Quake or blow?

Ya just never know what might "get ya" on any given day....an earthquake or a super volcano...

http://www.wyofile.com/earthquake-bigger-risk-yellowst2one-supervolcano/

Impossible

Fun Day going over Going To The Sun Road two times. What a trippy road!  We bought the $13 book on The Road's History and, yes, it is truly Trippy!  Hard for us to imagine something so incredible being built my mere mortals.  As one of the Engineers said in 1925,  Well, the impossihble takes a little longer but the difficult we do immediately.”

NO doubt this road was impossible!  But it's there.  We drove it twice today and we can tell you that road exists.  We went to Lake McDonald Lodge.  That's where the cradle of ambiance lies on the West Side.  All else is fluff.  No point in going any farther than Lake McDonald Lodge.  

Here are some photos of Lake McDonald Lodge.

P3

The 1st Annual Pocatello Pickleball Palooza took place today. We helped create this event but it was ALL about Susun's hand surgery that made it happen.

We sent Shelton a congrats note and he replied: "John, I think it went really well. Had a lot of great feedback and a some good pointers for next year. Excited to make this thing grow. Thanks for all your help and support. Enjoy, Shelton"

( NOTE: The above short narrative was posted Saturday evening using the cellphone's tiny keypad. The narrative below was written on the laptop and transferred to the cellphone for upload.)

Here's how the Pocatello Pickleball Palooza (P3) came into existence amd how it relates to Susun's hand surgery.  On the way from Arizona to our Idahome we stopped at the Idaho Hand Institute in Pocatello to schedule an appointment even before we arrived in Idaho Falls.

Prior to the appointment later in May, we researched pickleball in Pocatello and learned of a new venue that opened January 13, 2016, called The Mountain View Event Center.  This huge edifice was financed by a voter-approved bed tax and was built and is managed by the Chubbuck-Pocatello Auditorium District, a government entity.  Meanwhile, we began an email dialog with the Operations Manager, Shelton Robinson.

We played pickleball there before Susun's appointment with her hand surgeon to determine when her surgery would be scheduled in early June.  The day her surgery took place involved quite a bit of waiting time for me—roughly 5 or 6 hours.  Anyway, I decided to go meet Shelton in person.  We hit it right off and spent most of that afternoon talking about pickleball possibilities.  That's when I told Shelton that he needed to stage a tournament this summer, even though time was really too short to do it “right & proper”.

The thinking behind this idea was that there were open summer dates on the national and regional pickleball tournament calendars.  If he could somehow manage to stage a tournament, then he could lock in that particular date in perpetuity and have a jump start on doing a tournament “right & proper” in 2018 and years beyond.  Shelton was “all in” on that idea and asked me to help him figure out how to organize a tournament.

One thing led to another.  First, I set up a blog to help archive our communications and also to facilitate Shelton's sharing with his administrative associates at the Auditorium District.  We worked feverishly to pick a viable date and a “catchy” name.  The August 5 date was magically still open on both national and regional tournament calendars.  Although there is no true way to know scientifically, we both figured August 5 is the peak of the summer tourism season.  We reasoned that in future years, a large portion of participants would be tourists passing through on the way to Yellowstone or the Tetons or points farther north...or returning home from a vacation.

Meanwhile the “catchy” name turned into quite the process. We eventually settled on Pocatello Pickleball Palooza and Shelton's Auditorium Board liked the name and approved its usage.  Shelton quickly hired a graphic artist to do a logo and also a website guru to put together the registration page and payment portal.  Everything came together so quickly it was amazing.  Then we both began promoting the tournament every which way we could think to do. We swapped at least one email practically every day and sometimes many more.  Shelton was emailing me for advice and help most every day of this Road Trip.  Whenever I could find a decent cell signal, we pulled over so I could reply to Shelton.  Even though we obviously couldn't attend the tournament, I was Shelton's partner and “right hand man” from start right up to the day before the event.

There were 46 registrants for the tournament and Shelton was very pleased. If the event didn't quite break even, that was OK with Shelton because of getting tournament experience, locking in the August 5 date and getting a jump start on 2018 and beyond.

