Deadwood to Tennessee

When we laid this plan out originally, we had a short "to see" list: Florida Keys, Smithsonian in DC, Niagara Falls, Victoria BC, and the great parks in the middle (Glacier, Yellowstone, and the Tetons).

Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park

The question we get repeatedly asked by friends and family back home is: "have you found a place to settle down yet?". And when we arrive in a new town, we do think about it... someday in the vague very far away future.

Mesa in Custer State Park, shot through the (very buggy) RV window

Conversely, the first question on the lips of every traveler we meet is "where have you been?" quickly followed by a new list of things we MUST see or do. So despite over two years of travel our short list just keeps growing.

Example of South Dakota's attitude about fog lines. This picture was taken in the RV park, but is indicative of the way they look through Custer State Park where the edge often disappears into infinity. Riding in the passenger seat across Custer State Park aged me 10 years.

As the result of such a suggestion we found ourselves driving across Custer State Park and into Deadwood SD with Loretta pulling Mr. Toad. South Dakota is very casual about shoulders on their roads, and in many cases where the road has eroded they simply chose to paint the line anyway where the road should be. Coupled with wind advisories ("55+ mph winds, tip-over danger very high" many highway signs bleated at us along our way) and narrow tight twisty roads with sheer dropoffs, it made for a white-knuckle drive from Grand Teton to Deadwood.

Deadwood is a cute little town that has done a good job of protecting its history and charm; it's very easy to imagine the gold rush lifestyle of 1876. There are daily reenactments of various important moments in the town's history, both in the street and in the theaters. We were out for a  walk with Chloe during one of these and were surprised by several gunshots in rapid succession - a shootout in the street between unhappy gamblers. Chloe the Chicken Dog nearly ripped Lance's arm off trying to escape so we didn't walk her downtown after that.

Reenactment of a historical shootout. Each gambler shot 10 times and neither one was hit. The only casualty was a bystander who took a glancing blow to his leg and recovered.

Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Seth Bullock and so many others whose names you'd recognize are buried on the hill overlooking the town, and nothing appears to have changed much since they were laid to rest.

Stagecoach parked in the RV park

Now that our original "to see" checklist is complete, we're ready to start getting serious about boat shopping. We found a few in the Great Lakes to check out, and also wanted to visit some friends that live in Michigan. The night before travel day though, first the boat listings disappeared and then it became clear our schedule wasn't going to work for our friends. And we are definitely feeling an early, icy Fall breathing on us. We've been pretty cold off and on for what feels like months and we are totally done with being cold. It occurred to me just a few days ago that I haven't been swimming once all summer, not once. Mostly we've spent the summer in cold places and the few times there have been sufficiently warm park pools the pool pee math hasn't worked out to my advantage.

First we decided to make a dash for Annapolis, there are a few boats there we want to see. And so we hit the road with another  wind advisory on our tail and let it push us across South Dakota in record time. We drove almost 500 miles that first day and somewhere along the way we realized that even if we got to Annapolis and agreed on the perfect boat the first day, we wouldn't have time to negotiate, sail test, get it inspected, close the deal, and get it moved to somewhere warm and safe before winter caught us. Which means we'd be putting it up in a storage facility somewhere in Maryland until Spring thaws it out. Nope.

Dignity in South Dakota commemorates the state's 125th anniversary. The artist combined features from 4 different native models as his inspiration.

So we switched gears, again. We were still cold, and so we pulled out the Thousand Trails map and found the closest warmest park we could find - Tennessee. With a pool. Perfect. This will be our home base for a couple of weeks to get the Great Parks pictures sorted and off to Shutterstock, do some boat shopping and work the viewings into the RV fun that's already planned through February 2020.

Some poor soul's house and carports underwater just North of Omaha Nebraska

Days two and three found us battling occasional heavy rain, strong sidewinds and flooding through Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. In a few cases our freeway was underwater and the detours were definitely not RV appropriate - the first one we encountered tried to direct us under an 11' bridge. Loretta is 12 and a half feet tall and since we are fond of our air conditioners and wifi antenna we did some clever navigating to work around the problem areas.

