USA and Canada July 2010

Travel Plans
13 July - ferry to Skagway then drive Cassiar and Yellowhead and other highways south to Lower 48
17 August - Dallas to London to Iceland
24 August - Iceland to London then overland to Croatia/Italy
29 September - meet Jan in Italy to travel Sicily and Tunisia
9 November - Paris to Dallas
4 December - Miami to St Thomas
23 January - Mum's birthday in Tampa Florida

31 July 2010 (Manitou Springs CO)
Morning walk through the park with their dog Patron and then great hike in the hills above the town. We stopped at the Olive Tap where you can taste various flavours of balsamic vinegar and olive oil...yummy. We then had an evening feast with many of their friends.

30 July 2010 (Castle Rock to Manitou Springs CO)
I had met Peggy and George when they were in Juneau in 2009 visiting a friend of theirs so it was great when they said to visit them in Colorado....little did they know that I would show up on their doorstep! They live right on top of the hill overlooking Manitou Springs. We walked the downtown and shopped at the farmers market where you could fill a bag with veggies for just $7!

29 July 2010 (Boulder to Castle Rock CO 108 miles)
Morning drive on backroads with short hikes at Marshall Lake and FlatIron Open Space areas.

28 July 2010 (Longmont/Boulder CO)
Just hanging out here for a day before heading to Castle Rock tomorrow and catching up with folks via skype. I assume that folks that I visit will have a telephone that I can use with my phonecard to make calls....but no one has a land line anymore, just mobiles! A change in the weather today....cooler and overcast....nice change from the hot and sunny! I had thought of driving into the mountains west of here but it is a good thing that I did not.....one foot of hail with mudslides just west of Boulder! Evening walk with the dogs at beautiful open space field with views of the mountains.

27 July 2010 (Fort Collins to Longmont/Boulder CO 46 miles)
First stop was at the local city park pool in Fort Collins. I am tired of being a pale face so decided it was time for a tan...unfortunately, I picked an overcast day that turned into rain....but still refreshing from the heat. I am now on my way to visit with Mary who was in the Peace Corps in Madagascar in a previous group to mine. We have never met because when I arrived she had already returned to the USA but we have conversed heaps via email. She lives near the IBM plant here! We took her dogs Annie and Phoebe to Coot Lake for walk after dinner.

26 July 2010 (Custer SD to Fort Collins CO 280 miles)
Hot drive down highway 85 to Fort Collins to visit with my cousin Yvette and her husband....petrol is down to $2.49 per gallon! And senior coffee at BK in Torrington WY was only 20 cents! Wonderful visit with Yvette and Wes.

25 July 2010 (Sturgis to Custer SD 139 miles)
Early start to explore the Black Hills via Spearhead Canyon Scenic Highway through Lead and Deadwood then south to Hill City and east to Mt Rushmore. This area has changed SO much since I visited as a kid! There is now a very large parking garage at the base of Mt Rushmore and it costs $10 to enter so just pulled off the road for photos even though the signs said no parking/standing! Continued on for more views via the pigtail bridges and tunnels with heaps of stops for photos and then Custer State Park for critters and then the continuing saga of the building of Crazy Horse (I remember as a child waiting for something to appear on that rock on each of our several visits). This area is very busy with the summer season but I did manage to find a great secluded campsite at the Custer Mountain campground.

24 July 2010 Saturday (Sturgis SD)
I met my cousins Darcey and Yvette and her husband Wes and his brother Dale and their niece Laurie and her husband Jim at the High Plains Western Heritage Museum in Spearfish for today National Cowboy Day. Yvette and her husband have loaned a sculpture to the museum done by Ed Hlavka (http://www.hlavka.com/) who is sister to Laurie. Their father Roger Hlavka (married to Jean, sister of Wes and Dale) died in a plane crash in NM in 1974. Other attendees at the ceremony today were Jerry Olson, famous bull rider from the 1950's. His wife Fern is daughter of brother to my grandmother. The 70th annual Sturgis Bike Week starts next week so I am happy to be leaving tomorrow.....it is already getting too crowded! I was here for the 50th when there were half million attendees and they now expect close to one million for this one....my cousins and I reminisced of our days hanging out in Sturgis when bike week was just a few thousand!

23 July 2010 Friday (Hardin MT to Sturgis SD)
Plan to continue east to Sturgis to visit my father's grave at the Black Hills National Cemeteryand another cousin in Rapid City, via route 212 through the real Montana cowboy country!, before heading south to Colorado by Monday to visit my cousin in Fort Collins CO.

22 July 2010 Thursday (Philipsburg to Hardin/Garryowen MT 337 miles)
Another hot and sunny day with afternoon thunderstorms predicted....maybe to Billings today? Quite a change to be on interstate I90 instead of back country roads! Well I did make it past Billings and onto Hardin near the Custer (now Little Bighorn) Battlefield National Monument.

21 July 2010 Wednesday (Missoula to Philipsburg MT 76 miles)
Sunny and hot! Overnighted at the Inn at Philipsburg campground with afternoon half mile walk to town to visit the famous Sweet Palace candy store....many great looking old buildings...before the thunderstorms arrived big time!