And so, now you know the rest of the story.  If  Susun hadn't had her hand surgery, I would have never had time or inclination to rally up Shelton to do a tournament.  Interesting how things work out sometimes.

4000 people 1933

We were at this exact same viewpoint at 8 AM today. It was in a total white-out fog. The place was over run with people. The parking lot was nearly full. You could barely see 300 feet. And we thought it was crowded. HA!!! Wrap your head around 4000 people being there when the West Road was dedicated July 15, 1933!!!!
'

Going To Sun and back

Drove over to Lake McDonald Lodge and then back. Five hour RT. Full story later. Nap time

Socked in

Up at 4:45 AM today rarin' to go to Logan Pass and maybe drive The Going To The Sun Road over to Lake McDonald and back.  But this morning's weather set us back on our haunches.  Heavy duty storm clouds filling the canyon and shrouding the Precambrian Mountain peaks.  So now it's getting on toward 6:30 AM and we're kinda wondering what to do.  We'll probably mosey on out of here and head up toward the pass along about 7 AM.  The Logan Pass Parking lot has been filling tighter than a sardine can by 8:30 AM every morning for what seems like forever.  The NPS even put in a web cam up there so show people proof that it's plumb packed full.  There is a large flashing sign before the East Entrance shouting in caps that LOGAN PASS PARKING LOT FULL.  Nobody apparently pays any attention to either the web cam or the shouting sign and they all head up that way and  create the usual chaotic congestion.  I guess we're no exception.

Anyway, as you know, we will find something to do with ourselves today, even if it involves marathon napping.  There are a couple of trails up yonder that should be good to go even if we can't see anything.  Walking in a fog is actually kinda fun. Heck, some people think we've been walking in a fog our whole lives.  But we digress.

We've learned more than a few lessons on this Road Trip, including an important one yesterday.  Yesterday's lesson was/is about Many Glacier Campground.  As you may recall, we spent the past 3 years trying to get reservations in the Many Glacier Campground.    Each year we've failed miserably.  This year we changed horses and decided to book into Saint Mary.  Lo and behold, Saint Mary Campground is FAR superior to Many Glacier Campground.  We're talking FAR, FAR superior, not just a little bit superior.  So, why were we so fixated on Many Glacier?  Somehow, we presumed the views from the campground would look like the postcards you see of that amazing place.  Wrong.  There are virtually no views from the campground.  It's a tight, crowded, congested campground in dire need of some maintenance.  The road into Many Glacier was tough on our truck and would have really beat up our trailer.   Meanwhile, you're really in the middle of nowhere out there at the end of that dead end road.  Many Glacier is a super nice place to visit but we really wouldn't want to stay there.  And, not only that but the campground sits right smack dab in the middle of the mind-boggling day uses congested areas.  What a zoo scene it was there yesterday.  And how disappointed we would have been to go there and be stuck in that mess.

Saint Mary Campground,  by comparison, is a delightful place and has all the amenities we want and need, including 4 bars of cell signal which make it possible to post the stuff you're reading right now.  Cell signal in Many Glacier?  Fuggetaboutit.

So, that's my lesson learned yesterday.  Don't be so stuck on one objective that we fail to properly consider other alternatives.  It might just be that the other alternative(s) are far superior to the desired objective.

Well, it's 6:30 AM now and time to get semi-serious about moving out into the Glacier Whirled to experience a New Day in a New Way.

Happy Saturday & Many Cheers!
Below is Logan Pass at 7 AM.

Wain on way

Looks like we'really definitely going to get wet while up in Canada and on the way home.

Kind comments

Camp  Verde Parks & Recreation Director Mike Marshall is a great guy. We've really enjoyed working with him. In a column in today's CV paper, Mike has some kind comments for the blog author. Thanks, Mike!!

http://m.cvbugle.com/news/2017/aug/03/commentary-camp-verde-names-new-parks/

Funny

So, we had this thing that it would be too hot up here. HAHAHA! It's 64 degrees and we're wearing layers inside the trailer. Meanwhile, it topped out HOT in Idaho Falls.

