Happy Trails to You

Gary & Carol and their granddaughter, Elsa, treat us to a lovely dinner with a view of Lake Geneva.

Sunday, June 19

We left the Jackson, Minnesota KOA in a humid fog. The noise from the race track and the Karaoke finally died down in the night and we did get some sleep and I didn't have to tackle Bob.

We arrived in Walworth, Wisconsin at Gary and Carol's where we spent the night in their driveway. They treated us to a very nice dinner down on the shores of Lake Geneva where we had a chance to catch up a little and enjoy their granddaughter, Elsa.

This is where our adventure pretty much began and it just seemed right to end our story here. As I wrote this last post, I had teary eyes. We can't wait to see family, friends, Miss Minnie, and home, but endings are sad. We dreamed of this adventure for so long and it was surely a success. We are blessed and thankful.

Thank you for following along and sharing. It was a good feeling to know you were out there. For now, "Happy Trails to You" until we're "On the Road Again."

(Mike,...re-entry...please advise...)

Little House on the Prairie

One Last Picture of Badlands



Cute Prairie Dog

The Little Sod House on the Prairie

Saturday, June 18

We got on the road early for us with the goal of making it into Minnesota.

We drove back through some of the fascinating Badlands and couldn't help taking some more pictures. The bird songs were so pretty and we wondered if they might be Meadow Larks.

We stopped to take pictures and walk through an original sod house. It was so interesting and the house was much better furnished than I would have thought. There was a framed picture and letter in the visitor center from Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote Little House on the Prairie. What a hard life this must have been, but the house was cozy.

Then back on 90 east through the vast grasslands. We drove by a sign for "Dances with Wolves" movie props. Some of the movie was filmed right in this area.

We stopped at Murdo, a small frontier town whose roads turned to gravel at the village border. We called Blake to wish him Happy Birthday and hear the plans for the day. We sure hated to be missing his party.

The hills became dotted with pines as we crossed the wide Missouri River. Flooding was very visible as trees on both sides of the shore were close to under water. The land gradually changed with more creeks and rivers and familiar looking terrain as we moved east.

We passed a Cabela's at Mitchell and saw their sculpture of Pheasants taking flight as a coyote chased them. It was beautifully done.

We drove about an hour into Minnesota to a KOA in Jackson. We thought it would be fun to see what this Jackson looked like. Our camp was placed between a Super 8 Motel and a John Deere Tractor store, but it was in a grove of trees with farm fields at the back and turned out to be quite pretty. We were lucky to get their last spot. Kids were everywhere. They were swimming in the pool, playing games, and on a hayride with a guy pulling a wagon behind a tractor up and down the camp roads. Then the Karaoke started down at the pavilion which was not far enough from us. It was cute at first, but the later it got and the more beer they drank, and the braver they got, the worse it got. People were just belting out the tunes in keys I've never heard. Then we heard the race cars. Jackson has a speedway and they were practicing right near here. The cars were roaring by and could be heard between and sometimes on top of the singing. Is this in honor of us missing race weekend at home? Is this to help us settle back in to civilization? It certainly was a memorable last night in a campground. And then they announced, "Here at the Jackson KOA, we're gonna party all night or till someone makes us quit!" Yeehaa! It was too hot to shut the windows. I was so afraid I was going to have to tackle Bob if they didn't quit and he might start out the door in a blind rage! Where are the trains when you need them?

The Badlands & A Rest

Entering the Badlands.

Ben Enjoying Our Walk.

Doesn't it look like Indians should come riding up over that hill?

Relaxing!



Friday, June 17

We were tired! We woke up still blurry and realized how hard we'd been pushing it and how long the days had been in the truck. We laughed when we realized we were both thinking that we were almost home because we were on the east side of Wyoming. This is one big country. We decided to take the day off, not drive as far and relax a little.

We met our neighbors in the campground as we were packing up. They were from Switzerland, but spoke good English and would occasionally confer over a word or phrase. They had rented a motor home in Denver and were traveling to some of our National Parks. They were close to our age and so enjoyable to talk to. We swapped stories and they advised us on traveling in Europe. We wished we had had more time with them, but we were off in opposite directions.

We crossed the border into South Dakota and stopped in Spearfish for lunch. What a lovely area. This is another place where we'd like to come back and spend some time. It is close to the Black Hills, fishing, and hiking.

