Category: Blog

Hello from Alaska, and Happy New Year! I hope you’ve all had festive and restful holidays, and feeling ready to embrace 2024. The past few months have really been a lovely time of reflection and transition for us — here are some updates.

We spent October, November, and early December in Michigan back at Iris’ lake house in Glenn. When we pulled in there on Oct 1, we had spent almost exactly eight and a half months on the road. The transition back to domestic life took some weeks of moving stuff around, tending to camper repair, and enjoying some long sleeps. Matthew went back to work in the kitchen at Guardian Brewery, and Kayla leaned in to her ongoing work as a recruiter. We celebrated Iris’ birthday and Thanksgiving; Iris & Kayla took a quick trip to Iowa to celebrate their dad’s birthday; and our dear friends Ed and David came to visit West Michigan for a weekend.

We went to Kalamazoo a few times (about an hour or so away, depending on how scenic a drive you choose) to get to know that city a little better. There’s a great brewery called One Well with lots of awesome pinball machines. They have Bride of Pinbot, which is one that Matthew has sought far and wide to find.

And, we made plans for a return to Alaska. As a reminder: Matthew landed a job working as a Legislative Aide in Juneau for the 120-day Thirty-Third Alaska State Legislature Second Session. You’ll get more details on that after he starts work on January 8.

Dec 16-17: We spent two nights in Chicago before we caught our flight to AK. We did some good city-walkin’, visited the Art Institute of Chicago, and grabbed some cocktails at The Berkshire Room, one of our favorite bars. Then we headed to one of our favorite restaurants, Quartino Ristorante. The next day we had a long journey to Seattle and on to Sitka, but got there in time for a lovely dinner to start our stay with dear friends Grace and Charlie.

We’ve spent the last two weeks catching up with friends, and also catching our breath. Getting the camper tucked away, figuring the logistics of getting two season’s worth of clothes, including — ugh — work clothes, and generally setting up another big transition took a psychological toll, apparently. We’ve been kind of wiped out!

Now we are preparing for the short flight yet big jump to Juneau, where we will tuck into entirely different lives than the ones we’ve been living for the past year. But we’re starting to plan our summer/fall adventures, hopefully to include a stop somewhere near you! Stay tuned – we’ll reveal our “plans” soon.

A new “desert flower” series, this one of bars.

Parting shot of the Arts Institute.

Sept 26: Time to move on. Next stop, Wilderness State Park, across the Mackinac bridge. That means we have officially left the Upper Penninsula and are now in the “Mitten” part of Michigan. First we stopped at the Mackinac City Library to do that traveling work thing – both Kayla and Matthew had Zoom meetings! Wilderness State Park is more of a parking lot campground. Our camper and car were rather prominently displayed. It seemed that just about everyone wanted to stop and chat about our Alaska license plates and/or teardrop camper. Friendliest, chattiest campground ever! We spend two days doing some lazy biking and mostly hanging out.

Sept 28: We packed up and headed to our last campsite for this leg of the journey – a state park right in the middle of Traverse City. We passed through Bliss, Pleasantview, Petrosky, Charlevoix, Torch Lake, and Elk Rapids to get there. Turns out we picked a really big weekend to be at this campground! It was the Traverse City State Park Halloween Hootenanny! (Our words, but you are welcome to use them, Michigan). Three days and nights of fun runs, trick or treating, costume contests, and a “Dance All Night” party that ends promptly at 9:00 pm. But the biggest event is the campground decorating. Clearly this is a thing that some folks return for every year, and they have escalated their efforts over the years. We saw many campsites that had one truck to pull their camper, plus another truck to pull a trailer full of decorations.

All the pictures below came from the campground.

Sept 30: Traverse City is where our dear friends Ed and David live. We spend a day touring the Leelanau Peninsula – home to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, Joe’s Friendly Tavern (a very fine burger joint), and Leelanau State Park, with its obligatory lighthouse and shipwreck museum.

