DAY 17: Mt. St. Liz's-Gut-Is-On-Fire!!

Wednesday, June 17 - Kelso, Washington

Have I mentioned how much I like this campground??  Chuck likes it a lot too!  He & Murphy tried to climb what we now call Mt. St. Helens, Jr. which is the hill across from our RV. Unfortunately, Murphy made it to the top and Chuck, well......didn't.......he rolled down the hill...(Norm, do you see a pattern here???)......For those in his fan club; he's okay.......I tried to get him to do it again so I could get a picture & share with you all, but he declined.

After the AM roll, we debated on whether to try to head to the actual Mt. St. Helens today since it was threatening rain.  We decided to hang out around town, wash the trike AGAIN so we could see out the windshield, get some prescriptions filled,  find out what Kelso is known for, and take Murphy for a ride on the trike.   

We discovered by driving around town that Kelso must be known for the record on lowest bridge clearances.  Thank goodness we weren't in the RV......it would now be a convertible.  We are hopeful we will be able to find the pharmacy again.....we were a little lost when we found it the first time AND, we took Murphy for a long ride on the trike by driving the 120 mile round trip to the pacific coast.  He loved it!  Had coffee and some hot fried potato thing that, I've got to tell you, I'm still burping up while eating Tums like candy right now.  Geez.....I feel like I have a volcano going off in my gut.....Mt. St. Liz's-Gut-Is-On-Fire...........Overall, a nice, relaxing very good day......with the exception of the eruption!  

Tomorrow??  Chuck's going to try and climb the REAL Mt. St. Helens.........today was just a practice...

DAY 16: Can A Campground Really Make You Happy??

Tuesday, June 16 - Kelso, WA

What a difference a campground can make!  I'm in SUCH a good mood tonight because we are in a normal campground.  No, no, no....in a WONDERFUL campground!  Last night, we pulled into what appeared to be a "worker camp."  Now, let me fill you in on what their website said, and I quote, "Come stay overnight at the ranch..on the scenic Yakima River in central Washington."  It goes on to say, "Easy Pull-Through Access, Rustic Club House, Livestock and Wildlife Viewings."  Now, let's break down Truth from Fiction.  Stay with me now...here we go....

STATEMENT:  "Come stay overnight at the ranch"......REALITY:  There was no ranch.  There was a patch of grass in the middle of a cow pasture.

STATEMENT: "On the Scenic Yakima River in Central Washington".  REALITY:  We were 5 miles from ANY river.  I heard they call central Washington a "desert".

STATEMENT: "Easy Pull-Through Access"...REALITY: There was nothing easy about maneuvering 52' of motorhome & trailer through parked cars, trucks and 100 year old airstreams. I also had to dodge the port-a-potty, which, BTW, was the view out our dining room window.

STATEMENT: "Rustic Club House".......now unless they are referring to the bulletin/chalk board at the road that told the rules and a kiosh to put your payment in, I never saw any such club house.

STATEMENT:  "Lifestock and Wildlife Viewings".....REALITY:  Well, this one may be the closest to the truth.  We were sharing a field with the cattle, and the wildlife viewings we saw were mosquitos that were running rampant here.  Even poor Murphy was scratching from the mosquitos.

But today is a new day.  We lucked out by finding such a nice campground just up the road from Mt. St. Helens.  We have a concrete slab that is level instead of the patch of grass with cow manure on it.  We have our very own picnic table....under a tree....a beautiful tree instead of nothing to eat on or under.    We have neighbors that are quiet and normal and nice...instead of LeRoy scratching himself as he stands in the doorway of his 15' 1948 Airstream on blocks.   

I'm so happy!!!   What a difference a day makes..........

DAY 15: My Butt Is So Sore.......

Monday, June 15 - Ellensburg, WA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ELLEN!  For your birthday today, we decided to stay in Ellensburg!  

It was a 435 mile day.......and my butt feels every 435 miles of it!  We said goodbye to Hungry Horse, Montana and hello to Washington state!  

Since we drove most of the day, not too much happened, however, we did get to see some beautiful scenery.  We saw Idaho for the first time for either of us, and were surprised and a little disappointed at what Washington state looked like......UNTIL......we got to Wanapum Lake in Vantage, Washington.  WHOA!  Imagine that you're driving through Amarillo (no offense to my friends in Amarillo!) for 2-3 boring hours of flat land with nothing on it and then you turn a corner and WHALAA.... you're in Colorado.  It was amazing....I didn't even see it coming....  And before I could close my mouth from the beauty we just saw, I was heading up, up, up a steep mountain that I bet we used 40 gallons of gas getting up......the "rig" stayed in 4th gear; then dropped to 3rd gear; then back up to 4th gear.......and continued doing this for what seemed like an hour.   I could hear the gas tank going, "gulp, gulp, gulp.....and my wallet going "chaaching...chaaching.."