We had a lovely ride through "Dances with Wolves" country and near the famous Wall Drug Store, we took the exit south on 240 into the incredible Badlands. We drove through the park stopping to take pictures of some of the rock formations. We were here two years ago and yet, were still so impressed. We took 44 east to the Badlands/White River KOA.

This KOA was new, in beautiful shape, in a grove of Cottonwood and on the banks of the White River. It was far enough in to be so quiet with the only sounds being those of the birds singing and the wind in the trees. This was the place to relax.

We realized that we went from winter coats packing up in the morning, to shorts and tank tops for our walk in the afternoon.

We walked along the river and up a gravel road across from camp. An occasional rancher drove by in their dusty trucks and cowboy hats. They waved at us and other than that, we had the road and the countryside to ourselves. Ben loved running in the grass, but got pretty hot. It was so beautiful and it just felt good to be out and walking.

We got back to the trailer and sat out under our awning until dinner. This KOA served Indian Bread Tacos. So we decided to try them which was an easy dinner. One more walk and we settled in for the night relaxed and refreshed.

Leaving Montana

Entering Wyoming






The Indian Memorial at the Little Bighorn Battlefield







Headstones Placed Where Soldiers Fell in the Battle. The Dark One Belongs to Custer.









Horses Grazing on the Prairie

Big Sky Country

Thursday, June 16

First of all, I loaded the pictures backwards, so they go from the bottom up. The bottom and through the Little Bighorn Battlefield are in Montana and then we enter Wyoming.

Anyway, we loved our site at Red Lodge KOA. It was on the end of the road with a fenced field and mountain view beyond. It was perfect for Ben with large trees and lots of grass.

I know I've mentioned lilacs, but once more, they were thick and everywhere in light, dark and white. They were just beautiful and added so much to even the shackiest little house.

Montana has had a lot of rain and all of their rivers are at the top and over flowing around trees and into fields. It was on the news that ranchers have not been able to plant and the deadline is fast approaching for it to be too late as the season is so short. In one small town we saw people with sandbags around their homes. They are worried that with the higher temperatures, snow melt in the mountains, and rain, the flooding will get much worse.

They have had lot of storms in the area and on the news, we heard about a bad hail storm they had the week before. A ranchers cattle stampeded and went over a cliff killing his herd. The area ranchers were raising money and donating cattle to help him out. It was so interesting hearing how they supported each other.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch and picked up two more books on CD. Thank you to Pat and Vern for putting us onto taped books while traveling. We downloaded three to my ipod and had two on CD. Cracker Barrel let's you buy them and then turn them in at any other Cracker Barrel for much of your money back. It makes the long stretches of miles go much faster and keeps our eyes free for scenery...and, well, driving.

We drove through lots of big sky country with miles between towns and exits labeled "no service." We saw many Pronghorn Deer, but flew by too fast to get pictures.

We exited on 212 to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial which is the site of Custer's Last Stand. We saw where the Little Bighorn River had overflown and left debris in the farm fences and muddy banks.

We listened to the Ranger tell the story to the days around the battle and we walked the path to see the sites where different events happened. It was all very somber, but very nicely done, with sadness as they honored both sides. Though there were many people there, it was very quiet and people talked in whispers. Black Elk's quote was on the wall of the visitor center; "Know the power that is peace." Can't we as humans ever learn?

The highway followed the Little Bighorn River for a while and we saw more flooding. Then we moved away from seeing any houses. There were just big grassy fields that grew into bigger and bigger hills with occasional cattle or horses grazing and then snowy mountain peaks off to the southwest near Sheridan, Wyoming.
We drove through miles of plains, but enjoyed watching, seeing Pronghorn and listening to our book on CD.

We got quite tired and finally made it into Sundance, Wyoming and the Mountain View Campground up on a hill with great views. The wind rocked us to sleep and then some time during the night, it darn near blew us off the hill.

Glad to be Alive

A Bison In LaMar Valley in Yellowstone National Park

Snow on the Beartooth Highway

A River Cutting Through the Snow


The Deep Snow Beside Our Truck & Trailer

The Tight Corners Through the Tunnel of Snow and the Beginnings of Wet Road

Wednesday, June 15

We enjoyed the trees, birds, and lilacs in our park-like campground as we packed up. It was a short drive to Bozeman, Montana, which was another beautiful college town (Montana State University). We took a wrong turn and ended up driving around a lot of the town and liked it better the more we saw of it. Actually, a lady gave us directions and Bob didn't believe her and she ended up being right.

