The Drive to-Bozeman-August 5, 2016

Leaving early when driving west has been our habit for a few years now. Back in 2009, our first trip out to Astoria, OR. to see Caitlin, we drove straight through to Yakima, WA.But we were driving our car, easier that an RV.  Driving the Rialta enables us to pull over in a Wayside rest, pull shades and tuck ourselves into the bed in about 10 minutes, if we need to. Pat loves to drive, so we started on the road at 4am. arriving in Fargo/Moorhead at 7am. Traveling west, this stretch of North Dakota enables passengers views of fields of sunflowers. The heads of the sunflowers are facing east. And as the sun rises, so do the faces of the sunflowers. Beautiful really. There was a hint of fall in the air and this was confirmed with pelicans  flying low and in formation over the wetlands and prairie lakes. The grasslands are beautiful along this stretch of I94, sky touching the slight sloping greenery.

Its always interesting to view the local towns' sculptures attempting to entice travelers into their towns. It never works for drivers like Pat. He is an animal when he drives this road, hyper focused to make it across North Dakota in the shortest time possible, faster than his last trip. It will be a feat to convince him to relax and let the Rialta determine its optimum speed. Let the pavement and the whine of the tires set our pace. Clearly the irony of this time frame is determined by traveling west. As soon as you pass Beach, North Dakota, time changes from Central to Mountain Time zone. So then you get to relive the previous hour! Tick Tock.
Our first gas stop in Montana usually ends up in Miles City. It's not scenic at all, unless you like deserty foothills, but it marks the beginning of the Montana lifestyle. I choose to scan for Pronghorn sheep speeding across the crevices from one shade patch to a hillside for some scruffy vegetation.If only I could obtain one of their black horns, confirming I really saw one! What an artifact that would be.  I also look forward to crossing the Yellowstone River, replaying imagery of what it would be like to kayak the waterway for a day.

I remember clearly listening to Undaunted Courage by Stephen E. Ambrose on a cassette tape and reading the book aloud as we drove this path for the first time back in 1997. It's the adventure of Lewis and Clark's exhibition west, Sacajawea guiding them along the river. A journal and mapping of their adventure. How fascinating it would be to chart a map by waterway landmarks.

Little did I know the significance of this first trip west in 1997 would have on my family.

The research

   I love the speed of researching on the Internet, but when it comes to trip planning, I prefer the library and a good map. Maps are so important. There is nothing better than paging through the highway atlas looking at the landmarks and figuring out the mileage. I'm so grateful for a library system where a variety of resources are hands on the ready for my consumption. On my visit today, I found the Glacier NP hikes included in a Banff, Jasper and Glacier travel tour book. Lots of up to date information.

The girls and Pat know my box of maps in the basement. Where ever we traveled in their childhood, we kept the maps of the area and brochures of the sights. Mostly we'd gather rough information about an area, then leave our schedule flexible so we could explore other sites in the same area. I can honestly say we never went to the usual touristy spots. We always headed to the water sites and the least populated sites. 
Our last trip to Glacier NP was 18 years ago. The girls went independently from us when they were in college. I have hiking maps from those trips as well. So I've been studying trails  in the Lake McDonald, Many Glacier, St. Mary, Logan Pass. We can handle 5 mile hikes RT with moderate elevation gain and still feel like we are on vacation. I'm thinking about vistas and waterfalls as our primary destinations. So I'll use the Internet to verify what we already have on paper. So many photos on Instagram to checkout these locations. There are trip reports on websites as well. The Rialta will be our homebase, RV campsite availability is going to be tricky. August is a busy month, first come, first serve at a campground. 
Pat is pretty excited to purchase his America The Beautiful senior pass. A $10 fee for a lifetime pass to our American National Parks. Happy 100 th birthday to the people's parks!

The hottest summer ever!

Yes, It's hot here in Minnesota. The humidity and heat index has made it hotter than I remember. It's been a great summer for growing corn and pumpkins but most recently, my phlox. It's thriving in the garden, most vibrant at dusk, as Pat points out from our porch.

I continue to plan out our August vacation, one step at a time. We plan to drive the Rialta out west, first to Belgrade, then up north to Glacier National Park. Hoping to adjust to national park camping with an RV for the first time. I understand the philosophy of the nat'l parks primitiveness, but now that we are in our sixties, we've paid our dues with tent camping. We hope to learn about this RV style, plug-in, water hook-up, gray water, etc.
The Rialta is equipped with LP, battery and generator power sources. And thank God for the AC, which was recently recharged. 

First trip out to Montana over Mother's Day weekend.

The other mode of transportation was Josh and Caitlin's whitewater raft.

Our hope is to have clear skies, absent of wildfire smoke. Select campsites which will enable us to see much of the park and access some appropriate hiking trails. Several of our western vacations have had to be tolerant of wildfires/smoke over the past three years. last year at Mt. Baker, Nat'l Forest, we tent camped on the Nooksack river. We explored Artist Point, even at sunset. There were numerous wildfires to the east and north of us.There was limited visibility where ever we looked. The previous year, we tried to explore Northern Cascades Nat'l Park, but the Washington pass road was closed due to wildfires in eastern Washington State.