Day 16

Day 16….(Enterprise and Spock nowhere to be seen)

We set off with coats, cooler, chewing gum and sunshine bright and early for St Marys, the little town which is the Eastern gateway to Glacier Park.

The most famous part of this park is The Road To The Sun, which is 50 miles long, narrow, windy-windy and preciperous. ( new word) Anyway, we get to the entrance, only to be told by the ranger that due to landslides and snow and other inconsiderate natural phenomenenons, ( another new word) the road is only open for the first 13 miles, hardly enough to get to the first 1000 ft pass. So, we stopped at every photo opportunity, and they were spectacular. This park is more about the scenery than the wildlife, although there are over 300 grizzlies, 600 black bears, mountain lions, lynx and wolves here. There are also a gazzilion acres so they got plenty of room to hide!

We stopped at one place, where it said “St Mary’s Falls” and a little arrow pointing down a path. This will be a nice stroll, we thought, to the waterfall, being careful to make lots of noise, to scare away all the above mentioned grizzlies, black bears etc.

So, 2 ½ miles later, after a long slog downhill, and a longer slog uphill, we finally get to the falls. Of course, it was worth the trip, but then we had to come back!!

Out here in the wilderness, there are no rest stops, or concession stands, so we was thirsty.

And, we found the answer to the age old question of what bears do in the woods.

Yes!

And, we met up with a local Ranger, and while we were talking to him, Marla spotted, sitting on a log, a wolverine. These are very rare, and was confirmed after checking all the internet stuff we could find.

We then went to another part of the park known as Many Glacier, why the S is missing who knows but that is how the spelling is.

This was not as pretty, more for those foolish hikerist people.

On the way back we did see some bison roaming on the open plains with the cattle.

“From the mountains, to the prairies……..”

We got it all here, just a beautiful, open part of the country.

Now for the interesting stuff. We told you yesterday we are in the middle of the Blackfeet Reservation, and I read the local publication today, and listed below are names taken from the paper. No lies, nothing made up, all real people’s names.

Jesse Blackweasel.

Aleah Old Mouse.

Valerie Calf Boss Ribs.

Victor Mad Plume.

Andrew Spotted Wolfe.

Jesse Heavy Runner.

Kimberly Bullchild.

Merlin Bird Rattler.

Loni Birdsbill.

Lindy Running Crane.

Jonathan Arrow Top Knot.

Steve After Buffalo.

And my two favorites……

George Kicking Woman.

And from the obituary column, Herb Still Smoking.

We will be setting up a travel blog, on travelblog.org, and once we have worked out how to use it, we will let y’all know the site name etc, so you can get really bored looking at a lot more pix!!

Day 15

Major’s Log ( I’ve been promoted) Stardate 15

A lazy day today, doing absolutely not a lot.

We have decided that now and again we can take a day to relax, do a few small maintenance chores, and basically chill out.

Either driving 300 plus miles in the coach, or rushing all over the place sightseeing can be draining, especially to old farts like us.

Still, some interesting stuff.

We are in the middle of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and we feel almost stuck in a time warp. Limited goods in the grocery store, and the sacker takes all your bags to your car, because the shopping trolleys cannot leave the store in case of theft.

Sign on the wall said “No loitering, no bumming”

We went to the town information office where two Indian girls were on duty.

The one could not be bothered to put down her book, so we asked the one for some info on Glacier Park.

“We’ve got brochures” was the reply.

“Is the Road To The Sun open ?” we politely enquired.

“We’ve got brochures”

“How do we find out if the road is open………………or do we look in a brochure?”

“They sent us an update” Progress, we thought. We looked at the update, which was actually produced on June 7^th, before the last snowfall, so was totally useless, which we pointed out, and asked where to look for up to date info, and yes you guessed,

“We got brochures”.

Have a nice day.

Also, the liquor store was a windowless box, with just a hole in a wall, you asked for what you wanted, and it was fetched from the depths of the store. No wandering around, picking what you wanted off the shelves.

And we were warned to watch out for the beggars.

