Dee's Alaska Adventure

Well the wildlife count today was to many buffalo to count, 3 bears, 2 moose, and 1 caribou. It was raining when we got up but quit after a couple of hours and was sunny all afternoon and is very nice as I sit in camp writing this blog. July 1st is Canada's Independence Day so as we started looking for campgrounds this evening they were all full. At the one we are at in Ft St John just North of Dawson Creek the old guy who owns it after telling us there was no room came running out and said we could set up our tent in the grassy area next to the restroom. Nice big lawn area. He drug a table over and we were set. Said he couldn't charge us. Nice and close to the bathroom for my Mom who gets up in the middle of the night, her son does as well! Great WiFi so I was able to read up on all the news, especially get information on the Blazers and Tim Tebow! Was reading some entries on my Facebook page and was reminded of part of my blog entry when I road my motorcycle around the lower 48 states hardly knowing how to ride one. I said that our culture is paranoid with safety and has become fearful of most everything especially death. I wrote that instead of saying, "be safe", we should say, "take a big risk". We live in the age of car seats, seat belts, guard rails, air bags, etc, etc, etc. I think it is good for me to do something that is hard, scary, and unknown often so I don't forget what it means to live trusting God. I know we are not to "test the Lord", but I think we are a long way from that. I like hot sauce on my eggs and I like some real risk and excitement in my life.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Drove 520 miles today and it was sunny and beautiful the entire day. We saw 13 bears today. 10 black bears and 3 grizzlies. We spent so much time watching them that I thought we were never going to make it to camp. They were all very close, right beside the road. The grizzlies were huge and very majestic looking. We also saw a bunch of bison that are wild up here. An eagle and a porcupine. Pretty full day as far as wild life is concerned. We are going to drive 500 plus again tomorrow and camp at Dawson Creek. We will arrive in Trout Lake on Sunday night to drop off my Mom and Patty and I will be at our house on Monday. Stayed at this particular camp ground tonight because it advertised free wifi. I really wanted to check out the Trail Blazer's draft choices today but there wifi was so slow that I finally gave up and was satisfied just to send this.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

On the road again! We left Shelly and Philip's house this morning at 9 am. Sad to leave my grand kids. They are such sweeties! They definitely take after their grandma! We saw 4 moose today, all right by or in the road. One little calf moose. Saw 4 black bears including a fat little cub and one big grizzly bear that we watched eat for 10 minutes or so from the car. I rolled down the window and called him names to see if I could get him mad so he would come a little closer, but he just looked at me. Trash talking must not bother grizzlies much or he didn't understand English. Rained most of the day and none of us were to excited about setting up camp in the rain but about an hour before we got here to the camp we were planning on the sun came out and is absolutely beautiful. We are on the shores of Klaune Lake and at the foot of the St Elias Mts. All snow covered. We drove 450 miles today and are going to drive about 500 tomorrow. Tough to get a lot of miles because these two ladies want to stop at every rest stop!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Ran the "Midnight Run" with Shelly. The sun was literally still up when we finished the race. There were about 4500 people running. I did pretty good. Not fast but comfortable and I did beat about half the people that were in it. Didn't beat Shelly though.  Did prayer seminar in Shelly and Philips's church last night for 3 hours and will again tonight. Very well received. I am going on a two hour tour of a gold mine with my Mom today. She is very interested in gold mining. They even will let us pan for some gold and keep what we find. Hopefully it will get it out of her system so she won't want to stop at every stream on the way home. She bought a gold pan here the other day, so now I am in big trouble. We may never get home. I am reading and writing a lot. I have two sermon series about done. One short one of about 5 weeks and one longer one of 13 weeks. Can't wait to preach them.

Dee' Alaska Adventure

Ran 4 miles this morning again. Everything seems to be working fine. No aches and pains in any joints or muscles. Praise the Lord. Had a great time with my grand kids, Patty, Mom, and Shelly this morning as we visited a place that has all the information on Alaska, history, wildlife, etc. Very interesting and the kids enjoyed all the stuffed animals. Wyatt growls and snarls appropriately, depending on what animal we are looking at. My trailer lights quit working on the trip so I got that all fixed today as well. One of my major hatreds in life is trailer lights. We will see how they work on the way home. I am going golfing this evening with Philip, his Dad, his brother, and several of his brother in laws. None of us golf very often so it should be fun. I expect lots of trash talking between the brothers and brother in laws. I will wait to see how I do before I get to serious on the trash talking. Tomorrow morning we are getting up early and going fishing on the Salsa River for Wyatt's birthday. All day on the river with lots to eat fishing with my grand kids. Doesn't get any better than that. Come home for a party of cake and ice cream and then Shelly and I leave at 10 pm for the famous Alaskan "Midnight Run" of 10 Kilometers, 6.2 miles. Church Sunday morning and then I teach a Seminar on Sunday night for 3 hours and again on Monday evening for 3 hours and then we start home on Tuesday.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Went on a 4 mile run yesterday and did pretty good. Nothing hurt and I finished with 11 minute miles. Not bad for an old man. I am planning on running with Shelly in the Midnight run here in Fairbanks this Saturday. An annual event that has thousands of people participating. I have had a good time playing with my three grand kids here. I don't get to see them very often. Wyatt's birthday is Saturday and we are going fishing so I bought a one day license last night. I have been reading a lot. Writing a lot. Sleeping a lot. I got the church prayer letter yesterday via e-mail and prayed through it. Dee

