Friday July 31, 2009

9:10a.m a.m. On the4 road after a good day yesterday and a nice campfire with a very cool sleep. The4 temperature is now a pleasant 68 degrees and last night the temperature got down to 48 degrees!!! We stopped and got gas at a Conoco station and gas here is $2.43 a gallon. It has been averaging between $2.37 - $2.63 a gallon all along this trip so far.

10:30 a.m. - We are going through Rapid City, S.D. and there are motorcycles everywhere!! There is a Cabela's store off the Highway 16 here, but we did not stop because we already had done enough damage at the other Cabelas. ha ha ha. Rapid City has a population of 67,000 people which surprised both of us. We did not think it was that large. The temperature has now gone up to 76 degrees--nice!

11:00 a.m. - (12:00 p.m.) - We changed time zones again and now we are on Central time. We hope to end up in a small town off I-90 called Onaconda, S.D. which is close to Chamberlain, S.D. off I-90 East. It is very windy now in this stretch of Freeway. Winds are about 35 miles per hr. and Frank has to really grip the wheel.

1:30 p.m. We are at Kodaka, S.D. and the weather is now a balmy 87 degrees but still windy.

4:00 p.m. Just drove into the Oasis Campground on Exit 260 off I-90 East. It is a Good Sam Park and the temp is 80 degrees and a very windy, hard rain has just started to fall and we are in a huge storm. Have to wait a few minutes before we can hook up. Winds have really picked up and we heard from the weatherman that this storm is passing over us until later on tonight. I need to go to the store, but I think I am going to wait until the winds go down a little. Temperature is suppose to drop to about 55 degrees tonight.

Drove 250 miles today

Thursday, July 30, 2009

10:00 a.m. – Headed out for Sturgis, SD today and Rapid City. The temperature is on the cool side about 60 degrees but sunny.
11:00 a.m. – Hit Sturgis and bought my traditional T-Shirt. There are lots of motorcycle riders here and more expected this weekend. The Rally does not officially start until next week. Sure glad we will be gone by then. We drove downtown and saw “the sights” and there were some sights to see. Stopped at our Black Hills Gold Store that we had stopped at before and Frank bought me a beautiful Black Hills Gold Watch and 2 black hills gold pins with the letter A and the letter T. He is sooooooooooo sweet. The weather is about 68-70 degrees and it is OK for me but everyone else thinks it is great weather and loves it. We did a big loop around the Badlands of the Black Hills and then came back to the RV Park. Another great day and we got back home before dark!! Whoopee!! We had dinner and sat by the campfire. It smells so good being parked in the middle of the woods where this RV Park is.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

9:15 a.m. – Pulling out of the RV Park here in Newcastle, WY. We have overcast skies with a temp of 58 degrees! It rained off and on last night and it looks like more rain might come our way as we travel to Custer, South Dakota. We are only about 45 minutes from there but knowing how this area is, the temperature varies a lot for town to town. It was hard to find an RV Campsite anywhere in a 50 mile radius, because of the Sturgis, S.D. Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, S.D. We have noticed a lot of travelers as we have been crossing the countryside. When we try to make reservations, there are only one or two sites left, it that. U.S. 16 is also called Mt. Rushmore Road. It is a very winding road winding through the Black Hills Canyons. A billboard sign along the road said, “Your Mother Was Pro-Life”. I thought that was an interesting statement.
10:20 a.m. – Just pulled into the Big Pine Campground in Custer, S.D. with a temp of 55 degrees and still overcast skies. Not a very warm day by a long shot.
11:00 a.m. – On our way to see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial which is the carving in the mountains of Crazy Horse the Sioux Indian Chief. The Crazy Horse Memorial was a nice tribute to the Indians and had a lot of history and interesting buildings with all kinds of artifacts, sculptors and history on the man behind this massive project. Frank had one of the “painters” paint an elk on a mountain on an Eagle Feather, it is absolutely beautiful! It is pictured here. On to Mount Rushmore and there, for me anyway, was by far the most inspiring, moving and patriotic feeling of all. From the time you start walking up to the Mountain, with all the State Flags blowing in the wind as your entrance way, to the actual view of Mt. Rushmore, it is breathtaking. I cannot even describe how immense and awesome these carvings of the four presidents are – Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. The history and why these four were chosen, to showing how they blasted and carved them out of mountain to the final light show and the tribute to America and those who fought for us all through the years. What a way to end a great day. People watching as we sat for a few hours waiting for the program to begin, was very interesting. Especially since the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is about to start this weekend, we had lots to watch. Here is a picture of me and one of the “dudes”. The temperature dropped down to 45 degrees before we got back to the RV and we were all “FROZEN”! A great day and evening and we never got back to the RV until 10:45 p.m.!

