed one section of the river - much happening in the area and not the right place for us to stop alongside the road - not knowing what direction the fire was headed in. There was also no way we would find our way totally out of the area before dark and so when we came across a beautifully level safety rest stop - that was it for the night. It was well off the road, easy in and out and empty too. A good stop after a long day. The sky was still a beautiful color and the mountains looked incredible with the different light playing over them. I managed to grab a couple of really good photos of the sky color reflected in the Trinity River as well as some of the hazy sunset through the already burned skeleton trees...... That really is such a beautiful drive, especially without the smoke.

So, after starting the morning in mist, we ended it in smoke and a gentle sunset with helicopters dotting the sky and fire engines screaming up the hills. Quite a day. It was good to stop.

Love and Light to you all

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXXXXxxxxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

http://www.penniesforcancer.com/

9 - 10th September - The Beach with Steven & Laura...

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 01:18:00 +0000

Early on Friday morning, we headed out of Portland, away from airplanes and doctors for a whole two glorious days. On the way to the coast we stopped at the largest Sitka Spruce tree in the USA - quite a sight that was! There were a few interesting trees there, but what was more interesting was the fact that both Steven and Laura were interested, actually pointing out some we had not seen and enjoying the ones we had. There was one tree that both Frank and I thought was sweet - one was hanging onto the other with long 'fingers', not wanting it to leave. Laura immediately said that the one tree was strangling the other and demonstrated by gripping Steven by the neck! Totally ruined the mood, she did :-) It was a good and happy stop.

After the trees, I gave up my front seat to the "kids" as we were heading right onto the coastline and wanted them to get the best views possible. It was great to see how they both stretched forward to see the ocean and the enormous rocks. Frank stopped at a good many viewpoints and the camera's clicked making many good memories. I could hear Steven breathing in that ocean smell and he stood for long minutes staring over the distant horizon, quietly saying "the ocean" a good few times over and over - while I sneakily snapped photos! It was only a two hour drive to the new campground and we quickly set up and trundled up and over the dune to the beach. Here again, Steven came to a screaming stop at the top of the dune just drinking in the scene. It was lovely to watch. We went for a loooooooooong walk, not bothering to take snacks or water with us - we all just wanted to get out there in the fresh sea air and walk, run and be free.

The water was fantastic and cold, the breakers crashed in unendingly chasing us further up into the dry sand. The smell was glorious - salty and that seaweed smell........... Frank does not particularly like it, but I can walk with a piece of seaweed in my hand and enjoy every step of the smell! The sand squeaked under our feet and we discovered muscles that had rested for waaaay too long! After a while we all walked on the hard part of the beach - much easier.... It was seriously great to sink my feet into that sand and just listen to the waves. I can breathe at the beach, really breathe......

I watched Steven as he ran up the dunes, sand flying and laughing loudly, I watched has he and Laura walked holding on to each other at times and chatting as they kicked at the driftwood and dodged the horse p**p and the icy cold waves. Frank found a live crab and got himself thoroughly soaked in the freezing sea water getting it out for us all to see. Steven offered it a piece of driftwood which it then pinched firmly in its claws like holding a cigarette - not wanting to give it up again. I have not seen Steven with as much energy as he had in a very long time - he took off running at the drop of a hat - climbing dunes and then running like a mad thing, jumping and laughing his way down again. He kept heading for the high points and the views and I have many photos of him either on top of a dune or screaming downhill, sand flying, arms and legs all over the place with a beautiful smile wrapped around his face. We were all pretty tired after that long walk and had a gentle and quiet evening in the motorhome. Steven quietly started singing to Laura which nearly made me cry - he was never the sort of person to have enough confidence to sing so others could hear him. A wonderful moment, and not the only singing one either. I have to say that the songs were not of the "put it on the radio" quality song, but it was so sweet and totally lovely to see him this way. I will always remember that look on his face as he gently sang.

The next day was quite a bit colder. We walked in the opposite direction on the beach this time, Frank and I leaving first as we wanted to give them a bit of time without 'the oldies'. This side of the beach was not as clean as the other, had crowds of people walking everywhere with dogs running wild all over the place - but it was still the beach! We found a dead seal, a sailboat made of logs held together by a gazillion miles of string, not rope, string and plenty half sand dollars. No other shells at all - just half sand dollars. We walked till the cliff met the ocean and then headed back and found Steven and Laura ambling arm in arm up towards us. The timing was great as there was a big log that looked a bit like a dragon sticking up out of the sand and we took pictures with us standing next to the dragon with the mist swirling all around us. The mist was something else - it swirled in from the sea making the beach look like a scene from a scary movie. We could see big clouds of it blowing in, some on sand level and others high above our heads. After the long walk, lunch and a bit of a rest, we drove down south a bit to show them a bit more of the coastline and the huge rocks/boulders in the ocean. We found a delicious Chinese place and stopped in to fill up. Time was starting to come to an end and we could all feel it. I have been having a rough time with all the goodbyes on this trip and this was one I was not looking forward to either. We built a campfire and sat there for a while, I burned the photos to disk so that they could take a copy back with them, we went for showers, packed and went to sleep.

Sunday was an early starter. We had to get Steven and Laura to the airport by 10am and it was just over two hours drive from the campsite. We made it well in time, but their flight was delayed by almost an hour and a half which then put all their other connections out of the picture. We did not wait at the airport to see them go, once they went through security - that was it and there did not seem to be a place to actually watch the airplane take off. Besides, crying at airports in front of your kid is not cool! So we said our goodbyes and I-love-you's and headed back to the camp. I fought tears all the way. Steven called later from San Fransisco to tell me that they now had a wait of almost nine hours to the next available connection! So instead of flying in daylight, they had all the way home in darkness and much later. Such is life. Steven managed to talk to Delta and get new connection flights, they survived the wait, he did some of his college homework while waiting and had some time to sit and do nothing - how often does one get the chance to do that? Sit and have nothing to do - nothing one should do, could do or can do......... those moments are precious.

It was very difficult for some reason for me to see Steven leave. I wanted to keep him there for another week at least. This was the first time I had seen my 'child' like this - well since he was a child in what felt like many years ago - and he was definately so much more relaxed than I had seen him in the last year. Running, laughing, singing and joking so openly and freely. He has a wicked sense of humor and would, at times, drive Laura to distraction which made it very difficult to keep a straight face. I watched him look at the ocean with wonder while he filled his lungs, I heard him call Laura to share a new view or beach find, I watched as they sat huddled together on top of a dune watching the sunset. It was especially wonderful to see him so full of energy - running up and down the dunes, away from the water - always with an extra bounce in his step. It actually moved me to tears - I am so incredibly thankful for Dr Druker and his team that made gleevec possible - that made living for Steven possible! I simply could not imagine life any other way.

I thank God for small miracles and also big ones like this!

Love and Light

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXXXXxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

7th September - Dr Druker

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:59:00 +0000

It was glorious watching Steven and Laura walking into Portland airport on Wednesday evening! They looked so grown up and casual and happy....... really, really wonderful. We took them home and it was great to listen to their excitement about their flights from Chattanooga and to catch up on everything that had been happening in their lives over the past month since we left home.. It was sooo good to see Steven looking good, they were both tired from the long flight, but he looked good! They had been making bets as to whether I would have my camera ready when they came out - anyone want to make a wild guess if I did or not? :-)

After a good nights sleep on all our parts - gosh I had missed them, and I now missed my girls too........ Anyway, after a good nights sleep, a good hot shower we all headed down the road to the bus stop. We had to walk almost a mile to get there and there was no 'park 'n ride', but that was ok - gave us a good time to chat and joke and look at all the houses along the way. The bus ride was a much more comfortable way of getting to the hospital than the way we had tried. On Tuesday we had made a valient effort to find our way up to OHSU by bakkie - that did not work out and once we missed one turn off, we discovered plenty one way roads that all led in the opposite direction to where we needed to be. Once we found our way back on the interstate, we both agreed that the bus or even a taxi would be a simply brilliant way to get there for the appointment. When we eventually got home, I looked up the routes and bus stops and got the solution - tri-met! This is an amazing network of buses that travel all over Portland, taking one easily from one end of town to the other - no stress. Just great!

So we rode the bus through backroads and byroads of the suburbs of Portland, through the center of downtown and up what is also known as "Pill Hill" to OSHU - Oregon Science and Health University. The hospital is enormous; the veterans hospital and childrens hospital and what looked like a gazillion other buildings and houses littered the hill. When I say hill, I mean Hill. The roads up to the hospital are steep, narrow and green - trees drape themselves all over and its rather pretty. Then you hear the bus driver yell "next stop - OHSU!" and almost everyone on the bus gets off. The bus left and we found ourselves in a puddle of people standing around in the shadow of enormous buildings towering above us. Which one did we need to go to? The map we had of the hospital did not, right at that moment, make sense to any of us. We were all a tad hungry were about an hour early and wanted to know which direction to head of in. Soon we found a place to grab something to eat, drink and use up a good many of the excess minutes...... Steven and Laura had grabbed a few car magazines at one of the stands - they were all free for people to look at while waiting - and we sat, enjoying some quiet time before the appointment. We had asked a few people how to find Dr Druker's office, had walked there just to make sure and enjoyed the quiet time now.

Jennifer H greeted us at Dr Druker's office with an enormous smile and beautifully friendly attitude which made us all so comfortable and even more relaxed. What a difference an open smile and good greeting makes. Thanks Jennifer - that really counted for so much! Carolyn Blasdel came in to talk to Steven first, asking about side effects and get some history and details about his CML - she was really amazingly easy to talk to and I saw Steven really relaxing quite a bit as she put him in her headlights and connected. Then Dr Druker came in and explained CML to Steven, explained what he felt about Steven's reactions to the gleevec, gave his recommendations. He really has a way of making this all totally understandable and we all felt as if we now had a much better idea of what sort of response was a good one..... Steven fell right into that category - a good response to gleevec! We had known this before, of course, but it was so good hearing it from the best! The whole meeting was a good confirmation of what we had thought before. Steven was diagnosed in the early part of CML which gave him a really good shot at getting to full remission - not cure - within the desired time. His response to gleevec has been right in the expected and desired area. Dr Druker did not recommend a bone marrow transplant at all - especially as his response was so good. He did say that he was really keen to see the results of Steven's next bone marrow asperation, which is scheduled for 11 October. This will tell us what the cells in the bone marrow itself are doing. It will give us a really good picture of whether the leukemia is simply being controlled or whether the leukemia cells are getting less. Before this meeting, we had been under the impression that maybe we could simply have him do a PCR test and leave the marrow biopsy for later. Now we fullly understood the need to do this 6 month check on the marrow. Obviously Steven is not keen on getting stuck in the back again - I don't think any sane person would be, but at the same time we are all keen to know what is really happening with the leukemia.

Dr Druker did stress that it is important to get the full information of how close a match Lisa is to him and also to get others in the family tested, just in case a bone marrow transplant is needed later on. Laying the groundwork. Its going to be a trick to track down some family for testing but it really is worth the try. In the meantime, an ongoing world wide search is being conducted, looking for a match in case none of the family matches. It would be a really good idea to have all these building blocks in place if ever they are needed. Dr Druker did say that he is not recommending transplant as a first line course of action with CML anymore as gleevec is really doing wonders, Sprycel is already out and yet another drug is due to be released soon too. He did say that they are working towards a cure, could obviously not promise one, but would certainly be trying their very best to get there.

He said that Steven should carry on with his life, that there was nothing that could be pinpointed that could be blamed for CML or anything that could be done that would help 'make it go away'. His advice was to live life the best he could, live life to the fullest he could but obviously keep an eye on the CML closely, not to miss his meds and keep going for regular testing.

