Road Trip

    I know that it's been a few weeks since I posted anything here, but I was off looking around America, or at least a small part of it. It's become increasingly evident that it's time for us to look for another place to light in our old age. The cost of taking the truck to Juneau to buy groceries has risen, as has the cost of a round trip ticket on the local airlines. Recently I ran out of my prescription meds, and the doctor won't refill them after this last time until I come in for a physical. I understand; he's just doing his job. The problem is that it's going to cost a bundle just to get to Juneau from here so that I can go see him. It would be nice to be able to hop in the car and drive to the doctors or vets or dentist office. It would be great to know that regardless of the weather, you'd still get your mail, and your bills won't be delinquent because the mail couldn't get through. Hoonah has a lot to offer, but it's experiencing  a lot of change that I'm not comfortable with. On the plus side, there is no property tax, and thus far, Alaska doesn't have a state income tax, although that could change. It's gorgeous here, and if you like hunting and fishing, it's a great place to live. Unfortunately the town was discovered about nine years ago and now the  cruise ship industry has turned it into a tourist destination, complete with all the problems that come with that. This year alone there have an additional twenty five ships added to the already crowded schedule. The town is overrun with tour buses, vans, and people every time a ship shows up. At this juncture of my life, it's a hassle that I just don't want to deal with anymore, so we took a road trip to go look around. We returned to Idaho, and looked around the western part of the state. We spent time there last year as well. One thing that really stood out to me was how friendly the people were. Now if I'd said I was from California, I might not have had such a friendly reception, but as it was, we were treated very well everywhere we went. We spent about five days in Lewiston, which was our favorite place. Right now it's very comfortable, around 50 degrees or so. I understand that July and August the temps can soar into the nineties and above. I'm not so sure how I'll handle that. Maybe I won't. Perhaps I'll melt like the wicked witch of the East in the Wizard of Oz. I'll step outside one hot August day and end up a steaming pile of ooze on the sidewalk that people will have to step around. As it was, the Dogwoods were blooming, and there were daffodils and hyacinths in a lot of the yards. The tulips hadn't started to bloom yet, but it won't be long. We checked out the hospital, some of the many local stores, and quite a few of the restaurants. In fact we got sick to death of eating out every night. When we arrived on a Friday evening, the main drag was filled with cars,as were all the restaurants. I felt like I was in L A or some such thing. I guess we got there just as people were getting off work, so it was pretty busy. Obviously I'll have to get used to that. The nice part is that because we're retired, we don't have to go out and around when everyone else is on the road. We stayed at a delightful B&B for three nights in the older part of town, which I'll probably write about at a later date. We checked out several of the parks, drove to some of the smaller outlying towns, drove across the Snake River to Clarkson Washington where we could get a cheap lunch of a hot dog and soda at the local Costco, and spent time looking at the houses for sale. Until we sell our house, we won't really know what we can afford down there. It's going to be a big change, but if we don't do it soon, we may not do it at all, and I'll have to live the rest of my life wondering what might have been.