Pioneer Motel, Fort Nelson, BC

KARO Enterprises is owned by Rodger and Karen Found, residents of Merrillan (rural Jackson County) Wisconsin. Rodger and Karen met in high school in 1957, and married in 1964. Rodger served in the Navy as a musician and band director from 1961 to 1982, and was able to travel to about fifty foreign countries during his career. After retiring, he returned to school and earned a BS in geography and anthropology and an MA from UW Milwaukee in geography (historical cartography). He also has an advanced degree in museum studies, and served as director of the Wisconsin National Guard Museum for eight years. Karen Found graduated from UW Oshkosh in 1964 with a degree in lower elementary education. She taught off and on during the Navy years, including a few years with the Allied Kindergarten and Nursery at NATO Headquarters in Naples, Italy. Mostly she was kept busy raising the Found's six children, all of whom are now grown and gone from home. Karen is presently serving as director and teacher at Learn and Play Daycare and Preschool in Black River Falls. The photo above is NOT TYPICAL. One of our visitors was put off by the vision of blown tires spread along the road. We had tire problems on this trip to Deadhorse only because our van conversion company, Mark III, did not specify XL (extra load) tires. We were driving on Chrysler original equipment tires. The Founds first drove to Alaska in 1992, and have made the trek every year (except 1993, 2009) since. There were two trips in 1992. Since the guidebook, Practical Land-Yacht Navigator, was first published in 1996, have required 6-9 weeks and 10-14, 000 miles of travel to cover all of the highways, explore new places, and stop at as many of the campgrounds as possible.