Drove 37 miles today

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

9:45 a.m. - Leaving Yellowstone River RV Campground and on our way to Newcastle, WY to spend the night. It is about 309 mile East on I-90. All is well with all 4 of us and the two dogs, Abby and Riley. We got caught up on our writing finally and before we left took our "traditional" picture in front of the RV before we left. Stopped to get gas which is $2.53 a gallon here in Billings, MT. With blue skies and no wind, we are ready to rock and roll.
11:00 a.m. We are on the way to Sheridan, WY and there are fields and fields of wheat, just before the Montana and Wyoming state line. Frank says Montana is know for growing wheat, especially for whole wheat noodles. He sure loved living here, you can tell by the way he speaks of it.
11:30 a.m. - We are stopping to see the "Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument" which is Custer's Last Stand. A lot of American History is in the area, all around is different things to see in that time era.
1:00 p.m. - We are taking a bus tour with a Crow Indian as our guide explaining the whole episode of what went on before, during and after the War. He was so interesting, it made you feel like you were right there. He had a great way of explaining things. Since history was a subject I did not like and had to take over to graduate and finally passed with a "D" it was fascinating to me and very interesting.
2:00 p.m. - We crossed the state line into Wyoming and have the same scenery which is land, more land and more land and the temp is now 75 degrees and very pleasant.
6:45 p.m. Pulling into the Auto Inn and Motel RV Park in Newcastle, WY. Lots of coal trains in this area. Coal and Oil are the main resources in the small towns here on
WY HWY 16 going SE. We are about 1/2 hour from the South Dakota State Line.
7:00 p.m. - We went out to dinner at the only restaurant in town and it was the worse experienced we ever had. It took 1/12 hrs to get our meal and then only Frank and Elaine got their sandwiches. After about another 15 minutes and she still had not brought out Lyle and my meal, which was a hamburger and cheeseburger, Lyle went up to the waitress and to her to just put ours in a box to take home. She gave us the excuse that the cook was only 19 and inexperience and he was getting frustrated. ??? whatever that meant. So as we were walking out of the restaurant, the owner said to us "have a nice evening". I remarked back to him that he needed to fire the cook and when he asked why we told him what had happened and he said "no one mentioned that to me" and he seemed very upset and went inside immediately, hopefully to say something to the cook. We went back to the RVs ate our dinner and then chatted awhile and it is now 10:30 and I am going to bed.

Drove 316 miles today

Monday, July 27, 2009

10:30 a.m. - Starting out for Billings, MT and the temperature is 61 degrees with overcast skies. We are expecting rain off and on all the way today. Uncle Curt and Aunt Betty came over to the campsite this morning and chatted awhile, they did not want us to leave. Uncle Curt said he wanted to stay and chat as long as he could because he did not know when Lyle and Frank would be back this way together again. Not many visitors come their way, especially family and they are very grateful when someone does come by. They brought over dome deer antlers, meat and a beaver skull for both Frank and Lyle.

