Month: October 2025

Weather turned beautiful again today. And the drive was lovely. Got to Sundance and hardly recognized the place! After all, it was 50 YEARS AGO that I was a ski instructor there working for Robert Redford. (The staff there were still reeling from the Memorial held for Redford just a few weeks ago when he passed away.) Sundance is now a big time resort – no surprise…it’s location was always great and the skiing always good.

From Sundance we drove into Provo. Hardly recognized Provo either! We drove around looking for a place to park the RV and finally turned up a residential side street and parked in front of “The Nelson Family’s” house. I walked up and rang the doorbell and Mr. Nelson answered the door. “Hi,” I said, “I haven’t been here in 30 years and was wondering if we could park our RV out in front of your house for a couple of hours while we walked around the BYU campus.” In classic Utah-speak, Mr. Nelson replied “You bet! Have a nice visit!”

And so we walked around BYU. UNRECOGNIZABLE from the last time I saw it. And sadly, some of the statues were covered in shrink wrapped plastic with signs that read: “Artwork protected against vandalism.” Sad.

The other notable thing about BYU is that as we passed Cougar Stadium, there were loads of television trucks there from Fox as the “Big Noon Kickoff” show is to be broadcast there tomorrow. BYU is still undefeated and now ranked 15th in the nation so it’s a big deal and probably explains why the RV park where we’re staying is packed solid!

The other thing we had to do was get the oil changed in the RV! It needs to be changed every 6,000 miles and CruiseAmerica said it was due. We pulled into a Jiffy Lube and, with six inches to spare on either side and maybe 6 inches overhead, we made it into one of their two bays and were in and out in 1/2 an hour!

Tomorrow my son heads back East. We’re right next to the airport so that’s convenient, but it will be sad to see him go. Hudson will be particularly sad as he has been receiving an inordinate number of hugs and belly rubs for the last several days!

I, on the other hand, will head to Canyonlands, the first of the Big 5 grand national parks in Utah and will be staying the night in the town of Moab, not far away.

Onward and upward!

Crack of before dawn rise for the boys. Foggy and rainy and not looking too promising for the trip through Yellowstone. First stop was at Gardiner to get fuel ($3.59 a gallon – have been paying $2.69-$2.79). Then to the North Entrance to Yellowstone where a not so friendly Park Ranger checked my America the Beautiful Pass and said, “Due to the government shutdown I’m unable to scan your pass but in any case you needed to present it with a current i.d.” (Gee, thanks) Oh well, no doubt he’ll get his back pay and probably didn’t have anything better to do today anyway…

Onward to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone (picture above). Magnificent, even in the rain. Along the way we encountered a traffic jam caused by a herd of buffalo taking their sweet time crossing the highway in front of us! I know I keep saying this over and over again, but words can’t describe the beauty!

From the Canyon we drove to Old Faithful. Unfortunately, the timing of the next eruption was over an hour away and our itinerary wouldn’t permit us to hang around for it. But we were able to catch the scene, taking photographs of each other without any people in the background! That’s how much we had the Park to ourselves.

On the way back to the RV we noticed a bunch of people standing in front of it looking at what we thought was Hudson in the Driver’s Seat. Rather, they were looking at three huge crows that were sitting on top of the RV and picking the rubber seals out from the driving lights on the roof! (Don’t ask me why….)

From Old Faithful we made out way south to Grand Teton National Park. The majestic mountains to our west were covered with clouds for the most part, but still beautiful nonetheless.

We of course had to stop and take the obligatory photograph of the famous Moulton Barn on Mormon Row just north of Jackson. You can just see the Tetons in the background.

Then into Jackson where we also took the obligatory photos of the antler arches on the Town Square and in my case, stopped in to Teton Mountaineering for a new hat (my old one from years ago is starting to get a bit ratty!)

After a heart stopping bbq at a local restaurant in town where we were able to have Hudson join us, we drove another hour south to our KOA campground in Etna. It’s only a few months old – was nice to have everything new like the showers, laundry, toilets…

Tomorrow we push on to Provo, Utah.

Out of the north of Montana to steps from Yellowstone. The scenery the whole way is gorgeous, but nothing to compare with Glacier. It took us six hours, but we made it to Livingston by early afternoon and I spent the day updating these posts, organizing pictures, and wandering up and down the river bank (the Yellowstone River) where our RV sits as I type this.

Bears galore around here (son managed to step in what he thought was bear poo but which turned out to be dog poo). He was NOT a happy camper especially since there IS bear scat right behind our rig and we (including Hudson) managed to avoid stepping in THAT pile!

To Yellowstone, Teton National Park and Jackson Hole tomorrow!

Both a disappointing day and a fabulous day. As many of you know, the way to see Glacier is to drive the “Going to the Sun Road”, a 50 mile trip from West Glacier to St. Mary at the Eastern end of the Park. Knowing in advance that the road is impassable in spots to RV’s our size, I rented a Hertz SUV from Kalispell airport, where I had retrieved my son the day prior. We got there at 8AM on the spot, transferred cameras, etc. and of course dog, and headed back to West Glacier to the western entrance.

