Author Archives: Jill and Bud

This is probably the most remote location in which we’ve camped. We had to fill our water tank before we came, there is nowhere to fill a tank in or near the park. We got gas at Cadillac, a tiny town 50 miles north of the campground. We checked in at the visitor center in Val Marie and then drove about five miles on a bumpy secondary highway and another fifteen miles on a gravel road to the campground.

There were 20 campsites and they did have electricity, they even had 50 amp service. There were vault toilets (modern outhouses) and that’s about it.

Our rig was the largest we saw, by far, and with our satellite TV antenna I’m sure we looked out of place. We were there two days, the first day the wind blew steady at close to 30 mph all afternoon with much stronger gusts and the temperature reached 100 degrees. The second day it was overcast, very windy again, and it never got above 64. This morning, before we left, it was still, but only 30 degrees. I was glad for our large, comfortable trailer.

This is prairie, but it is dry grassland, and there are cacti…

and sagebrush. This is the northern limit for prairie rattlesnakes, which we did not see and the black-tailed prairie dog. We saw hundreds of those, but they are so quick I never got a picture. We drove by several prairie dog towns. Matey avidly watched out the truck window. We couldn’t let him out, prairie dogs carry bubonic plague and their fleas can transfer the plague to humans. The fleas will hitch a ride on dogs, if dogs are allowed near the towns, so we stayed in the truck and Matey just got to watch.

On the hot day we drove the “backcountry loop”. It was beautiful, but stark.

We did see animals; coyotes, bison, antelope, mule deer, prairie dogs and ground squirrels and lots of birds, including two smaller types of raptors (trying to ID those) and a bald eagle. My iPhone isn’t good with animal pictures and none of these were close enough or still enough to get a good shot, so no pictures.

On the cool day we took a short hike. We started on the 70 Mile Butte trail, but it was only about 50, then, the wind was whipping, and it stared spitting rain.

It was a nice trail, but we decided it was not the day for it.

Instead we did the Riverwalk. The wind was not so intense there and the rain never really came.

Our truck is the white dot in the trees. That’s the trailhead. All the land was as open and empty as this. A great place to get away from human sights and sounds.

Matey liked this campground, because even if it was too hot or too cold for me to sit out with him, he could still sit inside and watch the ground squirrels.

And I enjoyed the vastness and solitude.

This morning we went to another disc golf course in town and played the nine holes twice.

I like disc golf because it’s almost always free, and Matey can almost always come, it’s set up in public spaces that are often quite pretty, and I can sometimes win. (I did not win today, but we were tied on the second round.)

This afternoon I went out with Bud and acted as his spotter when he played eighteen holes of regular golf.

That was great for me, I didn’t have to pay, I didn’t have to lose, and I got to drive around the course on the cart.

Golf courses are usually pretty and this one was exceptionally so.

It had hills and a stream that meandered all through it.

It had corners that were tucked away,

some beautiful houses up on the hills,

and a lot of broad vistas.

It also had some intriguing cart paths.

This one even had guard rails!

So while Bud paid good money to put up with the frustration that is golf, I just got to enjoy the ride.

We came across about a hundred miles of rolling grain fields, watered by an extensive irrigation canal system using water from the snow and ice melt of the Rockies. The land got a bit more rolling about 10 miles from our destination.

We drove into the entrance road for Cottonwood Coulee Golf Course and RV Park and the land dropped away and this is what we saw. It is far prettier than I expected for the plains of Alberta.

The RV Park is tucked away in the cottonwoods near the clubhouse in the middle of the golf course.

It’s small and old with 10 sites backing up to the golf course parking lot…

and eleven sites across a lawn and along the creek.

The sites are tight and there’s not much room outside. But everyone has been so friendly and the area is so pretty that we don’t mind.

The little creek that keeps this place green is the Seven Persons Creek. And right next door in the coulee along the creek is another golf course.

Matey and I have enjoyed our walks. I like the scenery.

He likes the deer.

In the evenings the deer make themselves at home…

and they seem unfazed by people or dogs. The man was gathering up range balls, I think because the clubhouse was closed and he wanted to hit some balls. It’s a pretty laid back place.

Bud has been hitting balls on the range every day . He’s not sure he wants to play because his golf game is still so rusty. I hope he plays because they said I could ride along as a spotter and it’s such an interesting layout. The place where this was posted is not even the steepest cart path I’ve seen.

