RV ALASKA - Alaska by the Number$

This post marks the end of the RV ALASKA series which documented our four month trip across the U.S., through western Canada, on into Alaska and back in 2024.  I understand that Alaska by the Number$ won’t be of interest to everyone, but I believe it will be of interest to (1) anyone already planning to make this journey and (2) those who might be contemplating this expedition for the future and are looking for some general parameters.  I debated reprinting the tips I had shared in posts throughout the summer, thinking that keeping all trip-planning information together in one place would be the most helpful.  While that’s probably true, in the end, I decided to focus mainly on the numbers.  This post is longer than most as it stands, and I sure don’t want anyone falling asleep on my watch.  So, grab a cup of coffee (or an adult beverage, if you prefer) and settle in for the nitty-gritty details.  To my fellow numbers nerds, I raise my mug of morning coffee in your honor . . . Salute!

RV ALASKA - Homeward Bound!

The day after Cliff and Diane left North Bend, an Army Corps of Engineers campground on the Virginia/North Carolina border, Alan and I poked around the rest of the park under mostly cloudy skies.  With steady rain in the forecast for the days ahead, we cut our losses and headed for home two days ahead of schedule.  The drive north was a wet one.  Even though the Cabela’s in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, was a favorite stop (whether we’re overnighting with the travel trailer or not), it was a pretty dreary evening.  Dumping our tanks in the rain the following morning didn’t do much to improve our spirits.  We are definitely not the material of which full-timers are made.  We were feeling a bit road weary, and we were both happy knowing that “Home” was plugged into the GPS as the destination of the day.

RV ALASKA - 2024 Outdoors RV Owners East Coast Rally

In planning to spend the summer of 2024 in Alaska, Alan and I were working within certain parameters.  We had secured a highly coveted waterfront site at Northampton Beach Campground on Great Sacandaga Lake in central New York for the opening weekend of the 2024 camping season.  Plus, Ryan and Anya (our son and daughter-in-law) and friends Bernie, Carol, Cliff and Diane (fellow Outdoors RV owners) were joining us there.  So, the departure date for our Alaska adventure was actually the day after Memorial Day when we broke camp at Northampton Beach.  At the other end of the trip was the 2024 Outdoors RV (ORV) Owners East Coast Rally scheduled for mid-September at Pocahontas State Park in Virginia.  Because we had missed the last three annual rallies, Alan and I were determined to attend this one.

When we left Dam West on Carlyle Lake in Illinois, we were pushing hard to arrive at the rally on September 19^th.  That would mean two days of driving through Illinois, Kentucky, West Virginia and most of Virginia.  After a quick one night layover at Kentucky Horse Park State Park near Lexington, we pushed on to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield, Virginia.  By this time, Alan and I were a bit road weary, but the thought of reconnecting with ORV friends, old and new, made the final push worthwhile.  Following the rally, we had planned to spend four nights at North Bend, an Army Corps of Engineers (COE) campground on the John Kerr Reservoir – a large body of water on the Virginia/North Carolina border.  North Bend had been on my bucket list for years, but we never made it there because it was kinda sorta in the middle of nowhere.  As it turns out, “the middle of nowhere” was just an hour and a half from the ORV rally, and Alan and I decided that a few days of down time at a bucket list campground would be an excellent way to end our Alaska expedition.  Little did we know we were in for a surprise ending.

RV ALASKA - Cinnamon Rolls Across America!

I published my first blog post seven years ago in December of 2017.  I started blogging after I escaped from the work force, mainly to document our travels - especially our extended cross-country National Parks trips with our kids.  Plus, I enjoyed creative writing and wanted to do more of it than just produce our annual Christmas newsletter.  And, I was hoping to connect with like-minded adventurers who enjoyed travel and the camping lifestyle as much as Alan and I did.

What has truly amazed me is the number of friendships that have developed during these past seven years.  Connections I expected; ongoing friendships, I did not, but it is with a whole lot of gratitude that I view these relationships.  Many of my connections and friendships are with fellow bloggers; a few are with wonderful people Alan and I have met in our travels.  Today’s post is a story of a friendship that came about strictly due to happenstance and coincidence.  And it’s a “dam” fine story.