On the road again

As we continue to continue our continuing journey after 5 days laid up in Chamberlain South Dakota. We spent the time being lazy, catching up on some rest.  We've been on the move for quite some time and hadn't taken a day off.
We'll be busy when we get home, so the rest probably did us good.  We did do some sight seeing while there, we went to a large antique store, a quilt store, a Lakota Indian museum, and the South Dakota Hall of Fame.  I found out Bob Barker and Mary Hart both came from South Dakota.
The truck is working fine now, we got on the road at noon so got a half day of driving.
We're aiming to be home some time on Sunday.

Still waiting

The truck is still not fixed.  Waiting for parts!  With any luck we'll be on the road tomorrow. It will take 3 days to get home from here.  I'm worried about finding a campground this weekend because it's the American long weekend and everywhere around here has been booked up for weeks.  We may end up in the parking lot of the Flying J for the night?
This has been a nice campground, we have a beautiful view of the Missouri river and as you know Lesley and I never tire of watching water.  We went for a swim at the indoor pool and hot tub in the resort next door.  The campground is part of the resort and convention center. The managers here had a cancellation and have held that spot for us in case the truck isn't done tomorrow.  That is really nice of them.  If we don't leave tomorrow I'm afraid we'll be here till next Tuesday.
We'll see.

Truck Problems

Yep! we had trouble with the F 150.  Not sure yet, it looks like it's tranny problems but the dealership isn't open till tomorrow.   I hope it won't take long to fix.   We drove out of the bad lands and had problems right after we stopped at a service center and had lunch.  We phoned Ford Roadside assistance and they were great helping out.  The tow truck driver was really nice and dropped us off at a campground.  It didn't cost us anything.  Ford picked up the cost of the truck and the trailer. While we waited for the tow truck Lesley picked out a campground from our Woodall's Directory, she picked out a gem!  The tow truck took us right to our site and dropped the trailer.  That is no small feat getting through a campground with this rig.  Here is a photo of our site and view of the Missouri River.  The campground is part of a resort so we can use their pool and hot tub.  We had a very nice dinner at the resort restaurant tonight then watched the sun set sitting by the waters edge near our site.

Bad Lands

Today we drove  Band Lands National Park. It's a unique park with beautiful mountains that have a lot of colour.  Pictures won't show the depth of colour that we saw.  Here are a couple of photos and I have uploaded more in the Badlands Photo Gallery on the right of this page.

Patches is helping Mom with the navigation!.

Custer State Park

Today we spent the day in Custer State Park.  We drove around the Wild Life Loop where we saw Antelopes, Prairie Dogs, and lots of Buffalo.  We took a dirt road off of the main loop and almost ran right into the back of a heard.  They were walking right down the road, I didn't see them until I came over the crest of the hill.  It was an amazing sight there were about 40 plus the calves.  They blocked the road for quite a while while they were walking.  Here is a link to video we shot.  Custer State Park Buffalo
We had buffalo for lunch, it was ground and wrapped with bacon.  It tasted very good.



 We also went to the the Hot Springs Mammoth site.  They found skeletons of  Mammoths that are about 26,000 years old.  They were preserved in a mound of dirt. They put a building over the dig site and we could see the bones of many mammoths where they are digging.  The rain held off for most of the day. We hit some rain as we came over one peak and could see where they had quite a bit of pea size hail.  Thankfully we didn't get any of that.
Tomorrow we go to the Bad Lands so I hope the rain stops before we get there.

Jasper, Lake Louise, Banff, Montana

We have had an amazing few days driving through the Canadian Rockies.  We spent a night in Jasper National Park, a night in Lake Louise and a night in Banff National Park.  The mountains were spectacular, I can not describe and pictures don't do it justice.  We have not had internet, no TV and except for 1 radio station in one park we have been on our own.  Thanks to Loris and Kelly & Mark, we had lots of movies on DVD to watch.
This morning I'm working off my internet stick so I won't post our pictures but as soon as we get to a park with WiFi I'll post some to the gallery.

                                   Here are a couple photos of our camp site at Banff National Park.

We are just west of Billings Montana and heading to the Bad Lands in South Dakota.  I'm not sure if we'll make today or tomorrow.

Kitimat

Yesterday we went out in Gail and Kevin's boat for the day.  As usual it was raining and overcast so we were not able to get a good view of the mountains.  It was a really nice ride, the water was very calm.  We stopped for lunch, tied off to a log boom and Kevin dropped a crab trap to see what we could catch during lunch.









When we pulled up the trap he had caught 10 crabs, 7 big enough to keep.  We had a wonderful crab dinner last night.  It was a great day!

