June 7:

We arrived at Glacier National Park this afternoon. It was so beautiful as we were coming from the east to see the mountains appear and exciting to know we were going to be spending four days exploring some of the places that hold so many stories of the people who lived here and the history of how these mountains were carved out by the many glaciers that came from the ice age. We are camping at St. Mary's Campground right in Glacier N.P. We, at first, were sad to see so much of the mountain sides showing the devastation of past forest fires. The fire most noticeable to us as we drove in was from 2008. After awhile we could look past what the fire had left and see the beauty of the snow on the mountains and the lake and rivers flowing through them. As we were driving into our campsite, we were met by a lady who was trying to take a picture of a ground squirrel just opposite of our campsite. Her name is Karla, and we have become fast friends along with her husband Larry. Friends like them are so fun to get acquainted with and it makes these kind of trips unforgettable. Safe travels Larry & Karla! We are ready to get exploring tomorrow.

Rich & I with our first views of Glacier N.P.

Driving into Glacier National Par

We are in "Big Sky" Montana, and that is no stretch of the truth! We could see for miles while we were cruising down Hwy 2. There are hardly any towns from Glasgow to Havre, but there sure are stretches of land that go on as far as the eye can see. We are staying at Evergreen Campground just four miles south of Havre. We really didn't have much excitement today other than some construction just before Havre that really prepared us for what kind of roads we may find in Canada and Alaska!   There are some very large Indian reservations here in Montana. There is a reservation called the Rocky Boy's just outside of Havre for the Chippewa-Cree Indians. We could see some pretty good sized hills in the area of the reservation called Bear Paw Mountains. We are anxious to see the bigger mountains at Glacier Park where we will be tomorrow. We heard on the news tonight that Road to the Sun through Glacier Park is still not open due to the heavy snow this winter and the cooler spring that has made it difficult to get the road open. Not sure if we'll get to go on the road; probably not. The report stated that it would probably not be open until June 20. Oh well, we'll still get to see the beauty of the mountains, and I'm sure we will find much to enjoy.  I'm not sure that we will get to post much on the blog for the next few days due to Wifi availability. We'll post again when we can. Have a good weekend!

     

Bear Paw Mountains by Rocky Boy's Reservation 
for the Chippewa-Cree Indians

Fence by a rest stop that I thought was neat.
We saw a lot of fences along Hwy 2, but this one caught my eye.

Our morning started out by going on an excursion to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It was something we decided to take time to do even though we wondered if we should keep trekking down the road so that we can get to Glacier National Park on Saturday.

 We were so glad we took the time to visit the park. It was a glorious sunny 71-degree day with a nice breeze. The loop we could drive was about 37 miles, which took us about 2 hours to do.  The park is so interesting with all the different colors of sand and stone. Of course, what was really neat were the different animals we saw.

 First off, we were greeted by a bison almost at the entrance to the loop. On our way out, the bison was still standing around the area. I told Rich I think it got paid to stand there to spark excitement for the visitors. He was terrific!


 Farther into the park, we got to see many wild horses, lots of prairie dogs, an elk at quite a distance and a mule deer. It was well worth the ride and time spent there.




 In the early afternoon, we headed down the road towards our route back on Hwy. 2.  We drove over miles and miles of prairies with hundreds of cows and fields that we weren't sure as to what had been planted in them. Some may say it's a bit of a boring ride, but I found it to be beautiful with the different shades of greens and browns. Maybe that's the artist in me!  We are staying tonight in Glasgow, MT, at Shady Rest RV Park. We have been told so often by so many that to go through Williston, North Dakota, is a very dangerous place to drive through or even stop because of all the oil drilling going on in that area. It just isn't a safe place both from the oil field truck drivers and the crime that has been created. We saw a lot of vehicles from the oil drilling companies and miles of trains hauling oil cars heading to and from the wells.  We feel safe where we are and just feel listening to the people's advise is a wise thing to do.  We look forward to a good rest tonight and in the morning traveling on to Havre, MT, or further. We'll try to check in again tomorrow.