Medicine Hat is a very nice little city of about 100,000 along the South Saskatchewan River. It has a lot of green space, like Gilwell Park…

where we played a couple of rounds of disc golf.

There seem to be walking trails and bike paths everywhere.

Medicine Hat has a Junior Hockey League team, the Tigers. Bud says there are currently five NHL players who came up through Medicine Hat. Today we set out to find an official Medicine Hat Tigers shirt for Bud. We found they only sell them at the arena store and that was closed. But we did walk in and watch the end of team practice. They even had some music and were using the Jumbotron. I guess the folks that operate those things need practice, too.

I hope we continue to be happily surprised on our journey.

“The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

I am not a golf person, but when Bud saw the course at Waterton National Park he really wanted to play. This time I decided to play also.

I agreed to play eighteen holes, though that is more golf than I can usually take at one time. I used to quote Mark Twain, “Golf is a good walk spoiled.” But I found out it is not likely he ever said that. In researching the origin of that quote (unknown) I came across my new favorite, which was published in a South Dakota newspaper in 1913. “You hit a ball as far as you can, and if you find it the same day you have won.” By that definition I won today. By any other measure I was abysmal. Which is not to say the game was.

It’s hard to have a bad game when this is your view when you first get in your cart at the clubhouse.

I usually stand behind Bud when he tees off to watch where his ball goes, since his eyesight isn’t too good anymore. It was hard to concentrate on the ball when there were views like this everywhere.

Like the on-line brochure says, “the mountain scenery is a often a ‘hazard’ all its own”.

Sometimes I looked up from a putt and was just a bit stunned at the beauty all around.

Another time I turned around and was startled to see the valley of Blakiston Creek with the Sofa Mountains in the distance.

From here you just get a glimpse of Middle Waterton Lake (past the water hazard on the course) and you can see the roof of The Prince of Wales Hotel on its hill.

The course offers its own challenges. Coming down from this tee it felt like there should be a guard rail on this cart path.

And if you missed the green on this par three hole (like I did) you faced a serious uphill climb. The first nine holes were built in 1929, the back nine added in 1935 designed by Stanley Thompson, a famous Canadian golf course architect.

We were pretty excited to see this bear scat on the edge of one of the greens. Just a reminder that you are playing in a national park.

But the most excitement and greatest hazard came as we looked from the thirteenth green towards the fourteenth hole. There was a very big brown bear hanging out on the fourteenth fairway! He wasn’t leaving, so we drove the cart back to the twelfth green, told the father and son playing there about the bear, and then followed a track that took us past the fourteenth green to the fifteenth tee. The bear was still in the fairway. I wrote Bear! on our scorecard for the fourteenth hole.

I didn’t play well, but I had a wonderful time. If you like golf and you like wild places (Jack and Randy and Chris) this place is one you will love.

When we visited Glacier National Park we learned that the protected land continued across the border in Waterton Lakes National Park; the two parks were designated the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park in 1932. So in planning our route back from eastern Washington, I routed us through Canada to visit the other half of the Peace Park. Fortunately, our detour to Missoula to get a new camper did not interfere with our reservation here.

We started our day by driving up Red Rock Parkway. There were two short trails there, one up Red Rock Canyon and the other to Blakiston Falls. We decided to walk just a few hundred feet down the very pretty canyon to the trail to the falls.

We crossed Bauerman Creek on our way to Blakiston Creek.

I looked down as we crossed and saw the same beautifully colored stones we’d seen in Lake McDonald, reminding me that even though it’s been over a month since we visited Glacier, we’re only about 20 miles from there.

It was a nice trail and there were lovely flowers along the way, but all the trees were burned. I found out that this whole area had burned in 2017 along with 38% of the park. The recovery in just five years is remarkable.

Blakiston Falls are lovely, and the two new viewing platforms to take you for a closer look are very well made.

And everywhere around you…

are the peaks and ridges of the Rockies.

You can get some idea of the scope of the fire damage in this picture of Blakiston Creek flowing down the valley below the falls.

After our hike we came back and drove down Akamina Parkway to its end at Cameron Lake. Here we saw ice areas that are probably large enough to be called glaciers. I tried to find them on the map, but that far mountainside is in the U.S. and not labeled on my map.

Here we got our first glimpse of unburned forest.

Near the center of the park sits The Prince of Wales Hotel,

with commanding views of Upper Waterton Lake, Waterton Townsite…

and the Bosporus Straight to Middle Waterton Lake.

