September 4th

THE WEATHER: Gorgeous, 75 degrees, dry & clear.

THE DISTANCE: 345 miles to Newport, Iowa


TREES! TREES! And more fields of crops. I think the majority of them are potatoes and corn. I didn’t realize that Iowa is big on wind energy. There are windmills all along the interstate. It is good to be back in green pastures though, rather than the brown of South Dakota & Montana. The road was constantly climbing and then descending which is a little more interesting than the flatlands. On average we have been around 1200ft., which puts us in the high prairie. We are thankful for the beautiful travel weather and the traffic is light. So it’s been an easy trek across the Midwest so far.

September 3rd

THE WEATHER: Cobalt blue, cloudless skies. Dry, 70’s…… no hurricanes!! The wild west winds are still blowing.

THE DISTANCE: 345 miles to Brandon S. Dakota.


So once we crossed over the black hills we were back in the flatlands of the Midwest. Nothin’ but crops as far as the eye can see. Wheat fields, sunflower fields, sweet pea, hay, corn. What would we do without these farmers that feed us? And of course miles and miles of horses, cows and sheep.

We crossed over the Missouri river and also another time zone. We are now only 1 hour different from those in NH! We are in Tommy’s time zone!!!

Bruno had a particularly good time at the campground we chose today. He met all kinds of new friends, Yogi, Booboo….. and…. ah-hem…. well, he kinda’ fell for Cindy. Notice the sign behind Bruno’s vehicle? He still has hopes of becoming a Ranger some day.

PS: I thought those of you who remember our grandma Max would appreciate the restaurant in town.

September 2nd

THE WEATHER: Gorgeous day. Started out in the 50’s and climbed into the 70’s. Partly cloudy and dry.

THE DISTANCE: Left Hardin around 9:30 and arrived in Rapid City at 3:30. 230 miles


More of what Montana has to offer… rolling brown hills, high plains terrain. But almost like a snap of the fingers the scenery changed as we crossed into South Dakota. We began to see more trees and green grass. We saw a lot of prong horn along the road today. Large herds of 75 and one or two by themselves. We also began seeing the familiar rocky ledges that are the beginning of the Black Hills. The tri-colored buttes inspired the “black hills gold” jewelry that you find here. Pastel sage green, a pink or rose color & yellow gold. It’s beautiful and reminds me of the wild wild west. We also had a wild wild wind today! It was at least 25 to 35 knots. Gary had to hold on tightly to the wheel, especially when passing some of these big 18 wheelers.

After arriving in Rapid City we did some grocery shopping and then waited for Geoff Sheehy to pick us up at the RV park. He’s a regular commenter on the blog, so everyone should be familiar with him. He is a guy that used to be in our youth group who is now an English teacher in the local high school of 2,500 students! He’s married and has 3 amazing kids! We had a blast playing with the kids, having dinner and staying way later than we should have talking! It was a miracle that Bruno escaped in one piece…. The kids LOVED him, and showered love ON him. It was great to catch up on all they are doing.

September 1st

THE WEATHER: Cool, partly cloudy, highs in the 70’s. There were multiple rain showers all around us today which was interesting to watch the precip fall like clouds to the ground, but we stayed dry all the way.

THE DISTANCE: Drove 275 miles from Butte, MT to Hardin Mt.. Staying at the KOA


September 1st! Already! How did that happen? Where has the time gone?

We continued our easterly route today on I-90. Montana is a big state… they call it “Big Sky Country”. I can understand why as we drove across the flat planes of eastern Montana. You can see for miles and miles. There’s more sky to look at than there is land. We caught a glimpse of some prong horn grazing in a field off I-90. We’ve seen many osprey, a pelican! and a bald eagle. What is a pelican doing out here?? They were mostly seen flying over the immense Yellow Stone River. It goes on and on for miles. Gary had a hard time passing up four rivers notorious for fly fishing; the Madison, the Gallatin, the Jefferson and the Yellow Stone. All within a 200 mile span. A fishing mecca!! We actually considered dropping down a few miles into Yellowstone National Park just for the fun of it, but I figured out it would have been about 100 extra miles out of our way and we’ve been there before. So onward we travel. We arrived in Hardin for the night. Tomorrow we’ll cross into South Dakota!

August 31st

THE WEATHER: It’s been in the 60’s today, partly cloudy and a cool breeze.

THE DISTANCE: 190 miles to Butte, Montana


Montana is a beautiful state that where you are driving can be as flat as a pancake but there are mountains in the distance that soar to 12,000 feet. Gary told people before we left on this trip that he wanted to be on the east side of the Rockies before the snow fell. Well, he didn’t quite make it because there is fresh snow fall on the mountains that we drove through today.