We did not have any blood tests done as Steven is scheduled to have all that within the next week anyway and its better to have all that done at the same lab. We all came out of that meeting with Dr Druker and Carolyn feeling really good. Steven has really good doctors at home and in Nashville, but it was really special to get confirmation of everything from this team, absolutely no disrespect to Steven's local doctor and specialist at all!

It was really fantastic to have Laura, Steven's girlfriend, along for the appointment. She is the one who has and will notice the little things changing and her input was really important. She noticed that before gleevec, Steven was often hot, now he was almost constantly cold; she noticed that his energy level had improved dramatically and other signs too. It was good that she could hear the positive message that both Carolyn and Dr Druker gave. It was really important that she shared this appointment, besides, it was a pleasure having her here with us too!

So, although we did not manage to work it out with Corporate Angel Network for flights across here and they had to take 6 different airplanes to get here and back, they had a blast! they loved the flights with window seats all the way here and were still enjoying each other's company by the time they arrived. The appointment went great and this put us all at rest and able to head to the beach with lighter hearts and sand-yearning feet. We had two days on the beach together.

Love and Light

Especially to U2 that are not here!

Annie and Frank

XXXXXXxxxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

1st - 4th Sept Volcanoes and Ice

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 04:00:00 +0000

The Columbia River in Portland has whole communities living in houses on the water. There are some really cute litte cottages with trees, flowers and gardens floating happily on the river - many of them double story buildings. Some of the houses are a lot bigger and could fit in really well in a very upper class neighborhood. Outside many of these houses are very nice power boats or sailboats.... looks like a different sort of life. There are about 10 houses to a strip, backed up against another ten facing the other way, all tied up to pilons firmly planted in the ground under the water and each strip with their own jetty.. It looks rather quaint and all the colors of the flowers make it really pretty in places.

On Friday we drove around the back way, the little roads through Zigzag and Rhododendron on the Cascade Range, to Mt Hood. It was a lovely drive through little towns and gently winding roads trees that grew ever taller and beautifully green. And then, as we came around a corner - there was Mt Hood. There was very little ice left on the mountain and it had a gray look to the rock - quite eerie and very lovely as it perched above the tree line right ahead of us but definately not as awesome as it looks when one drives down the Columbia River Gorge - seeing it from a distance is definately more impressive. It seemed to jump around as we went around the bends in the road, appearing in first one rear view mirror and then another - and then back in front of us again.

The sunshine lit up the inside of the forests, showing the trees laden with green moss on every limb and leaf. Much of the time we were driving through tree tunnels and when they did not quite make a tunnel, it looked as if the branches and leaves were reaching for those across the road - very beautiful with a million shades of green lit up with sunlight. We then headed north and onto the Columbia River Gorge for a lovely ride to the west again. Many of the trees have grown so high along the rivers edge, that there is not much opportunity to see the water at all, but we made full use of the pull offs and stops along the way.

We started out much earlier on Saturday morning, heading for Mt St Helens and Mt Rainer - if we had the time...... Heading back into Washington, we drove through the through Amboy and Yale, where we found the most beautiful lakes that we followed for many miles. They seemed to go on and on forever with many people have an enormous amount of fun every type of watercraft one could think of. The wind blew riffles onto the water making them all turn silver in the sunlight - reallly lovely. And yes, I did take a good number of photographs! We wound our way into the beautiful Gifford Pinchot National Forest and up to the Mt St Helens National Volcanic Monument. There are very large tracts of land that have only small shrubs and lots and lots of rocks littered all over the place. I presume this is some of the damaged area from the 1980 eruption. There were big tree stumps - it looked as if the trees had been twisted off - and inside the stumps were new plants growing - little ones, but new life anyway.

Many, many people were camping in the forest all along the road. There were little roads leading to a level patch every mile or so and it was evident that this was a very popular place to camp. We did not see any litter along the road which was good too. There had been a good few fires in the mountains and the smoke and haze was fairly heavy, turning all the mountains that hazy blue/gray color and limiting the view much of the way. It was still beautiful. Every now and then there was a splash of red inbetween the green - young maple trees. There are a good many different types of trees there and some were simply humongous - there were an incredible number of enormous tree stumps in the forests. The stumps were mostly grown over with thick moss and smaller trees had started sprouting out of them - even some pretty blue flowers on one of them!

It was strange to see this volcano, sticking up out of a sea of green trees and hills, all barren and lifeless. There was not much ice left on her either but we got some really nice photographs, different views and then headed further north to Mt Ranier.

Here the trees grew up! They were so tall I could not get them all in one camera lens at times..... The forests seemed to be deeper and darker and the sunlight only lit up parts of the tree trunks and ferns that were growing there. There were enormous patches of ferns that lay like mohair blankets over part of the forest floor. The sun touched only part of these leaves which created a very strange look indeed. In between all this greenery, the maple trees made an occasional appearance and then suddenly there would be a patch of barren rock - sometimes all twisted looking and at times with a pine tree trying to grow in the middle of solid rock.

We came across a place where there was a water carved gorge that was 160 foot down to the water! The carving was still going on as the glacier melt screamed down the gully carrying logs and tree limbs with it too. It was a really uncomfortable feeling looking down into that from so high up. We did a short trail walk and crossed over on a little wooden bridge - I did not stand there too long at all. All around was rock that had scrape markings on them - these were the marks created when the glaciers pushed over the rocks and now we were standing on them.......... made for some serious thoughts about the fleeting time we are all on earth.

The trees were thick and big up here, but if you look over the top of them when on a hill, there are thousands of dead trees sticking up out of the still growing ones. The growing ones are definately not small at all and it looked very odd with these grey sticks sticking up all over the place. We came around one corner where we could look over and see the road we had just been on - it seemed as if it was a long way down already. Anyway, I asked Frank to stop for me to take a photograph and when I got out of the bakkie and turned around my mouth dropped open - there was Mt Ranier in all her glory! Right in my face and seemingly close enough to touch......... What a joy. There are 26 major glaciers on Mount Rainier and we could see a little bit of that blue color we saw in the glaciers in Alaska.

And then we came across some meadows of amazing colors of wildflowers, the lakes lit up the scenery and created the most amazing reflections of both the flowers, trees and I even caught some reflections of the volcano in a few of the lakes - these are beautiful pictures with white, red, blue, orange, many different shades of green and and enormous volcano in them. Lovely. As we drove further down the road, the mountain loomed over us appearing in the gaps between the trees reminding us that we are, after all, very small. The sun was definately on the downward curve by now and it tried to get into the thicker forests with not much luck. They now looked dark and almost ominous but the trees on the outer edges were still lit up with yellow orange light with sun beams lighting up the road where they could reach. There were many little streams, rippling over the rocks and catching the setting sunshine too - really beautiful. Later on we passed a flower farm filled with different colors - but that could not come close to the wildflowers up next to those ponds and in the meadows along the way.

By now the cameras were full, the water bottles empty and we hunted down the interstate southwards again. We got back home to Skilpad right as it was getting dark - even passing an ice cream shop in the need to get home again. The laptop is groaning with the thousands of photos - but I cannot bear to delete any. Much sorting is going to have to happen.

Sunday morning we decided to get a brush with an extension handle and wash the vehicles - bikes and all. It was gloriously warm weather - just perfect for playing in the water! A few people came up to chat to us, told us their stories and wrote names of loved ones on the RV. It was a lovely day that ended with us finding some delishous ice cream again.

I am starting to get the papers in order for Steven's doctor visit and getting really excited about seeing them both! Only a few days now......

Love and Light

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXxxxx

ps. new photos posted

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

25th - 28th August - Into USA and a PLEDGE! :-)

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 04:07:00 +0000

So Wendy left us - it was sad to see her leave and I bawled like a baby in the shower that night - its easy to cry in the shower, the tears just wash away and one has an excuse for the puffy eyes - the shampoo! Talking about showers...... each different campground restroom has a different personality. One stop had restrooms with piped in music - gentle and soothing which made one want to stay in there forever and definately made me feel totally relaxed and calm. Another had a young lady in the laundromat next door that sang with the most beautiful voice while she did her washing....... beautiful to listen to while the hot water beat down. Another shower had a strange personality - it was a reeeeaaallly small little place. The water would turn cold everytime someone flushed a toilet making me move out of the way of the now icy water, only to find myself jammed up against an ice cold tile wall with the shower curtain sucking in up against me from the other side! Then the water would heat up again and the curtain would billow out back to where it belonged - the walls never had time to warm up. Needless to say, it did not take long to finish up that night!

The Cassiar Highway took us through Meziadan Crossing into Smithers - this road is filled with 'shimmering trees' beautiful colors, unreal green ponds, lakes and absolutely awesome mountains. The yellows were especially stunning, at times only a few leaves on a tree being a brilliant yellow and other trees were an enormous splash of the most incredible shimmering yellow screaming for attention........ the camera clicked away happily. We pulled into Smithers with plenty time to spare and took the opportunity to get most of the mud off the Skilpads. It was good to see all the colors on the RV appearing again and the bakkie turned from gray-brown to white again. Once in the campground, we spent most of the time passing the time till Wendy left - funny how goodbyes are - they either come too soon, or take too long to get there. And then thats too soon again.

From Smithers, BC, down south was very different from the roads to the north. We had lost the wild and open views and vistas and were now caught in increasing traffic and there were unending spiderwebs of power and telephone lines everywhere. Before now, the trees had stolen many good photographs, now it was the powerlines. Even editing cannot always get rid of those lines. Now there were mostly farmlands, cattle, lamas and even Alpaca farms along the way. A few good lakes and ponds sprung up and the camera jumped again. There are an astounding number of acres of pine trees that have been decimated by the pine beetle. Everywhere the hills looked brown and the lumber yards bulging at the seams with harvested trees. This is very obviously an enormous problem up here and very sad too. I had to think though, that without all the trees in the way, one would be able to see the lakes better!

We did one of our many many gas stops along the way and a gentleman who was having a yard sale nearby ambled across to talk to us, slowly reading the rv while he dug into his pocket and put $5 into the collection jar. The next night when we stayed in the rest stop, another gentleman walked up and handed us two pennies before he went off to get all the cans out of the dumpsters..........he had read the PenniesforCancer.com sign on the rv and was apologetic that that was all he had on him! This is what its all about - people caring and giving what they can - and its really very touching and lovely when someone does this.

At around Quisnell, BC the traffic really picked up. We were both a bit shocked at how quickly that had happened, and it was a quiet ride for most of the day while we got used to being passed by vehicles of all shapes and sizes - mostly screaming along at a much higher speed than I was comfortable with, sometimes passing in the most dangerous of situations. More cars honked their horns and waved at us - giving the thumbs up sign as they raced by.

We ate the grapes and fruit that we had, aware that at the border coming back into the USA they would probably confiscate all fresh fruit and veges. I was hoping to keep my biltong (jerky). We passed through 100 Mile House, heading south and everything was a most beautiful green with sprinklers thowing water through the sunshine creating incredible multicolored sparkles in the air. It was really lovely. Then into Cache Creek where the hills turned barren and brown with little knobbly round brush-bushes and the taller trees grew in sparse little bundles in the oddest of places. The river rushed through the gorge with its white water swirling around rocks, creating eddies that went on forever. There were a million clicks of the camera as I wound its strap firmly around my arm and leaned way out of the window to get the best views and photos that I could. There were about 15 rafters bobbing downstream, all with different color lifejackets on and paddles paddling like mad to keep them straight in line for the exciting parts of whitewaters rushing up at them. We stopped to watch them for a while and through the camera lens, they looked like colorful toothy smiles bouncing along this incredibly beautiful river. Strange description, but I keep going back to it. The road we were traveling on was listed at the Gold Rush Trail and had many interesting stop offs along the way, goodly climbs up many hills, and screaming downhills with very low barriers. Just my type of road - not! I found that by leaning into the views with the camera to my eye, I could save a bit of the carpet where the brake pedal should be on my side............. more relaxing for Frank too.

