Movin' West - Day 29

Tuesday, September 30 - Day 29 (starting our 4th week on the road!).

Sorry, no pictures today. We left Canby this morning at about 11AM. We had hoped to be out earlier, but I ran into a problem with my battery filler system, and I spent about 1/2 hour fooling around with it before finally giving up.

The drive south to Grant's Pass, OR has to be the worst travel day yet. The first part of the trip was OK, but the final leg, about 70 miles worth, was over more mountains than I thought even existed in Oregon!! It was very warm outside (mid-80s), and the load we were carrying, plus the car in tow, caused the engine temperature to rise to dangerous levels, so I had to slow down on the uphill grades and drive in 2nd gear at about 25mph. At one point, the temperature alarm went off, so I had to pull off to the side of the road and rev the engine in Neutral to bring it down. At that point, we unhitched the car and Kathy drove it the remaining 35 or so miles to our destination - a Wal-Mart parking lot in Grant's Pass. Our original plan was to spend the night here in the lot, then take the car tomorrow morning to explore Crater Lake National Park, which is about 75 miles to the northeast. As I said, that was the ORIGINAL plan.

The new plan is that tomorrow we will, instead, head southwest toward the California coast to the town of Crescent City, CA, and spend some time just chillin' on the beach. We really haven't taken much of a break on this trip. We did spend 4 days at Yellowstone, but every day we were up and out exploring in the car. So, we decided we needed a break from "the tour", to just chill, sit in our lounge chairs in the sun and read (or nap).

After we arrived this afternoon, at about 4:15PM, we set out to find the Post Office here in Grant's Pass. The GPS has been infallible on this trip (and invaluable). It has taken us to wherever we wanted to go, although not always via the quickest route. Anyway, after taking care of business at the PO, Kathy decided she felt like pizza and beer, and she didn't want to cook it. So, we asked the GPS to find us a place for pizza. It came up with the "Wild River Brewery & Pizza", a great place! After we were seated, Kathy asked me if I thought they might have Corona here. I looked at the menu, but I couldn't see any other beer listed; only the beers they brew here. So, I told her to ask the waitress. When the waitress came over to take our drink order, Kathy asked her if they had Corona. She looked at Kathy and said, "This is a brewery! We only serve OUR beer here." I don't think she meant it to sound condescending, but, nevertheless.... Anyway, I thought it was funny, but Kathy didn't. We ordered their "Milano" pizza, which consisted of Mozzarella cheese, caramelized onions, tomatoes and garlic. It was very good, but the tomatoes were sliced in eights, one slice per piece of pizza. Weird!

OK! That's it for today's journal. Maybe we'll have some pictures tomorrow. Check back then.

Movin' West - Day 28

Monday, September 29 - Day 28. Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise in Randle, WA. We left the campground at 11:00AM, destination Canby, OR. Our trip to Canby was basically uneventful. We arrived at the Riverside RV Park in Canby at about 1:25PM, checked in, set up the motor home, and left for the Zoo in Portland, about 20 miles to the north. When we arrived at the zoo, there was a sign at the ticket booth announcing that the baby elephant was only on display until 3:00 - it was now 3:02PM. Kathy was not going to pay for a ticket if she couldn't see the baby! The ticket clerk told us that there was plenty of time to see the baby elephant, because they don't usually bring it in right away. So, we paid for the tickets and walked down to the elephant enclosure. As you can see (above) we got to see this "baby" elephant. It is 1 month old (born Aug. 23), and already weighs 250 lbs.

This evening, we visited with Joe and Rosemary Dyer at their home. We arrived about 6:00PM, and spent about an hour and a half "catching up". Joe cooked dinner - pan-blackened salmon. This is the ONLY way to cook salmon! Delicious! Along with Rosemary's Caesar Salad and rice, this was truly a memorable meal. Joe and Rosemary are wonderful hosts. It was like we were old friends who had just dropped by for dinner. (NOTE TO FAMILY: if you ever get out this way, be sure to drop by and visit Joe and Rosemary, they would love it. After we returned to the motor home, I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone on the dining room table at the Dyer's, so I called, but got no answer, so I left a message that I would drop by in the morning to retrieve it. I had no sooner left the message when we heard a knock on the door of the motor home. I went to the door, and there were Joe and Rosemary. They had come to bring me my phone! Thanks, guys. That was very nice of you to do that.


Tomorrow, we are not sure what we are doing, or where we are going. Tune in again for the exciting details!

Here's your link to the web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripPortlandOregonDay28?authkey=xA_jaLwafpM#

Movin' West - Day 27

Sunday, September 28 - a beautiful day, sunny and warm, clear blue sky. We started the day by attending Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Elma. They only have 1 Mass, at 9:00AM Sunday, and the whole town shows up, kids and all! Today, they did 5 Baptisms during the Mass, and this was
the longest, loudest Mass we have ever attended. After Mass, we packed up the motor home and got underway for Mt. Rainier. The trip to Rainier took about two hours, and we landed just in time for lunch.

After lunch we jumped into the car and headed over to Mt. Rainier National Park. Our destination was the Sunrise Highway, on the east face. The last time we visited Mt. Rainier, we entered via the west entrance, and stopped at the visitor's center, then drove up the west face to the base lodge. Today they were not collecting an entrance fee, so there were lots of people sightseeing in the park. We saw mostly people from Washington, but there were occasionally people from California. We got lots of pictures, and most of them are in the web album, so be sure to check that out.

I have to pass along a funny story that happened yesterday (Saturday) morning. I forgot to pass this along in yesterday's journal, so I'm making up for that today. The story actually begins on Friday morning in Anacortes. We went into town before we left to find a Post Office and
Bank of America. While there, we stopped at a donut shop (Happy Donuts), and got coffee. We also purchased 4 donuts and 6 donut holes. We ate 2-1/2 donuts that morning, and polished off the holes later that day, on the way to Elma. That night, we went to bed, and forgot to put the bag of donuts in the microwave (so the dogs don't get them). The next morning, as we were making the bed, Kathy kicked something which was on the floor at the side of the bed. She didn't see what it was because the spread was hanging to the floor, so she bent over to retrieve it, and it was the donut bag!! Fortunately, the donuts were still in the bag. Apparently, Wilson had climbed onto the couch near the stove and grabbed the bag during the night. We think he was hiding it, knowing that we would be going out in the morning, so he would have all the time in the
world to eat the donuts while we were gone! I think he was bummed that we found it!

