RV Trip Journal
Well, I managed to document our trip from California to
Minnesota. That’s not bad considering
how much I enjoy writing!
See the Pictures Here.
Friday,
July 23, 2004
(From
Kate’s Little Paper Journal)
1:00
PM – Departed Dogie Court
7:00
PM – Arrived at Mt. Shasta. Stayed at
Abrams Lake RV Park. Beautiful little
man-made lake. No fishin L. Geese and ducks abound. Very nice!
Saturday, July 24, 2004
(From Kate’s Little Paper
Journal)
8:30 AM – Departed Abrams
Lake. Nice drive up Hwy 5. HOT!! DQ for breakfast J. And a
romp and poop at Medford dog park.
Continued to Hood River. Arrived at 4:30. Got last RV spot at highly rated, 120°, parking lot. Outta there! Much cooler in the RV.
Drove ‘til midnight and landed in the Spokane KOA. Basic, but good resting spot.
Sunday,
July 25, 2004
Have
too much to write by hand, so I’m switching to the laptop from Kate’s little
paper journal.
Spokane
KOA - Our neighbor was from Duluth
traveling to Portland. Had just come
through Glacier and gave us some good advice on a route through Idaho and
Montana.
8:30
– Departed Spokane into Idaho.
Beautiful! As our neighbor
suggested we took 95 North out of Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint. Made our way around Lake Pend Oreille
(Pondoray). What a beautiful
drive. Thank goodness for the kind folk
of the Midwest and their great traveling tips.
Down
200 into beautiful Montana. Met up with
“Santa’ in the small town of Heron in front of the General Store. Santa lived in Walnut Creek in his younger
days. He’d gone to San Luis Obispo and
got his degree in animal sciences.
After he graduated, he was offered a job in Montana. They gave him a pick-up truck and put him on
the road to visit veterinarians all around Montana. Said he “thought he’d died and gone to Heaven”. Wish I had gotten more specifics on exactly
what he did. He’d been retired for a
bit and bought himself a 40-acre piece of Montana. He advised us not to miss Ross Creek Cedars. Of course, we took his advice and visited
the large old grove of trees. Very
nice, but not as impressive as the California Redwood groves.
Oh
yeah, we’d gone to Heron to see if we could pick-up a fishing license to
Pat. They directed us to Noxon, down
200 a few miles. After a burger and
some ice cream, off we went to find the Noxon Mercantile. We took a bridge across Bull River into
Noxon. As we crossed an osprey dropped
onto a fish just off to our right. We
pulled over and watched her for a few moments.
Into town. Pat and Kate went
into the Mercantile. They mentioned the
osprey and the woman at the counter said “isn’t she beautiful!” She told us to look up as we crossed the
bridge out of town where we’d see the osprey’s nest where she’d resided for a
few years. Oh yeah, the fishing license
machine was out of order, so they directed us to the Exxon out on 200. Off we went again. Looked up as we crossed the bridge and, sure enough, there she
was with her young clutch. We crossed
the one lane bridge and tried taking some pictures of the ospreys. We were pretty far away at that point, so
I’m not sure the pix will be clear. The
experience will be clear in our minds for a while though!
Stopped
at the Exxon and purchased a license for Pat.
Turned up 56 to see the large Cedars.
Found a campground about a mile from there. Bad Medicine was the name of the campground. Tasted good to me! After walking the cedar grove we went back to the campground and
down to the lake (Bull Lake). It is
beautiful, tucked in to pocket surrounded by pine-covered mountains. The kids took a dip in the lake and did a
little fishing. As the mosquitoes came
out for the evening, we headed back to our campsite. It had been nabbed by a very nice, older couple from Boise – Hugh
and Sally. They were about to move but
we saw that the next site down was open and just as nice. So we took that one instead. Glad they
nabbed the other site. They too had
great advice to offer on Glacier and the surrounding area. Gave us an extra map of the park from their
trip that day. Pointed out some good
campgrounds near water. They also
pointed out that we could cross into North Dakota and cross the state on 2
rather than going all the way down to 90/94.
Should be a cooler and prettier trip.
We’ll see…
Set
up camp. Had weenies and beans cooked
over the campfire. For some reason,
they sure taste good that way. Finished
our meal with some good old s’mores that Kate had been talking about for two
days prior. This was our first stop
with a fire pit. We were all much
relieved J.
We’ve
certainly met some nice people. The
local people of Idaho and Montana are clearly very proud of their states and
wanted to share them with us. Makes me
want to be a part of it. We’re
daydreaming of moving to various places we see along the way. It scares the heck out of Ben, of
course. But Pat and I are thoroughly
enjoying the fantasies of log houses on lakes!
The day has finally arrived –
we’re heading to Glacier! We’re
planning to stop along the way at Kootenai Falls. Hugh and Sally said it was a stop we couldn’t miss. Will fill you in later.
