Head South!

July 22, 2015July 25, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The RV lifestyle is supposed to be relaxed, with slow, periodic travel between destinations. Overall, I have tried to follow that guideline. However, I miss Charlene, so I am heading south for Texas. I am learning to enjoy staying in Walmart parking lots. It is fun to see all the different types of rigs and people that share a stay at Walmart.

Kem and I laughed at all the people that were staying at the Walmart in Laramie. He was not at all surprised that I stayed there because he knew how full their parking lot was with different rigs. After a great sleep, I got up early and headed east. I went through the last pass of the Rocky Mountains (thankfully) as I headed east of Laramie. I was very happy to have passed through the Cascades and Rocky Mountains. I am also very happy that I crossed these ranges through Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming rather than going through Utah and Colorado. The path I followed was generally not too steep and curvy. I had my share of steep turns, but I think it was easier than going through Colorado. I did that with a 5th wheel trailer years ago and I am very grateful to have found an easier (i.e., safer) route through Montana and Wyoming. It is also nice to see new territory.

I could have gone south into eastern Colorado from Laramie or Cheyenne, but I liked the idea of seeing western Nebraska and Kansas since I had previously been through I-25 in Colorado. Seeing new scenery is one of my goals of traveling in our motorhome. So, I decided to drive a longer route and go through Nebraska and Kansas. I am glad I did as it was nice to see all the rolling hills and crops growing in Nebraska and Kansas. Many of the roads were two lane roads, so that provided its own adventures, especially when a wide load truck was coming in the other direction! I am pleased to say that my motorhome mirrors never touched the mirrors of these big wide loads! A couple of times it might have been close, but everything went quite well. The most exciting aspect was the intense rain storms as I drove through Nebraska and Kansas. The poor Jeep was covered in brown slime from the motorhome and other vehicles on the two lane roads.

I pulled into the Walmart parking lot in McCook, Nebraska and was planning to spend the night. However, it was sort of hot, so I did not want to just sit around in the parking lot waiting several hours to go to sleep. I started looking at the map and my phone applications that stated which Walmarts allowed overnight parking. I decided to drive 3 more hours to Garden City, Kansas to find another Walmart and be that much closer to Amarillo. Garden City seemed like a nice community. I wish I could have spent more time there, but instead I got up early to hit the road. It is very nice to have a large generator and a full tank of fresh water to have a nice warm shower and power to recharge my phone and laptop. There were fewer RVs in Garden City and half a dozen semi-trucks spending the night at Walmart. The empty trucks that carried cattle were quite fragrant. The driver next to me in one of those trucks had his daughter that was no more than 6 years old with him. She seemed to be having a fun time with her Dad.

After passing through a narrow slice of Oklahoma, I went through many small road in Texas, weaving my way to Amarillo. I went down into one overpass that was only 13 feet 10 inches tall. I was so grateful that we had our motorhome weighed and measured at the Escapade last March. Our rig is 12 feet 10 inches tall, so I held my breath, and went forward under the overpass. Yeah! I made it through and did not scrape off the air conditioners on the top of our rig! I was very grateful that Charlene had made a sticker listing our rig’s height and weight and put it right on the middle of our dashboard. I looked at her sticker and decided to go forward. I am glad I did as there were no problems at all.

I cruised into Amarillo and found the Elks lodge. The two women I met in Hoquiam, Washington told me they really liked the Amarillo lodge. Although they do not have a dump or sewer connection, they do have 50 amp electrical connections and a swimming pool. This should be a nice place to enjoy Amarillo! I was close to the Canadian border in Glacier National Park just last week and now I am in the middle of the US in Texas. That map covers a large number of miles in a short duration of time. It is not the typical way to enjoy seeing the US in a RV, but it is worth it to spend time with Charlene, Amy, and Neil. I am glad I am I am now in Amarillo!

On the map page I added the path I have driven over the past few days. This is a huge number of miles in a short time!

Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas drive map

University of Wyoming

July 21, 2015July 21, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The University of Wyoming Cowboys!

I drove down to Laramie Wyoming from Devils Tower using mainly 2 lane back roads. The clouds and landscape were beautiful and it was a nice (but sort of long) drive. After getting fuel for the motorhome, I headed to the only Walmart in town to buy a few groceries.

You have to love a school where the mascot is a cowboy. Cowboys are rugged, hardworking, and usually have loads of common sense. Throughout Walmart, people were wearing clothing that said Wyoming Cowboys. The University of Wyoming is the only 4 year school in the state and it is obvious that the community is proud of their university.

Ed and Kem

My main goal in coming to Laramie was to contact Kem, a faculty member at the University of Wyoming. Kem and I used to work together many years ago when he was a Ph.D. student at the University of Arizona. It was fabulous to see him again! Kem gave me a tour of Laramie and the University. I learned that although Wyoming is a large state geographically, there are fewer than 500,000 people that live in the entire state. He liked working at a university that was not too large and found it easy to collaborate with other groups on campus.

