Glacier Day 1

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

In camp St. Mary Campground

Glacier National Park

Making breakfast for Jim and Barbara……eating just nuts and berries is not an option!

Our campsite at St. Mary Campground. It’s a wee bit cramped. There is a table and fire ring but on the opposite side as the door! Note to future campers…aim for the right side pull thru sites if you can! The view around us was gorgeous.

Wildflowers along St. Mary Lake….. No bears today!

Blackfeet Indian Dancing Exhibition at the Visitor Center. Amazing and colorful.

Note the guy with the number on his regalia. There is a lot of competitive dancing and judging of costumes. While adhering to traditions, the modern Blackfeet, as well as other tribes, bring in bright new colors and expressions to their efforts.

Park Rangers with a bear trap near Rising Sun campground (not where we stayed).

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

Goodbye to the plains

Tuesday, July 16, 2017

Havre, MT to St. Mary, MT

We left the campground soon after the others but immediately stopped at a nice little wildlife refuge. We spotted Ruddy Ducks, Eared Grebes, American Coots, and Yellow Headed Blackbirds. After an hour we left and went into town for gas and found a statue of the Empire Builder himself, James Jerome Hill, in front of the Amtrak station in the BNSF office building in Havre.

We continued west on Route 2 still across the plains and alongside the railroad.

Outside the little town of Chester we stopped for lunch and to wait for the Empire Builder to come through.

The train (going east) came through about 30 minutes late. It runs daily from Seattle to Chicago. It takes two full days and nights.

Before too long we were climbing the Rockies and headed to Glacier National Park.

We finally caught up with the rest of the wagon train at Loop C in St. Mary Campground.

203 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

into Montana

Monday, July 15, 2019

Williston, ND to Havre, MT

We left Williston heading west on Route 2. After about ½ hour we crossed into Montana and Mountain time. It is flat and surprisingly green still.

Route 2 follows the route of the mainline of the former Great Northern Railroad (now the Burlington Northern Santa Fe) almost all the way across Montana. It is mostly single track with a lot of passing tracks. Sometimes it is hard not to watch.

We stopped for lunch at Fort Peck Dam, a huge W.P.A. project on the Missouri River in eastern Montana. It is an earthen dam about 4 miles across and the lake behind it stretches for 125 miles to the west.

Looking down at the Visitor Center from the highway across the top of the dam.

Along the way, Montana has interesting historical facts.

We stopped for the night in Havre, MT at a small commercial campground.

335 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

last day in North Dakota

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit to Williston, ND

We all gathered for a pancake breakfast and then left our trailers and went into TRNP.

Our first stop was these “Cannonball Concretions”. Luci and I were fascinated by these four years ago. They are formed by mineral rich water seeping through the porous sedimentary rock. The minerals act like glue to bind the layers together, sometimes in these spherical forms.

This Lark Sparrow was enjoying the morning as much as we were.

These tourists were way too close to this group of bison, but fortunately the bison didn’t seem to take offense.

Jim cautiously sharing the road.

The Little Missouri River as it flows through Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

We went back to the CCC campground, hooked up the trailers, made sandwiches, and hit the road for the short drive to Williston, ND. It is a sprawling mid-sized town that has seen oilfield drive boom and bust several times in the last 20 years. It shows. We did laundry and grocery shopping. Karl and Deb took Jim and I to visit Fort Union Trading Post near the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers. The post was active from 1829 to 1854. The reproduction is very well done and the re-enactors did a nice job.

60 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

across North Dakota

Friday, July 12, 2019

Duluth, MN to McVille, ND

We began our next 1100 mile journey westward along US Route 2. Right away I got sidetracked to look at a big CN train yard in Proctor, MN. But soon we were on our way again and stopped for lunch at Lake Itasca St. Park. This is the source of the mighty Mississippi River about 2500 miles from and 1450’ above the Gulf of Mexico.

We found a pretty little county park in McVille, North Dakota for happy hour.

352 miles today

Saturday, July 13, 2019

McVille, ND to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Unit

We deviated to the south off Route 2 a little bit to visit Fort Mandan on the banks of the Missouri River. This is where Lewis and Clark spent their first winter.

Depicted below are Sacajawea, Clark, and Lewis (L to R)

Although the site of the original Ft. Mandan is probably under the current course of the river and therefore unknown, the State has constructed a very good replica based on Lewis and Clarks drawings and notes.

We ended our day at Theodore Roosevelt National Park on the banks of the Little Missouri River. Alas, the campground only had room for two of us. But there was an old CCC campground right across the river. It is now managed by the US Forest Service and is quite primitive. Despite the 93 degree heat and the signs warning that “Rattlesnakes are very active in the campground” we all set up camp.

324 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

The Upper Peninsula

Wednesday, July 10, 2019

In camp at Bay Furnace Campground

Luci and I spent the day at the Senay National Wildlife Refuge. We found this family of Trumpeter Swans.

When we got back to the campground some of us went to East Channel Brewing in Munising for a cold beer. Afterwards Jim, Rory, and Karl al went for a swim in Lake Superior. Kim went earlier in the day. It was a very quick dip as the water temperature was like our Atlantic in early June!

