Home Sweet Home

September 28, 2013

Hello to our friends and family.  This will be the final post in the Paris Trike Trip 2013 blog. Some of you are already aware, but for those of you who aren't, we arrived home today, safe & sound, at about 2:45 pm. :) It feels great to be home! 

Brief statistics for the trip include a duration of six weeks and three days, 7,250 miles, six states, and three National Parks.  

We cannot describe how great this trip has been for us. The experiences we've had, the beauty we've seen and just the two of us being out there together on a great big adventure.  We couldn't have asked for anything more.

We'd like to thank each and every one of you for being part of our travels. Your "likes", comments and encouraging words along the way, have been so fun and important to us.  We always felt like we were still in touch even though we were so far away. 

As always, we wish you happy trails.....

Rick & Nancy

Tea, South Dakota to Decorah, Iowa

Friday, September 27, 2013

Can we just be home now?  We're really tired of this constant southerly wind cutting across our path as we head east. Cornfields  are now golden instead of the green they were on our way out.  Lots of hay has been harvested and is in neat round bales.  Lots of work going on in the fields.
We're trying to stay ahead of the rain that is about a day or so behind us. We put on about another 275 today.  They are long days but we both want to get the miles behind us. We're on happy, tired, and always windy trails.  :)

Martin, SD to Tea, SD

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Nothing too new to report today.  The wind stayed with us as we made our way across 273 miles of South Dakota.  Even the locals think it's windy!  We stopped at the Red Barn RV Park for the night in a town called Tea. There was a noisy thunderstorm during the night but the wind pretty much dried everything by the time morning arrived.  We are still on target to be home sometime late Saturday.
Thanks for staying with us.  Happy trails.

Gillette to Martin, South Dakota

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Other than the day we got soaked and hailed on, today was my least favorite weather day on the trip.  We fought 25-30 mph head and cross winds all day across the flat, dry plains in eastern Wyoming and western South Dakota.   It warmed up nicely so it wasn't cold, but we were pretty tired of the constant fight.  We were grateful for three wheels but I still felt bad for Rick.  Driving 300 miles in that is not easy.  We stopped in a small town called Martin. Pretty basic. No campgrounds and one inn, so that's where we stayed.  Got to our room around 6pm and never left.  Hope it's a little calmer tomorrow.  Windy trails.

Cody to Gillette

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

I bet some of you are thinking....isn't she done yet??  Just so you know, I'm going to blog until we set foot on Paris soil in Colgate, WI!  Should be by the end of this week.  We've got some family keeping pretty close tabs on us so I'm writing til we're home. 
It was a beautiful ride today from Cody to Gillette.  We drove through the Bighorn Scenic Byway and it sure was a pleasant surprise.  We thought we were pretty much done with mountains, but sure enough, we had some more.  Loved it.  We put on a total of 265 miles in about 6 hours.  Found a campground in Gillette called the Crazy Woman Campground.  I thought......how appropriate.  :)
Happy trails.

West Yellowstone to Cody

We left West Yellowstone this morning with a 36° temperature. Brrrrr.  In all seriousness, I had on two pair of long underwear, jeans, two pair of socks, two sweatshirts, one windbreaker, a hat under my helmet, a leather neck scarf, gloves and my coat.  I was absolutely comfortable the whole trip to Cody.  Wind was our biggest challenge today. Going around Yellowstone Lake was beautiful but really gusty.We made one last stop to the Upper Falls and Artist's Point before saying farewell to the park.  :(
It was a beautiful drive to Cody with different mountains. It is a neat cowboy town but the rodeos are all over for the season. We found a nice campsite.....yes, back to the camping.... and had a peaceful night.
Happy trails.

Yellowstone National Park

Friday, Sat., & Sun. Sept., 20, 21, & 22, 2013

We didn't know if Yellowstone could be more beautiful than the country we've already seen on this trip. We saved it for last hoping for the best. We didn't need to worry. 

