Monday, July 19, 2004

Moscow, ID
Yep, we're still here. We've been saying we were going to leave Moscow since Saturday...but the furthest we got was moving from the blacktop parking lot to a grassy field with a better view. Our plans are to leave today, it's just taken us the two days to map out our plans. Part of our dilemma was that our original plan was to leave Glacier NP and go north into Canada to see Banff and Jasper. We just learned, however, that you now need a passport or birth certificate to cross the border. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ours are safely tucked away in our safe deposit box at home. So, for now we'll have to postpone our trip into Alberta. We will go to Glacier, then cut across to Seattle (most likely via I-90, but who really knows). We've made flight arrangements to go to Philly and Boca Raton. We'll be in Philly on Aug 12th, then fly to Boca Aug 18th to 24th. Hopefully our luck will continue with Winnebago dealers and we can leave our Spirit in Sequim ("skwim"), WA for repairs while we are flying across the country.
 
It'll be weird leaving Jim and Chris. We've gotten so comfortable knowing that we could go next door and chat with friends. They are continuing along the Lewis and Clark trail to the Columbia River Gorge. Who knows where or when we'll cross paths again, but I'm sure we will. You can keep up with them by checking their weblog at www.jimandchris.com if you want to see what other RVers are up to.
8:03 am pdt


Saturday, July 17, 2004

Moscow, ID
We graduated! We wrapped up our classes yesterday and went to the closing seminar, but didn't win any of the door prizes. There were some big ones too - a 24-day trip to Baja Mexico; 6 tires from Goodyear; and much more. Oh well, we usually aren't very lucky with raffles anyway. This morning we got up early to go get the rig weighed. We've weighed it several times on our trip at truck stops, but those scales generally can't weigh the left and right sides separately - only each axle. The good news is that we are good on the side-to-side weighing. The bad news is that we are still a little heavy on the rear axle, but we've known this and have tried to make adjustments. We can't control it all though since all of our tanks (holding, fresh-water, gas, propane) affect the rear axle.

Most everyone has left the campus by now. We've decided to hang out another night here. They've taken away the electricity and water hoses, but we just weren't ready to leave yet...we haven't even decided where we are going next! Today we went to the Farmer's Market to get produce, we'll decide our plans for tomorrow, and we've been looking at our new "projects" since learning all of this new stuff this past week.

Here are some more pictures from throughout the week:
   

Here's another great picture of the four of us right before the rafting trip in Montana:


4:06 pm pdt


Thursday, July 15, 2004

Moscow, ID
It’s been an interesting week here at the Life On Wheels conference – for several reasons. The conference is at the University of Idaho. We are parked on the campus blacktop parking area and were fortunate to get into the section with electric hookups. Since we’re not skilled at “boondocking”, we figured this was one less thing to worry about. Remember, we’re here for a week living off of a 36 gallon water tank and 56 gallon holding tanks (black and gray combined). As Andy just said – “you guys try that!” Ha! You learn quickly just how much water is wasted in everything you do – showers, hand washing, brushing teeth, washing dishes, etc. This make-shift campground is also tight quarters, so you have to consider your neighbors. Each RV is given a space 2-parking spaces wide. Thankfully Jim and Chris are on one side so we don’t have to worry about annoying them – we love doing that! We open our front door, Chris opens her window by her desk and we talk. Our awning is used to shade the side of their RV and our slide-outs touch the yellow lines on the other side. It’s that close.


The other interesting thing about this past week is the atmosphere. We have 4 classes a day, 1 ½ hours long each. We ride our bikes around campus to get to our classes. We get lost finding our classes. We can get showered in the gym locker room. We carry around notebooks and basically look and act like college students. After school, we are all usually so tired we don’t want to do anything else. I think most of us had forgotten how tired you get sitting and listening for 6 hours a day.

