Big Boomer Busts a Hose in Idaho and Hello to Oregon from First Time Visitors

We headed to our final stop in Montana, SoJo Norwegian Farms in Missoula.  Sonja, our Harvest Host (HH), along with her adorable trio of golden labs, greeted us warmly.  She was great fun to chat with and highly accommodating, giving us free reign on where to park since we were her only overnighters (we sure were glad about that—some nights she has up to 5 guests per evening, which would have made it more like an RV Park).  Despite the rain we encountered along our travels that day, the ground was firm and offered us an easy entry/exit.  Sonja has a wonderful assortment of home-canned condiments and sauces as well as farm fresh eggs, making it easy to meet our $30 purchase obligations.

 

We said farewell to the marvelous state of Montana, where, I must say, we received extraordinary customer service everywhere we went. 

 

We left on a sunshiny day for what was to be an easy 3.5-hour commute to Athol, Idaho, along I-90.  Mom was taking her turn at the wheel as we crossed over to Idaho.  She was maneuvering the winding mountain roads like a champ.  And then Big Boomer set off his alarms, flashing the “turn off engine” light.  Mom, quite a bit frazzled, got us pulled off safely to the shoulder just as the engine shut down completely.  Dad diagnosed the problem: We lost antifreeze/coolant from a cracked hose on the upper portion of the engine EGR.  Thankfully, Dad shares character traits with my rodent brethren, the packrats:   he ALWAYS hoards spare parts.  (He had an extra piece of hose from our 2024 Quartzsite, Arizona lower engine antifreeze/coolant hose fiasco.)  Within an hour, he had us back on the road.  

 

 

We arrived at our next HH, Awesome Acres, in Athol, Idaho.  Karen is a friendly fellow RVer.  She has flat fields in which to park the biggest of setups, located in a quiet rural area within 20 minutes of I-95 and Silverwood Amusement Park.  Karen graciously allows extra nights of stay for $25/night, which we gladly paid to facilitate our visit with RVing friends, Curtis/Stephanie.

  

Full moon over us at Awesome Acres Harvest Host.

We met Curtis/Stephanie in 2015, when we all attended the 10^th Anniversary Gathering of Montana Owners Club Members.  And although we now have “some other brand”, we have remained close friends with these wonderful folks.  Though we all chat on the phone regularly, this was the first time since 2020 that we all were together in person.  We hiked together in Panhandle National Forest and picked enough huckleberries for pancakes for Curtis/Stephanie and for homemade ice cream for yours truly.  We all enjoyed Stephanie’s and Mom’s delicious homecooked meals, but the stimulating conversation was even better.  We are so grateful for the wonderful memories we just created.

 

Views from hiking trails...

...at Panhandle National Forest.

Dad got goosed by a spruce when picking berries!

Hello Washington!  It’s been a while since we were in the State, but it doesn’t take me long to remember why.  Double towing is forbidden, so I must ride shotgun with Mom in the Rambling RV Rat Pack Rubicon.  Don’t take an apple from your neighbor’s apple tree as a snack on your road trip if you plan to pass through an apple maggot quarantine zone, for you will put Washington’s apple orchards at risk of being infected with maggots.  (These pesky little fruit flies feed on apples, seriously impacting Washington’s renowned apple harvests.)  Want inexpensive fuel?  Washington isn’t the place.  $5/gallon for both unleaded and diesel at a truck stop in Hatton, Washington.

 

Welcome to Oregon (where double towing is prohibited, too).  Other than driving over the border from Idaho for the starting point of our Snake River white water rafting trip in 2020, we have NEVER stepped foot in Oregon, so this is a new state in which we will be doing some touring (specifically, Crater Lake National Park).  I observe several things as we stop at the viewpoint of the Columbia River.  Visitors are reminded that using a mobile device while driving comes with “criminal” penalties.   Littering comes with a stiff fine up to $6,250, yet the viewpoint has garbage strewn all over.  The view of the Columbia River has been massacred by all the power lines, cell towers, and wind turbines, and I see virtually no boats on the River.   

 

We overnighted at Echo Ridge Winery, a HH in Echo, Oregon.  It offers a beautifully repurposed grain silo with a huge, flat parking area.  Unfortunately, it also comes with loads of loud trains rumbling down the tracks directly across the street.  But for an overnight stay, we didn’t mind.  We enjoyed the winery’s atmosphere and the chance to chat with some fellow HH guests.   To fulfill our financial obligations, my parents savored some good wine, and I helped them consume a platter filled with delicious local meats and cheeses while relaxing on the back patio.

I hear the train a coming, its rolling 'round the bend--right outside our bedroom windows!

Afterwards, we walked a half mile to the center of Echo, following in the footsteps of the pioneers who camped along the Umatilla River as they traversed the Old Oregon Trail.

