Day 1 - Welcome to our trip journal!

We are Ken and Carole Adams, Wagonmasters for Adventure Caravans, headed north for an RV tour of Canada and Alaska through Aug 4. Spence and Madeline Schaaf are our tailgunners, and we have a wonderful group of guests. We plan for participants to update our travels as we go, understanding there may be a delay occasionally due to lack of internet access. We’ll do our best to keep current, so you can follow along with us on our journey. Please invite your family and friends to travel along with us!

Alaska is a beautiful place to see, but the journey to get there can be incredible. Today we are meeting in Soap Lake, Washington, at the Soap Lake RV Resort, for the first official day of our tour. We have ten guest couples here and will have six more couples join us as we head north. Most folks have been in the RV Park for a few days and are already getting to know their travel companions. Several of us travelled to Grand Coulee Dam the other evening to watch a narrated laser light show projected into the white water spilling down the dam. It was absolutely awesome!!

Staff have been busy, planning and preparing for the tour, welcoming everyone as they arrive and inspecting vehicles to head off potential mechanical problems. This afternoon was our orientation meeting, where we went over the information folks might need to make their tour a resounding success. We had a great meeting, with lots of snacks and fun :) We had a surprise hail storm in the middle of it all. Marble sized hail began pounding down in the middle of Ken’s presentation!

We are going to have a great tour with all our new friends!! We can’t wait to get started!!

Ken and Carole Adams, Wagonmasters

1 more day ...........

What a beautiful, sunshiney day it was today here at Soap Lake! 

Spence (the tailgunner) finished up his rig inspections, Carole and I went into town (Ephrata) to get provisions for tomorrow's "get acquainted party and Tour Orientation".  Many of our fellow travelers were making last minute preparations, shopping, washing their rigs, and readying their RV's and tow vehicles for the trip ahead.

It's funny that we are having a "get acquainted" party.  I think that over the last few days we have all begun to know one another a lot better.  We really have a great bunch of people for this trip.  We will be adding 6 more couples in just a few days.  They will be joining a very friendly, pleasant group.  I am sure they will be easily assimilated and welcomed.

3 days till rendezvous..................

We woke up to the sound of pitter patter on the roof of the motorhome.  After the warm, sunny day of our arrival, it had started raining overnight.  It rained most of the day while Spence began applying the caravan stickers to each RV and car; Carole and I began making our in-rig visits to give guests their jackets, backpacks, etc, and go over the necessary paperwork.  At least OUR work was indoors! 

It was good to get a little more acquainted with some of the people we will be traveling with for almost 2 months!  Throughout the day the rest of our members arrived in the campground.  All the folks that will be leaving here from Soap Lake are now with us. 

At 4:00 pm we had a social gathering.  It had stopped raining about an hour before that, so we were able to gather around Ken and Carole's motorhome, outdoors.  Today we had the pleasure of meeting Erv and Trecia Attebury, Bill and Marilyn Kern, Jeff and Noreene Totten, Ivan and Shirley Yurtin, and Barry and Monique Zander.  We think this is going to be an excellent group of people to travel with. 

For the next 3 days here at Soap Lake, we will become better acquainted with one another, prepare our RV's for the upcoming trip, and generally enjoy the beauty here in the immediate surrounds.

                                         

Arrival at Soap Lake

After traveling all day through some beautiful valleys and farmlands with spectacular views of the Cascade Mountains, we arrived at Soap Lake RV Resort. 

Soap Lake is a mineral lake in the heart of Washington.  Surrounded by high cliffs, it makes a spectacular sight.  They say that the mud and minerals of the lake have healing properties.  About 50 miles from here  is the Grand Coulee Dam.

After we settled in, we had the pleasure of meeting our fellow travelers, Marvin and Dee Curb, Bob and Sheryl Price, Jim and Evelyn Northup, Ira and Beverly Miller, and Larry and Ada Beavers - five of the 16 couples who will be traveling with us on this adventure to Alaska, which actually starts in 5 days!

Traveling North

We are on our way to Soap Lake, Washington to begin our pre-rendezvous activities.  We stopped for a little rest in Moro, Oregon which is just near the Washington border.  It is a farming town with beautiful rolling hills of wheat, blowing in the wind.  We visited the local Sherman County Museum which was very interesting.  There was a counted cross-stitch there designed by one of the local women, that I found amazing.  A lot of thought and work went into it. 

We visited the John Day Dam on the Columbia River.  The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest.  Beginning in the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia, Canada.  It then flows through Washington, and forms most of the border between Washington and Oregon before it empties into the Pacific Ocean.  

We will be leaving here tomorrow to join Ken and Carole Adams, the wagonmasters for our Alaska 58 day tour with Adventure Caravans.  We have been looking forward to this trip!