Drive from Canada to Desert Hot Springs
We left Canada on Thursday and there was a line to return to the US, so we had a 45-minute wait, however, once we got to the front we went right through. We stayed in Shelby, MT for two nights and exchanged information with someone interested in buying our RV in two years. Kate and Frank were also there for one night, but we missed Cheryl and John by one day.
It was also our granddaughter, Maggie’s, 3rd birthday. We celebrated via Facetime.
Today was the ALS walk in Michigan in honor of our dear friend Edson. We wore our t-shirts to honor him and hope they raise a ton of money.
After Shelby, we stopped at a Harvest Host, Big Sky Deli, for the night. They make great sandwiches and homemade Beef Barley soup. YUM. OMG, the generator isn’t working right. It comes on for about 20 minutes, kicks off for 5 minutes, and kicks back on. We added oil, but it doesn’t seem to be the issue. For now, I have to run it manually instead of auto and it seems to work. It’s time to take it in for service. Of course, Sunday morning I tried it again and it seemed to work, I have no idea what is happening.
We continue south with a two-night stay in Melrose, Montana. No, I have no idea where that is. Melrose is our last stop in Montana. We drove into the hills. I had to find a destination and it was kilns used in the late 1800’s for iron ore. After this adventure, we saw all four corners of Montana. The East and West are totally different.
The last night in Montana we were at a local pub called Melrose Pub (the name of the town). The bar was the local “Cheers”. They bought us plenty of drinks. The next morning (and the day we left) we discovered a couple of chits to be used for drinks. On our way out of town, we pulled into the bar parking (taking up every spot) and dropped them off, and told the bartender to buy a couple of drinks for the guy who bought all of ours.
We stayed at an Eagles (FOE) in Idaho Falls for one night, as they had full hookups right on the property and only $15 if you are a member. We were there for Taco Tuesday and wonderful tacos and taco salad for $12. John stayed a lot longer and chatted with the members. It was a smoking bar and although they had good ventilation it was time for me to leave.
We drove only 20 miles to our next destination in Ririe on the resevoir. It is a beautiful site and scenery. Thursday we drove 2 hours to the Grand Teton National Park and drove around the entire park with a few stops in between and a great hike on Jackson Lake. I think we found the only hike that didn’t have 400 people. We did run into three guys who were camping on the lake and I did think of the movie Deliverance. We also ran into our friends at least four times at various lookouts.
We did get to see two huge moose but I couldn’t get my camera out quick enough to get a decent picture.
Emma, another grandchild turned 7 and designed her own cake that her parents had made for her.
On Friday we drove 120 miles in the opposite direction (west) to visit the Crater of the Moon National Preserve. 750,000 acres of lava from an underground fissure (volcano). Driving there it felt like we driving through the desert in Arizona. We went through the Idaho National Labs area where they research all kinds of energy including nuclear. We also drove through a radioactive waste area.
We also drove through Arco which is the only city in the world that used nuclear power to power their town. I looked it up for only a minute in 1955 – LOL. We also passed many Game Xrossing signs. I never saw a Monopoly or Parchese game cross the road.
On the way home we stopped and saw Cheryl and John again as we won’t see them until February in Arizona.
Our first stop in Utah was Tremonton. Our park was lovely with great views and a wonderful site. We did housekeeping things like haircuts, bus washing, and grocery shopping. When I walked into town I found a plaque referencing Gail Halvorsen who was from this area and brought hope to Berlin during the war.
We left Utah for Mesquite, NV for 5 days of golf and gambling. The gambling turned out great however we didn’t get to golf. A few days before our arrival I wanted to book our tee times. It turns out every course in Mesquite (and there are many) is closed in September for overseeding, In addition, I didn’t realize the temperature was 105 every day.
I did find one course in St. George so I booked it. We realized it was cart path only on the day of golf and it was still 105 degrees so we canceled. We enjoyed the pool and the gambling and that was it.
We are not big AC people, but it is running 24/7 in this heat. It is so hot it can’t keep the RV cool during the day. We even turned on the generator while driving to keep the A/C going. The drive through Las Vegas wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be We have one more stop in Needles, CA before arriving in Desert Palm Springs for October. It looks like hot, hot weather there.
