We bid goodbye to our friends, Pat & Wayne Stutzman in Peyette, Idaho, with blue skies and 62 degrees. We went a couple miles down the road to pick up some necessities from WalMart, gas up, and go to Mass. We then headed north, through desert (92 degrees), up into the mountains & evergreen trees, following the Snake River (103 degrees), and began the loooooong climb to the White Bird Hill Summit of 4200 feet. Later learning that that climb was the second longest and highest climb in the U.S., it almost became our undoing. With the outside temperature at 104, and being ¾ of the way to the summit, our engine temperature almost went to “critical”!!! Pulling off the road, we removed the tire from the front grill guard, where it has been for the past 12,000 miles and causing no problems. But we haven’t been in this kind of heat, either! Problem easily solved. It was so hot that our shoes made footprints on the asphalt of the pull-off.
Continuing on toward Elk City, we found a beautiful camp-site beside the Red Horse Creek, dumping into the Clearwater River, across the roads. It was still warm, but lacking the humidity of Indiana, as soon as the sun went behind the trees, it cooled right down. We felt like we were really out of the way, but we were surprised with the amount of traffic that road actually had! There was intermittent but parade of pick-ups, with and without horse trailers, government vehicles, etc. In any event, the country was beautiful. Tommie and I took along walk along the river. She kept sticking her nose under every bush looking for a bunny.
Monday, August 18, 2008Awakening to 50 degrees with blue skies, we traveled the short distance to Elk City, a picturesque former gold mining, then lumbering community (also “former”) nestled in a valley between pine covered mountains. 
This town is at the end of a road that is 50 mile from anywhere; one would think that it would be a ghost town. Au la contrer! It’s a hunting destination, recreational pit stop, retirement community, etc. Enjoyed breakfast in the restaurant where all locals have coffee and catch up on news, stopped in a store to shop, and took some pictures around town. Chris had been here twice before with Dean when they came out hunting. 
I had often heard about Elk City.After enjoying Elk City, we continued north towards Montana. At 2 p.m. it was 99 degrees! Two hours later, while crossing the historic Lolo Pass into Montana, it was 86 degrees. (The pass is historic in that, among other reasons, the Lewis & Clark Expedition passed this way.) 
Arriving in Missoula, Montana, we easily found Chris’ cousin, Steve VanderHorst. It was again stiflingly hot (97) and we enjoyed an enjoyable evening of reminiscing and laughs. I had not seen Steve since we left Colorado in 1978, so we had lots of years to cover. He really impressed me for as busy and creative that he is, even though he has huge health issues. A good time was had by all.
About noon we headed north to drive through the National Bison Refuge. There were several fires in the forests surrounding Missoula, so the air was quite smoky. While we were driving through the refuge it rained hard, and that cleared the skies and we could see the mountains again. On the drive through the refuge we saw a few bison, many mule deer and antelope.
When we left the Bison Preserve we saw these cows. Had never seen them before. Found out that they were Beulingo c ows. Took this picture for David. they were developed in the U. of S.D. and are raised for beef. After the Refuge we headed north again to the beautiful Indian Mission of St. Ignatius. The beautiful and inspiring church was built in 1891.Continuing on to Kalispell to see Chris’ brother Mike’s daughter, Cassandra. We had a delightful visit and dinner with Cassy, her husband, Bob, his parents and their two boys. The visit was too brief because we needed to forge ahead for a campground before dark. We found a beautiful place, in Columbia Falls, about 20 miles from the Park. Good night.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Surprise, surprise…we heard raindrops on the camper as we were getting ready. Haven’t heard that sound since July 31st in Hyder, Alaska. But…just like Boy Scouts, “be prepared”…and we are. Hauled out the rain suits and water-proof hiking boots…again. It was 55 degrees when we started; a welcome change from the 99 degrees in Missoula.
We made a quick stop for Espresso and then on to the Glacier National Park. Receiving a call from Cassy, we both remembered that we had not taken family pictures. As they were coming to the Park today, we met at the Visitor Center for pictures and another good-bye. Chris & I continued on along the “Going To The Sun Road” and saw a beautiful falls and took some pictures. Arriving at the “Avalanche Campground” we set up camp and plan on using this as base-camp until Saturday when we continue on over the highest point (9,642 feet). We’re going to wait out the rain for the next couple of days because we want to really see the views of all the tall mountains. We went for a beautiful walk on the “Trail of the Cedars”; absolutely stunning creek, water fall, huge cedars that are hundreds of years old. Totally beautiful. Chris looked at one of the downed cedars and mused that it could make 30,000 cedar shafts (arrows for archery, for those of you non-archer folks).