The campus is beautiful!

Kem is working to develop some online courses and is trying to talk me into helping him create courses and lectures. I am trying to decide how large of role I would like to have. I still like giving presentations, but I also have really enjoyed being retired and having flexibility in my schedule. We will see what happens in the future. The plan is to have the new program start in the fall of 2016.

Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse

July 19, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Two rows of state flags on the way to view the sculpture.

It is very impressive to view the sculpture!

I discovered that Mount Rushmore is actually very close to Devils Tower. It is less than a two hour drive to the east, within South Dakota. I got up early and headed to Mount Rushmore in the Jeep. It was quite impressive to see Mount Rushmore in person. The details in the sculptures were amazing.

Abraham Lincoln looks so lifelike.

Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. Until today, I did not realize that the sculpture of Roosevelt included his glasses.

I enjoyed walking on the path that lead right below the sculpture. Until I got close, I never knew that Teddy Roosevelt had glasses.

Wow! Look at these guys!

After viewing Mount Rushmore, I drove over to see the ongoing Crazy Horse sculpture. It will be much larger than Mount Rushmore when finished. The white sculpture is the template and the actual sculpture is being blasted out of the mountain. What an enormous task to complete.

Crazy Horse. The white sculpture is the model and the background is where it is being carved from the mountain.

Devils Tower

July 18, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Devils Tower is so impressive!

I was excited to see Devils Tower in person!

Today was an exciting day. I drove from Gillette, Wyoming (courtesy of a great night’s sleep at Walmart) to Devils Tower. It is extremely impressive as it stands out as a high point with nothing else around it. I learned that Devils Tower was the first national monument created by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.

I think for many people, Devils Tower became most famous because of the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In my campground, they show that movie every night. My campsite was wonderful and had a great view of Devils Tower!

The campsite I was assigned had one of the best views of Devils Tower!

While driving to Devils Tower, it was apparent that there were two main “style” vehicles. 1) There were a large number of Corvettes and 2) there were a large number of motorcycles. Sturgis, South Dakota is not far away and it is a major hallmark for people to ride motorcycles from Sturgis to Devils Tower. You can buy all kinds of shirts, buttons, pins, and bottle openers that talk about riding from Sturgis to Devils Tower.

All kinds of motorcycles are ridden to Devils Tower.

Climbers love to climb to the top of Devils Tower. It was fun to watch them from a distance, but there is no way I would try it. That would be way too scary for me.

These climbers were amazing to watch.

Easy does it!

There is a trail a little over a mile long that goes all around Devils Tower. It looks different as you move around to view it from different angles.

And the Answer is?

July 16, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

A very popular camping site!

I got up early today to get the motorhome over to the Freightliner dealer by 7:00 am when they open. I talked with the service manager and the technician about how everything stopped working on the motorhome dashboard and then later started working fine as I drove into Missoula. The service manager said they had seen that before and that there was not really fix for it. I waited for 5 hours at the dealer and they checked everything possible. Everything came back great and they could not identify a reason for the dash shutting off. After 5 hours, they gave me back the keys and said to drive it as they could find nothing wrong. I was sort of happy and sad at the same time. I was happy they could find no problem, but sad they were unable to find the cause of the problem with the dashboard gauges. So the answer remains unknown!

So, I made a sandwich, ate a banana, hitched up the Jeep and headed east. I am not sure if it is faith or stupidity to start off on a desolate road hoping an electrical problem will not reoccur. Either way, I had no problems. Everything traveled great. I stopped in Bozeman for the night. One of my references described how the Bozman Walmart is very popular with RVers. I decided to give it a shot in the motorhome. There were already 20 RVs parked in the lot when I arrived and more keep coming with every hour. There is a whole city living in the Walmart parking lot. The nice couple next to me are from Colorado, but have Florida plates for tax purposes. This is going to be an interesting evening. Please do not disown me for sleeping at Walmart!

Glacier Natioal Park

July 15, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Glacier National Park is rugged and spectacular!

Today was fantastic. I had planned to meet a colleague (David) in Whitefish, Montana. However, since I was in Missoula waiting for my appointment tomorrow at the Freightliner dealer, I emailed him to see if he wanted to meet for lunch instead. He thought it was a great idea and I drove 2.5 hours north to meet him and his wife (Chris) just outside of the west entrance to Glacier National Park.

David and Chris love Glacier and spend two months every summer in a rental condominium and go on various hikes in Glacier multiple times per week. They thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity showing me some of their favorite places. It is a huge park, so we were limited to key places near the west entrance. I enjoyed the opportunity to take some photos and watch the clouds and light change on the landscape. It was absolutely gorgeous!

The Unexpected Sometimes Happens

July 15, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

After a stressful and confusing day, huckleberry ice cream was wonderful!