We finally arrived at the campground and noticed that the shower door had come off the track somewhere between Montana and Washington, so my handyman hopped in the shower to fix it when his arm accidently turned the water on and drenched him.  I could hear him yelling, "Turn it off; turn it off" but I couldn't cause I was laughing so hard.  He promptly dried himself off and fixed a wonderful pasta dinner for us.  What a great guy, huh?!!

So here I am watching The Bacholerette and writing my Blog.  Tomorrow we're going to find Mt. St. Helens and see if we can witness any eruptions.........wish us luck!

DAY 14: This Place is Filthy!

Sunday, June 14 - Hungry Horse, Montana 

I got to tell ya; living in a total of "maybe" 350 square feet with a dog and Chuck for two weeks can get pretty filthy.   And let's not forget the mud puddle we were parked in for 4 days in Cody, Wyoming.  The "Rig" was getting pretty nasty.  So, we delegated DAY 14 as "Clean the RV Day". Chuck took the outside and I took the inside.  Cleaned every inch of the 300+ square feet and it looks and smells so much better!  

We rewarded ourselves with a trip to Wal-Mart about 25 miles down the road.   We had only passed through this town, Kalispell, on our way in on Friday, so we really hadn't had a chance to check it out.   Boy, was Chuck ever excited when he saw an Ihop......and then we saw a Costco.......and then a TJ Maxx; and then a Pier One......and a TARGET!  I love Target!!!  We hit the jackpot!!!  So we each went our separate way shopping our little hearts out!  You would think we had been in a concentration camp and hadn't seen a store in 10 years.   By the time we made it to Wal-Mart, clouds were rolling in and the sky was turning dark......We organized our quick trip into Wal-Mart for the essentials and were in and out in no time at all, trying to beat the growing storm.  We threw everything that would fit into the trunk of the trike and poor Chuck was left to hold everthing else...including the dish drainer.  But like I told him, he could always use it as protection if we got hailed on.

As we headed the 25 miles back home, we could see there were actually two storms coming at us from opposite directions.  We were in the middle with sunshine.......I drove like a bandit to try and beat it as best I could and made it home just in time.  YEA!

Oh ya, I almost forgot.  We washed clothes with our washer/dryer combo in the "rig" for the very first time today.  I just can't quite comprehend how one unit can wash & dry and you never have to move your clothes.  But it worked........Yea.....we can quit turning our underwear inside out now.

We'll be pulling up stakes tomorrow for a new destination...........hummm......wonder where we're going???  (I really don't know!)

DAY 13: Is The Dam Breaking????????

Saturday, June 13 - Hungry Horse, Montana

My morning started at about 1:30 am today......you may recall, yesterday was not one of our better days......all I wanted to do was go to sleep so today could come quicker.  Well, it did!  At about 1:30 am, I awake to, what I know as, a tornado siren.  A very very very very loud tornado siren bouncing off the sides of the mountain.  I sit straight up in bed trying to remember where I am and why I'm hearing a tornado siren in Montana.  They don't have tornado's here, do they?  As I sat there trying to make sense of what I was hearing, many thoughts were racing through my mind.  Here's just a few:  

1)  Tornado - We are camping inbetween two large mountains.  There is no way a tornado could occur here even if it wanted to.  Ruled out Tornado.

2)  Fire - I looked out all windows, smelled outside, looked for light in the sky; nothing.  Ruled out Fire.

3)  Bomb - I really didn't know what signs to look for in the event we were being bombed.  We don't have satellite reception, no cable and very limited PBS Tv to check on this so, I ruled out Bombing from a foreign country due to lack of information.

4)  Dam Break - Ahhhhhh....this was much more believable.  I saw a billboard on the way in last night that said Hungry Horse had the largest and bestest dam on this side of Montana...and I knew it was just up the road a couple miles.     I didn't rule out Dam Break.....