Yellowstone is truly one of the most remarkable places on earth.  I had no idea it was a volcano.  I knew it had Old Faithful and other geysers but not that it had more than anywhere else in the world. The history, geography, and wildlife kept us fascinated the entire time we were here.  Only about 20% of the park is visible by road.  The other 80% is wilderness.  We traveled all the roads we could, got some beautiful pictures, and no doubt, memories that will last us a lifetime.  We went to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone on Sunday to see the two animals we did not see in the wild.  It was very educational and fun to see these two top predators in the park up close.
Tomorrow we will travel the park west to east one last time and start our journey home.  We have had such an experience.  Happy trails.

West Yellowstone

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Thursday
Time to leave Jackson and our campground home for the past 5 nights and hit the road.  It got down to 31° last night and I just couldn't keep warm. It was my fault, I just didn't put on enough clothes.  Get this.  Rick was fine.  Mr. I Am Always Cold was fine!  I'll probably never live this one down.  He did a great job at warming me up this morning, though, with a propane heater and extra covers of clothes. Once the sun came up over the mountains, it warmed up quickly. We emptied our bear box, took down the camper, loaded up & headed out.  We went north through Grand Teton National Park and into the south entrance of Yellowstone. Rick surprised me and had made reservations for us at a place called Hibernation Station in West Yellowstone, MT!  It was about a 130-mile drive so after a late start,  slow going through the park (a max speed of 45 mph), and stopping to see wildlife, we got to our little log cabin about 5pm. Yes, log cabin.  It is the cutest thing and I am beyond excited!  West Yellowstone is a neat little town with everything we could possibly need.  It'll be home until Monday morning and it sure is happy trails for me! 

The Bar J Wranglers

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

With yesterday behind us we were excited for today.  We made a trip back to "The Missing Sock" to dry our clothes so, once again, we were warm, dry and ready to go. 
Our first stop was to Teton Village to ride the tram up Rendezvous Mountain. It was a beautiful ride and once you were on top you had a 360° view of the Snake Valley that was amazing.
Then, for our last night in Jackson, we had tickets for a chuck wagon dinner/western show put on by the Bar J Wranglers. They are a very popular show in Jackson and it was one I really wanted to see. They sure didn't disappoint.
After a great dinner, the dad came out to tell their story. A very perfect old cowboy. He's retired now, but comes to shows now and then, and we were lucky enough to hit a night when he was there.  His two sons and three other men, (the Bar J Wranglers) then thoroughly entertained us for the next hour and a half.  They sang the greatest cowboy and western songs with absolute beautiful harmony.  They were so funny!  The two brothers were like the Smothers Brothers, for those of you who remember them. They sang sad songs, popular songs, patriotic songs, and their talent was just so impressive.  At the end, the dad came out to sing "Ol' Shep" and he had me crying through that.  We just enjoyed every minute.  Special thanks to my cousin, Terry & his wife, Jenny, for recommending the show.
We met the nicest couple there that lived in Jackson part of the year.  They said this was about their 12th time seeing the show and they never get tired of it.  They had lots of great suggestions for us when we visited Yellowstone.  It was great timing as we were leaving for there the next morning.  Last big stop before heading back home.  Happy trails.

P.S.  Happy, Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece, Karen.  We hope  your day is extra special and we love you.

The Saga of "The Missing Sock"

