Our trip out west

[Lowmiler]

Originally Posted by RSerendipity

We probably passed each other somewhere! Appears like you're in Glacier today. Hoping the road will be open soon. Make sure you at least drive back to Many Glaciers. It is incredibly beautiful. DW said it reminded her of Switzerland.

We are in Lewis & Clark Caverns SP. Beautiful Canyon & great Cave tour. Rrcommend this State Park highly.. Heading South to Yellowstone tomorrow. Short drive, only 106 miles to West Yellowstone

We arrived here about an hour ago. 7.5hs door to door with one fuel stop and one relief stop. This was the longest towing stint scheduled on the trip and I was happy it went without incident.

Lewis and Clark on Rt 2? We passed that this morning after I saw a huge herd of cattle on rt 380 just before we were supposed to turn on it and I decided to continue to 2 and cut over to I90 that way,

I was tempted to stop at the caverns, but I was also on a mission to get to Glacier. Glacier won. Haven’t been here for almost 35 years.

Enjoy Yellowstone!

[Lowmiler]

Originally Posted by 6inthefamily

Thanks for sharing! We are leaving 7/25 to start our trip to Badlands, Cody, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and Flaming Gorge.

We have 4 adults and 6 kids twelve and under. We voted as a group and planned alot of stuff. Polaris RZR rentals for a day, locomotive trip, river rafting, rodeo. I think I am as excited as the kids are!

When we first planned this trip, my daughter would have been 12, a terrific age for a trip like this. Now she’s 15 and we’ve had a couple bouts of sullen teenager, but I can’t blame her as she’s solo on the trip (except for the first 2 weeks when a friend of hers joined us, had other summer events to attend and flew back home out of Rapid City).

You’ll have an awesome time! Get in Yellowstone early Iin the morning to beat the crowds, it makes the park even more special!

[Lowmiler]

Originally Posted by Roadpop

Thank you for sharing. Now suffering from severe case of trip envy. DW went on epic 28 day trip out west when she was 11. All I heard about when we were dating. Now married 45 years and finally planning our own trip for next year. These pictures have me wanting to load the truck and leave tomorrow.
Safe Travels!

Do it!

And thanks!

[Lowmiler]

Originally Posted by cmikal

We also only have 2 AC units. We started using our rig late last October in Pennsylvania and immediately headed South. We spent Thanksgiving in Arkansas, then Christmas North of Dallas, then down to the Gulf. We headed back to PA in the Spring, arriving mid-May. The trailer has been in storage since then. We saw a few 80 degree days, but nothing worse than that. My concern is that we really need 3 ACs during humid 90 degree or higher conditions. Starting this October, we will be full-time instead of half-time and we will be using our trailer during those 90 and 100 degree PA summer days. I have my doubts whether the trailer can maintain low to mid-70s during those hot spells.

I haven't done anything to the ductwork or the AC units. I'm curious what you did, since you can't get to the plenum area. My AC units are hidden above the ceiling. I am assuming yours are too.

We normally keep our 5er at a seasonal site near the Chesapeake Bay, and mid 90s humid days aren’t a problem, but our site is kind of shady.

Search for AC mod on this forum, you’ll find instructions on taping up the vent openings to prevent air from escaping into the ceiling.

My main bedroom AC isn’t a whisper quiet, so the vent head sticks through the ceiling. There’s a mod for that type of AC unit, too, and it was extremely effective on mine. I found the divider wall all skewed, allowing cold air to immediately escape to the return side.

[RSerendipity]

Lewis and Clark on Rt 2? We passed that this morning after I saw a huge herd of cattle on rt 380 just before we were supposed to turn on it and I decided to continue to 2 and cut over to I90 that way,

I was tempted to stop at the caverns, but I was also on a mission to get to Glacier. Glacier won. Haven’t been here for almost 35 years.

Enjoy Yellowstone![/QUOTE]

If you looked to your left while passing, I was the guy fishing in the Jefferson River. Glad you made it to Glacier NP.
Enjoy your stay in Glacier

[spark of insanity]

Back in 2011 We did an exact trip like this one to Montana from Michigan. We drove to Wisconsin and visited the site of where Laura Ingalls Wilder started from. Drove thru SD and visited some of her historical sites and stayed at a KOA in the Black Hills and then on ward to Yellowstone where we hired a docent to give a 3 day tour of Yellowstone. Awesome tour will never forget that one. Then on ward to Montana and then homeward bound to Michigan thru ND. Did a few days in the Bismark area and thru the UP of Michigan and down ward to home. That was an awesome 3 week trip in a pop up. Then In 2016 a bigger pop up thru Canada Maine MA and PA and home. The new trip this year now is Maine for the summer. I do not think I will ever do this again. Maine is beautiful but the weather is unpredictable. Happy trails.

[2edgesword]

Nice photos! Enjoy the rest of your journey.

