Day 19 – Monday, July 15, 2013

We started out the day in Grant Village campground in Yellowstone NP.

Grant Village campground in Yellowstone NP

We had a leisurely morning and then headed off to see Old Faithful. It was a 17 mile trip in the wrong direction but totally worth the journey. We followed the boardwalk around a number of geysers in the field.

Julie notes “Do you see anything wrong with this picture? Besides the obvious that I look way too young to be travelling with this guy and that the look on my face says ‘these are definitely not travel friendly underwear’. Besides all of that, ‘No Hats, No Sunscreen = No common sense.’ We are a little pink because of that, sunburnt and embarrassed to be sunburnt. The air temperature was around 30C. The ground and water temperature approximately a kabillion C, according to the facts that I read on the signs.”

…and finally, Old Faithful erupted almost on time. Julie notes “Yes the unfaithful among us were beginning to doubt Old’s faithfulness. But she did not disappoint. I was glad I hadn’t showered in the morning and was still wearing my yesterday’s old geezer, geyser outfit, because we were treated to a cooling spray as we admired her. But it leaves one covered in crusties and I had a strong urge to make boiled egg sandwiches for lunch.”

Old Faithful erupts, almost on time

…and the crowds were there to watch. Julie notes “The crowds were huge but it was fun to be part of the build-up as kids of all ages anticipate the show. A group across on the viewing platform broke out into the American anthem, people smiling and discussing the phenomenon. Then there was the hot and crowded parking lot to contend with… But all worth it.”

and the crowds there to watch

We then traveled the 17 miles back to where we started crossing the continental divide 3 times on the way.

Julie notes “This is what happens when you cross the divide one too many times in one day.”

We continued southward into Grand Teton National Park (NP). 

Julie notes “Montana was Magnificent and now Wyoming WOWS us! These peaks just jump up out of the ground, craggy and fantastic.”

We stopped at the visitor centre where we sent yesterday’s blog post on the free wifi. We ordered a couple of pizza’s to go from Doran’s Pizza and had a drink while we waited in the 31C temperatures. Julie notes ” We realized a 100 miles down the road that they made the wrong pizza for me. But it was quite tasty, but no MT Moran like I ordered. Didn’t stop me from cleaning up the last crumb. We heard a sampler of the ‘Hootenany’ that was going on at the nearby Chuckwagon restaurant and bar. We’re guessing a few more beer would make it all that more appealing.”

This picture is for Frank and Lola who teased us with beer and wine pictures throughout Europe. The only mistake I made was drinking most of it first before I remembered to take a picture. J Julie notes “Don’t let him fool ya! He was intent on slugging back that beer. I was the one who stopped him in time and snapped this shot.

It was then onward past Jackson, WY to our campsite at Hoback River forestry campsite. Our kind of place. It is quiet and secluded. Our site is right on the Hoback River. We ate our pizza along with a few cold ones and a nice bottle of wine. Life is good!

Our campsite at Hoback River forestry campsite

This picture is for my truck and camper lovin’ buddy, Fin.

Julie wanted to go skinny dipping in the river but this is all you get to see. Julie notes “You’ll have to imagine the ‘skinny’ part in every sense of the word.”

We were thrilled to see 3 Great Blue Herons roosting along the river…plus we are checking off of our list; Mountain Bluebirds, American Robin, Yellow Happy Go Lucky Warbler, DipsyDoodly Swallows, Trumpeter Swans, Chirpy Little Brown Birds, BusyBody Magpies and assorted other no name but Pleasant Company Sparrows. Now I know it is hard to believe but we are not ornithologists but we HAVE watched the movie “The Big Year” 1.5 times.”

I wanted a fire and I was trying to get someone’s attention. Julie notes “Oh I thought this was how excited Brad got when we spotted the 3 Great Blue Heron’s flying and roosting along the river.”

…carry on folks, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “We had an iPod music day dedicated to our friends yesterday, including a Lola song, a few Linda songs, an array of Leonard Cohen, shouting out to our friend Karl who is such a fan he has vowed to go to Leonard Cohen’s funeral when and if that sad event ever happens.”