Dee's Alaska Adventures

Well, we are at Shelly and Philips's house with my three adorable grand kids. If you don't know Shelly is one of our 8 kids. They let us sleep in their bedroom on their nice bed and they moved into their office room and slept on the floor. Somebody raised them well. I have slept well on the trip on the ground with the sleeping pad, but I really slept well last night on a nice bed. Whooooeeeeeeeee, I guess I was just born for comfort. Speaking of comfort, I have been thinking a lot about comfort in the last two weeks. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus talks about a wide gate and a narrow gate. He says "many" choose the wide gate, but "few" choose the narrow gate. The question in meditating on the passage is why many choose the wide gate. And I think the answer is that it is easy and comfortable, nice. Why would few choose the narrow way?, and I think it is because it is hard and difficult. I don't think Jesus is teaching us how to get to heaven in this passage because it is about effort and sacrifice. Heaven is free. I believe the result of the choosing is our level of growth in righteousness and the fruit that we would bear with our life. Jesus said that the narrow way led to "life". I want "life", more righteousness and fruit for God's glory. But the obvious fact as I think about me is that I automatically choose during the course of a day the easy way. It really isn't that big of a deal when we are talking about sleeping on the ground as apposed to sleeping in a nice bed, but that same tendency carries over into our spiritual life. We choose not to read our Bibles because it is easier not to, we choose not to pray because it is easier not to. we choose not to serve because it is easier not to, we choose not to give because it is easier not to. If someone would ask me what my "life verses" are I would quote for them 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way , as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that , after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified."  I believe that I can train myself to be less inclined to "easy" and more inclined to "hard" spiritually by disciplining my physical body or training my physical body by choosing to do things that are a challenge, things that are hard, even things that will possibly hurt or are risky. Because our flesh will pull so hard in the "easy" direction I must program or plan or set goals to regularly "discipline or buffet my body". I would rather not, but if I really want to grow and produce it really does help. Train myself. I need to keep at it until I get to heaven. 
All my aches and pains are much better today so I am going to go out for a run today and see how all the joints feel. Shelly has registered me for the "Midnight Run" here on Saturday. A 10K, 6.2 mile run, so I am going to run that with her. I will try to finish not to far behind her, and not fall down to many times, at least not in front of anyone with a camera. By the way, I lost 9 lbs on the trip so I am feeling good about that. The first words out of Shelly's mouth when I got out of the car yesterday were, "you are sure looking skinny". What a good daughter!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Patty, mom and I drove in the car today about 250 miles. Rained the whole day. We got to Cottonwoods campground on Kluane Lake and it quit raining so we drove in and got a tent sight right on the Lake. The sign said that this is the area of highest concentration of Grizzly bears on the Alaskan Highway. The lady in this office said be careful not to leave any food out overnight or the bears will come visiting. I will be sure to brush my teeth really good tonight. I don't want bears attracted to my breath. We saw 3 grizzlies on our drive today. We watched them for about 10 minutes trying to cross the road. They would get up to the edge of the road and look both ways, see a car and then back off, then they tried again. And again. And again. I can see why you don't see bears laying along side the road having been hit by a car. They were as careful as a First Grader crossing the street. We got tired waiting for them to make it across so left. Not sure if they ever did make it across. We are going to arrive at Shelly's 2 days before we planned so I get to spend an extra couple of days with my grand kids. Super. Still gimping around on my knee trying to get out of work as we set up camp, but Patty said her hip hurt worse than my knee so get busy and do something! Sheesh.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Well the bottom line is that to this point I have biked/ran/walked 11 days. 7 days bicycling for a total of 220 miles, an average of 32 miles a day with the longest being 38 miles, which was yesterday. I ran 4 days a total of 70 miles for an average of 17.5 miles per day with a long day of 22 miles. Not my original goal by a long shot, but fun, challenging, and a definite work out. I do think I have lost a few pounds!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

