Day 20

We drove down Interstate 5, the main North South artery in Washington State, past Vancouver, and over the Columbia River through Portland, and then turned right, heading west.

On the way, we stopped to see the biggest living spruce tree in the country, it was between 500 and 750 years old, but it was dying, so we could not get too close in case it fell over!!

The entire trip to the coast and back was filled with so many different types of pine trees, as far as the eye could see, up and down all the hills and mountains.

Fabulous shades of green.

Also, it seemed like millions of humungous logging trucks, whizzing along all these narrow roads.

We had no clue as to what we would find, just wanted to paddle in the Pacific Ocean.

We came to the delightful little coastal town of Cannon Beach. A very touristy town, but there wasn’t the gaudiness usually associated with these types of places, and the buildings, mostly single story, were all wood shingle construction, and very quaint.

The beach was huge, with the Pacific rollers crashing in, all the way from China!

( seems everything comes from there these days)

The sky was a wonderful variety of blues, and the view from the beach, looking back over the town, with the pine covered mountains rising all around, was stunning. Look it up on the internet for a better idea of this place.

On the way back, we went North on 101, the coastal road, to Astoria, and over a bridge across the mouth of the Columbia River so high we was looking down on the seagulls!

We saw a sign for a fish hatchery, so we thought, mega salmon and free dinner.

No such luck. All the fish were about 2 inches long, and were pumped through a pipe onto work tables where loads of women clipped a piece off one of their fins, and then they were pumped back into different holding tanks, to feed up and get big, and eventually get released into the wild blue yonder, or somewhere.

We were told that the fins were clipped so that when they are caught by anglers they can be kept, but unclipped fish must be put back. Anyone who can work out the logic of that can go straight to the top of the class!

The seagull in the picture attached had somehow got into the holding area, which was supposedly completely bird proof, and was gorging himself on all the fish, so much that he couldn’t fly out, only waddle with a limp!

We then took another detour to a wonderful old covered bridge, made entirely of wood, even the bit you drive on. Where are Merril Streep and Clint Eastwood when you need them?

The best views of the day were late on, when we got off the freeway near our campsite. It is called the Tri Mountain area, and the weather was so clear we could see all the three mountains in question.

They were Mt. St. Helens, the one we didn’t get to see yesterday, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.

In no particular order, they are 12,000 ft, 11500 ft and 8500 ft.

10 points to the first reader who correctly identifies all 3, together with their respective heights!!!

Wildlife watch today was pathetic. One chipmunk and a street sign warning of elks.

Day 19

After traveling ten million miles yesterday, we got up late, did the couch potato impressions, went to Mount St. Helens, which was shrouded in clouds and mist so we didn’t see anything, and came back to the coach.

We then ate dinner, watched a movie, and went to bed.

Boring!!

We didn’t even pick up the camera, so the only pic today is one of me from the archives!

See y’all bright and early Monday.

Day 18

Tip # 43 for travelers in motor coaches. When in Oregon, on a Saturday afternoon, reserve a site for the night at least 24 hours in advance.

We left wherever we were last night at 7.30 in the early o’clock, and 525 miles later, ended up at Big Fir campsite, 25 miles North of Portland. We have been in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and are now back in Washington!

Some fabulous countryside, through Northwest Montana, past lake Couer d’Alene, in Idaho, with the most wonderful panorama and vistas from all sides of the lake. ( told you I was going to have a thesaurus for breakfast!)

We then went past Spokane which is like anywhere USA, and down through central Washington. Totally different from 50 miles previously.

Rolling plains ( without the E, Steph ) lots of farms, growing all sorts of green things, and mega big ginormous watering machinery wotsits. They are about 250 yards long, on wheels and they go round in huge circles watering the crops. But the weirdest thing is that in lots of the fields they were watering crops, there were herds of cows grazing, some of them right under the watering thingys!!

So, onto Pasco, Washington where we stopped to replenish the grocery and ale departments, and it was as though we were back in Houston. Wal Mart was full of Mexicans!

So, we asked what are all these Mexicans doing all the way up here, and were told that a lot of fruit and grapes for wine are grown in the area and someone’s got to pick it all, so the Mexicans work their way up through California, as the seasons progress, doing all the fruit picking.

Then we drove along the Columbia River Gorge, on interstate 84, with 12000 ft high Mount Hood on our left, in a huge howling 500 mph wind ( well, it felt like it) and campsite after campsite was full, no room at the inn, so we just kept going, and Marlipops finally came up trumps, as usual, and we are in a wonderful little campground, about 4 miles off the freeway. We have booked in here for a few days, so we can explore the region, Mount St Helens etc.

Today’s local brew, for all you following my trials and tribulations of the alcoholic variety is Black Butte Porter Ale, brewed at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon and a very pleasant brown ale it is too.

Happy Birthday Giles you old fart.

I am knackered, which for our American readers is English for bollixed, and I’m off to bed soon.

Wildlife watch today was a couple of scruffy looking llamas, the usual horses and cows, and a deer, grazing not 5 feet from the freeway curb, who obviously had a death wish.

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.