A new year of adventures!

Our 2019 adventures are soon to begin!

We have been talking, planning, and dreaming of this day for many years and the time has come for our first trip that doesn't require a firm start day or end day! 

No company telling us we have a limited amount of days. 

This first trip will be an interesting trip lasting around 8 weeks, we have a few destinations in mind but mostly we will see where the good weather takes us!
 We started our adventure by going north with our kids and grand kids.
This is year #5 for this annual family trip😎

Fun time snowshoeing on the lake for the first time, Jan was a little nervous! The ice was pretty thick and there were quite a few ice fisherman out further on the lake!

Then came day two! Those are our snowshoe tracks from the day before and that crack was not there😰😱😲😵
 The ice is 12-18" thick, It was close to -20 degrees when this crack appeared, as it warmed up over the next couple days the ice was making lots of noise!

 Always good to witness another sunrise😎 

Jan found a bump in the snow😍No broken hip this time!

Juniper #3grandchild- so much fun and likes to make everybody feel good😍 

Helen#2 grandchild and Boone #4

 Juni and Boone playing with a piece of Lake Superior that their dad brought in for them.

 When it is -15F outside 110F feels pretty good!

Ninja Nora #1 grandchild - Quite an adventurer!

Flynn #5 grandchild, always ready with a smile😇

It was a busy day😍

Ellie #1 Daughter and Isaac #1 Son in law

Ben #1 Son -20 on the lake that day, it was hard walking into the wind!

Birthday and game time!

No donuts today😞

I finally found some ice clear enough to see through, I didn't locate any sunken treasures!
It is a little unnerving to be so clear!

Jan getting the perfect picture!

We stayed in this campsite in Grand Marais, Mn just a few months ago and I don't remember all this white stuff? It is one of our favorite sites in the campground and nice to see it is available, to bad
we left the Airstream at home.
Our plan is to be back here in July😎

Ice, Snow and very cold temps this week- next week sun, sand and much warmer

somewhere south. We will see where the road takes us😎

A New Year, A New Business, A new Plan

Some big changes happened in 2018!

We gained another grandson(Flynn) bringing the total so far to 5- we feel very blessed😍

Flynn Arthur Bakken

We spent about 45 days in the Airstream and Traveled about 6000 miles.

 Left a 31 year career and started my own business.

 I lost a lot of headaches when I left my old job back in September but also lost contact with a lot of good customers and friends. With starting the new business it has been very good to reconnect with many of those!

My goal or mission statement is to help people with whatever I can, if it is changing a bad outlet

replacing an old furnace or ac unit or if it's just a question. I like fixing things and helping out.

This was the first job of 2019, a new furnace install, they said they would wait till January 2nd

but it felt good doing it on the 1st day of a new year!

Happy New Year!

We all have a limited time and a limited number of days, I feel very fortunate to have this new opportunity! My goal is to be 25% retired and 75% handyman, furnace/ac man.

I kind like hanging out with these guys and hope to have a little more time for it now!

It's always good to see another sunrise and another sunset😎

Enjoy and be thankful for every one you get.

 After I finished installing the furnace today Jan and I 

Snuck in a quick hike to Willow River State Park, with the temps topping out at 8 degrees today

the falls were starting to freeze over!

Hope to see you down the road, keep on adventuring!

The Airstream factory, quiet beaches and more.

Our first trip heading East.

 Whenever we look at this great country and try to decide which way to travel we have always headed West, it always looks less crowded and more relaxing. Since my job change this is the latest we have been able to travel and weather played a big part in our decision. Everything North of Chicago was wet and cold and if we went to far south it was still in the 90's, so we tried to stay in the middle ground!

First stop Mirror Lake State park,  just about got washed away the night before but

it cleared by morning so we could get a nice walk in!

 Mirror Lake, Baraboo,Wi.

 A quick stop to stretch our legs in Northern IL.

 Indiana Dunes State Park, incredible place on the south shore of Lake Michigan.

We could not believe that we had these beaches to ourselves being so close to Chicago and Detroit?

I know it was the off season but we walked for hours letting the dogs run free, it was great!

 Michigan city light house, quite the waves! The next day all was calm!

 Chicago on the other side of the lake.

 I wondered what it does to home sales/value to have a nuclear power plant in the back yard? 

Do you market it as to having unlimited power for your TV?

 We were gone 11 days on this trip and we had rain 7 of them, it always cleared enough to get a walk in somewhere though! We have spent 44 days in the Airstream this year and this is the only rain we have had, it's been a good year.

 First time camping in a fairgrounds, there were a couple of other rv'ers but very quiet. Again we were the only ones walking around and it was fun to check things out. Like walking around a ghost town!

 Jan found half a friend:-)

 So quiet the dogs were able to run free again, they are starting to expect it now!

Next stop was the RV hall of fame!

 Jan found a new set of wheels, she looks pretty happy about it, maybe dreaming of being on the road by herself and a pack of little schnauzer pups!!

 Tjis popup is like the one my parents pulled all over the country!

It was funny that our 1954 airstream was older than the airstreams in the museum!

We found the Airstream factory in Ohio, first time staying in Ohio. It has been on our list to make it to the factory! It was good to do it once, maybe have to go back and see the new factory they are building? Otherwise it was hot and noisy but lots of shiny trailers around!

Jan needed some alone time:-)

This happens once in a while 6" short but this time I was smart enough to not unhook before checking!

A little quieter here then at the factory!

Managed to get a little spoon carving in and had a good place to display them:-)

I thought Henri was being a little to quiet, she decided she needed to do some excavating!! Guess I should start bringing grass seed with!

Another great place for lunch at Belvidere Park, IL.

Levels Lake State park totally changed color in the week we were gone, just beautiful when we returned!

We were reading all the memory plaques on the benches, I liked John's- being known as uncommon would be good!

Back at home in time for winter, Nellie is all set for hibernation! 

Thinking it will be a shorter rest this year:-)

Dreaming of another year of adventures, see you down the road!