Montana - Summer 2005

 This a reproduction of my journal from the rafting trip we took with Amy and Don Bradshaw from June 23 - July 10, 2005.

Thursday - June 23, 2005

We left Bentonville, AR at 5:05 am.  Mike and I had spent the night with Mom and Dad so that we could get an early start.  Mike worked all Day Wednesday, so I did all the packing, including loading the truck.  We met Amy and Don at the Quality Inn across Hwy. 71 from Tiger Boulevard.  We traveled north on Hwy. 71 until we reached Kansas City, Missouri.  Amy and Don pulled their new travel trailer.  Mike and I slept in our camper of the Nissan Frontier.  Just after we got north of Neosho, Missouri the cover flew off of Amy and Don's propane tanks on their trailer.  Mike and Don walked back along the highway to pick it up.  Luckily, it had not hit a vehicle and landed off of the highway.  After picking up the propane cover, we stayed on Hwy. 71.  In Nevada, Missouri, we passed a bad rollover accident.  It looked like 2 people had been injured.  We saw them on stretchers, but both were moving.  We turned on to I29 in Kansas City.  We stopped at a rest stop north of Kansas City and had a sandwich lunch.  We had stopped at this same rest stop when we traveled to Yellowstone in 1992.  

Amy, Don, and Mike having lunch

Mike, Mary, and Don

After lunch we traveled through Missouri, Iowa, and southern South Dakota until we reached a KOA in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  It was close to I90 and lights from cars on the interstate shown into our tent.  I made hamburger helper lasagna for supper.  Linda and David Thrasher got to the KOA a little later than us and joined us for supper.  After supper Mike and I set up our tent.  We had a little trouble remembering how to set it up since it had been over a year that we had used it.  

Don, Mike, and Mary at our campsite

Amy and Don's trailer and car

We used Eric's futon mattress for sleeping on.  It rained pretty hard during the night, but the only thing that bothered our sleep were the lights and traffic sounds from I90.

Friday - June 24, 2005

We got up early, had coffee, and got breakfast on the road.  Since it rained overnight our tent was wet when we took it down.  Mike had some commercial strength trash bags and we put the tent in one so everything else in the truck wouldn't get wet.  We left the KOA at 6:30 am and headed west on I90 through South Dakota and Wyoming to Hardin, Montana.  We ate lunch in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Rapid City, South Dakota.  As we traveled through South Dakota we saw at least 12 pheasants, most of which were sitting on fences by the road.  Two male pheasants flew up in the field.  I had never seen live, wild pheasants before so I was really excited.  We also saw more than 100 pronghorn in South Dakota and Wyoming as well as a duck with babies, and a hawk carrying a snake.  We saw several mule and white tail deer close to the interstate, in fact, one ran across the road in front of Amy and Don's vehicle, luckily not too close.  It was very windy in South Dakota and Wyoming.  Between Buffalo and Sheridan, Wyoming the wind blew so hard it shifted the oars tied to the raft frame on the roof of their car.  We pulled over so Don could take them off and put them inside the car.  Amy had to hold one end of them by her head the rest of the way.  It rained and stormed until we reached the Montana border.  We reached the KOA in Hardin, Montana about 7:30 MDT after driving 14 hours.  We got our tent set up as soon as we reached the KOA, which was good since it started pouring rain and storming as soon as the tent was up.  We sat in Amy and Don's trailer during the storm.  When the storm was over we saw a beautiful rainbow.

Our campsite

Another view of our campsite

Rainbow after the storm

Beautiful sunset

Amy fixed chicken and rice for supper, then we went to bed.  Hardin, Montana is the closest town to the Little Big Horn.  This weekend was the reenactment weekend so most of the other campers were in town for that.  The campground was nice and quiet, with no lights to bother us so we got a good night's sleep.

