Hello from Huber Heights, Ohio

We left ADK Trail Inn on September 23 after an enjoyable 7 + weeks there.  Our time there was a mixture of work and sightseeing.  We enjoyed the drive up Whiteface Mountain on an unusually clear day and enjoyed seeing Ausable Chasm.  I (Bob) saw some beautiful waterfalls on Adirondack Mountain Preserve lands and took many other hikes.  After we left the Inn we stayed 3 nights at Brennan Beach campground near Pulaski, NY, followed by 7 nights at Kenisee Lakes campground in NE Ohio.  In Ashtabula County, Ohio covered bridges are a big deal.  The longest and shortest covered bridges in America are there.  In Huber Heights we're having a great time on a mini-farm of Barb's nephew and we’ll attend a wedding.  On October 6 we'll drive to the RV MAPS Annual Convention in Carlinville, Illinois (for 6 days). 

On October 14 we’ll start moving into our new duplex in Maranatha Village, Springfield, Missouri.  This will be a big change from living for 5 months in our small trailer.  The Ozarks are an interesting part of the country and we’ll want to spend time seeing this landscape which is new for us.    

Ausable Chasm, New York

 

Beaver Meadow Falls near Lower Ausable Lake.

Lake Placid from Whiteface Mountain.

Rainbow Falls near Lower Ausable Lake.

 

Longest covered bridge in America, 613 feet long, dedicated in 2008. 

 

Shortest Covered Bridge in America, 18 feet long, dedicated in 2011. 

 

 

Hello from ADK Trail Inn, Upper Jay, New York.

After we returned home to Camp Hill on April 13, 2013, from our trip to Texas, we worked on getting ready to move our stuff to Springfield, MO.  After a week we loaded a 26 foot Penske moving truck, with our car on a trailer, and drove 1000 miles to Springfield, MO where we unloaded into self storage units.  After unloading in Springfield, we parked our car at a friends house, near Mountain Home, Arkansas, whom we met in Soldotna, Alaska.  Then we drove back to Camp Hill, PA with a rental car.

When we returned to Camp Hill there were many things to get ready for settlement on May 10.  After settlement, we paid a deposit and construction was started on our duplex at Maranatha Village.  Attached is a photo of our duplex at Maranatha Village, taken by the builder.  Construction should be completed by October 4.  After our home sold we spent a few weeks in campgrounds in central PA before driving to Valley Forge Christian College (VFCC), Phoenixville, PA on June 2 for our second RV MAPS project. 

 
We worked 2 months at VFCC on a number of projects.  Barb did a lot of painting including painting 2 sets of emergency exit steps from the second floor of the VFCC library, after many rain delays.  Following is a photo of the library steps.  We worked with several RV Volunteers and a lead couple who have a home at Maranatha Village.  Other projects we worked on were refinishing the main library circulation desk and computer help desks; helping refinish a dining room table; helping move a wall in a dorm to make a small lounge area; and helping build 9 cabinets for lockable storage of students musical instruments in the college music room.  Following is a photo of some of the cabinets.  A retired carpenter did most of the work on the first 5 cabinets, taught me some carpentry skills, and I did almost all of the cutting and assembly work on 4 cabinets.  We camped in a college parking lot with full hook-ups. When there was a group on campus and the college dining hall prepared meals, we were invited for free meals.  The college was a nice place to walk and ride our bikes. We enjoyed time with other RV volunteers and college staff.  We found a chiropractor near VFCC who was a great help to Barb.

