Adios, Big Sky Country

And this is why they call it Big Sky Country!
The Crazy Mountains, dwarfed by the sky and clouds.

You may have noticed that things have been rather quiet here at Kinexxions. I've been busy with the photo project, which I'm happy to say has been completed. In the process I was able to free-up over 55gb of hard drive space on the netbook and have sent an external drive with all of the photos to a friend for safekeeping.

The ladies at the library have been very nice, helpful and friendly. The wifi has been wonderful and it is greatly appreciated. I've spent a couple hours there every day that it has been open.

Sadly, I haven't done as much sightseeing here as I would have liked. Which means that I'll probably have to come back... which wouldn't be a bad thing, it has been VERY NICE here. The weather has been pretty good. Most days there has been sunshine. In the evenings it seems to get a little cloudy. There have been a couple of rainy days, but not an all-day rain. Temperatures have been very pleasant – in the upper 70s and lower 80s with a couple of days in the low 90s.

The van has been emptied and cleaned and a few things were discarded giving me a little space for some of the things I'll need for the next portion of the journey. I'll be leaving here Sunday morning and heading North... through Canada and into Alaska!

Yes, Alaska! A place I've wanted to go to for a very long time... my friends Sue and Fred (the same folks who got me down into the Grand Canyon) notified me less than a month ago that they had added Alaska to their fall trip. I took advantage of their generous offer to join them anywhere along their journey so we're going to meet at Denali National Park for several days then go down to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days. I'll be spending additional time in that area while they head on over to the Inner Passage to Haines, Skagway, and Juneau. I'll be going there too, just not at the same time. And so, this is why I haven't done much sightseeing here in Montana! I've been spending a great deal of time at the library looking up information about activities and making reservations. There is so much to see and do! It is overwhelming.

I'm excited but nervous at the same time. It is a long drive but from what I've read, the roads through Canada and into Alaska are similar to our secondary roads here in the lower 48 so I'm not overly concerned about that aspect of the trip. It is just a very, very long ways away...