We got to the border at 5.15pm on Sunday evening. It was a sad moment in many ways, but also exciting as we still have so much time ahead of us. I mentally kissed the rest of the fruit and veges and biltong goodbye as we pulled up to the window. He SMILED at us! This is really a big deal for me. For almost 13 years I battled the immigration department of the USA and it was truely sad to see how few had any sense of humor at all - now this man smiled. What a wonderful moment. He looked at the RV, asked us about it, took the card I gave him telling about the trip and he wished us a good day........... we got to keep the fruit and veges! Good day. A really good day.

And we then drove the tiny, winding little side roads for miles before hitting the Interstate 5 south; found a campground and ended the day with a good nights rest.

Monday rolled around and we headed further south, closer to Seattle and Debbie. It was so good to see her again after meeting in Fairbanks. Strange how things worked out so well. Frank and I went for dinner with them - what a wonderful family. Deb and Tom's girls, Laura and Sarah, are beautiful! We felt so at home there and a wonderful evening passed way too quickly. Debs had called the local newspaper and Julie was going to interview us all the next day, Tuesday. That worked wonderfully and the article will be in the Herald in Seattle on Sunday. Laura was wonderful at the interview - she really is a lovely young lady in personality and looks too. It has been so important to me to have someone that is in the same position as I am. This said with all due respect to Frank and the many others that I know care tremendously, but Debbie and I are both moms with relatively young kids fighting this cancer. Her friendship, understanding and support is simply priceless. Thanks Debs.

We did not do much of anything on Tuesday as it rained. Tom and Debbie came around to us for the evening and on Wednesday morning we headed south to face that aweful Seattle traffic. When I am nervous, my palms sweat - quite normal, I believe. But my feet sweat too! And we both get very quiet while I look for stuff to photograph while sucking in my breath, not always quietly, as the trucks come within inches of us. Last trips we faced broken tires almost every 4 days - this time the rain. I have to admit that I prefer the rain, even if it always seems to happen when there is a lot of traffic around. We survived the Seattle traffic, are now parked at a rest stop along the Interstate 5 and will go into the campground tomorrow. We will use this camp as a base to explore other places while we wait for Steven and Laura to arrive on the 6th Sept for his appointment with Dr Druker the next day. Then we take them to the coast for two days before they fly back home again.

Last, but definately not least in any way at all. We received a wonderful email from a friend and customer of ours from Tennessee, pledging 2c per mile we travel on this trip! This is f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c......... Thank you Tom! Our aim is to do 15 000 miles and we are already at the halfway mark. Tom G, I promise we won't do 30 000 miles as I joked in my email! If anyone knows of someone, or a business that wants to pledge per mile, equal Tom's pledge or even better it - let me know. Again, ALL monies collected will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Thanks for everyone for riding with us, thanks for the emails and your stories too - I love reading them all...

Love and Light Especially to U3 Annie & Frank XXXxxxxx ps. New photos posted to website.

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

22nd to 25th Aug - To The Outside.........

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 07:38:00 +0000

Anchorage - Rain. Palmer - Rain. Glenallen - Rain. Christochina - Rain. Tok - Rain. Alaska - RAIN!!!!!!!!

It rained and rained until we felt as if we were drowning, so we left the campground at Portage Valley and headed towards Anchorage and then back into Canada. We had planned to go to Homer, but we could not imagine doing anything much in the rain anymore. Ok - weather subject closed - unless we find sunshine - then I promise to comment on that! I waved at Tom on the way through Palmer - sorry we did not stop and meet you but we were well on our way by then. We were going to have to change Wendy's airticket as she was scheduled to fly out of Anchorage and we were planning on being well south of that by the end of the week.

I had calculated the miles and figured we could get to Vancouver by Friday night. Well, I guess I was a good few hundred miles out, to say the very least - amazing what a difference 1000 miles can make to plans! We fast realised that it would take us a good few days longer to get there, but we were still headed out and looking forward to being on the road again even though we would have to find an airport somewhere along the way.

There were the most glorious glaciers spreading towards the road, and the mountains were daintily decorated with the "terminal dusting" that had made its yearly appearance - really lovely, even through the raindrops. The pictures of that day are quite dramatic in their cloudiness. On one of our stops along the road, we found a beautiful log house and shed and outbuildings that were totally empty! There was a place to keep animals at the back, a shed, a little meandering stream and this most beautiful log interior - the doors were open and there was absolutely nothing left inside. We could see that some people had used the spot to stop for a break and even their trash was put in bags and put in a corner of the building instead of being thrown outside. There has to be a story there and we wondered what was going to happen with the property - spending a winter there could be very exciting - to say the very least! I took a good few photos, Katie - I thought of you all the time we were there!

We spent that night in Tok and went through the Canadian customes just after lunchtime. The officer there was really friendly and wanted to know about our fundraiser, which held up the line for a little while. He had been really chatty with everyone before us too and the line was a fairly long one by the time we got through. Seeing as we had not been in Alaska too long and really could not have come from anywhere else, we went through easily. It was wonderful having a friendly and smiling immigration officer.....

The views all along the way was beautiful. There was the fireweed that changed color from bright red to pink to light pink with all its seed hanging out - this progression got more and more pronounced as we headed south. Then there was the 'quiver trees' - they quivered and shimmered in the breeze, making the sound of rushing water in the amazing quiet. We stopped a good few times along the way - sometimes just to take a break from the noise of the road and other times to fill up the coffee pot and enjoy the view - it was all so beautiful.

Kluane Lake was simply stunning - again. We could not get over the blue of that water...... there was quite a bit of traffic and we had one humongous truck breathing fire on the bakkie which made the ride around the lake not as pleasant as when we came up, but could not take away from the beauty of the lake, the fireweed and the surrounding mountains. Needless to say, the camera clicked endlessly.

That night we spent at a pull off right at Teslin Lake. Unfortunately it had taken us a good while to find a suitable pull off place and it was already dark so we did not get to see much of the lake at all. I heard Wendy gently chanting: "Star light, star bright, the first, second, third star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, see the lights tonight!" We all wished SO hard to see the northern lights again. All the way we had been told that it was way too early to see them - but we had already in BC on the way up so we knew it was possible. If wishes could have made it happen, it would have. But it did not. None of us had been sleeping well at all, our eyes popping open every half hour, in rotation between the three of us, checking for the aurora's. Wendy covered the front view of the skies and Frank and I the back of the rv....... nothing. Ah well.

After us all waking up late, we left the pull over at about 8.20am - lovely warm coffee and sunshine in our windows! Glorious. We had been scanning the sides of the road for bear for days now and finally Frank spotted a bear! We came to a screaming stop on the side of the road and the bear did not run off......... we watched him for a good long while as he scruffled through the bushes, sniffing the air in our direction every now and again. He did not seem worried at all about any traffic coming by - even when big trucks made a good amount of noise. He was not a really big bear, but all of us stayed safely in the RV, not wanting to look for problems at all...... Only when he ran back into the forest could we pull ourselves away and headed further south. We did see one more, but only managed a good look at the top of his head and eyes.... he stayed hidden in the long grass.

After getting gas at Junction 37, we headed south on that road - 37 South. The mood of the countryside changed - it seemed rounder, more gentle, less stark and the sky had definately lost its clarity. A fairly large herd of young caribou spread themselves all over the road and we gently passed through them, camera clicking, of course! The road conditions were not bad at first, but did get worse the further south we went.

The road is fairly narrow on this part of the trip with no side to the road at all. We were not traveling fast at all and when a car towing a boat came towards us, Frank slowed down even more. It seemed as if the car kept moving towards our side of the road, which was just a dirt road with no edges at all, and by the time we passed each other, the wheels on my side of the RV were only just on the road and the boat missed us by probably 2 inches....... it was interesting to see how quiet all three of us went while we waited for the crunch. It was an awful moment and we were totally astounded that we had not collided! It took us a little while to get over that one.... I just know that we all had thoughts for that driver, but the overriding one was that he not hit anyone on his journey northwards.

A little further down the road we saw a huge live porcupine and two fox - they were a lovely gentle orange color and running along the top of a little hill. Unfortunately I did not get them on the camera - but they are firmly imprinted in my mind. All along the roads are places that have been spread with loose gravel to fill in the potholes, now we were approaching one that was a good size and we had a humongous truck screaming down the opposite hillside. Frank brought Skilpad to a stop before we got to the gravel part to try and avoid a broken windshield from flying stones, but we still got two small chips in the top window and windshield - but the worst was how the dust that barrelled out from under that truck totally hid everything! We could see absolutely nothing and spent a minute praying that no one was racing up behind us into the dust! We did utter some words that were definately not ladylike as the dust cleared and we could breathe and see again......

After the roadworks and the bumpy roads we had to make up some time so that we could get Wendy to Smithers to catch her connecting flight to Vancouver. We camped again in a pullout alongside the road, right next to an awesome place called Devil Creek. We walked down to the road bridge just past where we were stopped to get some photographs - there was a beautiful deep narrow canyon with the smallish river waaaaaaaaaaaay down below. The bridge was metal and we could see the water a gazillion feet below us. I was chicken and walked off that bridge after taking only two photos! Frank went back and snapped a few more, Wendy took a couple and then we all got off there - it was not a comfortable feeling at all. Just a minute after getting off the bridge an enormous tractor trailor came screaming over the hill at an incredible speed. I thank God that we were not on that bridge.

There was a beautiful puddle of brillian pink fireweed on the edge of the pull off and in front of the forest of trees where we had stopped for the night, so we ambled across there, Wendy wanting to get a photograph of it. She stood in front of this awesome display taking her pictures and I had my camera pointed at her, just about to ask her to turn around so I could get a photograph of her with the fireweed as a background. It was right then when Frank, who had taken a good few steps backwards away from us, let off a ................. ummmmmmmm......... indelicate rumbling of great magnitude (how does one put that delicately?) Wendy spun around, leaving the ground with a look of absolute, undiluted horror and I instantly recognised what thought was in her mind! I lost control of my legs, falling to the ground, my camera finger paralysed, unable to catch that moment! I was balanced on my toes and three fingers of one hand crying with laughter while Wendy yelled : "Tell me that was you!, PLEASE tell me that was you!!!" She has thought the "rumbling" was a bear! (I am howling with laughter again while typing this!! ) Wendy saw me fall to the ground and Frank was just too far away to see what had all happened.... Her face, the timing (tears running down my face now as I am trying to type this without rocking the RV and waking Frank up!) was perfect. I laughed so loudly that I could hear the blood coursing through my veins and I could not catch my breath, there was a puddle of wet mud in front of me when I could finally stand again from the tears streaming from my eyes. Wendy and Frank had by now put it all together and seen the humor in it all and were also discovering new "laugh muscles". How we got back to the RV is a mystery - we stumbled around the pull off like three drunkerds, screaming with laughter and tears blurring our view - what an opportunity for a hungry bear! It took a good few hours before we could stop giggling or simply popping with laughter......... it was wonderful to laugh like that - we all enjoyed it tremendously. I know that will go down as one of the definate highlights of the trip! And one of my sadnesses will always be that I simply could not capture that moment on camera!

All night long, whenever I woke up to check for the northern lights - my stomach convulsed in laughter - still does when I think of it. That was glorious - thanks Wendy and Frank!

And so we went to sleep on the last night for three of us - the next day, Friday 25th, Wendy left us to go back home to Atlanta, taking the crew back down to the two of us. A good 10 days filled with awesome beauty, amazing scenery, wildlife, wild rides, situations and so much laughter and fun! Anytime Podner, anytime.........

Love and Light to you all Especially to U3 - I am SO proud of all that each of you is doing with your lives...... Annie and Frank Xxxxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

21st August - Glaciers!

