This has been a lifetime in the making
When I was a kid, my dad served in the U.S. Air Force. His longest assignment, and probably the most influential one to me was 5 years at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. Today, it is known as Joint Base Elmendorf- Richardson. (It merged with the Army post next door.) I spent almost all of elementary school there.
We drove the 5000 miles from Michigan to Alaska and then reversed the trip five years later when my dad was transferred to another base.
Traveling home to visit family in Michigan in the summer wasn’t an option when we lived there so we traveled around Alaska instead. My parents bought a camper and traveled all over central and southern Alaska with me and my sisters in tow.
I loved living there as a kid. It was a great place to grow up. I’ve been wanting to return since we left there 50 years ago. I know some people think driving 10,000 miles is crazy (I think Greg thinks that too) but for me, it’s an opportunity to revisit some of my childhood and recreate the trip my parents made with us. Greg loves to revisit the neighborhood he grew up in in Detroit and show me some of his favorite neighborhood spots. I’ve never had the same opportunity, until now. Retirement gives us a little more time to go to those places, reminisce a little bit and log some miles together in some of the most beautiful country in the world.
I hope you will enjoy our journey with us in this blog as we log over 10,000 miles with our dogs Hank and Macklin in our Winnebago View 24v. I think it’s the roadtrip of a lifetime!