I woke up this morning with my right knee hurting bad. It is the one I bruised pretty good in my wreck a couple days ago. It has been feeling pretty good but this morning it is not. Not sure why. Probably a combination of things. Going up hills yesterday I could feel it "singing" a bit, but not bad. At this point, unless it heals quickly, I am considering the "biking/running/walking" part of this trip over. If it gets to feeling better I may do some walking. I came to this conclusion at about 2 am this morning. Laying there in my sleeping bag unable to sleep thinking about the "death of a vision" and the disappointment of it. I have long contended that the main reason people don't set goals is the pain that comes from the disappointment of not accomplishing them. As I lay there thinking about being old falling off my bicycle with aches and pains unable to finish strong with my goal of running to Fairbanks, instead limping in, riding in the car with my 80 year old mother. I thought, "I could make myself depressed if I keep this up". The cure for overcoming the sadness of failing to accomplish a goal is to set another one. So my goal is to have another B-HAG (big, hairy, audacious, goal) or maybe 2 or 3 set before we get home to Jefferson from this trip. I do think I will make it a little easier than this last one, but challenging. My mother is trying to cheer me up right now so I better go give her a hug and laugh at her jokes :-)

Dee's Alaska Adventure

I got to thinking about goals today as I road along on my bike. Goals are one of the keys to rising above mediocrity in any area of life. Professionally, in our Christian life, as a husband or wife, as a Dad or Mom, even in the area of hobbies. But without accountability goals seldom do much in anybodies life. There is a balance that is almost an art that must be maintained in order for accountability to be a positive force for good in our life. The personal motive is to please the Lord, to glorify Him with our life accomplishments, to love our wife, raise our kids well. The motive can subtly shift to impressing the people who are holding us accountable and then the whole goal setting thing becomes negative. Many I know have let this challenge get them in a knot to the point that they quite setting goals and thereby loose an amazing tool for personal growth and accomplishment. It takes thought, personal reflection, and self examination, but it is very possible. Accountability is admitting up front that we were created by God to accomplish great things with our life only with others, never by ourselves. Accountability can be a strong statement of humility saying, "I need you", or it can become an excuse to show off. As I write my blog each day I take the time to discipline my thinking to remind myself that many are praying for me, and encouraging me and I am a much better person because of it and capable of greater faithfulness and accomplishment.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

It was my goal to run today but when we got up it was very cold. I can dress warm riding my bike and if it gets warm I can put extra cloths in my saddle bags on my bike. When I am running I have nothing to do with the extra cloths except tie them around my waist so I decided to ride the bicycle today. Also the knee that I hurt in my wreck is still bothering me quite a bit when I run but not so much when I bike. Lots of up hill riding today. Most on the trip and the wind was blowing from the North so it was a hard head wind and it was very, very cold. I would go up a long hill and be sweating like a dog and then hit a level patch or downhill and the wind would turn my sweat to ice, at least that is what it felt like! I made 38 miles even with all the adverse conditions, but I was as tired when Patty picked me up as I have been on the trip. If you are not feeling bad for me, neither did my wife or Mom! Oh well. Patty and Mom saw a big grizzly bear eating dandelions beside the road on the way to pick me up. He just munched away as they watched him and took his picture. He might have been there when I road by on my bike, but when I get to grinding up the hills I usually just keep my head down and not look up. When we got to where I had planned on camping it was rainy and cold so we kept driving to the place we are supposed to camp at tomorrow night. It is sunny and warm here so we will camp here two nights. In the morning I will get up and run 10 miles up the road according to the GPS I wear on my wrist and then turn around and run back to camp. I will instruct Patty to come looking for me if I am not back in 5 hours. Probably means I died! We are 20 miles from Whitehorse at Caribou Campground. It is advertised in "Milepost" as having the nicest bathrooms and showers on the Alaskan Highway, and I think it does! Happy Father's Day to all you dads reading this!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

We drove all day in the car. I am glad I didn't run or bike because it poured rain all day and it was cold. About 30 minutes before we got to where we wanted to camp the sun came out and it is very comfortable sitting next to the fire with my coat on right now. We are at Rancheria about 200 miles from Whitehorse. Hopefully it won't rain tonight or tomorrow. We saw 3 bear, 3 moose, and a lynx today as we drove. We have 6 days left before we get to Shelly's so I am planning on three days running and three days biking. I have a goal of doing a century ride in one of the three bike rides. A 100 miles in one day. I have never done that before. I also have a goal of making a full marathon in one of the 3 runs, probably the last one. It would be nice to get at least one marathon done as I was originally going to do 20. We will see if it happens. You never know if I am going to wreck on my bike again or what! I stopped to take a picture of some pretty mountains and Mom jumped out to find some dirt with gold in it and Patty ran over and stared spelling DUKE in the bank with some rocks. I yelled and screamed and honked the horn and finally started driving away without them before I could get them back in the car! I think they are both getting a little senile. When I suggested that to them they ganged up on me and said I was the one wrecking on my bicycle in the rain, in the mud, on a 7% decline. Ok, ok don't get so defensive! Sheesh!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Started raining last at about midnight quite hard. 7:00 in the morning now and it is still raining hard. I have decided not to run or bike today. I don't want to freeze in the rain and also I evidently fell on my right knee as well as my arm when I had my wreck on my bike yesterday because I woke up this morning and my knee was swollen and hurting. I will give it a day of rest to recuperate.
Rain is interesting. It is indicated in the Bible that it is a picture of God's blessings on us, you know the song, "Showers of Blessings" but most often like this morning it is an irritant in my life. I wonder how many things that happen in my life are intended to be a blessing from God, but because of my lack of perception I respond in irritation. Probably a lot. Seems sad that I would respond wrongly to a blessing from God.
Patty and I are sitting in the car watching it rain and reading and writing drinking coffee that she graciously got up and made on the camp stove in the rain. We start the car and turn on the heater occasionally to warm it up a bit. Mom is still in her warm sleeping bag.
Mom just climbed in the car and said, "what a blessing that tent is, I lay there in the night and listen to the rain and it doesn't leak and you can lay there all warm and cozy, what a blessing. Think of pioneers in a canvas covered wagon or people in Sierra Leone in houses with grass roofs that leak." Go away Mom and quit bothering me in my irritation!
We are sitting here in the car waiting for a break in the rain to jump out and take the soaking wet tent down and get everything packed into the trailer. Oh joy!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Road I pedaled up today, 6/15 made me pant big time! 3.8 mile upgrade as much as 7% grade