Saturday - June 25, 2005

We got up around 7:00 am and took the tent down wet again.  Amy fixed microwave biscuits and lunch meat turkey and coffee for our breakfast.  We didn't get on the road until 9:00 am.  We drove I90 west to Bozeman where we stopped at Wal-Mart to get supplies.  We also ate lunch at the McDonald's in the Wal-Mart.  We turned south on Hwy 191 until we got to Swan Creek Campground just north of Big Sky, Montana.  While traveling we saw pronghorn and mule deer.  We also had our first views of the mountains.

First view of the mountains

Another nice mountain view

Swan Creek is a Forest Service campground with pit toilets and hand pump water.  It was a good campground however because it had nice campsites and pretty scenery.  We got the tent set up but didn't have room for the screen tent.  We had to set our clothing bags up on other things because of the rain.  We slept in the truck camper for the rest of the trip and used the tent for storing supplies.

Our bedroom for two weeks

Before supper the guys got the rafts blown up and loaded for the next day before fixing supper.  We used Amy and Don's tripod grill and grilled chicken for supper.  The mountains in this area are beautiful.  The campground sits in a valley surrounded by tall mountains and with Swan Creek running through it.  

Sunday - June 26, 2005

First day of rafting.  We got up and made coffee and breakfast burritos.  While we ate breakfast, a young bull moose walked down the creek across from our campsite grazing on the vegetation.

Moose across the creek from our campsite

Another shot of the moose

We got away from the campground and got on the Gallatin River at the "crack of noon" as David says.  We actually had slept until about 8:30 am which is late for Mike and I.  We put in on the Gallatin at Red Cliff access and took out at Moose Creek Flats.  We were on the river about 3 hours.  The guys called this section a 'milk run' since it only had two hard rapids to negotiate.

Don, Mike, and I ready to hit the river

Amy, Don, Mike, and I

After getting back to camp we were hit by a hail storm.  The hail covered the ground completely for a while and the wind almost flattened our tent.  It probably would have blown away if it hadn't been loaded down with our stuff.  

Hail in Amy and Don's camping area

Hail around our tent

Swan Creek

Another view of Swan Creek

Our camping set up

A different view of the campsite

After the storm we grilled pork chops on the tripod grill and cooked potatoes on the stove.  We were really hungry since we had skipped lunch.  We went to bed about 10:00 pm and slept really well.

Monday - June 27, 2005                          House Rock!

We slept late again this morning.  We had egg burritos for breakfast again then got things together for the float.  Today we rafted from Moose Creek Flats to Squaw Creek Access.  Amy and Linda decided not to raft because we had to go through some really rough rapids.  The toughest area was House Rock and the Boulder Field which is part of the Mad Mile.  Some of the other tough areas were the Screaming Left and Hilarity Hole.  This section was shorter than Sunday's so we were only on the river for 1 1/2 hours.  The river follows the highway at this section so Amy and Linda were able to watch us go down the river.  This raft trip was very exciting.  Mike and I wore helmets in case we got tossed.  We really held on thght so there wasn't much chance of that happening.  We went through one set of rapids after another almost the entire 1 1/2 hours so it was really fun!

Coming out of House Rock area

Enjoying the ride

Happy to be through House Rock

Celebrating

Bud Fukes and David Thrasher

Mike, Mary, and Don

Getting rafts on the cars

At the takeout point

When we got back to camp I put burger, carrots, potatoes, and mushrooms in the cast iron skillet for a hobo dinner.  While it slowly cooked we packed and straightened all we could so we could get a fairly early start the next morning to West Glacier.