When we arrived we were confronted with a sign that said, “Going to the Sun Road closed between Avalanche and Rising Sun.” Of course, we had no idea where these were along the road so we had to stop and consult a map. To our dismay, Avalanche was a spot 15 miles in from the West Entrance, and Rising Sun was a spot 5 miles in from the East Entrance at St. Mary. GROAN! The whole middle of the trip was closed to us, and given the snow I experienced driving over the Continental Divide the day before, I understood why.

Undaunted, we drove the 15 miles to Avalanche. We were not disappointed. The weather cooperated and it was a magical drive. We practically had the whole road to ourselves and were able to turn out frequently and take some fabulous pictures (too many to choose from here).

It didn’t take long. We had the whole rest of the day so we queried a Park Ranger who was working along the road and asked if it was worth it to drive around the south end of the Park and up the East side to St. Mary (a trip that was 100+ miles each way!) and enter the Park for the 5 miles or so it was open from the East side.

We decided we had to do it.

Here are just 2 photos of the dozens we took. The first of the drive in from the West side. The second (to prove the 200 mile out of the way trek was worth it) on the 5 mile journey from the Eastern entrance.

Needless to say, we lucked out with the weather, and these shots were taken with an iPhone! There’s no doubt I’ll have to come back again and do that whole road! The pictures, of course, don’t do justice to the magnificence…sigh….

Left Three Forks early as I needed to cover a lot of miles to get to Kalispell airport in time to pick up my son who arranged to fly out and meet me, and join me for 4 days of the trip. It started out overcast but soon it started to snow and a couple of serious accidents slowed my progress. By the time I got to Flathead Lake the weather was gorgeous…that’s how it is out here. You can experience all four seasons in one day. The photo, however, attempts to show what it must have been like for the pioneers coming across the plains as they saw the Rocky Mountains arising on the horizon.

I made it to Kalispell airport 1/2 hour before his plane arrived. We stopped at a supermarket and got two huge ribeye steaks, two of the biggest spuds I think I’ve ever seen, and some broccoli, then made our way to the RV park in West Glacier where we had the whole place to ourselves. Nestled in pine trees at the foot of the mountains, it was a serene place. And the SMELLS! Hudson went crazy! We actually broke out the bear spray that evening as there were warning signs everywhere, and we could imagine getting a visit during the night.

Got to the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn only to be disappointed. This was the first casualty of the government shutdown. So, not much to say except that if I had to miss this site due to a shutdown which the Democrats stupidly caused, so be it. I’m glad the GOP isn’t giving into their demands. They’re like Hamas!

On to Three Forks, Montana. Never been to Montana. All I can say at this point is that it’s BEAUTIFUL!

How’s this for starting your morning! I’ll just have to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind again!

From Devils Tower I drove to Sheridan, WY where I stopped in to see an old client of mine! (From 40 years ago, I was Roy Weatherby’s banker when Weatherby was located in South Gate (LA) California.

On to Three Forks, Montana tomorrow!

There are two stories for today, well, maybe three.

Story 1 – The weather was absolutely spectacular.

Story 2 – The speed limit up here in South Dakota is 80 mph! It is also windy as hell! I now understand why there are so many wind turbine farms up here, but they’re still and eyesore/blight on the landscape and half of them aren’t working, a quarter of them are turning (on electricity, not wind!!!) and the balance is providing how much power???? And for whom???? Now, imagine flying down the road at 80 mph in an RV and one of those wind gusts comes along. Long story short, there is absolutely NO relaxing driving here…it’s white knuckle all the way – taxing on the nerves and exhausting!

Story 3 – I felt like a Mormon pioneer being infested with grasshoppers. They’re EVERYWHERE. I stepped out of the RV and they were jumping around like rice frying in a pan! Hudson thought they were fun to try to catch, but even he tired of them after a while. Oh, and they’re not the only bugs around… there are common, everyday flies in all sizes, stink bugs, ladybugs, wasps and a bunch of bugs I’ve never seen before. Like the people around here though, they’re all friendly and don’t really bother us much.

Tomorrow headed to Mt. Rushmore, my first target stop. It’s supposed to be overcast and cold, but at least I will have seen it and been there!

Think I bit off more than I can comfortably chew with over 300 miles per day. With stops for stretches and to drain Hudson’s radiator (and sometimes transmission!) everything takes longer than what Google Maps says! But we made it to Champaign, IL where I popped in on an old high school chum and his wife (they own a family farm in Champaign and just happened to be there – they live in Maryland!) Getting there was a chore! It rained cats (no dogs or Hudson would get upset) all day long. So driving 70 mph among 18 wheelers in the FOG and the Rain…..thank you God for keeping us safe!

Today was the longest day yet. We’re west of Des Moines, Iowa. Not a cloud in the sky today and the landscape is that of freshly harvested cornfields marred (maybe I should say scarred) by wind farms, half of the turbines inoperative…What a waste of money and what a blight on the otherwise serene beauty of the Great Plains!

Note to self – the gravel coming off the truck in front of you and hitting the windshield was NOT gravel! It was BUGS! Godzillions of them of every size shape and variety! What’s that old question…would you rather be the bug or the windshield? It’s going to take me 1/2 hour tomorrow morning at a truck stop to get them off!

Hudson is going a little nuts with all the sites, sounds and SMELLS! He can’t get enough of it all!

Gotta crash…gained an hour today so am now Central Time.

PS how’s the above for a harvest moon? Taken around 9PM on October 7th in Champaign.