Westward Ho! The Beginning of Our Journey to Alaska…

So 2026 - We’re FINALLY driving to Alaska! One of the reasons we bought the trailer we did was so we could take this trip. So as we sure as heck are not getting any younger, we knew it was now or never…and “never” would just not do!!!

The first leg of our journey, after having spent a month in MA for my Opening Day at Fenway Park and for seeing our families and our Peeps, was heading back to our “home state” of South Dakota. We took two weeks to drive there - staying at various Harvest Hosts (HH) and a few campgrounds in NY, PA, IN, IL, and WI.

We then had a five day stint in Prior Lake, MN visiting with our former full-time buddies, Mark and Judy (who were featured in a bunch of previous posts in our first couple of years). We ate, we laughed, we bowled; and needless to say we laughed some more. Oh and one afternoon Judy took me for some girl time to a place that I had dreamed of going to - Nadia Cakes Cupcake Shop. This is owned by one of my favorite authors AND now favorite bakers, Abby Jimenez. (Apparently, she won the “Cupcake Wars” on The Food Network back in 2012…and ended up opening up her own cupcake shops in Minnesota!) I thought her references to the bakery that her characters visit in her books was pure fiction, but it’s not! This was such a happy surprise, although trying to decide which ones to try was incredibly stressful. They were all beautiful and decadent and DELICIOUS! It was really fun and memorable as were all our adventures with our buds!

We then returned to one of our favorite campgrounds in Sturgis, SD - RushNoMore Campground. We have returned here each year (except in 2023 when we did the whole Atlantic Canada adventure). Actually, last year we were here for the entire summer work-camping. Yeah, we’d decided to “stay put and relax for the summer” since we’d be doing some high powered moving this year. Well we actually worked out butts off (and THEN SOME) last year, but it was still a very memorable adventure and since we were stationary we got to have some friends and family come out and visit us in SD! Oh, and we got to experience the 85th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - so THAT’S a memory for the ages! We met some great people while working; both visitors to the campground and people we worked beside.

But this year we had a stress-free work-free stay while I got all my doctors’ appointments in for the year in prep for our big adventure. Karl did a bunch of prep on the trailer (gave it a good grease job, strategized about changing the shocks in Washington) and we planned ahead and ordered a bunch of stuff we would need in Canada and Alaska. What types of things? Stuff like: my special coffee that I order from one of our Harvest Host stays in TX (Spiral Horn Coffee…the best!), some clothing for mosquitos and heavy rains etc…, the “The Milepost 2026: Alaska Travel Planner” book which documents ALL the important things along the Alaskan Hwy and other AK highways i.e., fuel stops, road conditions and construction, significant sights to see…all spelled out mile by mile (Hence the name the Milepost!), a dashcam to capture stuff song the way… stuff like that! So we were very productive as we sat still for two weeks. Oh, and we got our vehicle registrations renewed and we got our new drivers licenses which expired this year because WE HAVE BEEN ON THE ROAD FOR 5 (gulp) YEARS!!!!!

But the hightlight of our stay was that we got to visit with one of the coolest couples on the planet, Phil & Cherie (and their adorable cats James & Harry). We worked with Phil last year and had a blast hanging out with them and keeping in touch over the year regarding each other’s subsequent adventures. Another BIG nod to the lesson of the best thing about this lifestyle being the incredible people you meet along the way… It was awesome to spend time together with them and with others that we worked with last year as well.

Below I’ve also included some pics of some of our other neighbors at RushNoMore…Our site abutted the fence of the farmer next door so we got to visit with the llamas and goats regularly, but the star of the day was ALWAYS Larson the donkey. He is a total hoot and can be beyond demanding with his braying if/WHEN he feels ignored! I also included a pic of my boyfriend, Zeb the Chiweenie, who was one of the motivating factors for us to workcamp last year! (For the record, there were other people and pups who grabbed my heart too - but I didn’t do a very good job getting pics this year!)