9:00 am – Took off for
Glacier. Stopped at Kootenai Falls and
it was beautiful. Could picture the
Grizzlies fishing for salmon perfectly in my mind as we sat and looked at the
wide, flat falls. Hiked down about a
half mile to the swinging bridge. It
was both scary and fun standing over the amazingly powerful water rushing a few
hundred feet below us. Gus was wise and
stayed back with Pat. The kids (and I)
were very brave J. There was
a walking bridge with 3 flights of raised, spiky metal treads that Gus’ pads
couldn’t take. So Pat got his daily
exercise by lugging Gus up and down the steps so we could get to the swinging
bridge and back.
On to Glacier… We stopped for a snack at the Pamida in
Libby figuring we’d stop in Kalispell an hour and half away for lunch. Pat picked up some ice cream bars and sodas. Downed the ice cream bars just in time to
hit the Dairy Queen at the other end of town! J
Hit West Glacier in the early
afternoon. Stopped at the KOA to clear
and top the tanks for camping that night in Glacier. Entered Glacier and went to get a spot at Fish Creek campground
as recommended by Sally and Hugh. Glad
we did. We found a real nice spot (67B)
overlooking the creek below – far below.
Though we couldn’t get down to the creek, the background sound was
lovely. The campground is full of trees
and very comfortable. Back in the RV
and across the bridge to Apgar Visitor Center.
The views were amazing looking out across Lake McDonald with the
majestic mountains as a backdrop. Went
into the Visitor Center and discovered all the Red Bus Tours were booked until
4:00 the next day. Probably won’t have
time to get one in. Dang! Guess we’ll have to come back another time J. Took the
kids down to the rocky shoreline to do a little wading and fishing. Did quite a bit of wading, some fishing and
no catching. Headed back to camp about
7:30 for some raviolis and, of course, s’mores.
Headed into the RV for a
raucous round of Yahtzee! and Blokus.
We all got pretty silly and had Ben in tears laughing at being called
Meat Stick. Lights out.
Since
we can’t get a bus trip in, and the RV can’t go up Going-to-the-Sun Road, we’re
going to drive as far as we can to Avalanche Creek. Want to see as much of the park as we can today. The kids want to swim so we’ll probably do a
little of that in Lake McDonald when it warms up in the afternoon.
Headed
up Going-to-the-Sun Road as far as we could.
Stopped to see McDonald Lake Lodge along the way. One of the Jammers (Red Bus) was parked
outside the gift shop. We took the
opportunity to climb in and take some pictures. They are really cool!
Stopped in the gift shop to check out the souvenirs. Maddi bought a couple of things and Kate insisted
she must do her shopping back at the Apgar Visitor Center. Continued up GTTSR. Stopped at a couple of vista points to take
pictures. Turned around at Avalanche
Creek where we saw 3 RV’s rented from El Monte RV in Dublin. Thought that was interesting. Headed back down and, of course, stopped at
Apgar Visitor Center for Kate. Raided
the gift shop and loaded up on souvenirs.
Ben, so thoughtful, bought a little “stress stone” for Pat who stayed
outside with Gus. He picked one out
with a Big Horn sheep on it. He read
the display box and remembered what it said so he could tell Dad, “Rubbing the
stone will relieve stress and promote inner growth”. He splurged and purchased one for himself too ($1). What a sweet kid J. Kate
bought herself some bear slippers and a little Indian doll and matching
horse. Maddi bought a thing or two for
each of her family members. I bought
some slippers so Kate and I could “match”; and a sweatshirt. Bought a nice felt fishing hat for Pat.
Didn’t
really warm up, so we bagged swimming.
On the road again… back through West Glacier. Continued east on 2.
Decided to take 90/94 through North Dakota for the wide lanes. Headed down 15 to Butte and picked up
90. Stayed outside of Butte at
Pipestone RV Camp. Nice place. Not very scenic but good amenities. Got the laundry done and we had “all you can
eat” ice cream that evening. They had a
little playground and the kids loved the teeter-tooters (a
Ben-ism).
Talked
to Ann and let her know we planned to get to her place sometime on Thursday.
9:00 am – Back on 90. We’re hoping to get through Montana today
and make our way across North Dakota and in to Minnesota tomorrow.
Made it all the way to Mandan,
North Dakota – roughly half way across North Dakota. It was a long day. We
didn’t stop until about 9:00 pm. We
stayed at Fort Lincoln State Park. It’s
a nice place. Too bad we didn’t have
time to stay and pick up some history.
Looked like there were a bunch of old buildings for the cavalry and a
house labeled Custer House. Guessing
that’s General Custer. We did see an
old, restored Indian site called Slanted Village. Couldn’t go in without a tour guide so we opted to hit the road
again.
9:00
am – Up and out again. Can’t wait to
get to Minnesota. Hit Fargo at about
1:00. Stopped for a DQ J. Should be
there in another 4 hours or so.
And that’s all she wrote!
Mary