Actually, two busy days.  Yesterday we drove the twisty, turny, 16A up to Mt. Rushmore.  It was a beautiful drive on a very tiny road.  Thank goodness we were in the Honda!  There were two "pigtail" bridges, where the road turned around and went under the bridge after we passed over it.  There were two tunnels in the black rock.

Mt. Rushmore was impressive; the development at the base of it, with cafe', ampitheather, viewing platform, etc., etc., is a bit over done, but all in all it was well-worth the drive.

We then went to the unfinished Crazy Horse monument.  It is amazing, even more so because the sculptor and the Native Americans will NOT accept any financial help from the US Government.  It is done all through a foundation that includes the deceased sculptor's wife and 7 of their 10 children, plus others.  It will be magnificent when it is finished.

Today, we drove on another twisty turny road through some incredible rock formations call the "Needles".  This had many wonderful views of these strange formations, and two tiny, barely 8-foot wide tunnels.'

Tonight, we returned to the Crazy Horse monument for the light show.  This was also wonderful.  The admission to the show was three cans of food per person.  I didn't get an opportunity to find out where the food goes, to the tribe, or to a food pantry.  But I liked the idea!

Now I am finishing a book about Crazy Horse's life, written by a Lakota.  It is very interesting and hits me again, like so much of this trip, how badly we treated our Native brothers and sisters.  All in the name of Manifest Destiny, and hiding behind what was called "Christianity".  Shameful!

We are resting in Buffalo, WY.  What a magnificent ride today!  We climbed up to Powder River Pass, about a 15-mile pull, through the Big Horn Mountains in Big Horn National Forest.  The ride up was breath-takingly beautiful; the 20 or so mile down was still interesting, but not as amazing as the other side of the Pass.

 This is one big beautiful state.  It seems every corner has something to be amazed at.  I tried to get pictures of the Buffalo Bill Dam yesterday, but the sun was in the wrong place.  The gorge there is.....I've run out of superlatives, again, just like in Alaska.

Tomorrow we make the longer haul to Custer, South Dakota, 183 miles from here.  There we will hopefull find a campsite open, unhook the Honda, and drive to Mt. Rushmore.

Oh, today, on the top of the Pass, there was SNOW on the northern roadsides!  If we had left yesterday....Well, we didn't, thanks to my insistance on attending church on Sundays.

Dave feels stronger everyday.  I drove a bit today, to give him a rest, but he gets bored sitting in the passenger's seat, so I never drive very long.

This is the first rain we've seen in weeks.  We have been incredibly lucky with the weather.  The desert needs it, however, so we don't mind.

The service today at Christ Church, Episcopal, in Cody, WY, was great; they used the propers and Great Thanksgiving for Children's Sabbath.  The children did everything but the gospel (read by a retired Bishop), the sermon (given by said Bishop), and the celebrating.   Lots of kids in this parish.

We were invited to join at a luncheon being given by the J2A middle school class.  We accepted, gratefully, and gave our donation and chose a number that gave us a spot at a table.  It was a strange set-up:  the tables in the middle of the room were decorated with tablecloths and candles; our table and the rest of those around the room were not.

The children read the Mark version of feeding the 5,000, prayed, and then the meal was served.  ?? !!  The center table got lovely salads, fresh rolls, steak, baked potatoes, and the rest of us got.....CREAM OF WHEAT!!  It took a second for all of this to hit us.  Everyone was good-natured about it.

Interestingly, the CHILDREN at the center tables, the lucky ones, shared their food with their friends at the other tables.  The adults DID NOT.  The middle schoolers came out, then and asked about how we all felt about this.  The conversation was good, although by now the little kids at the outlying tables were making a lot of noise about their Cream of Wheat, so it was hard sometimes to hear.

I told Mary, the Rector, that that was a heck of a way to treat out-of-town guests!  She laughed (she was at our table, as was the Bishop), and said it was the luck of the draw.

BTW, the proceeds will go to an orphanage in Sierra Leone that the church helps to sponsor.