Here is a list of some classes we’ve attended:

Andy: Ford Gas Engines, All About Batteries, Radial Tire Safety, RV Electrical Systems, Suspension & Handling, RV Exterior Care, Back Clinic, Boondocking, and he may have taken more but he did skip two sessions…

Diane: Basic RV Maintenance, All About Batteries, There’s More to Writing Than Words (4 parts), Inverters/Chargers, Generators, RV Awnings Care, Digital Photography, Taking Great Pictures, Solar Power (2 sessions), Hosting in NW State Parks…

Granted, maybe Andy’s classes were more technical, but at least I’ve attended a class in each session J

The negative about all this wonderful information we are receiving is the expense. Now we are considering upgrading some of our parts to increase performance, safety, etc. We never considered this outcome when we came here.

We’ve also been wowed by the city of Moscow. The local businesses and Chamber of Commerce have really enticed the RVers to come into town. They’ve offered discounts at most restaurants and stores, a free barbecue, and even free tickets to the theatre. It’s been really wonderful how excited they are by this conference. Last numbers I’ve heard is there are 666 RVers (about 300+ RVs) in attendance. We were happy to contribute some money to the local microbrewery and winery.

Here is a picture of our route compared to Jim and Chris' route. They went North, then West whereas we went West, then North.



10:13 pm pdt


Saturday, July 10, 2004

Missoula, MT to Moscow, ID
We had a blast on our white-water rafting trip! Chris was the experienced one in our group, the rest of us were newbies. It was the four of us, the guide, and two ladies from El Paso, TX. We were worried about the Texans initially, because they had make-up and jewelry on and their hair was done up nicely...oh, and they didn't want to get wet! Yikes! After just a few minutes with us hootin' and hollerin', they were having a blast too. As you can see in the pictures below, we all got wet. And very wet at that. You'd be proud of all of us since we opted NOT to get the wetsuits and just go with fleece jackets and nylon water-resistant jackets on top. Yes, our guide is in a bathing suit and nothing else - he thought we were wimps. Chris and I started out in the front row (we were the brave ones), but we switched with Jim and Andy half way through so they could experience the fun (and soaking) that we had. It was a great day.
(To help identify the paddlers in the pics: Jim is in his yellow Kayuba slicker, Andy is in the front also, Chris is behind Andy with a teal hat on, and I have my navy Temple Owls hat on, behind Jim.)
   

I know I'm backing up here, but I wanted to mention that we did see fireworks here in Missoula on the Fourth. Here are a few pictures from that night. We do have to say that we were very pleased with the fireworks display - they had some nice large ones with good boomers, too.
 
Yesterday, Friday, we left Missoula to start heading towards Moscow, ID for the Life on Wheels RVing Conference. This week-long conference offers classes on living in an RV, maintenance, and even writing and photography classes, etc. Here are some pictures of us ready for our first caravan...
 
We chose the southern route, Highway 12, for the scenic route. It is part of the Lewis and Clark trail and runs through Clearwater National Forest. It is also referred to as the Long and Winding Road. And that is was. Long and winding all along the Lochsa River and Clearwater River. Andy and I believe it is the longest stretch of road we've ever been on that never left the side of a river. We stayed in the Nat'l Forest on Friday night at Wilderness Gateway campground. There was a nice creek running right behind Jim and Chris' site, forests, mountains, deer, and unique wildflowers.
 
The rest of the drive from Wilderness Gateway to Moscow was just as beautiful. After turning north onto 95 near Lewiston, the scenery changed, but was just as beautiful. The Moscow area is referred to as the Palouse - which is the rolling hills and fields of lentils, garbanzo peas, and other agriculture.
   