Tuesday - June 28, 2005

We got up early, rolled up our bedding, put bags in the truck, and took down the tent.  When we had moved our truck, Amy and Don hooked up their trailer and we left Swan Creek by 8:00 am.  We filled up with gas, got coffee, and breakfast sandwiches from Subway in Bozeman.  As we drove north on Hwy 191 we could see the sections of the Gallatin River that we floated.  It was interesting to see this.  We took Hwy 191 north to Bozeman then took I90 west to Missoula.  At the junction of I90 and Hwy 93 we stopped at a gas station to fill up and ate lunch at Muralt's Cafe that was connected to the gas station.  The sandwiches we got were good.  This was the first full meal we'd eaten out on our trip.  After lunch we went north on Hwy 93 until we got to Polson.  At Polson we took Hwy 35 on the east side of Flathead Lake.  As we were driving we could see the Mission Mountains to the east.  On Hwy 35 we saw many cherry tree orchards and some peach orchards.  It was a pretty drive, but it rained and we had to go slow so it took a long time.  At the north end of Flathead Lake we got on Hwy 2 which took us to Glacier Campground.  We got to the campground around 5:30 pm.  We were all very tired and sick of the rain.  The owner's of the campground had put us all in adjoining sites.  Mike and I shared a double tent site with Bud Fukes.  Mike and I just barely got our tent set up before it started raining again.  Then in a break in the rain we tried to set up the screen tent we had just bought.  Bud helped us and we got the frame up and the covering over it, but the tent was too small for the frame.  The bottom didn't go o the ground and doors wouldn't zip closed.  We left it up to keep us out of the rain.  In fact, as soon as we got it set up, it began to rain VERY HARD!  Mike, Bud, and, I stood under the screen tent until it slacked off.  Then Mike and I started moving things from the camper to our camping tent.  We got interrupted by another rain storm and got caught in the tent.  Then we were able to get everything moved and sleeping area in the camper set up when it started raining again! 

Amy and Don's campsite

Our campsite

Mike and I sat in the cab of the truck.  By this time I was tired and disgusted with the rain.  I was pretty down in the dumps.  Mike wanted to cheer me up, but I was just in a bad mood for a while.  When the rain let up we went to the Bradshaw's trailer and ate chicken salad for supper.  It still rained.  What I thought was that if it kept raining like this we wouldn't have a good time at Glacier.  We were all so tired we didn't even take showers even though it had been 4 days since our last one.  Amy knew I was in a poopy mood so she asked me to come inside her trailer to watch a segment of Sex and the City on a DVD to cheer me up.  Mike used the code "Sesame Street" to talk about it as a joke.  About 10:00 pm we all went to bed.

Wednesday - June 29, 2005

We slept in this morning.  It rained more during the night, but was nice when we woke up.  Mike and I both took a shower as soon as we got up.  It felt so good.  We then made coffee, eggs, and sausage burritos for breakfast.  It was nice for it to be sunny.  After breakfast Amy and I did a few loads of laundry at the camp laundromat.  We primarily washed towels and underwear and threw in a few other items.  After we finished washing clothes, Amy and Don decided to move their trailer to a new campsite.  The one they were in had a problem with water drainage.  The new one was directly across the road from our campsite so we could see when each other was up and around.  After we ate sandwiches for lunch we drove into Glacier National Park for the first time.  Mike bought an annual park pass for $25 since it was only $5 more than the weekly one and would be good the entire time we were in the Glacier area. Not long after getting into the park we saw a white tail deer and her fawn.  We drove up the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Logan Pass.  We stopped at several pullovers to see the the views and take pictures.  This road was completed in 1932 and is a 2-lane road with no shoulders on the side of the mountains.  The views were absolutely gorgeous.  We could see many different mountains (including the Garden Wall) and many waterfalls (including Weeping Wall and Bird Woman Falls).  They were doing road construction so it was a one-way road sometimes.

Garden Wall

Beautiful mountains

More mountain views

Road construction

Bird Woman Falls

Another shot of Bird Woman Falls

Once up on Logan Pass, we saw mountain goats, some with babies.  One was in a parking place at a pull off.  We also saw two large bighorn sheep.  

Logan Pass

Mountain goat with baby

Bighorn sheep

More bighorn sheep

We walked about 1/2 mile up the Hidden Lake Trail.  Most of it was covered with snow.  We didn't hike the entire trail because we hadn't packed things for a 3 mile hike.  Views from the trail were really pretty.

