May, 2002

Sunday, May 12 - Day 1   (339 miles / 0 toad miles)

The weeks of waiting and planning are over. The big morning has finally arrived. It's a cool morning in Tallahassee, a prelude to hotter, muggier things to come. Yesterday we attended Cheryl and Steve's wedding then made a final trip to Wal-Mart for those last few essentials. The Journey was filled with the remaining clothes; furnace filters were changed; bills were paid; and Anne was schooled again in how to manage a household.

The morning brought loading the refrigerator and the many bottles of pills; you can't travel without a fully stocked medicine cabinet. We awoke a sleepy Anne and called Christy, at her request, so she could wish Carol a happy Mother's Day. As we finished the last few trips from house to RV, Paul and David Skelton stopped to give us their best wishes. Hugh Burke then appeared bringing a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies the soft variety, not the crunchy ones and to let us know again how envious he was of our upcoming adventure.

Good-byes said, we made the final walk-around then cranked up the 330 HP cat. As it warmed for a moment, David Skelton made a final, surprise visit to the door of the Journey and once again wished us well.

Sunday was a day of travel. We prefer U.S. highways and state roads to the bustle and sameness of the interstates. North on Highway 27 to Bainbridge, then northwest on Highway 84 to Dothan reprised a trip we had made on an earlier shakedown cruise. Continuing further north on Highway 231 to Montgomery, we joined Highway 82, the road that would serve as our path across Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and most of Texas.

Alabama is a surprisingly civilized state: rest areas with 24-hour attendants are situated about every 50 miles, even on the lesser highways we chose to travel. The "scenic view" from the first rest area qualified more as a view than as scenic, but who stops to look anyway when a restroom awaits. Leaving Dothan, we noted several points of interest that would make for a long weekend trip: the Ft. Rucker Army Aviation Museum; the town of Brundidge, which promised antique stores galore; and a pioneer village (the official one, not the commercial copycat) on the far side of Troy.

A late lunch, at least late for us given the time zone change, brought barbeque at Country's BBQ in Troy, apparently part of a small chain since it was not the last we would see that day. My Conglomeration Platter of ribs, chopped beef and chopped pork provided enough left-overs to serve as my take-home dinner as well.

The driving was uneventful, mostly on lightly traveled four-lane divided roads, through the largely familiar scenery of south Georgia and Alabama. We saw our first real hills, some pecan groves, and a few peach orchards, although the latter are not yet in season and the small roadside stands have remain boarded-up. Alabama sported both an large iron pig and a large chrome rooster. Twinkle Andress is running for State Treasurer and we saw our first Gospel End-Time Deliverance Church. The road markings in Montgomery left something to be desired, and we made a brief unscheduled side trip from Highway 82, but quickly rejoined our route without having to backtrack.

The weather was bright and sunny, and by the end of the day had climbed to the low 80s now familiar to those of us from Tallahassee. We stopped for the night at Lake Lurleen State Park, a few miles northwest of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A nice pull-through site awaited us on the shore of the lake. The site was sufficiently sloped that the leveling process brought our right rear dualies totally off the pavement, but we survived the night without collapse or other incident.

Before a dinner of left-over BBQ (for me) and ham and potatoes (for Carol), we walked for about an hour in the evening heat. The campground had a fishing dock, a man-made beach with a roped off swimming area, an RV storage area, and both hillside and lakefront sites. Carol took the first photos of the journey, of four ducks sitting calmly in the middle of the park's entrance road. Fast, low-flying birds of an unidentified species flew over the lake and under a short concrete bridge that connected the entrance station to the campground proper.

The evening cooled off nicely. After watching the cliff-hanger season finale of Alias, we opened the windows and vents for our first night on the road.

Monday, May 13 - Day 2   (437 miles / 0 toad miles)

For the inquiring minds among you, the travel times [omitted from the on-line version of this journal] are measured from departure to arrival, with no deductions for meals, rest breaks, sightseeing, and other travel activities. They are not meant to imply that the Journey tops out at 40 mph.

Monday was another travel day through the last bit of Alabama, across central Mississippi, through southern Arkansas, and into Texas at the twin cities of Texarkana. The songbirds were out in the morning campground on what started as an overcast day then turned to morning drizzles. A cold front came through, and by the time of a mid-morning ice cream stop, it was mid-60s and windy, forcing Carol to change from shorts to jeans. After noon, the weather got warmer and sunnier, hitting the low to mid 70s by the time we stopped for the night.