Sunday, October 1: We wake up to thunder at 7:30 am. We jump out to pack the few things we still had outside, while groggy campers stumble about packing away their elaborate set-ups. Moved on to a nice brunch at Ed and David’s, then we hit the highway. We go through Interlochen, Grawn, Mesick, Baldwin, Hesperia, Nunica, Holland, and then at last Glenn, MI.

Kayla’s sister Iris has a sweet little summer cottage on a bluff looking over Lake Michigan. Dedicated blog readers will recall that when we first left Alaska in 2021 (and before we built the camper) we stayed here over the winter (brrr!). It is cozy and familiar, and a great place to rest from an 8.5 month traveling adventure.

Final trip mileage, from January 15 to October 1: 18,836.

Coming soon: our 3rd quarter report, and announcements about what’s next for the Betties! Stay tuned!

Sept 17: We headed out of the farm and pointed towards Houghton, Michigan. After Polonia we went through Shantytown, just missed Nutterville, through Doering, Gleason, Rhinelander, and Sugar Camp. We drove through Eagle River, where signs let us know that we were on the Chain of 28 Rivers, as well as the Snowmobile Capital of the World AND the Hockey Capital of of Wisconsin. Whew! On through Conover, Land O’ Lakes, and then crossed in the Michigan to pass through Watersmeet, Mass City, and South Range to quirky Houghton. We made camp in the city campground by the river.

The next day we spent several hours at the lovely Houghton Public Library, right along the river with great views. Like so much of this area, Houghton was once an important port and passage for lake vessels back in the heyday. Lots of old big brick warehouses and heavy pieces of rusting metal. Houghton has been rebuilding itself of late, and seems to have found a decent balance point. Having Michigan Tech as part of the town has to help. Oh, and Michigan Tech is crazy about their Broom Ball.

Houghton is also home to one of our favorite breweries, Keweenaw Brewing, located in a beautiful old building in downtown. Here’s the deal: they make great beer, lots of taps (ok, so far not different from a zillion other places) AND THEY SELL THEIR BEER FOR $3.50 A PINT! Yeah, you heard me right. We have no idea how they do it, but every hour is happy hour there, mate.

Sept 19: We spend the day touring through the Keweenaw Peninsula. There was a lot of copper mining here in the late 1800’s, so we see a lot of rusted metal and abandoned factories. Most of the small factory towns have some amazing school and church buildings that are still standing, though. We drove up and down the streets of beautiful Calumet, resplendent with lots of old buildings and history.

We wanted to find a new way back to Houghton, and Twyla showed us a shortcut. It started out ok, but then the asphalt gave way to dirt road, and then the dirt road gave way to more of a dirt path. Seems like Twyla wanted an offroad adventure. Things got a little sketchy, but we made it through!

Sept 20: We headed to Fayette State Park. This is a park that is “off the beaten path” in a part of the state that is already “off the beaten path.” What a place! We do some exploring that evening and are delighted we will be here for the next three days. Funny, when we booked this stint, we figured we would have some “just sit around the campsite” days, but we were busy exploring the whole time!

The park was once a mining town, with a school, hotel, and such. Many of the buildings are open for wandering. It is especially neat in the evenings, when the day tourists are gone and the park is left to the campers.

Sept 23: Time to move on to the eastern end of the UP. We drive through Mastinique, Gulliver, Newberry, then Paradise to lower Tahquamenon (rhymes with “phenomenon”) Falls. We have a fantastic site by the river – fairly removed from the other campers, though we figure it is about a 3/4 mile to the showers. That’s what bikes are for.

Sept 24: We went to the shipwreck museum at Whitefish Point, “The Graveyard of the Great Lakes”. Oh my goodness did we get to hear “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” a few times during that visit. Then we explored the park and dutifully saw some waterfalls.

Sept 25: Spent some time in Newberry where Kayla sought some minor medical care, then just a groovy day back at the campsite. Our camping meals are numbered, now, so we are focused on finishing what provisions we have.

Next stop, to the “Mitten” hand of Michigan. Stay tuned!

We left Minnesota on Thursday, Sept 14, and headed east into central Wisconsin. We’d made plans to meet up with Kayla’s cousin Karl and his wife Amy on Friday morning, so we spent Thursday night in nearby Wisconsin Rapids at Wood County Park. SWEET CAMPGROUND!! Too bad it was a drive-by. Even with our last-minute booking, we managed to get a site right on Wazeecha Lake.