So, I did what any good computer geek would do and pulled out my trustee internet card.  Checked out everything I could on the Hungry Horse Dam and learned it would take out many cities if it were to break.  Yikes.  And we were only a couple miles from the dam......By this time, I could hear helicopter(s) and what sounded like a heavy duty tractor close by.  It's now been 30 minutes that the very very very very loud alarm bouncing off the sides of the mountain has been going off and I'm freaking out.  Chuck is sleeping peacefully......The neighbors appear to be sleeping peacefully.  I refuse to go outside as the neighbors told me there had been two bears in the park the night before.  These are the same neighbors who pulled out their lawn chairs from their tiny little trailer and parked themselves within 15' of us as we pulled in last night and watched as Chuck and I talked to each other between gritted teeth.  They got themselves a beer or two and sat back and smiled as Chuck and I argued over whether to put the jacks down or not and whether to pull the slides out prior to lowering the jacks, etc.  There's a lot of steps, folks, to this camping thing.   You don't just park the rig and plug in.  The first thing the neighbors said to us was, "You call that camping?"    Anyway, I digress; back to the Dam Break Alarm.  It finally quit around 2:15 am and I figured if we were going to be swept away we would have already been swept away.  I sordof ruled out Dam Break.....

The next morning, I was at the office waiting for them to open to find out what the heck that was.  Turns out, its a small town and they have a volunteer police, fire and ambulance department.  Everything in town is volunteer. So when they have an emergency such as a car wreck, heart attack, broken finger nail, they sound the alarms.  Oh ya, no dam break; someone probably just fell out of bed.  Errrrrrrr.......

So I must say, early morning alarm aside, today was a much better day than yesterday.  Got the Trike washed (I've never seen it so dirty); tried to cross over Glacier National Park, but lo and behold, the road was closed due to 70' of snow.  Yes, you heard me right.  70 FEET of SNOW at the top.  It's JUNE!!!  How can this be???  We came here to travel the well known road called "The Road to the Sun", but all we got was "The Road That Was Closed".  Errrrrrrr..... But that's okay; we decided to check out the dam that didn't break.  Way cool!!!

Tomorrow Chuck wants to go to Wal-Mart.........

DAY 12: Hungry Horse, Montana.....Now that's A Cool Name....

Friday, June 12: Hungry Horse, Montana

The name of this town does make one wonder about the horse that was so hungry they named a town after him, huh?

Today was a long day......although we didn't cover a lot of miles, we covered a lot of ground.  We left Camp TeePee this morning pretty early (for us.....9:00 am is early) and headed on the road to Hungry Horse, Mt. near the Glacier National Park.  We had gotten about 150 miles up the road when we saw a huge RV dealer off the highway that claimed to be the largest in the entire state of Montana.  Since we didn't know for sure whether Chuck had fixed the problem from the day before, we decided to stop in there and have it checked out.  They informed us we needed to see the Cummins Diesel guys down the street instead.  So off we went....to the Cummins Diesel guys.  It's now about 11:30 am and they were just getting ready to go to lunch....so we waited....By the time we left there, it was 4:30 and they had done every kind of diagnostic on the RV known to man and everything was showing okay.  I guess this makes me happy, however, I would still feel so much better knowing the exact cause of the trouble.....just in case it happened again...

We knew we had another 2 hour drive ahead of us, so we scooted out of there and headed towards Glacier National Park near the Canadian border.  Well, whoever told us we had a 2 hour drive LIED to us.......more like 4 hrs.....between major construction; two lane roads; mountains to climb; stupid Garmin GPS giving wrong directions, we finally pulled in here around 8:30.   Cool thing, though.  The lady and man who own this RV campground (which is VERY nice) live half the year on a lake outside Tyler, Tx just down the road from us.....how about that!?!  I asked for that Texas Discount!

Anyway, that's been our day......we are bone tired and at each others throats, so its time to call it a day and start fresh tomorrow.

DAY 11: We've Arrived At Camp Teepee

Thursday, June 11: Butte, Montana

We hadn't planned on stopping at Camp Teepee tonight, but we ran into a few "hiccups" today which kept us from getting any further than we did.  

Remember the RV issue from last weekend?  Well, it's baaaaaccckkk......Yep, we couldn't wait to get out of the mud-pit in Cody, Wyoming this morning.  Of course it was raining when we left; heavy fog and cold; same old-same old.  The minute we crossed the Montana border, SUNSHINE, and dry ground.  YEA!!!!  We enjoyed every town, every site, every dry blade of grass we saw! Until we got to Bozeman, Montana.  We stopped at a Flying J to fill up and the RV wouldn't start. Wouldn't even try to turn over.  Chuck and I were scratching our heads wondering what is going on.......It had been running great today....no problem at all....no WARNING light...nothing.  We called a local guy to come out and help and he was just as baffled as we were.  After about an hour under, over and around the RV, he thought he had it narrowed down to a starter or something.   Also about this time, here comes the manager of the Flying J asking how much longer we were going to take up his fuel bay......thats right, put some pressure on us & kick us while we're down!  Chuck then got a great idea to check some fuses at the front of the RV to see if they were all working properly.  He found one that  needed to be reset, so he pushed it and it reset.  Whallaa......everything started working.  We don't know how, we don't know why; we just know it all started working again.  Our fingers and toes are crossed it continues....

