My New Baby

This is my new Bernina 830! I picked it up last Thursday. Bob, of Bob's Bernina, had a retirement party on Saturday and then was going on a trip to Pennsylvania. So I picked it up before he left the store. His plans include working at the store a couple of days a week. I know a lot of people trust him to work on their machines. Mona is the new ower and has her sister, Rose, working at the store. They also are planning to enlarge the store with a classroom next door. It will be fun to have classes with plenty of room.

My friend in Amarillo just purchased a Bernina 630. She is falling in love with her new machine. We plan to do some power sewing soon.

I am sorry to have been off-line so long, but my modem was not working when I got home. So a phone call to the fix-it place was supposed to have one in my hands in 3 to 5 days. It took three more phone calls and 9 days to finally get on-line. Thanks for your patience because my ran out for a while.

Almost Home

Tonight we are at Gunsmoke Campground in Dodge City. We have spent the last seven days at River's End Campground at Taylor Reservoir. It is north of Gunnison, Colorado. Our boys and families were there with their atv's. So we stopped to have a little fun with them before heading home today. They will be home later in the week.

No updates because there was no wifi connection. I did get an email message or two sent from one of the daugher-in-laws Iphones. I think I will have to have one of those before long.

Rex and Elaine have gotten their trailer fixed and are on the road again. We did get a call from them today and they are in Washington state. They are going to attend a wedding there in a week or two. So happy to hear from them.

More news about the trip later in the week. Thanks for making the journey with us.

Still in Montana

Saturday, July 17
We stayed at Dick’s RV in Great Falls, Montana last night. The park is on the river and very nice. With asphalt pads. We did some power buying at WalMart as we were out of fruit and vegetables. We also purchased a soft long-handled brush and some automotive soap. When we got back to the park, we washed the truck and fifth wheel. It really looks nice now that the Alaska mud is gone.
Today we took Highway 89 to Interstate 90. The highway was a scenic route and that was really true. It ran through a narrow valley with a river. There were big bluffs, lots of pines, and clear streams. The views were awesome. We stopped at a turnout and the guys saw one of our tires was separating, so it was time to use the big tools for a job quickly done. Then 50 miles on down the highway, the PressurePro indicated that tire had low pressure, so we stopped and pumped it up. We stopped at a co-op in the next small town and they put in a new valve stem in less than half an hour. It was an interesting stop in a town with a mercantile and two cafes.
Then it was back to big rolling hills beside the Yellowstone River and gigantic wheat fields that are almost ready to harvest. Tonight we are parked at the 7th Ranch RV. We stayed at this park when we were northbound.

The North Country for my Sewing Friends

This is a picture of the back of an aspen leaf. I noticed that the aspen trees had the color of a Russian olive and I just had not remembered that before. So one evening at a campground I looked closely at the leaves. Most of the trees have this pattern. There is a very small moth that looks like a small piece of cottonwood fuzz that blows through the air. Well, the moth lays it eggs on the leaves and then the larva make this pattern as it eats part of the leaf. I decided that it looks just like the stippling that would be on a quilt. All the leaves are different and have interesting patterns.

Monday and Tuesday

7-12 & 7-13
We are working on getting back to the United States. The Yukon Territories and British Columbia seem to be extremely big, especially at 45 mph. Yesterday the biggest news of the day was that Elaine and Rex have plans to solve their problem. The second biggest event was that we saw a brown bear walking along the ditch and I got a picture.

Today is Happy Birthday to me Day! We headed down Highway 37, or the Cassiar Highway. The first few miles were kind of rough and then there was lots of road construction. So it was slow going for about 5 hours. We did stop at the Jade Shop along the way and found out that 90% of the world’s jade is mined from an old asbestos mine in the Cassiar Mountains. After getting to Dease Lake the road became smooth and it was great driving. It was a 300 mile day. Our animal sightings were a small herd of horses in the road and a black bear hurrying up the hillside. I don’t know where all the moose are hiding. The Cassiar Mountains are a new awesome experience at each new turn in the road. There were lots of lakes and they were beautiful blues, but not quite as pretty as Dease Lake.

Venice was so kind to fix me a birthday dinner complete with a birthday cake and candles. She hurried a little with things and the wax on the part of the candles stuck in the cake melted because the cake was still hot. It really didn't matter, it was great cake.

I couldn't get any pictures to upload. Maybe next time.

Saturday and Sunday

7-10 & 7-11
These two days have not been the best ones on the trip. Saturday morning in Valdez, one of the sensors on the trailer tires said we had a low tire. So the day started with changing a tire in the rain. We drove in rain about half the day and when we finally arrived in Tok, it was sunny and mild. We had supper together on the picnic table. Venice had a wonderful angel food care and berry topping dessert--yum!
Sunday dawned rainy and stayed that way for most of the day. From Tok we headed down Highway #1 to Haines Junction. The road was awful. Lot of patches and rough spots. It was impossible to go very fast--not over 45mph tops. After clearing Canadian customs, Rex and Elaine said they had serious problems. They had broken welds on the hitch. They found a RV park just .5 miles down the road and checked in. So after much discussion, unanswered phone calls to their roadside assistance, Excel, and their insurance-- and at their insistence, we left them there to find a fix for their problem. It could take several days or a couple of weeks. So we headed for Haines Junction. The road we were on got even worse than in the morning. So it was slower going for 200 miles. Tonight we are staying at Kluane RV Park in Haines Junction. Nothing special but it has water and electricity. I did not see the elusive Sunday moose…We really miss Rex and Elaine!

Prince William Sound

On Friday, Elaine, Jim, and I got on the Lu Lu Belle about 1PM for a cruise around Prince William Sound. The rest of our crew had gotten up early for a fishing excursion for halibut. We arrived early and decided to sit on the upper deck with Captain Fred. The captain did an excellent job of telling us the history of the Valdez area, the real deal on the Exon Valdez, about the Aleyeska pipeling, the 1984 earthquake, and the natural history of the sound. We left the dock area by going by the fish cannery. The fishermen of the Sound transfer their catch to a bigger boat which brings it into the cannery and it is sucked up by large flexible hoses. We next saw sea otters who were just resting on the water. He put the tip of the boat into a crevice in the rocks to see the nesting area of puffins--one of the items on my Alaska list. We also saw puffins floating in the water. Then it was the seal lions sunning themselves on the rocks. They are not really like in the Sound because they eat so many salmon, but they were put on the endangered species list to protect them!!?? We saw whales--lots and lots of whales and some so very close to the boat. I have some great whale pictures--even one of a blow as they surfaced. Then it was on to look at the Columbia Glacier as it comes out of the Chugach Mountains. The captain took us right through many of the ice chunks. We had a great time and the weather was perfect.