Home on the Range

We did a little in-processing and now we're just doing paperwork for our house. We went to the housing office on base to see what they would give us if we decided to live on base but what they offered was not too appealing so we made the decision to buy.

While in-processing we talked to a few of the people there and they told us about USAA's Mover's Advantage. We called USAA and within hours we found our house.

It's 10 minutes from the base and in a good location. Almost 2100sf, one story, and 3-car garage. The front is already landscaped but the backyard we'll do on our own. The kitchen is nice and open and is smack-dab in the middle of the house. Gary really loves the house...I haven't seen him this excited about any of the other houses we've seen. We both can't wait to move in.

The pups are doing great. Peaches is healing very well and the wound is almost closed. We couldn't ask better of their behavior. They've adapted well to the move. As you can see, they've gotten a little lazy, maybe from the heat. Gary's doing well because yesterday he didn't even pass out when the temps hit 105.

The journey south...

It was tough leaving Marquette on Friday, but it was time to continue our journey south. The first leg of our journey was only 2 hours due to a stopover in West Des Moines to see Sister Shelly and family.

West Des Moines: We spent the evening at the Iowa State Fair and had an opportunity to view some characters and eat a "guinea grinder"--an Iowa fair specialty. Irene fulfilled her lifelong dream of visiting Archivers (scrapbook store) with Shelly, Brittany and Anna. This was the first of many Archivers stops on our way across the U.S. Shelly had a beautiful home and West Des Moines was awesome, but the journey continues. The night before our departure, Shell mixed up some Moscow Mules to cap an enjoyable visit. We spent 2 nights with Shell and departed Sunday for our next stop: Aurora.

Aurora: We arrived in Colorado around 8:30 p.m. Sunday night. Sister Gina had a huge spread of BBQ'd ribs, potato salad, beans and Kristan's famous Alaska Mudpie for dessert. Everything was delicious. There was quite a rush of activity in the short time before we went to sleep, but the final event was a brawl between Peaches and Coda (Gina's black lab) ending with Peaches' head in Coda's mouth. Peaches walked away with a wet head, a pierced ear and a hole in her right leg. It wasn't pretty. Peaches was about to go back for more before we pulled them apart. Gina patched up Peaches leg with gauze and a sports bandage. Gina is quite the pet nurse for those not in the know. Dana took off on Monday to give us a first class tour of the Denver area and on Tuesday, we drove to Golden with Gina/Dana/Brittany/Kristan to see the Coors Brewery, Buffalo Bill's grave and Red Rocks (awesome). The highlight of our visit was during the evenings socializing with the Denning family in the cool night air on the patio of Gina's home. We had a wonderful visit in Aurora, but our clothes were getting tight from all of Gina's (and Brittany's and Kristan's) wonderful meals. We left Wednesday morning heading southbound to Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs: We made a pit stop at the U.S. Air Force Academy before arriving at the Jones' home on Wednesday. This was probably one of the neatest bases I have ever seen--definitely a dream assignment. Eric and Debbie greeted us at the door after arriving at their beautiful home -- Martha Stuart hasn't got anything on Debbie. Eric showed us around the area and we checked out Peterson AFB. We loved this area of CO and now see why Eric and Debbie don't miss Alaska. The next morning as we prepared for our departure, we found Bayley upstairs lying on the floor next to Eric. Bayley said he was trying to show Eric that dogs weren't all that bad. We got on the road around 0830 for the 12-hour drive to Tucson.

Tucson: We got to Tucson late Thursday night. It was interesting to see how the terrain changed as we headed south. Neither of us was real impressed with New Mexico, but I have to admit the Albuquerque landscape was pretty cool. We made a pit stop in Truth or Consequences, NM for some DQ and a dog break. Not much to see there. We kept plugging away and arrived in Tucson late Thursday night and checked into the Radisson downtown since billeting is booked until Monday. So far the area doesn't seem too bad. The streets are lined with cacti and palm trees and the mountain views are nice in a desert/Hell kind of way. It reached 97 yesterday and I only passed out three times. BUT I'll adapt.