The hotel was built in 1927 and is a World Heritage Site.

Its grand interior compliments…

the incredible beauty out the huge windows of the lobby.

Waterton Townsite is a very unique place.

On the south side the Prince of Wales Hotel overlooks it.

On the north and east are Upper Waterton Lake and Vimy Peak.

To the west are Bear’s Hump…

and Cameron Falls.

Amidst all this beauty are shops, motels,

picturesque lodges,

a very nice campground (no vacancies or we’d be there),

and here and there some ordinary houses. There’s even a school.

Waterton Lakes is another unforgettable place.

Today we moved just 60 miles north, crossing the border to Crooked Creek Campground in Waterton, Alberta.

I’d made this a short hop because I’d read to allow an hour and a half to cross the border into Canada. You now have to download an app called ArriveCAN and fill that out. You upload images of your passports and your vaccination records. Within a 72 hour window before you arrive you fill in your crossing point and time (date and hour) and where you are headed on arrival. They email back a receipt with a scannable code block which you are to present at the border.

In addition to that we: Put our passports, vaccination records, vehicle registrations and proof of insurance, and Matey’s rabies vaccination paper together in folder; ate up all of our fresh fruits and vegetables; ate, gave away or threw out any unprocessed grain (several kinds of rice); used up all of our fresh meat and eggs; and gave away my pepper spray.

We arrived at the border and it was a non-event. We were behind another trailer and they were quickly processed. On our turn the agent asked for our passports; didn’t need the code, she said the ArriveCAN information was linked to our passports. She asked for the license plate number of the truck, asked Bud if we had any alcohol, tobacco or firearms (no), and wished us a safe journey. The whole thing, including the wait, was less than 5 minutes.

We stopped at a grocery store in the next town and bought meat, rice and fresh produce and now we are here.

This is a nice campground, and it does have a crooked creek.

It has paths through walk-in tent areas.

We are on the eastern edge of the Canadian Rockies.

This evening, while walking Matey, I took this photo of the plains to the east. Then I turned around…

and took this one of the mountains to the west. Tomorrow we explore.

We decided to start full time in the trailer we had, to see if that would work and, if not, what we wanted. We found out we needed more space for visitors; if this is our only house, we’d like to be able to comfortably have company. And we found out we’d like as much insulation as we could get, to protect us from the cold and the heat. You can’t just drive away from either, and in the desert you can get both each day, with 50 degree swings daily. We also decided to stay with a trailer. Fifth wheels may feel more stable when you tow, but if you take any floor plan and make it a fifth wheel you add 3,000 pounds of weight and $10,000 to the price. We like the Tundra. Now that we’ve added a sway bar, air bags for the springs, heavy duty tires, new shocks and brakes, it’s a pretty good towing vehicle, but it won’t handle a fifth wheel.

We researched well insulated trailers and a few models kept coming up, Arctic Fox, Lance, and Reflection, by Grand Design. Lance doesn’t make a trailer as big as we wanted, but there were promising models in the other two. While we were at Cusick for two weeks we drove down to Spokane to look at some. The Arctic Fox dealer showed us a model made by the same people called Outdoors RV. We were impressed. It had a very heavy frame and axles, 16 inch wheels, shock absorbers (first time we’ve seen those on a trailer), the same insulation and thermal pane windows as the Arctic Fox, but less fancy, less weight, and a lower price. But the model he had didn’t have the floor plan we wanted.

We did more research and found the Outdoors RV Blackstone 280 RKS had pretty much everything we wanted. The only problem was there weren’t any for sale anywhere around. We saw a couple advertised in Fairfield, CA, and one in Round Rock, Texas. There were a couple of used ones, but living in our trailer and moving all the time it would be logistically almost impossible to buy used and then sell ours. We were resigned to waiting for the 2023’s to be built, which isn’t scheduled to happen until December.

Then I did a search and a unit came up in Missoula. I called, figuring it was probably still on line, but already sold (that happens a lot). They still had it. I told the salesman we’d be trading our KZ, he came back about an hour later with an offer we couldn’t refuse and I put a deposit on it. Then I called and cancelled our 8 day stay in British Columbia, got us a reservation from Saturday to Friday back in Missoula, and another for two nights back in St. Mary near Glacier so we could keep our reservations in Waterton, Alberta and beyond. We drove back down to Missoula and stayed right across the road from the place we’d stayed before. This turned out to be a nice place with huge fields for walking “well behaved and non-aggressive” dogs off leash.

