Into Montana And North To Glacier

We got on the road early Thursday morning after a nice stay in the Arco Craters of the Moon KOA.  Driving north to Butte, Montana we stopped at the local Walmart and restocked our empty pantry so we could make it a few more days.  No need to starve.  We got into Deer Lodge where we had a reservation at another KOA park.  It is a small park next to the river and within four blocks of downtown.  Deer Lodge has several buildings on the National Registry and a group of citizens who want to revitalize the downtown area but they really have their work cut out.  Unfortunately, as with a lot of U.S. small towns, business isn't exactly booming.

It is the home of the Montana State Prison who just happens to be the towns biggest employer.  The city is surrounded by large areas of grass lands, prime area to raise cattle.  At one time Deer Lodge was division headquarters for the Chicago, St. Paul, and Pacific Railroad.  The last or "golden spike" of the first transcontinental railroad through Montana was driven at Gold Creek in 1883.  The Northern Pacific Railway was completed with spike.

Small towns thrived when the railroads came.  Business was good.  It was easy to get products from the surrounding areas to market and just as easy to get what the town needed.  During the cold war there was thought to be a need to move men and equipment quickly from one side of the country to the other and the interstate freeway system was built.  Unfortunately for small town America, moving troops and equipment quickly meant bypassing cities and towns.  Instead of a highway through town there was a freeway around town and that coupled with the loss of the railroad in 1980, Deer Lodge has suffered some of the same economic issues as other small towns.  There are some things that still survive but better than 30% of the buildings are empty.  One building housed a leather shop that is now closed, however it appears they just up and left because there is product in all the windows.  Belts, saddles, boots.

While Mia visited the local quilt shop I found the local bakery and they had my favorite, maple bars.

I find it very sad that many small towns have seen prosperity from the railway and desolation from the interstate highway systems.  Yes ,I use the interstate but I much prefer to use other routes whenever possible so I don't miss some wonderful memories as I fly down the freeway at 75.

We left Deer Lodge on Friday morning heading for Coram, Montana and North American RV Park.  We chose not to stay at the KOA park here due to the amount they charge.  While we would likely have cable and other amenities we are happy with basics and wi fi for much less money.  The park is nice, clean and well kept.  We arrived late afternoon on Friday and had time to visit Glacier National Park to see what was available for us to do.  After a short discussion with a ranger at the visitors center we were on our way back to the trailer with brochures in hand to make decisions as to our Saturday.

Hope everyone is well.  Thanks for stopping by.

Clean Up, Pack Up Day

Our final day in Arco will be a quiet day for clean up, pack up and load up for an early morning start heading to Dear Lodge, Idaho on our way to Glacier National Park.  Unfortunately we have learned that Going To The Sun Road is still partial closed due to a late snow storm.  We will be able to go up the west side to the road closure and then take a trip back around the park to the east side to visit the other open part of the road.   But we have come this far and it doesn't seem like that big of a drive when you consider what we did on this past Monday.  We have totally enjoyed our stay in the KOA park.

Arco is small town America with a total census population of 990 according to the 2012 census.  There are no big stores in town.  They have two small markets, one locally owned and one recently added chain store.  Three fuel stations, a truck stop, two r.v. parks, a couple of motels, a bar (local watering hole) and a couple of restaurants.  There is no fast food here.

This town is the crossing point for just about any place in Idaho.

Some might say it is the town where satan lives.  On Highway 20 is the conning tower for a nuclear submarine that was decommissioned in 2000.  The USS Hawkbill (SSN-666) was the last of the Sturgeon Class attack submarines to be decommissioned.  Because of the towns long association with the Navy and their nuclear fleet the conning tower of the "Devil Boat" was installed along the highway in 2003.

They have a torpedo and special instructions for those who may choose to park in the area.

There is constant traffic through town.  Most of it involves what appears to be the cash crop in this part of Idaho, hay.  18 wheelers with as many as three trailers move down highway 20/26 and turn down highway 93.  Not sure where they come from or where they are going but there is a steady stream of them from sun up to sun down.

