Day 1 and 2

So I finally decided to give this blogging thing a try. I just realized that adventure is misspelled in the title, the website suggests I use a misspelled word. Technology. Anyways the idea of this blog is to chronicle in journal form the trek myself, my wife, sister and 2 kids are making by road to Alaska. Nothing but ourselves an SUV and a travel trailer for the next 6 weeks.

Amy (my wife) and I had been planning this adventure for probably 8 years now. We enjoy the wilderness and hiking and nature. On one of our trips out West we ended up in the Canadian Rockies, and it was absolutely breathtaking. There was something still raw and inviting about this wilderness and we decided that when we had the time we must return and make the journey to the final bit of frontier left- Alaska. We later got married and had two children, and we have decided to raise them with the same sense of adventure we feel is so important. I recently graduated from my residency in Emergency Medicine. It is a good job and I love what I do. Residency was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was a physical and emotional beat down. My last ER shift of residency was 3 days before we left. I thought I would be happy to be finished but it was a kind of bittersweet moment. I felt like all of a sudden a major chapter in my life was over. For the last 3 years I had spent more time at work with all these folks than with my own family. A good friend of mine Luke put it well when he said "it feels like you have been divorced". Nonetheless that chapter is closed.

We decided to buy the RV trailer in February so we could have time to test it before such a long trip. It is a 26 foot thing with bunks in the back and a queen bed in the front. It isn't a luxury trailer but I think it gets the job done. It feels like taking your own little cabin with you wherever you go. The close quarters take some getting used to, but its fun

We left Temple on July 1st and made a relatively easy drive to Norman OK to overnight with Amy's brother and sister in law. They have 2 kids almost identical in age to ours so it was nice for Grant and Alex to be able to play and burn some energy. On the way we stopped and got Braums burgers and had a picnic at a nice park in a town called Gainesville TX, When we got to Norman spent a relaxed evening eating grilled dogs and burgers and had ice cream sundaes for desert. The kids played and had a good time. Woke up the next day and set out trying to make a long bomb of a drive to Denver.

The drive toward Denver was uneventful. It was interstate in Kansas. This was extremely boring as it is miles and miles of wheat fields. Got very tired of the driving. We did about 600 miles today. We were able to stop a few times to let Grant play. We go to a playground or Mcdonalds playground usually and let him get out to play. One of us will get a coffee so we are not completely mooching. Grant plays a bit and its back on the road. Got about 10-11 mpg today. It seems like we stop for gas about every 190 miles. We wanted to get all the way to Denver but we were running late and then hit a horrible storm. Amy was driving and it was bad with high winds. We managed to get to our campsite in Limon Colorado without incident though. Its a muddy mess outside. Ate Jamaican patties and hot dogs for quick dinner and then tried to get the kids to bed. This is always a chore because it is new surrounding and they don't want to shut it down. We will plan on getting an early start tomorrow and trying to make it to Cody Wyoming.