Amy and Don at Logan Pass

Mary and Mike at Logan Pass

Mountain goats by trail

Foggy on the mountain

Fog started covering the mountain tops around the pass by the time we left.  When we got back to camp, we made jambalaya with sausage with mixed steamed vegetables on the side.  We had stopped at the grocery store in West Glacier to get supplies.  The store was small and pricey but the products were good, plus it was much closer than the next nearest town.

Thursday - June 30, 2005

We got up this morning and fixed burritos for breakfast again.  The guys got the rafts blown up and loaded on the vehicles.  We drove to Moccasin Creek down Hwy 2 to the put in on the Middle Fork of the Flathead river.  We rafted to the West Glacier Access to the river.  We got on the river about noon again.  This section of the river had a couple of rapids that were exciting.  On one set, the troughs were so deep that the raft couldn't be seen when at the bottom.  A young woman was taking pictures for local rafting companies at this set of rapids, so we were able to buy a couple.

Ford Access put in

Another shot of the put in

Mike and I hanging on while Don 
guides us through the rapids

More Excitement!

When we got off the river we went to the grocery store at Hungry Horse to get things for supper.  Amy and Don got steaks and Mike and I got pork chops to grill.  When we opened the pork chops they smelled spoiled so we ate a little of Amy and Don's steaks.  I took the receipt back later and got a refund.  Today was nice and sunny and the rafting was fun - just exciting enough. 

Friday - July 1, 2005

The beginning of the day was very similar to most others.  We got up, made coffee, and cooked breakfast.  This morning we made steak and mushroom, scrambled eggs, and biscuits.  The weather today was calm and sunny.  Just before we left camp we saw a large mule deer buck at the campsite.  We left the campsite around 10:30 to head to the North Fork of the Flathead River.  The section of river we floated was very calm and bordered Glacier National Park on the west.  We drove about 40 miles down a mostly dirt road to the take out at Polebridge.  This is a unique place pretty much in the wilderness.  Polebridge has a store (Polebridge Mercantile) and a tavern. When we left the river at 5:00 the tavern was full.  We got to Polebridge Mercantile at noon so we each bought one of their homemade sandwiches for lunch.

Polebridge Mercantile with our vehicles on the right

We left our truck at the take-out then drove about 15 miles on a dirt road to the put-in at Ford Access.  When we got here we were only 10 miles from the Canadian border.  We later found out that the border crossing at this point had been closed.  We floated from Ford Access to Polebridge.  Mountains of Glacer were visible from the river the entire float and were beautiful.  The only wildlife saw were 2 osprey.  One dove toward the water close to our raft, but pulled up just short of the water.  The day was so sunny that I got hot at times.  Every other day I rafted, I got chilly before we got off the river because it had been cloudy and the water splashing on us was cold.

Amy riding in David's raft with David and Bud

Don working the oars

Amy, David, and Bud

Beautiful scenery

Amy and Don relaxing on the river

Mike with the mountains in the background

Mary having a fun time

Take out point

When we got to the take out Amy, Linda, and I took our truck back to Ford to get the other two vehicles.  It took about 40 minutes to run the shuttle. When we got everything loaded, David and Linda decided to go back through the park.  We drove around because we only had one pass.  As it turned out our road was better.  It took us an hour to get back to camp and it took the Thrashers 3 hours.  There was a tree down they had to move with their wench.  They did see a grizzly bear so that made it better.  We ate barbecue chicken at the outside camp restaurant "Cajun Mary's". It was good, but after eating, the right side of my lip swelled. I found out later that Mary (the cook) put pecans in her baked beans.  I really am going to have to be more careful to ask if anything has nuts in it.

Saturday - July 2, 2005

We got up, ate breakfast, took showers and did stuff around the campsite.  We deflated, cleaned, and rolled up both rafts since we are through rafting for this trip.  We had everything done by midmorning.  We were all going to view the south Fork of the Flathead River by the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.  David wanted to see the river at this area and Mike wanted to go to the Bob Marshall Wilderness area.  We had to go around the Hungry Horse Reservoir to get where we were going.  We took the road to the west for some reason.  The road was  so rough it took us almost 4 hours to get where we were going.  We ate lunch in the car because there wasn't anywhere to stop.  We finally got to the river about 2:00 pm.  At this spot is the Meadow Creek Gorge.  It is so deep and so long that you have to cross using a bridge.  This gorge is really pretty.  While we were on the bridge, a deer came up wanting to cross so we got off the bridge and the deer came across.