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 02:42:00 +0000

There are few things that will put one's life in perspective as being right at the foot of a growling glacier! The wind howled off the top of the this enormous slab of ice, bringing near freezing winds whipping onto the boat, driving most people back inside and every now and again we could hear a pop, growl and snap - big ones - as the ice slowly moved forward! Wendy and I stood there with frozen noses and teeth but in absolute awe of the colors, the feel and the beauty of the place. Frank went inside to enjoy it all through full size windows, from the comfortable warmth inside - with endless coffee to help the warming process.

While we were being rained out in Fairbanks, we had checked the weather and it looked as if Monday would be the very best chance of any sunshine for a Glacier Cruise. So when we arrived in Anchorage on Sunday evening we all felt that the timing was great. After a good nights rest we called in our reservations - thank goodness as the cruise was totally filled up for the day and we would definately not have go on there without the reservation! The road from Anchorage to Whittier is beautiful. Whittier is about 58 miles south of Anchorage along the Cook Inlet and has really awesome views of glaciers and snow capped mountains and shiny waters and and and........ The water looked rattled, with white caps bouncing all over the place - not peaceful or friendly at all. The only land access to Whittier is through the Anton Anderson tunnel, the longest combined vehicle-railroad tunnel in North America - two and a half miles long. It is the first US tunnel with jet turbine and portal fan ventilation, first to use computerized regulation of rail and highway traffic and can handle -40° F temperatures and 150 mph winds. I took pictures as we drove through, but they all came out orange and filled with squiggly lines from the lights of the cars in front of us. The walls of the tunnel are wet and in places the water drips through from the top - but not too much. There are "safe houses" along the way in case of a problem, but I have to admit that I did not get a warm fuzzy feeling from these... This tunnel was only opened to cars in the year 2000 - before this it was only a train track. Sharing the drive with a train track is not reallly comfortable as the wheels of the RV hooked into a track but did not stay there and the sides are pretty close. I know that there really is more than enough space, but the idea of being in a tunnel of this length and one that has a humongous mountain with a glacier all of its own, on top of us was quite a thought........I found that I was definatly not comfortable in there this time either.

The boat we went on, The Emerald Sea, was the same as last time and was dwarfed by the enormous cruise ship, the Coral Princess. We had a good hour to walk around Whittier and it was not too cold at all - best of all - we had blue skies and absolutely no sign of rain at all - wonderful! It seemed impossible that everyone would fit on the boat, but we all did and quite comfortably too. As soon as we left the dock and headed out into Prince William Sound, the stunning views arrived. Everywhere we looked, there was either an icefield, beautiful waters, a glacier or awesome looming mountains. It was great seeing Frank and Wendy become friends with their respective cameras and click away at all the beauty around - they had often laughed at how many photos I had been taking! Frank and I had been on this cruise a few years before, and it was lovely watching Wendy's reactions to the new view at every turn - at times she literally had a stunned look on her face as she looked at what was out there. I had told her that it gets "beyond cold" close to the glaciers and I am not sure she believed me, but fortunately she brought enough warm clothing along. It was not too long before she was shivering and asking if this was the "beyond-cold" I was talking about. When her face lost feeling - THEN she knew!

Every time I turned my head, there was a different and equally beautiful view..but there really is a different and humbling feeling when you are 'parked' quietly below a slowly moving glacier with ice in the water gently bumping against the boat. The way you have to lift your head up to see all the way to the top, that incredible blue, the countless waterfalls flowing from everywhere around the glacier - even from underneath. The sunlight glinted off a million points and lit up the surrounding areas of ice sometimes leaving it white and other times turning it that tremendous blue that is so difficult to describe. All of this and the gulls dipping and diving around gave it all a fairytale look and feel. The sky was crisp. Its impossible to explain its clarity, but it was clearer than any other place we have seen, and this definately added to the beauty and feel of the place. It is phenomenal to stand and look at these glaciers that are so tremendously old and try to picture what the world was like so many years ago.

The glacier only calved a very small piece of ice which was a little dissapointing so the captain got us all to shout loudly to try and help it along....... needless to say that after we had all yelled as loud as we could - twice - he laughingly asked us if we now all felt better! He also stated that it was guaranteed to get the glacier to calve - 45 minutes after we left! The mood on the boat was great with many people taking photos for other couples in front of the waterfalls and glaciers. The food was great, the views were awesome and it was colder than any of us had been in a very long time which made us appreciate the complimentary coffee and warmth inside so much more. There was ice floating in the water all over the place and we even found an iceberg - it certainly would not have sunk the Titanic, but when the captain nudged it - we bounced and "the berg" just sat there.......

We saw both fresh water and salt water otters - I forgot to listen to the explanation of that piece of information - but the sun glistening on the water, the birds gently cruising the sky, the white and the blue of the glaciers and icefields and the different greens of the mountains and hills split by waterfalls all the way from the sky, are what got me breathing deeply. The movement of the boat, the free feeling - especially when almost everyone was inside and it was blissfully quiet outside - those are truely soul refreshing moments. When we left the glaciers, the sun touched on the wakes of the water creating beautiful silvery twirls and there was another boat stopped at the glacier which gave the whole view some size perspective. Truely awesome.

When we were waiting outside the tunnel before the cruise, a couple came across and was chatting to us about the RV being all painted. They knew two people battling the disease, so now we have Rachel L and Sarah W riding with us too! They were wonderfully kind and gave us a donation to pass on to the LLS as well. Really lovely, sweet people.

We were tremendously fortunate to have a totally clear day on Monday, we really could not have asked for more at all. That night it rained again and the weather forcast rain for everywhere in Alaska for the next ten days, so we decided to leave Anchorage and head towards BC and less wet weather. We stayed awake fairly late, looking at the all the photos - mine alone were 693! Wendy took over 100 and Frank close to that too.... so many awesome memories. My poor printer will be working overtime when we get home again! I will put up some photos as soon as we get to another place with high speed - promise!

Anyway. Monday was totally wonderful and Tuesday we started to 'the outside' as the Alaskans say. The Outside is the lower 48's - I like the way that is said. Anchorage had also recieved their 'terminal dusting' on Saturday night, which is the first dusting of snow which heralds the end to summer up here. A somewhat sad day for many as it gets progressively darker and colder from then onwards. So it was a good time for us to leave.....and we did

More later......... :-)

Love and Light Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXXxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.PenniesforCancer.com www.Livingwithcml.blogspot.com

Anchorage - the long way around

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 03:50:00 +0000

We showered, unplugged, tied the bakkie behind us and headed south to Denali National Park. Wendy was not sure what to do as we are pretty organised about what we do when we pack up the house. I tried calling Debs to say goodbye but she was not answering her phone - kinda strange to leave town and not be able to say goodbye to anyone - especially as we had met so many wonderful people. I did get to speak to Debs later as well as a woman whose daughter, Daphne, is also riding with us on our sides.

It was misty with the sunshine breaking through but we did not want anything to do with the sun in Fairbanks - not now that we were leaving town! The mist made for some wonderful pictures along the way - the sun most determindly breaking through in places. The scenery was wonderful - the mountains and rivers really lovely - a lovely ride.

We all agreed that the awesome snowpeaked mountain we saw was McKinley. It was beautiful and then quickly dissappeared again. Right after we saw this, there was a long lane of backed up traffic in front of us - all at a dead still stop. A flashing sign told us that the Denali Highway and the Parks Highway between Fairbanks and Anchorage was closed due to flooding and road damage. But no one was telling us anything and all the cars in front of us were still being shown over the bridge that was being worked on so we did not worry too much - just checked to see what road we were on. The Parks Highway.......... So when we pulled up to the flagger, I asked him if the road to Anchorage was open. No. Turn around here. No one else had asked him and he had not shared that with anyone either. We turned around. The drive from Fairbanks to this point was almost 200 miles. The scenery back was equally stunning - more photos were taken, we stopped at places we had missed on the way down and we not at all upset - does not help anyway. It is quite amazing just how different the scenery is from the other way around! And all three of us firmly believed that we had seen The Mountain! We still believe that and nothing will sway us at all. There has to be SOME payback for having to drive all those extra miles! Apparently there are not many days of the year that the Denali Mountains can be seen - we missed them last time we were here.

The skies were a beautiful blue and the camera clicked happily - we had hope of the northern lights, despite what anyone told us.

So. Back into Fairbanks - yet another photo of the "Welcome to Fairbanks" sign and we took a wrong turn, so did a gloriously slow tour along a tiny, winding, little, pavement-less road all around the airport. Things in the motor home bounced loose, were tied up and on we went finally finding the road back into town and out South towards Anchorage from the other angle. By this time it was 4pm - yes, we left Fairbanks at 9am and were leaving again at 4pm. We just gently tootled on out of town, this time I did not call anyone! We stopped at North Pole for some Chinese supper and McDonalds fries. Don't ask me - ask Wendy and Frank. The fries were delicious. Around 6.30pm it became time to stop for the night. First we found a little store alongside the road and bought a single dip ice cream. I am not sure what school those people went to, but by the time we were finished with this 4 scoop icecream, our lips were totally frozen. In our books, it is virtually illegal to throw away ice cream but it does create a problem when trying to understand what the other person is saying when their lips, tounge and swallowing tube is frozen!

A short while later, we pulled into a rest stop thinking that this might be the place to stop for the night. A lady in a car pulled up next to us, pointing at the "PenniesForCancer.com" writing on the RV. She told us that she had followed us as her daughter had a whole purse full of pennies she wanted to give us! Out came the jar and in went the pennies. It was such a lovely gesture, we hugged and they went on their way. Really lovely people. We went on for a little further and stopped just north of Delta Junction which put us only about 80 miles outside of Fairbanks - not bad: Left there at 9am, now 7pm and were were only 80 miles away. 10 hours of driving.....hmmmmmm. But we felt good, had seen some stunning countryside, met wonderful folks, were in good company, had a riverside spot for the night - what more could one ask?

The river ( I dont know which one it was) was rushing by at a tremendous speed with trees swirling along down with the current. The river was a muddy gray color and we were really glad that there was no chance of us getting caught up in those waters. The banks looks so vulnerable in places with that current beating against it all the time. It really was impressive. There were about 8 big birds that seemed to dance above a cluster of trees. At first we thought they were vulture-things but then we saw that that were just having a blast! They swirled, twirled, ducked and dipped, always so gracefully, sometimes dissappearing but always coming back up in a totally effortless leap upwards. We sat and watched them from the warmth of the RV. A boat went screaming up the river a little later and not too long afterwards, two sea-doos came leaping downstream looking very cold and throwing a lot of spray around themselves. It must have been awfully cold on there. The boat came back down a short while later. I just know there is a story there.

The wind howled all night, rocking the house beautifully - it feels almost like being at sea when that happens - glorious! The sky was clear-ish, so none of us slept very well as our eyes all popped open at regular intervals checking for the northern lights. Only when it starts getting light again did we all sleep soundly. No lights. The traffic was also fairly heavy as everyone that had tried to get to or from Anchorage on the Parks Highway was now coming this way around, on the Richardson Highway.

The next day - Sunday - we headed further down towards Anchorage. The mountains were stunning with their capes and caps of snow and ice and clouds. It rained. All the time. But what we saw was really lovely and we ooh-ed and aah-ed our way into Anchorage. The rivers were really rushing by with the rains swelling them into rushing torrents. I am almost sure that I saw puffins but that does not seem to make sense - must look that up. It was certainly cold enough and .......... I will look it up to see if it was at all possible. The camera caught one moose crossing the road. One Bald eagle - the photograph will not make the National Geographic Mag. Rain. Small trees in permafrost ground. Sometimes the tree size changed dramatically and then inbetween were these incongrous little ... towns (?) with the strangest of houses or living quarters, most of which looked as if they needed desperate TLC. Some places had all new cottages that were just begging for tourists to fill up. The views must be awesome if it ever stops raining! It rained non-stop.