August 1 we arrived at the ADK Trail Inn, a bed and breakfast on Route 9N near Upper Jay, New York for about 3 weeks (+?).  Barb decided to help a friend run the Inn.  So we are camped in the back yard of a beautiful Inn next to the East Branch Ausable River.  Barb is happy helping with breakfast and room service.  And, I’m happy relaxing, enjoying the beautiful location, and exploring the Adirondack Mountains.  This morning I spent about an hour in an Adirondack chair, with Teddy (dog) on my lap, on a sandy bank of the beautiful Ausable River.  With the temperature in the mid-60’s, the gurgling river, a slight breeze, it’s a peaceful place to relax and watch nature, or read.  I was watching a hawk fly in circles, first clockwise, then counterclockwise, and move in a northerly direction over the white pine trees against a background of blue sky and puffy white clouds.  There’s also a hammock along the river bank to relax in.  I’ll do a little handyman work for a change.  There are trail guides in the bed and breakfast lounge area to help plan adventures.  Yesterday, I hiked Cascade Mountain (elevation 4098 feet) with beautiful blue sky, ideal temperature and a beautiful view of the Adirondack Mountains.    

               Our Duplex on the west side of the RV Parking area at Maranatha Village.

                 Emergency exit steps from VFCC Library painted by Barb. 

                                Instrument Storage Cabinets in VFCC Music Room.

                                   Our rig at ADK Trail Inn.

 

 

               View of Adirondack Mountains High Peaks from Cascade Mountain.

 

New adventures.

We returned home on November 2, 2012 after a 299 day, 23,530 mile drive to Florida and Alaska and many other places.  At home we worked on getting ready to move and sell our house.   When our house was ready to show and we needed a break from packing we put our house on the market on March 20.  Then we left home to drive to Taylor, Texas to work as US MAPS RV Volunteers on helping build a new First Assembly of God Church.  April 1, our first day working on the job we sold our house for market value.  We completed one week as volunteers hanging drywall for a firewall in the church attic, visited our granddaughter and family in Round Rock, Texas and headed back to PA.  Some other things we did on our drive to Texas were we took things to storage in Springfield, Missouri.  And we had a meeting at Maranatha Village, an Assembly of God Retirement Community in Springfield, MO to review plans for a new duplex unit we will have built as our future home.  This duplex is in a nice location at the back of the 100 acre development next to the RV parking area.  The foundation was built about 2 years ago, and although there are no independent living units available at Maranatha no one bought this unit.  After seeing Maranatha we visited friends we met in Alaska at their home in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  The buyers of our house had a home inspection done which found nothing to fix.  Our real estate agent said she thinks this is the first house to pass inspection with nothing wrong.  Pretty amazing.  Through the U-Haul web site I hired moving helpers to help us pack a moving truck on 4-19.  Less than an hour after I hired the helpers the moving company increased their hourly rate by $10 per hour.  God is awesome.  After we get home tomorrow we’ll have 5 days to finish packing and get rid of more stuff before we load the rental truck and drive back to Missouri.  Glad we didn’t wait till we’re 80 for this move.  A few pictures follow.

 

Granddaughter Kaitlin, Stan, Barb and dogs on hike near Round Rock, TX

 First drywall job, First Assembly of God in Taylor, TX

Duplex foundation at Maranatha Village.

 Pond at Maranatha Village. 

New Beginnings

Our journey, which has at times felt like a wonderful endless vacation, will finally end in about 2 weeks.  However, not only was the trip a great adventure, but it changed the rest of our lives.  Through a very highly improbable series of circumstances God led us to the Show Me State to show me (Bob) His plans for our lives.  Before I list a few of these circumstances I’ll give a brief preface on our future plans.  We accepted we needed to move because of all the maintenance work and expense of our current home and our reduced retirement income.  And we wanted to do some type of volunteer work but didn’t know what.  The short version is that God showed us our new home at Maranatha Village in Springfield, Missouri.  There is a beautiful pond on the 100 acre property and this is an excellent retirement home location for a long list of reasons.  And He revealed excellent volunteer work through the Assembly of God U.S. MAPS RV Volunteer Ministry.  Both of these options we didn’t know about before our trip.  Now for a list of some of these unlikely circumstances:  Because the Alaska Highway was closed by landslides a couple next to us at the Mile 0 Campground in Dawson Creek BC had camped there longer; this couple gave us their phone number and asked us to call them when we reached Soldotna and they would show us a place to camp.  When they showed us a camping area near Soldotna we “happened” to chose a spot to park next to Dan and Alanna Clark, who are U.S. MAPS RV Volunteers.  This was their first trip to Alaska and they had learned about this place to camp on their travels.  This couple is very friendly, helped Bob catch salmon, and remained in touch with us throughout our trip by texting, since voice service in Alaska and Canada wasn’t included with both our cell phone plans.  They told us about the annual MAPS RV Convention which just “happened” to be on our way home at the time we were expecting to be in the area of Carlinville, Illinois.  Also, the only time our Verizon phone worked (to call out) in Alaska was when we called the U.S. MAPS office in Springfield, Missouri to make reservations for the convention.  At the convention we heard about Maranatha Village in Springfield, Missouri and decided to visit there.  Dan and Alanna invited us to camp with them in Branson, Missouri at a private membership campground near their home, which is 2 ½ hours from Maranatha Village.  There they introduced us to some of their friends and family. 