We stopped in Livingston, a little farther southeast, for gas and there we were on Highway 89, just 58 miles from the northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We looked at a map and saw that there was a loop we could do down 89, across the northern border of the park and back up the Beartooth Highway (that had been closed because of snow when we were there two years ago) to Billings, Montana and back on to 90 east. The whole loop was just over 200 miles and would be beautiful and we were ahead of schedule and so close and the next thing we knew, away we went. We called Ron and Thelma as we knew they'd encourage us, and they did.

We drove by more ranches with green fields, pines and bigger hills with more and more rock.

A word about ranchers: As romantic as these beautiful ranches looked, we saw dusty cowboys out mending fences in the wild winds and we pictured the work in the winter with blowing snow and sub zero temperatures and it all looked like a lot of work. Also, we saw many modern ranchers on the range driving cattle on 4 wheelers instead of traditional horses. Maybe I don't want to be a cowboy when I grow up.

The Yellowstone River ran along he road and was just raging. We stopped to take pictures and saw some white water rafters fly by. It looked pretty scary, but they were screaming with laughter or blind fear.

We stopped in Gardiner and got ice cream and coffee before we drove into the park. We asked a ranger if the Beartooth Highway was open and it was. We were good to go.

We wound through beautiful country to Mammoth Hotsprings. When we were there before, elk were walking around right in town. We didn't see any elk this time. We saw many deer, rapids, falls, and bison. We drove into LeMar Valley and at one stop, met a couple from San Diego who came here every June. They had high powered field glasses on stands. They let us watch a huge grizzly that was half way up in the hills from the valley. It was very cool and they were so nice to share with us.

Then at the other end of the valley, a whole group of people had gathered and were watching another, smaller grizzly. They too were all freely sharing their glasses. One young man even offered to adjust the height of his stand for me. They were a fun group.

We left the valley and began to climb. We went through Cooke City where we had stayed two years ago and on to where the highway split into Chief Joseph and Beartooth. We were thrilled that the Beartooth was opened and up we went and up and up. We stopped to take pictures, having no idea just how high we would get as we went from one switch back to another with increasing snow. We climbed to an elevation of 10,947 feet which was higher than we have ever been and, we were pulling a trailer! We couldn't believe the snow on the side of the road. At first, we laughed and I jumped out to show how high the snow was. Then we stopped and both got out and posed with Ben and let him romp about with his nose digging in the snow. And then, we were above the tree line and the snow was higher than our trailer and the wind was wild. It was hard to stand up in it if we tried to get out for a picture. Chunks of ice and snow hit our car and blew across the road. As we hit the barren summit, the road had slush covered patches. We are talking about steep switchbacks with narrow blind curves that have a 20 mph speed limit on good roads, with a shear cliff drop off on the side. I could not look over the edge. We got quiet, no longer laughing and at one point went into a slide. We both held our breath and I know the meaning of "time stood still." Thank God, and I mean, thank God,that Bob is a confident, experienced driver. What if he had been like the young couple we met driving a big rented motor home from Florida with no winter driving experience?! Anyway, he knew not to hit his breaks, and he steered through it and we hit traction again. We crawled down that mountain until we were out of the snow. What an experience! It was all so beautiful and we are of thankful heart that we are here to tell the story.

We got down the mountain and into the pines and had a lovely drive into Red Lodge where we stayed at a KOA. We set up with winter coats on and weren't sure if the shivering was from the cold or our wild experience. Bed never felt so good.

More Montana & Lost Pictures

Coming Out of Flat Grasslands to Pine Dotted Hills

Tuesday, June 14

We had a good nights sleep, but both of us woke a few times as the strong winds just shook our trailer. It felt like we were moving at times.

We were impressed with this KOA as it was very clean, well set up, and conveniently located. They even had pet sitters. We'd like to go back and spend some time another year. There is just so much to do around there.

