6/3/07 - Kalispell, MT to Ft. Macleod, Alberta, CAN

We did not mention that on Friday, June 1st on our way to Kalispell, MT that our lead motorhome (Joe & Hannah) hit a deer about 20 miles west of Missoula. Joe tried missing the deer by braking as hard as he could, but still hit it on the passenger side. It tore the light out and did some fiberglass damage, but all in all it could have been much worse. We thank God for protection for Joe & Hannah. Pat & Joe put duct tape on the front and we were on our way. Hopefully that will be the last of close encounters with wildlife! We left Kalispell, MT on Sunday, June 3rd at our usual departure time of 8:30. We taveled around the southern edge of Glacier National Park. At the summit we crossed Marias Pass (5,220'). This is the lowest point crossing the Continental Divide in Montana and a railway was built through here in 1892.

The 3 rigs @ Marias Pass.

Pat & Barb @ Marias Pass, MT

Coming up around the eastern edge of Glacier National Park the scenery was spectacular.

We commented "What are we going to see in Alaska that can top this?"

We crossed the Canadian Border @ Pt. Piegan.

The three of us were checked through in about 10 minutes. We had to show them the dogs Rabies Certificates and our driver's licenses.

They asked "Where we were going, how long will we be in Canada, do we have any alcohol or tobacco" and we were on our way! Pretty easy from some of the stories that we had heard.

Welcome sign to Alberta.

We drove to Ft. Macleod, Alberta and spent the night at Daisy May Campground.

6/2/07 - Glacier National Park

Forgot the Montana sign on the last blog.

We toured Glacier National Park on Saturday, June 2nd.

These are the Red Tour Buses @ Glacier National Park. They were the old 1930's buses that were originally used in Yellowstone National Park. A few years ago they refurbished them and started using them @ Glacier National Park.

We did not go on these buses (we like to take our own tours). However ,we were stopped on the Highway going to the park as their was a group of at least 7-8 of these buses that were taking a group of the Montana equivlaent of "Make A Wish" kids through the park.

This is the 3rd time we have been to Glacier and we have yet to be able to travel on "The Going to The Sun Road".

There was only 15 miles open coming in from the west as they were still plowing the road for snow removal. The eastern entrance was open about the same distance...so they still had quit a bit of road that needed to be plowed open yet.

This is the view that was waiting for us at the Visitor Center!!!!

Lake McDonald is a beautiful glacier lake.

I would have been happy just sitting on the shoreline looking at the beauty that God had displayed before us for the rest of the day!

But after a short time here we were on our way for as far as they would allow traffic to go.

There were streams flowing everywhere with the heavy spring run off.

This is the largest stream that we saw that was flowing into Lake McDonald.

Tomorrow we leave Kalispell, MT and head across the Canadian border.

6/1/07 - Along the River of No Return

We left Salmon, Idaho headed for Kalispell, MT about 9 am. Our travels would take us along the path of the Salmon River, known as "The River Of No Return". What a beautiful drive.

Our journey us into Montana over a high pass. The mountains were snow capped and very majestic.

At the top of the pass was a very nice rest area and information center. We stopped to pick up literature, which we really didn't need, stretch our legs and walk the dogs. Coming down out of the mountains we were faced with the Mission Mountain range. Majestic high, snow covered peaks.

Our next stop was a viewing area that overlooks the

Flathead Lake. This lake is approximately 20 to 25 miles long and appears to be totally surrounded by homes. I think there are more people living around the lake than there are people in Kalispell. It is a beautiful area with Pine trees down to the waters edge.

From Kalispell we will head for the Canadian border on Sunday and see what adventures await at the crossover. We have heard all kinds of stories as to what to expect and since they are all different, I'm sure that each of us will undergo different questioning by the border officials.

5/31/07 - Retracing The Lewis & Clark Expedition

We are staying @ the Salmon Meadows Campground in Salmon, ID. Today was a day that Barb planned and guess what it involved.....more Lewis & Clark historical areas to visit.