This is the view out of Gail's kitchen window. This is the first time we could see the top of the mountain.  Usually the clouds hide the top.

Tomorrow we start are trip back East.  We'll be hitting Jasper, then down to the Bad Lands then home.  The plan is still to get home by June 1.

Kitimat

Yesterday Gail took us on a tour of Kitimat including a fish hatchery.  The fish hatchery was very interesting, Gail was friends of the fellow that gave us the tour, he was very knowledgeable.  They release over 5 million salmon each year including chum salmon, steelhead, and coho.  Today we went to Prince Rupert.  It was about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Kitimat.  It's a port right on the coast. We had lunch overlooking the marina, then went for a walk on the dock.  We spotted several Eagles and a couple of Ospreys circling overhead. We think they were looking at Patches, when Lesley picked up Patches they went away, as soon as she put Patches back down they came back. It was an awesome sight watching all of them.

Smithers to Kitimat

We are now in Kitimat after a beautiful trip from Smithers.  The mountains are are huge and snow covered. We   stayed at a campground on the Bulkley River.  Last night we camped right beside the fast moving river.

It was a beautiful view out the back window of our trailer as the river was full of spring run off.
Tonight we had dinner with Gail, Kevin, Cory, Theresa, Erin and Aiden. Patches had a ball with Gails dogs Seth and Bella, and Cory's dogs Miky Fin and MoJo.

Surrey - Lac La Hache - Prince George

As we continue to continue our "Continuing Journey", we are in Prince George tonight.  Last Monday we spent a large part of the day at Stanley Park.  It was a rainy overcast day but we were able to stay dry as we visited the park.  We also had a quick stop at Grenville Island, just to see what it looked like.
Monday evening we took the Sky Train down to the waterfront, next to Canada Place, and took the Sea Bus over to North Vancouver. We had a coffee at Lonsdale Quay then did the return trip.  Hard to believe we traveled from Surrey to North Vancouver and back for only $5 each.

Tuesday we drove North along the Fraser River.  The scenery was magnificent watching the mountains change from green trees to desert sand. Then we left the mountains and drove into rolling hills.  We camped along Lac La Hache, we pulled the camper around so we could view the lake from our back windows.  We watched a couple of Loons and saw an Osprey.  It was a fantastic sight.
It was to bad that it was cold and rainy again. The temp. got down to 37F  or just under 3 C.  We had both the little electric heater and the furnace on for a while to warm up.


Today we drove to Prince George, a totally different view, the mountains were more rolling and less spectacular but enjoyable all the same.  Today Lesley saw a mother bear and 2 cubs along the road, yesterday she saw a lone wolf just sitting watching the traffic go by.  It was an early stop today so we went into Prince George and did some shopping.  I picked up a case of beer, the cashier said they were on sale.
I explained I paid almost half that a week ago in Oregon so I didn't think it was much of a sale.
Tomorrow we're off to Smithers, another short day as it's only about a 5 hour drive.  Take a look at the Photo Gallery on the right to see the photos of our campsite.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Today we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge.  It was a very enjoyable day walking on the bridge, the tree top walk and Cliff Walk.












Then we went to Horseshoe Bay to watch the BC Ferries and have lunch. It was a beautiful view.
Tomorrow we visit Stanley Park in Vancouver.

Surrey BC

Back into Canada.

Yesterday we drove to Surrey.  The weather was clear but cool.  It's in the upper 50's.
We have switched over to our Canadian Cell phone so if anyone has to get ahold of us call
that number.
The truck is in getting an oil change and I'm sitting in McDonalds using their WiFii.  We don't have good WI Fii at the campground so I may not update the blog every day.
We'll be here for 3 or 4 days then off to Kitimat.

Mount St. Helens

Today we took a drive up to view Mt. St. Helens.  It was rainy and very cloudy so we couldn't see the mountain. We went to 2 visitor centers and couldn't get to the last one because the road isn't open for the season yet.  We saw a nice video of the event in 1980.   and tried to drive up to where the road is closed but decided to turn around when it was snowing and the temp was falling to below freezing.  I didn't see anyone salting the road and they were very wet and steep.  So I decided it was time to turn around and head back down.  The photo is from the second visitor center looking toward Mt. St. Helens.  The mountain is in the middle of the picture but behind the clouds. (At least that's what we've been told)

Tomorrow we head to Surrey BC.

Lincoln City Oregon

Today we drove to Lincoln City Oregon.  The day started out nice, cool but dry.  The afternoon brought light rain and some fog.  The coast was beautiful, but much of the drive was inland.  The roads had a lot of repair work for rock-slides and sink holes.