Day 18 – Sunday July 14, 2013

We left our nice little KOA site in Great Falls, MT and headed south to Yellowstone National Park. It was mostly sunny and temperatures hovered around +25C but reached as high as +30C. Julie notes “The song playing on the local radio channel was ‘Do the hustle!’ so we hustled up some yogurt and berries and coffee for breakfast and hit the road, looking forward to some warm, shorts weather.”

Nice little KOA site in Great Falls, MT

We made a brief roadside stop at Sluice Boxes scenic lookout. Julie notes “We were an unwilling audience to a helmets vs no helmets discussion amongst some motorcyclists as we read the historical info. The wife of one of the bikers seemed to also be an unwilling audience as she tried to strike up a different conversation with anyone she could, EVEN us! It IS a strange sight to see bikers zip by with mostly graying locks flapping in the breeze. ‘Ride safely and well ahead or behind us’ is my prayer for them all.”

Sluice Boxes scenic lookout

We stopped under the Big Skies of Montana so the sidekick could make us some lunch. Julie notes “Do you want fries with that?”

The big skies of Montana

We entered Yellowstone at the town of Gardiner passing under the Roosevelt Arch. ‘Julie notes “Not to be confused with the Golden Arches. We drove back and forth several times trying to find the intercom to order those fries mentioned above.”

Roosevelt Arch, Gardiner

Some spectacular scenery awaited us in Yellowstone but it is extremely popular and very, very busy in mid-July. This is probably not the best time to visit. Julie notes “Note to self, there is a reason seniors such as ourselves, travel in the fall. ‘People, people everywhere and a not a drop to drink, or a stop to think, or a pot to stink.’??? I know there is another saying in there somewhere. The tame onlookers were everywhere but behaving very respectfully as they watched the wild elk, bison, perhaps a bear in the distance, trumpeter swans, geese and birds of all manner.”

We took a small boardwalk around the Norris geysers. Julie notes “We kept saying ‘This is so cool!’ but it was actually very hot. We may be oxy morons. But the colours of the different thermophile organisms that have adapted to the different temperatures of water were, well I’ll say it again, very cool. Not colours you see on your usual nature walk.”

Old geezers with the old geysers? Julie notes “Well at least one old geezer! And this note goes out to my dad who signed his daily emails with an OG, for Old Geezer. Miss you dad. You would’ve loved to see this.”

We carried on through many of the park roads looking for a campsite for the night. One of those side trips took us over the Dunraven Pass pass at 8,859′. All of the campsites were full and we were starting to think we would have to drive quite a ways south out of the park to find a spot. Luckily, however, one of the agents at Bridge Bay campground found us a site and reserved it for us at the next campground on our way south, Grant Village campground. It was getting late, but we set up the BBQ, cooked some nice Costco Belmont burgers, and had a fire. We were both tired after a long but enjoyable day (except for the other people who think they should be here too!) Julie notes “Speaking of fire, we saw much evidence of the fire of 1988. But Mother Nature is amazing at reclaiming and reforesting the landscape. I am looking forward to reading more about that at the Visitor Centre tomorrow, so that I can immediately forget it and misquote all kinds of facts.”

Julie notes “‘mmmmmm’, because her mouth is full.

…over and out folks, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Or Yogi and BooBoo or the Old Geysers

Day 17 – Saturday, July 13, 2013

We packed up this morning in Calgary and got ready to head south. Jaime’s friends Terri-Lynn and Jay have an almost 2 year old son, Fin. He loves big trucks. Before we could leave he needed a turn behind the wheel in the big-arse dually diesel Chevy. J He loved the truck, wheels & tires, and camper almost as much as I do. Julie notes “Fin used to be a well-rounded little tyke who danced with his Auntie Jaime and fed babies, raced cars and tweeted with the birds. I am afraid we may have spoiled that with ‘the big truck’. His eyes were like saucers and grin as broad as can be. Just like when Brad looks at me, if I am standing in front of the dually. Brad was sure tickled to have such a big, little fan. We highly recommend that camping spot. Showers are top rate, coffee plentiful and the hosts very friendly. They give away free homemade ketchup and hugs to their guests.”

The Julie’s Dually fan club – Fin and Brad

Once we convinced Fin he would have to stay in Calgary with his parents, we headed out on the open highway towards the US border.

A large trestle in Lethbridge, AB

 Julie notes “We also saw a restaurant and liquor store in a ‘revamped’ forestry teepee burner and a Ric’s Grill in a ‘refurbished’ water tower. But we ate supper in our ‘resealed’ truck camper. Brad redid the roof before leaving and that is good because we have had a lot of rain. Thank you Brad.”