View of Meadow Creek Gorge from the bridge

Another view of the gorge

A deer waiting to use the bridge

The deer wasn't afraid of us

The deer crossing the gorge

Some pretty flowers

We hiked a trail about a half mile up the river.  On the way back we saw horses that were carrying people back from a 7 day float trip.  we also hiked a short way down stream to a waterfall.  There was a longer trail, but it had taken us so long to get to the gorge that we didn't have time to do too much hiking.  We spent about an hour at the gorge then headed back to camp.

View of Meadow Creek

Meadow Creek

View of the creek and mountains

Amy and Don taking a rest 

Linda, Mike, and Mary on the trail

The horse pack

David, Don, and Mike

Another shot of the guys

View of the bridge over the gorge

A nice waterfall

Another view of the gorge

A beautiful view from the trail

Some pretty flowers

Some more pretty flowers

We had talked to some local people and found out that the road on the east side was better so we headed back that way.  It took us 2 hours to get back taking that road.  When we got back to camp, we fixed rice and chicken for supper then sat around making plans for the next day.

Sunday - July 3, 2005

We got up a little late, ate a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage then packed up to head into Glacier.  We went to the Apgar Visitor Center which is about two miles inside the park to ask about hiking trails and bear activity.  We decided to hike John's Lake Loop that is a three mile loop then hike the Avalanche Creek trail that is a two mile hike one way.  The John's Lake Loop starts on the east side of the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The road up to John's Lake goes through a dense evergreen forest, then crosses the road to McDonald Falls, then up to the beginning of the trail.  The vegetation on the trail was interesting.  The tree growth was so thick that there was no understory.  McDonald Falls was very pretty along with the creek. We hiked the horse trail back to the main trail instead of staying on the main loop.

MacDonald Falls

View of stream from trail

Don, Amy, and Mike

Don, Mike, and Mary

View from the trail

Another trail view

After completing this trail we drove on to the Avalanche picnic area where we parked the car for our hike and ate a picnic lunch.  This was a nice area, but was very crowded because of the 4th of July weekend.  When we finished eating we headed up the Trail of Cedars (0.5 mile one way) then to the Avalanche Creek Trail (2 miles one way).  The Trail of Cedars began on the east side of the highway and is a handicapped accessible trail.  It ends at the Avalanche Creek Gorge bridge.  We hiked up the Avalanche Creek trail to Avalanche Lake.  The 2 mile hike is steep but not difficult.  Avalanche Lake is very beautiful, however Mike and I didn't enjoy it as much as we could because we got separated from Amy and Don.  Mike and I went to the pit toilets and then couldn't locate Amy and Don.  i didn't pay good enough attention when Amy told me where they would be waiting for us.  Mike and I walked an extra 1/2 mile up and back on the side of the lake before locating Amy and Don.  However, this is a very pretty location and was worth the hike.  This lake is up in the mountains and has 4 falls running into it.

Avalanche Lake

Different view of the lake

And a final view of the lake

Deer walking by the trail

We hiked back down to the gorge bridge.  On the way down we saw a doe deer walking beside the trail as we headed down.  When we got back to the bridge Amy and I took some pictures of the gorge then decided to get off the bridge because it was so crowded.  The entire trail had been very crowded.  We stopped at the restrooms about 1 1/2 minutes from the bridge and saw a young man running down the trail to get help.  After using the restroom we saw several people running back up the trail and knew something had happened.  When we got back to camp we found out that a woman had fallen head first into the gorge at a place about 20 feet from the water.  When she hit the water she was forced under a rock and got stuck.  The force of the water forced her through after about 30 seconds and she was pulled from the water down stream from the bridge.  An EMT, RN, and physicians assistant were there and were able to revive her. The last we heard, she was recovering in a hospital in Kalispell.  It was unnerving to know how close we came to witnessing this tragedy.  We found out later that the woman died from her injuries.  

