Monday, October 29, 2007

AK Adventure-10/29/07

Hello to all who are still viewing the blog. We have finally figured out how to show off the rest of the pictures Pam took during our trek to Alaska. Our blog site is simply loaded to full to provide you with any further pictures on the site. Therefore, Kodak Gallery, or Ofoto, is the only feasible way we can figure out how to do this. If we do not have your e-mail address we will need it. Please send your address to bobj3500@comcast.net in order to see more pictures. You should know by now if you are in my address book. If you are, you do not need to send your address.
We will be sending out an e-mail containing a couple of photo albums. You must register with a user name and password in order to view them. However, you only need to do this once. And, as our life progresses here in Alaska, we can use this site to supply you with pictures we gather along the way. Again, you will still only need to register once.
Look for an e-mail from us with photo albums in it. That's the one you'll need. In the future, when you see an album from us, you'll know what it is.
In the meantime, our life here is simply chaotic. We're still hanging out in the RV, but have begun the job search. What the job search reveals will dictate where we search for a permanent address. It will either be north of Anchorage, or in the city itself. This may work itself out in a few days, and we'll let you know. The moose are everywhere. In fact, Matt and Kim have a 2 year old daughter. A few days ago a bull moose found his way into their front yard. Matt came around the corner of the RV to see his baby daughter petting the moose on the nose......BIG PROBLEM! The moose, however, was very patient and cooperative, sensing the innocence of this child, thus allowing her to continue unthreatened. Matt and Kim have an icy, downhill driveway. Pam and I walked out of their house last night to find the car had slid down the ice, halfway down the hill. We still don't know what stopped it from sliding all the way across the street and into the neighbors house. Ah, and here's a good one. Pam and I both had to take the Alaska driver's test to secure our new driver's licenses. I passed the first time....Pam didn't. As I was taking my test I could hear her voice behind me say 'I failed?'. I knew right away I had something I could hang over her head. She had to take it again the next day, and she called me on the phone to say she had failed again. Me, being the smart and learned husband, elected not to tease her this time, for this could have spelled the end of me. What was once funny, is no longer. On the third day, she passed, and all of a sudden everything became funny again. Interesting how that works out. In all honesty, the questions were very much out of the ordinary, and most people fail the AK test before passing it. Especially those of us coming from the Lower 48. There was an unusual amount of questions on the test which dealt with drunk driving. This was likey by design. We did get some bad news today from Sahara's new Vet. For those of you who don't know, Sahara is the first of our two beloved dogs (but don't tell Sahara I just referred to her as a dog). As many of you know, she was recently diagnosed with diabetes, and has since gone completely blind. She has now been diagnosed with Cushion's Disease (a brain tumor). It originated in the pituitary gland, so it is not cancerous, as is the case with tumors that originate in the adrenal gland. Good news and bad news. It could have been worse, but her lifespan will still be significantly effected. I won't go into details about her prognosis.
Well, that's it for now. Look for more in your e-mail.
Bob and Pam Johnson

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Unbelieveable beauty everywhere you look :-)



What a blessing it is, and was to have this privilege to drive to Alaska!!

Look both ways before you cross!!



Deer? Moose? Caribou? Antelope?

More art work from God!!


Landscape



This is what you get when you run your pie hole!!


Now it is time for my side of the story...
I just wanted to show you what happens when you question the driver of the RV about how close you are to the signs in downtown Billings and when you shout STOP!STOP! when there is a bull moose in the distance by the edge of the road!! I will always get the last laugh... Bob made an excellant bug catcher taped to the front of the RV. We did get a lot of stares but, you always get what you ask for!!!

XOXO
PJ

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

AK Adventure-10/17/07

We did it. We rolled into Anchorage last night around 5PM (9PM Eastern). As soon as we arrived we went directly to U-Haul to get rid of the trailer. We then drove the car to a manual car wash to eliminate much of the grim that built up on Pam's car. From there it was on to Matt and Kim Lowe's house where we were greated with an exceptionally delicious dinner. The RV is parked in their driveway just like Cousin Eddy's in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That's our new home until we figure out what we're going to do from here. For the next few days we are going to unload the rest of the car, reorganize the RV, and store what we don't need in Matt and Kim's garage. On Friday of this week I have one last follow up interview with a potential employer in Palmer, Alaska. If I get this job we will likely try to relocate to that area soon, but we're just not sure yet. Everything is up in the air this week, but we did actually make it here. What a remarkable journey it has been so far, and one without problems. It's around 50 degrees here, and partly cloudy. The first thing we did this morning was head to Starbucks. We made it about 50 feet out of the driveway and were greeted by two big moose. It was as if they were welcoming us to our new home. The drive to Starbucks was accompanied by a beautiful sunlit view of a magnificant mountain range. Actually, neither one of us can believe it yet.....we just relocated to the great state of Alaska. It has not sunk in yet.
It will be a tough winter for us, given we have to get acquainted with our new surroundings. But, we are encouraging any and all visitors who want to come and see us next summer. By then we will have been long since settled in.
We have figured out the problem with providing you with pictures via our blog site. It can't handle the amount of pictures we have to share with you. So, we're trying to figure out another way to get them to you. Give us a little time. Right now we're strung out from the road and just want to relax and do nothing for a couple of days, including thinking. All we're looking forward to tonight is dinner at Humpy's and the baseball game on TV.
Much, much more to come.
Love.
Bob and Pam