Two Moose and a Bear

We had an effortless border crossing yesterday , 23 May at 1030 hrs.  Stopped at Visitors Center about 5 km later and picked up some info and headed on to Calgary where we would pick up Trans Canada Hiway 1 WB to Banff our destination for the day!  Roads were good, mainly divided highway,  traffic was manageable.

Galgary skyline as we went by on the bypass!

We arrived Banff National Park for a surprise.  About 3 mi from the city we came upon a toll booth.  The city of Banff and all surrounding area is the National Park!  It is all beautiful but downtown, suburbs and mountains all around are National Park and you pay about $19 a day to enjoy it.  Will be interesting to see how residents are handled!

Nice spots with plenty of space and FHU

Scenic no matter which way you look!

At any rate we settled into one of the campgrounds the NP has in Banff. Tunnel Mountain Campground has about 600 sites divided about evenly with FHU, electric only and tent camping.  Beautiful park, but no wi-fi!  

We made a quick tour through downtown yesterday. Thought we were in Gatlinburg TN!  Banff’s main industry is obviously tourism.  Many ski destinations in the area and lots of ski related advertising.  However, ski season is over and it is hiking. Everybody it seems wears a back pack as a piece of clothing!

Bow Falls on Bow River running thru downtown Banff

Beautiful town, well organized and maintained with good directional signs to help the visitor.  We drove Tucson towing Olivia right through downtown to get to the campground, but we did see the error of our ways and know on the way out that will not be necessary!

This AM I got up and went for a walk in the park at about 0715 hrs and 46 degrees F! First thing I see is a young moose walking down one of the campground roads. When he saw me he retreated into the woods.  I did not follow as I did not want to run into his Mama thinking I was after moose meat for breakfast! 

Moose in the park!

A little while later I spot a moose off in a pasture grazing. She looked up at me and decided the grass was more interesting than me – just ignored me and kept on grazing.    About 45 min later I am in the woods on a trail and up ahead on the edge of the clearing is a Brown Bear, probably a young one but not a cub!

He saw me and skittered  into some nearby bushes.  Shortly he looks up a me and moves for more cover.  I decided to walk a path that was not in his direction but I could still see the area he was in off to my right.  I stopped to take some pics of the mountains in front of me and he shortly comes out and stands up and looks around.  I got several pics of him and then I started walking again, not toward him. I guess he had not spotted me until I moved because he instantly moved for cover. 

At any rate it was an interesting walk and I am now looking forward to tomorrow’s walk “on the wild side”! 
Always at home, no matter where we are!!

Glacier National Park- WOW

On our way to the Canadian border in MT we deceded to check out Glacier National Park which is about 70 miles west of our border run route.

WOW - it just added to our determination to return to Montana for a summer of traveling in Big Sky Country. A hall mark of Glacier National Park is the Road to the Sun which is road in the park which goes tup and up and up before finally arriving at the pass then goes down and down and down.  It is a narrow two lane road built in the 1920's and has been noted from the begining for its breathtaking views! We were disappointed to learn that it is not yet open - still clogged with snow on most of the route but we deceided to check out other parts of the park anyway!

So today we did about 250 miles round trip and we both agree it was all well worth it. We deceided this was just a preview.  We much come back to spend more time in MT and more time at Glacier National Park. It was awesome and we only saw a small portion of the eastern portion of the Park!!

Glacier National Park in the distance!

Getting closer

Olivia at the gate 

The wild flowers are in bloom

some mountain sheep in a high pasture

A park resident practicing for the summer season

one of the hotels in the NP

all those little streams coming together!!

Always at home, no matter where we are!!

Making a Run for the Border!

Well, as I write this we are barely 30 miles from the Canadian border in Shelby MT, a small town on the MT plains surrounded by beautiful grain farms that stretch for miles.  The town has a large rail yard that is a BNSF railroad intermodal hub and is obviously a major economic driver for the area. 

Shelby is a proud supporter of American troops!

We are staying in a small RV park for two nights so we can visit Glacier National Park which is about 70 miles west of us.  (More about that in next blog!)

We have really enjoyed our journey through Montana to this jump off for the AK Adventure. 

A roadside stream at a lunch break in MT

It is truly Big Sky Country – despite the beauty of the landscape the Sky seems to dominate the landscape.  Think about that as you look at some of the pics we took travelling across the State. We spent about 4 days in Great Falls, a beautiful American City that is on the Lewis & Clark Trail.