I headed into Montana today. I was making good time in the motorhome winding my way through the mountain passes. However, as I crested one pass and was going downhill, suddenly everything on the dashboard of the motorhome froze and all the lights but ABS went out. I pulled over to stop, prayed like crazy, turned off the motorhome, restarted the motorhome, and everything remained unchanged. Unfortunately, I had no cell phone coverage. The motorhome started fine, I had great braking, the speedometer was frozen, but I could read my speed from the GPS, so I carefully limped down the hill. When I got to St. Regis, Montana I was able to call our roadside assistance service. The technician said it sounded like I had some type of low voltage problem and that I probably did not have brake lights or turn signals. They thought I should not drive the motorhome and that I needed to be towed to a Freightliner dealer in Missoula. I was given an appointment in two days for the dealer to check out the motorhome.

I waited for a while and suddenly a truck with two people showed up to remove the drivetrain to prepare the motorhome for towing. After a while the tow truck arrived and we started discussing the problem. They were diesel mechanics so that started checking the batteries, etc. They found that although the dash was out, that I actually did have brake lights and turn signals on the back of the motorhome. We also tested the motorhome generator and it operated fine. Basically, they thought there was some problem within the “brain” in the dash, but that the motorhome was ok to drive. The reconnected the drivetrain and I headed down the freeway to an RV park in Missoula while awaiting my appointment at the dealer.

While checking into the RV park, the host told me they would be serving free ice-cream at 7:00 pm. After my stressful day that sounded absolutely wonderful! Yogi was there and the kids loved seeing him. This is a great Rv park for kids as they have a swimming pool, water splash fountain, miniature golf course, game room, pool table, etc. While eating my ice cream, I enjoyed watching so many kids having fun and running everywhere.

Ride the Hiawatha!

July 12, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

I have a light under my helmet, so I am approved to ride through the tunnels.

I drove to Coeur D’Alene, Idaho and am enjoying the beautiful scenery. This is a fantastic place to spend the summer. The temperatures are cool, there is a big lake in town, and there are many, many trees. It is gorgeous.

While I was in Enumclaw, Washington, a guy a met in the RV park where I stayed told me that if I drove through Coeur d’Alene, that I should be sure to Ride the Hiawatha. It is a bike path where the old Hiawatha train used to go. It is a 15 mile route with a shuttle to take you back near the top. The highlight is that you ride through 10 tunnels! The whole route is downhill, so it is an easy ride. The trail drops 1,000 feet over the 15 mile length.

It is an ideal ride for the whole family.

Impressively, the highlight of the route is riding through the St. Paul Pass Tunnel which is 1.7 miles in length. It is pitch dark inside the tunnel after riding a short distance. You cannot see anything, so lights are a requirement. People are hired to make sure no one rides the trail without a helmet and light.

Inside the St. Paul Pass Tunnel that is 1.7 miles long, completely dark inside, and quite chilly in temperature.

The high trestles are impressive in the midst of all the trees.

I highly recommend this ride! The whole family can enjoy it. There were two women in their mid-seventies that started riding just before me. Many kids were having fun splashing through the mud in the first tunnel. It was so much fun!

Ride the Hiawatha

The Palouse

July 9, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

I have had an intense couple of days driving. I started off yesterday morning on the Western coast of Washington and today ended driving right next to the Idaho border. I spent last night in Randall, Washington, right between Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens. I was planning to stop today in Yakima, but when I got there I was feeling good and just kept driving. I went down to the Tri-Cities (Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick) to get fuel and headed northeast. It was fun driving by so many wineries. I really enjoyed driving through the large Palouse area and am staying in a city-run RV park in the town of Palouse that is 3 miles from the Idaho border. Fewer than 1,000 people live in this town.

There is no hardware store in Palouse, so I drove down to Pullman to buy a new green garden hose since I got a kink and split our last hose. I then drove through the Washington State campus and saw their football and basketball stadiums. I was quite impressed with their football stadium. The Cougars are literally the only game in town. I have heard people say that it is difficult for other PAC-12 teams to get to Pullman for games with Washington State. Most teams usually fly to Seattle, then fly to Spokane, and then get a third flight down to Pullman. There are Cougar banners everywhere in town! Washington State certainly has an enthusiastic fan base.

I have heard of people going on photography trips to the Palouse and now I understand why. The rolling hills flow in all directions and it is nice to study their shapes and colors. I imagine the colors shift through the seasons as fields are planted and harvested. I wish I could spend more time here, but I need to move down the road.

Beach Day!

July 6, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

The beach was beautiful!

After several days of running all around, today was a day to sit on the beach and enjoy the sounds, smell, and, tranquility of the beach. I found a quite beach in Ocean Shores that looked out over the Pacific, pulled out my chair from the back of the Jeep, planted it in the sand and grabbed my Kindle to read. It was very nice and very refreshing. I needed a sweatshirt because it was cloudy and windy, but it was so nice to enjoy.

One very cute black Labrador came to visit and it made me wish I had a dog. This guy was very happy and friendly and it was fun to watch him enjoy being on the beach. He walked up and put his nose in my lap and we enjoyed greeting each other. However, soon he ran off to join his owner. What a great dog!