Longmont to Home

Longmont to Home:

We left Suzanne’s house about 9:00 am on Monday the 9^th. The GPS says it just under 2,000 miles to Fort Pierce. A very long drive. The plan was to stop at the City Campground in Hayes, KS. We must have gotten off of I-70 at the wrong Hayes exit because we couldn’t find it. Kept going with the idea of spending the night at Cabela’s near Kansas City. We ended up staying at a rest area about 30 minutes west of KC. In the morning, we decided to skip Cabela’s. We drove until we got to the Rand Lake area in Franklin County, IL. We camped here two years ago. It’s a beautiful COE lake with several campgrounds. Stayed at Gun Creek this time. It’s only five minutes off of I-57 in IL. A very convenient stopping place. Last time we were here we stayed for several days. Our camp site had an unobstructed view of the lake. The three of us walked on the road for a while. Very tired of sitting.

Wednesday: On the road by about 8am. An easy drive with the exception of the traffic slowdown in Nashville. We passed by the County campground we recalled from our trip this way. Made a mental note that it’s just south of Chattanooga on the north side of the interstate. We were thinking it was closer to Nashville. Stopped at the Red Top Mountain SP in Georgia for the night. Tried to stay here on our last trip but the campground was full. No problem this time. Pulled in just as it started to rain.

Thursday: Left the campground about 8:00; heading home. Clear weather until we got on the Florida Turnpike then it started raining. Rained fairly hard for about 30 minutes then cleared up. Arrived home about 7:00 pm.

Summary:

Total miles driven: 8,712. Of those 5,931 were in the 2008 Lazy Daze.

Used 1,031 gallong of gas. $3,819.

Yellowstone to Longmont

Yellowstone to Longmont,CO.

Thursday: Left the campground about 8:00. The drive to the East Entrance was beautiful. There was snow everywhere. Some of the small lakes were still frozen. We drove through the Wind River Canyon; a Wyoming Scenic Drive. Stayed the night at Boyson State Park just west of Shoshoni, WY. We camped right on the Boyson Reservoir. Us and two other people. They were both fisherman. The weather is finally warming up. Blue skies & sunshine. We talked about how nice the sun felt time & again. For the hundredth time we agreed we could never live on the coast of OR or WA. Wouldn’t care for the grey, damp, misty weather.

Friday: Continued heading east. Passed through the “town” of Hiland. Population of ten. Not even a crossroad, just a small store and a few trailers. We think this is the smallest “town” we’ve ever seen. This is a very rural part of WY. Huge ranches; some oil fields here & there. At least it’s nice and green. Not like brown West Texas or SE New Mexico.

Tonight we’re staying at the Lewis City Park in Wheatland, WY. There are six RV spaces with electrical hookups right inside the Park. The sign says three nights max. stay. Bought gas & some grocery items. Tomorrow we drive to the Boyd Lake SP near Loveland, CO.

Saturday: Went to Boyd Lake SP. They were full. This is the first time we have run into a full campground. No surprise I suppose. It’s Saturday, school’s out, and it’s a beautiful day. Called Suzanne & headed for Longmont instead. Suzanne called us about noon time. Izzy cut her leg on a tin can lid and they were on their way to the Emergency Room. We drove to the park near their house and waited for Suzanne. She got home about 3:30. Izzy is feeling fine. Got pizza for dinner. Suzanne & Chris had tickets to a big concert today. Suzanne missed the concert. Carol & Izzy spent the evening watching a movie. We had a very nice time visiting.

Sunday, June 8th: Mostly hung around enjoying everyones company. Heading home in the morning.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Tuesday: John stopped by the Moose Flats Campground early. Brought us a loaf of good bread & a cinnamon roll. Joined us for breakfast. About min-morning we left for Yellowstone NP, West Entrance. Stopped in West Yellowstone for propane & a few groceries. This was the same place we stopped two years ago. Drove to the Madison Campground. Registered, dumped our tanks then filled with water then took off exploring. Saw lots of buffalo on the way to the campground. We drove to the Norris Geyser Basin. There was a good accessible trail so we were really able to see lots of the thermal features. We have a very nice campsite. There is a large wooded area behind us. Carol’s job is to look for critters out the window. It’s been too cold for her to want to go outside except for our walk around the Basin. At the campground we ran into a Lazy Daze couple from Pennsylvania. Talk about a small world. We had camped right next to them in Burlington, VT four years ago. The weather forecast for tonight & tomorrow is dreary. Rain, maybe snow & windy .