11:30 a.m. - We stopped for a break and there is a sporting goods store in this area and they had all kinds of mounts from all over the states. It was very exciting for Lyle and Elaine to see. This whole trip, so far, has been an awesome sight and experience for them. It is nice to have them with us and to see how excited and pleased they are about everything. The streets here in Montana are only streets that can be here--- Pronghorn Drive, Broken Arrow Trail, Jackrabbit Lane, Quail Run road, Big Chief Lane, Tawny Brown Lane. so funny!! The temperature is now a nice 68 degrees and starting to break into some sun. We are on I-90 going East o Boseman, MT

4:00 p.m. - Just pulling into the Yellowstone RV Park in Billings, MT. Since there is a Cabela's Store across the highway, that is where the Tiahrt Boys want to go. The weather has changed again to 60 degrees and windy, no rain yet.

7:00 p.m. - Back from Cabela's with a few more toys. We ha a nice dinner and ate outside after Frank did a great BBQ with some Elk and Venison that Curt gave us. Another enjoyable day for all.
Drove 200 miles today

Sunday, July 26, 2009

10:30 a.m. - Just pulling out of the RV Parking West Yellowstone, MT. A beautiful day today with a nice temp of 68 degrees and sunny skies. We have a short drive to Ennis, MT so we could take the morning a little easier. We made RV reservations for the nest few days and we feel good that is done and we have a place to park our rigs. The Sturges, S.D. Motorcycle Rally is July 31-Aug 9, so we should see some bikers probably tomorrow or the next day. When we traveled this route before there were so many we lost count. We are at 6650 ft high and it is just beautiful and feels a lot warmer than the 66 degrees it says on the thermometer. everyone is feeling good and looking forward to the next adventure. This area coming from West Yellowstone to Ennis on Highway 287 is amazing, the majestic mountains and lakes are a sight to see. It sure makes one feel like a small ant.

12:00 p.m. We stopped at the Visitor Center here on Highway 287 and this is "earthquake" area. An earthquake was here in Aug. 1959 and it was 7.5 on the Richter scale. That is what make these beautiful lakes we are seeing now. This picture is what the side of the mountain looks like now after the quake ripped down the side. The temperature has climbed to 80 degrees now and it sure feels good.

1:00 p.m. - We pulled into the Ennis RV Park and the temp has now climbed to 85 degrees and sunny. We are going to set up then go into the town and do some sightseeing. Uncle Curt and Aunt Betty are going to be busy until later on.

5:00 p.m. - Curt and Betty came by our campsite and invited us to their home for pizza. We went and had a nice time with them talking and laughing about the old days. Lyle and Elaine got to see their nice place and all the deer and antelope that roam around their property in the fields, it is nature at it's best. Curt and Betty were so happy we stopped to see them and took the time to visit. It's fun to hear them talk about when Lyle and Frank were younger. We finally got back to our campsite about 11:00 p.m. and all were tired. But it was well work it just to see how happy they were to see us.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

7:30 a.m. - We are off to Yellowstone National Park and looking forward to a great day.

7:45 a.m. - We got to the Park and it was a beautiful 60 degrees. I have a permanent pass to get in free and Elaine has a disability card for their vehicle, so it did not cost us anything to get into the Park and we got to park close to the Lodge. The first thing we did was drive the north look which took us 1st to an intersection called Madison, which is 6800 ft high, then along the Gibbon River we drove to different "basins" where we could see the Geysers and Hot Springs all over erupting. Since this is an active volcano area, there are many "hydrothermal" areas that are very dangerous because of the boiling water that is actually bubbling and spewing very hot water out. So you look and do not touch or you will get badly burned! There are many boardwalks to go on that wander all around the area. We saw the Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Roosevelt then on down the loop to Canyon Village. All down the lower loop to Lake Village, West Thumb area and over to Old Faithful. It was a beautiful and spectacular site in every area. We stayed and watched Old Faithful erupt 2 times. It erupts about every 90 minutes and it is such an awesome sight to see, well worth seeing a 2nd time. Pictures do not do it justice at all. Lyle and Elaine were amazed at the grandeur and immense land, hills, animals, everything. Frank and I also thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the trip. Especially seeing how much fun those guys were having. The last time we were here we just had the motor home and no car to drive around the loops and see so much more. OOHS and AAHS were said by all all day. We had a nice lunch in the lodge between the erupting of Old Faithful Coming. coming back inside the Park on the main road there was a Buffalo just taking his time walking down the middle of the road, in no hurry. All the cars had to stop and go around him or just let him pass, in order to move on.
When we got to him he was RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR TRUCK & WOULD NOT MOVE!! Lyle tried to nudge him over and he was not about to give in. After what seemed "forever" he moved ever so slightly and we tried to get a picture but his body was within inches from the truck and this is the picture I got. It is his body almost touching the window next to me!! What an experience, that's for sure!