Central Mississippi was characterized by roads under construction, catfish farms, and, in the western part of the state, what appeared to be either rice fields or very well watered farms. The Mississippi river separating Mississippi and Arkansas was full of fast-flowing water. A high narrow bridge required the driver's full attention, though peripheral vision brought sight of a large river barge moving upstream against the current. Mississippi and Arkansas are less civilized than Alabama -- no roadside rest areas and no welcome stations, at least not on the lesser traveled routes that we prefer.

Once across the bridge into Arkansas, the road was built on high ground; a good choice since the tributaries to the Mississippi had all overflowed their banks, making for good fishing on both sides of the highway. Our stop at the Catfish House in Hamburg, Arkansas brought an economical lunch buffet with lemon broiled catfish; fried catfish; country fried steak; fried chicken; French fries; fried okra; fried hush puppies; and, to offset all the fried food, a good salad bar. We arrived shortly before the end of the lunch hour and had the place to ourselves. On the outskirts of one small town an enterprising homeowner had constructed a fence of antique (read rusty) plows.

According to the campground guides, southern Arkansas is a wasteland for campgrounds, so we set our sights on Piney Point, one of three Corps of Engineers campgrounds on Wright-Patman Lake, a dozen miles south of Texarkana, Texas. We located the campground with no difficulty, although I did manage to drive the Journey into a dead-end parking lot, requiring us to unhook the toad before arriving at the campground gate. The season has not yet arrived, and we got a nice, pull-through site overlooking the lake in two directions. While the campground is relatively open tonight, most sites have reserved signs on them for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. More pleasant here now than then.

While un-racking the bikes, I met a retired Newmar-driving couple who stopped for a few minutes to chat. They are returning from a five-week journey, but will not even stop at their house (only the post office) before proceeding to a Newmar rally in Dallas-Fort Worth. They have been to a rally in Branson and are planning to join a Newmar caravan that departs Quebec later this summer for Nova Scotia. They swear by the rally and caravan lifestyle.

After a brief rest, we mounted our bikes for a quick trip around the campground. Our first circuit brought us back to re-inflate the tires and for Carol to unsuccessfully practice her dismount; she got a scraped elbow and a stretched back for her efforts. With full tires, we departed again for a trip up to the front gate, past a sign which shows that both Florida and east Texas are in the range for poison oak, poison ivy and poison sumac, some of the few areas of the country with this distinction. We also stopped for a quick look at the water treatment plant, which pumps water out of the lake to service the campground and surrounding areas. Our evening journey ended with a view of a beautiful sunset overlooking the lake.

Today was cooler than yesterday. At camping time it was in the low 70s with a nice breeze, so we shut down the air conditioner and opened all the windows for a nice fresh cross-breeze. After watching Jay Leno, including the Monday night headlines, we shut down for the night at about 11:00 p.m. (CST).

Tuesday, May 14 - Day 3  (0 miles / 100 toad miles)

Today was a day of rest, relatively speaking. We were awaken this morning about 6:30 by loud neighbors. Carol went back to sleep for a couple of hours while I wrote the first two-day installment of this journal. It was in the mid-60s when we finally got started for the day, and warmed to the mid-70s by afternoon.

After stopping at a Burger King for breakfast, we drove south about 50 miles to Jefferson, Texas, where we spent the better part of the day in antique stores. Texas roads have dual speed limits, 70 mph day and 65 mph night. We purchased a John Wayne collage for Jonathan Johnson, with a picture of the Duke, a copy of his death certificate, and a copy of his funeral home bill, including a $12,700 coffin -- pretty pricy for 1979. For myself, two 1890's documents: one a summons in a civil suit for $50 and foreclosure on a wagon, the second a post-judgment letter to the debtor apologizing for the suit and urging her to pay as quickly as possible.

Lunched in a small Mexican restaurant. The owner spent much of his youth in Florida, in his early years picking Oranges first in Okeechobee then later in Orlando. After more shopping we stopped in an unauthentic general store where we had authentic vanilla sodas. Before leaving town, we stopped at a do-it-yourself carwash and cleaned the toad, which was filthy from yesterday's drizzle.

