On Our Way - June 02

We finally got started this morning after nearly three years of planning. So far all went well.

The second photo is the Iowa visitor center. The items at the tops of the columns are items that associated with Iowa, such as Acorns, corn, pigs, etc.

Along the way we stopped for about an hour at the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa. We stopped for the night in Missouri Valley, Iowa, about 100 miles west of Des Moines and 75 miles south of Sioux City. We drove about 750 miles today.

I noticed that adding photos to the blog takes a lot of time so I may not be adding too many, just enough to give you an idea.

Signed:

The Wayward Travelers

Almost Ready

It is now late May and I am almost finished with making all the reservations that I have responsibility for. The reservations not yet made are for larger metropolitan areas that have many hotels so we should not need a reservation in that area.

We are also completing our tasks to have our daughter take care of household items like water the plants, and our grandsons who will be mowing the grass. We are really ready to pack and leave.

Watch for our first travel post in the near future.


Signed:
The Wayward Traveler

March 2010 Update

As of today we are only three months away from the start of our travels to and from Alaska, "The Last Great Frontier." We are all getting excited and finishing up on the general plans.

While watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver we tried to see our hotel in Vancouver. It is between Canada Place (the building along the waterfront that looked like a large tent) and Stanley Gardens, the garden peninsula right behind where the seaplanes were taking off and landing. Unfortunately we could not identify which building. However we did see a lot of the Vancouver area, including Stanley Park and the suspension bridge which we will be taking a stroll across.

The remaining plans fall into two area: 1) what to pack and take along, and 2) details of what roadside attractions (tourist traps?) we want to stop and see. I have been reviewing several books and web sites identifying places to stop for viewing pleasures of the land, old towns and mining locations, as well as tourist traps such as Alaskaland outside of Fairbanks and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center near Girdwood, and even Portage where there is a lake in the park that has floating icebergs.

I quick summation of highway miles is 9,400 miles. This is just highway miles and does not include any side trips or just driving around towns. Also not included are any mileage along the inside passage where besides driving from the ferry dock to the hotel and back, nor any mileage we will accumulate on and around that town. It also does not include mileage within the larger towns like Juneau, anchorage or Fairbanks.

Keep watching this site for any new information. When our travels begin I am hoping (Internet accessibility is needed) to update the site daily with our daily travel and vacation activities.

Trip details in process of being made

Only a little over 4 months until we leave. All the hotel and tour reservations between Vancouver, up through Haines by ferry, then overland through the Kenai Penisula, back through Anchorage and Fairbanks, back down to Skagway have been made. I still need to make reservations for hotels for the trip home from Skagway. Some sections of this route are through area that are sparsely inhabited and as a result have few road services or lodging locations. I plan on making these reservations starting in mid-April.

Road routing has also been detailed, including route numbers, major intersections, mileage and time. also included will be recommended viewpoints. These are spots along the road where there is a pull off to stop at. The viewpoints are places such as a good landscape vista or a good place to see wildlife.

Now we are working on the actual details - that is, what parks and tourist items we will visit. The places will be put in an orderly manor such as to eliminate as much 'back tracking' as possible.

I am also creating detail maps by area of where the 'tourist attraction' is in relation to the hotel or route.


Signed:
The Wayward Traveler

Five Months and Counting

Here it is with only a little over five months until our actual travel starts, although we can say that our adventure actually started close to two years ago when we started planning this trip.

The majority of the reservations have been made. The few outstanding reservations for within the Alaska and British Columbia area are pending because the places (hotels, tours) are not taking reservations for 2010 yet.

In addition, the return travel from Skagway back through Banff & Jasper has only partially been completed. The road route is done. I have not yet made any hotel reservations for this stretch as we may be modifying our tentative plans on where we may stay and / or stop to see. For example, we currently have the Theodore Roosevelt Ranch in North Dakota on our list to stop at. If we are getting tired from all the travel we may decide to skip this park. The routing has been finalized, although some minor changes can still be made, especially in light of potential changes to what we visit / do not visit.


signed:
The Wayward Traveler

Majority of Reservations Made

After all the discussions and planning, our Alaska Adventure is now becoming real. Between Thursday and Friday, Oct. 15 & 16, 2009, the majority of the motel and ferry reservations have been made as well as some of the tours. Although most of the motel reservations were made with a credit card guarantee, several motels, the Alaska Marine Highway System and several of the boat cruise / tours required payment when the reservations were made. There are a few which cannot be made until mid-January 2010.

Of course the reservations I am describing above are only for Vancouver, north through Alaska, and the return travel back through the Yukon and Skagway. This will be about 35 days of our travels. I am responsible for the needed reservations for our trip from home to Vancouver, and from Skagway to home. The trip from home to Vancouver is scheduled for 5 days (we may add an extra day before we leave the USA). The trip from Skagway, through the Canadian Rockies (Banff, Jasper), and back home is currently estimated at 14 days, with a few days in the Canadian Rockies already included. The reservations that I need to make can wait until next April or so.

Reservations Finally Started

Our Alaska trip has now entered Phase II. As a reminder Phase I was putting together an initial route containing towns and places we wanted to see and which cruises and tours we wanted to take.

Our travel agent started making reservations today, Monday, October 05, 2009. The delay was that the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) did not publish it's 2010 schedule until late last week. There will be a few minor changes to what we worked on with our travel agent, mainly because of the ferry schedules. As for a few towns, such as Juneau, Fairbanks and Anchorage, we will be staying a few days each, and have not set specific tours. We feel that we will be able to arrange local tours when we get there.

Stay tuned. As reservations are made I will post updates here, with a summary of what reservations were made. Of course, these postings will not be in complete detail, but with enough that you will be able to follow our travels.