Tomorrow, we head south into Portland, OR. Our plan is to visit the Zoo there, because Kathy read that they had a baby (400 lbs) elephant. From Portland, we will stop in Canby, just to the south, to visit Kathy's cousin, Joey Dyer, and his wife Rosemary. We hope to be able to put up some pictures of the visit, and of the baby elephant, so be sure to check back.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripMtRainierDay27?authkey=5ZaqYC0wUY4#5251678306721011410

Movin' West - Day 26

Saturday, September 27, 2008 - a beautiful day in Washington. As the picture above illustrates, today we visited the Olympic National Forest. Our explorations took us into the Quinault Rain Forest, where we observed some of the largest Douglas Fir trees, Cedar trees, etc. in the world. This forest is truly amazing. Although it does not offer the same scenic views one sees in such places as Glacier, or Yellowstone National Parks, the sights here are equally impressive. It's difficult to describe the thickness of vegetation in a rain forest, and even more difficult to photograph, because of the minimal amount of light coming through to the floor of the forest. In the photographs we put in the web album, the light is good, but you really can't see the thickness of the flora, because, where there is light, there are few plants. We did try to photograph these thick growths, but the photos, even with a flash, came out too dark to be able to tell what you are looking at, so we left them out. We only left in the ones where you can tell what you are looking at.

The last photograph in the album is of Quinault Lake, at the edge of the rain forest. This is a beautiful lake, and we took the picture from the edge of the lake, where there is a campground, but we couldn't get our motor home into this one - they only accomodate motor homes shorter than 34'. Too bad, because this is a beautiful spot, and in a fabulous location for exploring the rain forests (there are 3 different rain forests in the park, but we only visited the Quinault; the others are the "Queets Rain Forest" and the "Hoh Rain Forest").

Tomorrow, we are heading over to visit Mt. Rainier National Park (again). We visited Rainier several years ago, when I was out here on business, and Kathy came out on a Friday and we spent the weekend just touring the area. It was at that time that we promised ourselves that we would return here one day and spend more time enjoying all of the sights here. This is such a beautiful part of the USA, that it should be on everyone's "Must Visit" list. From Mt. Rainier, we will drive south to Portland, OR and Canby, OR. Canby is where Joey Dyer and his family live, and we will drop in to visit them before we head down to Crater Lake.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's journal on Mt. Rainier, should be some good pictures to share. Here's your link to today's web album:


Love and hugs to everyone from Chuck & Kathy

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripOlympicNationalParkDay26?authkey=YvP_rfe5srM#

Movin' West - Day 25

The appropriate caption for this picture should be "The Honeymooners". That is because, after 42 years of marriage, we are still happy to be together doing what we both love to do, and enjoying each other's company. After more than 3 weeks of being together in a 38' X 8' box, eating EVERY meal together, doing EVERYTHING together, we are still talking to each other and have no differing of opinion about anything (except my driving, of course! When she thinks I am driving too fast, I ask if she would like to trade seats - discussion over).


Friday, September 26, a beautiful, sunny day at Fidalgo Bay. Note the sunrise, above. Today finds us traveling south through Seattle and Tacoma, to Elma, WA. We are staying at a campground in the town of Elma, which is located south of the Olympic National Forest. Tomorrow, we will explore some of the rain forests in Olympic, on the western side of the forest.

The drive south was mostly uneventful. We stopped for fuel in La Conner, WA, where we met a couple of young men who were on their way to go crabbing. Before they stopped to fill the gas can for their boat motor, they decided to do a bit of fishing in the river across the way from the gas station. They really got lucky, because they showed us the salmon they caught, on a lark, basically. This baby was huge - a 25-pounder, at least. Too bad I wasn't prepared to photograph it. One thing I can assure you is that, despite the fact that the highways here are called "Freeways", they still SUCK!!! I am convinced that, whereever there is a densely populated area, the roadways are terrible - that is, they are bumpy, full of pot-holes, and in desperate need of repair. My slogan this morning was "On either coast, the roads suck the most". When we hit road conditions like this, evrything in the motor home "walks", that is, it starts to bounce across whatever surface it is on, until it falls to the floor. In addition, after traveling on these kinds of roads, one has to be very carefull when one opens an overhead cabinet, or the refrigerator. Many is the time one of us has nearly suffered a broken toe when opening a cabinet, or the 'fridge, without thinking.

OK, enough about that - tomorrow, as I mentioned, we go into the Olympic National Forest. Be sure to stay tuned for pictures.

Here's your link to the web album from today's adventures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripLeavingAnacortesDay25?authkey=rQ9XexBvcRk#

Movin' West - Day 24

Thursday, September 25, 2008 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!

Whale watch day started out cloudy and cool, with a brisk wind. Before we left for the boat, it was raining pretty hard, and we were debating whether or not we would go. Fortunately, the rain stopped and we went. What a fantastic experience! The weather got better as we sailed out to the whale-spotting area, and the sun came out when we got there. The rain held off until we were on our way back to the docks. We took a ton of pictures, but for the sake of brevity, we only posted the best of the lot (we took over 90 pictures - mostly of just water!). Let me apologize ahead of time if the pictures are not professional quality, but....we ARE NOT professionals!

Kathy was concerned about the boat ride and the weather when we left the motor home. However, when we saw the boat, those fears were allayed. This boat was pretty huge, 101 feet long and 24 feet wide, and she weighs a petite 99.2 tons! Plenty of room to be comfortable, inside and out. We set sail exactly at noon, after being briefed by the captain, Mike, about safety procedures, and what to expect on the cruise. The rest of the crew consisted of Mark, the engineer; Bart, the naturalist, and Brooke, the Galley Goddess! Mark was responsible for maintaining everything mechanical on the boat. Bart was responsible for keeping us informed about the geography and the animals we would be seeing on our cruise. Brooke was responsible for keeping us fed and watered (at a price - think Fenway Park!!), and, also, for keeping the "heads" clean! All in all, a very good, congenial crew. nfortunately, we did not take any pictures of the crew, or the boat. Not enough time for either. If anyone gets a chance to visit this area, PLEASE, PLEASE put the whale watch on your agenda because it is well worth the cost of the cruise. These guys, Island Adventures, guarantee that your will see whales on their cruise, and they come through on that promise!

OK, tomorrow we head down to Olympic National Park. We will probably be there for at least 3 days, maybe more. Stay tuned for that.

Here's your link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripWhaleWatchTourDay24?authkey=rVqaCeSjggc#

Movin' West - Day 23

If you remember, I had mentioned that Kathy was planning to bake an apple pie with the apples we bought in Washington. Well, there it is!! Isn't it a thing of beauty? And was it delicious!!

OK, back to business. Tuesday, September 24. Cloudy and cool today. We are ready to leave the Wenatchee River County Park for the Pacific Coast. However, there's one more thing that I just had to do before we left....


This is a picture of the tow load our neighbors are pulling! I just HAD to take this picture. I don't know how in hell he plans on getting that boat off of the SUV, or how he even got it up there in the first place. Jeez! And I thought I had it tough towing the car! He can't even use his SUV unless he gets the boat down first.