The Episcopal Church is alive and well in Wyoming, thanks be to God!

 PS:  we came home and I made sandwiches for a REAL lunch!

The area around Old Faithful is beautiful, full of little geysers.  I snapped and snapped pictures.  Old Faithful is beautiful even when not erupting.  I snapped and snapped pictures.  Finally, after waiting for over an hour, the big moment came.  I aimed my camera and !!?>??nothing?  I couldn't get the durn thing to work.  I put it down and just enjoyed the eruption.

Later, I tried the camera again, and the batteries were dead.  There is a warning, but I missed it.  Ah well, it is etched on my memory!

Today we left the expensive RV place and drove back through Yellowstone, thinking we would unhook at a visitor center and drive up into the Canyon.  We were both too tired to do that, so we kept on driving right out of the East Gate of the park.  This route takes you around Yellowstone Lake, and we did see a herd of bison on the way.

Now we are in a wonderful campground not too many miles from Cody, WY.  It is supposed to be closed, but the owner said come on in.  It is much cheaper than the last one, and in a beautiful spot in the high desert.  Here, the aspens and willows are still in full color, and the mountains are very interesting and strange.  In fact the drive from the East Gate through these mountains was exceptionally beautiful.

Maybe we'll go into Cody tomorrow, and maybe not.  We'll see how we feel.  We are both tired tonight.  The altitude doesn't help.

Dave was released by the doctor today.  Everything is fine, and he is allowed to drive the RV.

We moved from Hoback Junction, south of Jackson, to an RV park north of Jackson, but still 30 miles from Yellowstone.  The one campground that can take a rig our size is full!  Usually this is the very low time of year, but this year the weather has been gorgeous, so people are taking advantage of it.

 We'll spend the night here, and decide in the a.m. what to do.  This park is very expensive, so we don't want to have to be here too long.

I may not have internet until Cody, WY, after Yellowstone.  I'll catch you all up there.

Dave was able without problems to drive us to this new campground where we have all services.  I drove the Honda.

We spent 5 nights in the St. John's Hospital parking lot, with only electric, so it's great to have water again!

Resting today; tomorrow we see the doctor and then, if all goes well, we leave for the 50 miles drive to Yellowstone.

It's raining today; hopefully no snow in the immediate future!

Wrote two entries tonight: neither show up.

Dave had gall bladder surgery here in Jackson, WY.  Great hospital, great church family.  Hope to be on the road to Yellowstone on Tuesday.  Dave is feeling like himself, again.

This is my second one tonight; first one kicked off.

Dave had emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder here in Jackson, WY.  Great hospital; great church with supportive members.

Hopefully on to Yellowstone after followup doctor's appointment on Tuesday.

September 29, 2010  Day 113

Two days ago I wrote a long blog about our trip across the High Desert, and before I could post it, the internet kicked me off.  This is one of the most discouraging issues on this trip.  I have lost several blogs, answers to e-mails, journal entries, etc., because somehow, I get kicked off.

This internet, in Mountain View RV Park, Arco, Idaho, is unsecured.  I am at the mercy of the number of people in this park who want to use the internet the same time I do.  In some cases, people upload many pictures, or stream videos, which makes it hard for the rest of us to even read e-mails.

OK, enough complaining:  We traveled most of today, also across the High Desert, three days, altogether.  At first it was fascinating; then it became long and boring.  Finally, I began to think about those pioneers who braved the elements to travel across this same High Desert in wagon trains, taking far longer than 3 days, and with no creature comforts, often not enough food, and too often massacres on the way.

The most interesting part of today's drive was the Craters of the Moon National Monument.  It is several hundred acres of weird, spooky, and utterly fascinating landscape created from lava flows a few hundred years ago.  I was driving, but Dave got some pictures.  I am not going to try to share them, as I don't want to lose this blog!

Yesterday and the day before, we were camped in a beautiful spot on the Snake River in Eastern Oregon.  The hills were barren, as all across the desert, but the riverside was lush and green.  It was a restful two days.

