Monday September 8, 2008

What a great day we had! Gail clled it a five star day. We began the day with a tour of Sun Valley. Gail scratched this off her bucket list. This resort community in Ketchum ID dates back to the early thirties and was founded by Alvin Harriman. I've included a photo of Gail by the pond in front of the Lodge and another of the Baldy ski area. We had lunch on the patio by the outdoor ice rink watching skaters practice their routines. We left Ketchum heading north into the Sawtooth Mountain Range and Recreation Area. This would be a 125 mile ride through Mountains and Valleys and along mountain streams. Indescripable outdoor beatuy! I'm attaching a photo of Gail by a mountain stream and one where I attempted to capture the mountain and valley together. Tonight we are in Donnelly, ID. Tomorrow we meet our friends in Clarkston, WA and we go on PDT.

Sat - Sun, Sept 6 - 7, 2008

Saturday we drove in and out of rain storms as we headed west into Montana leaving North Dakoata (ND) behind. Our travel across North Dakota had closed a window for me. I have now been in all fifty states. We spent Saturday night at a campground in Bozeman, MT. The first photo was taken from our campsite and you cn see I24 in the photo going through the canyon.

Sunday morning dawned gray and rainey but cleared as we drove west. The horizon out here is so wide you can see the weather coming from all the different points on the compass. We stopped at the National Monument of The Craters of the Moon. The second photo shows the landscaape here as it was scared by lava flows, the last time 2000 years ago. An interesting side point - the astronauts that went to the moon trained here in preparation for landing on the moon's surface. Tonight we are in Ketchum, Idaho (Sun Valley).

add'l photos fm September 5, 2008

Free range, buffalo, mule deer, horse, view fm plateau we hiked too and a praire dog.

Friday September 5, 2008

Changing time zones each day or so caught up with us! We woke up this morning in Medora, ND at 5 AM MDT. Gail was able to go back to sleep, I wasn't. I spent the morning catching up on business communications and then we broke camp to tour the southern half of Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Conservation of our natural resources was a major priority for him when he was President. We can thank him for many of the National Parks and Monuments we enjoy today. Weather was good and traffic almost non-existent. We saw a great deal of wildlife including wild range horses. I'll attempt to post some additional photos tonight when we stop. Do put this park on your "bucket list" for future trips to make. We finished the day with a good dinner in the local hotel.

Thursday September 4, 2008

We had a beautiful sunrise this morning but looking west we could see we were going to run into some rain. We decided to drive on through to Teddy Roosevelt National Park which is on the border of N Dakota and Montanna. We traveled 425 miles passing through Fargo ND and Bismark, the ND capital. This area is described as the northern plains and the vistas you see are really indescripable. We have certainly entered The Big Sky country we mentioned yesterday! The land and sky continue on forever. The little towns and communitys along the way each have their own flavor. Church steeples and large grain silos rising to the sky and in one case, we could see in the distance what appeared to be a gaint animal standing on the face of a knoll. This turned out to be a fiberglass statue of a dairy cow that measured 32' high and 51' long marking the location of a major dairy farm. Also, a major crop here appears to be Sunflowers. We passed acres of them in a number of locations along I94. We entered the Mountain Time Zone late in the day and arrived at our destination at 4:30 MDT. We are in Medora, ND surrounded by the "The Badlands". See the photo attached. Remember those western movies we grew up on?

Wednesday September 3, 2008

We drove out of Wisconsin this morning passing through the Wisonsin Dells on US 12. Then on to Minnesota crossing the St Croix river that seperates the two states. Lunch at a Rest Area just outside of Minneapolis - St Paul, then traffic congestion in the city. On toward the west side of the state passing large farms and many lakes. Tonight we are in Ashby, MN at Praire Cove RV Park and we had our first look at the big sky that we will see get even bigger as we continue west. The attached photo was taken at sunset from our campsite as we watched two Bucks and four Doe deer in the field. Tomorrow we'll visit with you from North Dakota.

Tuesday September 2, 2008

Visited the Lincoln Museum, his home place and The First Presbyterian Church which he attended, all in Springfield, IL. We thought we would spend 2/3 hours here - wound up spending 6 plus. Really glad we did it! Our son and eldest grandson would enjoy visiting here. We finished the visit in Springfield with lunch in a cafe downtown. Drove to Madison, WI for the evening with a stop in IL to take advantage of the lower wine prices. It has been very warm, 93 today. We expect a cold front and some rain to come through tonight. We're looking forward to the cool down. Tomorrow we will get into Minnesota. We've decided to push hard for the next two days so we can arrive at Teddy Roosevelt National Park in N. Dakota on Thursday evening and be able to spend all day Friday there.