 


6:49 pm pdt


Thursday, July 8, 2004

Missoula, MT
It's been hard, but I think we've accomplished some relaxation while here in Missoula. Diane has gone to Yoga twice and has gone running twice this week. Andy joined her in a run once (but kicked her butt). We went to the local Smokejumpers Center for a tour, visited the Farmer's Market, walked around town, and have done some other touristy stuff without that go-go-go pressure we've put on ourselves more recently. Our friends Jim and Chris made it into town yesterday and it was wonderful to sit and chat with them. We had lots to catch up on: our trip, their trip, and RVing in general. We're really looking forward to spending this upcoming week with friends. Today we have an outing scheduled - we've planned a white-water rafting trip down the Alberton Gorge. Wish us luck! We're still debating whether we should ask for wetsuits...water temp is about 60 degrees, current air temp is 60 degrees (but it may go up to high-70's).
9:17 am pdt


Saturday, July 3, 2004

Yellowstone NP, WY to Missoula, MT
Comparing Grand Teton to Yellowstone… I would have to say that Grand Teton focuses on the mountain ranges because from almost every point in the valley, you can see the mountains. And Yellowstone is more about animal close-ups, the rivers, the lakes, and of course geysers. Even though they are so close geographically, the two parks are very different. Yellowstone is much larger at 2.2 million acres (GT has just under 310,000), therefore requiring a lot of driving to see the different sections of the park. We tackled several areas within the 6 days we were there even with one road being closed for construction and another had delays for repairs. We saw several geysers spout: Echinus was early; Castle was about 5 hours late (no we weren’t waiting for five hours, we just got lucky); and Old Faithful was right on time. Castle was our favorite though with water spouting and a good steam show lasting over 40 minutes. Several of the springs were so colorful with different bacteria or minerals they looked like emerald pools surrounded by green, orange, or bright-white rivers. The steamy fumaroles and steam vents made belching, hissing, groaning, or crackling sounds. One of the rangers who has been there for 33 summers, explained some of the changes that he has seen over the years. Because of tectonic plates shifting, earthquakes, human intervention, etc these geysers and other thermal features die off, are born anew, or move several feet over time. He even joked that someday Yellowstone will be in South Dakota because of how things are shifting.
   

Another attraction at Yellowstone is the Canyon in the northeast section of the park. We took a hike in the area south of the Canyon. We started through meadows, then woods, then past some thermal features, before we came upon the Canyon just east of Artist Point. Wow. At that moment, I wished I could paint. Pinks, oranges, and a variety of other colors all splashed on yellow stone. Then I got it – “Yellowstone”. Never thought about why they called this park “Yellowstone” until I saw this yellow canyon. Ah, you learn something new everyday. Finishing the hike along the South Rim Trail we passed by both waterfalls along the way. Andy had thought we could kayak Yellowstone River until he saw these powerful falls. Lower Falls is 308 ft high, and Upper Falls is 109 ft high.
 

Over the week, we visited several different geyser basins; Tower/Roosevelt area for a hike; Canyon for the hike discussed above; and then we got sick of driving. The day before we left, we agreed to stay local to our campground at Fishing Bridge and do some different hikes in that area. One trail was closed for dangerous bear activity (we later found out that there was a carcass on the trail that a bear was feeding on) and another trail nearby had a bear warning. We’ve been practicing the bear-country hiking tactics: talking loudly, clapping, snapping fingers, and carrying bear-spray, so we’ve felt rather comfortable during our hikes, but it is still unnerving. We’ve only seen two bears so far – one in Teton, one in Yellowstone – both from the car. We love seeing wildlife – but a bear is best when seen at a distance! The wildlife viewing was exceptional here in Yellowstone – more bison and bison babies than you can count; elks of all shapes and sizes, two bald eagles, many White American Pelicans, marmots, one badger with a kill, and more. Bison and elk had a tendency to come close to the road, so they were easy photo-ops. No moose though. The fires from 1988 destroyed most of their habitat, so the moose have moved out of Yellowstone. Only about 800 of them are left there.

   

 
When we left Yellowstone, we weren’t really sure where we were going to stop. Missoula, MT was 355 miles away, which we figured was too far to drive in one day so we were thinking of spending a night in Butte, MT. But we got up early and pushed through. Plus, I think Andy was trying to punish me for the last long trip when I drove, so he made this one longer. Eight hours in a car…a 49-foot long vehicle…made for a long day. We’ve gotten a little tired of the pace we’ve kept up recently, so we’ve been thinking about taking some time to settle down and unwind. We figured Missoula was a big enough town to let us take care of some things, but also be close enough to mountains, rivers, etc to still have some fun. But our plans may be changing again, since we recently heard from our friends Jim and Chris who will be in the area as well. We’ll update you when we know more about our plans. The RV Park we’re at now has WIFI so hopefully updates should be easy. Pictures should be up soon, too.