20 July 2010 Tuesday (Crescent Lake WA to Missoula MT 275 miles)
And more morning wildlife encounters with a skunk and then a fox! I am now waiting for oil change and I asked the mechanic to check for obvious entries for small critters. Maybe I should splurge this evening and stay at a Hampton Inn???

19 July 2010 Monday (Nakusp Canada to Crescent Lake WA USA 150 miles)
Early morning departure to walk downtown Nakusp then route 6 to New Denver and route 31A to Kaslo, which is beautiful village on Kootenay Lake...now onto Ainsworth Hot Springs, where I had a wonderful soak. Catching up on more internet at the Nelson library and trying to decide whether to camp in Canada or USA tonight....so went ahead and crossed the border at Nelway and camped for free at Crescent Lake in Colville National Forest.....unfortunately, awakened again in the middle of the night to a mouse...this is getting old!

18 July 2010 Sunday (Birch Lake to Nakusp BC Canada 262 miles)
Back on the main highway route 5 south to Kamloops then 97 east....stop at Kamloops Starbucks for internet....now to decide which Arrow Lake ferry to take....probably Fauquier/Needles. A lucky day for me in that I arrived at the Needles ferry as it was loading (five minute pulley ferry across Arrow Lake) and arrived in Nakusp to find the 7th annual music festival in process (and all campgrounds along the route were full) but found space at the Nakusp Hot Springs (about six miles out of town) and had a nice shower (after none for the past week dry camping) and a soak in the hot springs! Then I feasted on fresh caught trout that a fisherguy had given me last evening on Birch Lake. The music festival featured Eric Burdon and the Animals and Bachman Turner, which I missed of course!

17 July 2010 Saturday (Quesnel to Birch Lake BC 189 miles)
I saw a fox running through my campsite as I drank my morning coffee! Morning walk around Quesnel where they are having the Billy Barker festival with Rotary pancake breakfast in the Safeway parking lot and parade later in the morning....but I kept driving and now at Williams Lake....prediction for warm and sunny day.....yeah!!! Turned off route 97 on route 24 east, the fishermans highway! Overnighted at great spot on Birch Lake down one mile on rough dirt road but I was the only camper....just wonderful listening to the loons (www.opaxmountain.ca).

16 July 2010 Friday (Kitwanga to Ten Mile Lake near Quesnel BC Canada 352 miles)
Gorgeous sunny day! East on the Yellowhead Highway then south on route 97 with heaps of road works....overnight at BC Provincial park Ten Mile Lake.

15 July 2010 Thursday (French Creek to Kitwanga BC 392 miles)
Although a bit rainy and heaps of roadworks, it was a beautiful drive south on the Cassiar route 37 highway. I found another great forest service campsite at Bonus Lake but unfortunately, I had driven over something that put a hole in my tire so drove the 80 kms to Kitwanga to have it fixed then camped at the city park (for free again) across the street.

14 July 2010 Wednesday (Skagway AK to French Creek BC 327 miles)
On the ferry yesterday from Juneau to Skagway...departed at 3pm and arrived after 10pm with stop in Haines....slept in the ferry parking lot with a few other RVs then on the road early this morning with stops at Carcross (where I saw two bear on the road) and now at Teslin library.....! Great BC Forest Service campsite for free on French Creek....just me and the birds (and no mouse).

13 July 2010 (Juneau to Skagway Alaska)
Ferry Malaspina departed at 3pm with stop in Haines (730-830pm) before arriving in Skagway at 930pm....camped overnight in the parking lot

12 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Free whale watching tour on a gorgeous day....both humpbacks and orcas!

11 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Busy morning volunteering at the Visitor Center Kiosk.

10 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Too wet to hike up mountain today so enjoyed 15th Annual Community Garage Sale at Centennial Hall and the Farmers Market

9 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Clouds are moving in and rain is predicted...afternoon for Gallery Walk and Concert in the Park.

8 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Another gorgeous sunny day in Juneau so I washed my van and enjoyed chinese food for lunch with a friend!

7 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
I volunteer for the Visitors Bureau in Juneau and one of the bennies is getting free fam(iliarization) trips and over the years I have done all the helicopter and whale watching and glacier trips so today I did a new one that is owned by a friend of mine...Molly does the only jeep tour in Juneau and it was wonderful! And we finally have a sunny day! Hairs cut this afternoon.

6 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Another rainy day and then overcast...morning visit for dexa (bone density) test and this afternoon for a massage and visit with my friend Michelle.

5 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Out of the campground and back to housesitting with all its amenities....plus no mice!

4 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
A very wet Fourth of July here in Juneau for our annual parade. The fireworks were cancelled last evening so maybe they will be on tonight?

3 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
A mouse woke me up in the middle of the night...still not sure how he got in but I was not a happy camper. I found out from some other campers that there is a very tame mouse hanging out here at the campground.

1 July 2010 (Juneau Alaska)
Camping out for the next few days at Auke Village Campground and return to housesit for Shirley on 5 July....lovely forest service campground on the water at $10 per night with newly constructed longdrop toilets and water spickets but no showers.