South Dakota

From Illinois we scooted thru Wisconsin and Minnesota in another windstorm.  We stopped for the night in Sioux Falls and spent the next day fighting 40+ mile headwinds to make it to Rapid City.  One of Pauline's bucket list items was to see Mount Rushmore.  So we took a day and ran off to see Rushmore and the Crazy Horse project.

side profile of George Washington

the presidents at Mount Rushmore

Crazy Horse

While we were in Michigan, Laura and Steve insisted we should go to Deadwood as well.  Deadwood is where Wild Bill Hickok was shot while playing cards in the saloon.  So the next day's trip was planned and off we went. 

Mark trying to get into the brothel in Deadwood

bartender dressed up like Wild Bill Hickok

Historic town of Deadwood

The Millers

We left Michigan in a windstorm to head over to the Illinois side of the Wisconsin/Illinois border to see the Millers.  Again it has been years since we saw them and now there are two more of them!  Katie cooked us a lasagna and we visited and played with Brooklyn, Cassidy and Tori their dog, while we waited for Travis to get home.

We love your family, house and neighborhood.  Keep up the good work guys.

Us with those adorable girls

Katie and Travis with Brooklyn and Cassidy

Michigan

We had hoped to wind down some and still get caught up with everyone in Michigan.  It was a pretty busy schedule and thanks to everyone who helped us make it possible.  For those we missed, we are sorry, hopefully next time our schedules will work out better.

The Grand Haven pier with a frozen Lake Michigan

Mom and Dad sold the house a couple of years back but this is the first time we had been to the new place even though it has been our permanent address for that time.  We have to agree, it is ideal for them and we really enjoyed our time there.

Mom and Dad

After a couple of days with Mom and Dad we got the chance to catch up with Greg and Hayden in GR for some shopping and lunch.  We are glad they are as much Carhartt fans as we are.

with Greg and Hayden

with Greg

As mentioned in the last post Laura and Steve had arranged to stay with Angie while we were there and the ever generous Angie opened her house up for a party.  Marianne, Jeff, Nikki, their son Hayden came down from Muskegon to catch up with us all. Jeff and Marianne had just finished getting back from North Dakota, so we knew they were tired but they still had the stamina to make it through the whole party. Alyse and Greg were also able to make it.  And of course Tom drove up from Indiana. The food was great, the company was great and the Cards for Humanity was interesting!

The next day we took the opportunity to help Angie move some cabinets to a house she is renovating in Spring Lake, not sure how she finds the time running two restaurants and two houses.

We also got a couple of days to catch up with the Jeff and Ako and Lori and Kevin.

Kevin, Lori, Jeff and Ako

And on the very last day we caught up with Steve Cochran.  Sorry Steve we forgot to get a photo.

Racing to Beat another Winter Storm

With another winter storm warning forecasted, we decided to plow through Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana as fast as possible before seeking refuge in West Michigan with Mark's parents.  We did catch up with brother-in-law, Tom in Northern Indiana but he recommended we hit the road as soon as possible after lunch as 24 inches was in the forecast. We told him we were planning a big party at Angie's in Grand Haven when Laura and Steve, the Michigan Vladikas, along with Greg and Alyse and got him to commit to making the trip.

After leaving Tom we got a call from our friends, Jan and Steve who had Al and Beth staying with them.  We missed Al and Beth on this trip.  We were planning on seeing them in Ohio but they decided to avoid the wither storms by fleeing the coop early and headed to Mexico and Southern California before we could get there.  Anyway we did get to chat with them and promised Steve and Jan that we were still indeed planning on visiting them.

We made it to mom and dad's just as the snow started.

Further North to Virginia

During this trip we found out that one of Mark's college friends, Marcus Weaver, had passed away.  This is the second close friend lost within the last couple of years.  We lost Cliff Thrift to cancer about a year earlier.  It sparked a renewal in interest for the rest of us to get caught up. Terry, the ever efficient, got Don, Gary, Mark and Jim talking via texts.  Since we were heading fairly closely to Jim's cabin in the woods, he invited us over for a night.  He has a pretty nice cabin that he and his brother Tom built.  We had a great visit and got to meet his twin daughters and the dogs as well.  The daughters made a great meal for us.  Hey Jim let us not wait 40 years to catch up again!

the delicious curry dinner

Jim with his twins, Koko and Nono

From there we continued on to visit fellow cruisers Walt and Jane who are living near DC now.  We had a great couple of days with them and celebrated Jane's birthday with their two daughters Michelle and Lisette. 