Bruno has been making the rounds. He’s been introduced to all our friends and he’s such a social guy! First there was a friend of Gary’s who used to run a fly shop in New Hampshire. George now runs a fly shop out of Missoula Montana. So we dropped in unexpectedly to see him. It was good for them to get reacquainted and share fish stories. And then there was Harold. Leaving Missoula we finally made our way to Butte by 4:30. Harold, his friend Mary and an old acquaintance of ours, Dennis were at the KOA parking lot to greet us. We met Dennis 16 years ago on one of his gold claims. He is one of the last claim-jumpers in Montana. That means if someone leaves a claim he legally can jump on to that claim and work the mine. He also hunted rattle snakes for their skins in Arizona. There were hugs all around, everyone saying hello and then off we went to dinner. It was so good to catch up on this old friendship of 24 years. Harold was noticeably walking with a limp and when I asked him about it he said, he broke his foot while riding bulls, one of the bulls stomped on his foot and it never healed. He is such a character!

So we are now settled into the RV for the night and prepared to cover some miles tomorrow.

August 30th

THE WEATHER: At the RV Resort this morning it was 75 degrees. As we left and climbed the 2,500 feet onto the Idaho mesa’s the temperature dropped to 63. We have a thin layer of clouds and sun.

THE DISTANCE: Left Clarkston, WA and entered the panhandle of Idaho. Drove 215 miles to St. Regis, Montana.


As we left today we continued to drive through wheat fields as far as the eye could see. It looks like they have all been buzz cut by very large hair clippers! The perfectly uniform lines run through miles of fields and up and down the hilly terrain. It was hard to drag Gary out of Clarkston when we found out it is called the steelhead capital of the world!

About midway up hwy 95 the scenery suddenly changed and became more wooded with pine trees. The green color is a welcome change to the fields of gold. It continued to get thicker and greener the further we went and we are now once again in mountains.

We drove through the town of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho today because some friends of ours told us how beautiful it was. Annie actually grew up in the town and Don had been there many times. Before we ever left for Alaska they had told us we needed to make this town part of our tour. So the day finally came that our motor home crossed into this town that turns out to be a luxurious resort town built around the 5 mile long Coeur D’Alene lake. The National Geographic called this one of five most beautiful lakes in the world! We arrived, saw the beautiful resort buildings, perfectly manicured lawns and stopped by the lake for lunch but couldn’t figure out what there was to actually do in the town. So…. We called Annie! When I told her where we were and asked her advice on what to see or do, she said excitedly, “I’m in town too!!! As a matter of fact, I’m only a couple of blocks from you!!” She went to pick up her husband and they were at our RV in 15 minutes. We were all dumb founded by the coincidence and spent the next 2 hours catching up on our trip and all of what’s going on at home. It was so much fun and soooo random! Only God can orchestrate such perfect timing! They have been reading the blog and were VERY anxious to be introduced to Bruno and were thrilled to get their picture with him.

We crossed another time zone when we entered Montana. We’re now only 2 hours behind the east coast.

August 29th

THE WEATHER: Judy‘s socks got pulled out this morning! 32 degrees! But warmed up nicely… and quickly to the mid 80’s. Clear skies, puffy white clouds, beautiful day.

THE DISTANCE: 200 miles to Clarkston, WA at the Hells Canyon Resort.


We got an early start this morning…. 9 am! The further we drove into northern Oregon and Southern Washington the land became “amber waves of grain”! Well, maybe they weren’t waving but there were miles and miles of golden wheat fields that had been harvested and lying in bundles waiting for pickup. I think Oregon is one of the most diverse states in America. Colt & Sarah should be very happy here, if they can ever sell their house in Lynchburg! Many of the towns still have the old west look with buildings and streets that resemble things I’ve seen in movies. We crossed the Oregon Trail and are camped on the Lewis & Clark Trail. You can see why they chose this route, it being so flat and easy to travel. As a matter of fact, we are staying in Clarkston, Washington, right on the border of Idaho where the first town over the border is called Lewiston! Very apropos. Just to our south is a place called Hell’s Canyon. It can not be accessed by road, it is only seen by boat tours. It is called the grand canyon of the north due to it being the deepest river gorge in North America. We won’t be taking the boat tour this trip…. maybe next time! This is also the area where the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake rivers meet where boats actually make their way 465 miles to the Pacific Ocean!

August 28th

THE WEATHER: Cold, rainy & cloud covered. High’s in the 60’s

THE DISTANCE: Drove 220 miles to Rte. 395 Dale, Oregon.


The scenery is changing as we drive east in Oregon. No longer the forested areas we’ve been seeing, it is now high prairie dessert. Lot’s of dry, brown ground interspersed with green scrub pines. It’s like a scene out of Bonanza! Sorry if you’re too young to remember the show. We would drive through that type of area for quite a distance and then all of a sudden we would turn a corner and enter into rocky ledges and we would descend into a valley of cliffs and steep rock faces. We saw countless deer as we crossed this area. At times you could see for miles with no sign of vegetation and then hit a spot where there was the tiniest bit of water and voila there would be pines all over the place. The area is full of either large ranches or farmland. The Oregon trail is close by but we haven’t crossed it yet.