OK! Back to the trip. We left the campground not sure of our next destination. We knew that we wanted to go to Olympic National Forest, but we also wanted to try and do a Whale Watch while we were on the coast. We had read that there were whale-watching tours out of Anacortes (pronounced anna-COOR-tis), which is about 85 miles north of Seattle. Since it would be easier to go further north, and then travel south, we decided to head for Anacortes. The next dilemma was - do we go south to I-90, or do we continue west on Rt. 2? We let the GPS choose, and she chose the most direct route, Rt. 2 West. OK! The trip, itself, was quite uneventful, except for the time we decided to stop for fuel before we reached our destination. We saw lots of stations which sold diesel fuel, but they were all on the other side of the highway. Finally, when we reached the town of Monroe, WA, we saw a station located on OUR side to the highway, so we decided to stop. Yeah, right! Apparently, these stations were never designed with the thought that people in MOTOR HOMES might want to fuel up in them!!! After turning off the highway, we realized that there was no entry to the station from the road we had turned onto. Great!! Now I have to find a place to turn around. OK, I'm turned around - now, how do I get into the station to fuel up? Well, as it turned out, there was no way for a motor home to get into, or out of that station, so we found our way back to the highway and continued on to Anacortes. I still had about 5/8 of a tank of fuel, so we weren't in any trouble.

We arrived at the campground in Anacortes around 3PM and got set up. After a quick snack, we headed into the town of Anacortes to book a whale-waching tour. The tour leaves tomorrow at noon, and returns about 5:30PM. We were told that today's tour saw 3 pods of whales, so we are hopeful that tomorrow will be just as successful. After booking the tour, we stopped at the Visitor's Center to get some information about getting a GREAT seafood dinner. The lady at the counter pointed out a menu for the restaurant she would recommend, so I picked it up and began to peruse the bill of fare. WOW! If we wanted Halibut (which we did), the cheapest dish was $24.95! Our next question to the lady was "Where can we buy FRESH fish for dinner?" So, we went off to the market and bought halibut fillets and sea scallops, which we brought back to the motor home and I cooked them on the grill. In a word, D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!! Kathy marinated them first, then cooked some potatoes, which were mashed with garlic, a nice white wine, and a great salad - mmmmmm, much better than paying about $80 - $100 for dinner at that restaurant. Oh, yeah! I forgot to mention that we found a white wine which rivals Tisdale! It's called Oak Leaf, and it goes for $2.97/bottle (750ml). We found it at Wal-Mart, but I guess it can be had in other places. We bought out the supply of it at the Wal-mart we found it at, and when we stopped at another Wal-mart, they were OUT of it!! See, it really is a good deal!

Stay tuned for the report on the whale-watching tour. The whales we hope to see are Orcas, or, as they are more affectionately known, KILLER WHALES!!! Yikes!

Here's the link to the web album for today - not too many pictures, but wait 'til tomorrow!

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripTravelingToThePacificCoastDay23?authkey=Fa445R427U4#

Movin' West - Day 22

Tuesday, September 23, Day 22.

As promised in yesterday's journal, today's web album contains pictures of the County Park we are staying in. The above photo shows our campsite here in Wenatchee, WA. The weather today was perfect, again! We got out early and drove to Leavenworth for breakfast, then walked around the town and did a bit of shopping. There was so much in Leavenworth to see, that we decided to stay another night, and just spend the day walking around.



The town of Leavenworth is like a Bavarian town. All the buildings resemble the quaint little shops one would find in Bavaria, and the folks who staff the stores, restaurants and information center all dress in Bavarian attire. Most of the food places also have a Bavarian flavor, with sausages, brats, beer and music. The downtown area is only about four blocks, but the little shops are so tightly nestled in each building, that it takes a whole day to tour the downtown, going into all the shops along the way. As many of you may know, Kathy loves nutcrackers, you know, the wooden figures with the lever in back, and the mouth that opens to hold and crack the nuts. Well, there is a Nutcracker Museum here which houses over 5,000 nutcrackers, which date back to Roman times. This was quite an enjoyable day, and, as I said, the weather has been perfect since we got here.

Tomorrow, we head further west, destination Olympic National Forest. Stay tuned.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripLeavenworthWADay22?authkey=owpSVmSN-Q8#

Movin' West - Day 21

Monday, September 22, a cloudy day in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The weather forecast for the area west of here is not promising. We rise and take our time getting ready to leave. Our first order of business - find a U.S. Post Office. Not bad, only 2.5 miles away from the campground we are at. After taking care of business at the Post Office, we return to the motor home and get ready to leave for Washington State. Did I mention before that this campground is one of the WORST we have visited? Most of the units (trailers) here have flat tires, and aren't going anywhere fast. I guess these people live here permanently, and they don't do very much to keep up their rigs. I got to see quite a few of them as I walked the dogs around the place. Yeeechhhh! Disgusting! We couldn't wait to leave this dump! Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that on our site, our picnic table (which we did not use) was sitting right over the next door neighbor's sewer hook-up! Sheesh!

On to Washington! I have to say that Coeur d'Alene was a nice city, and quite large and clean. For those of you who may be RVers, you will be interested to know that the Flying J truck stops west of civilization (Illinois) cater mostly to truckers, and are not very RV-friendly. For example, we stopped at a flying J in Butte, MT for fuel and propane. I got the fuel, but I could not get propane because of the location of the tank. Had I pulled up to it, with my car in tow, I would have been blocking the only exit road out of the plaza. And, when I paid for my fuel, I asked the guy behind the counter if there was a place for RVs to park for the night, he laughed and told me that I could park over with the trucks. Yeah, right! So, we went back to the Wal-Mart parking lot we stopped at originally and spent the night there. We figured that the Wal-Mart parking lot would be much quieter than the Flying J, what with the trucks idling their engines, and all. Wrong!!! About 25 minutes after we shut the lights to go to sleep, we heard what sounded like a fleet of trucks outside in the parking lot. Turns out, they were cleaning/sweeping the lot that night, and the damn sweeper truck kept going by right outside of our window.

Anyway, we are now in Washington, in a campground that is what I consider to be THE BEST campground we have stayed in to date! We are in the Wenatchee River County Park campground, which has beautiful lawns and paved roadways and sites, with aluminum picnic tables at each site. This place is like The Garden of Eden for campers! I was able to purchase propane here, without any hassles. The park sits on the Wenachee River and the staff here is unbelievably friendly and helpful. Tomorrow, I will try to get a few pictures of this park and post them in the next web album.

Washington State has to be one of this country's hidden jewels, especially central Washington, where we are! This part of the state is absolutely gorgeous! The contrasting mountains and orchards make it a very picturesque location. Tomorrow, we are going to visit the town of Leavenworth, or, as it is known here, "Little Bavaria". Here's a trivia fact for you - Wenatchee, WA is the "Apple Capital of the World" (betcha didn't know that!). We purchased some apples today, and Kathy is going to make an apple pie with them tomorrow. Can't wait for that!!!