Dee's Alaska Adventure

This is typical of what we see all day long on both sides of the rode.

Dee' Alaska Adventure

Grandma panning for gold

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Took off riding on my bicycle planning on riding 50 miles this morning, but at mile 27 I took a bad fall on my bike. I was going down a steep downhill and it started raining pretty hard and I couldn't see very well. The paving changed to dirt and I hit a slippery muddy spot and down I went. Landed hard on my right elbow and shoulder. Nothing broken or strained to bad, but it aches pretty good. Bent my derailer on my bike that shifts the gears on the back, and it wouldn't work so I had to do some good old fashioned farmers mechanical work, you know, fix it with a hammer. I had one in my saddle bags for just such occasions. Got it to work good enough until Patty picked me up. Doing fine tuning on it now that we are in camp and I have a few more tools. We are camped next to Deese Lake tonight. Very beautiful. Got camp set up and Patty headed into town a few miles away to buy some marshmallows. Grandma has been fussing about that every night so tonight we are going to roast some over our nice fire. I have been enjoying the time I have had to read, study, and write. Very profitable.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Saw this bear yesterday. He was very bold and came right up to the car. Kind of glad I didn't see him while running.

Fwd: Dee's Alaska Adventure

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dee Duke <deefduke@hotmail.com>
Date: June 14, 2012 5:37:31 PM PDT
To: Dee Duke <duke@jeffersonbaptistchurch.org>
Subject: Dee's Alaska Adventure

Ran 19 miles today and about 80% of the time it was running and I walked up the major hills. Wasn't planning on quite that much but Patty got held up in road construction for 30 minutes. When I got to the construction they had me ride in the pilot car so I did get a half mile of riding in my 19 so I guess it is really 18.5! The driver of the car was quite interested in our trip and thought I must be going through some mid -life crisis or something. I told him I was to old for that. About a dozen people coming from the direction I was going stopped and told me their was a bear up ahead and to be careful, but I think they (the bears not the people in the car) must smell my sweaty body because none of them stuck around for me to see. I even got some counsel from some of the drivers who stopped on how to keep from getting eaten. They seemed to be quite worried about me. Didn't see any bear until I got into the car with Patty and Mom, and then we saw 4 in about 30 minutes. Several were not very afraid and one walked right up to our stopped car and looked into the window for something to eat I presume.  Again the scenery today was stunning. Makes the running much more enjoyable when you have such scenery to look at as I stumble along. We are camped at "Mountain View" campground near Iksu or something like that. Very nice. Free firewood. Free wifi.. And super view of a beautiful snow covered mountain. We can't be much further than a couple of miles from the base and the snow. I feel good getting almost 19 miles today but I am super tired as well. When I got into the car I was sure I was minutes from dying, but a handful of Ritz crackers with cheese and a cup of coffee did a healing miracle in me! I am going to bicycle tomorrow and will push for 45 miles and several bear sightings as well. Patty and Mom are having a good time. Both being socially outgoing have lots of conversations with just about everybody we bump into. She found out the life history of the girl holding the "stop" sign for the construction as they waited. We are only doing about 150 miles each day and both Patty and Mom are enjoying the leisure time in camp doing lots of reading. Love ya all. Dee