We finalized the deal on Monday, they had already started prepping the trailer. They added the second air conditioner to the bedroom (the unit was pre-wired for it) and it was ready to go.

We parked the KZ next to the new one so the doors faced each other. By noon on Tuesday this was where we were with the move.

Tuesday evening we had it back in our spot at Granite Peak RV Resort,

looking good,

and put together enough to tow and live in. On the short tow back to the RV park we found that this unit did, indeed, have decent brakes!

That evening I enjoyed the light from our new electric fireplace and found that the added insulation makes it feel a bit more like a cozy cottage than a tin can. Nice.

By Thursday evening we had things organized enough that we were ready for the 224 mile trip through the mountains back to St Mary, MT.

And here we are, safe and comfortable,

in our fairly well-organized trailer.

The bed is ready for us.

Both the weather and the scenery are pretty dramatic!

And we are happy to look out at the rain from our snug new home.

So geographically we haven’t made it far, being right across the road from where we were a month ago, but we have worked very hard to get here! And now we’re ready for visitors!

I took the time for an unsatisfactory phone call with our insurance agent (she uses Triple A, guess we will be soon, too.) Then I found a decent sounding trail not far from us and off we went.

We drove 36 miles north to Frater Lake Trail in the Colville National Forest. Along the way this family of wild turkeys crossed in front of us.

It’s a well maintained and lovely trail, through the woods…

and along the mountain lake.

It’s primarily a cross country ski trail,

with this warming hut complete with a shed full of wood.

The blazes, like these about three feet above Bud’s head, must be set for deep snow.

We passed this seed orchard, which seems to be doing its job. There was very high fencing all around it, no doubt to protect it from deer. We did come across one deer and a couple of small, dark squirrels. It was a nice hike.

And this is why we’re out here.

This all started because I decided to take Matey to the Banfield Pet Hospital that is associated with PetSmart so that we could reach a vet that had his records as we traveled. I made an appointment for last Saturday at 4:00 PM at the PetSmart in North Spokane, 40 miles from our campground.

It’s not Matey’s fault and the visit went well (except I found out he has a heart murmur that I need to look into). It was after the visit, when we stopped at Walmart just down the street that the fun and games began. Matey and I waited in the truck for Bud to do a bit of shopping. Bud called me because he had forgotten the grocery bags and you have to buy them here if you don’t bring your own. So I shut off the truck and took the bags to him at the front of the store. I got back to the truck, turned the key and nothing happened…nothing.

So I called the roadside assistance number on our insurance card. About a half hour later a Road Warrior arrived. He had this small box that he sat on top of our battery and hooked to the battery terminals. Bud turned the key and the truck started up. The guy shut his device off and the truck stopped. “Uh-oh,” says our Road Warrior, “I think it’s your alternator.” We tried again with the same results. “It’s your alternator.”

Bud noticed the battery terminals were hot and asked if it might be the battery. Nope, it’s the alternator. By now it’s 5:30 on a Saturday evening and all the repair shops are closed so there’s nowhere to tow it. Bud asked the guy if we could just put a battery in it and make it the 40 miles back to Cusick. Wouldn’t work, says the Road Warrior. So he left us to work it out. Called roadside assistance again but they had no solution. Yes, they could arrange a tow back to Cusick, but there might be some out of pocket expense. Never mind that!

A security guy driving around in a truck told Bud he could probably leave it in the parking lot if he let the manager know. So Bud went to see the manager and I found us a car rental still open at the airport. I then called an Uber ride. We had to load our perishables, our essentials and the dog into the Uber car and ride the fifteen miles to the airport. Our very nice driver offered to wait to take our stuff and the dog to the rental, but we didn’t know how long the paperwork would take, so we off-loaded everything onto the sidewalk and then schlepped it past the rental counters and out the back doors to the car. We got a little Kia Forte, which was a nice car. Of course we had to rent the car until at least today since we wouldn’t be able to do anything on Sunday.

This morning, at 5 AM Pacific Time (8 AM Eastern) I called our extended warranty company. No, we didn’t have to take it in to a Toyota dealer, just have the repair shop call with the diagnosis and they would make the arrangements with them. As soon as the shops opened Bud was on the phone. About the fourth place he called said they could probably get to it by Friday (we are scheduled to leave Saturday).