We got home about 7:45 p.m. and we all were exhausted!! What a day! Our total driving today in Lyle's truck was 180 miles and most of it while in the Park and we are only 7 1/2 miles from the Park entrance. The elevation of the Park for the whole time we were there is between 6,000 and 8,000 ft.

Friday, July 24, 2009

8:00 a.m. - Up and over for a pancake breakfast. Elaine opt not to go for the breakfast, so it the three of us went. It was very good and filling. Frank and Lyle got their stomachs full. The weather has turned cloudy but the temp is a nice 68 degrees. We had a few sprinkles of rain, but nothing to be concerned about.

11:45 a.m. - Almost to Yellowstone Park and here on I-20 North, there is advertisements on visiting different places with the theme of "A River Runs Thru It" which was a film and a great book for those who have ever heard of it. It is a book on the experiences of a man fly fishing on the Madison River which is the river that runs thru a lot of Montana. The scenery here is just beautiful and a perfect Kodak day. hahahahaha There are cattle & horses grazing in the green fields with rolling hills, blue, puffy clouds and it is just lovely and relaxing. We are at 7,100 ft as we enter Montana.

11:50 a.m. - Pulled into the Lionshead RV Resort to spend the next couple of nights here to see the sights and sounds of Yellowstone National Park. After check in we thought we would drive into West Yellowstone and look the town over. We walked from one side of the street and down the other side just looking at all the different things to see. We had a great lunch at a cute outside cafe and then on to see a museum and then to an I-MAX where we saw "Yellowstone". It was very interesting and spectacular, like all I-MAX films are. We then went to the local Rodeo about 7 miles from our campsite. and had a fun time there. They had a lot of interaction with the small kids in the stands which was the cutest thing you ever saw. They had to chase a small calf around the arena and try and grab the ribbon that was hanging from his tail to win a prize. We had fairly nice weather most of the evening, it got kinda chilly after the sun went down. We got back to the RV Park about 10:30 p.m. Another full day, but well worth it.

Drove 100 miles today.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

9:00 a.m. - On our way to Idaho Falls, ID. It is already 81 degrees here! It is suppose to reach 103 or better here again today. Sure glad we are moving on! We had a nice evening and sleep and a good morning. Ready to go on the road! Gas prices here is $2.65 a gallon. In 2007 it was $2,95 gallon. It's a little warmer than in 2007, then I have it recorded as being 96 degrees. Hopefully we should not get into the 3 digit temperatures today.

11:30 a.m. - Stopped for a break in Twin Falls, ID and the temp here is still 88 degrees with lots of corn, sugar beets, wheat, potatoes and lambs, makings for a good dinner. hahahaha. Every state has been very dry so far, it looks like rain is needed all over. According to the weather at Yellowstone Park it is suppose to rain, hope not.

2:30 p.m. - We stopped to gas up as Lyle was getting a little low on fuel, so Frank gassed up also. We are now ready for tomorrow's travels. The gas here in Idaho which is about 30 minutes west of Idaho Falls is $2.45 a gallon and you cannot pump your own gas, the attendant has to do this. Pretty nice. There is lots of Lava Rock here from thousands of years ago all over the side of the mountain. Right next to the Lava Rocks is beautiful farm land growing, mustard seed, potatoes and wheat. The rolling hills of this area is very pretty.