Dee's Alaska Adventure

I preached a sermon recently about heaven. In it I said that when we get there we will understand everything that confuses us now. All day long my Mom is asking me questions about what she sees out the window. I was saying, "Mom, I don't know" and she would give me this look like "what did I send you to school for?" now I say, "when you get to heaven you will know"! At first I think she thought I was saying that I thought she was going to die soon, but then it seemed to make sense. A lot of what we see and experience makes no sense to us, we don't understand it, it confuses us. God knows and some day we will to. There is an amazing security and peace in that statement if we trust God. But many are prideful enough to think that they have a right to know now and their confusion causes them to push God out of their lives instead of trust Him and grow close to Him and look forward to the day they enter into heaven and understand everything.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Drove 3 hours today along the Cassiar highway after we left about noon. We are camped at Bell right on the Bell river. It is very beautiful. Snow covered mountains along both sides of the road today as we drove along. This Lodge that we are staying at is very nice, we are staying in the tenting area, but they have a bunch of big log Lodges. This place is a major heliskiing sight. Helicopters are coming and going as I sit in my camping chair typing this. The map inside the main lodge shows literally hundreds of ski runs. They take them to the top of one of these mountains in a helicopter and they ski down. I imagine that the people who do this kind of thing must be pretty rich therefore the very nice facilities. The shower/bathrooms which aren't very far from our tent are super big, very clean and nice. I am feeling much better this afternoon and plan on running out of camp in the morning. Patty and Grandma are doing very well. We have established a pretty good routine when we pull in. I set up the tent with some instructions thrown in from the ladies that I try to ignore. Mom takes the air mattresses and sleeping bags into the tent and blows them all up. We have a little battery operated air pump that works super well. Patty gets all the cooking stuff set up. Everybody is sleeping super good even on the ground. Good mattresses that are very comfortable. I think we all have been sleeping at least 10 hours a day. My Mom is having a great time seeing all the scenery and is constantly asking me questions that I have no idea about. It is overcast right now, but the lady inside said it is supposed to be nice tonight and tomorrow.

Dee's Alaska Adventures

Woke up this morning and took off running planning on 15 miles but I felt so good that I ran 25 miles averaging 9 minute miles. Saw 12 bears and yelled at them after I took their picture and they ran away. Wow! What a morning!
Well, the truth is that I got sick about midnight and had diarrhea all night. Woke up and got my running stuff on but I moaned and groaned so much Patty and Mom talked me into going back to bed. "all right, I will" I said reluctantly. So it is now noon, I have just gotten up, still feeling like a beat cat. We are getting in the car and driving for 4 hours. I will sleep in the passenger seat while Patty drives. Wow, what a good wife I have. I know, I know, I am a wimp. I plan on putting cream in my coffee and wearing gloves when I next stack firewood. Maybe I can do better tomorrow morning. The truth is I really enjoyed not running today and sleeping a bunch. Must be my wife's influence on me or just getting old. Love ya all. Dee

