2018 October Pacific Northwest

 Pacific North West 2018

 

 

Craters of the Moon National Monument is a winding drive-through you can stop for volcanic rocks to see several places where a cone where lava with the wrought from the Earth but not in a dramatic fashion so the shapes in and texture of the rocks are different than what you normally see from a volcanic eruption. It's pretty interesting taking walk up and seeing a small side of a tiny crater which a tiny Volcano was pretty cool there was some caves there too with some bats, but it was late windy and cold, so we chose not to go in them. On down the road we stopped at a lodge to camp for the night - cheap camping at $15 they were having line dancing going on, so Tom had a good time out there just checking it out and then we had dinner at the elks club bar before we hit the hay just exhausted.

 

Stopping to seize Shoshone falls in Twin City Idaho was magnificent sight of steep cliffs. My 1st thought was just like the Grand Canyon! it wasn't as a magnificent as the Grand Canyon, but it had the steep cliffs and rocky outcrops to view, imagine the grandeur when spring thaw and the water is flowing over the top of the falls and just cascading down the cliffs, I could imagine in which you see sprays of water so beautiful.

  

 

Breakfast at Idaho Joe's was extremely good they had a buffet brunch and breakfast brunch buffet, and the cook was a very entertaining and explain to me how he learned to flips his eggs or his crepes and practiced 1st with a piece of bread flipping it and then toasting it and then as he got a little better than he would be put beans in the pan and practice his flipping. So, yes as Mary said I know you're going to be to practicing that Tom

 Touring the Fort at Twin Citys with a great docent.

 

 

For 400 miles we had been hearing a whining noise coming out of the engine so I self-diagnose and thought it was the alternator. while near town and picked up of alternator found one and went on down to Mountain Home Air Force base there, we put the RV on a lift and crank it up there then take the belt off and while the alternator seems fine I didn't feel anything wrong. But the idler pulley was very rough.  The problem while the RV was on the lift Tom did not check very clear and as I lower the lift it came down right on top of the toolbox and crushed it.  The shop was pretty nice to me and said they were only a year old and will only charge you a $100 for the for the crushed toolbox. All fixed engine sounds great got new tires from a when we are in West Yellowstone so we're ready to roll late in the day 5 o'clock and we got 200 more miles to make for today to be on time for the airport airplane flight Tom gets Monday afternoon.

 

Arriving at brother Bob's home in Oregon City, OR Tom flew out for a meeting and Mary spent more time with Bob and his family. After Tom returned Bob and Tom set up a new generator for the RV, cool, much quieter and less vibration.

 

Deciding to go north and see the Olympic National Park Mary and I head out with the first stop at Astoria, OR.

 

WHOOPS the transmission quits! Saturday and only one shop open and they do not work on VW's. Checking availability in a small town for services when things do open on Monday, I decide to call Brother Bob and see if he had access to a trailer to tow the RV back to Portland. Yes, he did and came and got us returning to his house we wait for Monday to see what can be done.

 

Mary and Larry (husband) and Larry sends such a cool message:

It’s day 29 if the social experiment!

My wife left me a month ago to go on a once in lifetime RV road trip with her brother Tom. They’ve been to Vegas, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Washington. I’ve never been to a city park much less the all the big national parks in those states. I’ve managed to microwave one or two of the year's supply of homemade single serve pot roast, teriyaki or barbecue chicken and lasagnas she made before she left me ALL ALONE!

With the cat. I’ve managed to feed the cat, change the litter box, take the trash out, water the plants and flowers, do laundry, vacuum, clean the toilet, sweep and mop the bathroom and kitchen floor thanks to the post stickers she left me throughout the house including one reminding me to go to work.

I knew things were LOOKING GRIM when I awoke this morning to a foul smell, and the cat was sleeping on my chest with its ASS on my chin. And to add to my despair Maryellen “the wife” finally called to tell me they have extended the trip for a couple weeks to backtrack from Portland to Washington to add Olympic National Park, before taking the coastline back to her brother Bobs and then to Yosemite and her sister Jeans house. I should be fine there’s 6 months' worth of food in the house and she’s been managing all the finances from the road. Tv, computer, electric, insurance etc. I should be fine; I’ll just walk around the house following the cat looking for “the wife.

I love and miss you, Maryellen!! have fun stay safe and remember, I forgive you.

❤️??????

 

2018 October Yellowstone, Fishing MT

 Yellowstone NP

Yellowstone national park.

It was untimely for us that many of the campgrounds were closing for the season.  Several nights in a row were spent searching for a campsite.  This did not allow us the leisure we had wanted to stop and spend more time at each location.  We did get through most of the things to see in Yellowstone and had a great time.  I had visited here around 13 years ago but it was still different and enjoyable I am glad we came. 

 

Mary seeing this for the first time truly loved everything.  Did not see bears but many, antelope and bison.

 

The trees were in first bloom of fall colors.  I learned that the grasses change colors too, soft yellows and reeds are the predominant colors on grasses.