We went to the St. Mary's Lodge for breakfast and for memories as we had stayed there on the last trip we took with Chad and Sean. It was as beautiful as we remembered and we relaxed with a wonderful breakfast, Frank Sinatra songs playing in the background, and gorgeous views out the windows.

We went into the gift shop and met the manager who had designed the mugs we used in the restaurant. she advised us to go back up to Babb, just north of us, and take the park road into Many Glacier. There had been lots of bear sighted there. They let us leave the trailer in the parking lot and away we went.

It was a beautiful drive up the other side of the St. Marys River. We climbed into the mountains and into the rain. Mist and fog blew in and out with the clouds the higher we went. We saw one moose and several sheep, but no grizzly. Time to push on.

We took 89 south and drove through acres of sad forest fire damage. Under all of the littered, blackened, bare sticks of trees, there was brave green grass and dandelions.

We went into beautiful range land that looked like I think Montana should look as my head played, "Happy Trails to You." A small herd of horses were grazing right beside the road and we stopped and got out to click pictures of them. As we watched, a cowboy on a Buckskin horse came from a field on the other side of the road and herded the horses away from the highway and back down into their field. It was so cool to watch! I want to be a cowboy when I grow up.

We came into the scrub town of Browning and stopped to buy kettle corn from a Native American. It was just the snack we needed. After that there wer miles and miles of range land and you could see our ribbon of a highway far ahead as in looped up and down and wound through the hills.

Choteau was a nice clean little town with an organic market and expresso shop. There were lilacs in bloom everywhere. We continued on across the vast land until the hills began to get bigger and there were occasional rock formations that looked like the canyon country of cowboy movies.

As we neared Helena, Montana, the grassy hills became dotted with pines and there were more and more cattle grazing. We picked up 15 south into Helena and back to super highways. Helena was a nice, clean, college town built into the hills with views of mountains in the distance.

We picked up speed and enjoyed the convenience of the highway, but we sure enjoyed the interesting scenery, small towns, and the wildlife we saw on the back roads.

Just when we thought we were winding down, we headed into some mountains again. They were pine covered and reminded me of Tennessee. We meant to stop at a campground there, but as we got on 90 east, the campground was the other way and we didn't notice until too late. We were getting pretty tired when we found a camp in our guide in the tiny town of Three Forks, Montana. It was a little scary as we turned off and we were afraid it would be a dusty parking lot behind a gas station or something. It turned out to be absolutely beautiful. It was spotless, friendly and just like a park with piles of trees and birds singing everywhere. We took a nice walk and enjoyed the views and watched the full moon. This was a lovely park. Saved again.

Note: The next morning, getting organized for the day, I accidentally deleted all of my pictures that would go with this post. I lost pictures of St. Marys Lodge, our last moose, some mountain scenes, the cowboy herding the horses, the forest fire damage, and the ribbon of road through the vast range land. We were sick, but the pictures are in our heads. Bob had one picture and was very glad he hadn't been the one to do the deleting.

Back in the USA

Flat Range Land with Mountains in the Background

Fields of Dandelions

Native American Statues in Montana

Going into Glacier National Park

A Bear Crosses in Front of us in the Park




Monday, June 13

We had a beautiful, crisp morning as we had our oatmeal, packed up and headed to the RV Wash in Canmore. Later, after we got on the highway towards Calgary, we hit a heavy downpour and were glad we hadn't spent more time fussing at the RV Wash. At least the top layer of mud, dust, and bugs were off.

The mountains were now behind us with flat, forever land ahead. We missed the turn off for the Cowboy Highway south and decided it was a good time of day for traffic and we wanted to see Calgary anyway, so using our little map book of Canada that we had purchased at Northgate by our cabin, we successfully navigated around the border of the city. The land surrounding Calgary was flat and treeless with sprawling new subdivisions. Then as we approached the city center, we could see the tall buildings of the city center down in a hollow. The land was shaped like a bowl and we were up on a rim. There were six lanes of traffic and a lot of construction. It seemed to be very clean and progressive and we heard later from a fellow traveler that Calgary is Canada's most livable city. It would have been nice to see some of the Olympic areas and the sight of the Calgary Stampede, but not hauling a trailer.

We went on south to Fort MacLeod and past the lovely little hospital that had helped me on the way up. Then we took Highway 2 south through more beautiful range land with increasing mountains to our southwest.