3:30 p.m. - We pulled into a Good Sam RV Park called Snake River RV Park and Campground. We have been here before also and it is a nice park with the temperature now at 96 degrees. They serve a breakfast here - all you can eat, I am sure the guys will like that.

6:00 p.m. - The Transformer across the street from the Park went out so now there is no electricity for about 4 hours. We had a great BBQ sat outside in the beautiful evening.

Drove 247 miles today

Wed. July 22, 2009

7:00 a.m. - and we are up and rising to a beautiful day. It is a pleasant 60 degrees and just lovely. We are on our way to Boise, ID today.

12:00 p.m. -We stoped in Burns, Idaho for gas, food and Elaines' sister lives here and she met us at the local huge parking lot where both Lyle and Frank had plenty of room for their rigs, here in the middle of the town, is is 88 degrees now and nice.

1:00 p.m. - Back on the road to Boise, ID We had a good lunch, filled up with gas and Elaine got to visit with her sister for awhile, it is now 92 degrees and getting warmer.

3:00 p.m. - We had to put our clocks ahead one hour since we crossed into Mountain Time, which will make us one hour later getting to the RV Park. Going through this range of mtns. (I don't know the name) we have the South Fork River on theRight and it sure looks very refreshig, especially since now the tempis 100 degrees! Frank said it would be fun to go tubeing down this river, it would be a long ride, don't know if I am up to that at all. Our AC it still working thank goodness and it feels good with the temp this warm. Lyle says they are really enjoying the trip and are really fascinated with the scenery, and the immenseness of the land and the huge Mtn's. and fields, etc. they are both in awe since they have never been this far from home.

5:00 p.m. Still on the road and the highest the temp got so far was 108!!!! that is way too hot to travel. We stopped at a Dairy Queen for a Root Beer Freeze and some rest from going up and down the mountains. We are about 47 miles from Boise, Id and the temp is not getting any better.

6:30 p.m. - Pulled into the KOA RV Park in Mountain Home, Idaho which is SE of Boise, ID

7:00 p.m. - Went out for dinner at the local Mexican Restaurant that was noted for its good food, and it was very good. Took a drive thru town and sat outside for awhile and then hit the sack. A good day today.

Drove 371 miles today

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

9:00 a.m. - After a good nights sleep and a nice walk in the woods, we are on the road to Bend, OR where we will be meeting up with Lyle and Elaine. the temp went down to a nice and pleasant 60 degrees last night. This is a very pretty and quaint little town. It is all surrounded with big Pine and Redwood Trees.

11:00 a.m. - We stopped and got gas, for $2.85 a gallon in Klamath Falls, OR. It is a beautiful day today with a nice 78 degrees now as we travel this scenic way around Klamath Lake. This lake is the largest body of fresh water in the state. The white Pelican is the City Mascot and has a wing span of 10 feet!! Also 500-1000 Bald Eagles come here from Nov.-March. Just a little trivia you might like. hahahahahaha

12:00 p.m. - Stopped for lunch at a nice new Rest Stop and had a great lunch and now back on the road to Bend. The temp here haws gone up to 93 degrees but it is still better than the 102 in the valley. We are at 4700 ft and it is unusual for it to be this warm.

2:30 p.m. - Pulled into the KOA in Bend, OR and the temp here is 93 degrees and there is a slight breeze. It was a beautiful ride coming into Bend with the temp only between 78-88 degrees. We did not need our AC on at any time and that was nice. We are camped next to Lyle and Elaine and it was nice to finally get together. We had some dinner then went and played some putt-putt golf and sat around a camp fire. The temp drops quite a bit at night, which makes for nice sleeping.