Tomorrow we leave for Grand Teton National Park.  I hope to write again from there. 

Day 107, Septermber 22, 2010

Just a quick note, as we are preparing to leave this lovely campground in Diamond Lake, which is private, therefore expensive, for an equally lovely one in Crater National Park.  We may not be able to get one of the only 10 sites there with electric, so we will be out of reach for a few days again.

We drove the Rim Road around Crater Lake yesterday.  Every corner yielded a new and more beautiful view of the lake and the incredible cliffs that surround it.  I took many, many pictures; too many, probably.  We also stopped at the Visitor's Center (all of those Centers in every park are well worth the stop), and watched a video.

We've enjoyed the videos in each of the National Parks, but this one was especially fine.  It blended the history/geology of Crater Lake with the local Klamath Indian legends about the beginnings of the Lake.  We also saw a brief video of the road crew clearing the snow from Rim Road each spring.  It takes them almost 4 months to completely clear the roads around the lake; they only get about 1/4 mile cleared a day!  When you think that the average snowfall on the Rim Road is 40 feet deep, it is understandable.

It was hair-raising to see those big bulldozers clearning the edges of the road, which they could not see, with the 500-1000-foot drop-offs.  There is some kind of cable running around the edge of the road that an electronic device in each bulldozer "reads" and that helps.  But it is still one of the most hazardous jobs in any of the National Parks.

Oh, and I learned that Crater Lake is NOT a volcanic crater.  A crater appears when the top blows off the mountain.  Crater Lake is a Caldera, which develops when the magma is depleted during many eruptions, and the top of the mountain SINKS down.  One of the interesting features of the area is the Pumice desert, created by the last eruption, 7,000 years ago.  Trees are still very sparse, and only some grasses and little plants grow there.

We didn't see the Phantom Ship, which is a 40-foot tree, floating VERTICALLY around the lake.  No one knows why it floats vertically, but it was first sighted 100 years ago!  Amazing!

Off to "button-up" for our hair-raising trip on Rim Road with the coach, on the way to our new home for several nights.  We will be dry-camping again.  Snuggles sends her best bark.

and don't come back for many a day!  It began cloudy, then around time for church, a bit of blue sky and sun.  Enjoyed the service at Emmanuel; met some nice and friendly people; then went home to have lunch.

We did get in a bit of sightseeing on the huge sandunes in the area and walked outside for a bit of sea air.  Took a couple pictures at the lighthouse at Umpqua, where in October and November you can see Gray Whales.  We scoped out the seafood restaurant that was recommended to us for our evening dinner, then back to the coach for a Sunday afternoon nap.

When we were ready to make the trek back to Winchester Bay for dinner, guess what?  IT WAS RAINING AGAIN!  And HARD.  But, we persevered, and drove to the pier at Winchester Bay to Griffs, a small but very good eatery.

Coming home just now (we closed not only the restaurant, but the whole town, then when we went to the next, larger, town for gas for the Honda, closed that, too!), the rain was pelting, not just falling.  Dave has the little heater on in the coach, which cheers things up a bit.

We leave tomorrow, heading east about 25 miles down the road; destination, Crater Lake.  We'll probably take two days to get there.

I'm afraid to look at the weather forecast!

We are settled in Lakeside, OR, after a somewhat disappointing trip down the Oregon Coast.  It isn't the Coast's fault; it is the foggy and rainy weather that made enjoying the rugged beauty of the coast nearly impossible.

The road went from seaside to high cliffs to deeply forested areas, then zoom! back out to high cliffs over the ocean.  All of this with myriad very sharp curves.  We unhooked the Honda after setting up and drove another 20 miles down the coast to find Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Coos Bay.  Their answering machine just tells you to leave a message; no information about services, etc.!  So we had to make the 40-miles round trip to find out.

The trip through the Fruit Loop yesterday was wonderful.  I did find some great pears, peaches, and apples.  We stopped on the trip to have a picnic lunch, and to enjoy our pears.  However, coming back to the campsite was very challenging.  We were using one of those "Visitor's Maps" that are not very accurate and leave out a lot of pertinent information.

