29 June 2008

Glacier National Park

We left St. Regis around noon on June 28th for the Rocky Mountain "Hi" RV Park in Kalispell, Montana. We arrived around 3pm and settled into our site with no trouble. The rest of the day was uneventful but we did get a lesson from a fellow RV'er on how to put our awning into place. Not so tough a task as I had feared and it provides a nice shaded patio for us to hang out on hot afternoons.

We headed out for Glacier National Park just after 11am this morning. Our campsite is about 30 minutes drive from the park entrance through some beautiful scenery. Grace enjoyed the drive and once we entered the park it was magnificent! We stopped at the Apgar Visitor Center first to browse the shops, pick up a national park passport, and find Kate some tea. We accomplished 2 out of 3 but were out of lck on the tea because the only thing available was Lipton tea bags at $1.49 each. Uh-uh, no way said Kate.

Next we drove to the Lake McDonald Lodge and booked a boat tour on...you guessed it...Lake McDonald! While we waited for the departure time I managed to find Kate a cup of black tea w/ orange spice. We boarded the boat at 1:30 and cruised the lake for about an hour before resuming our drive through GNP. We drove as far as the "weeping wall", a waterfall cascading down onto the road. We stopped for pics and then turned around and headed back down the mountain (the road is closed beyond the weeping wall for a few more days due to snow removal) and headed back to our campsite for the evening. We took lots of pics and we'll post some here tomorrow.

We leave for Yellowstone National Park around 11am on Monday morning. We'll spend the night at the KOA in Deer Lodge, Montana and then arrive in West Yellowstone on Tuesday afternoon.


Cheers!

Kate's perspective of moving day

Friday June 27, 2008 was THE LONGEST day of hurry-up-and-wait that I have EVER experienced. From about 7am until the movers finally left at nearly 8pm, our (former) home was a madhouse! So my job was to keep Grace occupied.

Mostly, we hung out in the side yard, playing on the grass. My friend Jen came over in the early afternoon, and we took a walk downtown to a gift shop for a housewarming gift for the new owners. After Jen left, I took Grace out to the RV, which was parked around the corner to make room for the moving van, for a nap. I managed to doze off & on for about an hour... then I just hung out while she finished her nap.

At one point I got pretty excited, because I saw the truck driver get into the rig, start the engine, and move... but he was only backing up to get the next door of the truck closer to the door of our house.

Lunch was re-heated pizza. I borrowed a neighbor's microwave, because ours was unplugged. Dinner was Arby's sandwiches. By around 8pm, when the moving van left, we had all had it... we were just ready to get on the road, but we had to finish loading the RV, and do at least some basic cleaning. At about 9pm, the new owners showed up to take pictures of the house empty. They had called Rob ahead of time to make sure it was okay. They are SO nice, they kept asking if there was anything they could do to help, but there really wasn't. By this time we were just trying to get the electrical connection working between the RV and the car so that we could go. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of a church friend and a couple of neighbors, we were finally able to head out.

We pulled into our 1st campsite at around 3am Mountain Time. We were never so happy to climb into bed... and our RV queen bed is surprisingly comfortable! We were grateful for the end of a VERY long day.

Moving Day!


June 27th, 2008

Moving day is here and it is time for us to begin a new chapter in our lives. We signed the papers to sell the house yesterday and the moving van is loading all our stuff today. We'll head out for St. Regis, Montana, once the moving truck leaves, expected to be around 3pm.

Well, here we are at 7pm and the truck is almost loaded. Looks like we'll be heading out around 8:30 pm with an expected arrival in St. Regis just after midnight because of the 1 hour time change.

Uh oh...the moving van left and we loaded the motorhome, hooked up the "toad" and had no electric power to the brakes and tail signals. After much frustration and playing around with the plugs our wonderful neighbors (ex-neighbors now) Brian and Brendan spliced the pigtail connector and wired some magnetic tow lights that were donated by a friend from church so we could get under way. We pulled out of Colfax about 10 pm.

The drive from Colfax to St. Regis was uneventful and mostly boring since it was well after dark. The road construction made things a bit harrowing as we descended Lookout Pass in narrow lanes with concrete barriers on both sides but we made it safely and hooked up at the RV site around 3 AM.

Tomorrow we head for a few days at Glacier National Park near Whitefish, Montana. Hope you'll join us on this great adventure as we post pictures and stories of what we hope will be an exciting journey.

Rob