Stopped along the way and visited the Sea Lion Cave.  We walked down a path then took an elevator down about 200 feet to the cave.  It was filled with Sea Lions, about 150 laying on the cave floor and swimming. They winter inside the cave then come out in the spring.  After we came back up to the surface we took the trail to the coast and saw many that have come out of the cave and were laying on the rocks.

Fortuna to Crescent City

As we continue to continue our Journey we drove a short distance today from Fortuna to Crescent City.  We passed a heard of Elk just off the highway. They were not afraid of us at all, but were very curious as the trailer passed them.  They were right at the edge of the road as we drove by slowly.






After we arrive at the KOA and got the trailer set up we drove  to a scenic lookout searching for gray whales.  We spotted at least 3 feeding at the mouth of a river.  It was a thrill to watch them. We had lunch and stayed for a couple of hours.
Tomorrow we leave California for Oregon.  The drive up the Oregon coast is supposed to be very beautiful.

San Fransisco - Fortuna

San Fransisco was a bust.  The idea was to go to Fisherman's Warf and Pier 39,  Lesley loves Bubba Gump's coconut shrimp.  We left Patches in the trailer and headed off to San Fran.  We were advised to take the ferry, free parking on this side and we get a boat ride.  Well, we just missed the ferry so had to wait almost an hour for the next one.  We did get a very nice ferry ride to downtown San Fran.  We wanted to go to our bank which had a branch not far from the ferry dock.  It took almost an hour trying to find it.  Then we went to take the old trolly car down to Pier 39.  We waited for a long time with a lot of other people and no trolley.  They must have had some kind of problem.  There goes another 1/2 hour and we were no where near getting lunch.
It was a half hour boat ride there and we would have another 1/2 back.  It took 1/2 hour drive to the dock from the campground, so it would be another 1/2 back.  We were running out of time to get back to Patches. With no trolley in sight we decided to head back.  Once on the ferry we both bought a beer, a bag of Frito's and ate a free sample of humus we got while walking downtown.
Yesterday we drove North on the Redwood highway to Fortuna.  Part of the way we took an alternative route on the "Avenue of Giants". This road goes into a Redwood forest, it was a beautiful  drive.  Today we drove to Ferndale, which is a historical Victorian town then we took a scenic drive along the coast.  It had some white knuckle spots as we climbed and went down some very steep curves.  The road was very narrow and dropped off hundreds of feet just off the pavement.  Sometime the pavement had fallen into the ravine and the road was only 1 lane.  At some points we were at the very peak of the mountain and could see down both sides.  It was some ride, but had some beautiful views.
Tomorrow we head North again.

Yosemite National Park ... Napa Valley

As we continue our Journey we visited Yosemite National Park for the day.  What a great place, from huge waterfalls to the large Sequoia trees that are over 2,000 years old.   Patches had a ball hiking with us but boy did he get dirty.  The snow was melting and the trails were very wet and mucky.  He was a trooper!  We had a couple of people tell us the dog was pulling us up the hill.  He was a real motivator.  Now we are in the Napa Valley.  Tomorrow we go on a wine tour.

Bakersfield California

Sunny California?   We arrived today to temps of 45.  It got to a low of 31 as went went over the mountains.  Lots of snow, thankfully the road was wet  but had no snow.  The winds were still gusty, but sure glad we waited in Vegas for an extra day.  We're only planning on staying here one day but we'll see tomorrow. Heading North, the weather is supposed to warm up tomorrow.  I hope.

Sedona - Laughlin - Las Vegas

Our journey has brought to Las Vegas, we're staying at Sam’s Town RV park.  It’s located on what they call the Boulder Strip.  We were in Sedona for 2 days, the second day we took a drive out in the country.  It was a beautiful ride on a beautiful day.  The drive from Sedona to Laughlin was a white knuckle day.  The road had steep inclines and declines with high gusting winds.  The truck handled the drive better than I did, in the end we stayed in Laughlin for the night.  We stayed in the Riverside Casino RV park, went to the slots and lost a couple of bucks and then went to see the Hunger Games at the theatre.

In the morning we drove north to Las Vegas.  We're at Sam’s Town RV park it's like a very large parking lot, but it does have a nice pool and hot tub.  Last night we went to walk the strip near Treasure Island and Caesars.  The wind was very strong and it was cold, the show at Treasure Island and the Volcano at The Mirage didn’t happen.  It must have been because of the wind. We waited in the cold but no show. The water show at the Bellagia went off on time and it was fantastic.  This afternoon we went to a free Variety Show here at Sam’s Town, it was a great show.  

We are going to stay one more day because of a high wind warning. Then we’re off to California.