So, we walked out and sure enough, sitting on the street near our car was an old Indian, who said “ Hallo ladies, I fell off the wagon yesterday, can you help me?” Marla’s comment was, “If he thinks you are a lady with your beard, I’d hate to see his wife”

Needless to say, we did our bit to help him back on the wagon by not giving him any money.

For all you beer lovers, I am still suffering through new brews. Today’s offering was Beach Bum Blonde Ale. Very nice, not too strong with a sandy, vacant looking taste!!!

We got neighbors!!

A very nice couple pulled their fifth wheel into the campground today, and they are from Florida!!

So far, the only other RV’ers we have speaked to are from where we are from.

Today’s wildlife watch is more cute gophers, some magpies and a lot of stray dawgs.

Happy Trails.

Day 14

Captain’s Log, Stardate 14

Finally, live E mail capability.

We were getting serious withdrawal symptoms, we nearly had to start a conversation between us!!

Today was one of those days when everything goes right.

We are finally realizing that we don’t have to watch a clock, and we don’t have a schedule to keep.

We left the overnight rest stop and drove just 20 miles, stopped for gas, and sat in the parking lot, piddling with phone and internet services, or lack of, for 2 ½ hours.

The people up here are really friendly, the store lady at Subway gave us wonderful info about phone service etc, was really helpful.

We then rumbled on for another 30 miles and went into the town of Shelby, Montana, and signed up with Verizon, both cell phone and internet, and as you probably know, our new number is 406 (censored).

We then had a choice of 4 different RV sites to spend the next few days, and purely by luck, the best one was Sleeping Wolf campsite.

Reminds me of the Mol back in England, where I’ve seen my share of sleeping wolves!!

Anyway, this campground is small, only 10 RV sites, and totally empty except for us and a couple of birds.

We turned the coach round so we now face west looking at the Rockies, with a wonderful sunset tonight, which changed colors a dozen times in about an hour.

Wildlife watch today was sparse, we didn’t travel far, but we saw some deer, pronghorn antelope, gophers, and some noisy birds.

Day 13

Captain’s Log Stardate 13

What is the world coming to? We awoke this morning, and there was no water available on the site, and horror of horrors, the dryers in the laundry room didn’t work either. How will we survive?

Being the improvisational dynamic duo we are, a hose line was quickly connected to the neighbors faucet, and we filled up and headed out.

We traveled for about an hour, to the wonderfully preserved town of Virginia City, which was created in the gold rush of 1863, abandoned, and then kept as a historic site. Most of the original buildings are still there, and we are sure some of the inhabitants were original as well. ( my dad would fit in well!)

We enquired about cell phone service, and were told that a signal is usually available “ on one of the courthouse steps, but not sure which one”

Once again, your dynamic twosome flew into action and climbed the courthouse steps, of course to no avail, signal non existent.

After a pleasant lunch in Bob’s Place, we drove another 300 miles, through some stunning mountain passes on Interstate 15, past Helena and Great Falls, and ended up at mile marker 319 rest stop. We are just 80 odd miles from the Canadian border.

Montana is just beautiful, the land is virtually empty, and the scenery out of this world.

Our favorite state so far.

Then, disaster struck.

As I was attempting to make Marla her evening drink, I opened the fridge door and a bottle of Moose Drool beer fell and shattered on the tile floor.

What a waste of precious nectar!

I was so upset at losing a whole bottle of beer I nearly started back for Houston.

Marla told me I was a wuss for crying, but women don’t understand about beer, and other manly things.

But don’t worry, dear readers, the deep cut I sustained on my right foot finally stopped bleeding all over the floor, and I can soldier on.

Wildlife watch today not so good, a few deer, some llamas, mules, one single seagull, obviously lost, and ospreys nesting.

Tomorrow Glacier Park.

The picture of the car is not about us at all, just a really neat car steaming down the freeway, and a lucky picture.

Day 12

Day 12 – June 10 Sunday

Forget the internet, Al Gore has a lot to answer for!!!
You may receive this by snail mail.
Bright and early o’clock, again, coz it gets light at 5.15 and we were off to Yellowstone Park, this time to see the best well known thing, Old Faithful.
All very touristy with seats and stuff, and sure enough, after a couple of false starts, up went the water geyser spout thingy for about 3 minutes. We were impressed, coz we thought it only lasted for a few seconds.
Of course, with my twisted mind, I am sitting there thinking, what would happen if Mother Nature chose this precise moment to blow the top off the thermal crust of Yellowstone?
But she didn’t, and we live to fight another day.