June 4:


We had a long day of traveling down the road today. We were advised by the people who owned the campground in Bemidji to not keep going on Hwy 2 through North Dakota because of all the trucks and oil field workers that crowd the area from Minot, ND, all the way through the east part of Montana. We decided to head down to I-94 by Fargo and travel that route. We are not sorry we did even though it added a few extra miles to our trip. Traveling through North Dakota on I-94 has been very interesting. There were miles of flat country side that changed to fields that had random "hills" like someone dumped a pile of dirt from the sky. There were rolling hills with black Angus cows grazing over the country side, and then coming around a bend in the road just outside of Medora to discover Theodore Roosevelt National Park with the amazing views of the North Dakota Badlands with the Painted Canyons.


 We couldn't believe the difference in just a of couple miles how the landscape changed. We are camping at Red Tail Campground with some views of buttes that we don't see in Michigan. It's a unique place to spend some time. Another day of sunshine for us, but in the distance to the south we could watch a very intense thunderstorm that we were glad we missed. We look forward to tomorrow and enjoying God's handiwork.

Badlands Painted Canyon

Our stay at Walmart in Chippewa Falls, WI, was a great stop. It was another sunny day with the temp being about 67 when we started out for the day. We stopped at a McDonald's to take advantage of their free wifi so we could post to our blog. We headed up to Duluth, MN, and got on Hwy 2. The ride on Hwy. 2 reminded us so much of going through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It was a nice trip without much traffic. We traveled though Minnesota and understand why they call it the land of a thousand lakes! We are staying tonight in Bemidji, MN, at the Royal Oaks Campground. We even got to meet with Paul Bunyan and his blue ox in town tonight. We also enjoyed the community fire at the campground where we got to meet a couple from Idaho who are doing full-time camping. Maybe by the time we are finished with our trip we'll feel like full-time campers too! We are going to enjoy a good nights sleep with the weather being somewhat on the cool side, which will make for good sleeping. Goodnight friends!

Mary hanging out with Paul Bunyan & his Blue Ox

June 2:  After leaving Allendale at 5:20 am, we stopped for a wonderful breakfast at Micky D's! Well, at least it filled our hollow spot and got us to Ludington right at 7:30, where we got on the Badger and enjoyed a great 4-hour trip over to Wisconsin. It was a bit windy and the weather prediction wasn't sunny, but we were determined that the weather wasn't going to make a difference on our first day of our trip.

 The Badger headed out right at 8:30 and we were out on the deck to enjoy the wind in our hair and look out on beautiful Lake Michigan. That lasted about five minutes out on the water, because it became so foggy we couldn't even see the wake the boat was churning up. That lasted all the way over to Wisconsin. We still weren't going to let it bother us. We went inside and got a little more breakfast and then joined a group who were playing bingo to pass the time. We had so much fun and Rich even won a couple “great” prizes for getting bingo. Actually, the Badger isn't noted for its terrific prizes! We met some great fellow travelers and had fun sharing a few stories with each other. When we arrived on the shores of Manitowoc, we were in the middle of a thunderstorm with pouring rain. We tried out our new rain proof jackets and are happy to say they did their job.

 We are now sitting in our “campground” for the night called Wally World just north of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. We weren’t so sure about staying here for the night, but decided we should give it a try. I think we are adjusting to our surroundings and just may have a good night's rest. Tomorrow we will head for Duluth, MN. It's been a good day.

~5:20 a.m. Monday June 2, 2014~

     Well, we are off to Alaska. We left at 5:20 a.m. while it was still dark to head for Ludington where we will hop on the Badger (car ferry) to cross Lake Michigan. As Rich says, our trip won't actually start until we are off the Badger.

This is our "Roll Call Alaska" forum sign.
If anyone from the RV.NET  forum sees us, they will know who we are.