May 28-29-30-31

Traveling along on the 28^th and 29^th was pretty uneventful other than the fact that Jane and Roger had two bikes they had in a bike rack on the back of their camper fall off as we were going down the highway. A nice couple behind them tried to get one in their car but it wouldn't fit. A guy came along in a pickup and said he'd take it to the police station in the next town. When they went there – no bike. Either he hadn't gotten there or never intended to go there. Anyway, they are minus 2 bikes – the other one was trashed.

We've stayed in provincial campgrounds the last two nights and they are very nice. Cost less than $30 with electric. Sunny days – minimal showers – thank goodness. At one stop we had to pay almost $5.00 per gallon for diesel – yikes!

May 30 Today we're headed for Dawson Creek, BC. This is where the Alaska Highway begins. It was ordered built by FDR in 1942 as a military necessity. The troops constructed it in 8 months and 12 days – 1400 miles. Took a picture at the 0 Mile Marker. So we're off!

Mile Marker 17.3: We took a side loop that went on a portion of the original Alaska Hwy and the Kiskatinaw River curved bridge. This 531 ft original timber bridge is the only one still in use.

May 31 Mile Marker 283 (Fort Nelson) Still no internet. May be some time before we find one. This morning we saw a mama black bear with her two cubs along the road but not in time to take a picture. We're still in B.C. But the vastness is awesome. So far road has been very good. We had to use some of the extra fuel we have along to get to this town. Just paid $151.00 to fill up.

Mile Marker 358 Just a quick stop so thought I'd send this off.  I have some pictures but the internet connection isn't very fast so I'll send them later.

May 25 and 26

May 25

Today we're going to Great Falls via Hwy 89. Not too far north of Livingston we saw a house that was completely surrounded by water, right up to the foundation. Soon after that we had a deer cross right in front of us. Thankfully I saw it coming and was able to warn Gary in time.

We stopped briefly at a roadside historical spot just north of the town of Clyde Park where I took a picture of a bronze of Jack Colter. The overlook was of the Shields River Valley through which many of the early mountain men traveled – Lewis and Clark, John Shields (one of the men in their party), Bridger, Colter, etc.)

Tonight we're at Dick's RV and, of course, it is raining.

Here's a picture of our traveling companions.

Here they are ready for the rain.

When Gary can't go outside he sits with his headphones on talking on his ham radio.



May 26

Woke up to rain again this morning.  Then it sort of cleared off and got very windy.  Another inside day.

We finally gave up and decided to go out so we drove to the Great Falls on the Missouri River about 7 miles north of town.  Pretty impressive.  They were discovered by Capt. Meriweather Lewis on June 13, 1805.  They are 77.3 ft. high.  The dam is 65 feet above them and the spillway is 1000 feet long.

 Talked to Jane and Roger and they were in Butte and should be here by dinnertime so we said we'd go to Walmart and get a roast for dinner. On the way we saw this metal sculpture called "The Suntalker" by Louis Pomeroy. It was in front of a TV station.

  

That's it for today.  We'll be heading into Canada tomorrow so I won't be able to post until we are someplace where there is WiFi.  It would be really expensive to use the hot spot on my phone until we are out of Canada.

May 24 - Rain, Rain go away!!!

It has not stopped pouring all day and I think most of last night - as in 1-1/3 to 3 inches per hour. Flash flood warnings are out. We're checking the roads before we take off because some are closed.  All the rivers are at the top of their banks.  The pictures below are of the Yellowstone River.  A benefit is that everything is very, very green.

Tonight we're in Osens RV in Livingston, MT  Had to find a campground that had cable so we can watch the finals of American Idol and Dancing With the Stars. We stopped at a KOA in Big Timber earlier but they were closed because of so much water.  Tomorrow we'll probably journey on to Great Falls where we're picking up some mail and meeting the Kovars on Thursday.  We would have been doing more sightseeing but we don't want to get soaked.  Even had to put the girls little yellow raincoats on so they could go out to pee.

The funniest thing we saw today was a sign in front of the school in Belfry, MT.  We had to come back around the block to take the picture -- thought it was a hoot.

Oh, forgot to mention we saw our first wildlife yesterday (aside from antelope) - a nice cow elk out in a meadow.

Monday May 23

Left Wheatland about 8:15 this morning.  We've been to Wheatland many times but never drove through the town.  It seems really nice with several nice murals on the buildings.  We should have stopped and taken a couple of pictures. The rivers going north on I-25 are full to overflowing.  In fact we can't go north on I-25 to pick up I-90 in Montana because I-90 in Montana is closed due to flooding. Now our destination for tonight is Cody.

3:30  We're in Cody at the Absaroka Bay RV Park.  Really a pretty drive from Shoshoni. 

This is a beautiful canyon between Shoshoni and Thermopolis. Portions of it are pre-Cambrian, 500-600 million years old.

The sun was shining on these rocks and I thought they were pretty.

ALASKA HERE WE COME - May 22, 2011

Well, we left home at 9:00 a.m. and at 11:30 a.m. we were in Wheatland, Wyoming.  First thing we see is a high wind advisory for campers. Gary says we're not going any farther.  Thank goodness Wheatland has a really nice city park with free camping, including electric.  That's all we need so we're good.  Had to fill gas and got the bad news - we got only 8 mpg.  Seems we always have a headwind.  Oh well, we're parked.