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Don't forget to send me an email at deefduke@hotmail.com I enjoy reading your notes, especially from my kids!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Rode my bicycle 35 miles today. Rolling hills that gave me plenty of exercise but not so steep that I had to get off and push my bike but I definitely use all the gears on the bike top to bottom. Little rain but not bad. No headwind which is always a major hallelujah for me. My shin soreness is much better today. I was careful to keep my left foot stationary, that is not to flex at all at the ankle so as not to pull on those muscles. Between that, the ibuprofen, and the ice I think it is going to be fine. I am going to run tomorrow and hopefully get at least 15 miles in. We are in a very scenic part of the trip, all of the trip to Fairbanks is incredibly beautiful, but this section today was awesome. Snow covered mountains all along the road on both sides and the road goes along the Skeena River which is amazing as well. I saw lots of Moose and bear tracks along the side of the road, but didn't see any animals. I have to be kind of careful because I get to looking around for wildlife and could ride off the side of the road. The shoulder is not very wide and in most places I would take a pretty good ride down to the river. I would probably end up with way more aches than I presently have. We stopped at this campground in Hazeltown and the old lady showing me the camp sites said I should rent one of her motel rooms in order to take better care of my old Mom. I told her I rented one last night and didn't want to spoil her besides we were on bit of a budget in our travels to Fairbanks. She said for your Mother's sake I will give you a good deal, 50 dollars for the night for the three of you and then she showed me the room. It had two beds in two separate bedrooms. I wouldn't have to sleep in the same tent or room with my mother :-) ! I said I will take it. When I told Patty that we were going to stay in a nice motel room with a kitchen she was surprised. I told her that I was just thinking of my old decrepit mother. When we got into the room and she saw the arrangements, her response was, "Yeh, you were thinking of your mother all right, but then she smiled so I could see she approved. When my mom saw the room and the arrangement she kicked me in the butt! Don't tell Patty that I wrote this or she will be mad at me!! I solved a problem today. My right "sit bone" has been getting really sore as I ride, but the left side has been fine. I thought today, I must have a crooked butt or something for one side to hurt so bad and the other side to be fine. Then I noticed that as got on my bicycle after a break from the left side that I would drag across the seat puckering up my padded shorts a bit on the right side. After that astute observation after I got on and was peddling I would reach down and give the bottom of my shorts on the right side a good yank, and what do you know, a much more comfortable ride. I wish I could solve all my problems that easily. I am sitting here in this comfortable room reading and writing and Patty and Mom are going to go on a tour of Hazeltown. The old lady who runs this place gave them a brochure and it does look like an interesting town with lots of history of gold rushes and trapping and early settlers. We will be turning North on the Cassius highway tomorrow and according to the friendly owner of this place we will see lots of wildlife and very pretty scenery. I will be sleeping with the seat back recovering from my 15 miles running. Hope your lives are all going as well as mine is :-) talk to you tomorrow. Love ya.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Patty and I and Mom are all sleeping in the same tent each night. The comedy experience for the day for Patty and I is watching Mom when she gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. She can't ever find the zipper that opens the tent so from our perspective watching she looks like an enthusiastic worshiper in church with her hands going all over up and down, right and left, grumbling under her breath about zippers. She shouldn't have a problem tonight in this motel room. Sometimes when Patty and Mom are late picking me up and I grumble at them, especially if I am really tired, they will say, "it takes a long time to take down the tent and get all the camping stuff packed into the trailer". Tonight Mom started laughing and said, "now remember if we are late picking you up tomorrow it is because we have to take down the tent"! And my response was "yeh, right, whatever"!!!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Peddled 37 miles today with no headwind and no rain, whoooooeeeeee! Quite a lot of hills but every time you peddle up a long grind you get to coast down the other side. Patty thought I could make a good sermon from that principle! But I might have overdone it because I think I have developed a case of shin splints in my left leg. I think it probably started yesterday running 13.5 miles a lot that was uphill. It was feeling tender last night. Didn't notice it much as I road today but when I got off the bike when Patty showed up I almost fell it hurt so much. I will take a bunch of ibuprofen and ice it good tonight. It started raining very hard after I got into the car so when we got to where we were going to camp and it was still pouring I decided for my Mom's sake of course, to stay in a motel. Found a cheap one with a kitchen in it. I am not sure I can sleep on this soft bed after sleeping on that thin mattress pad for the Last 7 nights. I really do sleep well on the ground in my down bag. We saw a big black bear today while driving as well as a moose. Made my Mom's day. I was due to run tomorrow and I was looking forward to it, but I might have to ride the bicycle again if this shin splint thing doesn't get better tonight. It doesn't hurt to much riding as long as I don't push down on the peddle extending my foot pulling on that shin muscle. With all these aches and pains I am getting, my wife graciously suggested I stick to riding my motorcycle and concentrate on getting in shape in the gym. Sounding like a good idea right now, but I assured her that I would be as good as new in the morning. She just rolled her eyes at me. Not sure how honoring that was! We are in the Town of Smithers on highway 16, West of Prince George tonight. Because the weather was so bad we drove farther than we normally do hoping to reach some nicer weather. Nice room with a table and chairs so I am planning on getting in some good writing time in. Love ya all. Dee

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Very nice day today! Lots of sunshine. It was light at 3 am this morning but managed to sleep in until 7 am. That was a mistake because I didn't get left running until 9 am and by the time Patty got to me I was very, very hot. I did run 13.5 miles and went along at a pretty good pace as well. No knee problems and no blister problems. Praise the Lord, I seem to be getting tougher. I was running along and saw some movement in the grass ahead of me by the side of the rode. It was black. I thought, a bear! I wondered if I should keep running because he was only a few feet off of the road. I thought, well this is probably going to happen some more so I might as well find out what they are going to do when they see a fat man in a bright lime green shirt running by. I got my camera ready and went on. It was a big bunch of crows eating on a dead deer. They all flew off at the same time and startled me pretty good, I laughed to myself and called myself a chicken. We are camped tonight at Hixon, at Canyon Creek Campground, free showers and the water is hot. We are right next to Canyon Creek which had a lot of gold in the gold rush days. My mother borrowed a gold pan from the owners and went down to pan for gold. I laughed at her and she said "just wait and see, I may get enough gold to finance this entire trip"! She didn't :-) her and Patty did see an orchid growing which made her more happy than gold in the gold pan, I think! I am planning on riding my bicycle tomorrow. Seems to be working good alternating between running and biking. I will keep pushing to extend the length of my runs and bicycling each day. I got to thinking today about my goal to run to Alaska, you know the 20 marathons in 20 days. I wasn't able to pull that one off but I still am getting great exercise and having an adventure every day. I have heard from so many over the years who don't set goals because they get to discouraged not making them, they feel like a failure. I don't accomplish a lot of mine either, but I keep setting more and because I do I attempt way more than if I just lived life reacting to life rather than pursuing big goals. I guess the worst thing that happens is the heckling that I get from my friends :-) and my sons and son in laws, especially Aaron. My Mom came back to camp after her first trip down to the creek to pan for gold and said she saw a bear in the creek. Patty went back with her with the camera to take his picture. When they came back Patty said it was a big dog, but in my Mom's defense she said it was a huge, big dog! So no bear pictures today! Mom said she will find some gold tomorrow. That probably means they will be several hours late picking me up from my bike ride. Might be a long ride tomorrow. I better bring an extra water bottle and an extra protein bar to eat. Sitting here in my camp chair enjoying reading and writing. Thanks a ton to you who have been praying for us. Love ya all. Dee