Part of the gorge where the woman fell

Part of the stream

When we finally got back to camp we cooked Rice Roni with beef.  This was a really fun and exciting day.

Monday - July 4, 2005        Happy Independance Day!  4th of July

We got up, had breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, and potatoes; then made sandwiches to have for lunch.  We went to Glacier National Park for the day.  We began by hiking the Boundary Trail on the west side of the park next to the Middle Fork of the Flathead River until the trail became too overgrown to continue.  We were able to see a part of the river that we had floated before we turned back.  There was a lot of bear sign by the trail.

Don and Amy

Mary and Mike

Middle Fork of the Flathead River next to the Boundary Trail

When we left this trail we went to the Apgar Village again.  We went into some shops and went to the visitor center to get more hiking information.  After that we ate a picnic lunch at Fish Creek which is on the west side of Lake McDonald.  There was a campground there that had water and restrooms but no electricity.  It seemed like a nice campground.  We hiked a portion of the Lake McDonald trail along the edge of the lake.  This trail went through an area that had burned a couple of years ago ad was not busy at all.  This is a section that people don't go to often.  We hiked until we came to a beach where we sat for about 30 minutes enjoying the view and the quiet.

McDonald Lake

A second lake view

The beach where we sat for a while

Beautiful views from the beach

Mary and Mike

Don and Amy

When we got back to camp we grilled chicken and cooked a package of stir fry vegetables.  Amy even had 4th of July place mats for us to use.  David and Linda came by to grill pork chops and told us they have to leave tomorrow morning because David's dad was in very bad shape with cancer.  Mike and Don made a campfire and we all sat around a while before going to bed.

Tuesday - July 5, 2005

We got up early, had showers, ate eggs and sausage before getting things ready for the day.  We told the Thrasher's bye before they left about 8:00.  We found out later that David's dad died this morning.  it makes a sad end to the vacation.  We left the campsite around 9:00 to head over the Going-to-the-Sun Road.  This is a crowded road, but wasn't too bad this early in the morning.  We drove straight to Logan's Pass before we stopped since we had driven this section before.  When we got to the pass we hiked to the Hidden Lake overlook.  This trail is 1 1/2 miles one way and was still snow covered for over half the distance which made the hike more difficult.  We saw some goats up on the mountain walking along the top.  It was fun watching them move along the steep mountain slopes.  We saw two other goats up close.  One was lying in the snow about 100 yards off the trail and other was on the trail.  It was not afraid of people at all.  The view of Hidden Lake was gorgeous, just like other views we've had. There were signs telling hikers that there had been bear activity around the lake, but we didn't see any bears.  Mike and I headed back down the trail before the Bradshaws so we could use the bathroom. We went into the gift shop and I bought a couple of journals.  

Don, Amy, Mike, and Mary at Logan Pass

Lots of snow at the pass

Beautiful views

Mountain goat on the trail

Another mountain goat

Hidden Lake

Another view of Hidden Lake

A final view of the lake

Don on the trail

After leaving Logan Pass, we continued east until we got to a pull off area for viewing Jackson Glacier.  We maybe saw some other glaciers, but not as well as we could see this one.  I'm glad this glacier was so easy to see because I would have been very disappointed if we had come all the way to Glacier National Park and not seen a glacier.  

Jackson Glacier

A second view of the glacier

We continued on to Sun Point picnic area where we ate lunch.  We parked at this area and hiked the trail to Sun Point.  this point overlooks St. Mary's Lake and views of the east side of mountains we'd seen from Logan Pass.  It was very, very windy here.  

St. Mary's Lake

Another lake view

View of the mountains

Final view of the lake and mountains

We then hiked the other direction on this trail to Baring Falls.  This was a pretty hike and falls.  This hike was a total of two miles, so we hiked a total of five miles today.