Leaving Marquette...

Our time in Marquette has expired and it's time to start our trek toward AZ. Our first stop will be Des Moines. We can't believe how fast the time is flying. It really is true--time flies when you're having fun and fun is all we've had since arriving here last Thursday.

We took a ride on a pontoon yesterday on the Mississippi river and had a blast. The weather could've been a little warmer but otherwise it was a perfect day. The day before yesterday the Dull boys and I hit the movie theater to see Dark Knight...excellent movie! I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so Gary and I can watch it together.

The reunion was fun, I know Gary loved seeing his family in one gathering. I know it must have been a lot of work trying to get all the schedules in sync but thankfully we were able to get together and it was worth it.

This may be the last post until we get to AZ. Thanks for stopping by! P.S. Having problems posting pics, will try again in our next post.

Update at last...

Irene's been managing the blog up til now, so I guess it's my turn to post the updates.

Oh hell...where do I start. It's been a few days since our last blog, but internet is not commonplace at many of the villagehotels along the ALCAN.

DAY 1: We left Fort Richardson on Saturday, July 19th for Haynes Junction. Those of you who are familiar with Alaska, are well aware of the frost heaves in the roadway created by the Alaska permafrost; these are probably most prominent on the Alaska-Canadian Highway between just outside of Palmer and Haines Junction, Alaska. Just before reaching Tok, the bolt heads snapped off our hitch cargo basket with our cooler, storage bin and contingency gas can. Fortunately, I had some extra ratchet straps to secure the basket to the truck long enough to hobble into town. Between my toolbox and the village hardware store, I was able to re-assemble the basket with industrial-strength bolts and press on after a 2-hour delay. We reached Haines Junction that evening. With only two hotels in town, we had only one choice; the one that didn't close at 9:00. Other than the retro blue fixtures in the bathroom and stained carpet, the room was livable. As Irene walked over to the hotel bar to ask if the rooms were "pet friendly", she almost tripped on the dog sleeping next to the pool table.

DAY 2: Pretty uneventful day. We made it through the Yukon territory and into British Columbia. The Yukon reminded us of the most beautiful parts of Alaska, but was very desolate. British Columbia was mountainous and seemed to contain most of the wildlife. The roads were windy and trees/wildlife were plentiful. We gassed up in Toad River and liked the area so much that we decided to spend the night. The cabins we stayed in looked run down from the outside but were nicely remodeled inside. According to history, these same cabins were used by the crews that built the Alaska-Canadian Highway in the 1940s. As much as we loved this area, the sulfer in the water was so strong that the smell in the room was almost unbareable.

DAY 3: The ride through British Columbia was quite eventful. We took photos of a young grizzly bear feeding along the highway and less than a mile down the road had to stop for a herd of buffalo in the road. Not 2 miles down the road, a young moose was drinking from a puddle...this was all within a 5-mile stretch. As we trekked south, our surroundings became more domesticated -- we grabbed a bite at McDonald's and stayed in a Quality Inn hotel. The pet rooms doubled as smoking rooms, so we had to smuggle the mutts in the back door. You'd think the little dog would be the easiest to sneak in, but Peaches started barking within the first 5 minutes in the room. I think she's getting lonely in her kennel during the day because now she's going into Bayley's kennel with him. The look on his face would make you think we were putting a porcupine in his kennel.

DAY 4: Alberta is definitely the least appealing territory of our trip. Irene blended in with the natives, but they were looking at me like I was their next meal. Our gas stop of the day was short and sweet. It was midnight when we stopped for the night in Weyburn, Canada. We soon learned that all of the hotels in Weyburn, Canada had NO vacancy due to contruction and oil workers. We were also informed that every hotel up to the U.S. border would be full. Driving another 2 hours to the next town was not an option, so we were forced into vagrancy and slept in the truck at Walmart. You don't know hard living until you've slept in the cab of your truck in 50-degree weather. T-shirts kept the fluorscent light from coming through the windows. Ghetto fabulous.