Saint Mary webcam

Here'a the address for the Web cam at the Saint Mary Visitor Center. It'a located about a half mile from our camp and look's at the same view we see from camp.

https://www.nps.gov/glac/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm

Scroll down to near the end of the webcam list.

The photo is 2:27 PM, Friday.

A fine idea

1. 

Many Memories

Many Glacier was many times more than we ever expected. Photos don't do the place justice.  Words fail to describe it.  There's nothing we can say or show to express how utterly, incrediblyand stunningly beautiful Many Glacier is.  You simply have to see it for yourself to understand the pure power of that place.

We made a plan and stuck to it.  I woke up at 4:50 AM and got the coffee going.  We were out of the trailer and gone by 6 AM and arrived at Many Glacier by 7 AM, waaaay before the vast hordes of people who would eventually invade the place Friday.

We were able to have Many Glacier mostly to ourselves during the magical morning moments.  Oh, how sweet it was!

And then shortly before 9 AM, we surprised Sweetie Susun by renting a rowboat for an hour upon Golden Pond (AKA: Swiftcurrent Lake).  We had the whole lake to ourselves. Talk about magical morning moments...OH, My!

By the time we checked the boat back in and returned to our prime parking spot at the outlet falls, Many Glacier had been over run by visitors.  All three parking lots were totally full.  Nary a single spot in any of those large lots to squeeze in another vehicle.  People swarmed every where like amped up ants swinging hiking sticks and carrying colorful packs.  Not only that the weather had changed.  Clouds rolled in and the wind picked up.

We smiled and simply headed back home to Site C109.  Our plan worked.  Mission accomplished.

There's yet  another so-called Canadian cold front moving in.  Yesterday's dense fire smoke is long gone...only to be replaced by clouds sagging over tall mountain tops.  NWS Missoula says the winds will increase and come out of the north later today.  That should keep the fire smoke in remission.  We'd really rather have storm clouds playing tag with Glacier's pretty peaks than  fire smoke.

Today's temp is 20+ degrees cooler than yesterday's.  We're back to wearing pants and long-sleeve shirts.  This morning, we wore layers to ward off the chill.  Yep.  It's a teeter-totter, whip-saw weather.  Too early to say for sure but this type of early August weather in the higher latitudes is often a harbinger of fall forthcoming sooner rather than later.

Lots and lots of photos to post soon.

Luckily, we have all afternoon to process and post photos.  Today's Many Glacier visit will live in our dreams, imaginations and memories forever.  It was one of those kinda special experiences neither one of us will ever forget.

Hazy lazy day

Very lazy day.  After  three straight days of driving, it's nice to be without a schedule.  We didn't leave camp until after 10:30 and then went less than a mile to the Visitor Center.  Whoop-de-doo.  Then after roaming around a strange Visitor Center, we came back for lunch at noon.  Real big morning, eh?

The winds shifted around lunch and blew the fire smoke back in.  By late afternoon, the distant horizons have totally disappeared and the mid-horizons are too faint to try to discern.  Only the very near horizons are visible.

We drove up the main road and noticed that every single pullout was totally filled.  That kinda took away our enthusiasm for taking a short day hike.  Usually, when the pullouts and parking lots are full, everyone else is taking a short  hike, too.  It's only when you can get more than a mile from the trailehead that all the people vaporize.  And we didn't feel like walking more than a mile.  So much for that idea.

We did visit the Rising Sun boat ramp and we might take one of the 90 minute tours on Sunday.  Speaking of Sunday, we got lucky.  How so?  Well, back in early February, we booked ourselves into four nights here at Glacier and two nights at Waterton.  Trouble was that we couldn't get a campsite for Sunday night.  We've been real worried about that reality for months.  But today we got lucky.

We waited until the mid-day lull at the campground check-in station and then walked over and politely asked if there might be an early cancellation for Sunday night.  Luckily, they had just received a cancellation and we snagged site A42 for Sunday night.  We can exhale now as we aren't homeless Sunday night.  With our Golden Geezer Pass, a night here only costs $11.50, and that includes free showers, too.  Such a deal.

