Change is constant. Change is good. Change is inevitable. Especially when traveling full time in an RV!

You may have read my blog, “Alaska – On, Off, Back on Again,” that I posted a few weeks ago. Before covid, we had planned to go to Alaska this coming summer. Then, because of the pandemic and the Canadian border closing, we were forced to change our plans. With the recent approval of a third vaccine by Johnson & Johnson, I was re-energized about the possibility that the Canadian border might be open by the end of May, which would be the perfect time to head to Alaska for the summer. Carl was a little wary of the idea, but got caught up in my excitement. Within a couple of days, we realigned and rescheduled our travel plans through California and Oregon to be near the border above Bellingham, Washington by May 16.

As I started to plan our driving route and itinerary so we could make camping reservations at Denali National Park, signs of a slow re-awakening from the pandemic were evident on various websites. I began to realize that maybe this summer was not the best time to go. On the one hand, there would be less traffic and easier accessibility to various locations and activities. On the other hand, many things would still be at reduced capacity or not entirely open, and our trip through Canada might be restricted. Carl voiced the doubts I was starting to have, expressing a desire to go to Canada and Alaska when everything was more open and back to some semblance of normalcy. I reluctantly agreed. Not even a week after I posted my Alaska blog, the trip was OFF … AGAIN!

We are fortunate to have the flexibility to change our plans on a whim, but sometimes it leaves an impression that our decision-making capabilities have deteriorated. Alaska has not been the only decision we’ve toyed with recently. Carl has waffled a few times on upgrading our 2003 Ford F250 pickup to a newer model. And, just in the past day or two, we have been negotiating a realignment of our upcoming travel plans to Rancho Oso RV & Camping Resort near Santa Barbara because others have reported there is no cell phone or TV signal there, and Carl doesn’t want to miss the Masters golf tournament! Priorities, priorities.

This is what we know today: We are postponing our trip to Alaska for next summer after Rachel graduates, assuming the world is past the pandemic. We are tabling the truck decision until we get back to North Carolina in November. And we are still jumping through the hoops to change our location so we can watch the Masters April 8-12. We are adding in Sequoia National Park for a day or so before going to Yosemite, and we plan to camp on the Oregon Coast at the beginning of May. We might make it to Glacier National Park in June—and maybe even the Tetons—but we have yet to decide our route back to North Carolina, where we plan to be in November.

The good news is we are beginning to make new friends, and some of them might be traveling to Alaska next summer as well. Meeting up with them in different locations will be an added bonus to this trip of a lifetime.

Stay tuned for future RIVETING travel decisions. It definitely keeps US on the edge of our seats.

Dirt. Rock. Barren land. Palm trees. One can get over-saturated with the desert view after a while. Luckily for us, we were still in Palm Springs, California when Desert X started, and we were able to get some culture!

Desert X is an exhibition of thirteen art installations around Palm Springs, basically turning the area from Palm Desert to Sky Valley to downtown Palm Springs into an outdoor art museum. A free app is available to download that introduces each artist and the piece he/she created along with directions to its location. It is free with parking and easy access to each piece, although timed tickets are required from Thursdays through Sundays for many, if not all, of the exhibits. It runs from March 12 to May 16, 2021, with one of the installations not being available until the early part of April. We spent a day driving around to see some of them. For more information about the artists and their creations, click on the names or visit desertx.org.

When someone says they’ve patronized a desert bar in Arizona, you might think that isn’t a big deal since Arizona is mostly desert. In fact, you might be envisioning driving down a regular, paved two- or four-lane road, seeing a brightly-lit neon sign that reads BAR with an arrow pointing to a run-down hole-in-the-wall on the side of the road surrounded by barren landscape with scraggly brush and a few cacti.

Fingers crossed. Since starting full-time RVing last May, we had planned to travel to Alaska this summer (2021). A few months ago, though, we decided not to put the effort into planning our itinerary because we were hearing the Canadian border would be closed through a good part of the summer due to the pandemic. Taking a ferry is not an option for us—the price is prohibitive for our budget. And enjoying as much of Alaska as we can requires crossing into Canada no later than the end of May.

With three covid vaccines now available, though, we are thinking (and hoping) the border might open by then, accommodating our timeline.

So, planning and preparations have commenced. We will shorten our journey through CA (currently set for the next 2.5 months) to be in northern WA by the end of May. I am so excited! If we don’t go this year, it will be 2023 before we go. Not a big deal. Next year, 2022, our daughter graduates from Appalachian State University with her Master’s degree in Student Affairs, and we want to be in Boone, NC to celebrate with her and attend the ceremony. She (as well as so many others) was deprived of a graduation ceremony for her undergraduate degree in 2020 because of the pandemic, so next year’s graduation is a MUST! We could go to Alaska right after that, but it would require traveling across the U.S. with our Airstream much faster than the pace we like.

A full summer in Alaska is our plan, heading back to the 48 contiguous states by the early part of September. This will be a once-in-a-lifetime journey. There is so much to see and do in the U.S. and Canada that getting back to Alaska will be way down on our list once we make the trip. I look forward to seeing wildlife, kayaking on pristine waters, flying in an air taxi, boating to a glacier, Carl eating fresh salmon, whale watching, maybe dipping my toes in the Arctic Ocean, meeting some sled dogs, viewing the northern lights, breathing in peace and beauty. We’ll see. We’ll be open and absorb the experiences we can while there.

Alaska, here we come! See you in June (hopefully)!

A day trip to the Grand Canyon for one last glimpse before we headed into California ended much differently than expected.