The planning stages..

As our departure date approaches, Bucky and I are getting our things together. We're trying to travel light since we'll have to fly into Denver, where we will pick up the RV. Levi will take our fishing gear, tent and sleeping pads to Idaho with him when he leaves Connecticut in the first week of June. We hope to be with him by June 23rd for a day of fishing on the Snake River. It would be nice to stay longer, but we need to hurry to meet the Phinneys in Anchorage by July 1st. It's a long 3,000 miles from Denver to Anchorage. We were able to find some decent inexpensive sleeping bags from Cabelas and a stove on sale at REI which are waiting for us at Dar and Barb Kuhlmann's in Englewood, CO. It has been nice to have a go-to location to send needed supplies to so as not to have to fly with them. Although we won't be doing too much backpacking, we're trying to stay as light as possible. The best purchase by far has been the survival 22. The rifle can be broken down into 3 pieces with two of these fitting into the plastic stock, all of which floats. We're hoping that we can take advantage of the subsistence hunting rule. The rifle won't handle a bear, but certainly some birds. There seem to be an endless list of things to do before we leave. These have included getting the house ready for our renters (professors from Princeton teaching at Bread Loaf School of English), making sure that Dad Kuhlmann is well taken care of, setting Xena up with Sutton, Val and Hana in Middlebury and Fisher and Pepper with Burke in So. Hero. We have gradually been setting up automatic bill paying. There seem to be many more bills paid each month than we had realized. We plan to travel with our laptop and Carlisle says there is WiFi access in most coffee shops in Anchorage. Since we have little or no itinerary it will be up to us to check in with family. It's our hope that this blog will keep folks informed of our whereabouts and activities.