After nailing down Sunday night, we drove into Saint Mary to gleefully pay $3 a gallon for gasoline.  Hey, when you can find gas in the middle of nowhere, buy it and don't quibble about the price.  We're going to Many Glacier tomorrow so topping off the tank today is a good idea.

Then we checked on the price of milk in the local market.  Are you ready?  Are you sitting down?  SEVEN FIFTY!  That's right.  A gallon of milk is $7.50 here.  That will be the all time highest price  we've ever paid for milk.  $5 was the previous all time high in Portal, Arizona, last year.

Not much happening back here in camp.  The temp rallied up into the mid-80's today, roughly a 30 degree gain from yesterday.  Susun is Such a Sweetie.  She's washing the truck this afternoon.  Can you imagine just how sweet that is?  SWEET!  Meanwhile, Little Yonni is sitting inside the nice cool trailer pecking away at the laptop keyboard.  He's a lucky man.  Thanks, Sweetie!

Oh, you might have wondering why we called the Visitor Center “strange”.  Well, here's a partial list of reasons: A) NO interpretation on the geology of this National Park; B) NO explanation of the modern history of the National Park; C) All interpretation totally slanted toward the perspective of three tirbes that claim ownership of the park; D) a front liner who didn't have a clue about some pertinent details of Waterton National Park and E) One of the smallest, most bereft gift shops we've ever seen in a major National Park.

The Native American perspectives concerning their ownership of this park were pretty “borderline” as far as the type of interpretation you normally see in a National Park.  If was as if the NPS simply turned the entire exhibt area over to the three tribes to say whatever they wanted with no checks or balances.

Frankly, it felt strange and that's why I called the Visitor Center strange. But that was no big deal.  Life is filled with strange things, right?  And we all move on and Life Is Good.  We are very Happy to be here and every day is a Great Gift!!

Yesterday and today

Yes, the ground fog is gone and yesterday's storm clouds are already a distant memory.

 Yesterday about 4 PM.

Today at 9 AM.

Mirror image

Camp at C109

Some photos August 2

Glacier Glee

We're both very gleeful to be in Glacier.  We've been talking about and trying to make this trip happen for years—14 years to be precise.  Our first and only brief exposure to Glacier was in June 2003 on an NVUM Secret Shopper Road Trip. We didn't have time to linger since we were on such a tight schedule.  We promised ourselves during that one night in Apgar Campground over on the other side beside Lake McDonald that we would “come back soon”.  Well, I guess it turns out we now know how long “soon” would be—14 years.  Better sooner than later, eh?

Various factors have always stepped in the way of our annual desire to “go to Glacier”.  It's always easy to find an excuse to put off an expensive, long-distance, long-duration Road Trip.  In fact, we almost did it again this year.  We looked at verified reports of massive crowding inside the park; ridiculous high temperatures and forest fire smoke obscuring the views.  Three times we came within an eyelash of canceling this trip.  As we write this blog post August 3, we can hear echoes of our pessimism from just last week.  That's how close we came to wimping out of this trip.

It's laughable to sit here Thursday morning covered with a dense ground fog and an outside temperature of 43 degrees.  It's laughable to think we thought we'd suffocate from the heat in our little trailer.  Even though storm clouds completely obscured the Rocky Mountain Front yesterday and hid most of Glacier's Jewels, the temperature was perfect--in the upper low to upper 50's all day long.  That's a far cry from the mid 90's we feared just a few days ago.

Yesterday, as we were driving through the cloud-draped splendor of this magical place, we made a pact—we're not going to threaten to wimp out of another Road Trip.   We're just going to go.  This Road Trip was a gleam in my eye dating back to mid-January 2017.  I tried and tried to get reservations at Many Glacier.  Each morning I'd be shut out of the electronic lottery.  Finally, on Susun's birthday, February 2, I changed plans and decided to book us into Saint Mary Campground.  Even though it was more than half full six months in advance, there were still plenty of sites available.  I was able to spend a couple of hours tediously checking each and every availiable site to find The One with the best shade.