The wind was wild and we saw that Canada was using it with some massive fields of windmills.

We drove through the nice little town of Cardston and on until we crossed the quaint, small customs stop at the border into the USA. It was just a good feeling and Montana truly seemed to welcome us. We stopped to take pictures of metal sculptures of Native Americans on horseback and hurried on to get to Glacier National Park.

We got a camp site in St. Marys at the KOA situated on high, grassy, very windy fields with mountains bordering us. We set up and went into tiny St. Marys to the cafe and had delicious big salads and homemade pie. The restaurant was manned by college kids that looked like hikers and environmentalists. They were having fun joking with each other. Their t-shirts had a slice of pie on end like a pyramid and said, "Pie for Strength."

After dinner, we drove into the Park and twelve miles up the Road to the Sun. That was as far as it was open as there was still a lot of snow and danger of avalanche.

We went from sun to cold and rain the higher we went. We saw one black bear, an avalanche area with broken trees and piles of snow, and a rock slide area. The views were pretty, but the weather made it hard to see well.

We went back to our trailer, took a walk, turned on the heater, watched out our window as the clouds boiled over the mountains, and listened to the howling wind...cozy and content.

A Much Warmer Icefield Parkway

Enjoying Our Campground

Athabasca Falls

A Baby Bighorn Sheep

Two Bighorn Rams

An Elk in Velvet Resting Along 1A Highway Near Lake Louise

Sunday, June 12

We had a relaxing morning in such a beautiful campground with large sites, quiet pines, and mountains all around us. The ground squirrels kept Ben entertained.

We chatted with our neighbors from Germany who had flown in to Vancouver and rented a motor home. They said Germany had comparable terrain, but with many more people in a small space.

As we hit the road going south on the Icefield Parkway, we again stopped all along the way to click pictures of mountains. It looked so different coming south and with so much less snow.

We stopped at Athabasca Falls and walked around. There were many more people and much more traffic than when we were there a month ago, but we still enjoyed it's beauty and it wasn't really crowded yet.

When we were driving in the mountains, we seemed to drive in and out of light rains the higher up we went. It just kind of blew in and out in a cloud. It could be raining and yet we'd be in sun and blue skies. The rain moved with the gusts of wind.

We saw so many waterfalls and we couldn't help taking more and more pictures. We just couldn't capture it all.

We saw a cluster of Big Horn Sheep with mamas and babies grazing in the grass at the base of the rocks. Then down by the river, we saw two huge rams. We sat and watched them for quite a while. It was just so exciting to watch these huge animals still living in the wild.

We saw another large black bear grazing beside the road. Dandelions seem to be a big attraction.

There were more glaciers, more waterfalls, and more sparkling streams. At the summit, there was a huge lake still mostly frozen with huge blue chunks of floating ice.

When we came off the Icefield Parkway, instead of taking the highway, we took the back road, 1A, the Bow Valley Parkway, again to drive slowly and watch for wildlife. It was Sunday, and there was much more traffic, hikers, and bikers. We decided we probably wouldn't see much, but right towards the end, we saw people pulled over and there were two huge elk, lying down, tucked in the trees right beside the road. Everyone was whispering and taking pictures and the elk didn't seem to think anyone could see them or they just didn't care. There huge horns were in velvet and they were so pretty. We again, watched quite a while.

We got back on Highway 1 east, which is a four lane divided highway. We weren't sure we were ready for all of that again. There are big fences along the highway to keep animals out and a couple sod covered wide bridges over the highway for animals to travel across without getting in the road. They've thought of everything. We did see a small herd of deer beside the road and some single deer along the way.

We passed Banff and went on to Canmore and the Spring Creek Campground where we had stayed coming up. There were more campers and the price had gone up, of course, but it was still beautiful and a nice place to stay with great views. There were ducks walking around looking for hand outs and bunnies of all colors all around. We had to keep Ben in check, but he sure enjoyed watching.

We chatted with our neighbor who had a spotless motor home towing a spotless white compact car. He was on his way to Alaska and had really researched his trip, planning everything with detail. He was washing his windows and said he washed his motor home every couple of days as he likes to keep it all in good order. We couldn't help but smile thinking of him hitting those roads in Alaska and on the way up with the clouds of dust. The man is going to be a wreck!

