Day 15 - Airstream Plant Day

September 24.

We got up at 5:00 to get ready for a 7:00 service appointment. The Airstream mechanic came over to our trailer and towed it to one of the service bays. We had them look at several minor items as well as the big item we came for -- replacing the small plastic toilet with a new china one. Unfortunately, when they trued to install the new toilet, they discovered it wouldn't fit. So we ended up selecting a different model that looks more comfortable than the micro toilet we had.

Some antique Airstreams parked on the lot for display

The Twinky at TerraPort

Sunset over the plant

Looking from the service center to the plant

While waiting for the work to be done, we took Bailey in the car and drove over to a nearby town, Sidney to have breakfast at a local place called The Spot. It's a classic corner coffee shop where all the locals hang out. It had it's moment of fame when George Bush ate there during his 2004 election campaign. Great place with lots of local flavor. On the way back from Sidney, we stopped at a park and took Bailey for a nice walk.

Got back to Airstream, and they were still working on the Twinky. Ann Sue, Bailey, and I hung around the service waiting room all day. There was a plant tour at 2:00 that I attended. Finally, at 4:00, everything was done and they towed the Twinky to one of their TerraPort sites for the night.

Bailey was so good waiting patiently all day. Here she is on the floor of the customer waiting area.

Bailey being a very good girl

Bailey is enjoying the time out of the car. She slept like a log last night and I think she still has some catching up to do. She actually dozed off in the waiting area a few times!

This was actually the coolest service waiting area I've ever been in. Everything is decorated with Airstream.

Everything Airstream!

We had dinner at a nice restaurant on the main street of Jackson City called The Verandah. The food was fantastic and service was excellent. We highly recommend it for anyone staying overnight at Airstream.

Days 13 & 14 - The Long Drive

September 22 - 23.

We have an appointment at the Airstream factory in Ohio to have a new china toilet installed and some miscellaneous items fixed. Trouble is, the appointment is at 7:00am Friday and we are leaving the campground at Colter Bay at 06:30am on Wednesday! We calculated about 1690 miles from here to there. We estimated about 36 driving hours. That means we drive almost straight through with just a couple eat stops and one 3 hour sleep break.

Leaving Colter Bay early before the sun came up was great. Watching for wildlife on the roads, we saw an adult moose and a calf cross the highway. Managed to avoid any run-ins with other animals. However, we saw some great scenery as the sun was coming up and starting to cast the faintest light onto the Tetons. By the time the sun was above the horizon, we were already out of the park and at Togwotee Pass. We caught some great pictures of the sun on the Tetons from a vantage point most in the park don't think to try.

From there, we hit construction on the pass which slowed us down a bit and covered the Twinky with mud on the front. Once we cleared the construction, it was smooth sailing down to Moran and on to I-80. Wow, Wyoming is a desolate, but beautiful place. There are great stretches of space with no hint of humans. Seems like you could tell the most desolate land because it happened to be the Indian Reservations. I think the settlers and the early Government gave them the worst land.

Wyoming is also a big state. It took us forever to cross it into Nebraska. By the time we got to Omaha, it was getting dark and we wer tired. We crossed into Iowa and kept driving. Got caught in a big lightning and rain storm. Kept driving on through it until we got out of it. Ended up sleeping three hours from 1:30 am in a rest stop east of Council Bluffs.

Set the alarm and got up and we were on the road by 6:00. Ann Sue never could find a Starbucks. I guess these westerners don't go in for all those fancy coffee and tea drinks. Ended up eating breakfast at a McDonalds in Des Moines.

Driving all day on Thursday, we finally rolled in Jackson Center, Ohio and after a few misses, located the Airstream plant and their on-site TerraPort RV site. We were told to pick a site and park. By the time we got everything hooked up and ready, it was 10:00. That was our longest drive ever.

Day 12 - Colter Bay

Tuesday, September 21

Got up with the Sun this morning. Temperature outside was 30 degrees, but nice and cozy inside with the propane furnace. Took Bailey for a nice long walk after breakfast, then came back and got one of the propane tanks filled at the camp service area.

