Year 3 Week 45

April 22 to 28, 2007

Victor, Idaho via Wyoming and Montana to Moses Lake, Washington

Year 3 week 45

 

Sunday ; Victor, Idaho to West Yellowstone, Montana

Today was mostly sunny, and cold.

Yesterday we found out that we could not get into Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming from the south. So today we headed for the west entrance to the park, which opened only 2 days ago. We departed Victor, Idaho heading north on Hwy. 33, then north on Hwy. 32 to Hwy. 20 at Ashton. We drove north on Hwy. 20. At the Montana border, Hwy. 20 turned west toward the town of West Yellowstone, and the west entrance into Yellowstone National Park.

Last night and this morning Joanne made quite a few phone calls trying to find an open campground in the area of West Yellowstone. She finally found one that was open, but only with partial services. We are staying at Pony Express RV Park, a part of the Brandin' Iron Inn in the town of West Yellowstone, Montana. The water and sewer hookups are not yet functional for the season, but we have electricity, cable TV, and Wi-Fi in the trailer. A few feet away are a shower building, a laundry room, and the inn's indoor hot tub room. Upon arrival, after setting up in our site, I took a well deserved long nap.

For supper I barbecued an elk steak and a buffalo steak. We really liked the buffalo steak, and weren't as thrilled with the elk steak. As an accompaniment, Joanne served a rhubarb pickle / compote we bought 10 months ago in Newfoundland. While having supper we watched Amazing Race. Afterwards we went to the inn's hot tub for a soak. AHHHHH !

 

Monday ; Today was cold and raining. That altered our plans for the day.

We had intended to spend the day exploring Yellowstone National Park. Neither of us felt like unhitching the truck from the trailer, and exploring a national park, which always involves some walking and hiking, on a cold, rainy day. We spent the day reading yesterday's newspaper, napping ( well, some of us napped ), retrieving and paying bills online and by phone, setting up appointments, etc.. Late in the afternoon, the rain stopped and the sky began to clear. We unhitched, in anticipation of spending tomorrow exploring Yellowstone.

Late in the evening, it was time for another hot tub soak. AHHHHH !

 

Tuesday ; Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Today was sunny and mild. A great day for exploring Yellowstone National Park.

We saw an astounding amount of wildlife today. Some of it close. Some of it very close. Some of it extremely close ! We saw a Bald Eagle sitting on its nest. We saw Trumpeter Swans. We saw a wolf. We saw 2 Grizzly Bears, quite close. We saw many small and large herds of elk. We saw many small and large herds of buffalo. We watched 2 male buffalo have a head butt battle. We saw a new born buffalo, hairless / furless, barely able to stand and walk, suckling its mother. We drove slowly by a buffalo on the side of the road ( Joanne's side ), so close, that he lifted his head, and snorted steam and snot out of his nose, to show his annoyance. Joanne suggested we move along. Well, that may not have been her exact words. HA HA HA ! Another few seconds and I might have had to change the name of the truck from Lanoire to Head Smashed In Buffalo Truck. HA HA HA ! ( With apologies to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump in Alberta ) We saw some kind of crane like birds with red heads. Don't know what they were. Maybe Sandhill Cranes ?

The northeast corner of Yellowstone is the only section of park open, and it just opened 4 days ago. The animals have not yet been spooked by large numbers of people yet, so they are quite visible. We drove from the village of West Yellowstone, in Montana, where we are "camped", through the West Entrance into Yellowstone National Park, in Wyoming. As we drove west to Madison Junction, we drove by 2 yearling Grizzly Bears. They were just off the side of the road, perhaps 50 feet away. I took some photos. They are the first Grizzlies we have seen up close in "the wild".

At Madison Junction we turned south and drove to the Old Faithful Geyser area. We just missed an eruption of Old Faithful, so we hiked around Upper Geyser Basin for an hour, viewing many small geysers and hot springs. What an astounding area ! We returned to Old faithful at 1:20 P.M., for the predicted 1:30 eruption, + / - 10 minutes. Old Faithful isn't the biggest, or most spectacular geyser in the park, just the only one that's accurately predictable. Every 92 minutes, + / - 10 minutes. Well, at 1:32 P.M., Old Faithful erupted ! WOW ! We had seen Old Faithful before, when we visited Yellowstone more than 25 years ago, but ... WOW ... we had forgotten !

After Old Faithful, we drove to the Firehole River Picnic Area for our picnic lunch. As we climbed into the truck after lunch, 6 buffalo came sauntering into the picnic site. We sat silently in the truck, and watched them walk by, about 50 feet away. We drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs, stopping frequently to view scenery or wildlife. What an odd area of geothermal formations ; geysers, hot springs, mud holes, paint pots, travertine ( mineral deposit ) mounds.

The day was longer than we had planned, there was so much to see. As we were driving back towards Madison Junction, then West Yellowstone, it was late in the day, and the sun was setting. The wildlife were out in force. That's when we watched buffalos fighting, and got buffalo snot on Joanne's truck door. We didn't arrive back at the trailer until 8:00 o'clock.