Although we very much enjoyed our time in Minnesota and being “unpacked” for a while, it was really nice to be back in the Bettie Mobile. This would be the first of seventeen nights in a row that we’d be camping and sleeping in the trailer!

On Friday morning we moved on to Polonia, a small Polish community near Stevens Point, where Kayla’s aunt and uncle – Ruth and Milo Harpstead – had spent over five decades. (Please indulge me while I share some background about these special relatives!) Their primary residence was in Stevens Point, where Milo was a professor of soil science in UWSP’s College of Natural Resources. In 1974, they purchased a farm in nearby Polonia, providing a property where Milo could easily bring students for research. Among its unique features: it’s the glacial birthplace of an ice-walled lakebed; the remnants form a flat-topped hill that is considered one of the highest features in Portage County.

The farm was also a great place for Harpstead family recreation. Milo was a collector of antique cars and tractors, and spent lots of time restoring them and participating in car/tractor shows. The barn was his primary work space for these projects. Other parts of the property were rented out for farming Christmas trees and field crops. It was also a great cross-country ski destination.

After Ruth (older sister to Kayla’s dad) passed away in 2018, Milo continued to spend lots of time on the farm, and had lunch every day at the Polonia Cafe. In 2021, Milo donated 22 acres of the farm to the UWSP Foundation, ensuring its continued use as a field laboratory for the soil science students.

Through the years, Milo & Ruth kept a fairly strong presence with the Boettchers in Iowa, making frequent road trips to see Ruth’s siblings and nieces/nephews. They even traveled to Alaska for our wedding! Just in the last decade, we managed to cross paths with them several times in Iowa. They lived such an interesting life, filled with curiosity, adventurous travel, and generous volunteerism. All of this to say that Kayla felt pretty close to them and admired them both very much. And we were both completely entertained by Milo’s amazing stories. As we were making plans to pass through Wisconsin this week, we were really excited for the opportunity to meet Karl & Amy at the farm to reconnect with them and to learn more about these aspects of Milo & Ruth’s life.

After Milo’s passing last summer, the family decided to sell the farm. They’ve been working for months now to clean out the buildings and prepare them for new owners. What a project! Our visit with them coincided with one of Karl & Amy’s final trips to haul stuff out. The antique cars, tractors, and other collectables have been distributed among interested family members or sold, but a few key pieces were still there – such as a classic Oliver tractor that originally belonged to Kayla’s dad! He sold it to Milo sometime in the 70s and it’s been put to great use ever since! A highlight of the day was for Kayla to drive it around a bit. Check out this video and a few photos of our fun farm day:

In addition to walking around the farm and helping Karl & Amy load up their trailer, we got to have lunch at the Polonia Cafe and took a driving tour of some Stevens Point highlights, including a stop at UWSP. Karl had a quick errand with the College of Natural Resources, so we stopped by to see where Milo’s office and classrooms were. We bumped into a grad student who was managing some newly collected soil samples. At first she was extremely protective of them and really didn’t even want us to breathe on them, but when she found out that Karl is Milo Harpstead’s son, she pulled out her keys and gave us the VIP tour, complete with a closer look at some soil monoliths, which elicited stories from Karl about how they always had to collect soil samples wherever they went on family vacations.

Oh, by the way, another thing we learned is that the “d-word” is absolutely verboten. A bulletin board in the hallway was full of memes about this, here’s one of my favorites:

Karl & Amy had to head back to their home in eastern Wisconsin on Friday evening, but gave us permission to camp on the farm, which we happily did for two nights! It was perfect weather: tons of stars, a nice campfire, and we got to use all our “dry camping” equipment (like our awesome little “shower pig”).

On Saturday, we hopped on a rails-to-trails path and biked 8.5 miles from Amherst to Scandanavia, where we came upon Little Norway (go figure) – a perfect small town dive bar that happened to be serving up some decent beer and good sandwiches. The Wisconsin Badgers had just won, and an excited fan bought a round for the bar the moment we walked in the door! Oh, yeah, and the restrooms were for “Oles” and “Ingas”. Love it!