Surprise! More freeway closures!

Despite the challenges we were able to knock out 1200 miles in three days, and then we cruised the last 200 miles in a relatively short day. It looks like Tennessee still has a little summer left to share, really looking forward to warming up and hitting the pool.

Hey, there's no water in the pool! Dangit!

Beavers and Foxes and Bears, Oh My!

While we were checking in they reminded us about the bear. And the foxes. "So don't leave anything out that smells like it might be food".

The Tetons as seen from our campground at Colter Bay Village

Later in the day the staff came by and pointed out that "things that might be food" included Stewie. Apparently he's snack-sized, so back into the bus he was tossed, where he settled grumpily on the bed and glared at us.

Later that night, armed with our trusty new can of bear spray, heavy jackets, fuzzy hats, Chloe the bear-alarm system on a short leash, and an assortment of camera paraphernalia, we bravely set off on the path to the lake. We were expecting a full harvest moon and wanted to capture it's glow on the mountain range which was wearing a fresh dusting of snow. In an effort to minimize the impact of the night lights on the critters and stargazers, all the property's lights had been replaced with red bulbs, leaving us to walk through eerie red pools of light in between the dark trees.

Lance set up his time lapse shot and we waited on a nearby log while the camera clicked away. Before long we heard a big splash. It sounded like a bowling ball had been dropped into the lake... no preceding sound and no subsequent sound. There were some folks on the boat docks off to our left, so we decided one of them must have dropped something overboard. Shortly afterwards we heard it again, from our right side where there were no people.

It being Friday the 13th, there was a full harvest moon, and we were the only people around. Of course the first thing we thought of was "bear" but before long our conversation turned to how it was exactly the sort of sound probably made by dropping a body, of lake monsters, of Jason with a hockey mask, and of course, we circled back to bear again. An off-duty staff member with a camera came by and we asked her about it, she told us she hadn't heard a sound like that before and had no idea what it could be. She hung out with us for a while and also mentioned that beavers had been active in the area and that staff had been making constant repairs to the boat docks as a result. She pointed to the former tree-line-now-stumps at the lake's edge as evidence of the ongoing battle.

A long line of stumps where there used to be trees

The camera snapped on. The night got cold. Like, don't-touch-the-camera-because-you-can't-stop-shivering-and-you'll-destroy-the settings-cold. Now and then the splashing sound resounded, long after the boaters had given up for the night.

Our vantage point for night photography, ground zero for the Beaver Battle

Then we saw it. Almost half the size of Chloe, an absolutely HUGE beaver scurried across the beach and jumped in the lake, and swam around frantically. Then another. Then another. These beavers are huge. And busy. Now I get it when I hear the term "busy beaver" - those dudes are so industrious! Cutting down trees, moving them around, splashing and swimming, they do it all at a frantic pace. The sound we heard, we concluded, was them slapping their tails on the water to alert that we were there.

Mystery solved and no real danger in existence, I admitted I was too cold to continue and went to bed, leaving Lance to finish his photos alone with his bear spray. Here's what happened in the wee hours of the morning, in his own words:

"Around 2am I changed the battery in the camera and set up the final time lapse shot with the full moon in the frame. Before long, I heard some large crashing nearby. Still primed for bears I jumped but it was only the beavers taking down another 12-inch diameter birch tree. Eventually I had to admit I was freezing, and since it was only 5 minutes before the timed shot was supposed to end anyways, I stood to pack up the camera. When I turned around there was a large red fox staring up at me from right behind the log where I'd just been sitting. I tried to get a picture but he escaped before I could switch the camera from time lapse to flash shot. I hurried back to Loretta in the dark, loudly whistling my stay away bear song."

The next morning we surveyed some of the damage, alongside staff who were out to make repairs to the docks ("again" they sighed).