Wednesday: Awoke to rain. We decided to head towards the Bridge Bay Campground. The Madison Campground is near the West Entrance to Yellowstone. Bridge Bay, where we stayed during our visit two years ago, is near the East Entrance. Tomorrow we will be leaving Yellowstone via the East Entrance as we work our way to visit Suzanne in Longmont, CO. We left Madison about 9:30. As the day went on, the weather improved. Some clouds for a while then the sun would break through. A much nicer day than forecast. We stopped at just about every pull-off. At the Fountain Paint Pot area we walked all around the most beautiful fumaroles, geysers, springs, etc. We walked for over an hour. In 1959 there was a major earthquake at Hebgen Lake; about 20 miles from here. This event dramatically changed this area. Some new thermal features were formed; some disappeared. After that we took the Firehole Lake Drive and stopped several times for close up looks at the hydrothermal areas. Stopped at the Biscuit Basin area for lunch. Took pictures of fly fisherman to e-mail to Johnny. Remember the saying “A bad day fishing if better than a good day at work”. Stopped briefly at the Old Faithful area. Since we had explored that area two years ago, we decided to continue on. Crossed the Continental Divide at 8,391’. The ground is still covered with snow and the lakes partially frozen. Stopped at a picnic area. Gopher just loves running through & rolling in the snow. Fun to watch. We continued our drive, stopping several times on the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Arrived at Bridger Bay about 3:00. Last time we were here there was a resident bison. People were leery of walking too close to the bison. They tell you to stay well away from them. No bison this time. Tomorrow we leave Yellowstone and start heading to Colorado.

Montana

Johnny fly fishing
Rafters
Lunch. Trout.
Carol & Gopher by our campsite.

May 29, 2008

Montana:

Thursday: Drove for about 4 hours on I-90; a very pretty drive through mountains. Camped at the Beavertail Hill SP just east of Missoula. Had a site right on the Clarks Fork River. Mostly cloudy today but warmer than it has been.

Friday: Headed for the Moose Creek Flat campground. The ride along this part of I-90 is very pretty. Mountains, cattle & sheep ranches, lots of pines. Stopped in Three Forks to do laundry at Mable’s Laundry and dump our tanks. Mable’s has a dump station; $5 plus you can fill up with water. Found a little bakery. Bought a loaf of rosemary bread that just came out of the oven. We needed to do some grocery shopping for the week so we went to Boseman. Saw a new looking store we had never tried; Rosauers. Wow!! Like a very large Whole Foods, Fresh Fields, etc. Stocked up on good salads, cookies for Carol plus things we needed. I needed toothpaste. All they had was very expensive “organic” toothpaste for $7-$9 a tube. I wanted Crest for $1.89. Will get Crest someplace else. Called Marge to let her know we were in town. They will stop by tomorrow. The campground is very nice. Our site backs up to the Gallatin River. Wonderful view of the river. We have found some of the most wonderful campsites on this trip. This is among the very best.

Saturday: One of the prettiest, sunny days we’ve had in quite some time. Johnny & Marge came by about 10:30. Had lunch together. Johnny fished a lot right behind our campsite. Caught at least 6 fish. Tomorrow we’re having a fish dinner. This Campground is a popular place to put in for kayak & raft rides. In addition, this weekend a group of people are training here for water rescue. It was fun watching the rafts & the training. See the photos. I called today and made reservations for Tuesday & Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park. We’re only an hour from the entrance. We were here two years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The main area by Old Faithful is fully accessible.

Sunday: Partly sunny with some rain here & there. John & Marge came over about noon time. We cooked John’s trout on the grill plus Marge made a rice dish. A nice treat; I didn’t have to cook.

Monday: Carol & I enjoyed a quiet day reading. John & Marge went to Bozeman to get their car repaired, run errands, go site seeing, etc.

Tuesday: Johnny stopped by early so say goodbye. We're heading up to Yellowstone NP in the morning. Their plans are uncertain. We had a wonderful time visiting with John & Marge. Hopefully again in the future. Once Johnny retires from Hallmark, they hope to spend more time traveling.