[Lowmiler]

So yesterday we were supposed to take a Red Bus Tour of Going to the Sun Road, because our dually was technically too long and also because I had zero interest driving our dually on such a nutty road.

For those that don’t know, the Road cuts directly through the park east/west and is an absolute engineering marvel, cut into the side of the mountains and rising 3200’ from the valley floor to Logan Pass, which is on the Continental Divide. The views are incredible, yet difficult to enjoy when also trying drive and navigate the twisty narrow road.

But a massive snow storm a few weeks ago pushed back the opening of the Road to motorized traffic, so our Red Bus Tour was going to do an alternate route to other, less spectacular, areas of the park.

However, a trip to Glacier without a drive on the Road just isn’t the same, so we found an alternative. No motorized traffic, but the Road was open from Avalanche Creek to the Pass for hikers and bikers. Only the very fittest should attempt to do the whole trip on a normal bike, as the route from the west is 16 miles of non-stop 6% grade, with the aforementioned 3200’ elevation climb. We’re fit, but not that fit, so we rented e-bikes.

We got to Avalanche Creek around 10am, just as the rain was tapering off, so our ride up was very pleasant temps and sunny. To conserve battery life, quite a bit of pedaling needed to be done, and we were thoroughly tuckered once we reached the Pass, but thrilled by what we had seen and experienced on the trek up.

Temps plummeted to the 40s once reaching the top, and the winds really picked up. We found shelter on the leeward side of the closed visitor center and had a nice lunch in the sun, and remounted our bikes for a smooth glide down the Road. But Mother Nature had other plans, and decided to throw in a downpour on top of the cold temps and gusting winds.

By the time we reached Avalanche Creek again, we were spent and freezing, but thoroughly exhilarated. What a great adventure, and an amazing way to really see the road without pressure or driving distraction.

One of many waterfalls along the Road:




McDonald Creek in the valley:




Logan Pass:




View of east side from Logan Pass:




Our view just as we started our way down:

[RSerendipity]

Lowmiler, Liked that one pic you posted but did not have my Coffee cup with me. All I had was our Goldendoodle. Taken this morning.

[Lowmiler]

Very nice, looks like Jackson Lake as seen from Colter Bay campground beach.

We’ve just passed through North Dakota and are staying the night over the border in Minnesota as we make our way to Voyageurs National Park tomorrow.

Grand Teton was an amazing place to us, we will absolutely be back.

Enjoy!

[RSerendipity]

Yes, it is the Colter Bay Beach on Jackson Lake. This is an amazing Place. We're leaving Sunday for Colorado. Staying in a US Forest Service CG w/Power & water. About 40 miles west of Fort Collins.

Enjoy Voyageurs National Park

[Lowmiler]

After Glacier we made our way across eastern Montana, through North Dakota, up to Voyageurs National Park in most northern Minnesota. Then across to Michigan Upper Peninsula, where we are now.

I’d never been to North Dakota, and it left an impression on me. Copy and paste of an account I wrote to some buddies about the place, long read:

Traveled several hundred miles on US Rt 2 yesterday and today.

2 is the most northern major route in the lower 48, contiguously running from near Spokane, WA to Duluth, MN.

Other major northern west/east roads are I90 through South Dakota which we took out (east/west?), and I80, which is the most common route cross country.

I80 runs smack through Tornado Alley, and June/July is the height of tornado season, so for simple reasons I wanted to avoid that route.

A lot of the western portion of US 2 is two lanes, like from where we picked it up east of Glacier National Park, with a 70mph speed limit. Because of that combo, you can count two or three roadside white crosses every 10 miles or so, until the road finally splits into a proper four lane.

Regardless of two or four lanes, this is a very little-traveled path, even by the truckers. Every once in a while, rutted narrow gravel roads will intersect 2 with names like “410 Avenue NW”.

Sometimes you can find yourself totally alone, with no other vehicles in sight from horizon to horizon. Turn up the Frampton on SiriusXM and just cruise, the Canadian border ever-present on the left hand side of the nav screen…

End of yesterday and most of this morning we passed through the North Dakota Oil Fields.

Though desolate, they are not dystopian desolate, where one imagines naked wastelands with dust and smoke choking the sun.

Instead, they are rolling green hills, interspersed with tan and rust colored buttes, and popping every now and then with fluorescent yellow canola flower fields.

But in the middle of this serene field may sit two or three nodding donkeys (oil pumps) doing their work, while a flare stack eternally burns nearby, eradicating fume byproduct.

And these little pump stations are… every… where.

Ironically, they are solar powered. Dealer knows not to get high on his own supply.

And through it all thrusts active railroads, funneling two mile long caravans of shiny black tank cars, carrying raw crude to all places east and west. I’m sure there are cars filled with canola oil hooked in there, too…

This is also a land of thousand foot tall cell towers, pumping signal hundreds of miles in each direction, to find its end users, who are very few and very far between.