One of the piece of information was how to get from the Fruit Loop back to our campsite without retracing a rather long drive.  I was driving; Dave was navigating.  Suffice to say, we explored many very interesting roads, none of which got us any closer to the campground.  Up and down, and up and down, round and round, we went.  We stopped at a place in the National Forest called Timberline, and enjoyed some incredible views.

Eventually, we did get back, tired, but happy.  Today was another up and down, round and round day.  I love the forests here, but you know what?  Give me an interstate for a couple days, OK?

Day 101.  We spent four wonderful days in Gateway Inn and Rv Park, 100 feet from the Nisqually entrance to Mt. Rainier National Park.  We couldn't use the Nat'l. Park campground because our unit is too big. 

We arrived Sunday night at the park, after church with Fr. Lovelady and a great welcome-back-to Church School barbeque.  Monday was a gorgeous day, and our drive up to Paradise Visitor's Center yielded many perfect pictures of the snow-capped Mount Rainier. I thought I had seen enough glaciers in Alaska to last a lifetime, but the ones coming down from Mt. Rainier's peak are beautiful.

Tuesday was another lovely day that we spent catching up on all the things that had been let go, like banking, telephone calls, etc.  I spent a good deal of the day trying to catch up on my scrapbook.  I got a lot done, but am still woefully behind.

Wednesday was a laundry/post office day.  Dave also worked on balancing the checkbooks; a thankless task, but necessary.  The important thing is that we rested from the big push on the caravan.

Today we drove through Gifford Pinchot National Forest; an absolutely lovely drive through old trees covered in moss with "Witches Hair" and "Old Man's Beard" lichens hanging down.  A twisty, steep road up and then down, just a little spooky.  We were in this forest, up and down, up and down, for at least 100 miles.

Tomorrow, we will take the Honda and drive a loop along the Columbia Gorge and then through the "Fruit Loop" country.  I hope to actually buy some fresh fruit!

Dave wanted me to write that Snuggles went "body-surfing", quite unexpectedly, in Long Beach on that last morning's run.  She got a little too close to the water and a wave caught her. She was no worse for the wear.

This afternoon, when we arrived at this campsite, Snuggles got past Dave on the stairway, and swoosh!  She was running all around, coming back to Dave when he called, but dashing off again before he could catch her.  (Thea, does this remind you of another dog?)One of the other campers saw this and leashed his Pug and came outside with him.  Sure enough, Snuggles came right over to the dog and I was able to snap her leash.  Dave and I thanked him profusely, and he said, "When I saw your dog loose, I told my wife, I know how to catch her!"

Day 94; our oldest son's birthday.

We are in Ocean Park, on a peninsular on the Washington coast.  We left Olympia and our friends this morning.  We had a wonderful visit with Ed and Debbie, and were gratified to see that Debbie is doing well, very happy in her home, and Ed is excited about his interim placement.

We will be at his interim church in Vancouver, WA, on Sunday, and I will assist Ed at the Eu charist.  This is another blessing in 94 days of many blessings!

It was a lovely drive today, through thick spruce forests, most of them owned by Weyerhouser lumber.  There was evidence of a humungous storm, I think in 2009, that blew down acre after acre of forest, like pick-up sticks.  Weyerhouser is salvaging what they can, and they have instituted a huge replanting program.

We are near the beach; we walked Snuggles through the grass-covered dunes to run on the beach this afternoon.  Dave took her off her leash and she ran and ran and ran.  A pickup truck drove by, and she took off after it (on the sand); they heard Dave calling, and turned back carefully to bring her back.  She finally ran herself out and came to where Dave could put her leash on again.

Tomorrow we will go into Long Beach.  This weekend is a big car show.  There many antique cars in town.  We had difficulty getting a campsite.  Long Beach seems to be a typical beach community, much like the one we left in RI so many years ago.  There are many, many shops and restaurants along the main street.  It was very busy when we drove through.

