On The Road Again...

Day One of the long trip to Alaska took us from Reading to Pittsburgh, PA. We started out under foreboding but dry skies which changed along the way to periods of heavy rain, snow squalls, occasional sleet and intermittent heavy cross winds. On top of the headache I started the day with, none of this added to my driving pleasure, but all's well that ends well and the sun was shining when we pulled into the Pittsburgh/Washington KOA. Last hurdle of the day: navigate the tight turns through the little village that allows you to access the only worthwhile and OPEN campground in this vicinity this time of year. We pulled into (and then right out of) one of the others....Noooooooo!

For this campground, the smaller you are the better, but with care any size rig CAN make it in and out...and the people are nice and accommodating and that makes the slow painstaking turn negotiations worthwhile in getting here.

It feels good to be heading "up and out" again. There isn't as much adventure packed into every mile that you have traveled before, but each trip and the conditions that accompany it are different and so there is always something new to be discovered and something new to learn along the way..

I bought a Magic Jack VOIP phone system. It's less than perfect but, far better than a payphone. Quality seems to be directly linked to the speed of the internet connection. I'm experimenting right now and I'll keep you posted from time to time if it seems to be working out good. $19.95 a YEAR for unlimited phone service to US and Canada seems pretty darn good- especially if it works! E. T. phoned home this afternoon and the connection was very good- at least as good as the cell phone. And I use a PC air card, not a cable or DSL, so that seems OK so far.

Exciting to say, we are on our way.