We drove the 39 mile Lewis & Clark National Back Country Byway & Adventure Road that took us over Lemhi Pass. Lemhi Pass is at 7,373 ft. above sea level. It is a narrow gap in the Bitterroot Mountain Range and is also on the Continental Divide.

The Corps of Discovery (1804-1806) thought that when they portaged their gear over this last obstacle and down the other side they would have a navigable tributary of the Columbia River. Instead, from Lemhi Pass they saw snow-covered mountains, range after range stretching to the western horizon. At that moment the dream of the Northwest Passage, the easy water route to the Pacific Ocean, was shattered.

Addie & Cody patiently waiting to get going!

Today all three of us took our Jeeps so the dogs (Joe & Hannah have Foxy) all got a day away from the motor home.

On our way up to Lemhi Pass....the scenery was spectacular!

We found our first snow!

The six of us at the top of Lemhi Pass.

We are straddling the Missouri River at her headwaters which is about 1/2 mile below Lemhi Pass on the eastern side.

There were lots of pretty flowers. I don't know what this one is.

In Salmon, ID there is a Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural & Educational Center that we went to.

What a beautiful setting it has inh the peaceful wetlands along the Lemhi River and the Bitterroot Mountains in the back. It is no wonder the Lemhi Shoshoni Nation fought to keep their land here.

The 3 rigs ready to hit the road again in the morning. We plan on staying in Kalispell, MT tomorrow night.

5/30/07 - Ririe, ID to Salmon, ID 234 miles

Just a quick disclaimer....we are having formatting problems with the text going all over the place and wrapping around pictures, appearing where we didn't enter it etc......please bear with us until we can get that problem solved. 14 of us went to Big Jud's Tuesday evening for their great hamburgers and what they are really known for....their FRIES! See the picture at the bottom of the size of their speciality burger! This is what Addie & Cody did while we were having a great time @ dinner. This is the 3rd bed they have torn apart so I guess they are out of luck for any more for awhile. We left Ririe @ 8:45 and drove 25 miles into Idaho Falls where we all three parked in a large lot while Richard & Karen had their satellite dish re-commissioned to a different satellite so they would get internet as we travel north. They were having problems so Joe, Hannah, and the two of us took off for Salmon. They arrived about 3 hours behind us....with everything working. Once we got to Challis, ID and traveled north to Salmon we were running alongside the Salmon River the rest of the way. This river is also called "The River of No Return"....not sure why....will have to research that today. Just before getting into Salmon, ID we crossed the 45th Parallel (The halfway point between the North Pole and the Equator)....the sign came upon to fast to get a picture and when you are approximately 60' long going down a narrow two lane road....there aren't any options for turning around.

Once we got set up and had dinner we did our usual routine. Un-hook the Jeep and get out to tour the area we are in. Salmon has a population of 3100. It is the birthplace of Sacajawea and sits in a beautiful valley.

Saw some fish screens that we had never seen before., I guess the screens were developed here in Salmon. When they divert the water from the river for irrigatiion sometimes the fish go that way. The screens channel the fish back into the river rather than the irrigation ditches where they would die.

This is were we saw 3 deer and they were right in the same yard as 4 bunnies and a goat. One of the bunnies seemed to like the shade from the goat, since he was hanging our under the goat!

We drove up into the residential area on the hillside looking back to the east and this is a picture Pat got of the HUGE moon at dusk!

Tomorrow we are off to see Lemhi Pass (that is were the Lewis & Clark Expedition crossed over the mountains into Idaho). Iwas finally able to get one of the dinner pictures in....this is the BIG Hamburger you can order..I sure am glad we choose the regular size!

Leaving Thayne, WY headed to Ririe, ID

Our friends from Oklahoma, Richard & Karen Hugo and Joe & Hannah Dubuc arrived in Thayne Sunday, May 27th.

We spent the afternoon talking and planning different routes to take, and trying to figure out where we can have our mail shipped to etc.