And then we got a cell phone signal and I managed to get a quick call into Penny before the signal faded.... soooo nice to hear her again!

We came through Palmer and into Anchorage at about 5pm on Sunday. We were hoping to make it in time to a concert that was to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society here in Anchorage, but with the road closure, just could not get here in time. I did get to meet Vicki and a few of the others - lovely people. They had announced at the concert that we had come in and that anyone who wanted to have thier name on the RV could come and do so. No response. But while we were waiting, a young girl read the Pennies For Cancer words, balanced a penny on the rear view mirror and then donated it! A gentleman came across the road, just a passer-by, and wanted to know how to donate. He was tall, thin and had this little pile of coins inbetween his fingers. He dropped the coins into the collection bottle saying that this was all he had and wanted to give it to a good cause. Talk about being humbled! And then we had three guys walk past, come to a screaming halt, appear in the doorway again and ask how much it cost to rent 'this rig'. They were almost appalled when we told them that it was ours. "What!!?? With all this written on it?? YOURS??!?!" Then they wanted to come in and see it inside, which we let them, they then called "Pops" in to have a look too. It was a good gentle moment while they talked of their dreams of renting an rv and going traveling. After a few minutes, they jauntily headed down the road again.

Shortly afterwards we left to find a campground and to close the day. Driving in the rain takes quite a bit more out of one than doing so in good weather and we were all tired. We slept very well in the Golden Nuggett Rv park just outside of the center of Anchorage. And there I stop for this update - the Glacier Cruise deserves its own day...........

With love to everyone

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

www.PenniesforCancer.com

Gold and Rivers and Rain

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:01:00 +0000

The busy day! The bus picked us up right at the campground in the morning and took us the the El Dorado mine a few miles outside of Fairbanks. We passed the Alyeska Pipeline on the way - well, we passed plenty of it but there is a place where busses can stop, a gazillion people can get off and look and touch and read all about it. The bus trundled on by - that's for another day. At the mines we easily picked up our tickets that Nancy and Eric had organised for us and hopped on the little train. What a wonderful job they did building that train! There are tv's dotted down the middle of it so when the tour guide talks, everyone can see him or see what he is talking about even if you are all the way at the back of the train. We trundled gently into a permafrost tunnel, very interesting and there was a goodly size pile of bones that they have found - these bones are many many years old. I would have loved to know more about those animals but then was not the time to ask...... All along the way we were shown examples of how the people so many years ago did their gold mining and panning. It was really fascinating. We watched as a ton of dirt was dropped into a sluice, water added and the gold setttled to the bottom of the sluice. They then shovelled a section of the sifted dirt up and put them into bags which we were given to use to find our gold. When one has that little clump of dirt in a pan in front of you, it just looks like a little pile of dirt. You swirl, shake and slowly empty that dirt out into the water and find yourself hoping that there will be at least one glimmer of gold in there somewhere. Only right at the very end, almost on the last flick-of-the-wrist swirl do you see those little glitters! Its amazing to see everyone lean forward when that happens and a smile appears, even if its only at the corner of their mouths. Frank got a goodly amount more gold than I did, but that was ok because I just knew he would give it to me anyway *smile*. We had the flakes we found put into two pendants for good memories. And then we were put back on the train and taken back to the bus for the ride back home. The bus conductor, Tim, had some very interesting history facts about Fairbanks and the ride went by really smoothly and pleasantly. A lovely morning! We had just enough time for lunch before another bus picked us up for the next adventure. This one on the Riverboat Discovery - this was a trip down the Chena River, into the Tanana River with a good many things to see and experience along the way. It was great having Debbie along on the ride with us and she was able to show us the house she grew up in, right on the banks of the Chena River. She told the story of always running down to wave at the paddle boats as they passed by when she was a kid growing up there - I could almost picture it. It was fascinating to see where the two rivers met - it was like oil and water and the patterns created by these two rivers not joining easily got my camera clicking again. We had found ourselves seats right in the front of the boat on the third level up - really a good place to be! We watched some little airplanes taking off and landing - one from the land and the other with its water ski's on - those pilots were really amazing....... We stopped by at the Trail Breaker Kennels which is the home to Susan Butcher and listened to a fascinating talk about the dogs. They had a team of dogs hooked to a four-wheeler and they were really keen to get moving! The yelping and jumping around showed how keen these dogs were to get running. After a while they were let go to do just that and they pulled that four-wheeler with two people on it down a trail at phenomenal speed! Then we headed further down the river to a fish drying camp and a little village that had a good few things to show - huge cabbages, sod roof houses, skins of all sorts, caribou and numerous others. It was starting to get cold and a gentle rain had arrived, so the three of us headed back to the boat and a warm cuppa coffee. It was a truely wonderful way to spend an afternoon, I have always loved the water and there is a certain kind of peace when out there - even if there are a few hundred other people on board too! Most of them were inside in warm comfy weather, but we all felt as if they missed the true experience of the ride. A really, really big thank you again to Nancy and Eric! On Wednesday we decided to explore the town on foot a little bit. Downtown Fairbanks look so pretty with all the flower boxes overflowing with the most incredible array of flowers of all kinds and colors. Even the sweet peas were worthy of a good few photographs. We parked the bakkie and walked over the Chena River on the footbridge to the downtown area. It was cold. We had jackets on, but they were not rain jackets or even very good wind breakers, but we really wanted to walk around, go into some of the stores and see what there was to see. It was cold. We got properly rained on, browsed through most of the stores and galleries and decided to find some food and head back home. There was a Mongolian food stand that looked intersting and had really pretty big flowers all around it with a humongous cabbage growing right in the middle of one flowerpot. Good reason to stop and order some food, besides - it was right next to an ice cream stand. Food we got all bagged up, and then we turned weak and decided to get an ice cream too! The small was not small. By any means. So here we stand in the light rain, with dripping wet coats on, shivering gently with one hand filled with bags of Mongolian food and the other with an incredible size ice cream. Only one thing to do - eat it! So we walked briskly back to the bakkie, laughing at the stares from other people who were hustling themselves quickly down the road. It was cold! Crossing that bridge was like walking into a freezer. Our teeth were thoroughly frozen and we were laughing slighly hysterically because we could not see any trash cans to throw the ice cream away in so simply HAD to eat them! (How's that for an excuse??) We were both really keen to get home and into a hot soaking shower........ this campground really has good shower facilities! Thankfully! After a good relaxing afternoon and supper, I met with Sandy from the Cancer Center here in Fairbanks and we had a wonderful evening talking about all sorts of things. It has been really wonderful to meet Debbie and her family and friends. They have all been so welcoming, helpful and just plain darn nice to us. We had the local newspaper do an article that was printed in the papers this morning and then Channel 11 TV came out today to do an interview as well - that should be on tomorrow night after we leave, and Monty said he would send us a copy of the newscast. He was really easy to talk to and wrote his wife's name on the RV too. I had emailed David Monson to ask his permission to write Susan Butcher's name on the sides of the RV and he very kindly emailed back giving permission and saying that Susan would be honored. The honor is ours - for each and every name. I found that I could not write her name - it felt as if someone local had to do it, someone from here, so Debbie did that for us. A gentleman called after reading the newspaper article and requested his name on here too - Don E - you are riding with us - thanks so much for the phone call! We have slowly been getting requests to add names and meeting people who know people with cancer, so the lists are growing slowly but surely. Wendy arrived on Thursday early evening - she is our friend who is joining us for 10 days here in rainy Alaska. It was simply wonderful to see her arriving and almost unbelievable that we were actually meeting way up north in Fairbanks! Lovely. It has rained since we saw the northern lights in British Columbia - a good 10 days ago now and promises to rain for the next ten days at least! So although we had hoped that we would all see the northern lights together - it looks like that will not happen, this time. Maybe it is too early way up here and it definately is too rainy - better luck further south? We hope so! Today we drove out to Chena Hot Springs - it rained thoroughly all the way, we stopped at the tourist viewing place of the Alyeska Pipeline - it rained thoroughly. We went shopping a little - it rained. It's still raining. But its lovely to have Wendy here with us! Up to now our roads have pointed north. Now the southward drive starts, but its by no means close to the end. We still have many miles to go and are really looking forward to some warmer, drier weather. We have not even taken the bicycles out of the bakkie yet! Although the rain has stopped us from getting out much, it has helped slow us down to be able to meet and spend time with some truely wonderful people. A really big thank you to all that have been so wonderful to us during our stay in Fairbanks - we will always treasure you. We are heading down to Anchorage tomorrow and the rain will be there to greet us too, but that's ok - we will enjoy the ride and whatever scenery we manage to see. Tomorrow night will be spent in a pull off alongside the road,not in a campground. These stops are always special as there is a definate kind of peace out there, no lights, no people - just a good feeling peace and quiet. We have a gas stove, generator and gas refridgerator so are pretty spoiled, even out of campgrounds. A day cruise to see glaciers calving is on the agenda and maybe even a ride to Homer if its just not too rainy. So much depends on the weather and I guess this is just the way of life up here. It does not seem to bother too many people, so we will simply go with the flow. On Sunday evening there is a concert in Anchorage to raise money for the LLS and we are hoping to get there in time to be able to have the skilpads there - maybe that will help encourage people to donate, whether through us or not - donating is the point of this all and any help we can be is great! I have been talking to Vicki at the Anchorage chapter of the LLS - another contact through Debbie - and cannot wait to meet her too. She will be putting out press releases tomorrow so hopefully the news will have notice of us coming that way. So, tomorrow morning we will shower, unplug the house, tie the bakkie behind us again and head towards Denali National Park. We really don't expect to see the mountain with all this rain around, but are looking forward to being on the road again. Very much. With love to you all Especially U3 Annie and Frank XXXXXXXxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

12th - 14th August - Fairbanks and Debs!

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 06:40:00 +0000

Our Tanana River Bridge spot was very comfortable and we had one other motorhome spending the night there. It simply wonderful when its so quiet with just the river running by. Nothing quite like it. We had gone for a short walk and I said to Frank that if a bear popped its head up - I would jump in the river in a flash and he could drive and pick me up downstream. Well, that would not have worked at all. We have been told that the river is so full of silt that it immediately fills up your clothes and would drag one down in a very short space of time. Wonderful thought. We have also been told that it was definately not a good idea to drink that glorious river water we did a few days back. Apparently people get really sick from "stuff" in the water. Oh dear. At least we only shared one bottle of it.........

A little way down the road we spotted an animal! At last! It was a big black dog with a whole bone of a leg of some really big animal - probably a moose or something - in its mouth! It's tail was wagging furiously and we could definately see the smile wrapped all around that face as it waited for us to drive by before crossing the road! I did not have the camera ready for that one but it will always be imprinted in my brain. That bone was so big and we hoped that the dog did not plan to try and go between two trees - he would get stuck and one could see that that dog was definately not going to let his bone go, for anything!

It rained and rained. All the way - all day long. We saw a moose in a pond, a mama moose with her baby - they dissappeared really quickly into the forest. I managed to get a clear enough cell phone signal to be able to call Penny and chat for a few minutes! Wonderful........... That cell phone is ready to run me wild - to keep the signal I have to first see which way to hold it, then dial and keep my head perfectly still all the time while talking. I cannot talk and stand still! I have to walk and move around, and it is very difficult to remember that I cannot do this. I have had to re-dial many a call.

Driving up the road into Fairbanks was interesting - there are many little side roads with wonderful log cabins and really interesting houses behind the trees. We dont see them long enough to take photos, and that would be a fascinating project to do - photograph all the different styles of homes up here. We saw a good few sod-roof places, with grass and fireweed merrily growing on top of the house - really pretty.

