2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 8

One of the best things about these trips is how different each day or location is from the previous one. Today we found ourselves basically in the middle of a very active city, so we took advantage of it.

I started off the morning with a little bike ride along the North Idaho Centennial Trail. I would now like to indulge in a brief photo essay I call 'My bike leaning on stuff'.

Our campground from the other side of the channel

At McEuen park

Commemorative trail marker

Where's Waldo shot from the east end of the lake

Self explanatory

Crossing the bridge over the Spokane River

If you're into that kind of thing, ride stats are posted on the right side of the blog under the Strava sidebar. I did manage to do 37.1mph in a 35mph zone, passing a roadie in full aero gear (whose age & gender shall remain anonymous to make me feel better) on my dump truck of a bike.

Near the end of my ride, I stumbled across this open area that brought me back to being a kid, exploring the mean streets (fields, actually) of Dorr on my BMX.

If you think there weren't Helltrack drop-ins and many other shenanigans attempted here by a somewhat grown man on a larger version of a BMX, you are mistaken.

If you also think I won't take this opportunity to crowbar in a RAD clip, you are again mistaken.

Back at the campground, Jordan and Kimberly were checking out the beach and Jordan was working on her own biking skills.

Here she is directing the construction of an elaborate aqueduct system with simple and primitive hand tools.

I had seen Jordan's holy grail while on my bike ride, so after the beach I took her down to the city park to play on this.

Full sensory overload - kids were freaking out, running around not even knowing where to start. Luckily we had planned ahead, because right next door to this playground was...

a splash pad, equally massive. We spent a fair amount of time here, then it was back to the playground where she literally played until she collapsed in the grass, begging to be carried back to the Jeep. I'm sure 500 rotations in this thing didn't help.

While I was killing time, I noticed this. I think it's a mail plane.

Once we returned to the campground, Jordan made sure her old standbys Walter & Giraffe (they've been on all the big truck trips since the start) had run of the place while I worked on the AC unit.

Since it had been about 500 degrees Kelvin the past couple of days, the AC froze up and was limping along like my old single-bladed ceiling fan at the Union house. Once I figured it out, cleaned the filter and thawed out the coils, we were back in business. Good thing, as I was about to roll out straight tightie whities (hint - DO NOT GOOGLE SEARCH!!) as my next option.

As I mentioned yesterday, we honored Idaho's greatest export by having family movie night, Jordan's first full viewing of Napoleon Dynamite. I believe she is hooked, and may be sporting a Deb-tribute side ponytail soon.

Tomorrow - 5 hr drive through the mountains to North Cascades NP, then on to Seattle.

2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 7

Day 7 started a little slow, as we had grown pretty fond of Glacier (both the park and the campground).

Our next destination would take us back toward Flathead Lake, this time driving along the north and west shoreline. Incredible scenery like this made the 4+ hour drive go pretty fast.

Once we got to route 28 and headed west, we were on a 2 laner in the middle of nowhere. You know it's remote when you can drive for a half hour without seeing a structure or another vehicle.

We saw a couple of small fires in the distance, but other than that it was a pretty uneventful drive. The longest straight section of road on the whole trip was probably a mile, so I got a lot of practice in perfecting my Scandinavian flick.

Coming into the Idaho stovepipe, we crossed another mountain range and followed a stream along the highway into the valley. The big reveal as you get close to Coeur d'Alene is pretty cool, as you start to see the sheer size of the lake nestled in the mountains. 

Our campground is on an island just across from the main downtown area. It is very different from anything else on our trip so far. Here's the view looking toward the city park.

We quickly realized that we were out of place here. The lady at the counter told Kim "We do allow guests to wash their RVs at the sites. Looks like your Jeep could use it."  I don't know what she was talking about.

This guy was a few sites away,

as was Ironhide, pulling his triple axle trailer (yes I realize Ironhide was a GMC, but Ford has yet to make a transformer out of an F850 SuperTruck)

After we got settled in and accustomed to the judging glances, we got suited up for a pasty visit to the campground beach. We all look like we have the measles, but Jordan's bug bites are the most noticeable (look at that arm).