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Rained most of last night but quit right at 6 am. Patty fixed me a delicious breakfast of oatmeal and flax seed. Yum yum! Took off on my bicycle and peddled 30 miles. Lots of long hills and very strong head wind all day. I get to grumbling about the wind to myself but then remembered that I was doing this to get in good shape so I could live to see 100 years old. So I thanked the Lord for helping me with my goal. That is the way life is. God brings lots of steep hills into our life to get us in shape for heaven so I better quit grumbling! I am feeling pretty good tonight. Knees aren't hurting and muscles seem to be getting into shape. I am going to run tomorrow and see if I can get in at least 13 miles before I tire out. After Patty and Mom pick me up we are going to take a tour of Barkerville, an old gold mining town with lots of history that has been restored. It is supposed to be quit interesting. No dogs chasing me today or other adventures, just the hills and wind, that I am very thankful for!!! It has been very fun getting to spend so much time with my Mom. It is quit amazing how curious she is about all that we see and experience at 80 years old. My curiosity I have considered one of my strong character traits that has motivated me to be a life long learner especially in the Bible. I never really thought about it before that I got that trait from my mother. I am sure that basically all that I posses in the way of strengths came from my parents. I was thinking today how little I thanked my Dad for his investment into my life before he died and how little I have really communicated appreciation to my Mom or the Lord for what He has done in me through them. I will definitely work hard at improving in that area of my life. We are camped at McLeese Lake tonight right next to the lake with a beautiful view. Sun is shining, temperature is pleasant, no Mosquitos and we are about ready to eat Ravioli and green beans and bread, super!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Getting ready to go get in my nice warm sleeping bag. We sat around in our lawn chairs today reading and sleeping. My knee feels pretty good. I am going to bicycle tomorrow and give my blisters another day to heal before I try running on them. It is supposed to be sunny tomorrow. That will be nice. My wife gave me a big mug of hot tea and a handful of ginger snaps for dessert. What a great wife I have. Spent a lot of time today praying for my family and church family. That always makes me feel very thankful for those god has brought I to my life.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Camp sight on the Thompson River June 8th

Dee's Alaska Adventure

This the 7 mile grade I went up out of the Colombia River on Wednesday morning.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

June 8th, Friday at 10 am. Decided to take the day off and heal up and rest up. We aren't even going to drive. This camp sight is so nice with lots of pretty trees, right on the Thompson River that is world famous for Steelhead. Really nice showers and free wifi and no phone reception :-) normally I get up and eat oatmeal for breakfast, but this morning Patty fixed me sausage, eggs, toast, and lots of coffee! I am going to sit and read and write and take ibuprofen every 3 hours and drink coffee and take a nap periodically when I feel like it. I will take off in the morning on my bicycle and ride for 5 hours so should get over 50 miles. Hopefully the weather will be as nice as it is today. My knee is still hurting but much better than last night so I am confident that it will be good tomorrow. Blisters from the first day of running are about healed up as well. I should be close to perfect in the morning.

Dees Alaska adventure

Going to bed sad. It is 10:30 and my left knee is killing me. I have never had any knee problems before. It is swelled all up and hurts like the dickens. Took a bunch of ibuprofen and rubbed good with DMSO . Hopefully when I wake up it will be better. I might take the day off if it isn't better.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Left camp this morning on the Colombia and went up hill at a 6 percent grade for 7 miles. I am glad I was running/walking instead of riding my bicycle. It is the kind of grade where the trucks are going super slow with their 4 way flashers on. When I got to the top the wind was blowing very hard and it was very cold. There were big wind turbines every where. I can see why if it blows like it did today most of the time. I only went 15 miles today. The long hill did me in. Made me feel like a really old man. I got several really big blisters today. I don't usually have problems with blisters but I got a couple of doozies today. I think it might be my new socks. They are a bit padded and the padding is kind of like terry cloth, ruff. I will ride the bike tomorrow and hopefully the blisters will heal up. I am going back to my old wool socks. Tomorrow should be a nice day. I will be riding along the Colombia river in the Okanagan Valley and it will be very pretty and flat. I hope the wind is blowing North. I worked on my memory verses today as I ran/walked. I have them on 5x7 cards with big print. Great way to spend the time when you are in agony! Very nice campground tonight on Lake Chelan. Patty and my Mom are taking good care of me and both did the appropriate "poor boy" when they saw my blisters.