Site C109 is definitely one of the very few high quality shady campsites here. Most campers have no shade.  Of course, that hasn't been a factor in the last couple of days.   Shade has been the last thing on peoples' minds.

Visibility this morning is perhaps 100 yards—this place is really socked in.  But we have no doubt the fog will burn off and the sun will shine today. It's going to be a Glorious Glacier Day for sure.

Luckily, we're booked into Glacier and its Canadian Twin Waterton for a week. That's going to allow plenty of time to finally soak up the Glacier Glow in as many different places and ways as possible.  It's something we've dreamed of for 14 years and, as fate would have it, we're finally here with the right rig, the right gear and the right attitude.

Weird

Yes, it truly was The Weirdest Of The Weird.

It was THE Weirdest Construciton Site I have ever seen in my entire lifetime. Bar None. And this goes back to the 1950's, Dear Friends.  I have never seen a construction area this weird in ALL my Life, not even  in Sonoran, Mexico, and that says it all right there.  I personally worked weird construction sites in the 1960's.  They were nothing compared to today. I thought I saw the Weirdest of The Weirdest in Sonora back in the 90's.

But NO!  The Blackfeet Nation surpassed The Weirdest of The Weird today.  We went through a construction site designed by some rogue engineer on drugs. Hardly half way through the most weirdest of the weird there was a sign that said “End Road Work” and then it got worse.  A LOT Worse.   Oh, my gosh, I was honestly on the edge of my driving abilities going through that ridiculous construction zone.   Blackfeet Men were driving giant machines in ways I don't even want to attempt to describe.  The speed and sheer terror of these machines brought me right down to my most primal level.  I determined I was gonna get outta there no matter what those guys threw at me!  

Yikes!  Yes, it was THAT bad!  We made it OK but it was white knuckle all the way.  When I got to the other side of their gauntlet, I exhaled like you read about.

You gotta realize The Blackfeet Nation is The Baddest Of The Bad.  And you gotta realize Blackfeet  Men are channeling The Spirit Of Their Ancestors.  Man, HOW I felt that reality today!

Cows go home

When we pulled into this large campground yesterday there were 50-75 cows and calves everywhere. Suddenly, in a wink, they were all gone. Poof! Just like that. Not a one to be seen anywhere. Somewhere nearby we presume the cows came home.

WX change

Wind blew like crazy last night. We both worried it would blow the trailer over. It blew in a Canadian cold front.  Nippy outside thus morning with mist in air. Winds coming from North to Northeast. Hopefully, it will blow fire smoke out of area. Other two photos are Wed. AM views of St. Mary & Many Glacier.

Big Sky

This is why they call it Big Sky Country. From 47.54784 -112.44093 @ 6:15 PM.

MOAN COUNTRY

“Plans Are Made To Be Changed”

That's been our Main Motto for Many Moons.  And Many Years, too.  You make plans so you can change them.  Once you get into the rockin' rythmn of our motto, the whole Planning Paradigm will just never be the same.  Nope.  It will be better.  Much Better.  You won't worry about whether your plan is THE Plan.  Nope.  You know right off the bat that “Plans Are Made To Be Changed” so when you change 'em, you're good to go.

That's why we are camped in MOAN Country at a place called Willow Creeek Reservoir about 7 gravel road miles outside of Augusta which is probably in Lewis & Clark County, Montana, as nearly as we can tell.  If you were to drive forever due west of Augusta, you'd wind up at a major trailhead for The Bob.  Yep, the legendary Bob Marshall Wilderness.  

What with the fire smoke and haze,  we can only make our the faint outline of The Bob lying far west of our BFE location here at Willow Creek Reservoir.  For you GPS enabled map heads, we are at 47.54784 -112.44093  Look it up on your Funk-N-Googles.

There are more cows and calves here than there are people.  There are two people.  We are them two people.  Meanwhile, there are roughly 50-75 trespassing cows and calves.  Montana wildlife people really went the extra mile to keep the cattle out of this recreation site but, well, they failed.  Now the cattle have their own private bathrooms and they relish the luxury.