Up there with the towers, the sky is bright blue, complementing the yellow fields and green hills.

Fascinating place.

[Lowmiler]

More photos, Pines of Kabetogama campground at Voyageurs, inside Voyageurs, and a couple from spending the night in Duluth Lakehead Boat Basin (full hookups in a marina parking lot) on our way to the UP:

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Nice description and beautiful photos, Lowmiler! Thanks for sharing them! We always look for old alternatives and US 2 is a great one. Different part of Montana than Bozeman where I grew up. We took 2 from Glacier well into the U.P.

Some highlights for us were the Blackfoot Reservation, endless wheat fields interrupted by Havre, great trains, unique interesting side notes like the big buffalo, Fort Peck Dam, Theodore Roosevelt National Monument, the headwaters of the Mississippi, and swarms of starving mosquitoes in the desolate U.P.

[Lowmiler]

Originally Posted by Hollander Mutthaulers

Nice description and beautiful photos, Lowmiler! Thanks for sharing them! We always look for old alternatives and US 2 is a great one. Different part of Montana than Bozeman where I grew up. We took 2 from Glacier well into the U.P.

Some highlights for us were the Blackfoot Reservation, endless wheat fields interrupted by Havre, great trains, unique interesting side notes like the big buffalo, Fort Peck Dam, Theodore Roosevelt National Monument, the headwaters of the Mississippi, and swarms of starving mosquitoes in the desolate U.P.

Thanks, we split our time at Glacier between West Glacier and St Mary, so we spent some time on the Blackfoot Reservation. 37 years ago was my first visit to Glacier, my college roommate was working for the summer at St Mary Lodge, and I was driving around North America in a VW camper van (that trip lasted over a year).

Our first night after leaving Glacier this trip was in Havre, we caught the county fair that night.

Pulling a 43’ 5th wheel certainly always makes me think twice about spur of the moment sight seeing off route, sometimes I wish for a much smaller rig so we can be more spontaneous. Trade off, we’ve been quite comfortable on the trip, amazing how quickly we adapted to a space just a fraction the size of our sticks and bricks house.

In the U.P., we spent a night in Munising, right on the beach, beautiful view of Lake Superior. Now we are on the south shore in Manistique, also right on the beach.

What mutts are you hauling?

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

U.S. 2 has a lot to offer. We were long-time tent campers, mostly primitive, and now that we're mid-70s our little 16XRB suits us to a T. It's pretty light and maneuverable; we rarely get stuck in tight spots with it.

For the first five years we hauled our 50 pound Plott hound mix with us. He was really sweet and laid back, except when hounding in the yard, and he loved camping. Sadly, he aged and his quality of life was diminished to the point that we had to put him to rest.

We now have a year-old beagle. Not sweet, kind of grumpy, likes things his way and is quickly learning he never wins and needs to ask permission before eating, going though doors, and other things. After living with us for half a year he's learned riding in the car is tolerable, he'll sleep in the camper where we tell him to, and he enjoys camping. Loved our old Barnum, but this kind-of-rowdy Bailey is learning the ropes and behaving himself pretty well. Think he'll work out okay, but no dog will ever replace our beautiful Barney boy.

[Lowmiler]

We were worried all the truck time and solo time in the camper would stress our pup out, since at home he comes to work with us, but he has been an absolute trooper. 8hrs in truck? No prob. 9hrs solo in the camper? Nap time. People suggested before we left that we leave him home, but he’s family.

He’s also a 100lbs lab/pit mix who probably holds the cure to baldness because we’ve never seen a dog who could shed so much yet still have a full coat. Truck and camper get regular interior cleanings, thankful we have on board washer/dryer.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

Yeah, dogs are like kids in a way. : )
Our Barnum (he had quite a regimen of tricks he could do) just took a nap once we got on the highway. Bailey used to be pretty anxious, but after some reinforcement and shaping he's found sleeping is a good way to wile away the hours on the road. We've never left our dogs in the car or trailer by themselves. It's inconvenient at times, but it's what we do.

The Beagle doesn't shed much; they have different kind of hair, but our Plott shed a lot. He was a beautiful brown brindle and his fur is still imbedded in our back seat. We have a supported plywood platform in the left 3/5th of the back seat with a rug and blankets. Whenever the dogs are in the car we have them harnessed and chained to the interior with plenty of room to roam but not in the front. And we never need worry about them bailing out when we stop or if we are involved in an accident.

[Lowmiler]

Locked in car alone: never

In camper alone: unlocked, with both AC running, bowls of ice water, and Waggle Pet Monitor system activated.

Waggle relies on cell service, and quite a few places we traveled away from the camper had no service. But everything in life is a risk.

[Hollander Mutthaulers]

It seems everyone has their own method of pet care, but from what I have observed, most owners take care of their dogs, cats, and potbellied pigs pretty well.

However, there are a relative few...