We covered quite a bit of ground over three weeks in Minnesota (Aug 22 – Sept 14)! Great times with family and friends, Minnesota State Fair, shenanigans in downtown Minneapolis and favorite spots in St Paul, and five fantastic days paddling in the Boundary Waters.

Deep and heartfelt thanks to Kayla’s sister and brother-in-law – Ione and Gary – for hosting us and letting us spread out in their basement. We tried to earn our keep by helping out with some projects around the house:

We got to the Minnesota State Fair, merely 8 days after we enjoyed the Iowa State Fair! We spent the day with one of our favorite Minnesota families: Laura, Gary, Lily, and Jack.

Highlights of other fun times around the cities, including seeing some old friends who just dropped in to the cities for 24 hours, to getting a seat for the Original Juicy Lucy at Matt’s Bar.

We also took at five night paddle trip through the Boundary Waters! We were guided by Kayla’s friends from way back in Holden Village Days Nils Dybvig and Michele Braley. Here’s the route for you BWCA Fanatics.

First we stayed overnight in sweet little Sandstone, MN with Nils family. Nils dad, Lee, has been guiding and paddling the Boundary Waters since he was 16. He had the canoe and Duluth Packs that we would need for the journey. The next day we headed to Ely, just on the edge of the Boundary Waters, so that we could get an early start the next day. And boy, the next day was HOT, in the 90’s, as we paddled and portaged to try to find our first camp. The forecast was for rain in the evening and next day, so we wanted to get ourselves set up as soon as we could. Unfortunately, even with limited entry permits, it was a very busy day on the lakes. The portages were backed up, and the close sites were taken. We ended up traveling twice the distance we intended to get to our first campsite in Lake Jordan. As forecast, the rain set in, and the next day was cold and wet. We elected to stay put and wait out the weather. It worked! The remaining days of our trip were sunny, clear, and much more tolerable temps.

Total miles paddled: 58
Portages: 13
Total portage distance: 2.6 miles (one way – we needed two trips to move canoes and gear at each portage).

OK, let’s address one quirky thing about portaging, maybe just in the Boundary Waters, maybe everywhere, I don’t know. That is measuring the distance of a portage in “rods“. A rod is an old English measurement, and works out to 16.5 feet – about the same length as a canoe. Maybe. Our canoe was 18.5 feet. But, for whatever reason, when we talk canoe portages, we talk rods. Our first portage out of the gate was 140 rods. Pretty serious, especially since our food barrel was completely full (and it was over ninety degrees).

What a trip! On our final day, we had a big paddle, then loaded up the canoes and car, then dropped off the canoe in Sandstone, then drove back to Burnsville all in one big day. Oh, and we had long hot showers.

Welllll … we’ve been full of good intentions to catch up on our past stories, but days and weeks just keep rolling by! We just came back from a LOVELY 5-day trip to the Boundary Waters, plus we’ve had a really great time in the Twin Cities the past few weeks. So stayed tuned for stories and photos from these adventures, coming soon(ish). But for now, let’s go back a little further:

We had a lovely time visiting family and friends in Iowa, Aug 8-22. First, a little over a week in Kayla’s hometown of Storm Lake, where we had time with Dad and Nora, plus Kayla’s brother Kevin and sister-in-law Kristi.

We also had the chance to take in the Albert City Threshermen and Collectors Show – FANTASTIC small-town festival, showcasing the history of midwest farming, and providing machine & engine collectors to show off (and trade!) their stuff. The highlight for us was a steam-powered tractor – check out these photos and a video of the steam tractor:

One of the highlights of the weekend is the “A Year of Farming in a Day” where various machines from horse drawn to modern take turns harvesting, threshing, and then plowing the field. Can you imagine driving a steam powered tractor?

We also explored the area a little bit beyond Storm Lake, including Correctionville (named for surveyor’s correction line), the coldest spot in Iowa, and the world’s largest popcorn ball in Sac City.