Beavers had stuffed branches under the dock

The tree the beavers took down last night

We were supposed to only get a couple of nights here at this swanky little resort, but Ambassador Chloe made friends with the staff and every time they came by to love on her we reminded them we'd like to stay longer; when a spot became available we were fresh in their minds and they offered it to us. We've been so long boondocking and off the grid, we are super appreciative of the full hookups, the nearby restaurants and grocery store, and the internet access.

Here's the timelapse video of the full moon over the Tetons, enjoy:

Yellowstone... no reservations

Yellowstone's big. Ya ya ya!

It's not small! No no no!

(now the jingle's stuck in your head... you're welcome)

Mammoth Hot Springs

The original plan was to stay outside the park where there was plentiful internet and dive into the park for day trips. After only two day trips like that we realized it wasn't going to work if we wanted to see all of Yellowstone in a reasonable time; getting into the heart of the park from the outside just takes too much time. 

Mammoth Hot Springs - top-down view

In Montana they have a saying about the 4 seasons being "almost winter, winter, still winter, and construction". So the roads within the park were subject to 30 minute delays here and there, in addition to the usual wildlife-on-road delays, it became quickly apparent we would have to think differently to make this work. To add another layer of difficulty to our no-reservation lifestyle, the main RV park on Yellowstone Lake was closed for repairs, displacing 400+ RVs into the other campgrounds.

Historical Yellowstone tour buses await a fresh batch of passengers outside the Mammoth Hotel

The restaurant at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel

In the end we found some internet at a first-come-first-served campground near Mammoth by the North Entrance. This put us within easy daytrip reach of the Beartooth Highway, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris, Madison and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

My impromptu office in the Map Room at the Mammoth Hotel
Verizon got a good signal here

This view at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone was the first image to return to civilization, in painted form. It seized the nation's attention and sparked the desire to save this magical place for future generations to share; thusly the very first National Park was born. Even knowing for a fact that I stood there and shot this picture, it still doesn't feel real.

On our last day we also visited Old Faithful and it's accompanying lodges but it was a long driving day. Norris campground is also first-come-first-served and would have been a better launching point for this end of the park but there were only a couple of spots big enough for Loretta. Getting there and not getting in would have bounced us out of the park - we decided not to chance it and ended up suffering the long drive instead.

Old Faithful

It was worth it.

The light fixtures at the Old Faithful Lodge

Staircase at the Old Faithful Inn

Pendulum clock at the Old Faithful Inn

Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks sort of blend into one another, so when we finally felt like we'd seen enough of Yellowstone we moved Loretta South to Jackson Lake with a beautiful view of Grand Teton. Again, we nabbed a spot in the first-come-first-served campground for a night until we could wiggle our way onto a full hook-up site for a couple of nights. The nights have been shockingly cold off and on, plugging in is a nice treat.

This bison calmly grazed right alongside the road near Norris campground.
He didn't even budge when the cars passed within inches of him.

We had intended to boondock in the National Forests around the Tetons, but we're sort of loving the long showers and dual heaters. We'll see how it goes. For now we are luxuriating with the 50amp hookups in the shadow of Grand Teton.

 

Dry Camping at Mammoth Campground
The elk routinely wander right through camp

Stewie loves being a Savannah cat. He patrolled the campsite at midday,
and always came in well before Elk Hour, all the better to watch them from the safety of his window perch.

Gallatin National Forest

The approach into Yellowstone through the Gallatin National Forest

"You are addicted to the internet" Lance told me with a smirk.  I shook my head and made eye contact. The man has beautiful cornflower blue eyes; every now and then they startle me, and this was one of those moments I was shocked when I looked up to see them twinkling at me. Maybe I thought to myself at the same time my mouth formed the denial "nah..." and I shoved the phone in my pocket.

Bozeman Hot Springs RV Campground

The resort where we landed is between Bozeman and Yellowstone National Park. It has hot springs attached to it and the town of Bozeman is adorable. I asked the clerk at the desk if we could extend past Friday and he actually laughed at me. "What, you mean into Labor Day?!" followed by a round of belly laughter from everyone who worked there.

Oh Shit. Labor Day. Isn't that like weeks away? In September... what's today? August sometime, right? Oh... the 30th.