We went into Canmore and ate a fabulous dinner at the Grizzly Paw Brewery. I actually had one of their light beers, a Hound Dog Pilsner, mixed with their own brewed Orange Soda. It was yummy.

We walked around Canmore a little. It was very much like Jackson Hole with lots of young people, outdoor cafes, and people playing music. We were full and relaxed. It had been a great day and we were ready to call it a night.

Back to Jasper

Farm Fields and Mountains.

Cherie & Ben at the Rearguard Falls

Bob & Ben at the Path from the Falls


Birch, Pines and Mountains

A Grizzly in the Park

Saturday, June 11

We enjoyed our beautiful, clean campground in Vanderhoof by taking a long hot shower and doing some laundry.

We loved the countryside and could have been in northern Michigan or Wisconsin with the rolling green fields bordered with pine and birch and occasional lakes and streams.

Back on the road, we went through Prince George which was on the Frazer River and is quite big with every store and busy traffic. We stopped for gas and the machine wouldn't authorize us for more than $80. That should have been a clue that something wasn't right. We were going to have a nice lunch in town as we had only had oatmeal early, but with the traffic and gas station trouble,we just got out of town.

We were instantly back in the woods with no stores or anything but beauty. We stopped in a rest area and made lunch and saw the first dead moose by the side of the road that we'd seen the whole trip. They are so massive. Sad to see it there.

We started to gradually climb back into the mountains. We saw a young moose beside the road and one black bear back in the woods.

We drove through another beautiful valley with lots of small farms and horses and into the town of McBride, which was a sweet small ranch town.

We stopped and walked to Rearguard Falls. It was very impressive and a nice walk.

We went into Robson Provincial Park and read the sign that cautioned about weather changes in the high mountains. Up we went again. We drove into rain and then sun with fluffy clouds. We were in snowy, jagged peaks again as we drove across the BC/Alberta border into Jasper National Park we changed to mountain time and only two hours behind home.

Shortly after entering the park, we rounded a curve and saw people pulled over. They were watching a huge grizzly grazing in the meadow. My camera just couldn't capture it, but Bob took many pictures and the grizzly was fascinating to watch.

We finally left as the grizzly sauntered into the pines and we went into Jasper for gas. Jasper was a crowded resort town with most gift shops, restaurants, and gas stations on one side of the street and a park, train station and train tracks on the other. Mountains were on every side. We drove almost to the end of the street for diesel as others either didn't carry it or were out. After filling up, our Mastercard was rejected. I reminded Bob that we had our Visa, but that rejected too. Thank God we had cash. We couldn't imagine what had happened , but we had been without phone and knew we had messages we couldn't get and dreamed up all of the worse case scenarios.

We were dizzy with hunger, so decided to eat first and then figure out what to do. We picked a nice log cabin restaurant with a great view and the young man who was our waiter couldn't have been nicer. We ended up telling him our story and he even offered his phone as we had no service. He gave us a map that showed area campgrounds and made us laugh with biking and bear stories.

We had delicious salads, smoked salmon and warm french bread. In much better spirits, we stopped at a pay phone and called Mastercard. They let us know that all was well and they were just being careful because of out of the country charges. We had called them before we left, but they were still cautious. The released the freeze and we were on our way.

We drove onto the beginning of the Icefield Parkway and stopped at the first park campground and they had two sites left and they were full hook up. We were blessed. It was one of the more beautiful places we have stayed. We took a lovely walk in the pines and enjoyed the lodgey smell of campfires.

Note to self: Remember that things always look worse when over tired and hungry. Learn to let go and trust.

Lush Green Valleys

Misty Mountains

Waterfalls and Train Tracks Following the Beautiful Drive

Green Valleys

Bright Dandelions

An Old Farm in the Valley




Friday, June 10

We slept well in the quiet of the mountain and had our first dark night in a long time. We did have trains off in the distance, which made us feel right at home.

A word about choosing campgrounds -

Don't trust the Milepost book where businesses write their own ads. Check the RV Guides that have ratings. This Kinnikinnick Campground advertised: Pristine views - the tops of other crowded in campers. Walk to the beach - the fenced in old cannery on the harbor. Internet - We couldn't get contact at our site and there was only very low service down by the office, which wasn't even strong enough to bring in Yahoo. TV - You might get TV if you had your own large antennae that was a lot bigger than ours. We got one weak station that played cartoons and hockey. Hot showers -a space, two by three feet (Bob measured), with a dirty shower curtain and a musty smell. Yuck! The owner was a creative writer for sure.

