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