As we continue our journey we find ourselves in Sedona.  We drove from San Antonio Texas to Albuquerque New Mexico and spent the night.  We walked around Old Town where we listened to several street musicians. Then off to see the Red Rock of Sedona.  Lesley went to Easter mass today in a church with a fantistic view of the red mountains. It was very busy but well organized.  We went to the top of the hill to watch the sun set, however it was very hazy. the sun didn't cast the beautiful colours on the hills.  We may try again tomorrow if the sky is clear.
I posted some additional photos yesterday and today.  Tomorrow I'll try to post some of Sedona.

San Antonio Texas

We arrived at San Antonio on Sunday night after a day of butterflies--hundreds of them from Brownsville to San Antonio.  Monday we went to the Riverwalk and took a boat cruise around the downtown area on a series of canals (these canals are only 3 feet deep).  What a great idea to revitalize a city.  Then we walked along the river and had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant.  Monday night we went back down and walked along the river to see the lights.  What a great place, very busy both day and night.  We took a bus right from the campground to the river.  Tuesday we went to an IMAX movie of the Alamo then went across the street to visit the Alamo.  
Wed we left and drove to Carlsbad New Mexico.  We saw quite a difference in the scenery, it went from trees and flat to hills and a lot of sand and cactus.  It was a long boring ride but we had an audio book John Grissom's  Confession.  Photos to follow.

Tomorrow we go to see the Carlsbad Caverns.

Brownsville

We spent 3 nights in Brownsville at Winter Haven.  It was a beautiful park with RV sites, park models and even many brick and mortar homes.  Friends from home have a park model in this park.  They helped make our visit even more enjoyable.  They took us to a great bar for Fish and Chips and on a tour of South Padre Island.   Thank you Barb and Glen!
Tonight we are in San Antonio.  Plans are to stay for 3 nights and visit the Alamo, Riverwalk, and enjoy the pool.  The temperature was over 90 today but they are calling for rain tomorrow.

Corpus Christi

We made it to Corpus Christi Texas today.  It was an uneventful trip from Galveston.  It seemed to take a long time.  Not much to look at from the road.  After getting set up and a quick tip in the hot tub we took a ride to the beach on Padre Island.  It was very windy with sand blowing in the wind.  We didn't stay long.  
I've uploaded  photos from New Orleans, and Texas.
Tomorrow we're off to Brownsville.

New Orleans & Galveston Texas

Tonight we are at a very nice campground in Kemah Texas.  That is between Houston and Galveston.  We went to Galveston and had lunch at the beach and drove around part of the island.  Tonight the campground hosted a pot luck dinner.  They supplied chicken strips with country gravy and catfish strips plus some other stuff, campers supplied salad and deserts.  It was a great meal.  Tomorrow we move south, not sure how far we'll make it.
We stopped in New Orleans for a day and visited the French Quarter Sunday.  Walked around and had lunch in an outside cafe.  It was very busy because it was the first nice day they had since all the bad storms they had last week.  Patches was having a ball with all the people and the smells from the outside cafes.  A lot of people stopped to talk and pet him.  The campground wasn't very nice but we only slept there 2 nights.

I'll try to post some photos in the next day or so.

Leaving Florida

Tomorrow is the day we leave Florida for our journey West.  We had a good time here, a month sure went by quickly.  We visited Rick and Linda in Clermont, near Orlando for a couple days.  After that we went to Punta Gorda for 2 nights to attend the Banjo Bash.  Moving back North we spent a month at Sun N Fun in Sarasota.  What a park that was, with over 1,600 sites it was like a small town.  We enjoyed our stay there, especially since Michelle, Mike and Brody visited for a week.  It was nice to see them and Brody is sure growing quickly.

As we travel West my plan is to update our Blog as often as I can.  I'll post some of the highlights of our day and upload photos to our gallery.  You can find the gallery on the right hand side of your screen.

Next we're headed to Texas for a week.

Florida at last!

We've been in Florida for a couple of weeks.  First we spent a couple days near were Lesley's sister is staying near Kissimmee.  We had a couple of nice days including a boat ride near Winter Park.
Then we went to Punta Gorda for 2 nights.  We went to the Saturday night concert at the annual Punta Gorda Banjo Bash.  I really enjoyed all the tenor banjo music.
We've been at Sun N Fun park in Sarasota for the past week.  It is a lovely park with over 1600 sites.  I think about 900 are park models the rest are RV's.  I've never seen so many big motor homes in one place.  The park has anything and everything you could want in an RV park.  I'll post some photos in the next couple of days.

Under Construction

I've started to build our site to follow our next journey.  We will be in Florida until March 20, 2012 then we begin our cross country journey.       More to come!