Last Day & then home

Left Dillon at 9:30 AM and made good time, stopped in Idaho Falls for lunch & gas. On to the duty free at Sweetgrass where 2 bottles of fine scotch [Glenlivet & Glenmorangie] found their way into our luggage. Managed our way thru the rush hour in Calgary, you would think we would learn, ;>). A bite to eat in the greasy spoon on the highway at Crossfield and then we pushed on, finishing in Edmonton. Heard from Bill & Patty on the way back, they were in Edm for a dental appt. Turns out they were staying at the Comfort Inn on 105th street, so we elected to stay in the same hotel. It turns out this was the hotel we spent our honeymoon night in 40 years ago. The hotel had a different name back then and looked a lot different, but it's the same building. Anyway when the staff heard that they insisted we take a jacuzzi suite at a special rate. They were really great & had lots of questions. I told them the rates had gone up a bit & that got a good laugh. It's a small world. Good to be back in Alberta.

Dillon, Montana - homeward bound

Busy day today. We were up at the early hours of the AM and packed up the motorhome. Drained all the water and put in RV antifreeze. Moved to lot #185 at the Temple View RV park and closed the unit up. Probably forgot something, but not knowing what it is, the intrepid travellers left on the journey home. Left St George & were on the road by 9:30 AM. A brief stop for lunch at Nephi along the way and we blasted thru the dreaded Salt Lake City in mid-afternoon & the dreaded Monida pass later in the afternoon. That put us through 2 states today & into the 3rd, a little like Smoky & the Bandit - LOL. Not many stops today, so we made good time, arriving in Dillon at 7:30 PM, approx 700 miles/1,100 km later. Should make for a good day tomorrow as that will likely put us at the border by mid-day tomorrow and then on to the Edm. area. A little trouble celebrating because of the weather. The high temp [around 50F] here today did not even equal last nights low in St G, let alone their high of 85F. What can you do, deal with it; so we got out the long pants and jackets.

Saint George - no dragons here

We made it ST George, not much of a task really, it was about 40 miles. As I said no dragon here, but I can feel his breath, it must be over 90F today. Anyway we are spending the night at Temple View RV park, it's a very nice park and well situated for us along the I-15. We will leave the motorhome here and pick it up after Christmas. They have a very large storage lot, holding about 400 units and the park has all the amenities. Got the windshield chip fixed today, fingers crossed, it's the worst I've ever had repaired but worth trying. Also got some mexican boys to wash the RV, they did a pretty good job, so we were able to get the road grit off. There was quite a bit from the rain storm up in Salt Lake City on the way down. We will pack up and head out early tomorrow AM. We were hoping for 2 nights here, but they are booked solid. With an early start and big push we hope to make it back to someplace in Idaho tomorrow, which would put us at the border on Wednesday. The only wrinkle in the plan is that we have to sort of winterize the unit as it does freeze at night about 20 or so days a year, usually in December/January.

Hot Hot in Mesquite

Well the forecast high today is 88F/31C & not a cloud in the sky. Did some shopping today, but that is limited here. I had to pick up a part to fix the vacuum and then Marg got a few things at Bealls. Later we went to the Eureka for dinner and had the buffet. Crab, seafood & lots of other stuff, but no beer included in this one. Things are going downhill. If we keep these buffets up I will probably have to invest in some of those infamous "buffet pants" that are a hallmark of the Arizona crowd. After dinner I managed to donate, but Marg cashed in about $120, so dinner was compliments of the casino. Not much available for RV parks here, the one we are in is more like a parking lot, so will not miss the camping here. MEt another accountant at the RV park, it turns out bean counters, not scotsmen find this place attractive - LOL. Will try and head out to St George early tomorrow morning. With any luck we will spend the night there. After that it will be the dash to the border.

Mesquite

Well here we are in beautiful downtown Mesquite, Nevada. One of our usual stops on the road to Arizona. This time we are spending about 3 nites here as the RV park in St George is fully booked, seniors games time - LOL. No drooling or napping are not sports I am competing in. Anyway had a pretty uneventful trip down, except we thought we had an electrical fault in the coach. Turned out to be a false alarm, we had just shut off the switch for the battery disconnect, forgot about it from last year as it's not a feature we use all that often. Although we felt pretty foolish when Marg read the manual and it triggered the memory; there was just us. OMG why am I telling you?

Hot in Mesquite, we had the AC on by 10AM this morning. Right now its about 78F/25C in the hot sun and getting warmer. We're staying at the RV park for the Casablanca, so had the seafood buffet last nite. It was great & beer was included as one of the drinks available that was included in the meal. Played blackjack & Marg the slots. I'm not sure of Marg, but I had a skin full by the time we went back to the RV. I made about $35 & she lost less than that.