This lonely reservoir is huge and there's nary a boat to be seen.  Nary a human to be seen either, for that matter.  We don't care.  We're in the “any port in a storm” mode and this one fit the bill.  Turns out there are precious few (if any) campsites along the route we chose to travel today.

We left The Headwaters at 1 PM today after a lovely morning (to be described below) and thought we were heading to Helena to stake out our own asphalt turf at Chateau Wal-Mart.  Once we got to Helena and did a drive-by of the RV ghetto set up there in that blazing hot parking lot, we just kept on drivin'.

That's why plans are made to be changed.

Oh, the stories I could conjure just by looking at the ghetto of RV's stacked up like cordwood in that Wal-Mart parking lot. But I won't go there or it might turn out to be a reprise of the movie script from “Deliverance”.  Cue the  banjos.

So “we proceeded on,” as Meriwether  Lewis was wont to say in his journals of that epic journey from so long ago.

And we kept proceeding on and proceeding on and finally began wondering if we'd ever find a place to camp.  Finally, we washed ashore in Augusta, Montana, a five bar kinda place and we hit pay dirt.  Well, actually a pay dirt road that lead us to this campsite seven miles out of a small town in The Middle Of Absolute Nowhere Montana.

We stopped at the Forest Service Office in Augusta and I told Susun to go in here and do her “64 questions” routine and that's how we found this place.  It's not Forest Service.  It's a Montana fishing site.  Long story best told another time.  But it works for us.  The toilet is spotless and thank goodness the cows can't come inside the vault toilets to do their thing.  They do their thing outside---ALL over the place as cows are wont to do.
This morning was blissfull in every way, shape and form.  It was one of those lovely mornings wafting in the whispy curtains from some romantic movie scene.   Oh, how we love such days!

By and by, we finally left our tiny home around 9 AM and went to sit on a bench at The Confluence and huggle and hold each other as we admired the mingling waters.  Later, we walked up a historic knoll to read important history and then we threaded a thin river shoreline to find our way to the Gallatin Confluence, too. Afterwards, we drove into Three Forks for a most delightful lunch at the 3-4KS Cafe enjoying easily the best outdoor patio dining environment we've ever experienced.

And then it was back to Road Trip Reality to hitch 'em up and hit the pavement before campground checkout atime at 1 PM.

Susun loves Three Forks and wants to come back soon.  Me, too.

Life Is Good!  Happy August 1 and Many Cheers!  J&S

Red Suns

Happy August First!  We're moving very slowly on this first day of a new month.  Yes, there is a lot of smoke from various wild fires.  And, yes, it created the famous Red Suns of fire season last evening and this morning here at the Missouri Headwaters State Park.  We're tucked into some serious riparian vegetation..surrounded by willow trees, rose bushes and various other aggressive, water-loving trees and shurbs.  So, it really doesn't matter to us how hazy the sky might be.

We had some major techie success this morning.  We finally figured out how to upload both a text narrative and photos to Susun's Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Android phone.  Our cheap-o, pseudo, so-called smart phone has been a total dud on this trip.  No cell signal whatsoever.  So, we've abandoned it.  We decided instead to figure out to use Susun's phone to post to this blog.  That way we can leave her beloved Facebook unmolested and safe for her continued enjoyment.

It took a lot of hoop jumping and head scratching but we got 'er dun.

We're getting a hugely late start this morning but you know what?  It doesn't matter one diddly dang.  We're only going to Helena and, guess what?  Helena's only 65 miles away. Now that's what we call a short travel day.  So, heck, we can leave Three Forks as late as 4 PM today and still arrive in Helena on time for Happy Hour.

Meanwhile this morning, we plan to roam 'round The Headwaters soaking up more of the fluvial ambiance here.  Then, we're probably going to have lunch at the Wheat Montana deli or some suitable place.  Today's supposed to be a little cooler than yesterday so that might help.

Otherwise, it's just another lazy day on the road.

Happy Day & Many Cheers!  J&S