Initial post -- maiden flight -- trip to Alaska

Cliff and I are preparing for a very long road trip and I hope to chronicle our adventures as we progress. On Friday, May 14, we are flying to Minniapolis/St. Paul and taking a motor coach with others to the Winnebago plant in Iowa. We will then be assigned a motorhome (RV) that we will be living in for however long it takes us to get to Anchorage, Alaska. There is a company there that rents RVs to tourists and this is the method they use to acquire their new fleet for the coming year. Cliff was on their mailing list because he and his hunting buddy from Arizona rented on an RV in 2004 and spent three weeks touring Alaska. This year, Cliff decided to take them on their offer of reduced rent and free miles to deliver the new RV to Anchorage. We plan to tour Alaska for an additional seven days. What the heck, we'll be there, why not?

Right now we are in the packing stage and making the last of the lists (Cliff has made several lists and this is the first one I've really been involved in), and this one is designed to allow me to stay asleep at night instead of staring at the ceiling in an anxious fret. My obsessive personality is finally kicking in. EEEECK.

We (Cliff) shipped a BIG box to Souix Falls, SD, yesterday with things that we deemed essential but too bulky or dangerous (or surely would be stollen from checked luggage). Included were things like the flyrod and reel, hachet for cutting wood and self defense, ice chest, heavy coats (yes, we still have them even though we don't need them in our Florida winters), and a whole bunch of other "stuff". George Carlin was right about "stuff". You have some here and you have some there, and then you split that up into other "stuff" which you transport to some other place.

So, this is the first of what I hope will be many informative blogs to keep everyone abreast of where we are and what we're doing.

Progress report tomorrow.