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Well, Mother Nature finally caught up with us.  We've been so lucky on this trip.  Yes, we've had some searing heat, a little rain, and some wind, but we've never really gotten wet or caught in any severe weather.  Sometimes it really looks like it's going to be a rotten day out here, but it doesn't rain at all, the sun comes out and it's a beautiful day. We've gotten very spoiled...until today.
It started out quite gloomy with  clouds hanging down very low in the valley. It didn't look like a good day to go riding at all so we decided to go to the Jackson Recreation Center for a swim & hot tub in the morning and then do laundry in the afternoon.  Laundry has not been an easy task on a motorcycle but we stuff wherever we can stuff and off we go to "The Missing Sock". It's important to note here that Rick needs to wash both pair of his jeans so he wore shorts and we took our rain suits out of the bike because we really needed the room. 
Well, several hours later the chore is done.  It still looks pretty threatening, but it isn't raining (and hasn't rained) so we load up and head back to the campground.  It's also important to note that the "The Missing Sock" and home base are about 16 miles apart. 
About one mile into the ride, it starts to sprinkle.  About three miles in it starts to rain.  We just get through town and it starts to rain really hard.  We are both cold and soaked by this time so we figure we might as well just keep going.  At first I started hearing these really loud raindrops against my helmet. I'm thinking, what in the world?  Then I start to feel like someone is pelting me with stones.  It's hailing!  Most of them were the size of peas or a little smaller but some were almost the size of garbanzo beans!  We were both hollering "ouch!" every few seconds but found out that didn't help.  Poor Rick is having to drive.....in shorts!  He was a little protected by the windshield and bike but definitely took the hits. It hailed for probably 5 minutes and then thankfully, it stopped.  We proceeded to the campground and were never so glad to see our little camper.  We were wet but safe and that's all that mattered. Another large storm and colder temps (low of 36°) rolled in later that night but our camper kept us mostly warm and dry.  I'm thinking it's time for hard walls. :)  Happy hailing trails.

Jackson Hole & Grand Teton National Park

Saturday, Sunday & Monday, September 14, 15, & 16, 2013

What a beautiful site!  We're back in the mountains and what beauties they are.  I guess I still haven't gotten my fill of them.  The Tetons are right up there with the best of them. 
We arrived in Jackson, WY mid-Saturday and proceeded directly to the Visitor Center.  It's a very busy, high traffic town, (much larger than expected) and we really wondered if we'd even find a place to stay. The guy at the center looked at us cross-eyed when we told him we needed a place to stay until we told him we had a camper and didn't need electricity.  He smiled then and directed us toward a campground called Gros Vente (Grow Vont) about 10 miles north of town and just south of Grand Teton National Park. It's also just beyond the National Elk Refuge that is home to 6-7 thousand elk in the winter. Great location and great park. We've met lots of very nice people there.
So.....our last three days have been spent doing a lot of riding in the area, scouting for wildlife, checking out the town, and living the camping life. Not too shabby.  We like to take a ride very late  afternoon or early evening just outside the campground.  Our first night we saw three beautiful elk not too far from the road and a short while later an entire herd of buffalo! There were so many of them, so close to the road, it was a little intimidating.  We kept a respectful distance being on a bike. They actually caused a traffic jam when they all decided to cross the road. What a wonderful site to see.
The next day we saw a moose and her calf in the woods. The biggest clue is a million cars pulled over to the side of the road. We didn't get a real good look but caught glimpses of them now & then.  We've seen large families of mule deer, pronghorn antelope and several lone buffalo.  I always wonder why they're out there all alone and not with the herd. Also saw a large elk herd but they were quite a distance from the road and difficult to see. It's so wonderful seeing all these animals in the wild.
The weather is not supposed to be very nice here the next couple of days. It's getting colder with frequent showers.  Same with Yellowstone, so we're going to stay put and do our errands and whatever else we can come up with between raindrops. I guess we're just not quite ready to leave here yet.  :)
Happy trails.
P.S.  We have no internet or phone service in the campground so I'm  running behind in blogging.  I'll do my best to catch up!