 

Watching many different geysers of different colors and activity is so cool.  Once more the feeling of mankind is so small in the universe.

 

 

 

Parking in a campsite one night I was seeing up the camp chairs and heard a hissing noise.  The rear tire had seemed to separate from the rim, this concerned me for we were 8 miles from West Yellowstone.  We broke camp and went to town right away.  There was plenty of places to get air as we looked for a tire shop.  It was a Saturday, and everyone was closed.  Stopping at a NAPA auto store they knew of a place that had opened that Monday and was open on Saturdays.

 

This place was so great, they put the spare on, found a trailer tire that would work and helped me order 2 tires. Feeling uncomfortable with the old spare on, we limited ourselves in our travels. 

Sunday, we toured the west Yellowstone Museum while waiting to meet brother Bob. We met up with brother Bob, Mom and Bob's family also Patton and his wife (Bob's fishing buddy)

 

 

 Lunch and catching up we were all smiles.  Caravanning to Big Sky, MT where Bob had rented a large house, this is the first time in a month I have slept inside a house.  Kind of nice waking up warm and toasty.

 

 

Three days of guided fishing with w different guides we were able to fish the Madison, Gallatin, Yellowstone rivers.  Beautiful country, colors in the landscape,  snowcapped mountains in the distance, oh so nice!

 

 

 

The drive to each river had wonderful views and the conversation of fishing and countryside is an experience I will remember.

 

The guide would take 2 people in his right boat and 2 people would use brother Bob's raft. I was able to convince brother Bob to let me row the raft to let him get some fishing time in. I actually enjoyed rowing for it allowed me to look around at the landscape more than when you're fishing.  You tend to watch and read the water for your casting and forget to look around at the beautiful countryside. 

 Knowing you are on some of the world's most famous trout streams that are also available to common people is exciting. Famous fly fishermen from all over the world have finished the same waters.  Of course, you need to catch fish as well, no problem we all caught fish and had a great time.

 While the fishermen were out fishing Mary, Mom, Jan, Cheryl toured Yellowstone, so Mary was able to enjoy the park more and spend time with Mom.

Last day of guided fishing and my personal best for this trip of 7 fish.

 

Tomorrow we all leave the area, Bob and Mom to Sacramento, Patton and Cheryl home in Oregon, Jan takes a detour home to Oregon, Mary and I to Oregon and Bob's house for a rest while I fly east for a quick business. See you on the road!

2018 October UT, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons with sister Mary

  Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, UT

 

Meeting up with my sister Mary and Larry Pelman in Hemet, Ca at Los Vaqueros restaurant (Excellent food) great to meet, Tanya and Mary hit it off very well chatting away like sister of many years.

Larry helped me to find an RV part that had been lost so a few hours driving around Hemet (little town but a lot of miles). Mary and Larry had space available next to their home where we camped for the night. Getting ready for Mary to accompany Tom on the next leg of the journey required much deliberation of how much to pack!!!!!!

Mary’s comment: deliberation??? Huh…

 

Soon we are packed and head for Las Vegas. Mary and Tanya chatted a lot on the way there as I caught a nap. First time sleeping while RV is underway and was pretty good. Dinner at Chinatown in Las Vegas followed by cruise the “STRIP”. Seeing sights of Los Vegas, traveling together all of us was so enjoyable we hated for it to end. But alas it was time for Tanya to return to that dreaded word “WORK”.

 

Tom and Mary lay over at Nellis AFB before heading out for the next leg of this journey. Taking time to feel out each others quirks and preferences also helped us build our relationship. Our family is spread out over the country and we do not get together very often, this trip is the first for me and one of my siblings. Mom had traveled with me often in the big RV but never any of my siblings.

First stop was Silver Reef Museum, UT. A unique place where silver and other minerals were found in sandstone. Clowning around a little (Mary’s the one with blond hair)

 

 

Returning to Bryce Canyon we arrived in time for the sunset view and find a campsite. Falling asleep hard and waking in time also for the sunrise I still feel that we are rushing the trip some.

 

In the morning as we left the campground to go to the Sunrise Point there were no other campers stirring, I thought that it would be nice to not have a large crowd this morning. Boy was I wrong, there were a lot of people there already, fortunately parking was available, and we had a good showing.

Holding Mary’s hand so she could look down at her feet and not seeing glimpses of the canyon allowed her to have that AHA when seeing Bryce Canyon in early morning sunlight for the first time?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week when I was here with Tanya there was a parking restriction for RV’s, you had to use the shuttle bus. This was because of the quantity of people for now there is no parking restriction, and we were able to go to multiple locations for different views. The very impressive one is the Natural Bridge. I brought the ladder out of the RV, and it allowed a better picture of the height of the Natural Bridge.

 

 

 

My very first sighting of Antelope. OOPs wrong picture. got to find it and post later.