Luckily the water was about 40 degrees, which provided a soothing sensation on the bites just before we lost feeling in our limbs.

There was an outdoor concert going on at the city park, and a steady stream of boats cruising by. We saw this guy, 

which immediately brought me back to this. Sadly there was no underpowered Camaro (is there any other kind?) to do unnecessary 2-wheeled stunts along the channel, but there was a sweet 80s vibe going on.

We decided to head into town to check out a small local brewery & grab dinner. On our way, we ran into what we will claim is our first ever haboob - yes, haboob.

The pics do it no justice, the wind kicked up out of nowhere, actual tumbleweeds were blowing (no ACME deliveries in sight), and dust clouds were covering the streets. So, I figured the best thing to do would be an unplanned brewery tour.

10 minutes later (Idaho law does not allow children in a bar/lounge area, but it does allow a small section of the state where murder cannot be prosecuted), I had my growler filled with Guilt and had taken a whirlwind tour of the brewing operation of Selkirk Abbey with one of the owners. 

Back to the Jeep, which was enduring this...

We grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the campground, only to find that some good Samaritan had taken down and secured our awning, also stashing our chairs and Jordan's sand toys under the RV. Very nice of them, we hope to find out in the morning who it was.

In honor of our first trip to Idaho, we pay tribute to the best thing ever to be produced by this state. More of these links tomorrow, as this cinematic masterpiece was filmed here 10 short years ago.

2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 6

Collectively we were pretty wiped out from the drive to Glacier, so things started out a bit slow. Everyone was itching and scratching (not to be confused with these guys)

from all the noseeums at the Teddy Roosevelt campground. Jordan looks like she has chicken pox crossed with a wicked meth habit right now, and this is her good side.

Our campground has a little restaurant/pavilion thing, and they were playing some tunes & serving breakfast, so we checked it out. Someone got dominated in foosball while we waited for our food...

...and that profile pic helped confirm Kim's laments that my beard is starting to approach King Leonidas proportions, and we've got 2 more weeks to go.

After a quick breakfast, you guessed it - off to the playground to make up for lost time yesterday. From there, we packed up the jeep, dropped the top, and headed into Glacier NP to drive the awkwardly named 'Going to the Sun Road'. Here's the cliche park entry pic, which we got a nice young family of hempsters (is that a term? if not it should be) in a Westphalia to take in exchange for taking their family photo.

We popped into the visitors center to grab our customary sticker that we never use, and also to check out some of the exhibits. Jordan got to see just how terrifying a grizzly is, as you can see by the fear in her eyes.

She wanted to hold hands with it because it was so cute.

Next up - driving the 50 mile mountain pass that is one of the main draws to this park. It is also one of the reasons that our drive was so long - RVs (or any vehicle over 21') are not allowed, and the next closest mountain pass takes you several hours to the south. This was 5 minutes into the drive at Lake McDonald.

Not too shabby, and it made for some great rock-skipping after my picture obsession was fulfilled.

We saw all manner of vehicles, lots of convertibles, sportscars, bikes, etc. After being beaten with his own horrible vanity plate, this owner should be congratulated on the quality of this Cobra - bet that was a fun drive.

I won't begin to attempt to describe the road. I'll slap a few pics on here that give you some sense of what it was like, but there were some tense moments in our vehicle in spots, and there was plenty of opportunity for vertigo and general clenching of body parts.

The approach up - seems legit.

Serenity now...

Poser jeep catalog shot

One of 1,000 waterfalls from the melting glaciers

A panorama from inside one of the curves

And finally another pose on the way down the continental divide to the east.

What you don't see here is 9 miles each way of construction, gravel, and us following the water truck that was spraying the road to keep dust down. The jeep is now basically white with mud, but it was worth it.

At the east end of the park, there is the St. Mary's visitors center. We stopped in to see a few things, and everyone was excited to be learning relevant historical facts.

