We took the camper to the Flagstaff Division of Forest River's service department not knowing exactly what to expect in terms of cost and how long it would take but we had a great stop there and they treated us really good even though our (bought used) camper was not under any kind of warranty. We left it there for a couple hours and they repaired the slide and went over the unit finding and fixing other minor problems. I asked about a part I needed to get and they gave me some of it (comes in a roll). All this they did for free and wouldn't even take a tip. We left there happy campers!
9 & 10 August - Headed to Lexington, Ky
Although we talked about staying for a half day to see the flea market in Shipshewana, in the end we decided we were not interested enough to put our travel day behind. We rolled into the Kentucky Horse Park campground in Lexington, Ky. just after a thunder storm and their computers were down so they could only put us in a primitive/electric site which we decided was okay for a couple days...no worries.
Next morning we were off to Greenbrier Golf Club and had a good time on a really nice golf course and lunch afterwards. After golf we made a run to Walmart and then a long ride through horse country admiring the beautiful farms/landscape.....pretty place. Evening dinner was BBQ at the Red State BBQ house.....trip advisor got us there....trust me, one wouldn't just stop there without a tip. We were finally far enough south to try some BBQ and it was very good AND our waiter had an Atlanta Braves tee shirt on.....starting to feel like we are close to home.
11 & 12 August - Planning a rendezvous with Culpeppers on the way in.
Ed Says - "After a stopover in Sidney, NB, the next day we stopped in Beatrice, NB, for the evening and to visit the National Homestead Monument which is ran by the National Park Service. This is a very nice educational center on the Homestead Act of 1862 and we learned a lot. The center is located on the very first property homesteaded in the nation. This act, for the lower 48, was repealed in 1976; and for Alaska was repealed in 1986! And the last homestead “deed” was issued in 1988 for 160 acres in Alaska! We had no idea the Act was still in effect this late. This is worth a stop for anyone in the area.
We coordinated with Ed and Kay as they too were traveling across the county headed home and decided that they would meet us in Chattanooga for another round of Club Corp golf and then we would head home the same day. We arrived at the Harrison Bay State Park on the afternoon of the 11th and went out for dinner....BBQ again (can you tell we missed it?)
On the 12th we played golf at Black Creek Club in Chattanooga and it was a treat....a really nice course and Ed and I went out of our way to keep the girls happy as they beat us again in golf. Fun day! Returning to camp we fried up some more of the Alaskan Halibut....really good.....Ed is getting good at the fish fry operation.
13 August - Bringing it Home!
We headed home and brought a good/long trip to a successful end. Kathy was VERY happy to be home and it's always nice to get home and see friends and neighbors.
It's funny, among the RV community that travel to Alaska many people "earn" what they call a badge of honor (cracked or chipped windshield)....but we did not, at least not until we were 60 miles from home on Interstate 75 just north of Atlanta a pebble hit the windshield and chipped it.....all I could do was laugh.
In the end, in 88 days out we traveled a total of 15,824 miles and visited approximately 17 states or Canadian provinces. We saw some amazing scenery and wildlife, met some really cool people, made friends and became even closer friends with Ed and Kay...perfect traveling partners.
Photos - We ended up with 4,212 photos to go through. Many are not keepers, many were taken from a moving vehicle to document the trip but hopefully there are some keepers among them.....now the work of going through them.
The Blog - this has been a labor of love for me.....a little work to keep it up but pretty rewarding to know that so many friends and family (and others I suppose) were enjoying it and many talked about taking a virtual vacation with us. It is nice now that we are home to have it for reference also. We are contemplating making a coffee table book of it.
Thanks for following our adventure!
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| A toast back home in Sun City |
