Alaska the other Woman

    While I was in the working on the final stages of my thesis I would look up from my computer and ask "what are you looking at dear?"  We both sat diagonally across from one another with our laptops flipped up and our eyes averted downward, this was our nightly routine.  Doug (my spouse) would respond almost in a whisper "Alaska", and I would respond "Yes, the other woman in your life." This is how the majority of our evenings went as I worked toward a long awaited Master's degree. 
    Well, I finished graduate school on the 5th of May (Thesis and all) and (Doug) wants to take me on an adventure before I am gainfully employed.  Not all wives and mistresses should meet, as a matter of fact there should be no need for a mistress,  but I think it is prudent for me to visit this magnificent, mysterious, beauty who has captured my husbands heart.  I am first in my husband's heart, but after our children and grandchildren,  Alaska seems to garner much of Doug's brainwave attention. 
     We are in the beginning stages of planning.  Each morning I see a new list of items we need to pack.  The list is hastily scribbled and sitting by Doug's shaving kit. His lists are in journals, on napkins, and grocery receipts... along with places we should visit. No lipstick here, just camping gear and bug spray. As I am writing this he is researching the travel route and trying to convince me that going to Glacier is out of the way, by almost three hundred miles! Our plan is simple...one car, two people, three weeks, and four thousand miles of driving--one-way!