After, we drove the South loop of the park, which is approx. 70 miles, compared to the 50 we drove yesterday.
This loop took us along the shores of Yellowstone Lake, 136 square miles of unspoiled beauty.
Lots of thermal activity here, with some lovely blue and rust colored pools, bubbling just below boiling point. All the hot springs drain down into the lake, and there are actually a few that bubble up in the lake. Interesting.
We kept running into small herds, and lone, bison, until we had seen so many we stopped taking pix of them.
We did encounter some white pelicans, more females, baby and wonderful male elk, but no bears or wolves.
At one point, we stopped to admire the beauty of the rapids along one stretch of the Yellowstone River and there were four little harlequin ducks right in the middle of the fiercest part of the river, bobbing up and down in the water for fish.
Wildlife highlight of today was the magnificent bald eagle sitting on the top of a dead pine tree, lord of all he surveyed.
After a brief stop in the supermarket it was back to the coach.




I have made it a ritual, wherever possible, to sample the local ale, wherever we may be. It is a tough task I have set myself, but someone has to do it. I had two excellent brews tonight, first a bottle of Old Faithful Ale, a pale golden brew, and as described on the label, closely followed by a bottle of Moose Drool brown ale, as brewed by Big Sky brewery.Both so good I had to force down a couple more.
More tomorrow, if we ever get Internet service again in this lifetime.

Day 11

Day 11 – June 9 Saturday (PS – Happy 1^st Anniversary Mike and Jamie)

I am now going to shoot all internet salesmen. Of course, still no service.

Anyway, nothing could spoil today.

After a very filling breakfast in the delightful town of West Yellowstone, we proceeded into Yellowstone Park.

Whatever you may have heard or seen about Yellowstone is wrong. Reality is 100 times better.

You are warned about wildlife on the road, and you think, yeah right, the odd bird or squirrel. We sat in a Bison jam for 20 minutes as a herd of about 50 bison, females calves and a big old bull male strolled down the center of the road, without a flinch or skittish movement. “This is our backyard, and you people are just visiting”. Magnificent!

We saw several large herds of bison, the one herd so big that Marla had to stop counting after 100, coz they just kept coming. We saw loads of female elk, all over the place, and three huge males with antlers about a mile across, happily lying in the grass, feeding, without a care in the world. These superb animals are about twice the size of your biggest horse, so regal, and they know it, almost posing for us idiot tourists. And there are people who enjoy shooting them. Give the elk guns, that’s what I say!!

A bald eagle nest, with dad sitting proudly on the chicks was our first sight as we got into the park.

We saw in the far distance what we were told were some longhorn sheep, but they were so far away they could have been elephants for all we knew!

And yes, we did see a grizzly bear.

He was about 100 yards away, busily eating some carcass, and not giving the twenty thousand tourists any attention.

I wanted Marla to check the length of his claws, but she wimped out!!!

Although the bear was exciting to watch Marla and I agreed that the one big male elk we saw was probably the highlight of the wildlife.

We saw several coyotes, and a den with 9 small coyote cubs/kittens/pups whatever the young are called, just gamboling on the hillside.

Of course, Yellowstone is not just about wildlife, the thermal springs, rivers and scenic areas are just gobsmacking as well.

If you only get one chance to take a dream vacation, go to Yellowstone, it really is the holiday of a lifetime. Of course, we have only been to a few states so far on our odyssey, so we may tell you of several more holidays of a lifetime before we are done!!!

We spent 10 hours there today, it doesn’t get dark until 9 at night, and we didn’t even see half of it, so back we go tomorrow.

For our English fans, we did not see any amorous wolves, so it’s still been a while since I saw the wolves score!!!! That was bad.

Love from Us.

Day 10

Day 10 – June 8 Friday

Once again, apologies for the lateness, no service at the site.

