The Porch Postscript

First stop Green River, UT. Laugh if you want to, our family did. This was the first stop that wasn’t a family mooch-docking spot, and it was a perfect place to lay down stakes for a couple of days.  We started out the trip in Silt, CO where’d spend the night at my nephew’s.    Green River, UT is about 173 miles from Silt, CO.  We found in our trip down from Alaska that 150 to 250 miles per day works best for us.  We spend less time on the road during the busiest times of the day and  Driving across I-70 through Colorado and into Utah was a beautiful trip.  The farther west we traveled the more Fall colors we found, and then we popped into the beautiful desert with its stunning rock cliffs and mountains.   I’ll admit the desert isn’t my happy place but it sure makes Hubby’s heart sing.  He loves the arid climate and the miles of sand and sagebrush.  I love the sand, but I prefer mine with a side of sea rather than sage. We put down stake...

Hello! If you’re new here, we’re the Petersen’s and we fell into retirement a year earlier than we’d planned. We put our Alaska house on the market and in June we moved in to a 37 foot toy hauler fifth wheel. If you’re a SLMPetersen newsletter subscriber, you already know we left Alaska at the end of July and took a 12 day journey through Canada to Wyoming. We’ve spent the last two and a half months mooch-docking on my brother’s ranch, waiting for our house in Alaska to close.   The house still hasn’t closed and we officially ran out of “camping weather” mid October we picked up stakes for the next leg of the journey. While we continue to wait on the house closing, and continue to put all the place for our forever home we’re headed south.   The plan was always to travel in our fifth wheel, but the early retirement added a fun twist to the plan.  We’ll spending the next six months traveling the US, while we wait for our forever home to be build in Baggs, WY.  For ...

Where has my summer gone?  Summer in Alaska always goes so fast.  Three months of 24 hours of light seems to fly by at the speed of light. I always lose the month of June to long hours at work while we put on a Heavy Equipment Academy, in which I spend many days wearing this ensemble. We did a little extended getaway over the 4th of July weekend and made our first trip to Anchorage.  Forrest fires in the area made it a really smokey trip, but we were there the day the state broke a temp record and it hit 90 degrees. Had some good food, did some shopping and looked for a fifth wheel.  Ate at the "famous" Moose's Tooth Pizza. And on our way home we held out to eat at our favorite place in Denali, aka Glitter Gultch, Moose-AKas. Seriously, they have the best crepes we've ever eaten. I got a bit of rhubarb from our friends and processed it all into freezer bags for us to enjoy over the winter.  By some rhubarb, I mean 45 cups of rhubarb...

We spent the last week traveling home.  This was more whirlwind duty trip than pleasure, but it's always good to see family and friends. I always over pack.  I need to work harder on packing less, way less. Drinks in the airport bar before departing is kind of a tradition. We ate at one of our old favorites when we made it to Fort Collins, CO.  Love the Charco Broiler. Could skip the peanut butter pie. I've always loved this statue that is outside the front door. Had our obligatory Taco Johns stop in Rawlins, WY. We saw more snow in Wyoming than we've seen in Alaska all winter. We drove on some slushy slick roads with some blowing snow. The sunrise at my Mom's house is always so stunning. Spent a bit of time sketching while we were gone. Journaling on the go. One of the bronze statues in our hometown. Second lunch. Second Taco John's meal.  Ate it in the car.  Don't judge. One more...

Torn.  There are so many days that I would like to run away and live in a Winabego, on the open road, thumbing my nose at the world.  That's the point where hubby reminds me we're just too responsible to really do that.  I nod my head and go on with my daydream. Then there are the other days, the days where thinking about giving it all up gives me anxiety and can't cope with the thoughts of how much we'd have to give up to travel full time. I still have wanderlust and will probably suffer for life.  I like having a house, but honestly the older I get the more I want to travel and what better way to do it than in a moveable house - be it travel trailer, RV or converted bus. I have a romance in my head of living a traveling life, writing and creating art wherever we go.  Most days I know this a  crazy pipe dream, but days like yesterday I don't care!!!  Days like yesterday make me want to be free and live a life of creating, writing and photo...

Where have you been?  Oh, wait.  You're probably asking me that, aren't you?  Well, I ran away to paradise for a couple of weeks.  I've been on an island, soaking up the vitamin D, and enjoying 10 hours of daylight.  Did you just read that and think "What?  Who talks like this?"  If you aren't from Alaska and have never lived here then this might sound like some fresh brand of crazy talk, but it's not.  Okay, fine I'll explain. When you live in the Interior of Alaska, you experience the shortest day of the year, known as "Winter Solstice," in a totally different way.  On this day our area has only about four hours of daylight.  No, don't adjust your glasses or your computer screen.  You read that right.  FOUR FREAKING HOURS - that's it!!  You view this day as a right of passage and begin counting the minutes that will become hours of daylight.  You've survived the darkness.  With the lack of light, comes...