When coming into Fairbanks, the rain pelted down relentlessly. The GPS was bouncing around and kept on telling me that we were off route and driving in the middle of a lake - I turned the sound off. I thought I would remember the name of the RV place we stayed in last time, but too many days had passed and that information had apparently leaked out a long time ago. The roads did start to look familiar and we remembered some buildings that we had passed on our bicycle rides before. Finally it all came together and we got to the park we wanted to be in. Its lovely - we have a few trees around us, are next to the Chena River, have a beautifully level spot, full hook ups and ...........wireless high speed internet! Life is good.... We pulled into our designated site, right at the back of the park - again, and stayed one night before asking to be moved to a more central place which they graciously did.

And then we got to meet Debbie! Debbie is my 'Seattle internet friend' who's daughter, Laura, also has CML and who is visiting her family in Fairbanks this week as well. It was wonderful to meet her and know that here was the only other person that I knew personally, that understood exactly my position in this cancer learning curve! She had already been such a help to me over the past months and it was simply wonderful to finally meet her - and a few weeks early at that! We had originally planned to meet in Seattle around the end of the month.

We were very kindly invited up to her family's home for dinner of king crab, steak and all the 'fittings/fixings' that go with that. What a wonderful dinner and really, really lovely people! Tammy, Randy, Jaclyn, Jocelyn and Debbie were so easy to chat to and the evening went by way too quickly. The view from their house is stunning, looking over the Tanana and Chena Rivers with mountains hiding behind the clouds waaaay in the distance - simply beautiful.

We went back there this morning and were beautifully surprised by complimentary tickets on the Riverboat Discovery trip as well as the El Dorado Gold Mine! These were generously given by friends of Debbie and her family - Nancy and Eric. The Riverboat Discovery outing will take us on the Tanana and Chena Rivers in an enormous sternwheeler riverboat. The Eldorado Gold Mine experience will put us on a train, in a permafrost tunnel and we get to pan for gold too........ It sounds like a full and wonderful day waits for us tomorrow. Thank you Nancy - you really have spoiled us!

After another easy few hours there, we headed out scratch around in some little stores around town. We found a place that had antlers for sale and bought two relatively small moose antlers - I want to try my hand at carving those things - I have seen some awesome carvings and would love to see if I could try something like that. We also went into a fur shop and it was amazing to feel all the different furs. It was weird and somewhat uncomfortable seeing wolf feet hanging up for sale, but they felt wonderfully soft - along with all the other furs. We did not buy anything there although there were many beautiful items, not all fur products either.

Debbie has helped us make contact with a few people here and we have an article in the papers tomorrow and on Wednesday I will hopefullly be going to a cancer support meeting in Fairbanks - just a small group but it will be lovely to chat to some people here. I had a lovely chat with Sandy from the Interior Alaska Cancer Association this evening - she spent many years in South Africa and South West Africa and we spent a good while chatting about what we loved about those countries. We are hoping to get to Anchorage by Sunday where The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has a concert organised there. The people that I have spoken to up here from the LLS and the Cancer Association are lovely! They are full of enthusiasm and really interested in trying to help get this fundraiser some exposure. We need all the help we can get!

Thanks for the emails and responses to my postings, they are all greatly appreciated.

Love and Light to you all

Especially U3

Annie & Frank

XXXXxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.LivingwithCML.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

August Thoughts........

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 23:18:00 +0000

There are a few things that have touched me very deeply on this trip and I have found it difficult to put those feelings into words that make sense or even convey what I feel and have felt.

Cancer has touched me (obviously Frank too) through Steven, deeply. When I first started researching and trying to find some way of dealing with having cancer as a direct part of our lives, I met some really incredible people. Penny is one of those really special people. I have been so incredibly fortunate to have this lady in my life, even though it is for such a short and difficult time.

When we met her in Edmonton at the beginning of this journey, I felt so comfortable with her. She was going though some really bad pain and her quality of life is not the way she wanted it to be at this stage at all. It was so difficult to watch this lady dealing with all of this. It broke my heart and at the same time, gave me so much strength.

And then she showed me a knob of cancer that sits right below her left rib cage. With her permission I touched it gently. I touched cancer. Cancer has touched us and changed absolutely everything, our whole world is different - yet when I touched it, nothing changes! It was shattering to me to touch that bump, to see the look in Penny's eyes. It made it all so absolutely real and unavoidable. Her eyes told the story. My heart, stomach and soul clenched at that touch and I could not begin to imagine dealing with that every day. I had to tell myself just to breath. I don't know whether holding it together was good, or should I just have let it all come out and cry right there? I did not cry then. I cried when we left Penny's house, I cried when we left Edmonton the next day and I cry now. But it was too deep to cry then.

I think of this every day and I know that Penny is trying to control her pain and be able to live the very best she can for as long as she can. I don't know how. I read the cancer support boards whenever I can get online, I hear that others have lost the battle with this disease and I know that Penny won't be with us for too much longer. It breaks my heart and at times I feel like I am drowning. There are times when I am sorry that we have the RV done up like this - cancer is in my face all the time! But it's in our lives. It's never going to leave. Never. So I had better find a way to make those days better and be extremely grateful for what we have and deal with the pain. I am tremendously grateful for the people I have met so far, for the laughs, the sharing and for the learning - even when that hurts so much.

Writing this makes me feel selfish in a way, but I find it difficult to deal with it too - and I think this is an important side of this disease - no matter what version it is - there is always someone 'on the outside' learning a new normal. There are many days when I can handle all this very well and then there are days when I want to crawl in a corner and go back in time - till when? To a time when there was no cancer? So much learning and growing has happened since March 6th. Lifetimes have passed and I am no longer the person I was before then. One cannot go back.

Steven deals with the leukemia in what appears to be a very strong way. He does not seem to let it get him down, and he has become much more outgoing since diagnosed. I hope he realizes now, at his relatively young age, that life has to be grabbed and lived to the fullest - there is no time to waste at all. He has to learn to be strong enough to share his 'scared' and worries with someone - its too heavy to carry alone. Those bad days come, even in the good times. It is impossible to ignore the fact that he has leukemia, yet it does not seem appropriate to ask him about it all the time. And then I don't want him to feel that I am not interested in how he is doing or coping or not. It's a very fine line to walk and one that gets played by ear day by day. He is very patient and understanding and open with me when I do go down that road.

When we were visiting Penny, I had a million questions and she was also fantastic in answering them. I think it is natural to 'pull away' from other people when we are not feeling well, and I had noticed this in her. I was hoping that she knew that I still cared about her and missed our earlier days of being able to joke more and be a lot more lighthearted. Was it just me that lost the lightheartedness during the last few weeks as her pain got worse? Did I get too serious? Was this something I should have tried harder to maintain or was it ok to lose the light side in our talks and emails? I already miss that lady so much!

The names on the RV mean so much to me. Most people shared a bit of their life and trials with me and every day I do the walkabout, sending them happy vibes, good results and happiness. It's like being entrusted with a little piece of each of them. Maybe I am reading too much into this all, but that is the way it is. When we saw the aurora the other night - I stood there in wonder of this display of nature and thought of all of those battling any type of cancer and wished I could share this wonder with them all.

We carry my son's name, my grandmother's name and my sister-in-law's name on the side of the RV along with all the others. We have children's names, mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, friends, sisters and brothers, as well as those that have lost the battle, on our sides as we drive these roads and see these wonders. How could it not be an emotional experience to see these names daily? So much hope is in each name, so many stories, so many days and nights with tears and worry and so much joy and strength and hope too.

There are days when it seems strange that life goes on relatively normally despite so many people dealing with this disease. But there are more days that it is starting to feel abnormal not to meet up with cancer in some or other form. The new normal. Maybe one day it will fit like a comfy glove and I will also get that look of peace that we saw on a lady at Vanderbilt Hospital who was fighting her third bout of cancer. She was amazing!

Why does it seem like all the nice people get cancer? Do people become nice after diagnosis? Or did I lose sight of just how many nice people there are in the world? My life has become so rich since Steven was diagnosed. I have made firm friends with people that we have not even met yet - people that truly care about us all, despite the fact that they are also learning to live with this illness in their family. Debbie and I have really helped each other along and there have been many days when I know that no one else could understand what I was going through (her 19 yr old daughter has CML) - a quick email to her and I could breathe again, knowing that I was, after all, normal in feeling the way I was. I know there are many others out there that are going through what I am and I feel very fortunate to have clicked with a few of them that are simply wonderful!

Just the other day while stopped at a gas station, one guy asked me about the RV all wrapped. When I told him that my son, Steven, has leukemia, it hit me all over again. I could not say any more. It turned my gut and twisted my soul all over again. God, it hurt! A few minutes passed and that feeling faded back and I could think again. This does not happen every time at all - just when I least expect it! Does that ever stop? And that's me - what about for Steven? Maybe I should take up Lamaze breathing exercises……….

Ok - that's my guts spilled for a while. Funny how writing it down spreads the load and un-clouds some of the issues.

Love and Light

Annie

xxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com

www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com

http://www.penniesforcancer.com/

9-11th August. Watson Lake to Alaska

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 23:17:00 +0000

On Thursday morning we shouted goodbye to the signs in the Forest as we drove past, headed north again. It had been wonderful to have high speed internet, even if I have to go into the campground office to get it.... but it was time to go.

The scenery was much of the same today so I get to catch up on a few things we noticed along the way. It has been funny to watch people take photographs - almost all the tall thin men stand with their hips pushed forward, shoulders pushed way back and their necks craned forward as if to balance the whole shebang with their elbows straight out to the sides. The women tend to sink their shoulders down, making themselves shorter while taking the photo. I am serious! Obviously there are many that do this differently, but in a crowd of people, that seems to be the norm and after seeing the first ten, it gets funny!

I had forgotten to mention a really big honor for me. When we were with Penny, a parcel arrived for us, Penny and I, and in it were the cd singles that Canadian singer, Aaron Walpole who is with "Notes and Hopes" has put out with Penny's song "My Sister, My Friend" on it. This is a song that Penny's sister Trish, wrote for her and Aaron Walpole and Sara Westbrook sing it. It makes me cry to hear it - it really is beautiful and extremely touching. The cover of this cd as well as the picture on the cd is my "The Penny" painting that I did for her a good few months ago. It was really such a tremendous feeling to hold this cd with this picture while in the room with Trish and Penny! It was all I could do not to bawl like a baby right there. You can hear a part of this song on the Penniesforcancer.com site and - shameless plugging - buy it from there too if you like it! It really is an amazingly touching song dedicated to a wonderful, gentle lady - Penny.

Steven and Penny's picture are on the passenger door of Skilpad, so all along the way in my side mirror - I see them travelling with us. Nice.

The lovely part of being in an rv is that while Frank is driving, I can get up and get food, water and even go to the bathroom. Sometimes its wonderful. The trick is always to have one hand ready to grab something to hang onto, especially on the bumpier roads. Today we hit a really bad 200 miles or so. I have had to re-learn how to have sea-legs - loose knees and hip joints, just roll with the bumps. It becomes really interesting when we want something from the fridge - having an open bottle of milk in there complicates matters somewhat. I open it just a crack, peer through the narrow opening to see what is leaning in the wrong direction. If stuff is leaning too much, we pick something else to nibble on right then. I found a small bungie cord and now tie the milk and orange juice in there! The rest can fall - even broken eggs are better than a bottle of milk on the floor! Most times we catch most stuff and on bad bumpy days we have learned to open the cupboards with our feet WAY back from where all the contents will land.

Going to the bathroom to day was, um, interesting. The road was really bad most of today - really bad. Sitting on the 'loo' was a reall trick - I could have done with a few bungie cords to tie me on there! There is nothing quite like sitting in that tiny little room, hearing everything in all the cupboards going nuts, sounding like bedlam, bouncing around like a rubber ball, trying not to bounce right off the "throne". The wheels sounded like they were going to part company with us and the bakkie yanked firmly at its tow bar while Frank muttered as each wheel hit all the potholes in the road - there are a total of 10 wheels on the ground or in a pothole which makes for some interesting muttering. One particular spot on the road had us literally airborne - and that was traveling at 40mph! That one left us speechless for a while as we quietly checked that everything was still functioning and turning right.