The Sweetgrass hills of Montana in the distance.

Crossing the border into the US at Coutts, MT. They had the drug sniffing dog on patrol today circling each vehicle as it passed through US Customs. The van ahead of us was asked to pull over for further investigation. We sailed on through as good innocent Canadian citizens. Julie notes “All I can say is thank goodness the dog wasn’t craving Uncle Herb’s famous popcorn as I may have had that scent on my breath, and my fingers and where I wiped my fingers on my pant legs. We were all ready to declare everything right down to the last slice of cucumber in our fridge but we looked too boring I guess and he sent us on.”

Crossing the border into the US at Coutts, MT.

You’re too boring. Carry on.

We drove into Montana as far as Great Falls. We are staying at the KOA in Great Falls. They provide a couple hours of folk music in the pavilion. Tonight’s entertainment was provided by Grant Stephens. When he broke a guitar string the performance was over. All in all he is a pretty good guitar player and entertainer. Julie notes “They also provide wi-fi but unfortunately it is spelled more like w-iffy as we could not connect at our site. So to download some pictures from our gmail Brad headed with tablet in hand on the 5 minute trek to the wi-fi zone. Then back again to the camper for the code written on the campground receipt. Then back to the wi-fi zone, then back to the camper because what I had handed him was the grocery store receipt, not the campground receipt. Then back to the wi-fi zone and then success and back again. Now you can imagine how hard it was for me to read my book with all these interruptions not to mention eat my popcorn without choking because I was laughing a fair bit. Brad wasn’t having any issues with too much laughing by that time.”

Grant Stephens – not a Gordon Lightfoot fan and comes with no spare strings attached

Julie notes “This first KOA experience was better than I expected. The sites are close together but well treed and thought has been put into the design of the campground. Amenities seem nice, although we won’t be using most of them. W-iffy, wi-fi but we need to start weaning ourselves off anyway, right? And our neighbours thoughtfully played their music full blast so that we wouldn’t have to waste power running our own music. Luckily we liked the music they were playing. But they shouldn’t give up their day jobs to become signers.”

Yellowstone Park tomorrow? We’ll see.

The Muleskinner and his sidekick

Or rather Yogi and BooBoo “Did you pack a picnic basket?

Day 16 – Friday, July 12, 2013

Busted Belts or Oh my darling Serpentine!

We left Kamloops this morning after coffee and breakfast with Aunt Lynne and Uncle Herb. I must say that I have never seen two people settle into a new place so quickly. They look right at home after 2 days. Julie notes “It was with a few tears that I left my Aunt and Uncle in their new digs. As is the Holmes way, they have faced adversity head on and moved forward. Aunt Lynne sent us off with wise words to live by … “Enjoy each other, good times and bad, because you never know when it all may change.” We will try our best to follow that advice (but I may need some extra resolve where Brad is concerned). Aunt Lynne also stocked us up with a couple of bags of Uncle Herb’s famous secret recipe popcorn. Only one bag survived the trip through the pass.”

We traveled the Trans Canada highway east from Kamloops towards Calgary, our destination for the day. It has been many years since we traveled that route. The scenery is quite spectacular. I’m not sure if we will be able to compete with the beauty of the Canadian Rockies for the rest of our trip – we’ll see, I guess. Julie notes “I agree with Brad on that note. We live in a beautiful place. But we’ll try to keep an open mind as we travel on. I have been practicing my Spanish as we travel along and so far can fluently say “The lady eats an apple.” That should get us far! I have noticed Brad speaking to passing motorists in what I assume is Spanish. He keeps yelling something like “Dum-Ass!” which I gather is Spanish for “Good driving my friend!”

One of the avalanche tunnels along the highway.

Today’s wildlife count; We did see a mountain goat along the highway but we were not able to get a picture so the photo below will have to do. Julie notes “Speaking of wild life, Brad claimed there were some ‘low flying ducks’ in bed the other night. I knew better. And an irate trucker flipped us ‘the bird’ and we are still puzzled why but will add that to the list of ‘foul’. Crazy fools on ‘hogs’ in rain and hail also make the list.”

Wildlife at Roger’s Pass.