Rained all evening. We have it figured out how to get lights (since our inverter in the camper hasn’t been working): we plug the battery charger cable of our trusty little Honda generator right onto the battery. That way we get lights without running down the battery. It wasn’t a problem when we were in Alaska, where it is daylight most of the day; but it has become a challenge since we actually get dusk and dark now.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Rained hard all night. Going to stay right where we are and take hikes in these beautiful Cedar & Hemlock woods. It will stop eventually or we may need to begin building an arc!
We took another nice walk on the Trail of the Cedars, only from the other direction…new look to everything. Then we packed a little lunch and went to catch the Shuttle to Logan Pass. These shuttles were added last year in order to decrease the traffic congestion in different areas. We took the most beautiful ride…in the rain…to about 6,000 feet at Logan Pass.
There we ventured out on the hike to Hidden Lake. It was a beautiful hike…but the rain was coming in buckets. I do believe that there was some hail or snow in it. We stopped about ½ to the top because folks on the way down said we couldn’t see anything up there because it was totally socked in by the fog/rain. Today we probably hiked about 3 miles, and now we’re just trying to dry out and warm up. The picture above was taken on that trek to Hidden Lake.
Friday, August 22
Rained HARD all night. Got up about 6:30; cleaned up the camper the best we could with all the rain and things wet, and then decided we weren’t going to stay here any longer waiting for the rain to stop. Packed up and got out of Dodge!
When we got to the road we decided to make a break for it and drive to Logan Pass ourselves. It was very foggy and when we reached the top, the visibility was about 5 feet; couldn’t even see the parking lot.
We had planned on stopping to view the mountains, but we cand into the sunshine! It was breath-taking. We figured we ended up seeing the most beautiful part of the Park. Looking back on the majestic mountains we were leaving, we could see the top still socked in by a dense cloud.Picking up U.S. 12, which we plan on taking across the country to home. We were in the high prairie of Montana; lots of cattle, wheat, railroads through small towns that have sprouted with grain elevators, and blue sky with a few puffy clouds for as far as we could see.
We stopped about 1:30 in Shelby, MN at the Louis & Clark RV Park; not a tree to be seen, other than a few put in for landscaping. We camped right out in the heat of the day. It was wonderful hot sun. We needed it to dry us out! We opened up all the windows welcoming and drying breezes, laid out the rain suits and Chris’ boots across the picnic table, hung the down comforter that has kept us comfy all these weeks over a chair. (Thanks Char & Yvonne J ) It got damp on the edges next to the precipitation on our windows when we were so closed up d/t the heavy down-pours we suffered in Glacier Park.We so enjoyed relaxing and reading our books. Tommie really wanted to chase the many bunnies in the area. The RV Park owner feeds them…so they were plentiful.There was a beautiful sunset last night that brought several campers out to take pictures. Saturday, August 23, 2008 It was wonderful waking up at 7 a.m. to a blue, cloudless sky far as far as we could see. Chris put our souvenir Alaskan license plate on the back of the camper.
We headed out at 9 a.m. with 55 degrees. Following U.S. 12 the plains stretched for as far as we could see. The audio book of “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose, the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition to open the American west, we are listening to on the road. It’s enthralling and tremendously interesting. Much of the roads we’ve been taking are along the Lewis & Clark Trail. It’s fun learning history when we’re not doing it for a test on Friday.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008Surprise, surprise…we heard raindrops on the camper as we were getting ready. Haven’t heard that sound since July 31st in Hyder, Alaska. But…just like Boy Scouts, “be prepared”…and we are. Hauled out the rain suits and water-proof hiking boots…again. It was 55 degrees when we started; a welcome change from the 99 degrees in Missoula.
