​Our time at Glacier National Park has come to an end.  With a massive thunderstorm hitting the west side of Glacier on 8/11/2018 it touched off three fires inside the park.  The Going-To-The-Sun road closed from Apgar to Logan Pass (mainly the west side of the park).  Several other fires outside the park have also contributed to a massive amount of smoke.  It's like driving in a fog bank, not being able to the glaciers, mountains, and waterfalls.  And park visitation has dropped off, however, now there is plenty of parking at the pullouts and Logan Pass.  We will be leaving on 9/29/2018 and heading to Niagra Falls for a few days of R&R and then on to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, ME.

​Over the next couple of months, I expect to stand up my eCommerce storefront on my website.  Still working out the details for tax collection requirements in the state of Florida, shipping options, and discounts for readers that purchase another planning guide. 

​Now that the 2nd editions are published, I am back on track to work on the next books releases.  These books include Joshua Tree, Petrified Forest, Redwood, and Olympic National Parks.

Completed the 2018 updates to Badlands and Wind Cave National Parks, Dry Tortugas and Biscayne National Parks, Carlsbad and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks, Zion and Bryce Cany National Parks Planning Guides.  The 2nd edition now updates the National Park Schedules, other changes, new transportation section, and a new section of other National units in the area.  Glacier National Park edition 2 will be available in early July.

We waited in Fairbanks, AK from Saturday to Tuesday 5/29/2018 for a UPS package that was supposed to be held for pickup. Over the weekend, we had to come up with a new game plan. Our first thought was to head home slowly and see the parks in Washington, Oregon, and California that were snowed in on the way up. But we decided to see if they needed any help in Glacier National Park… So before we left Fairbanks Cindy found out that she would be going back to her old job at Glacier Park Lodge, and Ken decided not even enquire. Ken made an arrangement to have the heating problem fixed in Polson Montana when they arrived on 6/1/2018. He worked with Thor Motorcoach to have the transfer switch sent to Glacier Park Lodge. And away we go back to the lower 48.

We arrived at our new Alaska home at Denali National Park for the summer of 2018.   

The journey across the Alaskan Highway though long was almost like going across the United States, except that you will definitely see more wildlife.  People may try to scare you, saying the highway is rock and gravel with very few gas stations.  Well, that was the way it used to be.   But now the road is entirely paved.   And the difficult spots have been rerouted.   The last 300 miles into Alaska were bumpy in spots due to frost heaves, and dodging some pretty significant potholes, but what a great adventure.  On our return route, we will be taking a more easterly route going through Alberta and entering the United States in Montana.

Just got my copy of Yellowstone National Park Planning Guide back from the editor, and it will be available in eBook and Paperback after the cover artwork has been designed.

Heading back to the lower 48 after some issues with the new motor coach.  We did have the opportunity to drive 30 miles of the park road and it was truly amazing.   Sadly we leave but will return again to finish the work needed to be able to write the planning guide.

We had a great time at Olympic National Park, which is in the most northwestern part of the state of Washington.  We stayed on the west side of the park in the small town of Forks, at Forks 101 RV Park.  We couldn't have picked a better location for this adventure.

I know that you are probably tired of me saying how great each of the National Parks is, but yes it's true about this one too.  Olympic National Park is probably one of the most diverse parks that you will see in the National Park Service.   You can wake up in the morning drive up to Hurricane Ridge to get an amazing view of Mount Olympus and the snow-capped mountain range, then go down to the Hoh Rain Forest and take a hike, and in the evening maybe watch the sunset over the sea stacks in the water at Second Beach in La Push.

I have seen more Bald and Golden Eagles in this park than any of the 35 National Parks I have visited.
Next, we are heading to Bow, WA for one night before we head out on our trek through Canada.

​Please visit the website to see some the pictures for Olympic National Park.

Well, it's that time again, time to move on up the highway.  We had a great adventure on the upper Pacific Coast Peninsula of Washington and Olympic National Park.   

We stayed at the Forks 101 RV park in Forks, WA for our visit to Olympic National Park.  The main areas in the park that you can drive to (mountains, beaches or rainforest) are on the north and west sides.

As we leave Olympic National Park, the route will take us south around the bottom of the park then back north just past Seattle to Bow, WA.  There we will spend one night to prepare for the crossing of Canada on the Alaskan Highway aka, ALCAN Highway.  Typically, people will make the ALCAN crossing in 10 to 14 days, but we will be doing in about four days, while spending one night in Prince George, BC, CA.  When we enter Canada, we will be placing the phones in airplane mode and will not use the Canadian Verizon service.  Since we will be in stealth mode (no Internet, no Phone), our family and friends will not receive any communication until we arrive in Alaska, approximately 5/14/2018.

The plan is to stop at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park for a couple of days.  Next stop will be Anchorage, AK to pick up mail at our company's HR Office, and last chance provisioning before heading to Denali National Park.

Not sure what happened to the original post for Redwood National Park, but here is another one.
We stayed at Kamp Klamath campground and had a fantastic site less than a mile to a coastal section of the park, and we even got fresh eggs at the campground.  We were just a couple of miles to the ocean with great views overlooking the beach, seals, and whales playing in the water.  While on the coast we saw a WWII submarine radar site disguised as a farmhouse.
Redwood National Park, is one of the under-visited (40 of 59 most visited) National Parks.  Not sure why that is, because it is amazing and is very accessible by driving and hiking.  The views, hikes, and drives through the old growth forest were breathtaking.  They have probably the most significant herd of Roosevelt Elk anywhere in the lower 48.   
There was no shortage of photos at this National Park.  Everywhere we looked it was something exciting and unique. 
We are planning to go back in a couple of years not only to visit the park but also to try and catch one of those giant king salmon.
From the Redwoods we headed north to Portland and were planning to spend the night at Cabelas, but the parking lot was too small, so we ended up on the north side of Portland at a Walmart.