Now, on to where we are.  We ended up stopping in Butte, Montana.  Now, I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't want to live in a town called the back-end of my anatomy.   But it sure was fun getting here; using my jake brakes down the mountains (I love the sound of jake brakes...I feel like such a trucker!) and creeping up the mountains (see pict of Chuck & Murphy) wondering if its going to make it.....Chuck, Murphy and I kept repeating, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can".  We felt like Lucy and Desi in the Long Long Trailer!  We stopped at a campground on the side of the highway and it has a little bit of everything living here.  We have your TeePee dwellers; we have your long-term dwellers; we have your antique RV dwellers; and absolutely nothing is level.  I talked Chuck into not putting the leveling jacks down just in case the RV didn't start in the morning;  in case it needed to be towed.  So now, we are leaning to the left....ALOT. Poor Murphy keeps sliding down the tile floor from his food dish to the sink; and I'm figuring Chuck's going to have a little company on his side of the bed tonight.....The upside is we have excellent TV reception.....if you tilt your head to the left.

And tomorrow is yet another day........

Day 10: I finally Saw a Grizzly Bear!! Sordof.....

June 10, Yellowstone National Park

Yep, we saw a grizzly bear today; sordof.  Actually, he was sleeping under a tree about 1/2 mile away. Had the park ranger not told us that was a grizzly bear, we would never have known it.  It looked like a huge lump of bear dung under the tree to me.  But the facts are, we saw a grizzly bear!  YEA! That was the whole goal of today...the last day at Yellowstone.  Mission Accomplished! (See picture above)

It was still a very cold day here at Yellowstone.  And wet.  Rained hard last night, therefore, our campground mud-pit was now a mud-swamp.  Oh ya.....but that didn't stop us!  No sir-ee.  We hopped on that old trustee trike and headed the 30 miles down the road to the East Entrance to Yellowstone.  We made our way through rain, sleet, HAIL, and a little tiny bit of sunshine and the views were breathtakingly worth it.  Absolutely indescribable.  We saw tons of buffalo; some so close you could reach out and touch, but Chuck made me promise to keep the Trike in gear so we could make a run for it if we needed to.  One way to be sure you don't miss anything is to pull over when you see other people pulled over & check out what they're looking at. Chuck and I thought it would be funny to pull over and "act" like we're excited and looking at something really important (pointing/picture taking/excited...)  and then watch people start pulling over for nothing.  After we got our kicks out of that, we decided to find the waterfalls.  They were beautiful.  We had parked in a kinda  "illegal" parking spot and when I went to pull out, I thought it would be easier to just go straight between these two curbs instead of backing up.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but what I didn't see was there was an actual BIG curb beyond the two I went between.  After the front tire went off this BIG curb, we were now teetering back and forth.  Do you have this picture in your head yet?  We couldn't go forward as we would probably take out the gas tank on the BIG curb; we couldn't go backwards cause the trike is too heavy.  We're drawing a crowd about this time and finally one old guy came up to me and said, "What were you thinking, little lady?"  "Well, little man, it seemed like a good idea at the time", I said.  We could tell he was doing everything he could to stifle a laugh which I thought was pretty considerate of him.  We both got off the trike, put it in neutral and pushed it backwards until we got the front tire up over the BIG curb.  I thought the crowd was going to cheer!  It kinda reminded me of the time I got the riding lawnmower stuck on the septic tank cover and I then promptly fell in the septic tank when we finally pushed the mower off.  I really hadn't seen a pattern until just now......hum......

Anyway, by the time we made it back to the RV, it was late...and poor Murphy had his legs crossed and was having an anxiety attack.....We rode about 240 miles on the trike today and our butts are sore, our bones are cold and wet and we are going to sleep well tonight.

Tomorrow, we pull up sewer hose and head north.....to warmer weather!

Day 9: Why Do They Call It Yellowstone?

Tuesday, June 9: Yellowstone National Park

Seriously, why do they call it Yellowstone?  I didn't see any yellow stones.  I saw a lot of white snow; I saw this big Buffalo that was brown and shedding, but nothing yellow.  However, I did see the most beautiful scenery I have ever experienced; looked like Heaven to me.  A cold Heaven. My pictures and description can't possibly tell you how beautiful it is here.  Just trust me; its surreal.  