Be sure to check back for tomorrow's adventure, as I think it will be fantastic!

Here's your link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripIdahoToWashingtonDay21?authkey=X3jG1FiJEpo#5249058634740982946

Movin' West - Day 20

Sunday, September 21, 2008 - a rainy day in Montana.

No pictures to post today. This was a travel day for us. We left West Glacier, MT, at 9:15 this morning in a rain storm. It started raining last night about 10PM, and continued to rain all through the night. This was one of only two rainy days we have encountered during our trip, the first being in Illinois during the first week. I think it may have rained during the night while we were in the Black Hills of SDak., but not during the day.

As we drove west along Rt. 2, there were many beautiful areas where we could have taken pictures, but with the rain and the low clouds over the mountains, the pictures would not have done the scenery justice. Too bad! Such a waste of photo opportunities. We crossed into Idaho at 1:30PM mountain time, and as we entered the state, we also crossed into the Pacific Time Zone, where the actual time was 12:30PM. The dogs have had to adjust to 3 different time zones on this trip, and their internal meal clocks are all messed up. Poor guys! It worked out well for us, though. We arrived here in Coeur d'Alene, ID at 3:15PM local time and checked into the campground (Tamarac Campground). After getting settled in, we went out to do a bit of grocery shopping (again!), and, since it was 5 o'clock for us, we decided to go out to eat at Olive Garden (which is always crowded, wherever and whenever we go). The Olive Garden here in Coeur d'Alene is only about 2 miles from the campground, and practically across the street from the grocery store (Albertson's). The parking lot looked quite full, but we stopped in, anyway. To our surprise, we got right in. By the time we were ready to leave (about 5:15PM), they were waiting by the dozen to get in. We had to push our way through the crowd to get out to the parking lot. The food was very good, though, and worth the stop.

I just saw the weather report for this area and, it ain't good! Rain showers possible through Tuesday, then, maybe, he sun will return. Yecchhhh!

Tomorrow, we will probably be back on the road early. Our next destination is Leavenworth, WA, where there are lots of apple orchards. We might spend a couple of days there, if it is as nice as we have heard.

Stay tuned.

Movin' West - Day 19

Saturday, September 20, 2008 - Glacier National Park

We had intended to wake up early in order to drive up "Going to the Sun" road to catch the sunrise over the mountains, but two things prevented us from doing that - 1: I set the clock for 6AM, but I never checked to see if the time on the clock was the correct time (it wasn't), and 2: the road to the top at Logan's Pass is closed for repairs and will not reopen until Monday. So, we didn't start off until 9AM. We drove up "Going to the Sun" road as far as we could, then we hiked up the trail to Avalanche Gorge and took some pictures there. From there, we drove up the west side of the park, but there wasn't too much to see up there. Took some video footage, but no pictures.

After lunch, we drove around to the eastern entrance via Rt. 2 East. Got some great pictures on the way over to St. Marys, where the east entrance is located. Once we reached St. Marys, we drove up the other side of "Going to the Sun" road, where sunsets are observed. We were too early to see a sunset there, but we did get some amazing pictures (see web album). This park has got to be the most beautiful park we have seen so far on our trip. Around every bend in the road, the views are more spectacular than the previous views, as we hope the pictures will attest. We actually took 85 pictures, but, in the interest of not boring anyone, we only posted 23 of the best photos.

As for wildlife, the only wildlife we actually saw happened to be the various insects which splattered our windshield! Which begs the question: What's the last thing to go through a bug's mind as it hits your windshield at 70mph?? Answer: his rectum! A bit of Montana humor for you. We considered staying another day to take a "Red Bus Tour" of the park, but the weather is supposed to change for the worse tomorrow, so we will leave Glacier National Park tomorrow morning and start our trek further west, destination: Olympic National Forest in Washington.

Stay tuned for details of our trip through Washington State.

Here's your link to the web album from today's adventure:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripGlacierNationalPark9200802?authkey=-iLfFeq8BOs#

Movin' West - Day 18

First of all, let me aplogize for the delay in sending out the links to web albums. Our internet access, when we had any, was very slow, and I was not patient enough to wait for the photos to load into the albums (I would have been up for about 18 hours completing them).

The photo above is of the campground we are staying in tonight in West Glacier, MT. We arrived here at 3:00PM. The campground is very nice - grassy sites, plenty of sunshine, and nice people. Our trip today took us from Butte, MT (a Super Wal-Mart parking lot) through Missoula, MT (home of the "Grizzlies" - Univ. of Montana), and on to West Glacier. The trip has been quite scenic and relaxing, meaning no huge mountains to cross. We made a stop in Missoula at an RV Dealership which had advertised in signs on I-90 that it was selling propane at the ridiculous price of .99 per gallon! The dealership was just off the highway, and easy to get off and back on. However, as we pulled up to the propane tank, we noticed a sign stating that they had "run out of propane due to the high demand for it"! Duh!! If you sell it for .99/gal, don't you think that users would flock to the location to buy it??? Keep the f-ing tank full, or take down the signs on the highway!

Anyway, we left Missoula, sans propane, and continued on to West Glacier. The rest of the trip was scenic and uneventful, and we arrived safely. After dinner, we took a short drive into Glacier N.P. to see if the Visitor Center would be open - it wasn't. Tomorrow we will rise early and head into the park again - this time hoping to catch the sunrise on "Going to the Sun" road, which, as we understand, is under construction and closed about 16 miles in. Our luck - we should have come in earlier in the month, as most of the tours and other attractions close as of September 15th!

That's all for today! Stay tuned for tomorrow's adventures.

Here are the links to all of the missing web albums. I finally got a good connection and was able to upload them all. Happy viewing!

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripYellowstoneDay13?authkey=5QQ1nyv51-Q#

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripYellowstoneDay14?authkey=8jkhn6gVXjY#

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripYellowstoneDay15?authkey=qjxX_Ocqc1U#

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripGrandTetonNPJacksonWYDay16?authkey=Ibnhz5UPsrE#

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripLeavingYellowstoneDay17?authkey=BFwMkxgnYII#

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripLeavingYellowstoneDay18?authkey=W04HFEjUSx4#

Movin' West - Day 17

Thursday, Sept. 18 - pulled out of Yellowstone by 9:15AM, on our way up to Glacier National Park in Montana. Our stop tonight, we think, will be in Butte, MT, about 200+ miles from here. As we were traveling on our way out of Yellowstone, we came to a section of roadway where lots of cars were pulled over. We wondered what was going on, but it turned out to be a large herd of buffalo on the side of the road. As we slowed to a stop, two of the members of the herd began to cross the road just in front of us, a female and a male. As they got onto the roadway, the male tried to mount the female, but she was having none of him, and she ran across the road. He waited in the middle of the road as the rest of the herd slowly began to migrate across the road. Finally, after about 15 minutes, the whole herd had crossed and we were able to continue on our way.