Day 5: Dead-ass tired isn't the word for it. We crossed the border from Canada into North Dakota this morning. N.D. is very non-descript other than the two Air Force bases and farmland for miles. We made a pit stop at Minot AFB to pick up some groceries and hunkered down in a hotel outside of Grand Forks. Both the base and city of Grand Forks seem to be quite nice. By the way, if you ever get picked up for an assignment to Minot, I recommend claiming homosexuality or becoming a conscientious objector -- that place SUCKED.

We should hit Marquette, Iowa tomorrow evening. Until next time...

Woo-hoo!

We did it, we passed our housing inspection! We were up until 2am cleaning and then went to lodging to get 4 hours of sleep just to return back for more cleaning at 6am. We were (and still) are so tired but it's all downhill from here. Just a few more little outprocessing to do and we're outta here.

We always say it but we can't believe how our time here has flown. It feels like we just got here yesterday. We made the most of our time here, I'll post some pics later of our time in the Last Frontier. I've always wanted to come here and I'm so lucky to have lived here. Alaska's such a beautiful state. During the summer when the sun is out and the sky is clear you can almost fool yourself into thinking you're in one of those National Geographic/Discovery magazines/shows. During the winter wonderland it's like living in a postcard. We'll really miss it here, especially once we get our first sunburn in AZ.

This is a picture of Gary after our inspection. What a relief. I'm too wired to sleep and I'm afraid if I lay down I won't get up anytime soon. Moving is so stressful and it was even more so because of where we were living. We've heard so many horror stories about what the inspectors do and how much they charge once they're done. The main thing we were worried about was the carpet. We went through one of the rooms with a black light and couldn't believe how many stains we saw. The carpets look perfect without but once you get the black light shining you see all kinds of stains. Apparently, the inspectors know exactly what they're looking for. Our inspector sprayed water on suspicious stains, set her light right over the stain for a couple of minutes, and then bent down to sniff. She had the maintenance guy sniff to confirm but he said it was not urine (whew!).

Peaches has developed wheezing attacks. They started Saturday and haven't stopped yet. I don't know what it's from. I have to massage her throat but Gary did a search and they recommended plugging the nose to get them to breathe through their mouths. Works like a charm but still worries me. We were babying her when she first started it (and she was milking it) but now that we know how to stop it she's not acting so sick now.

Hopefully, I can keep our blog updated. It's nice because we have Internet in our hotel room. We're going to grab some lunch and head over to the housing office for final payment. Woo-hoo!

Oh, the other pictures are of Bayley, tired from the move, and Gary cleaning the fence before the inspection.

Hard times...

Well, the movers are gone and we're sitting in an empty house. We're really missing the camper right now. The dogs are loving the extra play space, especially Peaches. She runs around like she's been set free. Bayley has problems choosing where to lay. He'll pick a spot, change his mind and move to another spot. I think it makes him tired because he's been sleeping more than usual. I accidentally packed the wrong air mattress (queen) so we had to make a special trip to Wal-Mart to get a queen. We splurged and got one with the pillow top. I think it lost some air last night because it was sinking a little in the middle this morning. Gary loves telling the air mattress story to our friends. When we took it out of the box yesterday we were shocked to see it was the twin and not the queen. I couldn't do anything but laugh. And I laughed hard. The look on Gary's face was hilarious! He was mad of course but he got over it. We watched a movie, Stop Loss, on the laptop to kill time. We're using the twin air mattress as our "couch" and we set the laptop on top of the tool box in front of us. Not a bad set up. Okay, gotta feed the dogs. Thanks for stopping by!

Oh, 20,800 lbs of our stuff will be waiting for us in AZ.