Island Falls, Idaho to Mossleigh, Alberta (7/3 – 7/9)

Driving from Yellowstone to Alberta, we would have preferred to stop once at Great Falls, MT before crossing the border. We had to leave the park near Yellowstone on July 3 because it was fully booked beginning that day. Unfortunately, none of the parks near Great Falls were available until July 4. I was able to find a spot in Bozeman, MT which is about halfway between Yellowstone and Great Falls. While staying in Bozeman was unintended, it worked out for the best as we were able to have dinner with and catch up Aaron Howard, a 2014 New Finalist who had camped with us, and his girlfriend Sarah.

We liked Bozeman. Although about the size of Kerrville (population of around 38,000), the city is thriving with many of the amenities you would expect in a much larger community. Specifically surprising to me – a Costco. According to Aaron and Sarah, the presence of major information companies like Google and Facebook is a major factor for Bozeman’s growth. Montana State University is there, which has several renowned science related programs

Since the drive from Island Falls to Bozeman was relatively short, less than 1.5 hours, I had time in Bozeman to take the Beast to the Ford dealership to have its 60,000 mile oil change. Incredible to think that during the less than two years we have owned the truck we have travelled that much.

The next day, July 4, we drove to Great Falls to stay for three days to stock up on goods and supplies which were less expensive in the States. While slightly larger than Bozeman, Great Falls felt very different. It is a mining and refinery town, as evidenced by the main street being named Smelter Avenue. Surprisingly, the town had very little 4^th of July activities going on.

Friday, July 7 we headed to Lethbridge, Alberta for the night. Crossing the border into Canada was less eventful than the first time. No questions about “Where are your guns? Where did you store them?” Instead just some perfunctory questions about the reasons for visiting, length of our stay, and how did Deb end up in the States.

Why Lethbridge you ask? To see John Wort Hannam perform. John was a New Folk contestant and winner in 2007. He claims he would not have won except for us. At the time, John was living in Fort Macleod, Alberta, smaller than the average attendance of the Festival. When he walked into the Mixmaster, the entrance to the Festival campgrounds, John was overwhelmed by the number of people and activity. He sat down on his luggage, called his wife, and told her he couldn’t do the contest and had to return home. She told him that was fine but he had to go down to our camp to tell us he would not be staying with us. Being a good husband, John did as he was told. When he appeared at our camp, I greeted him with a welcome hug and asked if he needed a beer. That apparently was enough to convince him to stay around for a while.

We were excited to be able to see John perform. We hadn’t seen him in over 6 years, just before the birth of his son, Charlie. We thought the show was to be a concert with John as the headliner – we were wrong. It was a musical theater revue with a salute to Canada’s 150^th anniversary as the theme with John as the musical guest. They asked for a show of hands as to who was not from Canada. Of the three, I was the only native born U.S. citizen. They were surprised we were from Texas, and more so when we said the reason we were there was to watch John perform, and for cooler weather which they had failed miserably at since it was a high of 101 that day. John performed two songs during each of the two acts, but only one was an original. The others, at the request of the revue, were covers of Canadian artists. As one of the songs was Four Strong Winds by Ian Tyson, Deb’s dad’s favorite song, they were forgiven. At intermission, we found someone to tell John we were in the audience. He came bounding out like a puppy for a snack. He told us he had heard some people from Texas were in the audience but never in his wildest imagination did he think it would be us. We talked to him during intermission and after the show, and set up breakfast the next morning to meet his wife and son.

Breakfast the next day was outstanding. Catching up with John and getting to know his wife and son was a great joy. For those of you who are John Wort Hannam fans, he is planning to record a new album later this year. Also, the Italian sausage breakfast sandwich I had was incredible, putting a Whataburger Breakfast on a Bun to shame. After breakfast, we returned to the trailer, packed up and drove to Mossleigh, Alberta. More about that in the next post.

Custer to Yellowstone (6/25 – 7/3)

The time to drive directly from Custer to Yellowstone is around 10 hours. As we prefer our drives to be between 3 to 5 hours with a maximum of 8 hours, we decided to break the drive into three parts.