We made a stop in Atlanta, Texas on our return, but found nothing of interest in the two small antique shops there. Atlanta did have a Wal-Mart, good for groceries and a miscellany of RV supplies, including a hamper and a tool kit for the bikes. ATM cards even work in Texas.

Returning to the campground, we went for a 45 minute walk before an evening meal of PBJ sandwiches. Our habit -- if you can call it that after three days -- is to eat a dinner type meal out at lunchtime with something simpler in the RV in the evening. No TV to speak of, so we retired early for a good night's sleep.

Wednesday, May 15 - Day 4   (373 miles / 0 toad miles)

Today was another travel day. Travel, rest, travel. Anyone notice a pattern? Weather was cool this morning, low-60s in the Journey and mid-60s outside when we arose. It got to the low-80s this afternoon, but with high winds it felt cool outside all day.

The land had a few hills and generally was higher than the coastal areas we traveled to date. Like Arkansas, Texas has few billboards, so there is not much reading material during the day. We passed many fields of some short grain plant, saw a few cattle, and passed a road-equipment graveyard. Texas has many roadside picnic areas, though few true rest areas, at least on the non-interstates. We stopped at a picnic area for a quick sandwich lunch. During one of my frequent rest breaks, I finished Steinbeck's "Travels with Charley," which I had started before we left Tallahassee. Texas also has wide shoulders and people are good about pulling onto the shoulder to let faster traffic pass.

Since the right real dualies are about 10 pounds low, we stopped twice for diesel today, looking for a place to top off the tires. Not entirely successful, since the one stop with an air hose only put out about 100 pounds of pressure, and we needed 110.

Stopped for the night in Goodlet, Texas, about 120 miles shy of our optimistic destination of Amarillo. The Old Towne Cotton Gin RV park has no trees -- typical of the scenery for most of the afternoon. The office is in one end of an old cotton gin, hence the name. The winds are still high, so we retracted the slide-outs to avoid an awning problem. Our next-site neighbors from Tennessee are returning home from the west and report 70 mph sustained cross-winds near Salt Lake City, Utah.

We called Anne this evening, the first of our scheduled Wednesday night calls. She is doing fine after three days on the job. Had some questions about bills, including whose name she should sign to the checks, since she assumed that signing my name would constitute forgery.

Dinner was hot dogs and baked beans while I watched the season finale of Amazing Race. If we get a decent start in the morning, we should make our first real destination, Taos, NM, by nightfall.

Thursday, May 16 - Day 5   (437 miles / 10 toad miles)

We must have got a decent start this morning. It was about 64 degrees at departure time, rising to the high 70s by day s end. We made Taos by 5:30, helped of course by gaining an hour between Central and Mountain time. The roads climbed from an elevation of about 1500 feet near Goodlet to almost 6000 feet in New Mexico, all the time staying in the high plains. Not a mountain in sight, and it's still higher than Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi. Saw a lot of grain elevators, dry creeks, and round fields planted to take advantage of the large sprinkler systems. New Mexico is suffering a drought. Roadside signs say "Please help prevent grass fires." There's no Smokey the Bear, however. Maybe Pete the Prairie Dog would be a reasonable substitute.

We finally reached the mountains by late afternoon and the first try at mountain driving went fine, although Carol tends to vocalize when we round the mountain curves. Just before the mountains we saw our first buffalo herd of the trip, though it was only in passing since there was no place handy to pull off the road. Speed limits in Texas were 70 mph, even on roads in fairly populated areas; New Mexico speed limit is 60, even on roads with no traffic or houses for miles.

In Taos, we checked into the campground for 4 nights and got a sunny spot parked head-to-tail with a travel trailer from California. The neighbors are returning home from a 3-1/2 month trip to the Southeast which they had been planning for 15 years. Apparently neither Southern hospitality nor such a long trip is their cup of tea, they say future trips will be shorter and will stay out west. They do want to make a trip to Alaska at some point, including a ferry trip to Nome, where he lived as a youngster when his father was stationed there in the Navy.