We catch glimpses of stunning lakes and sceneries before heading downhill again and having the trees swallow the view. I have, once again, photographed almost every piece of water since home..... Frank is coming close to getting cheeky, yelling 'water, Annie, water!" at the sight of any of the wet stuff! But it gets my camera arm working every time.

All along the Alcan there are numerous places where people write their names with stones on the small banks along the side of the road. Quite a few of the stones have been spray painted different colors, making it easy to read. You can see that some have been there for a long time and there are many hearts and " I luv you"'s along the way. Stories, so many stories. We went over the Teslin River Bridge yesterday, Thursday - this is the longest span on the Alcan highway, is a metal bridge and delivers simply beautiful views of the river. It would have been lovely to get out and walk around, but it was cold! It was interesting to hear how each different type of vehicle makes a different noise crossing that bridge.

There were NO animals at all along the way, apart from "Mo Crow" - he is the ever present black crow or raven that we have been seeing all along the way. You think the animals only come out in high tourist season?

Then Whitehorse 'arrived' way sooner than we had expected........ We drove the downtown road (by mistake!), took photos and breezed right on through. Neither of us was ready to stop yet and they seemed to have enough visitors anyway. I had not used the GPS since leaving Penny, so after going through Whitehorse I took it out again, plugged it up and updated our route. Will probably need it going into Fairbanks anyway.

I wanted to get to Kluane Lake. I remembered it as being a tremdously quiet and lovely place and wanted to spend some time walking along the shores again. Not! Construction happened - ALL along the shore where one could walk....... it was very sad but we had no option but to follow the pilot car through and past where we were last time. Not long after that construction patch we started looking for a place to call it quits for the night and found a place that was as near to perfect as one could wish for. We once again made use of one of the many pull offs along the way and got really close to the edge in order to get as level as possible. Both of us were quite comfortable not putting out the slideout - that would have almost had us leaning over the water! The lake curved with the road, so when we looked out of the front, back or one side window, all we saw was water! We turned ourselves around on the bed and when we looked past our feet, it felt as if we were in the middle of the lake! It was simply glorious with a spectacular view in every window. The water swished and it felt like being in a boat. The wind blew, gently rocking the Skilpads. Our eyes popped open every 30 minutes or so, scanning the skies for the lights. Nothing at all except a brilliant moon, slowly marching across the sky and its reflection in the water. That Kluane lake is so beautiful - the color of the water is an ice blue that changes into a deeper blue and sometimes a greenish color near the edges, azure? The camera clicked away, almost automatically.

We both slept late this morning, again, which is definately something new for Frank - but good too. I know that with night sky scanning, neither of us sleep as soundly as we did before, but we really dont want to miss the aurora's! We have been told again and again that its way too early to see them, but we have already seen them so know that it could happen again. Unfortunately we have had cloudy skies for the past few days and nights, but are hoping that its clearer in Fairbanks.

I got a call from Debbie, my Seattle friend who's 19 year old daughter also has CML, who is on her way to Fairbanks this weekend. We had originally planned to meet in Seattle, but will meet up in Fairbanks instead. Anyway, she had spoken to someone in Anchorage who will be getting in touch with us and hopefully we can get something going on the fundraiser side in Anchorage. We will only be in Fairbanks for a week at most. We are waiting for another friend, Wendy, who is flying in from Atlanta to join us for 10 days or so. After that we will be going down to Anchorage, hopefully on a day cruise to the glaciers and maybe even Homer if we have time - thats the plan so far. If we have to time for Homer, I will call you Betsy! We have to be in Anchorage again around the 27th and then in Oregon on the 7th September for Steven's appointment with Dr Druker. Time seems to be simply flying past!

Today while driving, I spotted a bald eagle in the trees! I was not able to catch it with the camera, other than a white blurry spot where its head was - but it was a good healthy size. And then we came up on the Canadian exit border post but did not need to stop. A while later we stopped at the USA border inspection post, I got my passport stamped again and we were in Alaska. I know that I dont need the passport stamped and the guys there look at me rather strangely when I ask that they do - but hey - I like to have it on record that I left and came back again! We stopped at the official "Welcome to Alaska" boards and International Boundary. We have all the required and the fun photos of us both at the Alaska Board, the International Boundary and the Yukon Board. We also have numerous photos of the Skilpads and everyone riding with us at the border. It was a good feeling to be back there again and we know just how fortunate we are.

And it rained, the camera took a break as the lighting from inside the RV is not too good to take photos and the scenery was much like we had seen all day already except with no sunrays lighting the trees or lakes. There are many many lakes around here and the traffic was definately heavier than over the last two days. We drove for a while longer until we came across the Tenana River bridge when we both recognised the spot we had stayed on our first night in Alaska in 2003. We took the tiny, narrow little road down to below the bridge and are now happily parked here for the night. The river rushes, unstoppable, right past our front door carrying a tremendous amount of water with it. It looks milky brown and makes a wonderful tinkly sound and now has a few less interesting stones along its banks - they are safely inside with us :-) Its still raining lightly which has put Frank to sleep very quickly - its a very soothing noise on the roof - not Frank sleeping -The rain!. We have gone through another time zone and are now 4 hours behind Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. This has really messed with our body clocks and will take a few more days to get used to it. The "forever light" issue does not help much either!

It was such a joy getting a cell phone signal today - I immediately called everyone I could get hold of but had to stand dead still all the time as the signal was terribly weak - too weak to get me connected to the internet, sadly. If I breathed too hard while talking, we got cut off, but I did manage to talk wtih two of the U3 group - Steven and Lisa -as well as mom, Kate and Wendy before the signal died completely. A good day!

Tomorrow, Saturday, we head for Fairbanks. We are hoping that it is a bit warmer there as we both need a bicycle ride and a long walk or three.

With love to you all

Especially U3

Annie and Frank

XXXXXXXXxxxxxx

8th August. Sign Post Forest - Watson Lake - Yukon

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 03:19:00 +0000

We both woke up exhausted this morning.......we had programmed ourselves to wake up every few minutes to check for the northern lights, even though it was overcast and drizzeling rain. No auroras. But it was beautifully quiet in the pull off and we had a magnificant view of a big wide river and beautiful mountains. There was a little wooden 'outhouse' stuck between the trees where no one had seen it for a while. The spiders took up residence there in a serious way and we stayed well clear of it - made for a cute picture though. We wondered how come so many mosquitoes got inside last night - and then this morning discovered that a roll of toilet paper had got caught in the pull out, leaving a pretty good "mozzie gap" - no wonder it got cool too.... ah well, so one learns. I uploaded a good few pictures tonight. They are now hosted by yahoo - but can easily be seen from the roadrunnersusa website on the tab - "photos from the road" under different albums. We trundled slowly up the Alcan today into Watson Lake - home of the Sign Post Forest and much more. It has grown SO much since we were last here and there were a good few people wandering around trying to find their signs from previous visits. I wrote all the names that are on the sides of the motor home on the RoadrunnersUSA sign that Billy T and Tom had made for us to hang here, so you are all now in the Sign Post Forest too! If any of you ever get here - the signs are up near the big parking lot towards the little huts - away from the main road. You will see what I mean when you get here - good luck in finding them! We also wrote Billy T, Tom, Pat and Savannah's name on their sign and the PenniesforCancer flag had Penny's family and us all sign it........ so we really do have a good presence in this particular forest. We hung them high enough so none of you will get covered with snow either! Kind, hey? :-) There are photos on the site of this too. We did walk around the Forest a little bit - but each time it started to rain. Tomorrow will hopefully be good and clear and we can take yet more photos....... I am sure there is a road sign, tag, city limits sign, etc. from every place here - its stupendous and will take hours to look through them all... but it is truely fascinating and many folk wander around with their mouths hanging open in wonder. While waiting for the rain to pass, we went to the Northern Lights Centre and watched a fascinating show on the universe and Aurora Borealis - the screen is a humongous rounded roof screen and the chairs all have one almost lying flat down. It was totally wonderful. I have to say, though, that no camera really does not the northern lights any justice at all........the real thing is way better than any of the photos we have seen here so far - and definately way better than mine that were not even taken with a tripod! Next time..........please may there be a next time! We bought some Chinese food for supper and are now taking it easy (as if we had been working hard before!). It stays light here till around 11.30pm and gets light at some unfair hour of the morning. I wake up and its light and have no idea how early it is. If I smell coffee, then its around 7am. If all is quiet I can go back to sleep without any problem. When we arrived at the campground this morning there was this crazy little tent on a trailer sitting outside and a British lady in the store. She was just about to leave, but I had to ask her what she was up to. Her website is Rosiearoundtheworld.co.uk. She is going around the world on foot and pulls this tent contraption that is totally cute! She must have had amazing adventures so far and I cannot wait to get to read about it! Ok - I am off to bed for the night - maybe the skies will clear and we will have another light show - always hopeful. Our cell phones are dead as doornails and it will be a good few days before they pick up signal again. We are due to leave here on Thursday morning again, heading for Whitehorse further up in the Yukon. It really is stunning scenery here and we both feel extremely fortunate to be doing a journey of this nature again. We had more people ask us about 'the rental unit' but one guy came up to us while Frank was nailing the signs in at the Sign Post Forest and asked us what the story was. He was very sweet and interested. Steven, please tell Lisa that I am thinking of her and will call her as soon as we get a signal, and if Joleen calls, tell her the same. You doing ok? I miss you guys and Frank wants to know how Alyeska (Alley) is doing? It will be a day or three, but I will call you when we can........ My need for a "kid fix" is getting strong........ Love and Light to you all Especially U3 Annie & Frank XXXXXXXxxxx www.RoadrunnersUSA.com www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com www.PenniesforCancer.com

7th August. THOSE LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 18:55:00 +0000

And now I will pick up from the last email where we went to sleep, exhausted and puffy eyed......

For some reason, I woke up at just before midnight on Sunday night and looked out of the window to see if perhaps there were any aroura's around - and there WERE!!! At first it did not look like it as having the wrap on the windows of the rv makes it difficult to see through in low light. but then with much squinting it looked like there were some white lights where they should not have been - or rather exactly where they should have been! Thank goodness I had crawled into bed fully clothed, because I ran outside shouting to Frank to come and look! I only had a pair of shorts and a t-shirt on and it must have been pretty near freezing outside......... but I did not feel it - at first.

Those lights were absolutely awesome....... they flickered, grew, receded, undulated like a magic ribbon all across the sky and made us swivel our heads as if watching a tennis game. Every few minutes I ran inside and grabbed a sock, a shoe and finally a jacket - always keeping an eye peering outside. There is no way to describe those lights, they reminded me a bit of the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas's music fountains turned upside down with colors added. At times it would all fade and we breathed a bit - Frank even heated up some coffee. We woke up the other cars of people in the pull-off but they all just went back to sleep. Just when I thought it was over, the lights would start up again - it was like curtains of light playing around in the sky. There was mostly white and green, but a little bit of red flickered in every now and again, especially at the ends of the 'spikes'. At times it was as if the lights wer e made up of separate uprights of colors that would flicker in and out to a tune we could not hear - the green made really big curvy circles in the sky and then it looked like different colors all originating from one spot, reaching down in a huge wonderous display of nature at her best.

The feeling of standing in the middle of nowhere in almost pitch darkness, listening to the gentle 'shuuuush' and seeing those lights, was absolutely indescribable. Totally awesome. I thought of you all - of all the things we are going through and wanted to send a shard of light to each and every one of you. It was a very full moment, shared by so many in my heart.