And this is how we found ourselves between Bozeman and Yellowstone in the Gallatin National Forest in a first-come-first-served campsite next to the highway for Labor Day weekend. Close to the park but oh so far away. No power, no water, no internet. Deep in bear country.

Grizzly sauntering along the plains in East Glacier National Park

The first night was fun. We cooked dinner, cleaned up very carefully and put anything that might smell like food safely away, and enjoyed a campfire together. By the second afternoon the isolation was getting to me. I got it into my head that I absolutely had to solve a little client project (which in hindsight definitely could have waited until Monday afternoon), packed up the laptop and fled back to Bozeman, a college town sure to have a good signal.

The project took about 10 minutes and then I found myself surfing Facebook. Lance might be right... I may have an internet addiction problem.

Leaving Bozeman for Yellowstone

Time to focus. I booked us a place to land close to Yellowstone's West gate after the holiday weekend, scouted a propane supplier on our route, checked on a couple of other client projects (all quiet for the holiday weekend), and put the computer away. For real this time.

This is pure Montana; agricultural, wild, huge.

Back at camp, I pulled out the book I'd picked up in Glacier National Park written by a local author and spent Sunday devouring it. She really nailed the mood of the place with this suspense thriller. It was the perfect way to spend a holiday weekend Sunday in a totally disconnected campsite. It's called The Wild Inside and the author is Christine Carbo. Here's a link to the Kindle version.

On Monday we moved on to a swanky RV resort at the West side of Yellowstone to prepare for weeks of boondocking within the park. We should be well within the range of a good signal from here on out. Whew.

10 Tips on How to be Breakdown-Ready

Nobody wants to break down. But it happens.

We are serial travelers - with cars, boats, motorcycles and now the RV and we've experienced breakdowns in some pretty remote spots. They happen. Here are our top 10 tips for handling RV breakdowns.

1 - Purchase a good tow plan. We have two: AAA with RV/motorcycle coverage and Coach Net. We use Coach Net for our Class A, we keep AAA for the motorcycles and toad.

2 - Be ready with a plan.
Class As are heavy and large. If yours is diesel like ours, the drive line will have to be disconnected before she can be towed in order to avoid transmission damage. Not every mechanic shop or tow company is equipped to handle a rig that big and many tow companies don't want to mess with the disconnecting of the drive line. The two times we've been towed it took 6 hours from initial phone call to get Loretta settled safely in a shop, and we got lucky and were on the fringes of significant population bases both times. Had we still been in the willywonks when disaster struck it may have taken even longer. 

Therefore, while sketching your route for the day, keep mental track of the nearest big cities at any given point of the route. This will come in handy when discussing your preferred shop with the tow company. You're likely to have better access to all the services you need by making that your home base. It may make sense to ask to be towed just a little bit further to a proper city for quicker turn-around on parts, lodging and restaurant options, and things to keep you busy while you wait. 

Along these lines, before you call be sure take a moment to review who manufactured your chassis, transmission, engine, whatever the relevant problem area is - if you can readily give this to the tow company in the first call they will start their search by looking for the right technician to handle your rig.

3 - Have a ditch bag ready. If you have pets this is especially important. We keep soft carriers for the cats, all the paperwork for all 3 pets is handy in a folder. If you must board the pets they will insist on viewing their shots records first, some hotels ask for this as well. We each have a small suitcase under the bed for a week's worth of clothes and our toiletries are already packed in them. Don't forget important medications too, if you can't leave a supply in the suitcase at least leave yourself a reminder note to raid the medicine cabinet before zipping up your suitcase.

4 - Have a savings account or a special credit card set aside for disasters. They happen, so be prepared in advance and limit money as a stress source as much as possible. If you can, pick a card that has some travel bennies on it, cash back on dining out, hotel or the repair bill, which will take some of the bite out. Don't be afraid to ask for a cash discount at the shop if that's how you roll, some shops prefer this and the savings can be significant.