We headed east away from the coast and enjoyed the misty mountains once again. The land leveled out a little with more birch and wider valleys as we went. We saw a deer beside the road drinking from a stream. That was the first deer we'd seen in a while. She was big and a light, tawny color and luckily she turned away from the highway.

We drove into the clean, friendly town of Smithers. There were snowy mountains on both sides in a lovely green valley with horse ranches all around. We saw a sign by the fairgrounds advertising their approaching rodeo. We stopped for groceries and were impressed with the well stocked fresh offerings, and, they had a Starbucks, which we took advantage of to give us a little boost. We saw several ranchers in their pickup trucks and wearing cowboy hats making it feel like Wyoming.

Everything was lush spring green in the valley with lots of birch and pine. There were also large bright dandelions and lilacs thickly in bloom everywhere. Spring was in full swing there, which felt good as we had missed much of it at home. We got the occasional glimpses of snowy mountains in the distance, or it would have looked like the countryside southwest of the Mackinaw City or Traverse City areas. There were quaint farms with some cattle and many horses. The air was cool and so fresh.

We saw a young buck in velvet by the road and he also turned and ran away from the highway. We saw a mama moose and her little one running along in the ditch and then up and over the road behind us. It was so much fun to see the calf determinedly trotting along to keep up.

Spring is a great time to travel here. We missed seeing the bull moose with their big racks and the Grizzly Bear fishing for Salmon, but what a treat to see all of those babies.

Right outside of a little town, a black bear ran across in front of the semi that was in front of us. We both had to slam on our breaks.

It was a long, but beautiful day of driving. We wanted to make it to Prince George, but knew it was time to quit in Vanderhoof, BC at Dave's RV Park. It was just outside of town with full hook up except for TV, and it was spotless. We were happy to settle in.

Waterfalls, Mountains, and Mist

The morning mist in the mountains.

Waterfalls and snow gates.

The view from our sun roof.

Waterfalls and streams.

And, more waterfalls and lush green vegetation.

Thursday, June 9

I stepped out of the trailer in the gray morning to go to the shower and stopped in wonder. The mountains rose huge around me with misty clouds enclosing the top. It was so quiet and it almost felt sacred. I just stood there for a minute while I soaked it in.

I popped out of it pretty quickly when I got to the rustic showers and put my Canadian dollar, a loony, in for 4 minutes of shower time. The owner, Ruby, said to only turn on hot as sometimes it doesn't heat up real good. Well, I'm here to tell you, I knew those minutes were ticking away, so as soon as it wasn't freezing, I jumped in. It was so cold that I showered in record time and forgot shaving my legs as I would have cut myself cutting off the tops of my goose bumps! I did not use my full four minutes. By the way, I'd like to thank Nance, my yoga teacher, for the ability to stand on one foot while using these showers.

We had coffee, watched the Today Show and went into town to the bakery for breakfast. It was fun meeting some locals and chatting over coffee. It reminded us of Northgate up by our cabin at Montreal River Harbour. We found out that our "Gayle" character at the General Store,was full of hot air and exaggerations. We laughed and had fun with these great, hardy people.

We packed up and started out of Stewart in a soft rain. Thirty kilometers down the road, we realized we were low on gas. After checking maps, we decided we had to go back. I can't think of a more beautiful road to have to backtrack. We marveled at the sights both ways. At one point, when there was no pull over to stop for pictures, Bob slowed and I stood up through the sun roof. It was probably not a smart idea, but it was fun.

We saw gates all along the road like at a railroad crossing for roads to be closed in heavy snow. I guess it happens often in this area.

The temperature came up to 54 and the clouds burned off. We saw more black bear. We saw more green vegetation, glaciers, birds, waterfalls, rocky cliffs, streams, clouds, beautiful textures....HEAVEN!

We turned south on 37 down to 16, the Yellowhead Highway, and turned west on a whim towards the west coast town of Prince Rupert. It clouded up and began to rain, but we hit a nice stretch of smooth road. We passed a few First Nation Villages and saw their interesting totem poles. The highway followed the wide, fast moving, Skeena River and the drive became more scenic as we went.