We drove up to the North end of Taos and back to get the lay of the land. Stopped at a bank for our first ATM withdrawal -- the card works even in New Mexico, guess it's part of the civilized world after all. We had a Mexican dinner followed by Survivor and the season finale of ER for me, and an episode of CSI for Carol. After Sunday's season finale of Survivor, my "must see TV" will be finished for the summer.

Friday, May 17 - Day 6   (0 miles / 25 toad miles)

Today was the first of three "destination days" in Taos. It got into the low 50s last night, both inside and out. We ran the furnace for a while early this a.m. to take the chill off. It got to the low 80s during the day, so we are in no danger of freezing.

After sleeping in, we started the day at the Taos Pueblo. The architecture is, as you may have guessed from the name, pueblo style. We snacked on fry bread, and bought souvenirs for us and a pair of ear-rings for Christy in the many shops in the pueblo. On the way out, we stopped at the Indian-run casino and invested $10 each in the 25 cent slots, which are pretty tight.

We then parked downtown and spent the late a.m. and afternoon touring some of the many galleries and tourist shops. Except for the greater number of galleries, it's sort of like Gatlinburg but with pueblo style architecture and no Ripley's museum. The galleries confirm our excellent taste -- everything we liked cost multiple thousands of dollars. We had lunch at Ogilvee's restaurant, a club sandwich for Carol and a huge breakfast burrito for me. After more sightseeing and shopping, we returned to the RV park for a short afternoon nap.

We can see mountains on the edge of town, and in the distance, one of them is still topped with snow. It's supposed to be in the low 40s tonight, with high 70s again tomorrow.

Saturday, May 18 - Day 7  (0 miles / 30 toad miles)

The weather was as predicted. After arising this morning, we made advance campground and train reservations for the upcoming week. Normally we just stop wherever but, with the Memorial Day holiday, we decided discretion was the better part of valor. It's a good thing we called ahead, we got the last campground space in the RV park we called in Moab.

Our first stop of the day was the bridge on US 64 across the Rio Grande Gorge. It is the second highest bridge on the US highway system, some 500 plus feet above the river. The weather was brisk and with a slight wind when we walked out on the pedestrian walkway for a view of the river. I thought I was over my fear of heights, at least when there is a chest high railing, but my stomach still got tied in a knot and I chose not to look directly down over the edge into the gorge.

After taking photos of the river, we returned to Taos and visited more galleries, the Kit Carson house and Museum, and the Taos Art Museum. Kit Carson was an interesting character, although much of what you read about him was fictionalized. One of the displays held his holographic will, which was written just after his wife died ten days after the birth of their last daughter and just before his own death a month later.

Lunch was at Don Martin's restaurant, no relationship to the shoes, and the highlights (for me) were chilled watermelon jalapeno soup and a delicious bread pudding dessert. After lunch we quickly concluded shopping for the day and took in Spiderman at the local cinema. When Spiderman was released a couple of weeks ago, it had the highest grossing opening weekend in Hollywood history. It was a good story, but certainly not the best we have ever seen.

Took a short leisurely walk around the campground before returning to the Journey for a light dinner. Met a couple who are traveling with their two Saint Bernards, and another fellow whose son climbed Denali (Mount McKinley) about a decade ago.

Sunday, May 19 - Day 8  (0 miles / 10 toad miles)

Woke up this morning to hear scratching on the roof. We had birds trying to nest in the refrigerator vent. Plugged it up with a towel and that seemed to work.

Made a final trip to town to see the last few galleries and shops. On the way in, we got the toad washed by some youth group who did a better job than we usually get in Tallahassee.

During our time downtown, we bought gifts for Jane/Russ and Anne and bought pastries for breakfast at a crowded bakery/restaurant. The most interesting gallery featured works by Ourey, whose paintings change color depending on the level and direction of light. The most interesting shop featured old doors, windows and wood decorations, most imported from India when old Indian buildings are demolished. Carol and I talked about paying for a trip to Taos for Anne (our daughter artiste), so she could see the wide variety of art forms.

It thundered and then sprinkled for about half an hour. We went back to the campground and had a quiet afternoon reading in the RV. Dinner at Tequila's, the Mexican restaurant we ate at the first night. After dinner we called David and Marina and wished them well. I then watched the season finale of Survivor while Carol watched TV and read.

