The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:
Some Fun Trips We Had After Moving to West Virginia
Dave and I and our Great Dane Karl went to Alaska in 1996; June 24 to August 13, 13,227 miles, with our Bronco and Airstream. Along the way, we stayed overnight in Canada’s beautiful Provincial Parks with picturesque names, and they were all excellent.
We enjoyed Calgary, the Rockies, Banff Natl. Park, Lake Louise, Jasper Natl. Park, Watson Lake (“signpost forest”), Yukon Territory, Lake LeBarge (it’s the setting for Robert Service’s Cremation of Sam McGee, one of my favorite poems), Dawson City, “Downtown Chicken” in Alaska, Anchorage, glaciers, Homer, Seward, Girdwood – including a flight from Girdwood over glaciers – Alaska Pipeline, Valdez, the wonderful town of Haines, where we spent the most time, and gained the most weight from delicious halibut dinners, Chilkat Lake, Chilkat Dancers at Haines, shopping for Alaskan gifts, Skagway by ferry, Carcross, Lake Bennett, Yukon River (these last three were places where Grandpa Daniel Blakeslee had been during the Gold Rush), Prince George, Lillooet, National Redwood Forest in State of Washington, Pacific Coast Scenic Hwy., Rt. 101, California Redwood Groves, and East, to get home.
It was a great, wide, wonderful trip, and it was also great and wonderful to go East again, and arrive safely home.
We returned to Alaska a couple times since then, but the first time was the best. I guess traveling is always like that.
In the summer of 1999, Dave and I and Karl, German Shepherd, went to Alaska, the second trip for Dave and I. I haven’t written about this “Karl,” because he didn’t live long, and all that I’ll say about him right here is that he was gorgeous. Never saw a head so handsome on a dog. After he died, we replaced him with another German Shepherd puppy in 2000, and gave the new pup the same name, Karl. I figured the name for the first Shepherd pup was never “used up.”
For this Alaska trip, we took our new camper which fits onto the back of our Dodge Diesel truck; it has all the comforts of home, it’s compact, with good appliances, a queen bed which you climb up into, a complete but small bathroom, more closets than we expected, etc. It’s cozy, it’s easier than pulling the Airstream, and it’s much nicer than motels. “Camping” used to mean roughing it in our tents; I’m glad it now means something else that’s a lot more luxurious.
To be continued…
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee (1931 – 2024) built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
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