Broken Bone

Well, the fun goes on. The first night here I slipped on the ice coming out of a market on the way home from work. I caught myself with my hand (right, of course!) I lived with the pain until yesterday and then decided I needed to see a doctor. Sure enough it was broken and I have a pretty blue cast to my elbow.

I can't write but I am managing with the computer. Doing my hair is a problem . . . I go back in 2 weeks to get it x-rayed. Apparently this bone takes two weeks to either get better or get worse. So we will see what happens.

We have lots of ice and we have 6 new inches of snow - I can't tell you what Anchorage looks like because I haven't left work until 7 or 8, and then it's dark. We sure miss everyone.

Welcome to Alaska

Well, I promise I won't post every day because it would be very boring, but I will try and update every few days so you all know what's going on.

We had our first day at work and it will be a challenge. We are over two offices and they do over 3000 returns.

By the way, Hadley, we would had to sedate you to get you through the snowy mountains. Lanette, the worst frost heaves were 20 miles out of Grand Prairie and then after Destruction Bay. And they were bad!

We miss everyone and send our love - please email us anytime - cdvmathis@hotmail

Final Day Six

The weather was beautiful today. We drove to Destruction Bay (named because of the wind). A gentlemen there told us they have GIANT mosquitoes in the bush. The road was good, then we headed for the Alaskan border. There were huge frost heaves and we felt like we had been on a roller coaster for hours. The border was so slow and quiet, the agent talked to us for 10 minutes.

We headed for Tok and then more mountains. We saw a sled dog team and two herd of reindeer. Then more mountains and the last 150 miles were on a very narrow two lane road through huge mountains. We were so exhausted and thought they would never end.

However, as all good things come to an end, we arrived in Anchorage safe and sound, if somewhat bleary eyed.

We are staying in a beautiful home - wierd living in someone else's home - but we are keeping a positive attitude.

Day Five

Today we got up to -4, had french toast with some locals and headed out. It just kept getting colder and we hit -19. As far as you can see it's snow covered pines and looks like everything is frozen solid. It is! We pass so few cars, we stop in the middle of the road and take pictures. The big joke is, Lee asks "any cars coming?" Ha! Never! It's hard to explain the amount of wilderness all around you. We felt like we were all alone and so grateful for a warm truck and one that runs so well.

We had a clear day and no snow. We drove to Whitehorse in Yukon Territory. Only 800 or so miles to go!

Awesome, Scarey, Spiritual Day Four

What a day! We drove from Fort St. John to Watson Lake. In 560 miles we passed maybe 10 cars. We drove through mountain after mountain and it was snowing like crazy. We could hardly see the road in many places. So I prayed for big trucks to come by, although normally we hate it. (They make tracks and blow some snow off, even though they make it so hard to see with all the snow kicked up). Well, during those hundreds of miles, 3 trucks came at different times right when we needed them. I prayed for a bright moon to help us to see, and the moon shown bright. Then I prayed like crazy for the snow to stop. At the top of the last summit, it stopped snowing. We stopped the truck and got out and it was truly an awesome, inspiring experience. It was quiet with a bright moon and even stars starting to peek out. We were so blessed and safe!

There is a whole other story on the "hotel" we stayed in; but, suffice it to say, it is a story we will laugh about in years to come. Another day tomorrow!

Day Three

British Columbia is very interesting - miles and miles and miles of fields of snow. We passed signs showing golf courses, many camping spots, and boating so there must be lakes out there. There is ranch after ranch, field after field, rolled hay bales in the fields, and snow as far as you can see.

We had great weather until we got to Grand Prairie. I had just said how we were blessed with good weather and then the snow came. We followed a small red truck for 200 miles at 40 miles an hour in blowing snow and I will post the picture when we get to Anchorage.

We are in Fort St. John and a severe winter storm warning has been posted north of us so we will see how it is in the morning. By the way, diesel was $4.20 a gallon here and we are told it will be about $6.00 a gallon by Watson Lake. It was $1.11 a liter today and I am getting pretty good at converting. We plug in the truck to electricity each night to keep the engine warm. I will take a picture when we get there to show you how dirty it is - it's no longer white.

Everything is expensive - fuel, food - lodging is about the same.

We keep telling ourselves "it's an adventure" and that it is. We could be home watching TV being bored. And we are defintely not bored!!!

Day Two

We left Lethbridge about 9 am and encountered blowing snow almost all the way. We were headed to Fort St. John, British Columbia, but by the time we got to Edmonton, we needed a rest. We decided to spend the night here, get a good night's sleep, and start out early in the morning.

We went to the West Edmonton Mall and had dinner. It is one of the largest malls in the world. It has an ice skating rink, water park (with waves), an amusement park, casino (no we didn't go), and over 800 stores. It was good to walk after sitting for so long. I must say that I still like the Mall of America in Minneapolis better.

Everything is metric so we are constantly converting which gives me something to do while Lee drives. It is snowing like crazy so tomorrow should be interesting! Keep us in your prayers!

Day One of Journey

We had an uneventful trip and made it all the way to Lethbridge, Alberta. It was mostly cold and clear - one spot was 2 but most of the time it was about 14. We had curvy mountain roads covered with snow between Butte and Great Falls, Montana, but otherwise the roads were great.

We were very tired and didn't arrive in Lethbridge until midnight so the bed felt real good!! Tomorrow is a new day!

North to Alaska

Since Lee and I have an interesting three months ahead of us, I thought we would start a blog to chronicle our stay in Alaska. We are leaving Wednesday morning for a 3100 mile trip through cold Canada to Anchorage. We will be managing two Liberty Tax Service offices there until the end of April. We could have flown but wanted to have our truck to see the sites. Lee has been to Alaska but I have never been. We hope it is a beautiful but uneventful drive and would like to arrive there by Sunday night. We're prepared for emergencies but plan on none!

We already miss our friends and family - Andrew will be walking and Shelly is expecting her baby on April 13 (bad timing) but I plan on flying back anyway. Hadley and her 4 girls were here for a visit after Christmas and we had a great time. I got to spend a little time with my brother on my birthday even though we were at a funeral in Jerome.

My next post won't be for a few days but hopefully we will post some pictures - I hear there are a lot of moose up that way! So here we go!!!