Plus, after departing Storm Lake, we spent a couple quick days in Ankeny and Boone with dear friend Bridget and her family.

AND we went to the Iowa State Fair! Fantastic! I think it was about 167 degrees outside the day we went – all the animals had personal fans, and all the humans looked SO HOT. But it was a blast. We especially loved the 4-H projects – among these photos is a kid’s quest to learn whether he could cook a steak by slapping it. Ha! We also grabbed a good seat for the llama limbo – check out a quick video of that silliness below.

Our last day in Iowa, we hopped on a really fun excursion with Rail Explorers – a unique opportunity to ride a specialized “railbike” and pedal your way along the rails. They’ve established these tours in 5 places across the country, one of which is Boone, IA. The highlight of the tour was the 750′ crossing of the 156′ high trestle bridge. Here’s a photo of us on our railbike, plus a cool video of us crossing the high bridge. Be sure to watch to the end of the video – you’ll really get a feel for the ride!

Our post-Portland “plans” evolved through several iterations during the month of July. We always knew we would point toward the midwest when we were done housesitting, but what route we took and how long we’d spend getting there was up in the air. For awhile we were building a route to include several key highlights: the wonders and beauty of eastern Oregon and southern Idaho; Yellowstone and the Tetons or maybe Bozeman; Wyoming ranch/rodeo life; Devil’s Tower; Sturgis; Black Hills; Badlands; the Corn Palace; etc.

But then we thought about how crazy-busy those popular parks would be, and how hot/stormy it could be, plus it turned out the weekend we thought about being in Sturgis was the weekend of THE Sturgis Rally (um, that’s a hard NO!). PLUS if we moved a little faster, we could have the possibility of overlapping in Iowa with Kayla’s brother and sister-in-law.

So, we decided to push through with few stops, but still avoiding interstates. And we had a LOVELY drive – a little bit of US Hwy 26 in Oregon, and then Hwy 20 all the way from Boise into Iowa, just 15 miles south of Kayla’s hometown. We left Portland on August 3; spent two nights in Sisters, OR (including bonus time with dear friend Natalie in Bend); one night in Boise (and went to a AAA Boise Hawks baseballs game); one night in Dubois, Wyoming; one night in Valentine, Nebraska; and then – Voila! – we were in Storm Lake!

Friends, we spent 37 days in Portland, Oregon (1). It was nothing that we had planned too far in advance, it just sort of happened, and it was a great thing!

While we were on the road, a teacher couple reached out to us from one of our housesitting sites inviting us to stay in their house while they traveled to Ireland and Turkey with their seven year old son (2). The charges were two classroom guinea pigs (Jerome and Winston) and a street cat they rescued from Turkey named Inci (3).

We hadn’t planned to stay put in one place for so long, but we thought, “it’s summer time, and the out-of-doors could get pretty hot, and hey, Portland sounds like a fun town to really explore!”

Plus we could commit to the McMenemin’s Passport.

There are currently 64 bars, pubs, and/or restaurants that make up the McMenamins empire. It started in Portland, with a brewery and pub in Portland. The enterprise was so successful that in the 1990’s the founders were able to buy and restore a dilapidated “poor farm” from the 1950’s into a hotel, brewery, and concert venue. That led to other historic renovations, and that led to the sprawling map of old theaters, mill sites, churches, and schools that center around Portland but stretch to all corners of Oregon and even into Washington.

So for $35 you can buy a Passport. And then visiting each of the 64 bars, pubs, and/or restaurants will earn you a stamp. And then when you get enough stamps to fill a page, you might get a t-shirt or some free tater-tots or something. And then if you get all the stamps from each of their places, you are invited to a Cosmic Tripster party at one of their hotels in September! How much fun is that?

We have about half of our Passport stamps, so it looks like another extended visit to the Portland area is inevitable.