We had supper, then went for our final dip in the Brandin' Iron's hot tub. We chatted with a man from Germany and a man from Switzerland.

 

Wednesday ; West Yellowstone to Anaconda, Montana

Today was sunny and mild.

This morning just as we were about to depart from Pony Express RV park, the maintenance staff turned on the water to the RV park, so we were able to refill with fresh water and dump our waste holding tanks before departing. I was using a new sewer hose connection for the first time and I ... uhhhhh ... sort of flushed a 3 inch plastic cap down into the park's sewer system. Ooooops ! I actually didn't discover that until late this afternoon as we were setting up in our next campground.

We departed West Yellowstone heading north on Hwy. 287. At Interstate 90 we turned west. We stopped for lunch in Whitehall. At Butte we refilled with diesel at Flying J and replenished groceries at Safeway. We stopped for the night at Fairmont RV Park in Anaconda, Montana, a bit west of Butte. The areas of Montana that we drove across today were ranches and pastures on rolling hills, leading up to forest covered mountains.

We stopped relatively early today, because I had over 50 photos from yesterday to process and label. I barbecued Buffalo Cheeseburgers for supper.

 

Thursday ; Anaconda, Montana to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

Today was mostly sunny and mild.

We departed this morning continuing northwest on Interstate 90. Every hour or so we changed drivers, enabling us to cover a lot of ground. We stopped at an RV dealer in Missoula, Montana, and I bought some RV supplies I needed. We had lunch in the RV dealer's parking lot. As planned, we made it to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho today. We are planning to do some shopping tomorrow, to buy some items we want to buy in the United States, before returning to Canada on Monday.

 

Friday ; Today was sunny and mild.

Happy 1st Anniversary to Lanoire. We bought her one year ago today in Belleville, Ontario. We have driven her 42,000 km. / 26,000 miles, without any problems. Great performance !

Our main reason for stopping here in Coeur d'Alene was to buy a yard swing at Lowe's. We had decided on this purchase while in Palm Springs, California. Coeur d'Alene was our second last opportunity to make this purchase at Lowe's before returning to Canada. If the Coeur d'Alene Lowe's had been out of stock of this item, we would have one last chance to buy it, in Spokane, Washington tomorrow.

While walking the dog this morning, Joanne noticed that there was a beading hobby store across the street. Perfect ! She recently purchased a loose turquoise stone drilled as a bead, in New Mexico, intending to have it strung onto a garnet bracelet she has. She went across the street, and arranged for this beading shop to restring her bracelet, inserting the turquoise stone into the middle of the bracelet of smaller garnet stones.

We unhitched and set off for a day of shopping and errands. First stop was at Safeway to refill with diesel. This is the first Safeway gas bar we've seen that has diesel. We went to Lowe's and bought the swing. Woo-Hoo ... my first "home improvement" project. We returned to our RV park and carried the heavy box into the trailer. It's going to be in our way for the next few days until we can remove it from the trailer when we arrive at Riverside RV Park Resort in Keremeos.

We returned to Safeway and replenished groceries. Joanne wanted to have a fast food lunch, but only at a fast food restaurant that we haven't been to before. We bought lunch at Carl's Jr.. Pretty good hamburgers !

After lunch while Joanne went for a haircut I read the newspaper and napped. I got online to send and retrieve e-mail. I have been communicating with a company called Valid Manufacturing in Salmon Arm, B.C. for over 6 months about the RV utility pedestals they manufacture. Today they sent me an e-mail that they are unable to find a concrete manufacturer to provide the precast concrete base for mounting their pedestals. I'm livid ! For 6 months we have been communicating, and they have been assuring me that they can provide both the pedestals they manufacture, and the concrete bases for mounting them ... until today. I was so angry I whipped off a "flame" e-mail to them. I'm at a loss to figure out what good the pedestals are without mounting bases !

 

Saturday ; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to Moses Lake, Washington

Today was sunny and warm. First time we've had really decent weather in a couple of weeks !

We departed the slightly trashy Tamarack RV Park in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho this morning continuing west on Interstate 90. We crossed into Washington, and stopped in Spokane to do some shopping. We replenished supplies at Wal-Mart, including stocking up on some products that we can only get in the United States. We went to a Barnes & Noble Bookstore that I saw from the freeway. While I went in to buy the Lonely Planet travel book on Baja California and Los Cabos that I wanted, Joanne went across the street and bought us a couple of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. MMMMM !

We continued west on I-90 to the resort town of Moses Lake where we stopped for the night at Suncrest Resort. Joanne did some laundry while I prepared a list of our U.S. purchases in preparation for crossing the border Monday morning. I also prepared some documents for a meeting with our new lawyer on Thursday regarding the purchase of our lot at Riverside RV Park Resort. Joanne finished preparing our applications for B.C. Health Care. We will "officially" declare ourselves to be residents of British Columbia on Monday.

I barbecued Elk Mushroom Cheeseburgers for supper. We went for a long walk after supper, the first time in quite awhile we have been inspired by the weather and surroundings to go for a long after dinner walk.

 

DSK