Friday, July 29, 2011

Sorry no pictures today, we don't have internet at home yet. We made it to Glennallen yesterday and unloaded the trailer. We had no problems the whole trip except for one chip in the windshield, which actually happened in the North Dakota! We plan to go 3 hours tomorrow to Anchorage to"get supplies" for the next month. Thank you for all of the prayers. I start work on Monday and we will send more next week.
Russ

Thursday, July 28, 2011


We are in Alaska! We drove from Whitehorse to Tok yesterday. The road was rough with frostheaves creating many dips and bumps in the road. We had to go slow with the trailer. We thought about going all the way, but by the time we got to Tok ( rhymes with poke), we had been going for 13 hours and were pooped out! We did go through Kluane National Park, see the picture of the pretty lake. It is surrounded by mountains. We passed a big grizzly on the lakeshore. The wildlife viewing has been good. We have seen 6 bears (3 grizzlies and 3 black), dall sheep, bighorn sheep, many stone sheep, many bison, mule deer, elk, and a wolf. We have not seen caribou or moose, although we did see many signs to watch out for them.



We are now in gold rush territory, see the picture. We passed places where you can still pan for gold. We took a side trip 2 days ago to Skagway where the Klondike gold miners got off the boat to go to the gold fields. Much of the town is restored and interesting. It was cold and rainy and we had to drive through the clouds to get there. Now the town is full of tourists from cruise ships!


We should get to Glennallen today, they tell me the road is rough with miles of gravel road from construction. Only one more day! Thanks for all the prayers. Everyone is doing well, but tired and ready to get there. I love road trips, but this one is a doozy!

Mom, I am sitting in the hotel lobby listening to Christmas carols, I know that you would appreciate it. The tours go from here to NOrth Pole, AK, near Fairbanks, to see Santa and his reindeer, so the hotel picks up the theme!



Here is picture of Ansley in Alaska and Luke in CAnada.
We made it!
Russ
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 26


We made it over the Rockies. The mountains were very pretty, here is a picture of a lake in the mountains. The lakes are amazing colors of blue and green, but don't show up well in pictures, especially on cloudy days. We have had rain every day since hitting the mountains. Today the high was about 50 degrees! Two days ago, we were able to swim in a natural hot springs, that was fun.

We are now at Whitehorse in the Yukon. We went thourgh Watson Lake, which has the signpost forest. People post signs from their hometowns all around the world, we found 1 from
Radford. We were able to go biking again, this
time on a flat gravel road. It went much better.


We have a long day tomorrow. We hope to
make it to Alaska and then get to
Glennallen on Thursday. Things are going
well, please keep up the prayers! It may take a few days to get internet once we get there, so we may have to finish next week. We have had NO cell phone service in northern Canada, so we apologize if you called! We will try to touch base once we get to Alaska.
Russ



Posted by Picasa

Saturday, July 23, 2011

We had a good day today. We started off in Dawson Creek and drove about 7 hours to Fort Nelson.
We started off in the rain, but it was sunny by this evening. The temperature is in the 60s. The people
here say that it has not felt like summer. The books say that the drive that we took today is the most
populated of the highway. If so, it should be interesting. We drove for 1-2 hours today when we saw nothing but forest and an occasional natural gas station. It was pretty neat to see areas where you could see nothing but forest and mountains for miles. The next 2 days are supposed to be the most isolated drives. We head over the Rockies. We did see a black bear by the side of the road. We saw a grizzly in Banff. Best view that I have ever gotten of one. We also saw a sasquatch today.
He is in the picture with Luke and Bridger. He was at Sasquatch Crossing, so we had to get a picture.
We head to Liard Springs tomorrow, a provincial campground with a hot springs. It will probably be 2-3 days before we have internet. Please keep praying, we'll stay in touch.
Russ
Posted by Picasa

Monday, July 18, 2011

Made it to Canada!

Hey, all!

Luke here. After spending the night camping at Great Falls, we crossed the border into Canada today. Thanks for your prayers, since the crossing went smoothly and we didn't have to unload the trailer! By the way, Mr. Rodney caught us! The picture (on the first day) of our "packed" trailer was taken before we managed to squeeze quite a bit more stuff the back!









Anyway, after we made it to Canada, we stopped at an interesting visitor's center with a dinosaur statue there. We thought it was pretty cool, so we took a picture.











Then, as we were driving along, we saw this sign, and we had to take a picture. Hey, Sam! You have an avenue named after you in Fort McLeod, Alberta!









Post again later!
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Giant Buffalo

Hi Everyone,
Long day yesterday. Went from St Cloud, MN to Miles City, MT. It took about 13 hours. The kids did
great and so did the truck and trailer. Thanks, Rodney! We decided to change routes due to some of
the flooding in ND and to get the suburban serviced before we hit Canada. I'm sorry that I missed
Moose Jaw, but in my book, it's always a good day when you get to Montana. The picture is of the
worlds largest buffalo in Jamestown, ND. Today we head to Great Falls, MT. Tomorrow we get the
suburban checked over, you can pray that everything is good and continues to be so! Then we head to
Calgary. Looks like rain in Jasper, will have to decide what to do about camping. Hope that the
seam sealing worked!
Russ
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

We're off!

Hello, everyone!



Luke here. You asked and we delivered! (cue triumphal music) Seriously, though, this is the Melton's blog for our trip to Alaska. We'll try to send it to everyone who's interested, but in case we miss anyone, or we don't have their email address, please forward our site to whoever you think would enjoy it.




We left on our trip on Monday around two. As you can see from the picture, we are trying to use every bit of available space! After driving until midnight, we arrived at our aunt and uncle's house in Nashville, Tennessee. Then, we spent the day there to drop off extra items (like gifts) and to see our new cousin, Kai, over skype! My aunt and uncle adopted him from China, and are there right now picking him up.






We headed out again the next day. After a moderate ride, we decided to stop at Cracker Barrel. Then, we called the Steeles to find out where they were on their trip to Iowa. Unbelievably, they were very close! They met us there, and we laughed about getting to see each other in Illinois. I mean, what are the odds? All too soon, we said goodbye and left again.



Ansley here. Yesterday we got to go to the biggest indoor water park in the world! It is the most fun water park I've ever been to in my whole life!!! I love you and miss you very very very much!


Please pray that this trip would continue to go well.



Thanks for reading,


The Meltons