Rocky Goes to Alaska

Monday, June 22, 2015

Day 24, 18 June 2015

Boise, ID to Pollock, ID 154 miles

As we drove north from Boise, the scenery changed from flat plain, dry grass to rounded green hills, to steeper, evergreen covered mountains with a white water river along side the road. The road narrowed, curved more, and lost its guardrails, making the drive more fun with each mile. The Payette River meandered near the road, and the occasional raft and kayak outfitter told the story of its turbulence and wild personality. We did see kayakers in the white water, we saw photographers, some amateur, some pro, and we found ourselves trying to capture images of the gurgling white water. This was a slow, but beautiful drive through the Boise and Payette National Forests. Our campground was really nice, too. Nestled between the hills, it was owned and managed by a creative young couple who planted a garden, built an old western façade over the utility sheds, and stocked a nice selection of food items (including Spam, which we have not purchased since leaving Hawaii). We commandeered the nicest site in the RV park – a pull-through right next to the river with a stone fire pit. It’s actually the nicest campsite we’ve had since we began this adventure. Life is good!

Beautiful Payette River

Creative town facade in campground

Salsa garden

Beautiful campsite

These Nutty Buddies are good!

Day 25, 19 June 2015

Pollock, ID to Coeur D’Alene, ID 232 miles

We followed the Salmon River for a while, through the canyon. Occasionally, we stopped at historic markers for a break, like Lawyer’s Canyon, named for an Indian leader called ”The Lawyer” by early traders for his grasp of the English language and ability to communicate. He learned English before the missionaries came in 1836 and helped them translate the Bible. There were beautiful patches of yellow flowering crops among the green. We think that was Canola. Originally bred from rapeseed at the University of Manitoba, Canada in the early 1970s, to lower the erucic acid level, the name Can(ada)+o(il)+l(ow)+a(cid) was coined to avoid the negative connotations of rapeseed. We camped at the Blackwell Island RV Park and Marina in Coeur D’Alene. We got the last pull-through site available (It is Friday). The campground is big (182 sites), with a beach along the Spokane River, and the marina has a floating (literally) restaurant.

Laywer's Canyon with canola field

Hell's Canyon

Floating restaurant

Campground beach on Spokane River

Campground Fire Hydrant

Day 26, 20 June 2015

Coeur D’Alene, ID to Fort Steele, BC 160 miles

Ran some errands in Coeur D’Alene prior to heading north, including Albertson’s for groceries (with a $10 coupon from the campground), Staples for some binders (using Charli’s $10 coupon and $16 rewards cash), and FedExOffice (formerly Kinko’s) to get all our RV and truck manuals 3-hole-drilled – all in an effort to organize the bag full of installation manuals, warranty literature, and reference materials that came with Rocky (finally have an indexed reference binder instead of a bag full of loose paper). After a nice lunch, we took off for Canada. The road north was scenic, going through the mountains, passing near lakes, and winding through heavily wooded forests. At the border, the Canadian border patrol did have a few questions, and they did search Rocky, but we left unscathed. We made it to the Fort Steele Resort and RV Park, nicely set in the foothills with friendly BC neighbors, watching the sun set, playing beer pong, shooting baskets, and dipping in the pool.

Another beautiful campground

Al's handiwork

Nice mountains

Day 27, 21 June 2015

Fort Steele, BC to Calgary, AB 250 miles

We enjoyed the scenery on the way to Calgary, especially the first half through the mountains from Fort Steele, through Fernie, to Crows Nest Pass. We drove through this area years ago on a ski trip, but we never before saw it in the summer, and it was Charli's first time in Alberta. What luck to find fellow loopers Roland and Alex (from Tosca II) at home in Calgary – on a break from their Great Loop adventure to teach a course this week at the University of Calgary. They were so nice to invite us to celebrate Father’s Day with them and their two sons, Ted and Stewart, and grand daughter, Tory, over a delicious BBQ dinner. We met when we were on the loop two years ago. They hope to cross their wake this year in Florida, and we hope to celebrate that achievement with them this Fall.

