Day One Alaska 2009

  Saginaw, Minnesota
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

I should have known something was up when Val came home with a new red collar with white bone print. I was clueless even though the collar sported a new shiny gold tag with my name, Dave's name and Dave's phone number on it. The gold bells on the collar really should have been a signal, but after all I'm just a Beagle albeit a smart one. Val puts bells on my collar to warn bears and other critters that we are in the vicinity. Personally, I don't think a bear will care if I have bells on or not. If he or she is hungry I don't think the bells will stop them. So anyway, I digress... When the alarm went off this morning I definitely knew it would be a different day because since both Dave and Val are retired the alarm almost never goes off. Not only did it go off, but it was buzzing away in the middle of the night. It was still dark out for heaven's sake. Dave and Val hop out of bed, and hustled around like it was a fire drill or something, and before I knew it we were headed down the road. Val says Dave wanted to leave at 6:00 a.m., and we were on the road by 6:05 a.m. - not bad.

We stopped at a roadside park for lunch, and of course Dave and Val are coaxing me to go potty, but I just cannot make myself go while people are looking. Or maybe it's because I get too involved with all the smells of a new place, and just can't focus long enough to do it. So it was a pretty long day in the backseat until we got to Saginaw, Minnesota, and the Saginaw Campground. It is right off the highway, but Val says that highway sounds are not near as bad as a train whistle in your ear or 747's zooming feet above the trailer to land at the runway next door. We got a pull through site so we don't have to unhook the trailer from the truck - that's a bonus. It will be easy to pack up and get back on the road in the morning.

Our day was uneventful. We saw a couple of turkeys, but that's it. Roads were clear and dry until we got to the other side of Duluth, Minnesota when it started to rain. It came down in buckets for awhile, but let up when we got to the campground. Dave and Val got the trailer set up, well mostly Dave, and then it started raining again. We ate our supper, and then the sun came out.

As we travel west we are hope to see some interesting sites to photograph so our readers will not be bored. Not that you should be bored looking at a handsome, suave Beagle type...

Your trav'lin friend,
Remington Beagle