Monday, May 20 - Day 9  (209 miles / 10 toad miles)

Today was a travel day. After an unexplained "Wait-to-Start" light, we finally got underway about 8:15. (We later learned that wait-to-start means that the combined oil and radiator temperature is below some magic cut-off point --leaving the ignition on for about 45 seconds before cranking heats something up.) Stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant in Pagosa Springs then continued to Durango. At one point we climbed to 10,600 feet then descended to about 7,000. The engine brake worked fine and we had no trouble on the hills.

After a mid-afternoon check-in to the Lightner Creek campground, where we got a relatively shaded stream-side site down a steep hill, we went in to Durango to look around. Visited a couple of antique stores and tourist shops. Found a bookstore where I bought the new Sandford novel and a quilting shop where Carol bought a variety of pastels for a quilt she plans to copy from the Pottery Barn catalog.

Checked voice mail from downtown. David had called about 1:30 his time to announce the morning birth of our second grandchild, Zachary Pais Melson, who weighed in just shy of 7 pounds. Baby and mother are reportedly doing fine; that is, sleeping.

Had sandwiches for dinner in the RV and set off the smoke alarm with the toaster. We only get one TV channel here, so most of the evening was spent reading.

Tuesday, May 21 - Day 10   (0 miles / 10 toad miles)

Today was our trip on the Durango-Silverton narrow gauge railroad. Departed Durango at 9:00 a.m. for a 9+ hour trip. About 3-1/2 hours to Silverton, a couple of hours there for lunch, then the return to Durango. The morning was fairly pleasant, but as we gained altitude the weather got colder. The return trip was cold and windy. We were seated in a gondola car, with open sides. It had excellent views, but did nothing to protect from the wind. Fortunately we had packed several layers of clothes and survived the trip with no severe discomfort. The Silverton stores did brisk sales of sweatshirts to many of our travel companions.

Lunched in a restaurant in Silverton which had the heat turned up to about 90 -- quite a change from the last leg of the train ride. We walked the main street in Silverton and stopped in a number of shops. About the only purchases were a handful of Christmas tree ornaments that Carol picked up in a Christmas shop.

Returned to the RV for dinner. Tried to call David to congratulate him, but just got his answering machine -- he's probably at the hospital with Marina and Zachary.

Wednesday, May 22 - Day 11  (160 miles / 10 toad miles)

Today was a travel and housekeeping day. We drove from Durango to Moab, Utah, where we will stay for three nights. It was a short trip, and we checked in to the Portals RV Park (down a long drive and next to another RV park that fronts on the road) and got downtown by 2:00. Had lunch at an all-you-can-eat Chinese lunch buffet. Arrived at the end of the lunch hour, but still had a decent selection.

After lunch, we stopped at a mailing store to ship home the first box full of souvenirs and gifts. We then did four loads of laundry at the local laundromat. Returned to the RV where we checked in with Anne and watched cable TV. The RV site is level, but there is no shade. The campground has a mix of motorhomes, pop-up campers and tent campers. With Memorial Day weekend coming up, the campground is supposed to be full by Friday night.

Thursday, May 23 - Day 12  (0 miles / 85 toad miles)

Today was a sightseeing day. We slept in until about 8:30, then spent the day in Arches National Park. It was cool in the a.m., about 45 at waking time, and warmed up to about 70 during the day. Purchased an annual National Parks Pass at Arches, then went into the park and did a lot of hiking. The first, and major, hike was 3.0 miles round trip, 460 feet up and down, to Delicate Arch. There was a group of English and South African students making the trek, along with some sort of college group. Also heard a number of German speakers.

We also hiked/walked easier trails to Skyline Arch (0.4 miles), Broken Arch (1.2 miles) and Sand Dune Arch (0.4 miles). Total walk for the day was 5 miles, with the Delicate Arch hike a pretty strenuous one -- glad the temperature was cool, I'm not sure we would have completed the walk if it were summer.

Ate a late (about 4:00 p.m.) lunch at a small Mexican restaurant where the owner was having words with the just-arrived waitress, then returned to the RV for a short nap and to watch an episode of CSI. Made a late evening run to the grocery store, where we bought pre-made sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch, along with groceries for the upcoming week.