Thanks to everyone who wished us well on the RV repairs.  We found out today that it was probably a loose connection which was causing the problem.  The batteries turned out okay and the service guy, Derick, said there were several loose wires that could have caused this to happen. He feels confident that this was more than likely the cause of the shut-down.  I would have preferred 100% confident, but I'll take "more than likely".  Chuck & I turned this over to God and know He will take care of us no matter what.  So, we're feelin' GOOD............and we have faith!

Hey, today we met two motorcycle dudes from Michigan.  Here's how it went down.  After we dropped the "rig" off at the repair shop, we headed out on the motorcycle to an awesome motorcyle road we've heard a lot about, Beartooth Pass.  We couldn't wait to ride this road as it guaranteed to have grizzly bears on it & make your "hair stand on end" and I couldn't wait to see Chuck's bald head do this.  Sooo, off we went.  Now, this was going to be one of those all day rides; this road was a good 125 miles away from Cody.  We were about 10 miles down the road when we ran into unbelievable fog where you couldn't see 5' in front of you.  I'm serious. Crazy, no good, very bad fog.  So we made the decision to turn around.  As we got back into Cody, we stopped to get gas (& Charlie some coffee) and ran into these two guys; one Harley and one Honda rider.   Anyway, they were probably in their 50's and had left their wives behind in Michigan & were having the time of their lives riding to Seattle on a 2 week vacation.  We talked with them for awhile; swapped stories and then headed out in different directions.  We decided to head into Yellowstone National Park (about 50 miles away).  As we arrived at the entrance to Yellowstone, Chuck's coffee started kicking in and we needed to make a pit stop.  Well, who do you think drove up while we were there?  Yep, the two dudes.  Crazy!  We swapped some more stories, oood and aaad over each others bikes (that's what bikers do) and headed out.  About an hour later, Chuck and I decided to stop and get a bite to eat in Yellowstone and who do you think walked in?  Yep, the two dudes again.  Now, normally I might think we were being stalked, but these guys were harmless.  Had lunch together, good conversation and hugged each other goodbye.   It was a good day.  A very good day.

Tomorrow?  Who knows........hope its as good as today!  (Check out my Buffalo picture!)

Also, we posted another YouTube video of our ride to Yellowstone & another one is on its way....go to:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTGcGNklUjY

P.S.  I would like for Stacy, Scott, Brandon & Garrett to know we're thinking of them and keeping them in our prayers during this time.  Our hears hurt for you right now....

Day 8: Does Anyone Know Who Buffalo Bill Cody Is?

Monday, June 8 - Cody, Wyoming

I learned something new today.  I now know who Buffalo Bill Cody is.  I know I must have been the only person in the world who didn't know who this guy was, but western/history never really was my thing.  This dude has his own museum here; and its very popular!  While Chuck checked out the 3,000 guns on display, I decided to go check out this movie room.  That seemed more of my liking.  Unfortunately, the whole film was on, you guessed it, guns.  What's the deal??!  So, I did what I always do when I'm bored to tears and I whipped out my Ipod Touch and started playing games.  I really don't know how many times the gun video played over and over again, but just as I was rounding the final lap on Crash Bandicoot on my Ipod, I feel someone looking over my shoulder. It was Chuck.  Oops......

We met a neat couple at breakfast this morning who were at the table next to us.  Chuck had been trying to figure out whether that animal head on the wall over my head was a Deer or an Elk.  It was really big so he felt it wasn't a Deer.  The couple at the next table said it definitely was an Elk.  We asked the waiter and, as he looked up at the huge animal head said, "I never even noticed that there before."  Hummmmm......... Anyway, turns out, the couple at the next table live in Cleburne, Texas.  Wow!  My sister and niece live just outside of Cleburne.  I asked if they knew my brother-in-law, Dr. Brady Rusk, who is the one and only dentist in Keene. Sorry Brady, but they get their teeth cleaned in Ft. Worth (I tried to get you some new business though).  In true Liz-style, I started talking and talking and talking and told them about this crazy cowboy that my sister and I saw a couple months ago sitting on a bull on the side of the freeway near where they live.  Turns out, that "crazy cowboy" is a good friend of theirs and goes to their Cowboy Church.  Whoa........how weird is that????

Well, tomorrow we take the "rig" in to the RV Hospital.  Keep your fingers crossed; include us in your prayers; throw salt over your shoulder, whatever works for you, that it turns out minor.

Talk to you tomorrow!