We Are Fortunate……..

OK, I am going to write something here that is not normal for me.

About two hours ago we pulled into this long, wide roadside rest area. No other people are around and it is very peaceful. Not a breathtaking view like so many of the places we have seen in Alaska, but quite pretty, with rolling, green hills all around. We can hear the Gulkana across the road, as it rushes southbound. There is only an occasional vehicle passing by on the Richardson Highway, which we are traveling northbound. We are about 3 miles north of Paxson where a mostly gravel road called the Denali Highway takes you 134 miles to the Parks Highway near Denali National Park. We are in a relatively remote area. At the far end of the parking lot is a restroom and a dumpster which is surrounded by a cage to keep the animals out. That is the setting. Relatively remote compared to many places we, and most other visitors to Alaska, spend their time.

When we stopped we walked Jaxon, who, in turn, walked us. We had traveled 197 miles, about our twice our normal travel day, from Valdez and it’s awesome setting on Prince William Sound. The drive is probably the most stunningly beautiful drive we have experienced in Alaska. But I am diverted once again…  We came back and Dee laid down on the sofa to read a book on her Kindle. She claims she did not fall asleep. I gathered up four books I wanted to look at, sat down in the recliner, pulled Jaxon up in my lap and immediately did fall asleep.

When I woke up it was about 5:30, well past the start of Happy Hour. So I had to rush to fix Dee her normal glass of white zinfandel and my bloody mary. I plugged the iPod into the stereo and we listened to the relaxing sounds of Nakai and his native American flute. I probably should “come out of the closet” here.. I bought a handmade native American flute from a local craftsman who was showing his work at the Anchorage Museum. I am still struggling with it, and probably will not book any concerts in the near future. But I struggled for a long time learning Mary Had a Little Lamb on the harmonica years ago. Don’t get your expectations up but I will learn it. But once again I digress…

So here we are in our motor home parked in a roadside rest, where we will spend the night before moving on. We are surrounded by almost all the comforts of a house anchored in one spot in one location. But we can choose to stay or go. We can choose to go in any direction we desire. We can choose to fix breakfast in the motor home or drive up the road a bit to some unknown diner or roadhouse that looks like it might make a good breakfast. We can get up at 6am or 10am. Tonight we can read or watch a movie or listen to music or take another nap . Many, many times we don’t know where we will go tomorrow and I think that is when we are the happiest. We will see what the day brings and how we are feeling. Schedules and appointments are to be avoided if at all possible.

Right now it is 7:46pm with a bright sun shining in the window. It will be pretty bright for another 3 hours. We will probably go for another walk soon. I had celery and peanut butter and a diet root beer for supper. We were out of biscuits and gravy Dee had celery and cheese. That’s because we had fish and chips and wonderful wild blueberry pie, heated and with ice cream, back down the road at the Sourdough Roadhouse.

All this rambling brings me back to the main idea I wanted to share in this post. We are extremely lucky to be living the lives that we live. We have just completed ten years of living and traveling in an RV. We don’t see an end in sight, but of course it must come some day. This life is not for everyone. As a matter of fact very few people would really want to live this way. Many say they would love to do it but don’t for one reason or another. These reasons are not wrong. They are what makes us all different. It works for us and we are very fortunate that we can do it and that both of us want to live this life. We are also fortunate that we are able to live this life. From both a health and a financial perspective it works for us. It can actually be less expensive to be a full time RVer than it is to live in a house. It all depends on how you approach it, but that is not the point. The point is to do what works for you. Try different things. Learn new things. Start new hobbies, or expand old ones that you enjoy. Travel to new places, near home or far away. Meet new people. I guess I could go on forever with this stuff, which is not my normal way or writing. Just enjoy and have fun!

This is a little off course but the thought just came to me. It is sometimes said that the planning for and anticipation of visiting a new place can be better than the actual arrival. I guess that is analogous to “Life is a journey, not a destination”.

We do know where we will go tomorrow! Unless we change our minds in the morning We are going the Clearwater State Park near Delta Junction, Alaska. On Thursday we took a fantastic 9+ hour cruise out of Valdez. We saw all kinds of sea life and we saw a glacier calving. But I will save the details for another post. We were fortunate to sit with a very friendly couple from New Hampshire who have a cabin near Delta Junction, Gary and Marlene. They are only up here for two weeks this year. Gary and I spent a lot of time talking about fishing. He is an avid fly fisherman. I lamented that the type of fishing in Alaska does not really appeal to me. Boat fishing or “combat fishing” doesn’t work for us. We prefer a smaller, non crowded stream or river with smaller fish where we can fly fish. Often the first question our friends ask is “have you caught any fish?”. I was in a quandary on returning from Alaska, without wetting a line. Gary said I need to try Arctic Grayling fishing. You catch grayling in clear water, in streams or lakes, with a fly rod and dry fly. A big grayling might reach 20 inches. Before we split up I had a map of how to get to a good fishing hole, who to ask permission from and how to fish it. I can’t wait. This is part of the anticipation thing I diverted to earlier. So I guess it is all connected.

It’s time to take Jaxon for another walk, so I will close. We don’t have internet or cell service here so I will have to wait to send this out.

I hope some of these thoughts were of interest or made you think about how fortunate you are also. Sometimes we need to be reminded about that. We send our love from Alaska….

Gotta keep the bears out of the dumpster someway…..

In anticipation of……..the arctic grayling

As the saying goes on many of Dee’s t-shirts….

“LIFE IS GOOD!”