Great catching up with you guys as well.

Jane and Walt

Mushing to North Carolina

As stated in the last post, we started north with the temp in Florida colder than in Sitka but it didn't stay that way.  Florida started to warm up and the temps as we drove north hit 60.  So we thought that the emergency winter storm warnings we had been getting were a bit false.  We had a very pleasant drive through the rest of Florida though a bit windy, through Georgia and most of South Carolina.  Near the border between the two Carolinas, the temperature suddenly dropped and we noticed lots of road signs and trees damaged by winds,  Then we broke into the snow.  By the time we hit Charlotte we were driving in pretty horrible conditions.  We did get a lot of cars slowing down and following us along the freeway.  I guess they respected the Alaska plates!

Laura and Steve held dinner for us and we only kept them a little later than usual.  Of course upon arriving we broke out the dark and stormys and sat in front of the fire place.  This is the first time we have been to the farm since they moved in.  We got to see the fairly finished off barn (Mark helped do some repairs to it the last time we were here) and now a full working farm with a hound dog, 3 horses, 3 ponies, 1 donkey, 4 chickens and a partridge in some kind of fruit tree.

Jacob, Baylee and Emersyn came over for a visit for Laura's birthday though Jacob had to leave early as he was called in to work.  They came back for another visit before we left as well.

Later in the week the weather was better so we got a chance to see friends Tom and Carol as well.  Great to catch up with them and we took the ponies and the donkey out for a walk to the back field.  We also discussed the plans for putting in the new fishing pond behind the house.

After a week of our stay, Steve had to head out on a business trip.  We stayed a couple extra days to keep Laura company.  

Laura with Emersyn, Jacob and Baylee

The horses - Pearl, Wyatt and Sadie with Ruby the hound dog

The house on the farm

The ponies - Bella, Tokyo and Dolly and Jenny the donkey

Steve and Laura with us

We took one of those days to see Pete Crispell and his girlfriend for the day over in Durham.  They made a great lunch for us and showed us the projects they are working on to restore their neighborhood.

Pete and Liz with Storm and Sailor

Miami to Deland

We left Miami, to head to North Florida to see the Florida Vladikas.  On the way there, we stopped in Fort Lauderdale to grab a quick lunch with Cousins John and Lauri Sobol.  Sorry guys, as you drove off we realized we missed getting a picture of you in the old car!

After the quick lunch, we headed up to Lake Helen and Deland.  We got to see everyone the first day and had a great Mexican dinner. The next day Aunt Kathy and her mother Marion had to run across the state for a Kopenkoskey reunion, so Michael, Erika, Victoria, Veronica and us headed to the beach.  The weather was still nice though a bit cool in the morning but after breakfast we hit the flea market and then the beach proper.  We then went back to the house, stopping on the way to buy some stuff for a stir fry dinner.  After dinner we went out to a new ice cream place by our hotel.  A cold front moved in and while we were eating ice cream the temperature dropped to the same as it was in Sitka at the time.  By morning it was 10 degrees colder than Sitka!

Mark with 2 very special girls

Victoria and Veronica enjoying the beach

Got their clothes wet, so we wrapped them up in blankets

Michael, Erika, Veronica, Mark, Victoria and Pauline

Time To Update

Real Time:  We are currently in Bellingham, Washington waiting to catch the ferry home.  It has been a whirlwind trip covering 28 states and over 15,000 miles.  We are going to try to catch everyone up on the blog over the next two days and include some pics, so stay tuned.

Further Along

Just before leaving the Cape we had the crowd over and made a Polish dinner.  We found a Polish grocery store in Melbourne so we grabbed some great kielbasa and some ingredients to make golabkis and perogies.  It became an extended family project with everyone lending a hand.

Perogies before cooking

Cooked perogies

Golabkis out of the oven

Thanks again Jeff and Linda for hosting us for so long.  And as usual making everything so fun.  We are also missing Aspen Skye and Ginny.