Since the last blog we’ve visited: Devils Tower in Wyoming, the Black Hills of South Dakota including Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, Wind Cave, and Jewel Cave; the Badlands National Park; Lincoln’s Home National Historic Site.  Also Maranatha Village, the Assemblies of God National Headquarters and other places in and near Springfield, Missouri.  Also, we visited Branson, Table Rock Lake, Big Spring in Ozark Scenic Rivers National Park, and Land Between the Lakes in Kentucky.  Following are a few pictures from our travels:   

Mount Rushmore night illumination.

Badlands National Park

Sunset at Badlands National Park.

A. Lincoln's home in Springfield, Illinois.

Back in the lower 48 states after a great trip through British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

From Houston, BC we continued our drive southeast on the Trans Canada Highway through Prince George to Mount Robson Provincial Park.  We saw the top of Mount Robson for a moment when the clouds parted.  On Labor Day weekend we soaked in Miette Hot Springs in Jasper National Park.  Our final week in Canada was like icing on a cake.  Most of the time the weather was excellent.  We had beautiful views of mountains in Jasper, Yoho, Glacier and Mount Revelstoke National Parks.  The Jasper Tramway took us 3297 feet up Whistlers Mountain where we took a steep hike to the top.  At Maligne Lake we took a boat ride to Spirit Island.  Near Kicking Horse Pass in Yoho National Park we watched a train travel through a spiral tunnel.  We drove to near the top of Mount Revelstoke and enjoyed the views from the summit.  We had 2 beautiful free ferry rides across Upper Arrow (Columbia River) and Kootenay Lakes with our RV.  We soaked in 2 beautiful hot springs, Nakusp Hot Springs and Ainsworth Hot Springs.  Nakusp has crystal clear water and provided flotation for a very relaxing float in a large hot spring pool.  The first night the sky was exceptionally clear and dark and we had a beautiful view of the heavens floating in the pool.  Ainsworth has an amazing horseshoe shaped cave with waist deep hot water that really opened up the sweat glands.  Crossing the border into Idaho was a piece of cake with only a few questions to answer.  It was wonderful to be back in the lower 48 states where we can use our Verizon phone and internet service.  We drove across Montana and visited Yellowstone National Park a second time.  After a day in Yellowstone seeing a few places we missed on our first visit we drove to Devils Tower National Monument where we camped for 3 nights.  Following are a few pictures from our drive across British Columbia and Alberta. 

Trans-Canada Highway Monument at Rogers Pass.

Peyto Lake in Jasper National Park.

Mountains along Icefield Parkway, Banff National Park.

Maligne Lake and Spirit Island, Jasper National Park.

Jasper, Alberta from Jasper Tramway on Whistlers Mountain.

Adventures along the Cassiar Highway.