4:27 pm pdt

Durango, CO to Grand Teton NP, WY
Sorry for the long gap in writing, but you'll see further on that there were some technical/internet problems that kept me from updating the blog.
June 9th to June 26th
We loved the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad (D&SNGR). We selected to ride in the open-air gondola car and we got speckled with soot and misted with steam, but that was all part of the fun. The trip was as beautiful as expected. We started in Silverton and headed south towards Durango, passing waterfalls and rapids and a deep gorge of black and pink rock. The rail line itself was usually just a foot or so from either the cliff edge on the riverside or rocks on the mountainside. Sometimes it was that tight on both sides. Every once in awhile a tree branch would slap alongside the cars. So you had to be careful as to when to poke your head out for a better view. The train followed the Animas River the whole way passing through the San Juan Nat’l Forest. It was just beautiful. While in Durango we stayed at the Strater Hotel, which was built in 1887. It’s been restored to the original Victorian-style and even the clerks were dressed with narrow string ties. It was very romantic, but we didn’t spend much time there unfortunately. We visited two of the local microbreweries in town – Steamworks and Carver. With the beers having between 4.3% - 7% alcohol it didn’t take long to get a buzz.
   

Silverton is what you would think of when you try to picture an old-west town: Dirt roads and old wooden buildings with porches and wooden platforms. Unfortunately all the little shops closed after the last train pulled out with most of the tourists. That was at 2:45 pm. And there wasn’t much else to do in the afternoon.

The drive from Silverton to Ouray was breathtaking, and not just because of the steep drop-offs. It is referred to as ‘The Million Dollar Highway’, which we know is because of the expense to blast the road, tunnels and water diverters out of the mountain, but it still is a deserving name. The view along this road is of snow-capped mountains, forests, a deep gorge, and waterfalls. We are still adjusting to the multitudes of greens in Colorado. There is the deep-greens of pines, firs and junipers, the bright-greens of meadows, the light-greens of quaking aspens, and the gray-greens of shrubs. And usually they are all patch-worked together in one setting.

 

Our first stop in Ouray was the Box Canyon Waterfalls. A ‘box canyon’ has walls on three sides. The waterfall cut through one wall and roared between the other two. We took two hikes – one to the top of the falls and the other to the bottom. It was about 20 degrees cooler inside the canyon. The canyon walls consisted of the black and pink rock. Our second stop was the Ouray Hot Springs. We soaked in the mineral springs for about an hour or so. The different pool temperatures ranged from 74 degrees (for lap swimming) to 106 degrees. Afterwards we went back into town for lunch and a little shopping. Downtown Ouray is very quaint. The Main Street is lined with old-style brick buildings and the residences are mostly Victorian-style. The town is surrounded by a mountain range referred to as “The Amphitheatre” and National Forests.

