Might as well get it out there

So several people have asked and expressed their interest in hearing some of our adventures from our recent trip: driving the Alaskan Highway from Anchorage Alaska all the way to Altus Oklahoma.

So, before my husband gets the chance to pick on his wife, I am going to get it out there first. My husband has loved to tell this story to those we have already spoken to.

So, we were on our way to Yellowstone Nat'l Park. It was a long day of driving through Montana and we were hoping there would still be a campground open in Yellowstone, cause we have been camping our whole trip down from AK. When we arrive all of the campgrounds were full. This, however, was fine with me since there was the escaped convict and his woman on the loose in the park. Yes, I know it is a big park and my chances were probably slim of running into them. However, it would be just my luck that we picked the campground they were in and low and behold I have no story to tell cause I would be DEAD! Thank you Lord for full campgrounds. Anyway, we track back up the road from Yellowstone about 15 miles and find a little campground that will work for the night. The wind is howling and the rain is blowing sideways (kind of reminded me of Homer, AK). We get the tent pitched. Go scavenging for wood..no luck there, all we found were twigs. We collected lots and lots of twigs for our fire that lasted 15 min, thank you very much wind. I go pay for the website and there is a large board beside the pay slot that tells you about the campground and anything going on in the immediate area. So, there is the normal info about bears being in the area - this was nothing new all the campgrounds we camped had and have bears in the immediate area - and rattlesnakes were in the area. I walk around a little bit and deem we are snake free and all is well. Kids are in their sleeping bags all cuddled up, Kevin and I enjoy the last 30 seconds of our wimpy fire and we hit our sleeping bags around 9:30 - it had been a long day and we had another before us, we didn't realize yet how long the next day would actually be. The wind was fierce, flapping our tent and shaking it all night long. I was well into my sleep when at my head I hear "sniff sniff, long breath out, sniff, sniff, sniff" then something walking in the grass around the tent. OH CRAP! I smack Kevin and tell him to get up and get the bear spray. Mind you, it is pitch black. We have not been in darkness since the winter in Alaska. I could not see a thing! I grab the kids and pull them to the center of the tent and we listen. and listen. Then, I hear people talking. Uh, there is possibly a bear out there and people are talking? What time is it, only 11:30? Then I hear it. The people are calling up their dog. Yes, there was a rottweiler camping next to us, and my bear turned out to be a dog. Go ahead, get your laugh.

I was so freaked out after that I could barely sleep (no pun intended!). And you know what happens when you wake up from a good sleep. You have to go pee. I was NOT getting up and walking to the bathroom. No way, and neither was Kevin! So, I was on high alert all night, not getting back into a good sleep. The wind picked up and kept us up even more. Morning came too quickly and we had to breakdown and hit the road. We were exhausted. The coffee we found tasted like dirt. I had toothpicks propping up my eyelids all day. It took us forever to get through Yellowstone and Old Faithful didn't help our time issue any. Our day ended up being 15 hours in the car to make it from the North entrance of Yellowstone to Colorado Springs.

There it is. It's out......