The first stop was Devil’s Tower, WY. Devil’s Tower National Monument was the first declared National Monument. You may remember it as a key plot feature in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (For fans, in September, the movie will be re-released for its 40th anniversary http://io9.gizmodo.com/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-is-flying-back-into-1796651191

Our campground (the KOA Devils' Tower) was next to the gate to the monument. After setting up the 5th wheel, we visited the monument and walked around it. Devil’s Tower is a sacred site to several Indian tribes. During our walk we saw numerous prayer bundles, which represent a person making an offering, a request, or simply in remembrance of a person or place. Climbing is a very popular activity at Devil’s Tower. As June is a culturally significant time to the tribes for which the butte is sacred, the National Park Service asks visitors to voluntarily refrain from climbing Devil’s Tower during the month.

We left Devil’s Tower the next day to stop in Billings and stock up before driving to Yellowstone. Billings is the fastest growing city in Montana, and the only city in the state with over 100,000 people. William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition stopped in Billings in 1806. Since we were only there for a night, we didn’t get to see much of the city. However, I can see visiting in the future to see sites like Pompey Pillar and Pictograph Cave.

From Billings, we drove to Valley View RV Park in Island Park, ID, which is about 30 minutes west of Yellowstone National Park. It was the nearest place we could find that close to the 4^th of July holiday weekend. Because specific sites had been booked at different times halfway through our stay we had to move to a different site. That move led to a slight hiccup to our plans to be at Yellowstone by 9.

We were able to raise the stabilizers hook up to the truck, move 50 yards to the new spot, lower the stabilizers, and unhook. Then the challenge arrived. After Deb pressed the autostabilizer button, the front stabilizers lowered Beauty (the nickname of our 5^th wheel), stopped, then began making a loud clicking sound. As you can imagine, that is not supposed to happen. Checking the control panel, I saw a “low voltage” error message. I did a Google search for “LCI electronic leveling low voltage” and found that the culprit could possibly be a shorted out control panel or a loose wire in the system. Neither of those problems were ones I could repair. Talked to the park manager, who gave me the card of a mobile RV repair technician.

Called and left a message for Randy. His greeting noted that he often was in places with no cell coverage and it might be a while until he returned the call. While waiting for Randy to call back, we tried several different things to no avail. After 30 minutes, Randy called back to say he could fit us in but would have to charge a premium since it was a Saturday and he was trying to get home. Considering living in an unlevel 5^th wheel is no fun, I told him I understood and would happily pay. He told me he would probably be at our spot in two hours.

Relief that a possible solution was found apparently opened my mind to thinking. After ending the call, I went to the trailer’s battery storage area and inspected the cables. I found that one of the connections had become loose. I tightened the connection by hand, then tried the autostabilizer. It worked. Can I get a Hallelujah and an Amen. Relief swept over me. Deb was much happier. I immediately called Randy to tell him I found a solution. Again, reached his greeting. He called back ten minutes later and was very gracious. Before hanging up he asked me to thank the Valley View managers for him. I told him I had already done so, and that they loved him.

As for Yellowstone National Park, what an amazing place. After visiting I can easily understand why Theodore Roosevelt worked so hard make it the United States’ first National Park. The variety of topology and the vistas are majestic.

Yellowstone has the largest population (approximately 5,500) of free range Bison in the United States. It is the only place where Bison have lived continuously since prehistoric times. Bison are very quick and agile animals. The Park Service tells visitors to stay at least 25 yards away when viewing a Bison. However, many Yellowstone Bison don’t know this rule.

It appears that Bison have become so used to people in the park that they pretty much understand that they have the right of way.

During our visit, we saw all the required highlights:

Old Faithful

Waterfalls

Mud Volcanoes

Crossed the Continental Divide twice

That is a little bit of a taste of our trip. Next week, we will be on the road to Canada.

Happy Independence Day

While 4th of July is celebrated as Independence Day, it is also Independence Day for me and Deb. As the country celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence at the Second Continental Congress by 12 of the 13 colonies by blowing things up, drinking beer, grilling hot dogs, and eating apple pie, Deb and I are celebrating our own freedom from tyranny - the tyranny of things, of work, of of living a life controlled by others. Two years ago today, we decided to get rid of our stuff, buy a RV, and travel the country. It was both a difficult and easy decision, and has been one of the best things we have ever done. While you are watching firecrackers and eating hot dogs, Deb and I will be toasting the freedom of the past two years, and the adventures to come - on the road.