The rest of the trip was filled with scenery of wide-open plains, lakes, rivers and mountains as we headed into Montana. The day was bright and sunny, and we got a few good pictures as we traveled along in Montana. As we began traveling on I-90 West toward Butte, the highway took us into the mountains (Mount Jefferson, if you care to look it up on the map), and the climb was steep and slow. I had to keep an eye on the engine temperature so that it wouldn't overheat. It took us about 20 - 25 minutes to climb the mountain, at a speed of 20 - 25mph. Finally, we made it to the top and began our descent into Butte. We arrived at a Wal-Mart SuperCenter, where we are spending the night. Tomorrow morning we will take off again heading north toward Missoula, then up to Glacier N.P.

Stay tuned for the details.

No link to the web album again tonight - connection speed too slow. Maybe tomorrow night?

Movin' West - Day 16

Movin’ West – Day 16

(Picture)

Wednesday, 7AM – our trip through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson, WY, begins. The temperature is a bone-chilling 28 degrees this morning, but we are dressed for the warm weather which will move in later this morning, as it always does. As we entered the Park, we began to see sights and scenery which we have not seen in Yellowstone, namely, mountains so close we could almost touch them. The Tetons are enormous!

We arrived in Jackson around 10:00AM (about 3 hours) and stopped in at the Visitors’ Center to get some information about the National Park and the town of Jackson, along with maps of both. Next, we took a leisurely drive through the town and found a supermarket, where we stopped to pick up some much-needed groceries, because there’s not much in Yellowstone. We also needed to get some dog shampoo to give the dogs a bath. They have gotten sooo dirty here at Yellowstone because of the dirt. Lunch was at a little café called Joe’s, just up the street from the supermarket – great sandwiches, scones and coffee.

(Picture)

After a few pictures at the town square (see album), we got back in the car to make the return trip to Yellowstone. This time, however, we took another route through the Tetons. We detoured off of the main road (RT 89) onto the road to Jenny Lake, which is the scenic route. We took lots of great pictures on this route.

Finally arrived back at our campground about 4:15PM, exhausted, but happy we took this trip. After dinner, it’s bath time for the doggies. Tomorrow, we leave Yellowstone and head north into Montana, destination Glacier National Park.

Stay tuned for details of tomorrow’s adventure!

Here’s your link to the web album: (No link yet)

Movin' West - Day 15

Movin’ West – Day 15

Monday, September 16th – out early, left the dogs at the motor home because all they do is complain in the car. We headed back to Old Faithful after an expensive breakfast at Lake Village Lodge (stay away from that place!). We arrived in time to get some pictures of the geyser spouting from beginning to end, but those will not be in the Web Album because we already showed Old Faithful before. While at Old Faithful, we tried to log on to update the blog through Day 14, but our connection was too slow, so we decided to move on and get to the blog later (after we leave Yellowstone).

Our next stop was at the Middle Geyser Basin, just beyond Old Faithful. This was a good take! We took lots of pictures here of the HOT mineral springs and geysers, and the color variations in the rock formations. Also, got pictures of the hot thermal waters flowing into the river (Firepot River). We were amazed at all the variations in rock colorations here – and the color of the thermal pools (turquoise and opal) – magnificent. This is one of those destinations you HAVE to put on your “Bucket List” of things to see before you kick it! Our pictures just don’t do it justice!

From Middle Geyser Basin, we headed north to Madison, then over to Norris before heading back to Fishing Bridge campground. We spotted another coyote on the way back, but he was just too far away and going away from us, so we couldn’t get a good picture of him. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. About the only wildlife we do see in any numbers are buffalo. They’re EVERYWHERE!!! After we got back to the motor home, we took the dogs for a short ride to spend some time sitting by the lake, but we weren’t able to find a good spot – the damn buffalo were all over the place when we wanted to pull over!

Tomorrow, we are headed down to Jackson, WY and the Grand Tetons. Stay tuned for that report.

Here’s your link to the web album: (No link yet)

Movin' West - Day 14

Movin'

Movin' West - Day 13

(Picture of entrance to Yellowstone) (No pictures until we get a faster connection)

We awoke to a beautiful, sunny day with a perfect azure blue sky and not a cloud in sight.
After a leisurely breakfast, we started out for Yellowstone NP. The trip was uneventful,
but very scenic (see web album). We arrived at the East Entrance to the park shortly before 11:30AM and checked in. Our campground was still another 26 miles into the park from the East Gate. Along the way, we were slowed down by a herd of buffalo grazing on the side of the road. Traffic passed by very slowly, so that everyone could get their pictures and/or not spook the buffalo herd. We saw about 8 females, a couple of calves, and the male head of the pack, who was across the street in an open field, rolling in the dirt, making himself beautiful for his ladies.

After registering at the campground, we found our campsite and parked the motor home - tight squeeze here. I'm guessing that my motor home is about the longest which would fit on the campsite we have. We are backed right in alongside a travel trailer, and the back of my coach almost blocks his entry door! No problemo - he's leaving tomorrow anyway - going back to the state of Washington.

After a quick lunch, we piled the doggies into the car (which is quite a filthy mess from
trailing behind the motor home through the mountains) and we began to tour the park. We traveled along Yellowstone Lake for quite a few miles, then turned and headed up toward Old Faithful. We had no idea whether we would be able to see her spout off or not, because she only sputs about every 90 minutes, or so. However, after arriving, parking the car, and following the crowds, we got to the viewing area as she was spouting. Took a couple of still shots, and some video footage of her.

After Old Faithful, we headed back to the campground so that we could pick up some milk before the grocery store closed at 6PM. We made it just in time, then went back to the motor home, had dinner, and went to work on the pictures and blog.

More adventures follow tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Here's the link to the web album for today: (No link until we get a fster connection)

Movin' West - Day 12

Day 12 - Greybull, Campbell's Green Oasis campground. As I mentioned in last night's blog, this campground, though small, is very nice, as you can see. We have lush green grass around us, and the weather here has been great - high 70's in the afternoon, and the evening was also quite comfortable. This morning, the weather was sunny, again, and the day looked promising, so I donned shorts and a short-sleeved polo to travel. However, by the time we got to Cody, Kathy was scrambling to find our cold-weather gear. I had to change into jeans and a sweatshirt because the temperature here was in the 40's.


Our drive to Cody was practically uneventful, except that the wind coming across the open plains was unbelievable!! At one point, I had to pull over onto the shoulder of the highway because the awning seemed to be coming loose from the top. There wasn't much I could do with it out on the open highway, so we continued our drive into Cody at a "much reduced speed", with no further problems with the awning. Our stop in Cody was at the Buffalo Bill Museum and Historical Center. Before we could go into the Center, I had to pull the awning down in the parking lot in order to secure it (see pictures in our web album). The Museum was a "good take", as we spent the entire afternoon here - our poor doggies had to spend the afternoon alone in the motorhome, but at least they had a warm place to relax. Phenomenal doesn't begin to describe this Center - if you get to travel out to Cody, make sure you stop here. It's a "MUST SEE".

