- Sunday,
27 April 2008
- We took off early Wednesday morning - Jim was driving and
Missy was sleeping - and headed for Liard Hot Springs. To
our surprise and disappointment, the once free hot springs
park is now closed off with a gate and there is an entry fee.
A day pass is $5.00CA.We were there about 6:30 AM, and the
park didn't open until 7AM. We would have stayed and paid
the fee, but we didn't have any Canadian money with us. So
we pushed onward to Watson Lake and our next fuel stop. It
was on this stretch that we saw some bison, and a bald eagle.
After Watson Lake, the next stop was Whitehorse, and then
on to Haines Junction. We had great weather for driving, and
saw some beautiful scenery. We made it to the Alaska border
in the early evening, and got through quickly with a minimum
of questions. We made it to Tok, AK in time to get a celebratory
hamburger at Fast Eddy's. We crashed for the night in Tok.
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- Thursday morning, Jim tried to fuel up in Tok, and his card
didn't work...there was a message to call the bank...When
we got to Glenallen, and in cell phone range, we called the
bank and found out that someone had stolen Jim's card number
in Watson Lake, and they were charging up stuff on it. The
bank caught it because while my card was moving steadily north,
Jim's card suddenly started heading south at the same time!
We were so glad they caught it and they declined all the charges
that we couldn't verify with our receipts. We have to give
a big thank-you to Wells Fargo and their fraud detection department!
They saved us a bunch of money and trouble. By late morning,
we were in Wasilla, and did some grocery shopping before heading
toward home. We drove out to our house, but it is still snowed
in, and the road is pretty muddy. We had to do a 'fly by'
because we didn't want to slow down too much for fear of getting
stuck! We then headed into Talkeetna to shower and do some
laundry. We crashed for the night at the truck stop at Sunshine.
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- Friday morning, Jim actually went to work early, and got
all checked in at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge.
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- Tuesday,
22 April 2008
- We played our
last shows in Riggins on Friday, Saturday & Sunday. We
packed up and said good-bye to all our friends there one last
time. We took off on Sunday night, but only got as far as
Craigmont Idaho.
- Yesterday, we
fueled up in Lewiston and headed for the border. Our route
took us through Spokane WA, and up to Kettle Falls, where
we turned and headed across the mountains and up to Oroville.
We got in to Canada with a minimum of fuss, but it brought
back some bad memories... We'll have to go into that another
time! We went up through the Okanagin Valley, which is the
"Riviera" of Canada. There are alot of fruit orchards,
wineries, and Okanagin Lake. It is beautiful. We hit the Okanagin
Connector just outside of Kelowna BC, and wound up into the
mountains of Canada. We cut across to Cache Creek where we
stopped for fuel, and then we headed straight north. We made
it to just past Williams Lake and stopped for the night.
- Today, we went
through Prince George, where we fueled up again, and then
headed north to Dawson Creek and the start of the Alaska Highway.
We didn't actually go through Dawson Creek, since the highway
goes around the town. We stopped for fuel in Fort St. John
and also did a little grocery shopping. On the way we went
over Pine Pass, one of Jim's favorite places. We kept heading
north to Fort Nelson, where we fueled once again - and it's
getting expensive up here! After a beautiful drive through
Stone Mountain Provincial Park, we got into some snow, and
stopped tonight just past Toad River.
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- Thursday,
17 April 2008
- We made it to
Riggins, Idaho today, after a great trip across the country.
On Saturday night, we stopped about 1 hour east of Rapid City
SD.
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- On Sunday, we
decided to take a route across Wyoming instead of following
the interstate up through Montana and back down again. We
left the interstate at Buffalo WY, and headed up the powder
river pass. We stopped in Ten Sleep, near where Missy worked
at Girl Scout National Center West, almost 20 years ago! We
continued on south and west through Wyoming, passing through
Worland, Thermopolis (home of the world's largest hot springs!),
the wind river canyon, Riverton, and Lander, and stopped for
the night outside Fossil Butte National Monument.
- On Monday, there
was too much snow to do any hiking, so we satisfied ourselves
with a good look at the visitors' center at the monument.
After a good look around, we headed on into Idaho, and got
to Soda Springs just in time to see the man-made geyser go
off. After a short break at Soda Springs, we headed toward
the interstated and Pocatello. Somewhere in between we got
a flat tire on the trailer, and so had to stop in Pocatello
and get a new one. The old one was completely shreaded! We
stopped for the night at a rest area outside of American Falls,
Idaho.
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- On Tuesday morning,
we headed west and south, and took a scenic drive to Bruneau
Canyon Overlook. On the way, we drove along the Snake river,
and saw the most incredible sight. There were hundreds of
tumbleweeds blowing across the fields for miles! We got a
little video of it. Some of them were huge! We spent the night
at Bruneau Canyon, all by ourselves in the wild country!
- On Wednesday, we finally made it to Boise. We spent the
day doing yard work at Grandpa's house, and met his sister
Dorothy and her daughter Donna that night.
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- Today, we got our windshield replaced and headed north to
Riggins!
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View
Slide Shows:
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- Thursday,
10 April, 2008 4:07 PM
- Welcome
To Our New BLOG!
- We are starting a journal of our adventures.
After 3 1/2 years, we are finally on the road back to Alaska.
We hope our friends and family find this new feature fun and
informative! Today we left Madison WI, where we were visiting
Missy's parents and sister, and we're in Chetek WI, at Gary
& Lynda's Lakeshore Resort. They're having a going away
party for us tonight. Tomorrow we head down to the Hersey
Cave Bar in Wilson WI. On Saturday, we will officially start
our trek west. We hope to post our adventures, and pictures
and maybe a little video here. Hopefully it will keep all
our friends & family up to date on where we are, and what
we are doing!
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- Past
Press Releases:
- 16
May 2005- Arctic Thunder To Spend Summer In Wisconsin
- 23
Mar 2004 - Arctic Thunder Plans Tour To Idaho In April
- 28
Dec 2004 - Arctic Thunder Storms Into Wisconsin
- 11
Sept 2004 - Melissa Spradlin Chosen To Compete In Florida
Talent Competition
- 16
Jan 2004 - Arctic Thunder Plans Return Trip To Alaska
- 17
Oct 2003 - Arctic Thunder Storms Wisconsin
- 29
Jan 2003 - Arctic Thunder Announces Tour To Lower 48!
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- Thunderhead News Archive
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