Seattle to Montana

Beauty Creek, Idaho
Lake Easton SP, Washington

Seattle to Montana

May 24-28

Saturday: Took the Bainbridge to Seattle Ferry. The ferry ride gave us a nice view of Seattle. Staying at the VASA RV Campground in Bellevue; near Seattle. Chose this campground only because it’s close to Seattle. Very urban setting; noisy & crowded. It has the smallest sites I can recall. Never again. In the afternoon we drove to Marymoor Park. Walked around for a while. It was very crowned being Memorial Day weekend.

Sunday: Drove into Seattle to Pike Street Market. The traffic was light, as expected for a Sunday morning. Found a parking space not far from the market. This place is huge. You name it and it’s fore sale someplace. Lots of weird looking people hanging around. A good place to people watch. We had paid to stay at VASA tonight but disliked the place so much we simply got onto I-90 East and started driving. After an hour of so, we saw a sign for Lake Easton State Park. We went in expecting to see a Campground Full sign. Amazing. They had a cancellation on a site with a partial view of the lake. There is a paved trail leading from the campground to the lake. Let Gopher go swimming. The water was like ice. There is still snow on the surrounding mountain tops.

Monday; Memorial Day: We both like this place so much we decided to stay for two more nights. The best campsite in the campground is #37. As soon as it became clear they people were leaving, we went to the Ranger Station and paid for two nights. This site is huge. Lots of room for Gopher plus an unobstructed view of the lake. Last night while looking at the LD Yahoo! Site, there was a post by a couple from Seattle who wanted to see a new Lazy Daze. We invited them over. Jim & Mary Beth. She’s 5’1” and he’s 6’4”. They wanted to see if he could walk around inside, stand in the shower & fit in the bed. J. They were very pleased with everything. They brought us a bunch of fire wood, some homemade cookies & tuna salad. What a nice surprise. Carol & I enjoyed their company.

Tuesday: Enjoyed a quiet day around this beautiful campground. Took some walks, read our books. The sun came out for most of the day; a pleasant treat.

Wednesday: Heading towards Montana. As you drive east in Washington, you leave the pine forests about in Ellensburg. After that it’s mostly rolling hills and irrigated farms. There was a very interesting sign as we drove through this farming area. It said that for the next 14 miles, signs would tell what crops were growing in that area. What a wonderful idea. Time & again we wished we knew what we were actually looking at. The crops were sweet corn, field corn, peas, potatoes, alfalfa, and wheat. The rest areas all have Wi-Fi; another nice idea. The further east we drove the warmer & sunnier it became. It felt real nice after a month or so in the cool, cloudy coast of CA, OR & WA. About 40 miles west of Spokane the agricultural land uses stop and we get back to the pine trees. In Spokane Valley, just west of Spokane, we made a Wal-Mart run. Ate lunch at the Panda-Panda restaurant. About 3:00 we entered Idaho. Stayed the night at the Beauty Creek FS campground near Coeur D’Alene, ID. Our campsite is right on Beauty Creek. I put my shorts an and Gopher & I went wading in the creek. This is a snow melt fed creek. The water made my feet numb. Even Gopher, who seems immune to the cold, got out after a few minutes. Carol sat in the sun next to the creek enjoying the warmth.

Port Townsend Area

Port Townsend campground.
Point Wilson Lighthouse
Sleeping sea otter

Port Townsend, WA

Tuesday, May 20

In the morning we were still the only people in the campground. While walking the dog, I watched two eagles fishing. By the time I went back for the camera, they were gone. Can’t remember how many times I’ve told myself to always put the camera in my pocket. Left for our next destination; Port Townsend. We’re staying at the Fort Townsend Marina & RV Park. It’s owned by the Port Authority. Our sight is directly on the Admiralty Inlet of the Puget Sound. On the far side of the inlet is Whidbey Island. I chose this park for its location. It’s right downtown near all the historical, shops & restaurants. The Port itself has two restaurants. In spite of the light rain we walked downtown and had a very nice lunch. Carol had a crab/shrimp casserole on an English muffin. I had a fish taco. A very good lunch. After lunch we walked Gopher then stayed inside & read. A cold, gray, misty rain day. For dinner, we had Chinese takeout from the Shanghai Chinese Restaurant which is located about 100’ from our campsite. Another below average meal. It’s hard picking a good restaurant when you’re visiting a town. So far we seem to be batting about 500 on picking restaurants.