The Salmon River and Peaks & Craters

Friday, September 13, 2013

We ended up in Salmon, Idaho Thursday night after an unbelievably beautiful ride up along the Salmon River. You'll never guess what happened then.  We stayed at a wonderful motel called the Salmon River Motel!  First time since August 22nd that we've slept indoors, had electricity, and a bathtub. Almost forgot how fun that stuff is!  Rick spent 3 hours cleaning the trike and trailer while I sat in the tub, gave myself a manicure and a pedicure and had a quiet relaxing night.  Aaahhhh.....
Friday morning we left Salmon, dodging the raindrops, and headed south on the Peaks & Craters Scenic Byway towards Idaho Falls. We loved the peaks a lot more than the craters but like I read somewhere, "You can't appreciate one without the other." There apparently was a huge earthquake in that area in 1983 that created a 26-mile fault at the base of the mountain range.  It lowered the valley by 9 feet and the mountains actually raised. It swallowed a river and the small town is now called Lost River. 
For the first time in a long while, we left the mountains behind us and made our way into Idaho Falls. Interesting night there.  No room at the inn of campgrounds but the owner of one recommended a "free" camping area "down by the river" called South Tourist Park.  Sure enough.  We went down there, found a beautiful spot on the river and set up camp.  Well, it turned out, that while the rule was, "One Night Only", people had been living there all summer.  Many of them homeless and some just there to party.  There was a man and a young girl next door that were very friendly.  They had come upon hard times and had been staying there quite frequently, so they filled us in on all the scoop.  The police were there for quite a while before we went to bed and apparently our neighbor called them back in the middle of the night because he heard such terrible fighting from a tent down the way.  Rick and I never heard a thing, slept great through a rainstorm and headed out in the very cool morning aimed for Jackson, WY.  It looks like we're going to be struggling with the weather for the next few days. Temperatures have definitely dropped and thunderstorm chances increased to between 40 & 80%.  Oh well.....I guess we'll just have cool & rainy happy trails.

We Love Idaho!

Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday September 10, 11, & 12, 2013

We continue to make our way through Idaho this week and are truly enjoying every minute.  What a beautiful state!  We are driving about 200 miles each day so I haven't had much time to write at days end.  The routes are often through the mountains so our days are full and by the time we find our campsite, set up and grab a bite to eat, we're done. 
We are just amazed by the beauty we see every day and never knew there were so many different kinds of mountains. Tree covered, bald, rocky, brown, red, blue, green, sagebrush covered....it's just fun going around the next curve to see what's ahead.
For the most part, we are choosing backroads (sometimes that's all there are) but we have also gone through cities more populated like Ketchum, Sun Valley and Hailey.  Lots of money in some of those areas; huge homes, fancy golf courses, etc.  We stayed in Bellevue, south of Hailey, because there were no RV resorts that accepted tents. 
:(
One more day before our next big stop and that will be Jackson, WY and the Tetons.  From there, into Yellowstone National Park.  We plan on saving a good week and a half for those areas. It's hard to believe we're 30 days into this trip and by the 24th or 25th we'll be heading for home.
We'd like to say a special "Happy Birthday" to our sister-in-law, Lynnie, today.  We love you, hope it's the best and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!  Happy trails.

It's so hard to believe it's been 12 years since 9/11. In many ways, it seems like yesterday. We can never forget...

God Bless America.

Puttin' On the Miles in Idaho

Sunday & Monday, September 8 & 9 2013

As Libby is only about 35 miles from the western border of Montana, we entered Idaho and Pacific Time late Sunday morning.  The weather was cool, overcast and everything felt damp but it is supposed to improve and we are bound to see the sights and enjoy the ride.  Our first town in Idaho was Bonner's Ferry and from there we headed to a town called Sandpoint. I had read good things about the city and it seemed like a nice place, but there was a ton of road construction wherever you went. In the afternoon, the weather cleared and it ended up being a warm and comfortable 75 degrees.  We continued our drive and ended up in Coeur d'Alene for the night.  We chose the Wolf Lodge Campground as our resting place, having traveled 200 miles.  Coeur d'Alene is one of the most highly populated cities in Idaho with ~44,000 people.  It is a very pretty resort town with a huge lake surrounded by the mountains. We drove around the lake as we were leaving the next morning and it seemed like it never ended. Up, down and around for over 30 miles.  It was very beautiful with lots of fancy homes built into the mountain sides.
Monday was another 200-miler with us continuing to head south through the mountainous canyon areas. We are choosing "scenic byways" as we plot our course and have been thrilled with the results.  We have never seen mountains like some of those we are seeing in Idaho.  We were on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation for most of the afternoon, riding along the beautiful Clearwater River.  It got very hot out here again today with temps in the very high 80s. Both of us were very warm. We put away the rainsuits and sweats and went back to T-shirts!  These are long days of driving for Rick. Two hundred miles doesn't sound like a lot but when they are through the mountains, with all the twisting and turning, it's a lot.  He's been a real trooper.  We chose the town of Kamiah to stay overnight and we slept like rocks. It's still happy trails.