The town appears to be laid back as witnessed by the sign in the Butte County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

The town is small and Main Street is a highway.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention Pickles.  While we didn't eat there, they claim to have a really great burger, the Atomic Burger.  Oh, and a big chair for Mia to relax in.

We hope to get everything set for an early morning pull out tomorrow.

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

One Awfully Long Day Of Fun

Our day started at 5 a.m. as we rose and left Arco for Idaho Falls and then up the highway to cross through three states (Idaho, Wyoming and Montana) and cross the Continental Divide four times during the trip.  Call us crazy but we decided that 450 miles plus for a day trip wasn't a big deal.  I can honestly say we all enjoyed ourselves but we were very tired when we got back to Arco.  The destination?  Yellowstone, West Entrance.

We entered the West Entrance and did the entire lower loop as seen on the map bringing us back to to the same entrance.  Since we only had the day we went through the park rather quickly stopping at several places along the way to allow our resident geologist to explain what we were looking at.  He started off by telling us that we were actually crossing through a volcanic caldera created by three super volcanoes the last being around 640,000 years.   So under us, hiding from all the beauty of nature around, lies a hotspot of molten rock.  And above ground, Yellowstone reminds us with mud pots, steam clouds and constant earthquakes.  Earth plates are moving and magma is flowing constantly.

While all of that is going on underground, above ground hundreds of people admire the beauty of nature and the wild animals that inhabit the park.  It is amazing how pristine the park is considering the 3.5 million people are inside the boundaries on an annual basis.  It was hard at times to move or find a place to park but it was worth all of the inconvenience.  We all had an amazing time and learned a lot.  I'll let some of the pictures we took speak about the beauty of the park.

I took over 500 photos while in the park.  Obviously we wouldn't suggest that anyone do it this way and I am sure the next time we come back, we won't.

More Fun From The Graduation Trip

We spent Sunday driving down south to the town of Shoshone.  Named after Native Americans the town was first laid out in 1882 in anticipation of Union Pacific and the railroad being built.  In 1883 Union Pacific set up camp near town and Shoshone claims to have the longest main street in the country due to four sets of railroad tracks that run right through the center of town.

We aren't much on tourist attractions but couldn't resist the Shoshone Ice Caves just out of town on our way to Ketchum and Sun Valley.  This is a privately held roadside attraction that cost a couple of bucks but is an interesting venture into the ice caves.  According to our guide the caves were discovered by a 12 year old chasing a goat.  No idea if he found the goat.  Apparently during a volcanic eruption a lava tube was formed creating what is billed as the largest underground refrigeration unit in the world.  Nearly 1,000 feet long, 30 feet high the cave has 15 to 30 foot deep ice across the floor.  The temperature was thirty degrees the day we visited.  In the past Shoshone was billed as the only place for hundreds of miles that you could get a cold beer.

We drove up to Ketchum and Sun Valley mainly to say we had been there.  As we drove we noticed that everything along the route seemed to get more expensive looking and by the time we got to Sun Valley we were well outside our league.  It is no wonder that those that work in and around this area choose to reside in Shoshone where things are a little more economical.  We got home fairly early and spent the evening resting up for a big day on Monday.

Between Ketchum and Sun Valley into a strange looking RV.  Wonder what they were thinking?

Hope all is well and thanks for stopping by.

More Graduation Trip

Still hanging out in the KOA park in Arco, Idaho.  We visited the Craters of the Moon Monument and there are no words to describe this place.  It is both eerie and beautiful.  We climbed a volcanic cone, hiked some trails, and went down into the lava tubes/bat caves.  I took all the pictures for the Craters with my new Galaxy S5 but haven't figured out how to load the pictures on my camera so I can share them.  We also went to EBR 1 that is just south of Arco. EBR 1 was an experimental breeder reactor that gave the town of Arco the ability to say they were the first ever to be powered by nuclear energy. Unfortunately there was a minor accident and it is now a place to visit.  Again I took all the pictures with the Galaxy S5.