Pretty flowers by the trail

Baring Falls

Another view of the falls

After our hike we drove on east out of the park.  We drove back to camp by going around the south side of the park on Hwys. 89, 49, and 2.  Hwy. 49 was curvy and steep and went over Marias Pass.  Hwy 2 followed the south fork of the Flathead River for much of the way.  The distance was greater going back this way, but it was fun to see areas we had not seen and it didn't take much more time because the road was better.  When we got back to camp we went to Cajun Mary's and had crawfish etouffee. It was really good.  This was a fun day with not a lot of prep work and a lot of pretty views.  We also enjoyed seeing the goats and a herd of bighorn sheep at Logan Pass.

Wednesday - July 6, 2005

This was our last day in Montana.  We got up late, showered, made breakfast, then Amy and I gathered clothes to wash before heading home.  Mike and Don went into Glacier a final time planning to fish.  Inside the park and on the North Fork of the Flathead River a fishing license isn't required because Glacier is an international park.  They didn't have any luck fishing, but did enjoy the drive up to the river inside Glacier.  Amy and I decided to go to Hungry Horse to wash clothes.  We got to the laundromat just in time.  After we had put clothes in seven of the washers, several other people came in to wash.  We walked around the small town while our clothes were washing.  When everything was finished, we ate lunch at a small cafe next to a gas station.  It was good but very slow.  The dad (owner) and his daughter were running both the cafe and gas station.  When we got back to camp we spent the rest of the afternoon getting everything ready to leave in the morning.  When you have been gone from home for two weeks it takes a long time to get everything organized to pack up to go home.  We ate at Cajun Mary's again, this time having barbecue shrimp and linguini.  It was excellent.  After sitting around visiting we got to bed at not too late an hour.  We have had a lot of funk but are ready to start home.

Thursday - July 7, 2005

We got up at 6:00 am and packed up all of our camping supplies into the camper of the truck.  We had everything packed and ready to go by 7:00 am.  Amy and Don got their trailer hooked up and left about five minutes before us.  They headed back to Bentonville and we went to Pocatello, Idaho, to visit Kim, Eric, and Hattie Jackson.  We left Glacier Campground and stopped at Spruce Cafe next to an Exxon gas station at Coram just north of Hungry Horse.  We got coffee quickly, and the waitress took our order fast,, but it took over 25 minutes for the cook to prepare our breakfast.  Mike and I both got ham, hashbrowns, toast and two eggs over easy.  It was really good and the ham slices were so large that we used the leftovers for our lunch.  After finishing breakfast we got on the road about 8:05. We took Hwy 2 south to Hwy 93 south.  We stayed on the west side of Flathead Lake.  This road was better, but I'm not sure if it was quicker because of all the little towns we drove through.  It was fun to see a little different scenery.  Flathead Lake is a very popular recreation area for this part of Montana.  We went through Kallispell then around the south end of the lake.  We hit I90 at Missoula and I15 south just before getting to Billings.  The trip on I15 through southern Montana and the north part of the boot of Idaho took us through arid, isolated areas.  There really was a lot of interesting scenery.  we stopped at a rest stop in Montana for lunch.  The scenery here was pretty, but it was extremely windy.  Just north of Pocatello we stopped at a rest stop to call Kim to get directions to her house.  This rest stop had hiking trails through a giant lava flow.  We hiked a short section, but it was too hot to hike very far.  

Rest Stop where we had lunch

Lava flows

More lava

Sign telling about the lava formations

We got to Kim and Eric's about 6:00 pm.  Kim had fixed barbecue pork roast in a crock pot, salad, and baked beans.  it was really good.  We visited until about 11:00 before going to bed.  It felt good to get into a real bed after 2 weeks camping.

