Glacier National Park

Today we visited Glacier National Park. This is an awesome park and well worth the time. Of course the fact that we had a cloudless deep blue sky might have prejudiced us a bit! Enjoy the photos.






Grizzly up close and personal:


Goose Island in Saint Mary Lake:








Jackson Glacier:


Falls near Logan Pass:








Lake Shelburn - Many Glaciers entrance:


Tomorrow is an errand day and then on to Canada! I will be posting using the text feature of my phone so we will see how that goes. Can't use data connection - way to expensive.

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Moving On...

Good internet is sporadic so my posts may not be consistent. Since I last posted we have moved on to White Sulphur Springs, MT which is east of Helena. We left Rapid City on Sunday, spent a night in Billings, MT and arrived here on Monday. There is not much to do or see in the immediate area but Yellowstone is about one and a half hours away so Tuesday we made a day trip into the park. It was a long day!! The last time I was in Yellowstone we only did the lower loop. Tuesday we did the entire loop, lower and upper, so I got to see some things that I had not seen before. But it was exhausting! It was after midnight when we got back to the motorhome.

Liberty Cap - a dormant hot spring cone.

Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces

Emerald Spring

Steamboat Geyser

Gibbon River

Spasm Geysers

Elk cow

Old Faithful

Male elk

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone - Lower Falls

Grizzly bear!!

Yesterday, Wed, was an R and R day.

Today we rode around looking at local scenery.

At about 8000 feet

We ran into a herd of horses.

Wild turkeys.

Wildlife Day

Drove the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park today. We waited until later in the afternoon to do this in hopes of seeing more wildlife. Saw pretty much the same animals as before - buffalo, donkey, antelope, prairie dogs, and turkeys.
























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Another day in Paradise

Being used to the instant internet in your home can make campground internet very frustrating. They may advertise wifi but it is not equal in all parts of the campground and is very much influenced by the time of day. I have found early morning to be the best time to post. Of course I never seem to get to it in the morning. :-)

Yesterday we toured Jewel Cave which is the second longest cave in the World. It was some what of a strenuous hike. There were 722 stairs that went up and then down and then back up again for one and a half miles. Made us huff and puff a little! There were some nice crystal formations but they were not very colorful. I was glad I went and we got to use our National Park Senior Passes!

We had to drive past the Crazy Horse Memorial on the way home so we stopped and I took a picture from the road. I wanted to compare that picture with the ones that we took the last time we visited. I don't think I am going to see much of a difference. It's going to take a long time to finish.

After we left Crazy Horse we drove the Needles Highway. This is a very scenic route with lots of twists and turns and several one lane tunnels. It can get a little hairy at times especially when you meet a large tour bus. But the scenery is gorgeous and we did get to see some wildlife.              

Today we took the motor home to get the last two tires replaced and all 6 balanced. I definitely will feel safer now.

Hart Ranch Resort Club

We are presently settled in at Hart Ranch Camping Resort near Rapid City, SD. We will spend a week here exploring the area, getting the last two new tires installed on the motor home, and waiting for some important mail to be delivered.

Today we revisited Mount Rushmore, drove past the campground where we stayed on our last visit to the area, and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather.

Crossing the Mississippi

Corn fields and wind turbines in Minnesota

At Wall Drugs in Wall, SD

Mount Rushmore

We made it across the Mississippi!

A lot has happened since my last post. We left the lake, squatted at Bob's cousin's house for a few days, took care of some last minute details, and bright and early Monday morning (July 2) headed out. Our first stop was at Camping World to try and resolve a braking issue with the car hauler. After 4 hours we were informed that there was nothing they could do to fix the problem but they would make certain everything was working the same as when we pulled in. Wrong!! Before we could leave Bob and Terry had to fix the lighting problems Camping World had just created. No wonder there was no charge!
1:00 pm - We finally headed west.
2:00 pm - Bang! Thump! Thump! Thump! Blown rear tire. Good Sam Roadside Assistance to the rescue.






5:00 pm - We limp to Camp Chautauqua on Chautauqua Lake for the night.












Having decided to purchase 6 new tires for peace of mind, we ended up staying at the campground until Friday because the tires had to be ordered. A phone call on Friday confirmed the tires were in but only 4. Go figure! Decision was made to have the four installed and purchase two more while in Rapid City. By 2:00 pm we were headed west once more.






To make up for lost time the guys decided to continue driving after dark. Not the best of decisions. Miscommunication between the driver and the navigators resulted in driving the toll road through Chicago instead of the bypass around Chicago. Also the lighting gremlin reared his ugly head again and started playing with the lights. Aargh!! Boy were we glad to see that rest stop!












Crossing the Mississippi River.






Wind turbines in Minnesota.






How we travel. :-)