Thursday, July 11, 2019

Munising, MI to Duluth, MN

We got up early and led the pack out of the campground. The first 40 miles ran right along the shore of Lake Superior and it was beautiful in the early morning light. However, we fell behind when we took a side trip in Marquette to look at the huge ore dock and the ship being loaded right from the train cars.

This dock is 1250’ long, 60’ wide, and 75’ above the water. The ore cars are pushed onto the deck of the dock and unloaded into one of 200 pockets. The numbered chutes are lowered to load a ship.

We then headed through the forests of northern Michigan and Wisconsin to Indian Point Campground, a very nice city park, in Duluth, MN. Duluth is at the western end of Lake Superior and the St. Lawrence Seaway. It is a major port collecting grain, iron ore, and other products from all over the upper mid-west and shipping it down to Chicago, Cleveland, Montreal, or beyond.

324 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

The Soo Locks

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Sault Ste. Marie, MI to Munising, MI

We had a leisurely breakfast of eggs, bacon, and homefries cooked on the gridle in the bright sunshine on the banks of the St. Mary’s River.

The Hatts discovered that their refrigerator was not running on propane, only electricity. This was going to be a problem later in the trip since we expected to be off the grid quite a lot. They went off in search of an RV dealer to fix it while Luci, and I along with Karl and Petey went to visit the Soo Locks. We were fortunate to find the downbound bulk carrier American Spirit entering the locks.

The lock is 1200 feet long and 110 feet wide. The ship is 1004 feet long and 104 feet wide. There isn’t much room for error. The locks lower the ship about 21’ from the level of Lake Superior to the level of Lake Huron. The whole process takes about an hour.

For a little perspective, here is a tour boat going through the locks.

Afterward we went back to the campground, gathered our trailers and headed to the grocery store. When we got to our campground in Munising we discovered that our friends the Gallaghers had beat us there. Our wagon train was now complete! Since bad weather was forecast for the next day, Karl and Debbie and Steve and Kim went off to the boat tour at Pictured Rocks National Lake Shore.

136 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

On to Michigan

We spent the Independence Day holiday with Rory’s cousins and families in Clayton, NY. The 1000 Island region on the St. Lawrence is always a special place and this year it was even more special since Dorothy and Carter got to introduce Harrison and Margot to the Taylors. Stephie went with Poppa and Gammie and the camper a few days early. She swam in the river, bounced on the trampoline, fed the horses, bounced on the trampoline, collected eggs from the chickens, bounced on the trampoline, and generally charmed everyone. Dot and Carter and the twins arrived two days later and joined the fun. All too soon it was time for them to go back home and us to begin the next adventure.

Saturday, July 6, 2019

Clayton, NY to Port Huron, MI

We loaded up the trailer and got Stephie, Harrison, Margot, and Felix into Dot and Carter’s Highlander and set off in our respective directions. We crossed into Canada without any difficulty after a rather long wait. I don’t know whether it was the torrential rain or the small number of lanes open but it seemed very slow. Soon we were on Route 401 heading southwest along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Toronto traffic was awful and slow and augmented by another downpour. Eventually we crossed the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Clair river and back into the USA. This time we breezed through with no waiting for either the toll or customs. We immediately turned north along the shore of Lake Huron and after 10 miles stopped at Lakeport St. Park.

393 miles today

Sunday, July 7, 2019

In camp at Lakeport St. Park

The first order of business was to restock the larder since we had no more border crossings in our plans. Grocery shopping in a strange store is sometimes challenging but the Meijer Chain seemed to have everything we needed and then some even though it was Sunday morning of a Holiday weekend. We hadn’t even finished putting the groceries away when Luci’s lifelong friend Sue Nykamp showed up. We spent a lovely mid-day dinner catching up. Sue had a 1.5 hour drive home so she left in the mid-afternoon. After reading and napping in the sun we decided to take a dip in Lake Huron. There was quite a breeze kicking up some pretty good sized waves but we tried it anyway. The beach was very stony so we wore our flip flops. We both got bounced around a little, but we got in. The water was warmer than the St. Lawrence River two days ago.

Monday, July 8, 2019

Port Huron, MI to Sault Ste. Marie, MI

We got early and on the road by 7AM. We observed the phenomenon we noticed on other trips to Michigan. Michigan starts its day later that we do in Maine. We assume this is because Michigan is on the far west edge of the time zone while Maine is at the eastern edge. Anyway we drove through a number of sleepy small towns before we hit I-75 in Bay City. We made good time heading north and then over the Mackinaw Bridge over the Straits of Mackinaw between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. A few more miles and we were setting up camp on the banks of the St. Mary’s River just below the Soo Locks. About an hour later our friends Karl & Debbie Olson and Steve & Kim Hatt rolled in. They had been traveling through Canada for the last several days to meet up with us. We loved sitting and watching the big ships go by.

339 miles today

Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Sault Ste. Marie, MI to Munising, MI

136 miles today

On the road

Rory and Luci

Blog: https://roryandluci.wordpress.com/

And now the picture

🙄

Sent from Rory’s iPhone

The Soo!

This is the view from our campsite at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. We have met up with Karl and Deb and Steve and Kim.
More later
🤠

Sent from Rory’s iPhone