Friday - July 8, 2005

We got up late and lazed around a while.  I took a shower and got cleaned up good.  Kim took us driving around the Pocatello area and showed us some of the houses.  Then we drove up Scout Mountain outside of town.  We ate lunch at Arby's then just layed around the house the rest of the afternoon.  About 6:00 pm we went to Aberdeen to the USDA station where Eric works.  He was inoculating some barley with rust for the experiments he does.  We then went to eat at a Mexican restaurant in Aberdeen.  It looked like a hole in the wall but was really good.  We visited a little then went to bed so we'd be rested for the long day on Saturday.

Saturday - July 9, 2005

We got up early and left the Jackson's around 7:20 am.  We grabbed breakfast at a Burger King and hit the road.  We drove south on I15 through southern Idaho into Utah.  The scenery became more interesting fairly quickly after leaving Pocatello.  We drove through Salt Lake City and had a nice view of the Great Salt Lake.  Salt Lake City is in between two lines of mountains that were very pretty.  South of Provo, Utah, we turned east on US6.  We connected to US 6 at Springville, filled up with gas, and got sub sandwiches at a Gandolfo's to eat later.  i accidentally left the back camper door open and drove with it open for a long way but luckily nothing fell out. US 6 connects I15 and I70 and is a good road, but has several steep and curvy parts through the mountains.  There are essentially no towns of any size so no gas stations on this stretch of road.  After making it through the mountains we got into the canyon area of Utah.  The bluffs and plateaus were really interesting The road at this point is really straight, so Mike fed me lunch as I drove.  We actually saw some pronghorn in what is called the "desolatiobn" area of Utah.  US 6 connects with I70 about 60 miles west of Colorado.  we were able to see some spires of Utah's Canyonland Park from the interstate.  I continued driving until we got to Grand Junction, Colorado.  We had never been through this part of Colorado before.  We continued seeing many canyons, buttes, and plateaus that were really interesting.  The interstate follows the Colorado River for a long time.  it was fun to view the river and think about how to navigate a raft through it.  

Colorado scenery

Another scene in Colorado

The Colorado River

A final shot as we drive through Colorado

Just east of Glenwood Springs we ran into a rain storm.  At this point we were in a deep canyon with high rock walls on either side of the interstate.  Luckily the storm didn't last long.  Mike continued driving until we got to a rest stop just east of Vail.  By this time we were in the mountains.  The scenery had become different, but still pretty.  There was a 100 mile bike ride ending at Vail so there were many bikers at the rest stop.  This stop is so high in altitude that it was really cold here.  i drove from here to Golden, Colorado, just on the western edge of Denver where we got supper at a McDonald's.  We had wanted to make it to Limon, Colorado, but it was so late and we were so tired that we decided to get a room on the west side of Denver.  We got a room at a Motel 6.  It was okay, but the mattress had a broken spring so we flipped it and remade the bed.  We decided that would be easier than changing rooms.

Sunday - July 10, 2005

We woke up really early.  While Mike was in the bathroom, I saw the time on the TV for EDT and incorrectly thought it was 5:42 am so we got around and left.  We found a place open where we got coffee, deciding to get breakfast down the road.  Later I realized that we really left at 3:42 because I didn't adjust for mountain time. It really didn't matter since we were awake and the driving was pleasant.  We stopped at a McDonald's at Burlington, Colorado and ate breakfast.  At Hays, Kansas, I started driving and I drove until we got to the west side of Tulsa.  it was sunny out so driving wasn't bad, but the scenery in Kansas was so boring.  We did see a black-eared jack rabbit.  We ate lunch at a Braum's in Newton, Kansas.  We didn't want to eat our meals in the car again.  Mike drove from Tulsa home.  it rained some while we were on the turnpike, but not badly.  We stopped in Siloam Springs at a grocery store and got a rotisserie chicken and potato salad for supper.  We got home about 6:30 pm tired, but glad to be home.  We only unloaded our ice chests.  I unloaded the truck and cleaned everything up later since I wouldn't be working for a couple of weeks.  We drove 4128 miles on this trip and the worst that happened was a small rock hitting the truck windshield and putting a small chip in it.  This was a really fun trip, but as always we were glad to be home.