5 - When looking for pet-friendly places to stay, often hotels are not the best option. I am always on the lookout for pet-friendly cabins at the campgrounds where we stay. This time we found an Air BnB with a doggie door to the enclosed backyard which made both cats and the dog quite happy. We were able to extend a little bit when our RV parts took longer than planned to show up, and thus avoided having to move the pets when they were at peace. By staying in a whole-house Air BnB we saved a little over the hotel, eliminated the pets' stress of cleaning staff coming and going, and had a kitchen to cook in if we wanted to break up the restaurant monotony.

6 - RV repairs ALWAYS take longer than you expect. Make housing arrangements for whatever you think it should take x3, if you are in a remote location or if your rig is older like ours and it's harder to find parts, add even more time.

7 - Take your valuables. Passport, credit cards, jewelry, don't leave these things on the bus. I still get upset about the earrings I mistakenly left out in plain sight when I hurriedly packed up in Albuquerque, they weren't valuable but they were cool and I miss them.

8 - Take a quick video of the inside and outside of your rig before handing it off. We've come back to damages here and there caused by technicians while they were working on something unrelated and did not pursue reparations because we had no proof it wasn't like that before. Now I take a quick "before" lap inside and out with the phone videocamera while waiting for the tow truck.

9 - Ask the shop to show you the old parts, or give you a tour of the work they did, a good shop will be proud to show you their work. We've been charged for work that wasn't actually done in Denver and in Los Angeles and since we were just passing through weren't in a position to drop by and get it fixed later.

10 - Last and most important...be kind to one another. Breakdowns can be stressful. At the end of the day take a moment to reconnect over an adult beverage, by relaxing together in the hotel hot tub; at the very least take some time to snuggle together wherever you have landed for the night.

Loretta outside our Air BnB, back from the shop, washed and ready to go

Glacier National Park with No Reservations

"You'll never get in!!!!" said everyone we talked to.

Literally every. single. person. we met.

"It's high tourist season you know..."

Glacier National Park in dramatic sunshine and a light dusting of snow

We were already plugged in at a great 50amp spot in Kalispell, MT but we were determined to figure out a way to stay inside Glacier National Park for the full experience, despite the fact that it's mid-August and we had no reservations. Brimming with overconfidence, Lance and Chloe set out in the Mini on Thursday morning to try to nab us a spot while I finished my morning work. It wasn't long before he called victorious, and waited in our spot for me to bring Loretta. It's good that he stayed to defend our space, because not long after he dropped our cash and registration envelope in the collection box some random dude in a red SUV showed up and tried to steal it. Fortunately, stubborn husband prevailed and by Thursday afternoon we were enjoying our lakeside spot in Glacier National Park, in spite of all the naysayers.
Here's our secret weapon: Apgar.

Our campsite at Apgar

Apgar Campground is first-come, first-served; no reservations accepted at all. It's the first campground from the West entrance of the park on Lake McDonald - only $20/night but no hookups whatsoever. On the way in grab one of their envelopes and fill it out. When you find your space, plant yourself in it, tear the tag off the envelope and attach it to the stick with your campsite number, stuff $20/night cash in the envelope in the ranger's collection box. Simple.

I heard there's a credit card option but we didn't test the theory.

There's no wifi and very sporadic cell service in the park, so I drove out to nearby Columbia Falls at the crack of dawn to get the work done on Friday. This sweet find was the Montana Coffee Traders and they had a corner table with power just for me. When everyone else woke up and it started getting crowded I relinquished my table and finished the work on the outside booth at the Dairy Queen (which was still closed) where I clocked the fastest internet speeds I've seen so far - almost 50Mbps on Google Fi!

We stayed at Apgar for four nights, and I noticed that there's an early batch  of campers that leaves just before 8am, and it takes a while for their spots to fill in. Another batch of folks leave around 10 and those fill faster, by 2:00 every single spot was filled and there were rangers turning would-be campers away at the entrance. The Apgar Visitor Center is right next door and has large RV parking for short spells, a solid strategy would be to get there at daybreak, lurk and lap, repeat as necessary.