From the Cape we cruised down to Jensen Beach where Mark went to school when Florida tech had a branch there.  We stayed with Terry and Charlene and got reacquainted as it had been a couple of years.  Both grandkids are growing and we got to meet them as well.  The Omicron virus was going and Don and Mary had it.  So we had to visit with them via phone.  Both Terry and Don went to school with Mark.

Charlene and Terry Veatch

After Jensen it was time to head south to Miami.  We stayed with Pat, Peri and Roxanne.  Mark worked with Pat on Mark’s first tugboat job.  Pat’s wife Dawn was pregnant with Peri when they left Seward.  Unfortunately Dawn got sick just after Peri was born and died.  But Peri is growing up fine and is a bright pretty little girl and we are sure Dawn is watching over her from heaven with pride.  Roxanne is Pat’s fiancée and is having fun helping Peri grow up.

Roxanne, Pat and Peri

While in Miami, we also got a chance to meet up with Kate and Petter, friends from Singapore.

Oops, Mark and Petter are blurry

Here is a clear photo of them

Happy New Year

As promised, we are updating our blog on this road trip.  We made it over the Idaho border our first day even with the late start on the 6th and not such good weather in the pass.  The next day we were aiming to hit Salt Lake City and go see the Great Salt Lake.

We had tried to get in touch with friends in Houston and New Mexico to see if we took a northern route or a southern one.  Both parties came back and said come on over.  So after seeing the Lake, we headed to Taos, New Mexico to see Jackie McMahon.

Jackie and us

We knew Jackie from Guam and she has given up the sailing life for a nomadic life in the USA.  We saw her again when she was doing an internship in Alaska.  She also did some visiting nurse time this summer in Wrangell, but we didn't make it although Pauline did get an afternoon visit with her mother.  We didn't quite make it to Taos on the first day and weather was forecast for the passes so we stopped the night in Durango, Colorado and set off for Taos early the next morning.  Great visit in Taos.  For those who have never been, this is a pretty neat stop.  The town is very nice, food and sights are great.

Jackie steered us to go see the Earthship BioCulture village.  

Here the houses are all made out of recycled items and are set up to be as environmentally friendly as possible collecting and recycling water, solar, partially buried etc.  Pretty cool and worth looking into for more info.  We then headed out to view the gorge cut by the Rio Grande.  

The bridge over the Rio Grande

First by starting on top with a bridge over it then a drive down by the river itself, out to a great winery and finally back for some wonderful Mexican food.

After leaving Taos, it was off toward Houston to see John and Anne Morrison and their youngest son Johnny.  We knew John and Anne from Singapore back in the 80s, and have stayed in touch, meeting whenever John came to Singapore or Mark to Houston.  We also rendezvoused once in Northern Michigan for a weekend skiing but it had been awhile as we have now realized we left Singapore more than 11 years ago!

John and Anne Morrison

After a couple of days in Houston we pulled a long day to get to Panama City to see Tom And Kitty DeGroot.  Tom and Kitty now live in Massachusetts.  They were down for some sea trials on a project Tom is working on and gave us a chance to get caught up again.  They have just bought an Island Packet 40 and have cruising plans in their future.  It was great catching up and also finally walking barefoot on a beach again.

Tom and Kitty DeGroot

From Panama City it was straight to Jacksonville in order for Mark to attend the courses required for renewing his license.  It also allowed us to get our car looked at.  The car needed some parts, and hence needed to stay over a couple of days.  The dealer gave us a rental and we drove out to Interlachen to see cousins John and Lauri Sobol at their off grid house for a couple of days.

John and Lauri Sobol

It was then back to Jacksonville to get our newly serviced car and head to Cocoa to see the family there.  We stayed with cousins Jeff and Linda Rowell.  Cousins Steve and Stacy Sobol live next door so we quickly caught up with them as well.  Aunt Anita took us to the Bird Sanctuary at the Canaveral National Seashore to see all the birds that find refuge there as well as a few gators.

Aunt Anita

We then went over to see Aunt Trudy and had such a good visit we forgot to take a photo together.

We also took time out to see Justin and Melissa and went out in the boat with Melissa's father and his friend Deb.  A great couple of days.

Sitting on the sandbar

Shot of the party from the boat

Debbie, Captain Jack and Mark

Justin, Melissa and their fur babies

It is time to move on from the Cape.  Next stop is Jensen then Miami before we turn north again.