We saw our friends we met at Yellowstone while waiting for the propane fill. They had just driven their trailer down and were waiting to check in.

Went back and had some lunch and walked Bailey again. Headed out for a hike in Colter Bay to Heron Pond and Swan Lake. Our friends Barb and John went with us on the hike. We made a slight detour and had a chance to see some nice views from along Half Moon Bay before getting back on the main trail at Heron Pond.

Heron Pond

Chris, Ann Sue, Barb, John

Half-Moon Bay

Swan Lake

We got back to the trailer around 3:30 and took Bailey out again. Her red marks appear to be some sort of bug bites and are fading. We have dinner reservations at Jackson Lake Lodge at 5:30. Will head out at 4:30 with our friends from Michigan.

Dinner was fantastic. Had drinks on the deck of Jackson Lodge.

Day 11 - Jackson Hole

Monday, 20 September

Today we got up and went to the laundry. When that was finished at 10:00, we took a short hike along the shore of Jackson Lake. Stopped by the camp store and bought some supplies. Then we went back to the trailer and had a light lunch. Took Bailey for a nice long walk around the campground and down to the lake.

Around 1:00, we headed into Jackson Hole to check out the town and have dinner. There is a very nice free parking lot near the downtown just of the main highway for visitors and RVs. We parked there and walked about three blocks to the center of town. There is an unusual town square marked by four corners of stacked antlers.

We found a nice hole-in-the-wall pizza place for dinner called "Mountain High Pizza Pie". It was about two blocks off the main square. Delicious pizza!

On the way back to Grand Teton NP, we stopped off at the Jackson Hole Golf and Tennis Club. Looks like a nice course. It is open to the public. Checked their rates on line - $145 per person. Just north of town, there is the National Museum of Wildlife Art in a very interesting looking building. We plan to stop there next time we are in the area for a longer stay.

The highway provides broad vistas of the Tetons with plenty of turnouts to take photos.

Returned about 5:30.

Day 10 - Leave Yellowstone, Head for Tetons

19 September

We had trouble with our battery charging yesterday. Something was causing an overload on the generator, so it wasn't sending any current to the trailer. When we went to bed last night, the battery showed about 1/2 charge. We hoped that would get us through until the morning.

Well, the temps dropped to 32 degrees. Even though we set the thermostat on the propane furnace to 65, at about 5:45 am we noticed the furnace quit running. There wasn't enough charge on the batteries to run the blower fan and it wouldn't start. I took a shower (still had hot water) in the roughly 60 degree trailer. Ann Sue decided to wait until we got to the Tetons.

Bailey was snuggled up with us all night and was shivering while we were getting ready. Couldn't run the generator until 8:00 am, so Ann Sue and I ran over to the Lake Lodge cafeteria and had eggs and bacon for breakfast. Bailey got a strip of bacon when we returned. I ran the generator for about 20 minutes just to get a charge on the batteries before we left. The car will charge them while we tow, but I didn't want them totally dead to start.

We managed to hit the road by 9:30 and made it to Colter Bay in the Grand Tetons NP by 11:45. The campground is very nice. We are close to Jackson Lake. We drove over to Jenny Lake and did a short hike in the afternoon.

Returned to the trailer by 4:30 so we could walk Bailey. I fixed grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner.

We noticed last night that Bailey developed a rash on her abdomen. We are not sure if it is due to bug bites, contact with a plant, or just plain stress. She is on Sentinel flea and tick control, so we think it is stress. We'll try some Benedryl tomorrow.

This is a very nice campground and we will plan a full week here next year if I have the leave.

Day 9 - Old Faithful

Saturday, 18 Sep

We got up with the Sun again, got ready, and headed to Old Faithful district for the day. Plan to be back to the trailer by 3:00. Bailey will probably sleep the whole time we are gone.

