Welcome to Alaska!

Hello Family and Friends!

We made it to Alaska! Finally! After 4 days of driving, we made it to Tok, Alaska. And the cats are still with us as well. I was tempted to "let them go" at several points because of incessant crying but they are actually doing better. I think they have figured out that we are closer to our destination. We had our first real dinner last night that didn't consist of just crackers and cheese or trail mix. We ate at a restaurant called Fast Eddy's and it was so yummy! We didn't see as much wildlife when we hit Alaska but the mountains are just huge here! I only got a few pictures yesterday as my camera battery died once we hit the Alaska border. I will try and update the blog once we get to Homer but may not be able to until we get to Kodiak on Friday. We miss you all and thank you so much for your prayers for safe travels!

Love,

Jessica & Jonathan (& kitties)

Into the wilderness (middle of nowhere)

Today we made it to the Yukon. The hotel we are staying at tonight totally makes up for the crack house we stayed at last night. Our day started out with driving through Grand Prairie and then getting on the road. (Sidenote: If any of you decide to drive up before tourist season hits, gas up at every town, even if you have a full tank. You never know when you might run out). We didn't run out of gas but there were several times that we had to drive many miles for the nearest station and alot of stations were closed. As to the adventures of the day...they mostly involved animals. We saw alot of wild life during this drive. First there were the caribou. I almost caused a 4 car pileup because I was that idiot tourist parked in the middle of the street taking pictures. Then there was the moose. It was a girl moose (apparently they aren't as grumpy as the boy moose) and I got a picture of her before we zoomed off again. The next and coolest animal we saw was a mom black bear with her two twin cubs. I didn't get any pics of this because the mom looked mighty skinny, like she had just come out of hibernation. I didn't want Maisy, Tilly, or Jonathan to be lunch (I think I would be the fastest runner out of all of them!) We mostly drove, drove, and drove some more today. By the end of the day, Maisy and Tilly were yowling (yes yowling) in the car very very loudly. Even my singing to the radio didn't drown them out! We need to catch up on some sleep. I will post more tomorrow! Tomorrow we will be staying in Tok, AK and back in the US!

The Grand Prairie 'Hood

This is just a 1/2 blog update of last night. Jonathan and I picked this little motel in Grand Prairie because it looked like one that would let us have our cats. So, we get chekced in, have dinner, and settle in for the night. At about 1:00 am, the neighbors start having a fight. This girl next door starts screaming and yelling, using the f-word as a noun, verb, and adjective. She's yelling about how it's his baby, he needs to take care of it, he's cheating on her, she's cheating on him, etc. Then the stuff starts flying (literally). It sounded like she was trashing the room. Jonathan and I couldn't sleep during this tirade and he said it was all he could take to stay inside and not check it out. After about 2 hours, the manager comes out and starts telling the crazy lady that she needs to pay for the damage she caused or he was going to call the cops (Please call the cops!). Turns out he was all talk because the tirade continued. We ended up going to sleep at about 4:00 when this woman's "baby daddy" as she referred to him reappeared and apparently apologized. I felt like I was watching a Jerry Springer episode live. The cats did not like all the swearing, yelling, etc and were a mess! Tilly was practically hanging from the curtains and Maisy was running laps around the room.

I remember going on a California car trip with the Coopers when I was in grade school and my mom telling me about how she and Noel slept with one eye open because the hotel was not exactly the Hilton. Yet another experience where I can now say that I know what my mom was talking about. We plan on driving to Watson today so I will update more then.

Grand Prairie

Well, we made it to Grand Prairie today. I have learned several important lessons today. The first is that I look like a tourist, no matter how confident I feel about travelling. The second is that Canadians get a little irked when you ask them stupid questions. Case in point: We stopped for gas and I asked the attendant about the conversion from canadian to american. He said that everything in the store was listed in u.s. dollars. Then I vented a little frustration that I missed the normalcy of U.S. that prompted a look from Jonathan. I also learned that Canadians do not obey the speed limit. Jonathan and I made sure we travelled the correct speed because we were told that if you get a speeding ticket in Canada, you must appear in person to the judge. (Thank you Stuker for that info). Well, cars were passing us like crazy, usually staring at us each time. I am really excited to get back into the United States. I also experienced my first full service gasoline fill up. I'm sure I looked a little freaked out when two big guys walked towards our cars but the attendants told us they would fill up/wash windows for us. We also got to see alot of the scenery while bypassing Edmonton, thanks to Jonathan's short cut. I haven't seen any moose yet but am hoping to see one on this trip. Tomorrow we are headed to the Yukon. Hopefully I will have pics to post then! See you tomorrow (if we find wifi)!

O Canada!

Well day 1 of the journey has come and gone. We made it to Lethbridge in Canada and the cats did great! The drive wasn't bad at all. We did have a bit of delay at the border when Jonathan's name came up as a hit to a 6'5" African American criminal in Canada with the same name. It took customs 20 minutes to figure out that there was a name discrepancy. Tomorrow we are heading through Calgary and Edmonton. We have been using walkie talkies to talk to each other during the drive. Jonathan's call sign is "little shorty" in honor of his previous officer at the Three Forks PD and my call sign is "rubber ducky" (who knows why he picked that one!) We will post more tomorrow.

Rubber Ducky and Little Shorty over and out!

Moving to Alaska

First post to the Alaska blog. Well, we are moving to Kodiak Alaska this next weekend April 24th. It's crazy to think that we both have jobs waiting for us up there. I just hope I make it up there with my sanity! I think blogging with help with that. Or at least give Jonathan a rest! :o) We have our passports and are giving away alot of our stuff. I'll add pics of us moving, driving up the Alcan, and when we get to Kodiak. Hopefully they will have wireless along the way so I can update you all about our progress. Stay tuned for more info!