An assortment of boats are available to rent on Lake McDonald

The weather was wildly variable, and the mood of the mountains changed significantly depending on the temperature and skies (the primary reason we wanted to stay in the park - to get the best photograph opportunities). On our first lap along the Going to the Sun Road it was overcast and brooding, an overwhelmingly awesome but photographically flat grey experience. The next day it stormed all day - we comfortably sipped coffee next to the propane heater while we worked on a supersize puzzle and watched the sad tent campers next to us hurriedly pack their soggy camp and flee; on the glacier mountaintops above us it snowed. 

The next day gave us fluffy patches of clouds and stunning light that revealed fresh snow, the second lap across the Going to the Sun Road made for significantly more dramatic photos. It's good that we stayed to experience some of the mountain's moody range.

The Lodge at Lake McDonald

The Lodge at Lake McDonald is pretty at night and we had high hopes for a fabulous dining experience but waited over an hour to be seated, then were disappointed by the saddest, thinnest, most tasteless and also offensively overpriced steak I have ever had. The building is fabulous, though, and the salads we saw folks receiving in the bar looked amazing (I think the bar and restaurant share the same menu), I'd recommend skipping steaks and also the Fireside Dining Room altogether and eating a salad in the bar. We had plenty of time while waiting for our table to decipher the petroglyph lanterns in the lodge. We call this one "dude went exploring and the first dude he met was shy. Then he was chased by a unicorn and helped a teenage octopus with his croquet strategy. Then he narrowly escaped being eaten by colorful sharks and stabbed a stranger". 

The Lighting at the Lake McDonald Lodge

Late in the day before we were supposed to leave we discovered a bicycle path, and so opted to stay an extra day so we could fully explore it.

The bike path from Apgar to the West Entrance

Next stop: Yellowstone. On our way Loretta's front right tire made a horrendous noise so we pulled in to a popular big rig stop called "Woody's" where there was plenty of parking, fuel and food and most importantly cell service to make our second phone call to Coach Net, then booked our first Air BnB in BigFork MT to wait on repairs. The plan was to sort through the Glacier pictures while we waited for repairs, but failed to take into account that the majority of them were already downloaded to the computer on Loretta which is now at the shop so that will have to wait. All the pictures you see on this blog came from my Pixel 3 camera phone, a surprisingly good little camera for a phone.

The latest mechanic's update suggests we might be rolling again in a few days. We'll post the rest of the Glacier shots down the road.

Breakfast egg rolls

This is definitely a make-ahead-of-time recipe. Shawna likes to eat them with one hand while poking at the GPS with the other on travel days.

Ingredients:

• 1 package egg roll wrappers (find near the produce aisle by the refrigerated salad dressing)
• 9 eggs
• 1/2 bunch green onions
• chopped pickled jalapenos to taste
• 2 oz cream cheese
• 8 oz sausage, bacon, ham, or whatever
• cooking oil

In a large skillet cook meat, when done remove meat and set aside, retaining the rendered fat in the skillet.

In a medium size mixing bowl add 8 eggs.

Separate one egg, keeping the white in a small bowl and putting the yolk in the mixing bowl.

Chop green onions and cream cheese and add to mixing bowl.

Whip with a fork until well mixed.

With the vent hood ON add chopped jalapenos to frying pan, cook until just starting to brown.

Chop or crumble meat and add back to skillet.

Add egg mixture and cook until done.

Take one egg roll wrapper, put two tablespoons or so of egg mixture in the middle, fold over the ends, and roll like a burrito using the reserved egg white to seal the flap.

Heat the cooking oil in a frying pan to about 350 degrees (you can check with an extra piece of egg roll wrapper, it should flash up immediately).

Add egg rolls 3 or 4 at a time so the oil doesn't get too cold, cook on both sides until golden brown, let cool a bit then serve or freeze.

The filling can be pretty much whatever you want. I recommend staying away from cheese or anything wet like tomatoes.

Serve with sour cream.

To reheat from frozen - for each egg roll: 30 seconds in the microwave and then 6 minutes at 375.