We have no phone service again.  I hope when we get into Long Beach we will pick it up again. 

It's nice to be "home" again!  But we will never forget Alaska.

We've had a couple interesting days, here in the Vancouver, BC area.  Yesterday we attended St. Dunstan's Anglican Church in Aldergrove.  This is a big, beautiful, NEW, church, built 8 years ago after a fire-bombing destroyed their old church!  They weren't targeted; the kids in the town went slightly crazy on Halloween and threw Molotov cocktails at several buildings in the town before they were caught.  Sad, but out of the ashes came a beautiful church.

The priest is recovering from a serious surgery, so the Deacon, a charismatic woman of about 50, led Morning Prayer.  We spent an hour afterwards with some wonderful parishioners at their coffe time. 

In the afternoon, we drove with our caravan friends into Vancouver, and after threading our way through horrendous traffic (Labor Day is a major holiday weekend in BC, too), we finally parked and went up the Tower to the Observation Deck, where we had a 360 degree view of the city.

Today, we went back into the city, taking the Sky Train from the suburbs.  We connected with the Seabus, which took us across the river to North Vancouver, where we strolled around the Public Market and had a delicious lunch overlooking the harbor.

So we had interesting views of this very modern city.  It rained most of today, but we were dry in the train and seabus and the market, so it didn't interfere.  We were reminded, however, that Vancouver is part of the Tongass Rainforest that we first met in Alaska, and that stretches down into Oregon!

Off to the border tomorrow.  Once we are in the states, we will have phone service again, thank goodness!

We have been leaving Snuggles shut in the bathroom and bedroom when we leave, instead of in her crate.  She is very good, spending her time on the bed, sleeping on Dave's pillow.  Today we were gone for 8 hours, and she was very good.  However, shortly after we got home, she ate the muffins I had purchased for tomorrow's breakfast!  She lets us know she doesn't like to be left alone!

There is a big "dog park" near here, and Dave has taken her there to run free a couple times.  Today, our friends brought Ruger, the enormous German Shorthair I wrote about, to run with Snuggles.  They had a wonderful time.  Eventually two big Labs joined them.  Snuggles was in doggie heaven.

Postscript:  St. Dunstan's gave me some note paper with a drawing of their new building.  I'll be sending some notes off to St. Luke's, Grace, and St. Peter's, once we are in the states.

Today is the 89th day of our Big Trip!  For two days, now, we have had drives over 200 miles, up very long hills, through dramatic scenery.  We are apparently, here in BC, in the foothills of the Cascades.  The beginning of the trip today was through very dry country, mountainous, very much like parts of Mexico and California.  The hills were brown, brown, brown, with little vegetation taller than sage brush.  But the deep valleys were beautiful.  We traveled along the Frazier River for many miles.

The latter part of the trip was in country with spruce and cedar forests, still very high mountains.  Now we are an hour east of Vancouver, BC, where we will rest for three nights, going into Vancouver to sightsee.  Tomorrow, we will attend a nearby Anglican church.

 Note to 4th Street Cafe'ers:  be sure to let the parish know what you are all about at the Opening Day on September 12.  You are a precious part of St. Luke's:  they need to get to know you!

 Snuggles is off with Dave just now, running loose in a securely fenced area for dogs.  She hasn't had that opportunity since the beginning of the caravan in Great Falls, Montana.  I have a loaf of bread rising, now that I have a little time.  Yummy!  Homemade bread!

The Caravan ended in Prince George, BC, last night with a bang-up farewell dinner.  Most of us met around the coffee pot at 7 a.m. this morning to say our goodbyes and eat the donuts the staff purchased for us.

We are in Cache Creek tonight; we traveled with another couple who will join us in Vancouver, BC for three nights.  When we pulled into this campground, half-way to Vancouver, there were two more rigs from the Caravan!  We had a pleasant "social",  going over our favorite memories from the trip.

