July 19, 2012 – Home, Troy, IL

Larry:

My bucket list trip is complete. We are home exactly 8 weeks after leaving on this adventure.

Some of the numbers (you got to have numbers).

Total time: 8 weeks (56 days) Left 25 May 2012, Returned 19 July
Total Miles: 11332
Towing Miles: 9858 Miles 87% of total milage
Gallons of Diesel: 1065
Avg MPG for Trip:10.64 MPG
Price/Gal: $3.49 to $7.56 (Avg in Canada was $4.50 with the $7.56 as the robbery out in the middle on no where)
Avg Cost For Night Camping: $36 Almost all had full hook-ups, cable TV, & Wi-Fi
Max Cost For Night Camping: $53 at Glacier St. Mary KOA
Canada (3 Provinces): Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory
USA (13 States): IL, MO, IA, MN, ND, MT, AK, WA, OR, ID, UT, WY, NE
Crossed from US to Canada or Canada to US: 8 times
Low Temp: 39 degrees Destruction Bay, YT
High Temp: 100 degrees Nebraska City, NE
Damage from roads: Dirty Truck, Dirty 5th Wheel, Replaced 2 leaking valve stems
Wildlife: Black Bear, Grizzly Bear, Brown Bear, Moose, Elk, Caribou, Fox, Wolf, Humpback Whale, Orca, Harbor Seal, Sea Lion, Dolphin, Bald Eagle, Ravens, Bighorn sheep, Dall Sheep, white tail deer, mule deer, lynx, porcupine, plus many small ones I cannot remember.


Karen: This was a trip Larry had talked about taking for the last 5 or 6 years. I went along with his plans because I knew this was something we would regret not doing if we had put it off. I was afraid if we waited a few more years, either of us could have health issues and it would be too late. It was not as glamorous or luxurious as something like a cruise, but I’m not a glamorous or luxurious kind of person. The scenery was beautiful, gorgeous and amazing. It was at times dusty (it’s surprising how much dirt and grit sticks in Harry’s coat), more often it was wet, muddy and cold. But I’m glad we did it. One of the more beautiful campgrounds we stayed at was situated in a lovely basin between the mountains with a lake down a narrow trail. As I walked the dogs there that evening, the hymn, “How Great Thou Art” came to mind:

“When through the woods and forest glades I wander
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.”


We did see God’s handiwork in the woods, the mountains, the rushing streams, on the plains and in the oceans. I am thankful for having the privilege to see all that. I am thankful for His protection throughout this trip. And most assuredly I can proclaim, “My God, how great thou art!”

July 18, 2012 – Victorian Acres RV Park & Campground, Nebraska City, NE

Larry: We did about another 485 miles again today. We drove longer then planned today for a couple of reasons. We were going to split the last legs up into 3 shorter segments. When we hit the Midwest heat, we saw 100 degrees today, we decided to drive longer rather then set in the camper waiting for it to finally cool down. With a 100 degree day outside, it will take hours for the camper to cool off. So with the extra mileage, it allows us to divide the last legs into 2 segments. We are both anxious to get home and we should be there by 5 tomorrow evening. The truck is cool while driving and we sent Lenny a note to go over and turn down our thermostat, so the house should be cool when we get home. I jokingly said we could drive straight through and get home by 2am. Setting and waiting for the RV to cool down, I am not sure of how much a joke that suggestion really was.

Karen: When we finally stopped after a long day of driving, the camper seemed like it would never cool down. At 98 degrees, it felt cooler outside. We were questioning whether the A/C was working or not. I suggested we might go check into a hotel. Larry nixed that idea – 1. Because of the dogs 2. He said he’d just drive home before he’d check into a hotel. Finally we decided to go get gas in the truck and at least be in the a/c that long and get some ice cream while we were out. We did that, when we came back to the camper it had cooled down some. At least now it is bearable. Tomorrow we will be home!