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog entry about our drive from Buffalo to Worland. This was what Kathy calls a "white-knuckle" drive. As you could probably tell from the photographs, we were quite high in the mountains (elevation 9,666 feet), and I had to take my time in the motorhome, as the engine temperature was climbing faster than we were. The rest of the trip, until now, has been "no problem", pretty much flat, level roads with nothing but open prairies. Our trip into Yellowstone NP tomorrow, though, promises to be a different story.

On another note, I don't believe that I have mentioned anything about the wildlife we have seen to this point. While we have seen lots of deer, buffalo, big horn sheep, etc., what amazed us the most was the fact that, on a couple of different occasions, while driving through towns, we have seen deer actually walking across the main roads in town and stopping to graze on someone's lawn. Not bothered by the traffic, other people, etc. This must be an everyday happening with them.

Yellowstone Inn and RV Park in Wapiti, WY. we are about 18 miles west of Cody and 32 miles from the eastern entry to Yellowstone NP. We arrived here at about 5:15PM, parked the motorhome on our assigned lot, then went into the Bar & Grill for a few drinks and some hors d'ouvres (Onion rings and Chicken wings). We had Teryaki wings - delicious! I sampled some of the local beer here. I had "Moose Drool" ale, which is brewed in Missoula, MT. I had to try it, simply because of the name. It was pretty good! In fact, I had three of 'em! See, I can still blog, even after 3 beers and a vodka tonic!!! (K says I'm a dip-shit!!!). Who cares? I'm lovin' it!

Tomorrow, we head to Yellowstone!! We can't wait! Kathy wants to get to bed now, so that morning comes faster and we can be on our way! But, I still have more work to do here, so she'll have to wait!

OK! That's it for tonight (shit, I keep making typos, so I guess I"d better close now, before I say something I may regret in the morning!). Stay tuned - tomorrow we hit Yellowstone! Yippee!

Here's the link to the web album - this time, I think I did it right - click on the link to get to the album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripGreybullToCodyWYDay12?authkey=aD-AzJG9L6k

Enjoy!! Talk to you tomorrow night!

Movin' West - Day 11

Day 11 finds us traveling from Buffalo, WY to Worland, about 90 miles west, through mountainous roadways. The day started out cloudy and overcast, but the further west we traveled, the better it got. The trip took over two hours due to the hilly terrain, but the scenery was pretty spectacular (see web album for today's travels). After arriving in Worland and fueling up the motor home, we found a campground where we planned to spend the night before moving on to Cody, WY. We parked the motor home, then headed south some 32 miles to the town of Thermopolis, WY, where there are mineral hot springs.


We entered the Hot Springs State Park and toured the beautiful grounds and took some photographs of the mineral rock formations created by the springs. Unfortunately, we did not get to bathe in the mineral spas there. Supposedly, these mineral spas are healthful and invigorating and many people regularly come there to relax in the warm mineral baths. We decided to take a drive through the park to get photos of other springs in the area, and, possibly, see more buffaloes roaming in the pastures. However, as we drove up the road, the roads leading to the pastures were closed, and nobody told us, so we ended up driving about 8 miles through the most desolate places on a dirt road, wondering if we would ever get back to civilization. Obviously, we did!

Next, we tried to find the Dinosaur Museum and dig site, but after following a sign pointing out the direction, we found no further signs, and we ended up in a residential area in East Thermopolis! And they say that Massachusetts has lousy road signs! Ha!

Upon returning to Worland, at about 4:15PM, and since we had not been checked in at the campground we pulled into, we decided to move on to Greybull, WY. This campground was, so far, THE WORST one we have found on our trip! We practically had to walk sideways between RVs, the sites were so narrow! Also, the roadways in the campground were muddy, and you remember what I said about that when we were in Rapid City, SD. When we pulled in, the office was locked, with a sign on the door showing the rates, and stating that if you wished to stay, pick out a campsite, and settle up later. So, since we hadn't yet "settled up", we decided to "shake the dust of this campground from our feet", and move on.

We are now in Greybull, WY, in a small, but nice, campground (only 8 sites). The roads are crushed stone, and the sites have lots of grass, which the dogs love. Tomorrow, we head off to Cody for a night. Hopefully, we'll get to do some exploring in Cody - it's supposed to be quite historic. We'll see...

Tune in tomorrow for further adventures. Oh, here's the link to the web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripThermopolisWY?authkey=0K6YWuUdWZo#

Enjoy!

Movin' West - Day 10

Wyoming, The CowboyState!

We left Heartland RV Park this morning at 10:15AM and headed west to Wyoming. The day started out cloudy with chance of showers, but the sky west looked promising. Last night it rained for a while after we bedded down, so this morning, when I took the dogs out, the ground was damp. Did I mention that the ground here is clay? This stuff, when dry, is hard as a rock, but when it's wet, it sticks to everything that touches it. The soles of my shoes were caked with the stuff about 1 inch thick! But that wasn't the worse part - it was also caked to the bottom of the dog's paws. It took me about 30 minutes to clean their paws before I could let them back into the motor home.



Our first stop in Wyoming was at the Visitor's Information Center, about 20 miles into Wyoming. We wanted to visit Devil's Tower, so we left the motor home at the Visitor Center and drove the car the 28 miles north to see it. Too bad the weather here didn't cooperate a bit more. As you can see in the picture above, it was overcast and misty, at times. But, it was worth the detour, as the view was spectacular.

From the Visitor Center, in Sundance, WY, we headed for Buffalo, WY, about 175 miles west. We took some photographs from the motor home as we traveled, to try to capture the wide-open expanse of this state. The prairies and hills go on forever, it seems, with no visible signs of civilization. We arrived in Buffalo at 5:00PM, and the campground we are staying in is right on the route we will be continuing on tomorrow (16 West).

Tomorrow, we head out for Thermopolis, WY, to see the hot springs and perhaps to try out the water park, which is fed by the warm water of the hot springs. We have rescheduled our arrival time at Yellowston N.P. until Sunday, because we hope the campgrounds will be less crowded and we will be able to stay inside the park.

Today's web album link is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripWyomingDay1?authkey=-vPtK4ut4q4#


Check out the pictures and stay tuned for our next episode.

Movin' West - Day 9

Today, Wednesday, began with a trip to the Post Office in Hermosa to mail out a package to Aaron. Next, we had breakfast in Rapid City before heading to the Museum of Geology at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT). Their sports teams are known as the "Hard Rockers"! This was an awesome take because of the dinosaur fossils and skeletons they have uncovered and restored there. Also, there are exhibits of thousands of rocks, gemstones and gold nuggets.