Last Montana Stop: Libby

Saturday, September 7, 2013

The clouds are lingering this morning, but we're setting our sights on Libby, Montana. It's cool, 53 degrees and very overcast. We've got on several layers of clothing topped off with a rainsuit and I feel like a sausage.  It sure better rain!

Libby is west of Whitefish and you have two ways to get there.  One is to go a 65-mile northern route, where you come within 7 miles of the Canadian border and the other is a southern route, about half the distance on a busier highway.  While both would probably be scenic, we chose the longer road less traveled.  Libby, here we come and  what a lucky, wonderful decision!  The northern ride was absolutely beautiful.  The day brightened up and it ranks up there as bring one of the favorites of our trip, thus far.  We came to a lake called Koocanusa.  It is 102-miles long, 42 of those miles in Canada. The lake is named for the KOOtenai River, CANada and the USA.  The pictures will show some of it's beauty.  We were riding along and came to a big bridge that crossed this huge lake and in looking at the map, a road on each side of the lake going into Libby.  Which one do we take?  One was called a scenic byway and the other one not. Well, we crossed the bridge, took the non-scenic byway and had the best ride!!  We met 5 motorcycles and 3 cars the entire four hour drive and the lake was beside us the entire time.  We felt like we were out there all by ourselves in this great big, beautiful world.
We finally came to the Libby Dam where they control water levels, generate enough electricity to supply 60,000 homes and prevent flooding in the surrounding communities.  Quite a sight. We proceeded to the town of Libby, found a peaceful campsite called Woodland RV and called it a good day.  Happy trails.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Thursday & Friday, Sept. 5th & 6th

I'm a little behind in my blogging so I'm going to combine Thursday and Friday and hopefully be brief with my comments.  Both days were very cloudy and rainy so we've been in a little bit of a holding pattern. Rather than head west right into the bad weather, we holed up in our little Whitefish campsite.  We're doing fine with that; doing laundry, reorganizing, running errands here & there, shopping, playing cards (I'm still winning), etc. There's always something going on so we don't seem to get bored.  We've been so fortunate with the weather on this trip that we sure can't complain and the people are so happy out here when it rains, you just can't be upset by it. We plan on leaving here Saturday morning come rain or shine.  :) Until then..... Happy trails.

Glacier National Park & Going-To-The-Sun-Road

Wednesday, August 4, 2013

We got lucky. We had a beautiful day today for our drive through Glacier National Park .  What a place!  We were wondering what it would be like after doing the Beartooth Highway but it was every bit as beautiful.  Different, rockier mountains.....majestic.  The one downside we experienced on the Going-To-The-Sun-Road was very heavy traffic. I think everyone took advantage of the nice day in between rainy ones so it was slow going and always crowded.  Rick took the brunt of that, doing all the driving and always having to be alert.  We decided to go around the park on the way back to Whitefish and that trip was beautiful as well. Through East Glacier and several smaller towns....much less traffic.We did not see any wildlife in or out of the park, but we did see a lot of cattle on the road.  We had just pulled off on a turn-out, a car flew by and we heard him slam on his brakes.  One was in the road...no one hurt. As we left the area, several more were in the road.  Just wandering free on the range.   :)
The weather looks pretty iffy the next couple of days.  We'll probably stick around here another day or so and then head to Idaho for our next adventure.  It'll be interesting. We have no plans, no specific places to go.... just meandering.  Thanks again to those sending comments. We love it.  Happy trails.
P.S. I'm attaching a picture of one of the little ponies roaming our park.  This morning there were also the llamas, plus little burros and a calf!  ???  Where are they all coming from?