Another big event of our time in Portland was the Porch Fest, of course, which we detailed in the previous post. It was also FABULOUS to have Kayla’s sister Iris and nephew Jon out to visit for a few days (4). Here are a few photos from our adventures with them:

Besides the big events, though, it was great just to be in one place for a while, getting to know the rhythm of daily life in a vibrant city. We loved Otto’s Sausage Kitchen, and getting ice at Eric’s – nearby convenience store where they are always pumping out dance music on their impressive sound system. We loved jumping on our bikes to get around the neighborhoods, having easy access to the MAX light rail for a quick trip downtown, and being able to walk over to Gino’s in Selwood for a nice dinner out.

On a somber note, one night Inci went out for the night, just as she had for every other night (remember, she’s a Turkish street cat – I think this is what they do) but did not return in the morning. It is likely she ran into trouble with a coyote or owl – they are out there, even in the city. It was a super sad feeling to have that happen, and worse that it was on our watch, but our world-wise teacher couple understood that she was living her best life, and things are ok.

Many MANY thanks to: Jill and Desi for giving us the opportunity to spend this time in their neighborhood; Bill & Poppy for allll the hospitality, music, and sweet friendship; Iris and Jon for coming to visit; cousins Jon & Tenley for taking the time to reconnect with us; college friend Jamie and her sweet John (so many Jons!) for hanging out with us a couple times; and the good people of Milwaukie for being so gosh-darn hospitable! Already looking forward to our return.

Footnotes

(1) Well, really we mostly stayed in *Milwaukie*, which is the next city south of Portland, but the house was a block from the Portland border, so we won’t dwell on technicalities.

(2) They were traveling teachers back before their child, and wanted to take him to their old haunts.

(3) Pronounced “In-Jee” a Turkish word for “pearl”.

(4) Dedicated readers of this blog may recall that just a year ago, Iris was embarking on a very scary journey with Stage 4 endometrial cancer … we are all over-the-moon to report that she responded extremely well to treatments and surgery and is back to work and travel and gardening!

Whoa, it’s already been three weeks and over 1,600 miles since our Porchfest gig! But it was such a highlight of our time in Portland … indulge us as we share with you.

As you may recall, we accepted a 5-week housesitting job in Milwaukie, OR – a south suburb of Portland (and a small town in it’s own right). When we were talking with the homeowners to learn about them and their pets, they found out that we aspire to be musicians and mentioned that we should sign up for Porchfest while we’re there. So we did!

The Milwaukie Porchfest ran for 3 Friday nights: July 14, 21, and 28. We signed up to perform on the 21st. This gave us the chance to bike around on the 14th and 28th to see how other performers were doing it.

It’s organized by the Milwaukie arts council, and they sure do a nice job. It was so easy to sign up, and they took care of everything from keeping the website updated (with a handy map of all the participating locations) to providing us with a lawn sign and door hangers to warn the neighbors we’d be making some noise.

We also had to gather and assemble a couple of critical pieces of gear we had left behind: namely, some sort of drum kit. Kayla plays drums like Animal on the Muppets – which is hilarious and manages to keep some sort of beat. She had long fantasized about having a kick drum made out of a Samsonite suitcase. Thanks to Facebook marketplace, local pawn shops, and a little handywork from Matthew and our friend Bill, that dream came true!

We invited our pals Bill & Poppy to join us for part of our show, which gave us the chance to really work some specific songs out with them. Also, Kayla’s amazing nephew, Jon, came down from Seattle for the weekend and also joined the band on his bass! We had a blast rehearsing and performing with them all – those extra-talented band members definitely made the show.

But the real show-stopper was Bill & Poppy’s dog, Riley. This photo says it all:

He sat up there like that for the entire time Bill & Poppy were up there!

All in all, we managed to put together a TWO HOUR concert! And it went really well, overall. So good for us to have a deadline for dusting off all our instruments and justifying the fact that we’ve carried all this stuff around for thousands of miles. We had about 50 people stop by and check us out; some stayed for one song, others stayed for an hour. We had a few special guests who watched the whole show: Kayla’s sister Iris came from Michigan to visit for the weekend, plus Kayla & Iris’s cousin Jon lives in the Portland area and came for the concert.

I’ll wrap this up with a few more photos and a couple of short videos. It was such a fun experience, and a great way for the Jet Set Betties to take a deep dive back into the music.