Today we went to an art show in the park - YES you heard right - I went. Had lunch at Virgin River Casino, get this bacon, eggs, sausage, pancakes $3.99. I am surprised every scotsman in N America isn't here - LOL. We played slots at Virgin River & Marg won over $30, me I just lost the complimentary money they give you to play with. Life is good.

For those of you looking to phone us, the old phone expired and cannot be re-activated. We need to get a new one, but will leave it until we come back down after Christmas, so for the time being we are in-communicado. We are in MacDonalds blogging as our park doesn't have wifi - password here was bigmac11 in case you need it - ;>)! Not sure when we will be in touch, how many big macs can one guy eat!

Fillmore experience Oct 7th

Well we went in to town, it's a don't blink or you'll miss it experience. We toured the historic first capital building [now a museum] erected in the territroy when Brigham Young was governor. Then when the President decided to send in the army & stop the church from ruling the territory & stop the polygamy, he moved the capital to Salt Lake City. Some neat old stuff in from the battles to end the persecution and life in the early times. The really unusual stuff is the number of pictures of people from the area. Marg came across a Gourley in the gallery - different branch of the family. ;>) Our branch; the 'ay's would surely have found one wife was enough - LOL.

Weather is much better, sun is shining. We will probably head south tomorrow where the forecast is for sun & low 80's.

Salt Lake City - good/bad news

Here we sit in the Fillmore KOA where they offer wifi service with ONE bar. Now really can you call it service if you only have one bar?? Friendly people that run the place & that makes it all part of the experience. I-15 thru Utah is in a valley between ranges, not quite the rockies, but mountains & lots of old volcanic activity in the area.

Good news - had great TV & Internet service in Idaho Falls last nite. Bad news - while cleaning the bugs off the motorhome windshield I saw two rock chips [one new yesterday] starting to spread. Remember this is the biggest windshield you can imagine. Good news - we made it through Salt Lake City in one piece. Remember the comments about the 16 lanes of bumper to bumper at 65mph, well traffic was actually light. Bad news - drove thru the worst rain & wind storm I have been in. A large billboard [about 8ft X 10 ft] was blown over; on to a car in front of us, taking out it's hood & windshield. Salt Lake gives us snowbirds grief one way or another. Good news - we made it thru the storm and the sun was shining at Fillmore, so we stayed the night. Bad news - east of us they had a toronado & 4 of them around Flagstaff that overturned railway cars & RV's. There are flood warnings & 2 kids were hit by lightning. Good news -the high country east of here in Utah where the ski lodges are got 11 inches of snow last nite. Bad news - we aren't there. Hey does anyone remember my Utah joke from last year. Tweety says - I tot I taw a puddy tat & Sylvester says Utah, Utah! Hah, hah I crack myself up.

Idaho

Oh yes that reminds of the speculation on the origin of this state name. Think about it: soiled doves, wild west, raunchy cowpokes on a Friday nite. Not sure but there may be a connection!

Everytime we go past the budweiser grain complex, Marg is tempted to take a picture, so this time I took advantage of the opportunity as we passed the terminals. I think they grow a lot of barley in this area, Idaho is not all potatoes folks. Now that has to be a good thing. Anyway the weather is nice and sunny here in Idaho Falls. We are at the Snake River Campground where we have stayed on most trips through here. Probably head south tomorrow through the mormon mayhem in Salt Lake City.

Goodby Montana - hello Idaho

Well the nice weather ended, so we left town. That's the snowbird way ;>). Went to Ressler GM where they have a quick lube service & got oil changes on both vehicles while waiting the service appt for the car. They took it in right off and replaced the faulty hub, the service guy said it was quite bad. Ah duh, I could hardly play the radio loud enough to not hear it. They were great and did it under warranty - didn't cost a cent and they bumped us to the front of the line.

Note to self - must send them a letter on their excellent customer service.

Made it through the rain & the dreaded Monida pass into sunny Idaho. We just missed the rain in the pass. In this pic you can see the clouds just along the west side of the pass. Monida - that must be an indian word for something like - weather play tricks on snowbirds.

Scenes of Yellowstone

The whole area was formed by volcanic activity, as much as 50 million yrs ago. Heck I would've still been in elementary school. Took a picture of a petrified tree, it looks like a rock column. Apparently the forest was buried in the volcanoes and then erosion exposed the tree, turned to rock. Got a nice shot of a waterfall at Hanging Valley. There are quite a few waterfalls in the park. Also got one of Roaring mountain letting off steam. There are hot steaming pools of water everywhere. Kind of makes me wonder when the next eruption can be expected from all this thermal activity though.

Wildlife - not the bar type!