I called our roadside assistance number back to arrange the tow. I explained that we were not at the truck and it would take us about an hour to get there. I asked if they could use the towing company recommended by the garage. She took the number but was very impatient with me. She told me to wait until I got a text confirming the tow. I got that with both the pick-up and drop-off addresses correct.

Meanwhile, I went online and extended our rental until Thursday. $$$$

We jumped in the rental (Matey, too) and took off. In short order I got a text saying Big Jim’s Towing would arrive at 9:45. That was about 15 minutes before we would get there so I called the number they gave, but had to leave a message. Not five minutes later I got a text saying that they were at the location but couldn’t find the vehicle, please check the address followed quickly by a text saying they were there but couldn’t find us and since we hadn’t responded the order was cancelled. I called the reference number only to hear hold music. So I looked up and called Big Jim’s Towing. They were in Oklahoma! And they didn’t get a dispatch and they don’t work with our insurance company.

So I called the company recommended by the auto shop and he arrived within a minute of when we did. Here’s our poor truck loaded and ready to go to the shop. (The roadside assistance people said since I had called a company on my own I would have to contact my agent for reimbursement. OKAY, well thanks!) By the way, Big Jim’s said they’d been dispatched recently to Boston and Frazier, the guy we called, had a pickup in Washington, DC.

Here’s a view of our truck I never wanted to have!

After setting things up with the garage we decided to try to redeem our day with some disc golf. We had transferred the rest of the groceries, Bud’s golf clubs and our discs to the rental car. We found this very nice course nearby.

We didn’t get to play long because the garage called. They’d had a chance to look at the truck and the problem was…A BAD BATTERY!

So back to the garage, switch back our stuff, go online and change the rental car return time again, drive both vehicles to the airport to return the rental when all we needed to do in the first place was walk into Walmart and buy a battery. Aarrgg! We got home at three, which is 5 o’clock Central, but tomorrow I’m calling our insurance agent.

Since we are staying here two weeks Bud wanted to try and get the bed of the truck fixed where the miss-installed shock absorbers damaged it. We were going to look for a welder to mend the hole, or perhaps just use a steel epoxy, since the hole was small. But when Bud talked to the folks who sell and install Line-X bed liners, they said to bring it in before he did anything. So Monday, we ditched our trip to a disc golf course and drove to Spokane. We found out they could repair the small hole and pound out the other dent when they put in the liner. So Bud called Red Desert Off Road back. He didn’t know these folks in Spokane and said he’d get back to us. He had hoped we could take the truck to someone in his network, but the nearest place was about 5 hours away.

So Tuesday, while Dennis from Red Desert checked into how to handle things, we drove to Sandpoint, Idaho to play disc golf at Baldfoot. The course is run by volunteers, there was a requested $1 donation per player to play, but we didn’t see a box for the money. Turns out there’s a slot in the grey post of their rubbery basket statue; we happily put our money in it.

They have put a lot of work into this course. It’s 18 holes through the woods, about two miles of walking. There are concrete tee pads, good signs and well constructed paths. It was pretty challenging for a couple of oldsters, there were a lot of ups and downs, especially if your disc went astray. Matey got to run loose practically the whole time and we didn’t lose any discs.

Wednesday Dennis called and said he’d set things up with the shop in Spokane, they should be calling Bud. They did and Bud took the truck in yesterday. The bed looks like new (aside from the dusty footprints). The shop in Spokane billed Red Desert Off Road directly. Any business can make a mistake, a good business steps up and fixes it with as little pain to the customer as possible. Thank you Dennis and Red Desert Off Road!

Matey and I stayed home. I did the wash, almost as much fun as sitting in the shop waiting for the work. We did a long walk in the morning; on our short evening walk we saw this sky.

Today we went to play disc golf again. We did a lot of driving, and not much playing. We went to an 18 hole course in Deer Park, Washington. The reviews said it needed to be mowed. It did! We played holes 1 – 7 and our shoes and socks and all of Matey were covered with sticky weed seeds. We played holes 14, 15 and 18 just to get back to the truck, then spent about 45 minutes getting the seeds off. I’ve tackled Matey three times and he’s almost clean. Then we drove up to Chewelah, WA to another course. On the way it rained hard enough to use the wipers, first we’ve seen that in a long time! It was still drizzling when we got to this short course and a man was mowing the front of it, the rest of the course was as tall as the last one, so we decided to just drive home. Home was over a ridge of mountains, so it was a nice drive. This is looking down on the Pend Oreille River from the east side of the ridge about 10 miles from here. An adventure gone astray is still an adventure.