Davenport, Iowa: Out Like A Lamb.....

Ever heard the saying "In like a lion; out like a lamb"?

I'm beginning to think that saying is an apt metaphor for our Alaska trip.

I mean, this trip started off with a bang and just got stronger over time. IN April we started in Arizona heading quickly into the various national parks of Utah. Lake Mead, Zion, Bryce, Moab, etc. etc.

Each experience building on the previous experience. Wow!

Then we headed up into Montana, where the scenery is beautiful. Then into Canada's British Columbia, where we spent time in Canada's Banff and Jasper national parks. again, simply spectacular scenery. A quick trip along the Yellowhead Highway (which is infested with bears, moose, deer, etc) to Prince Rupert followed by the trip north through Alaska's Inside Passage.

OMG! The Inside Passage has to be one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth.

And so it went. Alaska unfolding before us and sharing it's beauty and grandeur at every turn.

After two and a half months however, Mary Lynn and I were experiencing sensory overload. Too much beautiful and expansive wilderness. Mountain range after mountain range, all bejeweled with cascading streams and rivers. At some point you realize you have reached your limit when you know longer grab the camera at every turn for yet another spectacular vista or amazing wildlife.

And ever since our tow bar broke in Minnesota it seems as if we are moving in slow motion. First we had to wait for a replacement tow bar to be sent to us and then we had to wait another two days for MLA to start feeling better.

We left on Saturday only to discover that the tow lights are not working correctly. I spent about four hours trouble shooting the problem, tracing the problem to a couple of blown fuses and thought I had it solved. Well, it's still blowing fuses so I need to take it into a Freightliner dealer and have them find and fix whatever is blowing the fuse.

So we spent another day in Davenport, Iowa, waiting for the Freightliner dealer to open on Monday. Why Davenport? Well, that's as far as we were able to get on Saturday before not having brake lights/turn signals on the tow car went from an intermittent problem to totally not working. Or flashing. Or whatever it is that you want the lights to do...

In any case, we now have an appointment at 8 am tomorrow and hopefully the dealer should have us on the road by mid-day. At that time I hope to put a lot of miles under us so we can (finally) get back to Maryland. We expected to be there last Thursday and now it's probably closer to this Thursday.

Normally a delay of a few days is no problem for MLA and I however at this point MLA is pretty homesick and wants to see our kids, as do I. So once this problem is fixed we'll put in a few more hours driving than our normal 4-5 hours at the wheel.

See Ya!