Saw lots of Elk, a couple of nice bulls, lots of cows. They were mainly right in Mammoth, much like Jasper or Banff. Also saw lots of buffalo in the wild. Our most amazing sighting was a grizzly bear. Marg was upset that it never looked both ways before crossing the road. It stopped to dig up something and eat it, about 25 yards from the car. Some goof-balls were out on the road taking pictures, can you imagine. It scared me just thinking about what could have gone wrong. This was the best look at a grizzly [in the wild] that I've ever had - it was pretty exciting.

Yellowstone

Had lunch at a quaint little restaraunt in Gardner and then on to Yellowstone from the north entrance this time, thru the Roosevelt Arch. It's a marvelous park with a different picture around every corner. First stop was Mammoth hot springs, it's a huge white pile of calcium deposits from the hot water escaping to the surface. Oh yeh, heavy sulfur smell, did everyone have egg salad the night before.

Last Stand hill

The day was a hot one, when we were on the hill it was 84F with no breeze. I'm not sure how hot it was in June 1876 when the battle took place, but it must have been awful. I never took a picture of it but there is also a horse burial site on the hill. The other thing is - you stay on the pathways, they have lots of rattlers in the area to greet anyone who wanders off.

Sunday at Hardin

Drove east to Hardin today, that is about 15 km north of the Custer Battlefield site. There was a nice interpretive centre with a presentation and then the site itself. Pretty well done. There is a graveyard with markers where Custer & his 4o odd died and there are headstone type markers along sharpshooter ridge where the soldiers fell and some where known native figures died. According to history, the natives did pretty well, losing about 100 warriors, while about 200 + of the 7th cavalry were killed. There were over 2,000 indian warriors in the battle. There were elements of the 7th cavalry that got away, but the 42 odd with Custer did not. Pretty impressive view from the hill they fought from and the paintings depicting the indians were something else. So much for the advantage of the high ground.

There are walking paths around the last stand hill & driving paths along the ridge as well as memorials from both sides. Tough times in the old west.

It was a hot one, the highest temp I saw was 94F on the car read-out.

Sunny Saturday

Wow what a nice hot day, we slept in and then went in to Bozeman. It is a typical small US city with an old downtown, but pretty well preserved and still very active. Some really quaint shops and almost a hippy kind of feel to much of it. In honor of the summer like feel to the day, had a few MGD's - not all american beer if bad.

Made an appointment with the Chev dealer, real friendly service guy, could not have been more helpful. Found that we have a noisy wheel bearing on the car. He said it's still tight, so should be OK for a while. Difficult to leave it though as the car spends many miles behind the m'home and if a wheel fell off we could drag it for a while before it was noticed & there could be other resulting damages, so we told him to get the parts and we will get it done before moving on. We need to be able to count on 3 or 4,oookm's before we get home.

Tomorrow we are off to see the battlefield site where Custer & the 7th cavalry got their hair lifted by Sitting Bull.

Bear Canyon

Found a nice RV park at exit 313 on the I-90, in a place called Bear Canyon. After we checked in they advised us not to leave out garbage because they have had a bear in the park for the last 3 days running. There are about 3 or 4 tenters in the park, not sure I would be quite that bold, but have not seen it yet. We are fairly close to the Custer areas and the Little Big Horn site. Took this direction to see where custer got his hair lifted. Anyway will be in that area tomorrow. Went into Bozeman and ate at Chicago, an Italian restaraunt. Was good. Got some kind of vibration thing with the car, so not sure what the plans for tomorrow are, stay tuned.

Across the Border

Early start in the morning & on to Coutts where we visited the duty free and into Montana. For you scotch fans - 15 yr old Dalwhinnie was the order of the day. The US customs guy was nice, but they had about 4 vehicles pulled over for detailed searches, so guess they weren't looking for seniors- HAH! Some real interesting scenery down the I-15, particularly the mesas and through the mountain passes. The Mesa pictured should show up if you click on it. The Indians in this area stampeded buffalo over the cliffs when they were looking to get meat. Stopped at the Flying J in Great Falls for fuel and lunch & were disapppointed to learn they no longer have a salad bar. Made our way down through the passes south of Helena and turned east to Bozeman.

Thursday, Sept 30

After a night in Balzac [yes that is correct], we went in to the dealership where they re-did the bedroom ceiling in our RV. They were pretty good about it. Hope this is it; for that long suffering issue. Drove on to Milk River, where we spent the night in the town campground. The town is about 2o km from the border, so we were well positioned to head out in the morning. The picture with Marg is the town's namesake, the Milk river. Had a sumptuous [not] dinner at the local chinese restaraunt, I think we had who-flung-duck. Anyway it was OK, but after when driving around we found a nice Italian place so bought pastry there, it was really good.