We made a quick stop for Espresso and then on to the Glacier National Park. Receiving a call from Cassy, we both remembered that we had not taken family pictures. As they were coming to the Park today, we met at the Visitor Center for pictures and another good-bye. Chris & I continued on along the “Going To The Sun Road” and saw a beautiful falls and took some pictures. Arriving at the “Avalanche Campground” we set up camp and plan on using this as base-camp until Saturday when we continue on over the highest point (9,642 feet). We’re going to wait out the rain for the next couple of days because we want to really see the views of all the tall mountains. We went for a beautiful walk on the “Trail of the Cedars”; absolutely stunning creek, water fall, huge cedars that are hundreds of years old. Totally beautiful. Chris looked at one of the downed cedars and mused that it could make 30,000 cedar shafts (arrows for archery, for those of you non-archer folks).
Rained all evening. We have it figured out how to get lights (since our inverter in the camper hasn’t been working): we plug the battery charger cable of our trusty little Honda generator right onto the battery. That way we get lights without running down the battery. It wasn’t a problem when we were in Alaska, where it is daylight most of the day; but it has become a challenge since we actually get dusk and dark now.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Rained hard all night. Going to stay right where we are and take hikes in these beautiful Cedar & Hemlock woods. It will stop eventually or we may need to begin building an arc!
We took another nice walk on the Trail of the Cedars, only from the other direction…new look to everything. Then we packed a little lunch and went to catch the Shuttle to Logan Pass. These shuttles were added last year in order to decrease the traffic congestion in different areas. We took the most beautiful ride…in the rain…to about 6,000 feet at Logan Pass.
There we ventured out on the hike to Hidden Lake. It was a beautiful hike…but the rain was coming in buckets. I do believe that there was some hail or snow in it. We stopped about ½ to the top because folks on the way down said we couldn’t see anything up there because it was totally socked in by the fog/rain. Today we probably hiked about 3 miles, and now we’re just trying to dry out and warm up. The picture above was taken on that trek to Hidden Lake.
Friday, August 22
Rained HARD all night. Got up about 6:30; cleaned up the camper the best we could with all the rain and things wet, and then decided we weren’t going to stay here any longer waiting for the rain to stop. Packed up and got out of Dodge!
When we got to the road we decided to make a break for it and drive to Logan Pass ourselves. It was very foggy and when we reached the top, the visibility was about 5 feet; couldn’t even see the parking lot.
We had planned on stopping to view the mountains, but we cand into the sunshine! It was breath-taking. We figured we ended up seeing the most beautiful part of the Park. Looking back on the majestic mountains we were leaving, we could see the top still socked in by a dense cloud.Picking up U.S. 12, which we plan on taking across the country to home. We were in the high prairie of Montana; lots of cattle, wheat, railroads through small towns that have sprouted with grain elevators, and blue sky with a few puffy clouds for as far as we could see. 
We stopped about 1:30 in Shelby, MN at the Louis & Clark RV Park; not a tree to be seen, other than a few put in for landscaping. We camped right out in the heat of the day. It was wonderful hot sun. We needed it to dry us out! We opened up all the windows welcoming and drying breezes, laid out the rain suits and Chris’ boots across the picnic table, hung the down comforter that has kept us comfy all these weeks over a chair. (Thanks Char & Yvonne J ) It got damp on the edges next to the precipitation on our windows when we were so closed up d/t the heavy down-pours we suffered in Glacier Park.We so enjoyed relaxing and reading our books. Tommie really wanted to chase the many bunnies in the area. The RV Park owner feeds them…so they were plentiful.There was a beautiful sunset last night that brought several campers out to take pictures. Saturday, August 23, 2008 It was wonderful waking up at 7 a.m. to a blue, cloudless sky far as far as we could see. Chris put our souvenir Alaskan license plate on the back of the camper. 
We headed out at 9 a.m. with 55 degrees. Following U.S. 12 the plains stretched for as far as we could see. The audio book of “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose, the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition to open the American west, we are listening to on the road. It’s enthralling and tremendously interesting. Much of the roads we’ve been taking are along the Lewis & Clark Trail. It’s fun learning history when we’re not doing it for a test on Friday. Antelope and deer are the Montana wildlife on this road…along with grasshoppers; road traffic includes huge convoys of combines, their field offices and campers for living accommodations traveling from farm to farm harvesting the wheat.
We stopped for the evening in Glasgow, MN. It's a beautiful little grain-belt town. Love the blue sky and no rain.
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