From there, we headed out to drive the Needles Highway, so named because of the granite rock formations there - they look like needles. Later in the blog is a link to our web album, containing all the pictures we took. Check it out, it's pretty amazing.

On the way up to the Needles Highway, we had to pass through Custer State Park. Today, the wildlife was abundant, and close to the roadway. Note the photos of buffalo and big horn sheep.

Here's the link to the web album. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/RapidCityNeedlesHighway?authkey=WzmJO7TlceQ#


Tomorrow, we leave Rapid City and South Dakota for Wyoming. We may stop at the towns of Deadwood and Lead (pronounced "leed") before heading into Wyoming and the Devils Tower.

Stay tuned for details tomorrow night.

Movin' West - Day 8

As you can see, Day 8 took us to Mt. Rushmore National Monument. For anyone who has not seen this spectacular sight, you've got to put it on your "Bucket List" of things to do BEFORE you die! The drive up to and away from Mt. Rushmore are awesome and breathtaking, but probably not as much so as will be Yellowstone. Nonetheless, a must-see.

After touring Rushmore, we next toured Custer State Park, via the Wildlife Loop, where there are opportunities to see buffalo and other native animals, "up close and personal" (see our Picasa Web Album for all the photos). This loop road took us through many spectacular views which
we were not able to capture in photos or on film, because of the road conditions (narrow and winding, with lots of steep grades).

Tomorrow, our plan is to drive through the area known as the "Needles Highway", which gets its name from the needle-like granite spikes dotting the landscape. Hopefully, we will be able to get photos there. From there, we are going to tour the Museum of Geology in Rapid City, which we were told is a "must-see".

Tune in for the next episode on our journey west.

Movin' West - Day 7

As promised, here is the next episode!

We left Interior, SD this morning at 9:30AM - a beautiful, sunny day, temps in the mid-70's. We are headed to Rapid City, SD and the Black Hills National Parks.

We stopped again at Wall Drug and had coffee (5 cents per cup!!) and split a homemade plain donut with chocolate frosting - delicious! I bought a USA Today paper and promptly had my day ruined when I read that Tom Brady will be out for the season with a torn ACL. Shit!!!

Oh, well, c'est la vie, I guess. Anyway, we left Wall and headed west to Rapid City. What a booming (?) metropolis! This is by far the dirtiest city we have encountered in all of SD and IA. Reminds me of a big city back home. We are relying on our GPS (Garmin Street Pilot 7200) to get us to our destinations. Today, it really screwed up! We were trying to get to Hermosa, SD, to a campground called "Heartland RV Park", and it directed us to a place called "Hart Ranch". This wouldn't have been so bad, but the rates here are ridiculous, so we turned around and headed back to the main road. We finally found Heartland RV Park, which was about 9 miles further south. This is a great place, especialy since we get the site for 1/2 price!

Since we arrived later in the PM than we expected, we had a quick bite to eat (I grilled a couple of hot dogs), loaded the dogs into the car, and headed into downtown Rapid City to scout it out. We were looking for the Geological Museum, and were going on the directions of one of the locals back at the campground, who told us "not to miss this museum". Unfortunately, his directions were less than accurate and we never found the place.

Tomorrow morning we are headed out to see Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, and the Buffalo plains in Custer State Park. Look for pictures soon.

I hope everyone got to see the pictures I put up on my Picasa Web Album. I believe we sent an invitation to everyone. If we forgot to include you, let us know via e-mail, or by commenting on this blog.

Stay tuned for Day 8!

Movin' West - Day 6

Sorry for the delay in posting this one. We had no wireless signal last night, so I was unable to post.

Day 6 began with breakfast out on Sunday (9/7) morning. We finally pulled out of the R & R Campground around 11AM and headed toward Interior, SD, in the Badlands. We made a stop along the way at "1880 Town", where there are lots of old west artifacts and movie props from the film "Dances With Wolves", which was filmed in the area. After leaving 1880 Town, our next stop was Badlands National Park.


We drove the first 9 mile loop of the park in the motor home on our way to our campground, which was located about 5 miles out of the town of Interior, SD, Population 57! It is only 1 intersection with a 2-way STOP sign. Blink and you've missed it! After parking and setting the motor home up for the night, we then drove the remaining 29 mile loop, ending up at Wall, SD, the home of the famous Wall Drugs. We spent about an hour scoping out this "tourist trap"!

After leaving Wall, we drove back to the MH and settled in for the evening. So much for Day 6.

Movin' West - Day 5

After a 6-1/2 hour, 380 mile drive from Waterloo, IA, we arrived in beautiful Mitchell, SD. This town is famous(?) for one thing - the "Corn Palace". This edifice was constructed so that area farmers could "show off" all the crops they were able to grow out here. When Lewis and Clark first came through here, they declared that the land would "yield no crops", and was, therefore, useless. Thus the Corn Palace! The first "palace" was built in 1892, but was rebuilt 21 years later, in 1913, because the original building was too small. In 1923, the Corn Palace was again rebuilt, in a different location, and is the building which still stands today. In was renovated in 2000 with the addition of minarets. The outside of the building is redone every year, to keep the corn looking "fresh" (at a cost of $130,000). The ears of corn are sliced in half, length-wise, and nailed to the building. There are 5 different types of corn used in the design of the exterior, to get the coloration. The Corn Palace is used for shows, conventions and basketball games. It is one of the "Top 10 High School Basketball arenas" in the country.

Now you know!

Also found in Mitchell - Cabela's, "the World's Foremost Outfitter", a Wal-Mart SuperCenter, and Ruby Tuesday's!

Tomorrow we head into "the Badlands"! Stay tuned for that post.

PS: If you would like to add a comment to any of our posts, simply click on the "comments" link at the bottom right of each post. When the text window appears, type your comment, then scroll down. Below the text window are 3 options. Choose either #2 (Name/URL), or #3 (Anonymous). If you choose #2, simply type your name, or any other identifier you wish.

Movin' West - Day 4

We departed the Empress Casino campground this morning at 10:00AM (Central time), and headed west on I-80 toward Iowa. Along the way, I received a call from a fellow RVer (John, you know who you are) asking if we had planned to stop at the "Field of Dreams" while we were passing through Iowa. I asked him where it was, but he didn't know. So, we fired up the ole PC and googled it and found that it is located in Dyersville, IA, which is located about 25 miles west of the city of Dubuque, on US20. That meant that in order to stop there, we would have to detour about 60 miles north of where we were at Davenport, IA. To make a long story short, we took the chance, because, what the heck....we aren't on any type of schedule here, are we?