Today we drove off into the mountains.  The plan was to drop our grandson at the Borah Peak Trailhead and scout the area while he attempted to climb to the summit.  As he left he made it clear that the summit was probably out and he would climb for three hours and turn no matter where he was.  We figured his total time on the mountain would be roughly five hours so off he went and we went exploring.

Reading the Instructions

While we have internet it is very slow and pictures such as the one above take some time to load.  We needed fuel so we returned to MacKay, Idaho.  Once fueled we took off back up Highway 93 towards the mountain that Zach was climbing.  I found a country road that obviously went through a farm valley and since we all know how much I love the farm, I forced Mia to sit through miles of nothing but farms and fields.  I was in search of old farmsteads but I didn't find anything much older than the 1950's.  I did find a couple of old buildings that are being preserved.

We looped through the valley and came back out to Highway 93 a few miles before the cutoff for the trailhead.  We were on our way to the next town a few miles from the cutoff when I decided to check my phone for messages.  Zach sent me a message saying that he had reached the 9870 foot level and had encountered severe winds and could see thunder clouds closing in.  He had mad a decision to come back down off the mountain.  Time being what is was we didn't think we could get to the next town and back before he was down so we waited for him at the trailhead.  About forty five minutes after he texted he popped out of the woods on the trail heading down.

Good to know that he has a level head and will come down if conditions don't warrant further exploration.  We spent the rest of the day in the small town of MacKay, Idaho before returning to the trailer for much needed rest.

Hope this finds everyone well.  We are looking forward to some moisture from the heavens tonight and maybe so thunder and lightening.  

Thanks for stopping bye.

Graduation Trip

We left Gold Bar Tuesday morning and spent a leisurely day driving to the land of atoms and glow in the dark water, Kennewick.  We had originally intended to spend the night boondocking but decided to stay in RV parks instead.  I found a park online that appeared to be okay, not so much.  It only had a couple of free spaces because most of the spaces were taken up by what looked like migrant workers, people with medial issues or welfare participants.  Needless to say we couldn't get out of the park fast enough on Wednesday.

We drove through eastern Oregon on Wednesday.  We remembered our last incident while driving through this area and stopped for fuel before we began the climb out of Pendleton to LaGrande.  We had a pretty uneventful trip as we climbed over the mountains and heading to the Catfish RV Park in Huntington, Oregon.  This park was much better than the night before.  Right on the Snake River across from Idaho it was a small well run park.  Except for the bugs that are generally near rivers, we had a great time.

Today we drove into Idaho and made our way to Arco, Idaho just east of the Craters of the Moon National Site.  We will be spending a few days in what appears to be a very nice KOA park.  There isn't much to Arco but we will spend our time here hiking at the Monument and other locations.  I am very glad to be parked and not driving.

Hope everyone is well and thanks for stopping by.

Graduation Trip

We are in prep mode for our trip with our grandson Zach.  He graduates Saturday evening and we will leave Sunday to go up to Gold Bar and get the trailer ready to roll on Tuesday.  We haven't taken a trip like this with the trailer so it will be an adventure.  We are leaving Gold Bar and making a big loop that will take us to boon docking spots along the way with two lay overs.  We'll visit Toppenish, WA and Ontario, Oregon on the way to Arco, Idaho.  We stay in Arco for a few days and then hit the road again. We overnight in Butte, Mt and end up at North American RV Park in Columbia, Mt for and extended stay before returning to Gold Bar via an over night stop in Coeur d'Alene, Id.

Zach has prepared a list of hikes that he wants to take during our stops as well as some of the  sites he would like to see.  Mia and I are looking forward to this trip and many more to come.  We'll try to keep you abreast of what is going on as we travel down the road looking for wifi to download the blog.

Hope everyone is well and thanks for dropping by.