We stayed at Ridgeway State Park up the road from Ouray. That first afternoon we decided on a short mountain bike ride. The beginning of this ride was a little challenging with switchbacks and a slope noted as 32 degrees. Warning signs were posted in this area and with good reason. We mostly “hiked-a-bike” up and down this section. The rest of the trail was great though with rolling hills above the reservoir. We saw several deer jumping pasture fences and lots of birds. From Ridgeway we day-tripped to Black Canyon of Gunnison NP. This canyon got its name because in one section it is more narrow than deep, casting continual shadows into the canyon. We liked the pink Pegmatite rock. Pegmatite was originally red-hot lava that was injected into fractures of the black rock during an eruption and turned pink after it cooled. This created some fascinating patterns in the black rock. Another day trip from Ridgeway was to Telluride, the well-known ski town. We took a hike up to Bridal Veil Falls and another waterfall. We took the free gondola ride up Telluride Mountain to Mountain Village. During this gondola ride we talked with several people regarding biking options. All bike trails are rated “difficult”, but one just looked like a jeep road. We decided to try it anyway. We got our bikes and went back up the gondola. They have bike racks on the back of the gondola to get your bikes to the top of the mountain. San Sophia is the highest point at 10,535 ft and is the start of the trail. The Telluride Trail is a double-blue-square rated ski slope, which is “advanced intermediate” or one step below a black diamond. What made it a difficult bike ride was primarily the speed. Our hands ached at the end from gripping our brakes to maintain our speed. There was a lot of skidding and fishtailing due to gravel and rocks. The tight switchback turns required complete control. And, humps in the path could cause you to catch airtime if you hit them at too high of a speed. Overall, it was a complete adrenaline rush. But once was enough. We went back into Ouray for an afternoon and visited Ice Park, a slot canyon in which they water the cliff walls in winter to create ice cliffs for climbers. We also hiked to Cascade Falls, another beautiful waterfall right on the outskirts of town. The stream below Cascade Falls was filled with Malachite – a green rock. I just can’t get used to the colors of rocks out west. Aren’t ‘rocks’ supposed to be boring brown or black?
   

From Ridgeway we headed north to Grand Junction, CO. We stayed in a State Park in Fruita, a ‘burb of Grand Junction. A private campground across the street offered WIFI, which we were able to access. Unfortunately, they were having internet problems so we kept losing our connection. Not a huge problem except that I had tried several times to update this blog, and when I would try to ‘post’ it erased my text. So, if any descriptions seem abbreviated, it’s because I’ve written this previous section three times now. We drove through Colorado National Monument, which was an unassuming mountain range just outside our doorstep. Once we drove in however the scenery changed. There are canyons, red rocks, arches, painted deserts, and all of the western formations. We did some short hikes in here as well.

 
Another day we put our kayaks in and did a 9-mile stretch of the Colorado River. Our GPS said we averaged 4.2 mph, and we didn’t paddle much! Paddling was only required to get through the little rapids and steer us around the bends. Since this was a one-way trip we had to set up a shuttle system. We were pulling out at our campground in the State Park, so we set up our road bikes at the RV. After carrying our kayaks back to the RV from the boat ramp, we got on our bikes to go get our car. Just a ten-mile bike ride, except it started to rain on the way. Of course it rained. It hadn’t rained in how many months now and we hadn’t ridden road bikes since San Diego. Oh well…The next day we took our mountain bikes for a ride. Mary’s Loop was recommended as a first ride to riders new in the area. It is a 9.3-mile loop with about 4 miles of it being on Kokopelli’s Trail (a 142-mile bike trail from Loma, CO to Moab, UT). What a great ride. Challenging but doable. Gorgeous scenery: Colorado River, meadows, white sandstone, red rocks, a box canyon, slickrock, etc. Sometimes it’s hard to ride when there is so much to look at. We also went into Grand Junction. GJ has a historic downtown area with nice shops, restaurants, etc. One night they had a Farmer’s Market/Arts & Crafts Festival going on. They closed off Main Street so it was a pedestrian walkway only. They even had belly dancers doing a show (Geri, we thought of you!) and one intersection was ‘drumming’. A bunch of drums were provided and people could sit and join in on the so-called jam session. Everyone did a different beat, and the various drums made all different types of sounds. The result was actually very good, not what we would have expected. We also had to visit the Rockslide Brewery on Main Street, of course.

We’re off to see the Dinosaurs! Spent one night at Dinosaur National Monument. The Quarry is where they found a large number of bones. They stopped the dig at one point and preserved many fossils in the rock for all to see. You could see two skulls, but mostly vertebrae and femurs, etc. It’s very interesting if you slow down and read all of the information. Can’t imagine having the patience of a paleontologist. We hiked a trail called the Sounds of Silence. Unfortunately a storm started to come close so we were a little anxious about lightning and hiking on wet slickrock. But the trail was interesting because it took you through several geological layers and it was truly silent. Not a sound was heard except an occasional bird. It was almost eerie. An exciting note: we saw our first bald eagle on the drive to Dinosaur – it flew over the road near us being chased by four other smaller birds. First bald eagle I’ve ever seen in the wild.
 