Dyersville is a small, quiet town with lots of farms, featuring mostly corn, but we did see fields of green beans also. The "Field of Dreams" is exactly like you saw it in the movie, because this is where the movie was filmed. In fact, as you approach the location, it is referred to as the "movie lot for Field of Dreams". The only thing different now is that they have a gift shop and a picnic area set up on the location. But, the cornfield is the same and the bleachers are the same. I was told that the site would accomodate a motor home, but that was not the case. Consequently, I had to un-hitch the car in order to turn around on the driveway. All in all, it was worth the detour to see. We are now parked in the lot at a Flying J fuel plaza, where we intend to spend the night. We are in Waterloo, IA at this time. We arrived shortly before 5PM.

Tomorrow, we head out to South Dakota and the Badlands!! Stay tuned!

Movin' West - Day 3 (Part II)

OK. We're back from the casino and, sad to say, we were unsuccessful in augmenting our travel purse. God, I hate gambling! If it weren't for "bad luck", I'd have no luck at all! At least the food was edible. Note to COB - the pulled pork sandwich was excellent. You would have loved it!

In this rain, getting in and out of the motor home is an adventure. We have a good-sized puddle outside our door which is getting to be ankle-deep at this point. In order for us to get out to the car, I pulled the picnic table over by the door so that, when we step out, we can step onto the bench of the picnic table and walk to the other end and jump onto higher ground. Unfortunately, the table is not quite stable in its current position, and Kathy tried to walk on it and it started to wobble. She went off into the puddle and got her tootsies wet. Fortunately, she was only wearing sandals (rubber Crocs), so she didn't ruin a pair of shoes. By the time we got to the casino, the rain was coming down sideways due to the wind, and my umbrella almost got blown away.

Meanwhile, back at the MH, the dogs were having a very good time. By the time we got back, the throw rugs were all rolled up and their toys were everywhere. Beasley was still doing "laps" when we came it, he was so excited that we were back! He was running around the MH with his "cow", jumping from couch to couch and standing on his hind legs, pumping his forepaws. Too bad the camera was not available. Fortunately, for us, they did not get into any of the food - Kathy put it too far out of their reach.

Tomorrow will be much better weather-wise, according to the local weather. This rain should end during the night, and we will be greeted with partly cloudy skies tomorrow AM as we head out toward western Iowa. We are targeting the area in the vicinity of Omaha, NE - actually, where I-80 intersects I-29, just south of Sioux City, IA. There have not been any photo opportunities, as yet. Nothing very interesting to see so far. Maybe we'll get a few shots of the Empress Casino before we depart tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Movin' West - Day 3 (Part I)

I had to call this Part I because I may post later.

Well, here we are in Joliet, IL, at the Empress Casino RV Park. It has been raining since about 12:30PM (it is now 5:35 Eastern time, 4:35 Central). The site we are sitting on has a concrete pad (thank GOD!). The water outside our door is about 1-1/2" deep, and it is raining heavily at this time. I am reluctant to take the dogs out for a walk because of the water - I'll have to carry them to higher ground (if there is any) to let them take care of business.

I had originally planned to travel another 50 miles or so further into IL to another campground, but it was raining so hard that it was difficult to see 100 feet in front of us on I-80, and there were soooooo many trucks!!! OK, so we are at another casino - and this time we plan to head to the casino to try to increase our travel funds. That's why I said, above, that I may post later - to let you know how we did at the casino.

Last night at the Service Center in Ohio we had one of the worst nights in recent memory. There were so many trucks parked for the night there, with their engines idling, the noise was deafening!! Soooooo, we ran the generator and turned on the A/C and finally, we both fell asleep and slept through the night.

As for the road conditions, I have to say that the Toll Roads in the Northeast, whether you are going South or West, are the worst roads in Creation! I can't understand it! They charge so much for tolls, but the roads are the worst in the country! They must spend all the money paying the workers (I'm guessing about $80G per year per employee). And...get this...Ohio doesn't even have EZ-Pass! You have to take a ticket when you get on the Turnpike, and pay the toll in cash when you exit! I asked the woman at the toll booth when she thought Ohio was going to get itself into the 21st Century, but she didn't appreciate it.

Stay tuned for the next post!

Moving West - Day #2

As promised, here's today's post.

We left the Turning Stone lot at 8:30AM, stopped for fuel at the Savon fuel station (diesel was $4.219/gal.). Finally got underway by 9:00AM. The weather today was beautiful in NY. I'm guessing it was in the low 80's and dry. Great traveling weather! I have to insert here that my motor home is doing waaaaaayyyy better on fuel mileage than expected. I was figuring with the added weight, and towing the car, that we could expect no more than 8mpg. However, when I filled the tank this morning, it took 53.5 gals and we had traveled close to 600 miles!!!

We are now parked at a service plaza on I-80 in Ohio, about 100 miles from the Indiana State Line. We arrived here at about 6:45PM, and it is warm and muggy here. I am watching the re-broadcast of this afternoon's Red Sox/Orioles game on my satellite receiver (NESN). Boy, this is great. So far, I have been able to get a satellite signal (except for last night).

We found one of our favorite fuel stops, Flying J Travel Plaza, in Austenburg, OH, so we stopped to top off the tank again. This time, it took 30 gals (@ 3.979/gal) and we had traveled some 303 mles, so my initial surprise was confirmed - a good 10 miles per gallon! I hope this keeps up for the entire trip.

Tomorrow, we are targeting the Empress Casino campground in Joliet, IL (about 45 miles southwest of Chicago on I-80). I don't think the mileage is too far for this day - according to the GPS it will take us about 5 - 6 hours of driving to get there, which would be about 300 miles. At this point, we have covered about 750 miles. We are still on track to reach the Badlands in South Dakota by Saturday. If we decide to stop in Joliet, this time we will visit the casino and try to win a little extra $$ for the trip.

Stay tuned for the details.

Initial Post - First day heading west

We departed Beverly at 11:45AM, after a sad goodbye to Aaron. We're not quite sure how he is going to handle our being away for the next three months. To begin the day, he was quite helpful assisting with the loading of last-minute items for the trip. However, when the time came to start the motor home and back it out of the driveway prior to hooking up the car, he became quite sullen and withdrawn. After hugs and kisses and "I love you's", we finally got under way. We called him this evening, and his spirits were "high". He will be tracking our journey on the big map in his room. Tonight, he is putting a big "smiley face" on NY!

The first leg of the trip took us to Verona, NY (about 300 miles), where we are spending the night at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort. The problem here is that the parking lot for RVs and trucks is about 1/2 mile down the road from the Casino. There is a shuttle bus service which patrols the parking lots for visitors wishing to get to the casino, but it only comes by about once every hour or so. Consequently, we will spend the first night in the RV and hopefully get an early start tomorrow AM.

Be sure to check back daily. We will try to post an entry each evening, after we settle in for the night. We will also be posting pictures/videos here eventually. That should save everyone time and space, since you will only have to visit the blog page to view them. We may also put them up on Picasa, but we will let you know via an e-mail if we do that.