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A friend of mine moved to Alaska the summer of 2006. He asked if I wanted to help him drive his belongings nearly 3,000 miles from our hometown in Ohio. I said "yea!!" We left mid Monday morning and arrived to our final destination in Palmer, Alaska early the following Sunday morning.

It was Father's Day when we arrived, I was pleased to call my Dad and let him know that Hershberger feet had officially touched Alaska soil for the first time. It has been his life long dream, of 75 years, to be a mountain man in Alaska. He has wonderful stories to tell of his travels in an old Model A, when he was a kid fresh out of high school. But, he has yet to make it to Alaska.

People ask me what I think of Alaska. I explain "you know how you hear great things about something? You get all excited about it and can hardly wait to see it for yourself. When you finally have the chance to experience that something for yourself, it has been so built up that you're disappointed. It isn't all you had hoped for. Well, Alaska has far exceeded my expectations. It is gorgeous. It is all that I had hoped for and then some." At points, the scenery literally left me struggling for a breath of air.

Here is an excerpt from my journal about Alaska:

"24 of June 2006

"...The drive to this place was breathtaking! I was elated, gleeful! You know the feeling you have when you've just gone down a roller coaster? Not the anticipation going up the hill or the stomach in the throat going down the hill, but the very bottom when there is a grin on your face and you are thrilled and ready for more. That is how I felt gazing out at the scenery."