Monday, May 28th we left Thayne and drove to Heise Hot Springs (Ririe), ID.

About 25 miles northwest of Thayne, WY we crossed over into Idaho and drove along the 25 mile long Palisades Reservoir and then into the Swan Valley area. It was a beautiful drive, but we had heavy Memorial Weekend traffic. We were glad we only had 75 miles to go.

This is our 3 rigs @ Heise Hot Springs, ID.

It is a really pretty grassy campground.

Ours is the one with the red jeep!

A group of 13 of us went to dinner tonight @Heise Pizza Parlor. Our friends Jackie & Garth Thomas that are working here this summer had been to Alaska in 2002, so they were giving us tips for our trip.

We drove along the Snake River for a good part of the trip today. With the spring runoff the banks are almost overflowing. All this water will eventually end of going into the Pacific Ocean....how we could use some of this in the Southwest with our drought issues!

Monday morning Charlie's Service started working on the motorhome getting it tuned up for it's long trip north. There were two warranty items they had to wait to get an okay on until Tuesday. Once they got the okay the new slide motor and radio were installed Tuesday afternoon and we were done @ Charlie's.

On Tuesday, while the motorhome was being worked on Barb headed to South Salt Lake to meet up with friends that she played bridge and camped with 40 years ago. Barb with Sharon Duffield, Vicki Iverson and Joan Mulliner. I had not seen Sharon since 1980 when we moved away from Salt Lake City. The last time I had seen Vicki and Joan was at Pat's mom's funeral in 1998. What a wonderful afternoon with some dear friends! "
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After 3 hours in the restaurant visiting I then meet with our sister-in-law, Anne and had a great visit with her. "
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Wednesday morning we headed to our RV lot in Thayne, WY. The countryside is just like a green carpet....if it could only stay that way through the summer. They only received about 3 feet of snow this winter compared to their normal 6 feet of snow. We arrived in the early afternoon and while we were parking our friends Ralph & Carol Hedstrom (a former classmate of Pat's) came by to welcome us. We visited a little with them and then had to get to some office work. "
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Thursday morning it was 25 degrees (it had snowed here on Tuesday)! Guess the cold weather is our conditioning for Alaska. We spent the morning getting the yard in shape, weeding, trimming and a trip to the dumpster before it started to rain. "
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Barb got back to a little more Alaska travel planning. Pat is planning on golfing in the morning (after the frost delay).

Finally on the road

We're finally on our way to Alaska! We left around 8:30 on Saturday morning. We got as far as Cortez Junction and then had to stop due to a roll over accident. They ended up bringing in 5 helicopters to take the injured to hospitals so they stopped traffic completely for about 35 minutes. With having to take that many injured via helicopter we pray for the family involved. We did get to Glendale, Utah and this is the RV park where we stayed. What a great place the the evening temperature was around 56 degrees. What a relief from the 100 degree temperatures of Arizona. Our unit is the white Alfa SEE YA just to the left of the tree. The dogs had a great time running loose in the apple orchard in the back!

We arrived at Charlie's for the repair work on Sunday afternoon along with 6 other units and so we will remain here for a couple of days then head to Wyoming. We have run into several friends here and 14 of us went to dinner tonight.....this is really a unique service facility!

Alaska, here we come! It is Monday about 5 in the morning and we are now beginning to get serious about getting the motorhoe ready to load. Spent the day washing the rest of the motorhome and then putting new sliders on the three drawers under the washer/dryer. What a job. They work a lot better so we won't be having drawers drop out on our toes anymore. Tomorrow we will move the motorhome to the west side of the house so that we can load it easier. Don't want to keep walking up and down the hill. It's to steep. We are really looking forward to getting things loaded and hit the road. Now that Mother's day is over with, Barb had a hard time saying goodbye to the kids, we can really get going in earnest.

Memorial Garden. The graves of Elvis, his parents, his twin brother who died at birth and his grandmother (who also lived at Graceland and actually outlived all of the others).