Happy Fourth of July!!!!

Guess what - it's RAINING!!! It rained so hard yesterday and last night that they cancelled the fireworks!! Now - that is raining. We talked to some of the locals yesterday and they said that it is the first time since they have lived in Juneau (and a couple have been here over 20 years) that the city cancelled the fireworks. The radio said that the cloud cover was below Roberts Mountain (which is where they shoot them off from) so even if they had no one would have been able to see them. They were suppose to do them tonight - but with all the rain today I don't know if they will or not. We did have a few fireworks from the people that live close to the campground and over at Skater's Cabin, but nothing worth worrying about. We locked the gate at 10 just like normal. I really think that we dodged a big bullet and I am ever so grateful!

The campground is pretty quiet today - people are staying under their tarps in their own campsite or they are packing up to go home. I think that the rest of the summer we will have mostly tourists coming through and not too many of the locals will be in the campground - unless it's the people who don't have any where else to live. We still have some people that want to stay here permanently - but, when we tell them that there is a 14 day limit and that the rangers enforce it - they move on after their 14 days. I don't know where they go, but they are not here.

Speaking of the rangers - they have told us that in August - when the rain really set in - a lot of the campground will be flooded. There will be parts that we will be able to get to because we are in a truck but the campsites will be underwater and the roadway will be flooded also. That will be something to see - and I'll post pictures IF that occurs. Something to look forward to.

Dan has gone to Walmart - Home Depot. He wants to see if he can figure out a way to do a tarp so he can sit outside and have a fire. He said that if he bought a cheap tarp that he didn't care if he got holes burned in it then he would figure out some way to string it up so he would have a relatively dry place to be outside. Seriously, the way the locals string tarps up from the trees around here it is amazing. They have their own way to do things - and the rangers don't care if they tie stuff to the trees. I know that we have been in some parks that you were not allowed to put anything on the trees - and I know some rangers in places that we have been that would have a heart attack if they saw the way things are done around here. However, if that is the way they have always done it - then that's okay with me. I don't see the problem - they are not nailing anything into the trees - just tying ropes to the trees. Oh well, maybe I can take a picture of a campsite that has a football field of tarp strung up so you can see what I'm talking about.

Well, I haven't talked about finances for a while - it was REALLY expensive getting out here - the total for fuel, camping fees, groceries, and eating out was almost $5,000.00 (that's not counting the ferry). If we add the ferry ticket to the total it was well over the $5,000.00 mark.


Now, June we did pretty good, as far as spending money is concerned. Our largest expense last month was groceries (they are a lot more expensive here and we are not eating out hardly at all - three times at McDonald's all month for a grand total of $22.50. Heh! We've figured out a system - 2 McDoubles, 2 small fries, and 2 SENIOR drinks is $7.50 - not too bad!) We did have some truck expense last month - we had a headlight burn out on the truck and so we had to replace that - which meant that Dan had to buy the special socket required to do that little job. We spent about $75.00 in entertainment - that includes books and video's and about $50.00 for the mail service. We also had to order medicine (our 90 day supply which was close to $100.00 - that is Dan's three medications and my one. We renewed the virsus protection software for the computere and our Good Sam Membership for about $50.00 - extended warranty on the truck is $160 and we did buy some clothes at the Alaska Brewrey Store downtown for about $200. Our total expenses last month was right at $2,600.00 - not too bad. We were able to put some money in savings and we will, hopefully, be able to continue to do that the rest of the time we are here. Now, that figure does not include the $700 we have spent on reservations on the way home - we have purchased our ferry tickets ($525), and a couple of reservations have been prepaid - Albuquerque (for the Balloon Fiesta) and in the Redwood Forest - we also made reservations at a place near Yosmite, but at least those places are paid for and that will be that much less we have to worry about on the way home.

I know that this trip was expensive, but it is a once in a life time trip - or so Dan says, so I guess it is worth it. The totals also included our time in the interior - which added about another $1500 to the trip. I'm not sure how much it will cost for us to get home, but what ever it is we'll handle it.

Okay, I have bored you enough with all the details around here. Dan just got back from the store and I'm sure he will want some lunch. I hope that you all have a fabulous 4th of July -

Take care and ---------------------

I'll talk to tomorrow!!!!