We camped for 5 days along the Cassiar Highway at Provincial Park Campgrounds and had a beautiful view over lakes all 5 days.  From Meziadin Lake campground we drove to Stewart BC and Hyder, Alaska.  There is no US customs at Hyder and we drove over the international boundary without stopping.  American residents of Hyder use Canadian money, send their children to school in Stewart, Canada, and are on Pacific Time.  The Hyder Post Office uses US money and is on Alaska time.  Near Hyder we stopped at the Fish Creek USFS bear viewing boardwalk.  After only a brief time on the boardwalk we watched a grizzly bear eat salmon and grass and took photos and video.  Then we drove another 17 miles over a very rough dirt road through a mining area and to viewpoints over Salmon Glacier.  It took about 2 hours to drive 17 miles, with a few photo stops.  The upper section of the road is cut into the side of a mountain above the glacier.  In places there are cliffs on both sides of the narrow road with over a 1000 foot drop to the glacier and no guard rails.  On the upper part of this road we met “The Bear Man” walking his bike up the mountain.  We gave him a ride on our tailgate to his camp and viewpoint so we could buy his Coastal Bears book and DVD.  At Meziadin Lake we took our boat on the lake and saw a grizzly bear swimming in the lake and took its picture as it climbed up on shore.  We also saw spawning Sockeye salmon which are red color.  Tonight we’re at Shady Rest RV Park in Houston, British Columbia.  Houston is home to the world’s largest fly rod (60 feet long and 800 pounds) and a 975 pound grizzly bear (mounted). 

Male spruce grouse near Kinaskan Lake Campground.

Grizzly bear with chum salmon at Fish Creek observation area.

Salmon Glacier from viewpoint near Hyder, Alaska.

Grizzly Bear after a swim in Meziadin Lake.

Meziadin Lake from island near campground.

Spawning sockeye salmon near Meziadin Lake.

Adventures in the Far North.

Near Tok, Alaska we drove north on the Taylor Highway to Chicken, Alaska.  Chicken has no electric, water or sewer service, but it has a post office and an airstrip.  The twice weekly mail plane is the only way to get to Chicken in the winter, when the road is not maintained.  Early gold miners wanted to name their settlement Ptarmigan, but were unable to spell it and settled instead for Chicken.  From Chicken the Top of the World Highway (a gravel road) leads over the border to Dawson City.  We enjoyed the views above tree line on the “top of the world”.  Dawson City has a western movie ambiance with dirt streets and wood boardwalks.  We stayed in the public campground across the Yukon River from Dawson and took the free ferry to see Dawson.  We “happened” to visit the cabin of Robert Service while a Parks Canada costumed interpreter was giving a presentation on the life of Robert Service.  We also visited Jack London’s cabin.  These authors played a part in growing my sense of adventure as a youth.  On our second day we left camp at 1 AM to cross the river and drive up Midnight Dome where we viewed the beautiful northern lights.  When we left Dawson I decided to take a 3 day side trip on the Dempster Highway for 252 miles one-way to the Arctic Circle.  When we reached the Arctic Circle Barb asked “Where’s the gift shop”.  The Dempster is a gravel road with some sharp stones in the road surface.  After a cracked windshield and 3 flat tires I asked why?  The lesson I’m learning is to be joyful in all circumstances.  And to never drive the Dempster again.  Our second trailer tire flat was a slow leak and by pumping air every 5 miles we drove 20 miles to the Tombstone Mountain Park Visitor Center.  There we left the trailer and drove 44 miles one-way to the nearest service center to get our flat tires fixed.  Our trip is enjoyable but it does have its challenges.  We were never so happy to get back on a paved road.  We continued south to near Whitehorse, where we spent an enjoyable 3 days at Takhini Hot Springs campground and pool.  Near Whitehorse, at Fireweed RV Services we had our trailer issues of a broken water pump, slide out motor that didn’t work and a broken power converter repaired under warranty coverage.  Yea!  Tonight we are at an RV park in Teslin.  Tomorrow we’ll drive south on the Alaska Highway and then take the Cassiar Highway. 

Downtown Chicken Alaska.

Top of the World Highway, Yukon

Cabin rented by Robert Service in Dawson City, Yukon.

Barb & Teddy at the Arctic Circle.

Street in Dawson City, Yukon