ColoradoGeorge's video: 20150603-20150612 Travel Days 1-5 Golden CO to Malmstrom AFB MT

Preparations for our Alaskan Road Trip began several days before commencing our trip. We procured a new spare tire for the Tahoe, fitting it to the trailer's rear bumper. Our Tahoe Hybrid did NOT come with a spare tire, obviously to reduce weight and therefore also providing more miles per gallon. We also procured a Yamaha 2kw portable AC generator, not knowing what would lay ahead in terms of available AC power for the trailer or other devices we would carry with us. Having been caught unaware of flooding in Colorado while on an out-of-state trip a year earlier, in an attempt to stay informed we procured a Winegard "Carryout G2" satellite antenna along with a DirecTV receiver to supplement our roof-mounted over the air antenna. This setup proved to be futile, as the further north we'd travel the less likely we were to be in the DirecTV satellite's broadcast footprint...resulting in no reception. This equipment became "dead weight" for the remainder of our trip. Note: Alaskans utilize 1.2 meter diameter dish antennas pointed directly at the horizon in order to guarantee reception of satellite broadcast TV signals at their latitude! We arrived at our trailer's storage facility located in Littleton, CO on the 4th of June, 2015 to find that the hailstorm of a few days before had inflicted damage to the trailer. The rear skylight/vent, located in the bathroom, was shattered, the awning had been penetrated by hailstones where it rolled up in its storage position, and the kitchen stove outside vent was damaged where it was hinged on the outside. On the 4th of June 2015 We towed the trailer to the Dakota Ridge RV Park located in Golden, CO, where we had planned on provisioning the trailer for the trip. With a forecast of rain, we knew that we must make repairs to the trailer as soon as possible to prevent rain from entering the trailer through the smashed roof vent. A call to a local RV Repair shop brought a technician to the site, whereupon he climbed on top of the trailer and installed a cover over the shattered vent. This would protect the trailer in the event of rain until we could procure replacement parts. The next step was for us to procure a new vent cover. A quick trip to a local RV supply store, Camping World, resulted in our procurement of a replacement cover. Another call to the RV repair folks brought the technician back to the site, and with our new cover in hand he climbed back on the roof and installed the new vent cover. The awning repairs would have to wait until we returned from our trip, as would repairs to the kitchen stove outside vent cover. The weather turned sour, with several days of rain that somewhat hampered our efforts to get the trailer prepared for the trip. Finally, at 08:11 hrs. on the 8th of June 2105 we began our trip to Alaska, heading to our first scheduled campsite, the "Powder River" campground located in Kaycee, WY, a 360 mile trip. Our next stop would be at the "Lazy R" Campground located in Ranchester, WY, only another 102 miles, and then on to Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls, MT, another 334 miles, where we would make final preparations for our journey into Canada... and then on to Alaska. The visit to Malmstrom AFB brought back a lot of memories. George Smith, after a year of technical training at Chanute AFB, IL, was one of the original crew members of the 455 MIMS Minuteman Missile Maintenance Squadron located at Minot AFB, ND in May of 1963. He spent his on-the-job training over 29 days at Malmstrom AFB, MT...due to a lack of equipment at Minot AFB...the missiles and lab equipment hadn't as of yet arrived at the Minot AFB facility. We headed into Canada on Day 5 of our trip, 12 June 2015, heading to Calgary, Alberta, CA. The subject of our next video.