June 7, Thursday
Woke up this morning and my muscles and knees and hips were so sore I about pulled the tent down trying to get stood up. My mom is 80 and has a bad knee and Patty has a major muscle tear in her upper leg that she has been struggling with so we look like a bunch of cripples hobbling around camp. It is hard to get a lot of sympathy. We have to keep reminding each other not to grumble and rejoice always! Oh, oh, it is starting to rain as I type this! I was hoping for a nice day of biking and Patty was hoping to put the tent away dry. Rejoice!

My goal was to peddle 50 miles today but 10 minutes after starting I got very cold because it was pouring rain and blowing and about 40 degrees. I stopped and called Patty and told her to go ahead and break camp instead of waiting until 1 pm as was our plan. She didn't understand my urgency and they picked me up 3 hours later after I had peddled 25 miles. When they got to me I was froze to the bone and couldn't quit shivering for 30 minutes after I got into the car. They didn't feel nearly as much remorse as I thought they should but I forgave both of them several hours later. You would think that a guys mother and wife would take better care of him!

We are all set up with a nice camp at Spenses Bridge in British Colombia. No rain and right by a beautiful river. Mosquitoes but I bought a nice canopy that has mosquito netting all around and is water proof if it does rain. Have it set up over our pick nick table with our camp chairs under it as well. Life is good. I have changed my goal to fit my fitness. A half marathon running every other day and a marathon on my bicycle every other day. I know, I know, I am a wimp, but my wife called me wise.

I am planning on a nice evening reading and writing.

6/4/2012 Tuesday
Decided to peddle my bicycle today to use some different muscles and discovered that I had forgotten my bicycle shoes. I have the kind that lock into the peddles and riding the bike with my running shoes would have very uncomfortable on my feet. It is tough to get old and loose your mind. That was the 10th thing that I have forgotten. We drove into Bend and found a bicycle store and I bought some new ones. My others were about shot anyway. Because I got such a late start with the shoe thing I only got in 25 miles on my bike but the wind was blowing terribly right in my face so it felt like a 100. While I was riding along highway 97 just before Madras a really big dog came running out and started chasing me. I could see he was going to easily catch me so I stopped real fast to get off and kick him before he bit me. I was so focused on the dog that I forgot I was locked into my peddles and didn't take the necessary step of twisting my foot to unlock so just fell over by the side of the road. I knew the dog was going to jump on me and start biting so I covered my head with my arms. Nothing happened so I looked up and the dog was just standing there panting and looking like he was laughing at me. I got up and yelled at him and he ran back where he had come from. We are camping on the Colombia Gorge in Washington at Mary's Hill State Park just across from Biggs Junction. Another wonderful meal tonight cooked by my wonderful wife and mother. I am planning on running/walking tomorrow. Nice weather right now except for the wind. It was a bugger getting the tent set up, but Patty and Mom held on to the tent while I got it staked down. Two days down and 18 to go. There is no wifi at the camp so I am going to drive back over to Biggs and send this from MacDonalds. Who knows what I might buy while I am in there.

Dee's Run to Alaska

6/4/2012
Started from our house running. It was raining but not to bad. Stopped at son Sam's house in Stayton at 12.5 miles for a drink, potty stop and hug from my 3 grand kids. Did good up until then but after that every muscle in my legs started acting up. By mile 17 I was just walking. At mile 22 Patty and Mom came by with the car. She asked if I wanted her to drive ahead 4 miles and wait for me to get my 26.2. I thought about it for a milla second and said "I think I will sacrifice and just do 22 today. The fact is I had been praying really hard that Patty would show up early. Whoooeeee did I hurt. Got in the car and took a hand full of ibuprofen ate a hard boiled egg! Drank a cup of coffee and in 20 minutes I felt like a human again. Camped outside of Bend at a State park in the rain. Ate a good meal cooked by Patty and my mother and was in the sleeping bag by 7:30 after a really nice shower!

Dee's Alaska Adventure

I would love to get emails from those of you who are following my blog. I will have my iPad with me and most of the campgrounds will have wifi. My email address is deefduke@hotmail.com Hope to hear from some of you.

Dee's Alaska Adventure

Packing today for the trip. Trying to keep Patty from bringing everything but the kitchen sink and I think she is thinking about bringing that as well. "We are camping" I remind her, and we are pulling this little trailer with a Kia Rio not a Chevy Blazer. I think we will get er done sometime tonight!
I am starting to get the "spooks" a bit over the 20 marathons in 20 days. I hope it doesn't hurt to much! I am sounding a bit wimpy, aren't I?
One of my goals each year when I do this "solitude" trip is to do some serious reflection about myself. One writer said "an unexamined life is not worth living". I want to think about my own character and become aware of weak areas that need worked on. I also want to understand fully what my motives are for all that I choose to do in life, especially ministry related. I realized a long time ago that I can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons, and I don't want to do that. I also want to think about what my goals will be for this next year of my life and for the years beyond as well. I am looking forward to having some nice conversations with myself.