On the way back through the pass, we stopped to do a bit of hiking and stumbled on this cool waterfall. The temp was a good 10 degrees lower just from the air coming off the glacier runoff.

More rock skipping, rock climbing, and general exploring finally led us back to the trailhead.

Once back at the campsite, we decided to run into town as we hadn't eaten anywhere but in the Big Truck (save for the campground breakfast) in 6 days.

Getting ready to go...

Once at dinner, we ran into a situation I will attempt to delicately describe with all due respect to the parties involved. The table next to us contained a family of quite possibly the largest douchebags we have encountered. Their incessant East Grand Rapids-ness prompted this reaction from our most patient family member.

Sitting on the deck and watching the trains roll by, we got this scene as some thunderstorms put on a pretty good lightning show over the mountains.

All in all, a pretty solid day. Day 7, headed to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 5

This one should get us caught up for Day 5.. A couple of nights ago, before leaving Teddy Roosevelt NP, we headed up the scenic drive for a couple of sunset pics, and on our way down we ran into wildlife everywhere.

Kim had seen the buffalo herd on the way up, and wondered if they would be near the road on the way back. We rounded a bend and there he was.

About 25 feet from us, he was starting to roll around and make his bed for the night. As long as you aren't using Internet Explorer, you can view it here.

We were freaking out a bit, as he kept one eye on us almost the whole time. After a few minutes of safari-style viewing from the Jeep, we decided to move on and let him sleep. About 100 yards further, these guys crossed right in front of us.

We checked them out for a bit, then headed back to the campsite when a doe ran across just about full speed. The rest of the drive was done with brights on at about 20mph, just waiting to get bullrushed like these guys.

Fast forward to 5am the next day - we were packed up, ready to roll out at sunrise when I discovered during our morning Cousin Eddie routine that Jordan had invented a new game. She calls it 'what is the largest ball of toilet paper I can shove into an RV septic system?' She won this time.

20 minutes and an unfortunate call into service of the extension hook I use to pull down the awning (no amount of washing of that thing will be sufficient), the tanks were fully empty and we were on our way. Angry, sweaty, and bitten to pieces by insect species yet to be discovered (more on that later), but on our way.

The next 15+ hours can be summed up as follows. Driving 10 under the speed limit, spending just shy of 4 hundo on gas, listening to the GPS lady state 'stay on route for the next 640 miles, then exit right' (you think I'm joking).

The only real pics that could be taken were of the road in front of us. Here's one - our first real glimpse of the mountains in the distance.

Here's another - I have to assume someone came up with the coolest town in the universe, but spelled the name just slightly wrong.

And finally, just as we were losing steam and endured a rather harrowing downpour while crossing a mountain pass, this to get us excited again.

During the long drive, Kimberly had done some research and found a brewery in Missoula (Kettlehouse Brewing) that had some of the highest rated beers around. We stopped for about 5 minutes, long enough for me to run in and get a growler full of Cold Smoke, their take on a scotch ale with a coffee-ish tinge and some other goods.

Growler safely tucked in the fridge, it was time to knock out the last couple of hours and set up camp. We took the route through Polson and along Flathead Lake. One of the best sunset, lakeside, mountain drives one could have after 12+ hrs in the saddle. Here's an action shot of what was going on in the cockpit.

We rolled into the campground just in time to set up, collapse, and explain to Jordan why she couldn't go play on the playground at 10:30 at night.

Oh, and just to show the frame of mind I was in, I stumbled on this and laughed for a good 10 min. If you don't find the humor, I can't help you.

Day 6 - Glacier.

2014 Big Truck across the NW, Day 4.5

Very short post tonight. Started the drive at sunrise in the North unit of Teddy Roosevelt NP.

847 miles and 15.5 hrs later, we ended our drive with a sunset cruise past Flathead Lake into Glacier NP.

We are safe, thankful, and tired. More to come tomorrow, including bison footage and obscure, outdated pop culture references.