Friday, May 24 - Day 13  (0 miles / 106 toad miles)

Today was another sightseeing day. We drove about 10 miles north of Moab to the northern entrance to Canyonlands National Park. Hiked only one short (0.5 mile) trail, but walked to a number of overlooks. Canyonlands is entirely different than Arches. The travel level is a high mesa with two levels below it. The first level down is another mesa, the second is the river canyon/gorge. The colors are amazing all shades of red, yellow, brown, beige and some green vegetation. It's hard to capture either the colors or the scale on film (or, more properly, digital), but at least I didn't accidentally delete all my photos, as I did yesterday for Arches. We ate our picnic lunch at the Grand View picnic area, joined by a couple of chipmunks, then returned to the RV by early afternoon.

Took in a 3:00 p.m. show of Star Wars II, then returned to the RV for photo downloading, writing, TV and a light dinner.

Saturday, May 25 - Day 14  (311 miles / 10 toad miles)

Today was a travel day, from Moab Utah to Logan Utah. There was quite a change of scenery along the way. North of Moab was Canyonlands-type landscape, followed by distant snow topped rocky mountains, followed by distant mountains covered with short greenery. Much of today's travel was on an interstate, which seemed to be the only practical way to travel north through central Utah.

We fueled up at a Flying J truck stop and for the first time found an air hose capable of putting air into, rather than taking it from, the right rear duals, so we finally have the right air pressure. Had a buffet lunch at the Flying J as well.

Stopped at the Travelland Campground which is located behind a Ramada Inn. After hooking up, we went into town for haircuts and a look around. Logan and North Logan are bigger than they appear on the map, and run for quite a distance north and south through a wide long valley.

The street numbering in Utah is simple and repetitive. Every town has a Central Street and a Main Street that run at right angles. The remaining roads are 100 North, 200 North, 100 East, 200 East, etc. At least it makes things easy to find.

Called home in the evening and talked to Anne and Christy. Christy and Toby had come to Tallahassee to visit for the holiday weekend. Anne is going to refill several of Carol's prescriptions, and we will call back later to let her know where to FedEx them. We had a light dinner in the RV.

Sunday, May 26 - Day 15  (187 miles / 51 toad miles)

Today was a travel and sightseeing day. We started with a big breakfast at the IHOP in Logan then drove to the middle-of-nowhere Utah where we toured EBR-1, the first nuclear power plant. It was part of a complex that later housed 50+ reactors for experimental purposes. Like every power plant, it has a SCRAM device to drop control rods and shut down the nuclear reaction. The name comes from the first nuclear reaction conducted in Chicago. The control rod was held above the reactor by a rope-and-pulley system and the "Safety Control Rod Ax Man" was charged with cutting the rope with an ax in the case of a runaway reaction. We had lunch in the RV in the EBR-1 parking lot then continued another 20 miles or so to Arco, Idaho, the first town lit by nuclear power on an experimental basis -- for one day in the 1950s.

Southern Idaho continued the Utah practice of numbering streets by their direction from the town center. However, for the first time since Texas, the city limits signs show population instead of elevation.

Checked into the Landing Zone RV park, a clean park run by a retired 32-year career Army Colonel. We immediately hopped into the toad for a 25-mile drive to the Craters of the Moon National Monument, where we upgraded our National Parks Pass to a Golden Eagle Pass that covers all federal fee areas, not just national parks and monuments. We spent about three hours in the monument area, and walked several short trails, including one pretty long climb to the top of a cinder hill.

Our neighbors in the RV park were a family with three children from Salt Lake City who were taking a Memorial Day weekend trip in their new 5^th wheel. They had a three year old daughter, Emily, who was a real chatterbox. We did a couple of loads of laundry in the park laundromat, then had a late sandwich dinner in the RV.

Monday, May 27 - Day 16   (289 miles / 20 toad miles)

Today was a travel day. Much of the trip was through the Salmon River valley. We pulled off the road by the river for lunch in the RV. During the day we crossed the 45^th parallel, halfway between the equator (where we have never been) and the north pole (where we are not going). About 2:00 p.m. there was a real change, as we climbed into mountains with real trees and finally into an area with big patches of snow beside the road.