Went to bed at around 9.30 pm local time, though who knows what time our body clocks say, and got woken up half an hour later by all the cars going into the drive in movie theater next door, which we could see, but obviously not hear. Pirates of The Caribbean without sound is not recommended!

Anyway, a good night’s sleep was followed by an early start, and 120 miles later, we checked in at the Howlin’ Mad Moon RV Park and Bar, in Cameron, Montana, on the Western edge of the Rocky Mountains.

The site is 6000 ft above sea level, in the Madison River valley, right smack on the continental divide.

And you are correct, I didn’t know what the continental divide was, so being the nosey person I am, I enquired.

Apparently, all rivers and streams to the West of the continental divide eventually flow into the Pacific Ocean, or the Gulf of Mexico, and all rivers and streams on the East flow eventually into the Atlantic Ocean. Isn’t that interesting? You can now astound all your friends and family.

We are 30 miles from the West entrance to Jellystone Park, where the buffalo roam……

The old joke has to be asked…..What is the difference between a buffalo and a bison?

You can’t wash your hands in a buffalo.

Moving swiftly on, we spent the afternoon on a dirt back road, in the wilderness, with the occasional bear country warning sign, telling us that black bears have paws with small claws and grizzly bears have paws with long claws. Also, the tell tale signs that bears are near are torn up tree branches and bear poop, and if we encounter a bear, to make a lot of noise.

If I get near enough to one to see its paws close up, I really don’t care what make of bear it is, I will definitely make a lot of noise, and there will probably be some Clive poop around!!!!

Once again the scenery here is breathtaking, and it is easy to see why Montana is called Big Sky country. Rolling hills leading up to forest covered mountains, with snow covered peaks.

We had lunch in the site café, and got chatting with a couple of people from ………..Houston.

Tomorrow it is off to Jellystone Park, and hopefully many wildlife pix.

Today’s wildlife watch was Pine Martin ( no he wasn’t a doctor) red fox, deer, pronghorn antelope, chipmunk, bald eagle, crane, and a ostrich.

Day 9

It is June, it is summer, and we get snow. I thought we had a problem with global warming!!

Yes, snow on the car and coach roof at 5.30 in the morning, a time which probably doesn’t appear on most of your clocks!!

But, when I looked, the rest stop we stayed at was at elevation 8000 ft, and the mountains alongside us were 4000 feet higher, so I suppose snow was to be expected.

We left at 7, and proceeded West along Interstate 70 , and found that the rest stop was the highest point on the freeway, and we went downhill, through road works and on one lane, for the next 10 miles. All was fine until some impatient truck driver decided to blow his air horns up my rear end to get me to move quicker. So, ever obliging Clive, I slowed down to piss him off further!

Any way, we drove North in miserable rain, on Interstate 15, all the way through Utah.

As lovely as the South of Utah is, the central part and the North are not.

Salt Lake City is anywhere USA, and we did’nt even see the pigging lake!

We got into Idaho, and the drive from Utah to Idaho Falls was gorgeous. The road goes along a valley, with snow covered peaks on both sides, and lush farmland in the middle.

(10 points for the first reader to name the movie where the phrase “ As Idaho Falls, so falls Idaho” was used.)

We are staying in a public park, free of course, by the Snake River in Idaho Falls.

Tomorrow it is 100 miles up the road to Jellystone Park for a few days!!

Wildlife watch today includes 3 white pelicans, presumably totally lost, prairie dog/marmot/gopher things in the park, and a suicidal deer what leapt into the freeway from the median, without looking both ways, and was nearly minced by a truck. Pity it got away, I fancied venison for dinner!

We traveled 385 miles, exactly the same as yesterday, which is scary. I think Marlipops took me on the guided tour of downtown Idaho Falls just to get the mileage the same!!

On our evening after dinner (lamb chops and mashed taters with peas) walk, we wandered around the park, and Marlipops annoyed the local bird life sufficiently to attack her, dive bombing from the pine trees. I stood patiently with the camera, but no bird poop was forthcoming!

(Just a side bar, we play cards every night during dinner, and I have discovered that Marlipops cheats, coz she wins every time!)

Todays pix include the RV we have downsized to, coz we are out of funds, and no one is paying yet to read this drivel!!!