And my camera would not work! I pressed that poor button till the battery went dead. I knew it was something simple, but forgot that just pressing the button would not solve the problem - I had to stop and think. Finally when there was a break in the lights, it twigged. The automatic focus was on and ...........well, I switched the button across to manual and took a good few photos while holding my breath for the 15 seconds each shot took. Those photos came out surprisingly well, but by the time I was prepared to stop for a minute and find the tripod, the lights had almost all gone. Three shots with the tripod later, with freezing hands, feet and nose, I climbed back into bed with my eyes wide open as Frank frantically tried to warm my feet before I stuck them up against his back!

It was kinda spooky standing outside by myself taking the photographs, yes - Frank was back inside and warming up by now. The thoughts of bears and moose and other big things comes to mind and I wondered whether I would run and leave the camera out there if something spooked me. Thats when I decided to stop and get me and the camera safely inside. Of course there was no sign of anything other than a very overactive mind.

Those lights were totally "rad awesome". I have so wanted to share this with everyone - but no cell signal and no internet puts that on the back burner. Wendy, you would have got the 3am call "just to share" if we had had a signal!

This morning I had a crick in my neck from having my head turned to see out of the window - just in case. Frank still had a case of the giggles at me rushing outside time and time again for "just another quick shot" in pitch dark and freezing temps with way too few warm clothes on. I think he almost got more enjoyment out of watching me act like a mad person than he did out of the lights - besides the 'mad person' hung around a lot longer than the lights did. I was woken up at 8.30am with the delicious smell of scrambled eggs and hot coffee..... :-) after which we again checked that everything was fine with the bakkie and headed out. The views were again stupendous with a fresh feel and a glint to everything - made for some really good shots. The bakkie tugs gently at her tow bar which reminds us that all is well with her. She is covered in dust and desperately needing a shower too! Skilpad has a not-so-fine coat of dust on her, but I keep taking my hand and rubbing all the names clean - my hand is coming away dirtier and dirtier each day! Today Frank picked some pink flowers and stuck them to the side of the rv on some or other little catch right under some of the names, next to Marisa B - I guess it's her day for pretty pink flowers!

We spent all of today driving through the Great Northern Rockies, bear country - with not a bear in sight. There were many more bison and young moose, but no bear. We saw two humongous moose that had been killed by vehicles and one tow truck with a pickup and camper that had obviously hit something. So sad on both counts. Driving past Muncho Lake was beautiful. The water is crisp and clear with logs pushed up against the shoreline, the road meandering gently around it - almost at the same level as the water at times. The mountains rising up on each side gave all this a rather surreal feel to it and there was no other traffic for miles and miles - totally and wonderfully peaceful. The road was so smooth and easy that nothing jumped around in the house either. We turned the cd off, opened the windows and just enjoyed. At one of the pull offs we walked down to the river with a water bottle to see wha t the water would taste like - and we wish we had gallon jugs to fill! That water was sooooo cool and lovely. Frank nearly slipped and fell right into the river. The water is a milky ice blue color that fits in perfectly with the surrounding greens and colors of the flowers everywhere. I now have a gazillion photos of rivers of this amazing color water.

We stopped on top of Steamboat Mountain to look at the scenery - another stunning view. There, many people had written their names and messages on a barrier - so I added PenniesforCancer.com and RoadrunnersUSA.com with greetings to all and a HI to Penny!

We are again parked in a pull off somewhere on the Alcan Hwy, south of Watson Lake and north of Fireside and Coal River. I know you will look us up mom! :-) We use the generator to make the coffee and use the microwave, but have a gas stove. I have been charging batteries as we drive during the day and the laptop is now powered with an adaptor into a cigarette lighter plug-in. We have plenty propane gas for heat at night and the fridge works very well with that too. So we are pretty much sorted out - apart from no cell signal or internet! We have three signs to put up in the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake tomorrow (go look that up online - its awesome!) and there is a place all about the northern lights there too, that we want to look at - last time it was closed.

I am going to head off to bed for a few hours sleep and hopefully we will be fortunate enough to see the "magic lights" again tonight.... Frank is already sleeping in anticipation! The camera is ready on the table and the tripod easy to grab as are the jackets and warm socks... now I bet we will both sleep through it all!

I know these emails will only reach you days after all this has happened, but this is the way it is here. We will probably be out of contact for a few days again after Whitehorse (should be there by Wed/Thurs) until we get inside Alaska where the chance of a signal is much better. I will answer all your emails as soon as I can, but expect a good few days before I can get to them.

This trip is wonderful in so many ways already on a personal level. On the fundraiser side, its not done much at all - so far. We have had a good few people asking us how much "these rental units" go for per day - and one even said that it looked like a moving truck...........most people just ignore it totally and actually turn their heads away so as not to have to even acknowledge us. Be that as it will. Time will tell, we will do what we can do and will enjoy the trip as much as possible every mile of the way.

Love and Light
Especially U3
Annie & Frank
XXXXXxxxxx

6th August. Heavy Hearts and Open Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 18:54:00 +0000

I have been wondering for days how to put into words what it meant to meet and spend some time with Penny. I cannot. She knows and I know. She is one really strong and wonderful lady and I have really been blessed to spend time with her. Penny, It was SO difficult to leave on Saturday evening and then Sunday morning - I wanted to drive to your house for one last wave.....It was a very quiet and tearful drive for the first day after we left you. You are riding with us, every mile of the way, my friend! You and Michael are really wonderful people........ many thanks for a really good few days, I will always treasure them..and you.

So by the time the Sunday afternoon rolled around, I was totally exhausted. I could hardly keep my eyes open and just wanted the day to end. Leaving Penny had been very difficult and I heard that another CML'er had lost the battle...very sad. We tried to cheer up by eating McVites Digestive biscuits with chocolate covering - they were good. Then we tried some other candies, some chips and some biltong. I REALLY needed to lie down after all of that! There are many 'turn-outs' along the road here - these are places that are mostly wonderfully level and normally have the most wonderful views around, or are at least well off the road. We pulled off into many of these with the camera ready and clicking. One lady passed us on the road and when she was faced with the humongous rv coming towards her, or us next to her - she opted to try and push us off the road.. we obliged and kissed the gravel unt il she had passed, very thankful that that stretch of road had a little bit extra on the side. Its never quiet in the rv - there is a lot of noise that happens each bump in the road - and there are many of them! The cutlery jumps around the cups and mugs and plates joustle together and anything else that can move, does - with as much noise as possible. When we stop for the day - we both tend to just sit for a minute and savor the silence. And these are not even bad roads yet! Yesterday evening I let Frank deal with opening the fridge and cupboards first.... quite a time he had too with everything jumping out at him. Slowly we are managing to get things settled, but there is always a renegade can of peas or something.

We did not stop at Dawson Creek this time again - saw the official start of the Alcan Highway and took photos as we passed by - we stopped and took those photos last time we came up this way. There are the most glorious hills around. We head up these hills with the motor screaming at full tilt at times only to start downhill way too soon. I get the 'heebie geebies' going downhill fast. This is when the floor carpet on the passenger side of the rv gets worn thinner where the spare brake pedal should be! Now I have learned to look at the view and not try to hold my breath for the whole downhill stretch. So far, this way works much better.

Driving down the Alcan Highway is really really pretty. The flowers on the side of the road are pink, red, white, blue, yellow and then a good few whispy dandelions sprinkled in - the colors change with the light and shadows and its an everchanging scene with towering mountains on all sides and the different shades of green are just glorious! Sometimes the sun seems to pick out a particular spot and highlight it with an extra strong ray of light - I cannot resist trying to capture these sunspots on camera. We saw a bear running across the road waaaaay in front of us - does that count? We have seen many young moose (meese?) and goat and bison. Those bison stink, are ugly and seem to carry a serious attitude with them! We treat them with plenty caution and give them all the space they need, gently nudging through the herd if they stay too long on the roads.

On Sunday night we stopped in a pull-off just south of Fort Nelson for the night - it was well off the road and already had another motorhome in it but was plenty big enough for a good few of us. I was exhausted and headed straight for the bed, kicking off my socks as I went and was asleep before my head hit the pillow, not hearing a thing, until midnight.

We had no cell phone signal from early on Sunday, so there has been no way to send emails or phone anyone. I had forgotten about the 'black holes' up here where a cell signal is not something that is easily come by. I believe that we should be getting one again in Whitehorse and you will get a few 'catch-up' emails from there.

I am going to end this email and start a different one - much more to tell - and if I dont split them - they become waaaaay too long!

A really sincere Thank You to Penny and Michael
and love to you all
Annie and Frank
XXxxxxxxxxx

Meeting Penny!

noreply@blogger.com (Annie - Steven's mom) — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 05:08:00 +0000

We came off the Icefield parkway after a very cool night below the Crowsfoot Glacier. It was awesomely beautiful up there......... and quiet, once the traffic died down. And then we headed towards Edmonton, Alberta and Penny. I was really keen to get there and we tootled right on in, only stopping once for lunch. After setting up in a campground just two blocks from where Penny lived, we cleaned up a bit and headed her way. It was absolutely great to meet her! She looks just like her pictures - those eyes! It was so easy to visit with her and Michael that we stayed long past all our bedtimes that first night! What a lady this is....... she is so gentle, speaks with a quiet voice and a glint in her eye. They moved into their new house the day we arrived and had had a full day behind them already. I am having some difficulty putting all this into words.... somehow the meaning of meeting Penny is not coming out properly. I have started to try and describe what it means to be able to sit and chat with her, to meet this lady that is such an inspiration to me........so many times - and its not flowing the way I am feeling it. She is so strong and determined and open when talking about her battle with cancer, she smiles a lot, laughs with us and Michael and I know that most of the time I talk too fast - we all have accents to each other! That glint in her eye and her sense of humor is beautiful.

We went out to a Ukranian dinner together which was something totally new for Frank and I - and very good too! Michael and Penny then took us on a tour around Edmonton, over the river and through the center of town. What struck us the most was how clean this city is. There was so little garbage lying around and everything was so neat. The river is beautiful - but then I have a thing for water and rivers. Bridges ran back and forth over it and fast-transport trains too - there is even a waterfall that cascades off the one bridge but it only gets turned on during special occasions. The fading sunlight caught the buildings of downtown and lit up those that were tall and glass faced, creating some awesome colors and effects. Really a lovely city.

Today we went to the West Edmonton Mall. It was awesomly humongous! It boggled our minds how much 'stuff' there is. Everything you could think of and then 10 times more than that. There were flamingoes and a petting zoo - small one, but there. An enormous boat took the centerstage and one could even go for a submarine ride around this boat which 'floats' in the center of the mall. A swimming area with waves and all was on one end, filled with people and looking almost like a beach! There was a whole amuzement park on the other side - also filled with kids with big eyes... We walked for what seemed like hours and I know we did not cover it all, but what we saw was truely mind blowing.

We also moved campsites this morning - to a much better one in the same park. We have decided to stay here till Sunday morning. On Saturday we get to meet most of Penny's family - and then we will head up north again early Sunday morning. It's going to be tremendously difficult to leave here, they are such lovely people and so easy to be around. Maybe after we have left and my mind has settled again, will I be able to write more about this time. Right now it's as if I want to keep it close to me.

Both Frank and I are sleeping later in the mornings - and this long stop is probably just what we need in more ways than we know. Frank is feeling better now and my sliced finger is starting to heal up again. We have put off doing the laundry but tomorrow simply has to be the day! I managed to get some pictures up on the roadrunnersusa site and have many more I want to add, but the flaky connection simply won't allow that - for now.

More later....

Love and Light
Annie & Frank
U3 are close in my heart...
XXxxxxx

www.RoadrunnersUSA.com
www.livingwithcml.blogspot.com
www.PenniesforCancer.com