Whitefish

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Up and at 'em early this morning as we want to get to Whitefish and find a place to stay for the next couple of days. We will use Whitefish as our home base for visiting Glacier.  It is about 30 minutes away from the park.  For the first time in 21 days on the road, it is raining.  We've had a few sprinkles here and there but have never had to pull out our rain suits. This morning, we did.The drive from Bigfork was not long, though, we stopped and had breakfast and after checking things out, decided to stay at the Whitefish KOA.  They have cabins in addition to regular campsites and we looked at both.  It turns out, the cabins are cute on the outside but literally have a bed and bunk bed on the inside.  No more room really than our camper, no restroom, no bedding....very basic.  We decided to stay in our own place.  :)  I think I'm becoming an outdoor girl!  One funny thing about the campground is that there are free roaming tiny ponies, llamas and sheep!!  We thought we were seeing things.  A pony came right into our campsite while we were playing Gin this afternoon under our canopy.  Too funny.
It was a quiet evening.  We went for a walk around the park, then Rick went to the hot tub and I read. It felt good to just relax.  Maybe that's why it rained.  :)   Going to the Sun Road tomorrow.  Happy trails.

Bigfork

Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2013

Travel day, today.  We're a little hesitant about heading out with Labor Day traffic, but ready to move on.  It's another beautiful day so at least the weather won't be a concern.  We said our farewells at Conestoga Campground and were on the road by 10:00 am heading northwest toward Whitefish. We put on about 265 high traffic miles and called it a day in Bigfork.  The name Outback Campground should have given us a clue, huh?  It sure wasn't the greatest.  Our site was down a hill, far away from everything (mostly meaning bathrooms), there were a million bees and it wasn't a particularly pretty site either.  When it's getting late, you're tired, and there isn't a lot to choose from, I guess you just go with it.  We went to a local microbrewery a few miles away for a late bite to eat.  A nice young man from Chicago was our waiter and by the time we left, just before dark, we were content.  One thing on this trip, when it's dark, you go to sleep, and when it's light, you get up. We slept great in our little "house" and just pretended we were in a fancy campground.  :)  Until tomorrow......happy trails.

Yippee Ki-Yi-Yay!! A Rodeo!

Sunday, September 1, 2013

We got up Sunday morning fully expecting to head out of White Sulphur Springs by 11:00 am. Went into town for some breakfast and it was booming!  A parade, a little kid's trout fishin' contest, and later; mutton bustin' and a rodeo!  We're stayin'!
We met such a nice couple, John & Joyce, at the campground. John is a veteran and his job was to guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I thought that was so awesome, thanked him for his service to our country and we ended up talking with them for quite a while.  We sat with them at the rodeo that night and it was the best night I've had in a long long time. The patriotism, the horses, the cowboys, the bull riding, the barrel racing, the clowns..... I loved every minute.  I guess I should have been a cowgirl......  For those of you who don't know, mutton bustin' is little kids riding a sheep to see how long they can stay on.  What a hoot that was!  All in all, it was a great day.  Unfortunately, rodeo pictures are on my camera so I can't send.
Happy trails.

White Sulphur Springs

Friday & Saturday, Aug. 30th & 31st.

We left Red Lodge Friday morning and headed north.  Whitefish, MT/Glacier Nat'l Park is our next big stop and we're planning on 3 days to get there.  We never know our exact route until the night before or morning of.  We just look at the state map and figure somewhere around 200 miles in the general direction we're heading.  Friday's ride took us to White Sulphur Springs by late afternoon. They had five campgrounds listed so we looked at a few of them and decided on Conestoga CG.  It was in a large, flat valley surrounded by mountain ranges in the distance. Very nice facilities and the people were so very nice.  We were the only tent among several larger RVs so they all thought we were "cute."   Not sure what Rick thought about that. Well, we liked it so much we decided to stay a second night and scouted out the surrounding area.  Hiked up to a pretty waterfall and visited two nearby mining towns with a lot of history and beauty.
Then Saturday night at the park Ice Cream Social, we hear about the Labor Day Celebrations.  A big PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) rodeo is being held in town Sunday & Monday. Seeing a rodeo is big on my list so.....who knows, we may be here a third night.  Happy trails.