A model of the Minuteman ICBM at Malmstrom AFB

The proud SAC (Strategic Air Command) emblem on a KC-97 in museum at Malmstrom AFB 

We enjoyed the trip and several days at the Famcamp on Malstrom AFB in Great Falls. It is one of our nations few bases still maintaining ICBM on alert.  I enjoyed a visit to their on-base museum of USAF historical artifacts!

 

We took a day and visited the nearby Little Belt Mountains. BJ did some birding and I did a few geocaches including one that turned out to be much more difficult then I expected but also provided some vistas  of the mountains that I did not expect.

The geocache is over there!

A quicker way down from the geocache!

So we are excited about finally making the last dash for the border and looking forward to the first stage of our AK Adventure!

   

Always at home, no matter where we are!!

Wyoming

After departing Denver in the afternoon we made it to Cheyenne WY and pulled into the Famcamp on FE Warren AFB just on the edge of town. FE Warren is one of our bases that still maintain ICBM's on alert.

The Famcamp is a nice spot with a creek running through it. However, the creek was overflowing its banks and was causing some concern for BJ, but she got over it when she saw all the birds around the creek!

Another interesting thing about the wildlife is the pronghorn antelopes.  WY has about 45% of all these animals that live in the western US and it seems many of those like FE Warren.  They apparently knew they were safe there.  It was fun watching them chase each other across the vase open areas on the base.  Then they would lay down and rest, frequently just a few feet off the road!

The antelopes planning there next play date!

Creeks arising!

We did continue our tradition of trying to visit the State Capital whenever we were near. So we spent much of a day in Cheyenne, the State Capital of WY.  Beautiful Capital building with a gold dome.  Info inside says that is only one ounce of gold covering the entire dome!

Beautiful Capital Building inside and out!

In front of the State Museum!

We left Cheyenne  moving on north. Spent the next night in Sheridan WY.  Really enjoyed a great meal at the Ribs & Chop House there. The RV park owner recommended it. While my Baby Back Ribs were very good, BJ's New Orleans Jambalaya was fantastic in size and flavor.  She, of course took a doggy bag home with what she could not eat and we both a great lunch the next day finishing it off.
 
Always at home, no matter where we are!!

, Headed North

We are nearly at the Canadian border and will cross over in about two days.  We are excited to be this close to starting the AK Adventure but we have enjoyed the journey to this point.

After leaving Albuquerque (and some of our stuff we put in storage until we return in October for Balloon Fiesta) we head north on I-25. The first place we stopped. more by happenstance then purpose, was Lathrop State Park in southern CO. We took a day trip from there to the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve, about 70 miles west of the State Park.  These great sand dunes, some over 700 feet high are nestled against the base of the mountains.

Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

BIG sand dunes!!

On the beach?!?!

We spent a few extra days at the State Park because it was such a jewel. All the spots were easy in/easy out and there were two big lakes in the park that make it a favorite weekend destination in the Summer for boaters!  We enjoyed hiking the trails and BJ got really excited about some new birds she had not seen before and I enjoyed some challenging geocaches in the park.

The two lakes in the park with the Spanish Peak mountains behind

Getting close to a geocache

Some wild flowers made the park even more spectacular!

Yellow Billed Magpie hanging out in the park

Speaking about birds let me tell you about a new blog coming to a computer in your house!  BJ is in final stages of getting her blog ready for public consumption!  She has so many beautiful bird pictures and birding adventures she wants to share. But, first she has to get her blog just right. I will post a link when she says it is ready for "prime time".

We had to depart Lathrop State Park because we had an appointment for Tucson, our transportation, to get his annual service at a Cummins Engine Facility just north of Denver.  We had planned on arriving there on Sunday as they have hook-ups for the RVs there for service.  However, based on weather forecast we got there on Saturday as we did not want to travel in the SNOW!  So we were safely secure when the snow hit, but we did manage to get over to our niece's house for a wonderful Sunday Brunch on Mother's Day.   What a delight!

That is not beach sand!

The next day they pulled Tucson in for the day and accomplished the service we needed so he is ready for the AK adventure!  And, we continued north!

Always at home, no matter where we are!!

The Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve

Well we are back on the road and today we visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in southern CO!
These are the highest sand dunes in the US at 750 feet and they are nestled against the mountains with a stream on the north and south sides.  The dunes are about 30 miles long and are all protected.