Fernie

Crow's Nest Pass

Road to Calgary

Alex and Rowland with us at their beautiful home in Calgary

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Day 19, 13 June 2015

Boulder, CO to Rawlins, WY 235 miles

The Wyoming Visitors Center was one of the nicest we’ve seen. In addition to a cool display of the wide variety of outdoor sports and tourist attractions, it also had an actual dinosaur skeleton. We took the Happy Jack Highway from Cheyenne to Laramie just to get off the interstate, and it was great - rocks, hills, and no 18-wheelers. On the way to Rawlins on I-80, we passed the Sinclair oil refinery. The familiar dinosaur is the Sinclair symbol. No oil wells were visible, but the refinery was massive. It processes in excess of 80,000 barrels per day, including heavy sour Canadian crude and Utah waxy crude coming in from pipelines. Although we did not see them, Rawlins has a dozen murals all over town, painted by local artists. General Rawlins arrived in the area in 1867 on a surveying trip for the Union Pacific Railroad. When they discovered a spring, he wanted it named after him. The Wyoming State Prison, also known as The Old Pen, first opened in 1901 and housed more than 13,000 inmates during its 80 years as a correctional facility. We took a tour through the prison, including its death chambers – gallows and gas chamber. Sobering. Only 13 inmates were executed in the prison’s history. Seems if everyone took a tour of a prison, maybe they would be discouraged from committing crimes. Southern Wyoming has a noticeable lack of trees.

Does my Jeep's new rear end make it look fat?

Wyoming Welcome Center

Dinosaur skeleton

Massive Sinclair refinery

Happy Jack Highway view

The Old Pen

Cell on death row

Gas chamber last used in 1965

Day 20, 14 June 2015

Rawlins, WY to Fort Bridger, WY 180 miles

Jim Bridger - beaver trapper, trader, and guide - established a trading post in what is now Fort Bridger in 1843 with his partner Louis Vasquez, in order to supply the needs of wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. Twelve years later, the Mormons bought the post as a resting place for their people emigrating westward. After a dispute with the US Government, they burned it before retreating to Salt Lake City. US troops arrived in 1857 and built what was to remain an important fort until 1890. It proved to be one of the main hubs of westward expansion used by mountain men, Indians, emigrants, Mormon pioneers, the US Army, the Pony Express, the Overland Stage, and the Union Pacific Railroad. It is now a Wyoming Historical Landmark. The original Oregon Trail ruts run right past the current replica of Jim Bridger’s trading post.

Commissary

Covered wagon on original Oregon trail

Replica of trading post

Day 21, 15 June 2015

Fort Bridger, WY to Pocatello, ID 219 miles

We passed the 13,400 acre Kemmerer Mine complex in the southwest corner of Wyoming. It is one of the Special Bituminous Mines that are allowed unique reclamation methods that focus on habitats and post mine land use options. The adjacent PacifiCorp power plant, which got our attention, gets its coal by conveyor from the mine. Fossil Butte National Monument is one of the ten least visited national parks, probably because it is in the middle of nowhere. Over 8,000 acres of outcroppings containing fossils are preserved. Tectonic forces warped the land 50 million years ago, creating a lake where ancestors of many modern mammals, fish, and reptiles flourished in a subtropical climate (one of our cyclical global warmings). When these creatures died, their remains were protected by layers of sediment. Later, under pressure, the sediment turned to limestone, preserving the fossilized skeletons in almost perfect condition. On certain days, visitors can join rangers on fossil hunts. Pocatello greeted us with a dark storm cloud hanging over the city, a flat tire on my bike, and a surprise hail storm.