Got back at 2:45. Spent the morning and afternoon at Old Faithful Visitor's Center, Lodge, and the geyser. We lucked out and arrived 10 minutes before the predicted eruption of Old Faithful. Got to watch that

and then we checked out the newly opened Visitor's Center. We had lunch at the grill nearby, and then we headed out for a 3 mile round trip walk along the upper geyser basin trail. We got lots of photos.

The Wilderness Lodge at Disney World is designed after the Old Faithful Inn. We definitely saw the design. However, Disney's interpretation of the Lodge is about 4 times the size of the original and seems to be more real than the real one! This part of the park is much more tourist oriented and Disney-like than anywhere else.

The weather was beautiful. Clear blue sky and temperature around 70. Decided to head back in the car around 1:45 to be sure we got back by 3:00. Made a few stops for pictures of Yellowstone Lake with good light over our shoulder.

Bailey was waiting for us in her hiding place next to the bed. Every little sound scares her. We took her for a nice long walk. The generator was still running, but it turns out that it had an overload indicator, so wasn't charging the batteries! I reset it and began charging. Looks like we will have 1/2 battery left for the night. Should be enough. We'll see.

Picked up our niece and took her to dinner at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. We had a great dinner of beef tenderloin. Kristen is an interpretive park ranger. It is a seasonal government job which ends soon. She loves Yellowstone and is trying to find a way to stay for the winter.

Day 8 - Yellowstone Lake

Friday, 17 Sep.

Got up with the Sun and checked the batteries. Still a 2/3 charge remaining. That's good news since it means we can make it without electricity hookups for at least a day before recharging. At 8:00, I turned on our little Honda generator we bought in Illinois to charge up the batteries. It holds almost a gallon of gasoline and runs for about 5 hours on an average load (~ 4 amps). We let it run while we were out for a ranger-led hike in the morning. Batteries were fully charged when we got back. I did buy a gallon of gas to cover Saturday.


Bailey likes the smells here. I'm sure there are many she doesn't recognize, like bear and wolf. The weather is great. Lows overnight around 40 and highs in the 60's. Skies are clear.

Bison have seemed to prosper since the last time we were at Yellowstone in 1989. Haven't seen a bear or anything else yet.

Went on a ranger hike at 10:00 to Storm Point on Lake Yellowstone. Lots of great photos. Here are a few

Bruce K., the ranger checked the schedule for the rangers and told us our niece, Kristen Clark, was at the visitor's center until 1:30.

We packed a lunch and went to Mary Bay picnic area.

This is also the only place with cell phone coverage in the Lake region of the park. We were able to get our email, but I didn't have time to do more than post part of this Yellowstone blog entry.

After lunch we headed over to the Visitor's Center to see if we could find Kristin. She was there at the desk. She gave us some info on places to see in the park and we learned that she was leading a tour at 3:30 at Fishing Bridge, so we decided to go back to the trailer and do some laundry at take Bailey for a walk.

Kristen's talk was excellent. She has it down pat. In fact, there was one old guy who kept trying to trip her up about fishing, and she just kept right back at him about how she goes out after work and catches lake trout for dinner. She kew all the tricks and places, like lures, etc. I think she really surprised the guy. After, we talked with her and coordinated when we would pick her up Saturday for dinner at the Lake Hotel. Here are some photos and a video of her talk.

In the late afternoon, we went up to the Canyon district and Artist's Point on the South Rim. We also drove over to the North Rim. We had dinner at the restaurant in the Visitor's Center at Canyon Village. I had chopped bison steak and Ann Sue had prime rib (with plenty left for Bailey).

Day 7 - On the road to Yellowstone

We travelled all day Thursday from Medora, ND to our destination of Yellowstone National Park. The weather was quite nice and in Montana, it warmed up to 78. Our route took us over to Billings, Montana and then down Hwy 212 to Red Lodge. At Red Lodge, we got on the Beartooth Hwy into Yellowstone.

Along the Beartooth, the road climbed the Beartooth Pass where we made it to almost 11,000 feet altitude. There were some very tight hairpin turns for the Silver Twinky.