We drove through the nice town of Terrace, which has the Kermodei Bear (white spirit bear) as their symbol. It was the first actual town we had been in in a while with traffic lights, Walmart, McDonalds and everything. It felt weird.

We climbed higher in the mountains as we neared the coast. It just got prettier and prettier and definitely rivaled the drive in to Stewart. The huge dark pines, the misty clouds, the massive mountains and numerous waterfalls gave the surroundings a spiritual, Holy place, feeling.

Our brains went on overload as we were unable to absorb any more. We quit talking and just clicked pictures. Then we quit doing that too as the vastness of it and the feel of it could not be captured.

We found a camp in Prince Edward 6 miles from Prince Rupert. It was built into the side of a mountain. Bob showed his ability with trailers backing into that narrow spot. There were steps up to a landing for the picnic table as everything was steep and in tiers.

We drove into Prince Rupert and watched the Skeena River widen with small rocky, pine covered islands dotted throughout.

We were bone tired and stopped for dinner at the edge of town with a view of the Harbor. There was a Norwegian Cruise Ship docked and we also watched a rowing team practice. We had the sweetest waitress who was First Nation. She made us feel so welcome and she followed us out to meet Ben who liked her right off and is a good judge of character.

We were feeling so overwhelmed and tired, that we actually drove down to the Alaskan Ferry Dock to see about taking a ferry to Seattle to drive home. People load their RVs on and it is a great way to travel. Luckily, they were closed and we went back to camp for a good night's sleep and a clearer head.

And the Scenery Prize Goes to ....

One of many waterfalls with snow at the bottom.

One of many bubbling, fast streams.

Beautiful, snow covered mountains with spring in the valley.

One of many bears right by the road.

The General Store in Hyder Alaska.

Wednesday, June 8

We had a lovely, peaceful sleep on the shores of Dease Lake in our rustic camp site and had coffee by the campfire. We chatted with the owner who was a retired miner. He took great care of his lovely campground, but could not afford to get power in way down there. It might be just as well as it had so much character just as it was.

The community of Dease Lake was 6 miles further down the road and kind of scrubby looking. We were glad we stayed where we did.

We went by several little white water roaring streams and then across the huge Stikine River (Great River). The road became a steep winding climb with no shoulder and sharp drops. We could see an old, dormant, snow covered volcano in the distance. (Following along with the Milespost Guide, helps explain what you might be seeing. I keep it open on my lap as we drive.) There were mountains all around us, with some barren and snow streaked, and some lush green. We saw more and more black bear which was fun, but we couldn't stop on the winding road.

And then, we turned off on 37A back into Stewart, we saw the most awesome scenery to date. We snapped pictures right and left while oohing and ahhing. At one point, as we looked up towards the top of a mountain, we saw snow break loose and shower down in an avalanche. It only made it part way down the mountain, luckily, but was grand to watch.

You would think we had seen it all, but we hadn't. These mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, and canyon walls were spectacular! We were in awe and ranked it number one in scenery.

We drove on through the little town of Stewart, and in a short two miles crossed the unmanned border into Hyder, Alaska. What an experience! It was a rustic town with made over shacks and a dirt road. At one time, when mining was big, both towns were a lot busier and many more people lived there. For now, I think there were 83 who lived in Hyder full time and a few more then that in Stewart. The towns were on a Fiord that was about 90 miles long connecting them to the Pacific Ocean. There were a lot of scrubby fishing boats at dock. There was also a long board walk that went out in the marshy part for bear viewing when the salmon are running in July and August.

We met the owner of the General Store and he was totally a north woods version of our friend, Gayle Heller. He was a riot to talk... wait, to listen to. He explained that Hyder had no customs and no law enforcement, yet little crime as they all carried guns and knew where to find everyone. We stayed quite a while and solved the problems of the world. Four other tourists joined us and the stories just got better as "Gayle" loved an audience.

We went back to the Canadian side and had to go through a folksy customs and stayed in the Bear River Campground. We had great views, cable TV, and internet. Everyone was glued to the hockey playoffs.

Bob fixed his lovely fish and we had leftover stir fry veggies for dinner. We settled in for a quiet nights sleep in the narrow valley of Stewart, where it actually got almost dark for a while.