Kemmerer mine and PacifiCorp power plant

Fossils recovered at Fossil Butte

Fossil Butte

Day 22-23, 16-17 June 2015

Pocatello, ID to Boise, ID 216 miles

On the way to Boise, we stopped at some of the towns along the Snake River. Most notably, Twin Falls is home to Shoshone Falls, sometimes called the “Niagara of the West,” and tumbles 212 feet to the canyon floor. Nearby is the site where Evil Knievel attempted his jump across the Snake River Canyon in 1974. Just upstream is the Perrine Bridge which spans 1500 ft. at a height of 486 ft. above the canyon. This bridge is a popular BASE jumping spot. We saw a hang glider come down from the brim to the river shore where three of his kayaking buddies were waiting in the water. Marti and Frank live in a beautiful high-rise condo right in downtown Boise. The view from their balcony is awesome. We rode about 16 miles on our bikes before we discovered a broken spoke and wheel, so we spent a little time (and money) at a bike shop. But the ride along the Boise River was great, and there were surfers wrestling with the waves below one of the small dams. We went to the horse races at LesBoisPark, winning some bets, losing others. Turned out that picking the jockey (Nikeela Black) was a better bet than picking the horse. And it was great to be included in Marti’s birthday celebration at a wonderful restaurant. So glad we got to hang out with Frank and Marti, and it may have been one of the few times we saw Marti outside of a ski trip.

Shoshone Falls

Snake River Canyon

Kayakers assisting hang glider in snake river

Marti & Frank on their balcony overlooking downtown Boise

Boise Greenway bike trail

Surfer on Boise River!

Marti, Al & Frank enjoying the races

Our horse won this race!

Unfortunately this horse didn't win

Happy Birthday Marti!

Friday, June 12, 2015

Day 9, 3 June 2015

Racine WI to McGregor, IA 220 miles

Wisconsin was the home of Frank Lloyd Wright for most of his life. First in Madison as a boy, then, after having a family in Chicago, he returned to design and build a country home on 600 acres in Spring Green, WI called Taliesen – a Welsh word meaning shiny brow – found in a poem that he enjoyed. We visited the Hillside Studio and Theater on the estate. It was built as a boarding school for his two aunts in 1902, then, it was converted into a School of Architecture in the 1930’s as a source of income during the depression. The complex includes 5000 sq. ft. of drafting studio, assembly hall, and theater. Wright designed not only the building, but also the furniture. We made it as far as McGregor, Iowa where we camped at Pike’s Peak State Park. Both this hill and the one in Colorado were named after the same man who was looking to build a fort in the early 1800’s. No wifi, no cell phone service, but some nice trails. We hiked a couple of those trails, one leading to a deer, and one to an overlook of the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. We could see three states: WI, IA, and MN.

Visitor Center at Taliesen

Watermill

Windmill named Romeo and Juliet

Pike's Peak Trail

Pike's Peak State Park

Overlook at Pike's Peak State Park

Day 10, 4 June 2015

McGregor, IA to Sioux Falls SD 323 miles

Near Pike’s Peak State Park was the Effigy National Monument, established in 1949 to preserve over 200 prehistoric mounds, shaped like circles, oblongs, bears, or eagles. They think that earthen effigy mounds began to appear 1400 years ago, as possibly religious sites or clan symbols used in seasonal ceremonies. Some show evidence of fire in the mound’s head or flank. Some tribal stories say the bear is the guardian of earth and the bird the guardian of the sky. Perhaps the mounds were a means of connecting the people to the land and their spirit world and ancestors. Our next planned stop was the SPAM Museum in Austin MN, but it was closed for renovations until April 2016. And my phone stopped working, so we headed to Sioux Falls to get a new phone. When we got there, it started working again, so I was no longer motivated to spend the money.

Day 11, 5 June 2015

Sioux Falls, SD to Belvidere, SD 230 miles

We passed through Mitchell, SD to visit the Prehistoric Indian Museum where there was an active archeological dig, sifting through the dirt left by Indians over 1000 years ago. We met Kate, a college student, who described the area she was preparing for a group of Exeter students coming soon to continue to uncover bones, tools, pottery, and other artifacts that may yield more information about the people who lived there. We also drove past the Corn Palace – a building on Main Street that is decorated with corn cobs and stalks every year by local artists. Strange, but it draws visitors traveling the interstate nearby. We heard from Dream RV – our RV dealer – they made an arrangement for us to get a new windshield installed in Denver next week. We are charting a course to make that happen.