Snuggles was happy to find out that Ruger, the German Shorhair friend she made on the caravan ,is parked next to us.  He weighs about 70 pounds, and could make about 5 of Snuggles, but he is the one dog in the caravan that could tolerate her puppyness.  The others pretty much stayed clear of her.

We're exhausted at this point; we'll try to recover in Vancouver, doing a bit of sightseeing, a lot of cleaning, and mostly, I hope, resting.  But it was all fun and exciting.  Alaska was amazing.  I've spent the last few weeks, in the little spare time I had, reading "Alaska", by James Michener.  We heard a lot of the history during our tours, but in no particular order.  Michener puts it into order, and Ienjoyed reading about the places we have seen.

So, on to new things.  First is our stop to visit Ed and Debbie Lovelady, and to attend church at Ed's interim placement.  Then, down the coast of Oregon.  Lots of the world still to see!  "The sea is his because he made it, and his hands have molded the dry lands."  This phrase, from Psalm 95, has become my mantra on this trip.

We've had no internet and I've had trouble getting into this blog for the last few days.

We are now in Stewart, BC, having left Skagway Alaska last Saturday morning.  In Skagway, we rode the famous White Pass Railway, took a catamaran trip to Juneau, and visited the Mendenhall Glacier.

Since then, we have been driving down the Cassiar Highway in British Columbia, staying at small campgrounds.  Now we are in Stewart, BC, and this morning we will be going into Hyder, Alaska for our last Alaska town.  In Hyder, we are hoping to see the bears in the national park catching salmon.  However, it is pouring down rain right now, so I don't know what we will see, if anything.

The drive here was terrifying:  narrow, winding road with NO SHOULDER, ala the Baja in Mexico.  However, as we got closer to Stewart, the road improved so we could enjoy the incredible view of yet more glaciers.  The mountains rise sharply from the road, and the lovely rivers run right along next to the road.  The clouds moved in, however, so picture-taking wasn't very successful.

We say goodbye to the Caravan in two days, then we head for Vancouver, BC.  On September 7, we will be stopping to visit Ed and Debbie Lovelady, then, after a quick trip into Ranier National Park, we will go to Vancouver, Washington to attend the church (St. Luke's !) where Ed is interim.

Then it's off to the Oregon coast.  Hopefully, we will have both internet and phone service by then! 

Note to 4th Street Cafe-ers:  I'm planning to mail you a postcard from Hyder, Alaska this afternoon, one of the tiniest Post Offices in the US.

We spent last night in Destruction Bay, Yukon, and are back in Alaska, in Skagway.  Tomorrow we take a train up through White Pass.

This is another beautiful seaside area.  We came through an incredible pass today, with a 11.5 mile 11% downgrade!  In the middle of this steep and curving road, there is the US Customs!

Last night, we were entertained by the Lodge owner, a friend of his, and his nephew.  All are accomplished musicians.  It was to be an hour-long show after a delicious barbecue prepared by the owner, but they were so good, we kept them until nearly 11 p.m., playing and singing for us.

The mountains above Destruction Bay have new snow on them.  It is already fall in the Yukon, with lovely yellow aspens and willows, and many brilliant plants turning orange and red.  The lodge is on Kulane Lake, the biggest in the Yukon.  It is 50 miles long.

On Thursday, we will travel by boat to Juneau for the day.  This park owner in Skagway will walk all the caravan dogs during the day.  We will be gone for 12 hours.

We had to leave early from Valdez today, so we are going to have Evening Prayer when everyone is in the campground here in Tok.

It was another roller coaster ride, through areas in the mountains where there is permafrost, so the roads wave up and down like old-fashioned wash boards.  The scenery was spectacular, of course.

Last night we had a "Christmas in August" party, with lots of wonderful food, many laughs, and great Santa, and presents.  It was a nice goodbye to Valdez-if-you-please.

I have to print off today's Psalm; so long until the next time I get internet, which will probably NOT be tomorrow.  We will be back in Destruction Bay, Canada for the day and night, and last time we were there we couldn't get on the internet.