Overnight in an Indian reservation RV park and then on to Ashland, Oregon. There we will visit with friends, spend the night, and drive home. I guess all that's left is a picture of us and the trailer back where it started from and this baby is complete. But then again, maybe something noteworthy will happen between now and then.

The Blog and Wireless Access

The wireless access in Western RV parks is horrible. I have had a particularly difficult time updating my blog due to the terrible internet service available in most parts of this trip. In Jasper there even seemed to be a disdain for those who wanted to get on-line. (free access is limited to a laundry mat and one restaurant . . . in a busy tourist town!)  I would be the first one to say the time was the biggest obstacle, (checking e mail, posting to Facebook and two other forums took up most of my on-line time) but the lack of dependable access made this an impossible task.

Enough ranting:

After leaving Writing on Stone, we spent eight days exploring Banff and Jasper National Parks in Canada. The campsites had electricity only, were clean, and centrally located. We loved staying right in the middle of things, but we still had to do a great deal of driving to see the vast landscape of the Canadian Rockies. Both Mary and I came away from this experience feeling like this is one of the most beautiful places we have ever been. "Wow" was something we said to each other many times each day. The mountain peaks are incredibly rugged and tall, the lakes are colorful and numerous, the trees are incredible dense, and I have never seen so much water . . . moving so fast! It truly is a natural paradise.

We were also blessed with incredible weather and timing. Spring came late to the Rockies this year. We were amazed at the amount of wildflowers in bloom. We only got rained on a few times and the storms that did come through brought incredible skies.

Fairview - Banff

Many times our experience defied words.

Lake Louise Sunset - Banff

Peyto Lake - Banff

We are now in Vancouver and heading towards home. Much of our traveling from here on will not be of the site seeing variety. But we are still carrying the Canadian Rockies with us. We probably will for years to come.

The Road Well Traveled

Traveling the roads by RV is as much about the people and things one sees as it is the destinations. The people and events of the road are what make the journey exciting. That is not to say that the destinations are not worthy, (like this image of Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park in Alberta, Canada, attests to) but there are so many other things that add to the experience if one just pays attention and responds.

Mary and I started ribbing a friend via instant messaging about what trailers might work for him and his wife to consider buying. We started shooting cell phone images of some of the more unique RVs we saw in Great Falls, Montana on our short stay there. What we realized during this activity is the variety of vehicles and people that resided here. We saw retired people with RVs worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. We saw everyday folks like ourselves and we saw families that had fallen on hard times. The RV parks of today are communities with a story to tell. What started out as something to do for fun might just turn into a book.

1954 Airstream Whale Tail

 Mary even met a a French man, Guy, Albert Bazin, who is five years into a seven year trek around the world in his custom made German RV. It is truly amazing to me what is out there on the roads.

Follow Guy's journey here:
www.busaroundglobe.com

It wasn't much of surprise that Mary met a family from Israel yesterday and exchanged e mail addresses and phone numbers. A trip to Haifa could be in our future.

Billings, Montana

We had a mellow day cruising backroads to Billings. We drove through Thermopolis (the largest geo thermal hot bath in the country) but didn't stop or even take a picture. I felt like today was the first day we started to slow down. We aren't really in a hurry, but find there are many miles between where we are and wherever want to be. We have logged over two thousand miles since the start of our trip and have many more to go before we are back home. I think we are on the right track to slow down a bit and smell the roses for the remainder of our journey.

The Reality of the Road Trip

We dropped off Meredith at a friend's house first thing this morning. She is hitching a ride with a classmate back to the Bay Area. We loved having her with us for the first two weeks of our trip and will miss her. (this is her image of Aibi)

Today was eight hours on the road to get from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Casper, Wyoming. We stopped a few extra times along the road (once for the dog and once for Mary to visit an antique store) and took a few business loops,  but for the most part we just drove and drove and drove. (the speed limit is 75 in most of Wyoming . . . even for trucks and trailers.)

I have decided that Aibi knows best. The last time we stopped she didn't want to get back in the truck . . . and neither did I. What a great traveler Aibi is. It is a little bit of a problem when we want to go on long hikes in National Parks, but I am so glad she is with us on this adventure.

It will be a few more days before we reach a scenic locale and I can post some new images. We still have a lot of driving to come.

Rocky Mountains and Beyond

This is one of the most rugged national parks I have ever been to. It is incredibly beautiful and the amount of water is astounding to this California boy. The biggest problem we had was the altitude. We camped at 8,000 feet and many of the hikes in the park are between 8,000 and 12,000 feet in altitude. The hike to Alberta Falls (image shown) was only a couple of miles round trip, but it felt like a hike which was twice as long.

On to Rocky Mountain National Park

We had breakfast this morning in Panguitch, Utah, on our way to Grand Junction, Colorado. We ate with the Sheriff, well not "with" the sheriff, but he was eating in the same restaurant at the same time. (one must develop a strategy in choosing places to eat.) We are taking a few days off from the road to do laundry and catch up on chores then it is on to Rockie Mountain National Park.