 

Leaving Bryce and heading north toward MT, we follow HWY89 in Utah, a road sign states, “Birthplace of Butch Cassidy” This is the famous outlaw of movie fame Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

 

 

 

Along the HWY is another amazing sight - Caboose Village in Big Rock Candy Mountain Resort Center. This is a converted railroad train cars to Motels. So cool!!!! We chatted with the Manager Suzanne, and she was very helpful in sharing how the place came to be and what their aspirations are. What a great country we live in when someone can achieve their dreams.

 

 

 

 

 

We were on HWY 89 in Utah traveling through the Sevier Valley. A river flows most of the way through the valley and there were alfalfa and hay farms in much of the valley. I love 2 lane roads for you see much more of the country than through and interstate road.

Using the APP - RVPARKY we found a Maple Canyon National Forest Campground. Nice views good elevation 6427 and nice cool wind. We chose a campsite with a great morning view and settled in for the night. Watching as the sunset developed our back was to a western mountain and our front faced the eastern mountain. A broad valley between and as the sunset progressed you watch the shadow of the western mountain walk across the valley. The light in the sky remained long after the shadows had covered the eastern mountain. Very little in the way of color was seen. There is a rushing stream in the campground that you can hear all night.

 

 

 

 

Next stop Orem, UT to see Ira Fulton Library (Roots of Knowledge) where the stained glass depicting western images. Unfortunately, we drove in circles for quite some time and could not find it. Ah so it goes sometimes. We did see some murals and booked us a campsite at Hill AFB.

 

Spent 2 nights here (Hill AFB) and visited “This is the Place Heritage Park” Salt Lake City, UT. It is named for the founder Bringham Young who led the Mormons to this valley, as he saw the valley he said, "this is the place". Well worth the visit, either actual original buildings or replications of the buildings during the settlement of Salt Lake City. Docents in period costume were in most of the buildings and explained or demonstrated the crafts of the day. Very cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Leather shop the Docent had the opportunity to explain a few things that were extremely interesting to me. First that Brigham Young chose this location because he wanted a place that no one else wanted so they would not be harassed. Not even the Indians lived here. Second that because of the spirit of community the Mormons of this area are self-reliant and a close community that assist each other tremendously. They have their own Internet Technology that rivals Silicon Valley, and many companies are coming here because of the intelligent labor force and strong moral work ethic.

Breakfast at Chris Café the waitress was so friendly and inquisitive. Very young girl who noticed us pull up in an RV and was very interested in our travels. Food was good and priced reasonable as well.

 

Traveling along we see the Idaho Potatoe Museum. I am very curious of what can they have in a potato museum and was very surprised how much it held my attention, particularly the video of the entire planting and harvest process. I am careful to not show you all of the pictures of the process so that you will go yourself and see this small museum with allot of interesting things about potatoes! Also, we all know that Tanya loves Potato's nearly as much as she loves Tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many many more pictures of the harvest process, it is truly amazing what technology can do!

 

Traveling along and next is "Yellowstone Bear World" this is still in Idaho on the way toward Yellowstone and Grand Tetons. We balked at first at the entrance fee but were very glad we did go. You can drive through the enclosed area and have Bears, Buffalo, Elk, come right up to your RV. Only a few walked the road but being this close to these amazing animals is breathtaking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yep. folks Mary is definitely the most photogenic in this crowd!!!!

 

Mom has collected pigs and when the shelves got too full, we started sending her pictures of pig figurines. Here she finally gets pictures of 2 of her children with live pigs.

 

 

 

We had a great time in Yellowstone Bear World and decide to go on a little farther before stopping for the night. It is definitely clear that the more north we are and higher elevation the nights are getting much colder. I had researched a heater called Gas Buddy last year and we found one at Walmart here in Idaho. Boy does that help getting out of bed in the morning!!!!

Moving over to enter Grand Teton National Park the road from the southern entrance is a full 10% GRADE!!!! This is the first time I have had to drop into 1st gear!!!! Yes, my transmission temperature did rise for a while because even though I remained locked out of overdrive by downshifting it was a prolonged period of heavy pulling. Boy is this Rialta an amazing machine!

 

Jackson Hole, WY famous antler Arch. Once more we can tell who is full of life in this family! Love my Sis! What a great travel companion.

 

 

I tried on some 20 hats and everyone says I am not cowboy material.

 

 

Mary is preparing for one of her favorite things - Campfire!!

Mary is very successful with her campfire.

 Spent the day doing the Teton Loop and saw a herd of Antelope crossing the road, so cool. The driving tour included 2 lakes and we are fortunate enough to see allot of Aspen trees in 3 different stages of color. One hill had all 3 colors, green in the center of the hill, yellow surrounding it, and orange farther down from it by the creek. So beautiful.

Arriving back in camp it was so nice to relax and read a book and just slow down for a little while. Of course, all of you who know me I couldn't sit very long, I took on chasing down a squeak in the cab. The forest service had a fire truck drive by and we kind of think they were just familiarizing themselves with part of their territory.