Continuing north, we stopped at Flaming Gorge for two nights. Planned to do some kayaking in the area by Sheep Creek Bay, but it rained both days here. We had made camping reservations at Grand Teton and Yellowstone, so we couldn’t wait out the bad weather. We’ll put Flaming Gorge on our list again for a future trip. I think kayak-camping in here would be beautiful, especially near Red Canyon where the red-rock walls are several hundred feet high on both sides of the waterway. During our drive around the Sheep Creek Geological Loop we detoured to the historic Ute Fire Tower. While we were in the tower talking with the volunteer, a lightning storm occurred, which is a scary place to be when you are the tallest structure in a forest.

 

The drive from Manila, UT (Flaming Gorge) to Grand Teton NP was one of our longest travel days. It was about 285 miles and took about 6 hours. I finally got to show Andy how hard it is to be a passenger during these long rides. Grand Teton is a beautiful park. The Teton Range lines the west side of the park with its black, jagged, snow-capped mountains. The valley is mostly sagebrush, but there are the Snake River and lodgepole pine forests as well. The animals that you can see in this park are incredible. Most are distant observations (so bring the binos), but occasionally you’ll see one up-close. We’ve seen lots of elk, mule deer, bison, moose, and pronghorn antelope. Then there are the squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, pikas, birds, hawks, and more. We’ve even gotten to see some babies. One day we took a long hike, 11 ½ miles up Cascade Canyon and into the South Fork. On this hike we ‘ran into’ one moose that preferred using the trail. When the legs of the animal are as tall as you, you give that animal the right-of-way. This hike took us to the western side of Grand Teton. We looked for climbers since this is supposed to be a popular route, but we couldn’t see them. Even though this mountain is “only” 13,770 ft high, it appears to be a formidable mountain. Can’t explain why. Perhaps it was the jagged peaks, or the black rock, or the clouds that settled on its point, or the snow and scree slopes, or a combination of all of these. We took a break at our turnaround point and just admired the mountains around us. One waterfall was fascinating because you could see it where it melts away the snow in pockets. So it would be visible, then disappear under the snow, then reappear, etc. On another day we went biking. We rode our mountain bikes in the morning on a jeep road to a lake, then in the afternoon we went to Jackson, WY and rode our road-bikes on a paved pathway they have through town. The town of Jackson (a.k.a. Jackson Hole) is a neat town with lots of touristy shops, a microbrewery, and an elk refuge. We’re lucky to be here in June because the wildflowers are blooming. The wildflowers are so beautiful with all the colors in the rainbow. The bike path was lined with wildflowers. Unfortunately, it did hail on us that day we rode our bikes. The storms here are powerful. Thunder, lightning, hail, rain, winds, fast-moving…we thought Florida was bad in the summer. During one of these storms a little bird was trying to fly across the road. He was flapping his wings so hard, but he wasn’t moving an inch. Andy had to cross into the other lane to avoid hitting the poor thing! When we passed by, the bird stopped flapping and was blown backwards several yards. (Andy thought that scene reminded him of me kayaking in that terrible storm a couple years ago.) We also went kayaking on String Lake one day. Actually we put-in at String Lake and then paddled north to a portage point that crosses over to Leigh Lake. The portage was about a quarter-mile in length – we felt sorry for those who were canoe-camping and had tons of gear and several trips to make. It’s amazing to us Floridians to be paddling next to snow-covered mountains. The water was cold, the air was chilly, but the sun was incredibly hot. So as long as the sun wasn’t behind clouds we were comfortable with the temperature. It was very peaceful paddling since no motorboats are permitted on these lakes. Almost sad to leave Grand Teton, but we were able to see a lot of the park.