Kate explaining dig area

Corn Palace Mural - all made of corn

Corn Palace Mural

Day 12, 6 June 2015

Belvidere, SD to Mt Rushmore, SD 247 miles

We met Lance, a Sterling College (Craftsbury Commons, VT) student working on his senior project as an Outdoor Education major – a bicycle trek from Vermont to the Big Horn Mountains in Wyoming (about 2500 miles), where he will compete in the Big Horn Mountain 100 mile trail run. Check out his blog on bikingtoasenseofplace.blogspot.com. Since he experienced 3 broken spokes, we gave him a ride to the nearest bike shop, which happened to be in Rapid City, SD. On the way, we checked out the Minuteman Missile silo - very sobering to think that there were 1000's of ICBMs ready to be launched between us and the Soviet Union. We went to Spearfish and headed south on the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, following Spearfish Creek (which they say is a great trout stream). The waterfalls and high rock walls made this an enjoyable drive. We drove through Mt Rushmore, saw the four presidents carved in the granite – Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln. An amazing project begun in 1927, the carving took 14 years. Though more was planned, chief sculptor Gutzon Borglum died in 1941. His son continued the project until the funds dried up. We settled in one of the last available sites at the Mt Rushmore KOA – what a zoo! Of course, it was Saturday night, so it was busy – really busy. It also rained really hard earlier, and there was flooding everywhere. A Latin band was playing on a stage nearby, they now have two restaurants and a huge gift shop in a lobby that looks like that of a Hyatt Regency, guys on bicycles delivering pizza, ladies in bikinis walking to the pool, and mud everywhere – an unexpected mix of visual and audio pleasure and muddy disgust.

Minuteman Missile

Bridal Veil Falls

Mt Rushmore in the rain

Day 13, 7 June 2015

Mt Rushmore, SD to Scotts Bluff, NE 202 miles

We visited the Crazy Horse Memorial. This is the world’s largest mountain carving in progress – and all with private money, from donations and entrance fees. Started in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, work continues today by his children and a professional team to carve a massive statue of Crazy Horse on his stallion. Lakota Chief Standing Bear hired Ziolkowski after seeing his work displayed at the 1939 World’s Fair. The Lakota wanted the world to know that the red man also has heros. The site will also be home to a university and medical school for Indians. Crazy Horse died in defense of his people who were ravaged and destroyed. (An American soldier stabbed him in the back under a flag of truce.) His hand will point to the Black Hills “where my dead lie buried.” Once a year, they allow people to walk to the top of the mountain, and this was the day, so there were quite a few who showed up to do just that, including Lance! He got his bike fixed and rode up from Rapid City to run up to the top. Our tour of other sites in the region was pre-empted by closed roads due to flooding and rock falls, so we headed south. In Hot Springs, we stopped for groceries to find a little girl trying to sell her rabbits – don’t see that every day. We managed to get as far as Scott’s Bluff National Monument in Nebraska. In 1919 Scotts Bluff National Monument was established by a presidential proclamation to preserve the natural beauty of the region, as well as to tell the story of the thousands of travelers who had filed past the bluff in their pursuit of a better life. This land feature was the defining landmark for the Oregon Trail and others. Our campground, Robidoux RV Park is owned by decendents of Joeseph Robidoux who in 1848 established a trading post near Scotts Bluff on the Old Oregon Trail.

Crazy Horse Monument

What the monument will look like when completed

Girl with "Snuffles" for sale

Dome Rock at Scott's Bluff National Monument

Day 14-18, 8-12 June 2015

Scotts Bluff, NE to Boulder, CO 180 miles

The Cheyenne Depot Museum displayed the history of the Union Pacific Railroad, with stories of Indian attacks delaying surveys and construction, “gandy dancers” aligning the rails, and the evolution of passenger cars. There were picture windows with comfy chairs, so you could sit and watch the trains go by outside. An extensive model railroad layout upstairs was donated by a railroad buff’s estate and nicely redone by some old timers still caring for it. Cheyenne was a major stop for the Union Pacific Railroad going from Omaha, NE to San Francisco, CA. Rocky got a bath when we got to Boulder. And it was great to find Chris home from the Nick Jonas London gig (and before he leaves for New York).

This was a chance to get the Jeep serviced, get a new phone, go to a baseball game at Coor’s Field, take some bike rides, explore Boulder, and hang out with Chris and Anna and Joe and Neian and Lilah and Lissa and Sam and Janet. We got to see Kali and meet the new Nauda puppy, Inga. The windshield was back ordered, so we could not get the warranty replacement. We had the crack repaired to keep it from spreading, and, at this point, we may wait to get it replaced when we get back to Florida.