Once we arrived in southern Idaho it began to rain for the first time on the trip since a couple of sprinkles the first or second day. Then we hit a long construction zone. Both the RV and toad are covered in mud. We stopped for two nights at Jim & Mary's RV park just north of Missoula Montana. We immediately took the toad for a car wash then ate dinner at Outback, grocery shopped at Albertson's and bought a replacement for a defective TV remote at Target. We spent most of the evening reading (me) and doing crossword puzzles (Carol). I am just about finished with the new John Sandford novel that I bought in Durango.

Tuesday, May 28 - Day 17  (0 miles / 121 toad miles)

Today was a sightseeing and shopping day. In the morning we drove through some more rain to the National Bison Range about 40 miles NW of Missoula. It stopped raining shortly after we arrived and the day turned sunny. On our 2-1/2 hour loop drive through the park we saw magpies, pheasants, mule deer, white tail deer, prong-horn antelope, bison, and one distant elk. This was the first real wildlife of our trip and made for a very enjoyable morning.

We had a fried chicken (from Albertson's) picnic lunch in the park before returning to Missoula for a couple of hours visiting antique shops in a hard-to-navigate near downtown area. We also checked with a couple of RV places for fan vent covers, but no one had in stock the ones that are needed for our high speed Vantastic brand fans. Because the park had a gravel road, we had picked up a lot of mud on the toad, and so had to get it washed for the second time in two days. Dinner was sandwiches in the RV (for me) and Outback leftovers for Carol.

Downloaded four days worth of pictures and wrote four days worth of journal before stopping to see what's on TV. I plan next to start reading the book on spy craft that Mike Smith (Elizabeth Smith's husband) lent me before we left Tallahassee.

Wednesday, May 29 - Day 18  (131 miles / 50 toad miles)

Today was a travel and shopping day. Started the morning with a RV wash ($1/foot) at a truck wash near our campground. The short day's drive took us up the west side of Flathead Lake, the largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi. Checked in for three nights at the Spruce Park on River campground in Kalispell, Montana. The Fed Ex package containing Carol's prescriptions was waiting for us on arrival. We had a nice site backing up to the fast flowing Flathead River. The only undesirable thing about the park was the large number of permanent residents.

After a lunch at Burger King, we retraced our steps and visited a number of antique stores south of town, including one weird store that was like a dark army surplus store with junk piled from floor to ceiling. Carol did manage to get a single bow tie, so the visit was not wasted. On our afternoon trip, we also found an RV service shop that could order vent covers to be installed over our kitchen and bedroom fans. They should arrive on Friday.

Had a light dinner in the RV and called Anne for our weekly check-in.

Thursday, May 30 - Day 19  (0 miles / 122 toad miles)

Today was a combination sightseeing and shopping day. In the morning, we drove into Glacier National Park. Due to unseasonably late snow, the Going to the Sun Highway through the park was not yet open, we could only get 16 miles into the park. We did buy a couple of hooded sweatshirts at one of the privately owned stores in the park and we saw a herd of five deer crossing a wide mountain stream. The river by the park road was flowing furiously, and we got several pictures at different overlooks.

Ate lunch at Pizza Hut then went to a couple of antique stores but found nothing of interest. Returned to the RV where we had a light dinner and I watched most of the Godfather DVD.

Friday, May 31 - Day 20  (0 miles / 40 toad miles)

This morning we slept in, then took the RV to have the fan hoods installed. While that work was underway, we drove back into town and hit a bookstore, where we bought a collection of Garrison Keillor CDs, and a large antique mall in the basement of a western store, where Carol bought a couple of napkins. After finding a bank to convert some of our cash to Canadian dollars, we then went to the town mall where we bought some books at Waldenbooks and had gyros for lunch. On the way back to pick up the RV, we stopped at both the Salvation Army Mega Thrift Store, where they were having a 50% off everything sale, and at a quilting store, where Carol picked up some more fabric.

After a short nap, we shopped for groceries. Back at the RV park, we grilled hamburgers for dinner the first time we used the barbeque grill. It cleans easily and will get a lot more use once we get to Alaska.

About 6:00 p.m., the Army Corps of Engineers arrived at the RV park with heavy equipment. After years of trying to get the COE to install rip rap along the river banks only to have Fish and Wildlife object, the campground owner succeeded in having the COE declare an emergency due to the high level of water in the river. They worked until about 11:00 p.m. and started again at 5:30 in the morning, making it difficult to sleep in for a second day.

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