We arrived in Golden, BC for a Tim Horton’s coffee. Julie went in to get the coffees while I waited in the truck. I started hearing a slight engine rattle but not alarming. I wasn’t sure what it was. I was going to find out in a few minutes though! We pulled back out on the highway and within a block I lost all power – steering and brakes. We pulled off the highway onto a service road using the old “armstrong” method of braking and steering. Julie notes “We are not promoting any Lance Armstrong products.”

I opened the hood to find a broken serpentine belt – oh my darling, serpentine. An idler pulley had seized and caused the belt to break. I called Alpine Auto Centre at 3:00 PM on a Friday afternoon. They sent out a technician to check on our situation. He quickly found the cause and said he would fix us up right where we sat. Off he went to get the parts and returned in short order with a new belt and pulley. He and his assistant had it installed in a few minutes and we were back on the road within an hour and a half. Amazing service from Alpine at a very reasonable price. Julie notes “Heroes come in all shapes and sizes!”

Oh my darling, serpentine!

Amazing service from Alpine

Julie notes “Heroes come in all shapes and sizes!”

We arrived late in Calgary at our daughter Jaime’s place for a sushi feast – the second broken belt of the day J

Sushi feast strains another belt today

Julie, Jaime and her friend Terri-Lynn toasting the opening of the sushi feast! Julie doesn’t think you will be able to tell which one is which. I just humour her.

…that’s the post for today folks, carry on, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Day 15 – Thursday, July 11, 2013

We started off the day in the Big Berland Forestry campsite at a balmy 5C and rain. We headed off to Hinton, AB to fuel up and grab a Tim Horton’s breakfast but not before we were hit with a 5 minute hail storm. Now I understand why they build canopies over fueling stations.

Hooray for canopies!

What the hail?!

The sun tried to peak through the overcast sky on the way into Jasper, AB.

We carried on into BC and through Mount Robson Provincial Park. Mount Robson was not to be seen on this cloudy day. Did you know that Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies? Julie notes “Yes we all know that because you mention it every time we pass by here! Only ~130 days together to go?”

Mount Robson where are you?

We stopped in Blue River, BC at Mike Wiegele’s Heli-Ski resort restaurant for lunch. Julie notes “We first worked up an appetite exploring all the ‘closed for the season’ buildings on the other side of the road. If we get this confused in little old Blue River, how will we cope in foreign lands?”

We headed to Kamloops, BC to visit Julie’s Aunt Lynne and Uncle Herb in their new condo right downtown. They have a view over the North Thompson River valley to the north and the city skyline to the south.

The Kamloops’ view – Mount Peter and Paul

They moved in on July 9^th and are already looking quite at home by July 11^th. Julie notes “It was so great to see AL and UH looking so comfortable in their new digs. And pass on some hugs from family across the land.”

AL and AH looking comfy in their new home

Julie and I headed over to the Noble Pig after supper and a visit with Lynne and Herb. I sampled their craft beer brewed on-site, I think. Very good.

The Nobel Pig beer sampler

Julie notes “I had a gin and tonic. It was good too. And the animal count so far on this trip is: one soggy black bear, a few white tail deer, one looked like a new fawn, a couple mule deer, a few elk taking their chances outside of the Jasper Park pearly gates, and after my second gin and tonic, a herd of pink elephants.”

That’s it for today folks.

…carry on, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Day 14 – Wednesday, July 10, 2013

After a day of packing, organizing, and saying our good-byes to friends and family, we were on the road again at 5:20 PM.

Leaving the homestead in the hands of our capable children, nephew, and their friends.

Leaving the homestead to the responsible ones!

The camper is loaded and ready to roll. Our home for the next 130+ days!

Our home for the next 130+ days!

My navigator has the map at hand. Will we get out of town?

The scenery on Highway 40 south of Grande Prairie on the way to Grande Cache, AB.

We are camped for the night in a little forestry campsite on the Berland River. We have camped here many times. There is only other camper here tonight. It is 12C with a light drizzle. Our sweltering friends in the south and east probably can’t even imagine that temperature right now.

Onwards to Kamloops, BC tomorrow for a brief visit with Julie’s Aunt Lynne and Uncle Herb. They just moved into a new condo in downtown Kamloops yesterday. I hope they are ready for us J

…carry on, the muleskinner and his sidekick