Drove 233 miles today

Monday - July 20, 2009

At 8:00 a.m. today Frank was at the mechanic's shop waiting for him to open. They checked the AC and found, after a few hours, that it had a small leak and where the leak was. It was around the "seal" and was only a small one, so he repaired it and at 10:00 we were back on the road to Mt. Shasta. The temp is now 80 degrees and it is much better driving north with the sun not beating on our faces this time. We are hoping to go all the way to Mt. Shasta today. It will take us longer than we were planning, but we will be on schedule.

1:00 p.m. - We stopped in Dunnigan, CA for gas and had the air on all the way up here and pulling the jeep and no problem. We got a whopping 6 1/2 MPG in 103 temp. most of the way. It is 91 degrees here in Dunnigan, CA which is about 1/2 hour north of Sacramento. It has been a nice cool drive so far with the air on and we are all more relaxed today than yesterday, even Abby! hahahahahaha

3:45 p.m. - We are in Redding, CA and the temp is 110 degrees!!!! Very hot for sure.

5:10 p.m. - Finally pulled into the Mt. Shasta KOA campgrounds which is 3500 ft. elevation and the temp is 99 degrees! It's been a long day and a very HOT one! Hope it cools down A LOT tonight. This is a very cute town and they seem to be having a "farmers mkt" downtown. The KOA Park is amongst the redwoods and pines and it is very beautiful. The last time we were here they showed a movie and it was nice and warm then also. (2007) We took a walk thru a path that lead us closer to Mt. Shasta where we got some good sunset pictures. It was nice to see the Mountain with the sun going down. The temp here has cooled down to a very nice temp now and there is a slight breeze. It sure feels good!

Drove 373 miles today

Sunday- July 19, 2009

6:00 p.m. and we left for Williams, CA hoping to spend the night there since it is a halfway point to Mt. Shasta, CA. About 20-25 minutes down the road, when we still had no AC in the RV and the temp being 103 degrees and the sun shinning in our faces, we did not think it was a good thing to continue. We turned around and went back to Merced!! We will call our mechanic and be at his shop when he opens up in the morning to have him see what the problem is. We think and hope it is only needing Freon. First time this has happened.

On the Road Again!!

Well, tomorrow in the afternoon we will be climbing into the RV and start our travels back to Michigan. Since it is so hot, this time we will just leave in the cooler part of the evening and go only as far as Williams, CA . We will camp out there and then on Monday a.m. we will continue on to Mt. Shasta, CA. Since it is only 2 1/2 hours to Mt. Shasta we will have the whole day there and spend the night. We might even stay for another night, we will see how things go. We have everything ready in the RV and the only things to put in tomorrow are our bathroom items and the food from the last minute food from the refrigerator. We both feel very relaxed and ready for this journey. We will be meeting Lyle and Elaine (franks bro) in Bend, OR. From Bend, we will then both journey together, which we are all looking forward to doing. Wish us luck and hope we have the"man upstairs" guiding us like he has in the past years.

July 8, 2009

Well the time is here again for us to start getting ready to get on the road again for our yearly trip back to Michigan. We plan on leaving Merced, CA around July 19, 2009. Which is Abby's 8th Birthday! This time Frank's brother and wife will be traveling with us in their 5th Wheel, which will be a blast. Abby gets her hair cut today and Frank's last day of work is July 15th. He is looking sooooooooo forward to that date! It has been a long month, as usual, when tomato season starts to get underway. Our motor home is being serviced and will be ready in a few days, just making sure all the kinks, oil, etc are ready to go and in good shape. Since we won't be seeing them until November, Barbara, Dick, Andrew, Erika, and Kaelyn all came over yesterday and spent the day with us and later we all went out for dinner and then came back to our place for a few more minutes. It was nice having all of them over at our place and everyone seemed very comfortable and relaxed. Having a good time with Caroline while she is here and hope to get together with her for a few days next week, while the Coopers are having volleyball camp. They have been keeping her busy the last few weeks.