July 17, 2012 – Cheyenne KOA, Cheyenne, WY

We did about another 362 miles again today.  Looking at the map, we were expecting a drive through the mountains, but I guess we were in what they call the “high desert” since the elevation of Cheyenne is over 6,000 ft. and Laramie’s elevation was over 7,000 ft.   There were a couple of larger hills in the distance, noted as mountains on the map, reaching over 11,000 ft.  There were hills, but they were mostly rolling hills, really nothing very steep or rocky.  For the most part, the whole drive seemed fairly level with lots of sagebrush, row after row of large snow fences, several oil wells, a few oil refineries and an occasional antelope.

Rock piles and snow fence.

July 16, 2012 – Phillips RV Park, Evanston, WY

Today was another 400 mile day.   During the day we passed large feed lots, massive stacks of hay, vast potato fields being irrigated, and skirted a storm that may catch up with us tonight.  The storm seemed to be in front of us and then as we turned it passed to our left.  At one point the storm even had a square hole in the middle through which we could see the sky.   Not much else to say about today, the post is mostly to let people know where we are and information to remind us when we get home.

One of many potato fields.

Storm with the window.

July 15, 2012 – Ambassador RV Resort, Caldwell, ID

We were very appreciative of Ross and Kelli coming out to the area where we had the RV so that we could have breakfast together before leaving this morning.   After visiting over a great breakfast, we headed out for the trip home about 10:30am.  We/I (Larry) decided to make today a long driving day.  We got into the RV resort and set up about 7:30pm (mountain time) after about a 400 mile drive.  Coming out the Columbia River gorge we had a strong wind to our back and it showed in the gas mileage.   Not really too much to say about the trip.  We went from lush green to almost dried up prairie, back to lush green and then to farming land.  After the busy weekend activities, the dogs were down for the count during our drive today.

July 14, 2012 – Portland/Fairview RV Park, Fairview, Or

We spent another enjoyable day with Ross and Kelli on Saturday. We got a little later start because of me checking all of the tire pressures. But once we got there, we headed into the Portland Saturday Market. This is an area down on the river front that has hundreds of booths set up selling handcrafted items, imported items, food, and entertainment. We really like to go there and see all of the crafts and other items. This is one of our favorite things to do in Portland. After getting some lunch at some of the food booths, we came back and I helped Ross with a couple of projects around the house (another one of my favorite things). We all then took the three dogs for a walk through some of their diverse neighborhood.

Portland Saturday Market

Some of the entertainment.

Kelli had planned a fun evening by having a few of their friends over for supper and an evening of visiting. There were two couples, one had one little girl and the other had two little girls. Of course, they were part of the entertainment with their cute antics. After a delicious meal of grilled steaks, pasta salad and lots of veggies, we settled down to more visiting. Everyone had questions about our travels. Ross and Kelli hadn’t yet had a chance to see our photos, so they encouraged us to show them to everyone. We then spent an hour or so boring them with a slide show of the hundreds of pictures from our trip which we have not had a chance to clean up or sort.

July 13, 2012 – Portland/Fairview RV Park, Fairview, Or

Ross and Kelli took us, and the dogs, for a drive to the coast today. On the way we went past an aviation museum where the Spruce Goose is housed. They also have a water park attached which has an aircraft on top that the water slides go though. The drive through the pretty wine country, and then forest, took us to the town of Newport. At Newport we went down along the docks for a very good lunch of Halibut fish and chips.

Plane with water slide

Newport Harbor

After lunch we went to Agate Beach to look at a concrete dock that had washed up on the beach after its trip across the ocean from Japan. I think this is the first large object to come ashore in this area. It is amazing that it stayed afloat the whole way, and was as intact as it seemed.

Us with Ross and Duke by dock

Ross and Duke with Kelli on top of dock

We got back to their home about 6 and started a load of wash. Then we headed out for dinner at a food truck pod. This is an area where several food trucks are set up in a former parking lot and have tables set up outside also. You find a wide selection of different ethnic foods to choose from and the food is very good. We each found something different. Portland has several of these “food pods” in various areas of the city and they have been praised in various magazines as a good choice for eating out. We headed back to the house to finish the wash and visit before leaving for the night.