I was speaking to a local earlier today. He said they get very little snow or heavy rain around here, but gray & misty is a very typical day. They recently sold their home and live fulltime in a motorhome. Spend the winters in AZ and the summers drifting around here & there. Carol & I agree we would not want to live along the Oregon or Washington coast. It’s beautiful but the weather isn’t very nice much of the time.

Wednesday: Woke up to a gray & drizzly day. Gopher & I walked uptown to an organic bread bakery. We got the worlds best sourdough multi-grain bread. Hot out of the oven. Bought Carol a chocolate croissant as a special treat. We’re both putting on a few pounds from too many “special treats”. Got to stop that. It’s 7pm right now and the bread is over half gone. Once again I left on a walk without the camera. Passed a house with a deer laying down on the grass in the side yard. When we drove into town yesterday we saw two deer walking down the main street. Very strange. Later in the morning, Carol bundled up and we took a nice walk downtown. As the day went on the sun came out on the occasion. Still chilly, but at least it’s sunny & chilly. Now and then Carol ventured outside for a bit. She simply doesn’t like cold weather. Never did but I think her intolerance for cold got worse with the stroke. Earlier in the trip I asked if she would prefer to tour Southern California, Nevada, etc. instead of heading north but she wanted to continue with the original plan.

Thursday Took the dog for an early morning walk downtown. Bought a coffee from a street vendor. Oregon & Washington have lots of drive- up and walk-up espresso & coffee vendors. Later we drove to the good bakery. Carol came with me this time. Bought another loaf of the great bread and Carol got two very large chocolate chip cookies. Our current campground is the Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. As the crow flies it’s only a few miles from where we have been. This is a nice place for Carol. Lots of streets & paved walks. Walked to the Point Wilson lighthouse, along the beach path and out on the dock. There is a sea otter living around the dock. The camera wasn’t working well so I couldn’t get good pictures. The sun was out for a few hours today; the warmth felt good.

Friday: After the morning dog walk and breakfast, we walked all around the old fort. Fort Worden was first built because of the Civil War. It was expanded with WW-1 and again with WW-2. We visited the Centennial Rhododendron Garden, saw some of the gun batteries, barracks and officers quarters. The sun was out for the few hours we were walking. Later on the gray skies returned. I was talking to our neighbor in the campground. Mentioned the weather. He just shrugged and said that’s the way it is around here. Any day without heavy rain is a good day. The campground is full; Memorial Day weekend. Families & kids everywhere.
Watched the ship traffic heading out the Strait of Juan De Fuca . Saw three cruise ships heading for Alaska. Tomorrow we head over to Seattle then east to Montana to meet John & Marge on June 1^st.

Cape Disappointment to Port Townsend

Cape Disappointment to Port Townsend, WA

Sunday, May 18. Yet another sunny day. Four in a row. We’re headed for the Lake Sylvia SP near Montesano. Drove through the city of Raymond. They had a multi-use trail with metal sculptures all along it. Very pretty. Arrived at the campground shortly after noon time. Lake Sylvia SP is located, as you would imagine, on a lake. Clear, cool water. Our campsite has the best location in the entire campground. Look at the photos. We took a walk around the lake and spend the rest of the afternoon reading and enjoying the view. Talked about what campground had our all time favorite view. A very tough question. We’ve had the good fortune to get some of the best campsites in America. Traveling off season is the key. Here we arrived on a Sunday afternoon. The weekend campers had mostly left and schools not yet out. The best time to snag the prime spots. Memorial Day is this coming weekend. Last week I called about getting reservations at some state parks. Booked as I suspected, so we’re staying in a private campground next weekend.

Monday: Back to our customary weather; cool and overcast. The drive to the Port Townsend area was mostly through pine forests. Stopped at Lake Leland, a county campground. The campground was just OK plus the lake had a warning sign about blue-green algae. Warned that children and pets should stay out of the water because the algae was toxic. We continued to the Lower Oak Bay Campground in Port Ludlum; another Jefferson County park. The campground was very hard to find; there were a few small signs. We got lost for about 30 minutes. I were about to give up when Carol said to turn this way and sure enough, there it was. The campground is very, very basic. It’s on a sand spit going out into Oak Bay. We had the place to ourselves. The view was of the bay on one side and a tidal marsh on the other. We enjoyed it.