Both the creeks are shallow and Medano is near the Visitors Center.  It was fun watching the kids play in it even in the cool weather today. A film in the Visitors Center showed it is a favorite of the kids when the weather warms up.  It is like being at the beach in FL. They were building sand castles, burying each other, etc.

Interestingly the streams play an important role in sustaining the dunes.  They catch a lot of the blown and eroding sand and take it to a nearby lake bed that dries up periodically.  When it is dry the wind picks the sand up and carries it back to the dunes.  Scientist estimate that these massive dunes that extend up to 350 ft underground and are nearly 35 miles long are only 11% of the sand in the San Luis Valley!

The Great Sand Dunes, or at least a small part of them!

Medano Creek, as the Spring thaw proceeds it will have more water! But, you can still walk across it to the dunes!

A beach just like in Florida!

Folks across the creek on the dunes!

The mountains behind the dunes!

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The dunes are really impressive and interesting.  I have been wanting to see them for quite  some time.  We both enjoyed the visit today.

We also saw Zapata Falls. It was up a gravel road a few miles from the gate to Great Sand Dunes.  UP was definitely the operative word – the road climbed from 7500 ft to 10,000 ft in a winding 3 mi!  From there the sign said it was a 1/4 hike up to the falls and 1/4 mi hike back!  It lied – it was a mile and a half up and 1/4 mile back or so it seemed!! Hiking at 10,000 ft is a much slower process!!  Despite that we never did see the actual falls, only the water coming from them. You had to walk up the stream in the water to stand in front of the crevice to see the actual falls.

The real Zapata Falls is up the crevice in the center of the photo!

Downstream from the falls

We never seem to feel like we have seen enough deer. These were along the road back down from Zapata Falls!

Neither of us wanted to make that effort, it was cool, water was cold, and we didn't bring a dry pair of socks!  But, once we slowed down going UP we enjoyed the beauty of the spot. We could see the dunes and the rest of the valley from there!

Anyway we concluded the day with a great Mexican early dinner (since we missed lunch) on the Rio Grande River in Alamosa, before heading back to the RV!

Always at home, no matter where we are!!

What Revolting Development That Was!!

For the last several weeks I have been trying to set up a good wash and wax for the RV in preparation for the AK trip. I really did not want to have in done in the RGV as the water there was extremely hard and created water spots very easily. There was a guy in San Antonio we had used before but I could not work out a time and place to meet him for the job.
I started looking in Albuquerque and found a mobile detailing outfit that did RV's mainly and I was comfortable with that!  It took several tries to set up a mutually agreeable date and time for them to wash and wax the RV while we were staying at the Kirtland AFB FamCamp.

That was yesterday afternoon. I met them at the base gate to escort them on base and there was a problem with the background check on one of the workers and they were not allowed on base so we parted company.  Shortly, they called back and asked if I wanted to meet them off base with the RV and they would wash it a parking lot of closed business nearby.  BJ & I decided it was worth the effort - the RV was about ready for departure the next morning anyway!

So we head toward the designated parking lot. It was on a side street not too far away. As I approached it I noted I was going to have to make a tight u-turn from the street into the parking lot. I was focused on that and did not pay attention to the sharp incline from the street to the parking lot. And, in an instant I was in trouble. The tail end of the coach drug into the pavement in the street as the front was going up the incline and results were much of the weight was off the drive wheels and the coach stopped!

Our tail end was still in the street!

 

I tired several ways to get weight back on the wheels without any success. I called our Emergency Road Service (ERS) and eventually (that is another story) they got a big wrecker out there to resolve the problem. Fortunately, the body was not affected, the rear frame was on the pavement and there was nothing on the truck that could get under the chassis to lift it and back us down the incline!

Fortunately the frame was taking the load and the body was not damaged at all!

But, this guy was a real pro and he had the equipment and experience to resolve the problem. He wrapped a heavy hoisting harness around one rear wheel at a time and lifted each enough to get a big piece of lumber under the wheel.  That barely raised the chassis off the pavement, but enough that I could back the RV down the incline and back on to the street!

He made it look so easy! Sorry I did not get a pic of his tow rig which was nearly as big as ours.  

 At any rate, it pretty much ate up our last afternoon in ABQ until October.  Fortunately our friends, Gary and Jo Chabot, came out and spent the afternoon with us in the parking lot!  And, part of the time their 6 year old granddaughter, LJ, was with them.  They really made a bad experience bearable! Having LJ there was like having one of our granddaughters around!

Always at home, no matter where we are!!