This was a long drive -- over 100 miles, so it took most of the afternoon. When we got to the Park entrance, we still had 64 miles to drive inside to Fishing Bridge. We tried to make good time (speed limit 45), but we ran into a Bison Jam on the road and got held up for 20 minutes while the herd decided to take the afternoon crossing the road. One guy found the Twinky fascinating and had to come over to sniff the tires. Hope they passed his inspection!

It seems every RV in the park was caught in the bison jam, since we all showed up at the campground at the same time. Took about 30 minutes to get checked in, then ran into a guy in a Class A in our lane who couldn't get his towed car unhitched. That was anther 20 minutes. By the time we got to our site, we didn't have time to go out to the Lodge for dinner, so Ann Sue made dinner in the trailer.

Fishing Bridge has water and sewer hookups, but no electricity, so we ran on propane and batteries. Dinner was a frozen prepackaged meal by PF Chang -- highly recommended. Almost as good as the version in the restaurant.

Bailey was exhausted, and after dinner was already sawing logs. We went to bed by 9:30 since there wasn't much to do. No electricity, to TV, no Internet. We wanted to conserve battery juice, so we just turned off the lights and went to bed.

There is no cell service here, so I am typing this on my iPad for later posting.

Day 6 - Medora, North Dakota

Got up early on Wednesday to head out to Medora, North Dakota. I had hooked up the car to the trailer Tuesday night and disconnected the electricity. We simulated what it would be like at Yellowstone without electricity. The propane furnace did very well over night and the batteries still showed 3/4 charge. That means we should be able to survive the three nights at Yellowstone without electricity using our generator to recharge the batteries during the day.

We made good time, stopping for lunch along the way and at a Wal Mart for supplies. Gas mileage was much better since I kept the speed around 62 mph. We got an average of 10.5 mpg.

So many exciting things to see along the road in North Dakota, we couldn't stop for them all. For example:

World's largest Holstein

Medora is in the middle of Roosevelt National Park. It is a nice little town with a very cute town center with shops, restaurants, and bars. Since we arrived after Labor Day, most everything was closed except for a couple restaurants and bars where the locals were hanging out. We walked into town from the Good Sam park (less than a mile) and then went back to the trailer where Ann Sue fixed her famous "Baseball Casserole". What's that you say? That's a story for another time.

Bailey enjoys dinner time in the trailer.

"Hey! Where's my plate?"

The Good Sam park, Red Trail Campground, was pretty wet from weeks of rain. Many of the sites were water-logged. We got one on the end, but the sites are very close to each other.

Tomorrow, we get up real early and head out by 6 am so we have time to stop along the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone.

Days 3, 4, 5 - Clark Cottage, Detroit Lakes, MN

We arrived in Detroit Lakes Sunday evening around 7:00. We made really good time, but that was because I drove between 70 and 80 miles per hour the entire way up here from Mahomet. Still, it took over 12 hours of driving time! Overall MPG was 8.5.

We were rushing because Ann Sue's cousin, Spencer, had made his special ribs with fresh-picked Minnesota corn for dinner. Couldn't miss that! We ate ribs and watched the Redskins/Dallas game.

Bailey caught some Z's -- she never sleeps when riding in the car. She keeps her eyes on me almost the entire drive. She has a nice fabric crate with vents/windows and a soft mat, but she just can't sleep.

We spent some time finding the best spot to park the Airstream. Finally decided to park in front of Spencer's garages where the driveway was most level. He had a 110V outlet in the garage we were able to plug into to keep the batteries charged and run the lights and furnace. The furnace uses a propane heater, so it only needs 12V DC to run the blower. We had mostly a full tank of fresh water and an empty grey tank, so we plan to dry camp in the driveway for three days.

Here is a picture of the Airstream.

This is Bailey encountering a horse for the first time. She didn't know what to make of it. Started to growl and the hackles on her back were up. I talked to her and calmed her down, but she still kept a wary eye on the horse. It saw us and came over to the fence, but that made Bailey even more agitated.

Took Bailey down to the lake. She is interested in the water, but the sound of the water splashing on the shore scares her.