 

St. Peter's Catholic Church, circa 1913.  The Archdiocese sold the structure to the Echo Heritage Association, who plan to restore it to its former glory.

A portion of the Old Oregon Trail runs through Fort Henrietta Park.

Fort Henrietta Park has several displays, including some about the pioneers.

Who made this supply list?  What were they thinking?  There isn't any CHEEZ listed under required supplies!!!!

I  can envision the pioneers lining the banks of the Umatilla River. 

Our route the next morning included some of the Lewis and Clark Trail and the Journey Through Time Scenic Byway, appropriately named because the area has not changed much since the pioneers traversed these high plains.  We rendezvoused for a potty and lunch break at the City Park in Grass Valley, Oregon.  I learned these agricultural areas were once known as Goldenland because of all the grain grown here.  We stopped to view 3 Sisters, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Washington within the Cascade Mountain Range.

Then the scenery changed drastically.  We were no longer in bucolic, pastural lands, but instead in urban Redmond, Oregon.  We stayed overnight in Redmond to pump/dump/do laundry in a full hook up pull through site for $56.35/night at the Expo Center RV Park.  The site includes an extra concrete pad on which to park our Jeep.  But it is located on the left side of our RV, right smack under the awning and next to the door of the neighbor’s RV.  We couldn’t park on it anyway, since the neighbor was using it to store her kids’ toys.  She moved them pronto, but we decided to just park the Jeep at the laundry facility instead.

This picture was taken as we were ready to depart.  Our "neighbors" were already gone, so no toys in our parking spot behind their picnic table.

I may have cotton for brains, but isn't this, a deserted and gated entrance to the Expo Center, a VERY WEIRD place for a ballot box?

Well, your favorite stuffed rat just got himself in a heap of trouble.  While in Idaho, I had another pop-up party (you may remember I had one in Minnesota in 2022).  Two of my rodent friends decided not to leave and hitched a ride with us.  I told each of them to be quiet as a mouse as Mom has super senses.  She has the nose of a bloodhound and the ears of Horton the Elephant.  But my friends didn’t listen, and they squeaked too loudly.  Mom asked me point blank if I had another party.   I could not lie, for I feared Mom would cut my cheese allowance.   So, I ratted them out.  And in the blink of an eye, the duo were evicted, with an extra peanut each for the road.

 

 

I must sign off now, for we have arrived at Crater Lake National Park.  I’ll tell ya all about it in my next post.  Talk to you again soon!

 

Revisiting Glacier National Park - Montana

We had a short day (2.5 hours) of travel through Flathead Reservation to get from Poulson, Montana to Coram, Montana.

Flathead Lake.

Flathead Lake.

Flathead River.

Coram is where we put down our jacks for a week at North American RV Park to facilitate visiting Glacier National Park.  North American is a well maintained RV Park, with tent, cabin, and yurt sites in addition to RV sites.  Our long pull through site was adequate to fit 2 of our 3 vehicles.    Not only did North American RV Park not charge us for having an extra vehicle, they let us park it on the site next door.  (We opted to put Big Boomer there so we could off-load Maximus the Trike).  Of course, all this courtesy and customer service didn’t come cheap: our weekly rate worked out to $95/night, including tax.  But we stayed here 9 years ago (at a rate of $41/night), so we knew the sites were large, and North American is located just 8 miles from the West Entrance of Glacier National Park.

Since it was near our RV Park, we stopped at the 10 Commandments Park...

...and no visit to the area is complete without some treats from the Huckleberry Patch!

We visited Glacier National Park (as well as Waterton across the border in Canada) in May 2016 on our way to Alaska.  But it was before I knew anything about the National Park Junior Ranger Program.  Furthermore, the majority of Going to the Sun Road, the main thoroughfare through Glacier National Park, was still closed due to snow that early in the season.   So, yours truly petitioned my parents for a second visit this year.   And finding it impossible to resist this stuffed Rambling RV Rat’s persuasiveness and charm, they obliged.

I finally earned a Junior Ranger badge at Glacier National Park.

Glacier is one of the National Park’s that has a timed entry system, and it is a screwy one.  If you access the Park via the West Entrance, you must make a reservation online, selecting the 2-hour window during which you want entry.  This is an extra $2 fee per day.   So, if you are visiting the Park over multiple days, you require multiple reservations.  If you access the Park via the East Entrance (St. Mary), no timed entry is required.  However, if you go beyond the Apgar checkpoint as you travel west, you will not be allowed back into the Park until after 3 p.m.     We tried to make timed entry reservations back in April, but all slots were filled already for every day of our week-long visit.  The Park releases a select number of additional timed entry tickets each morning, which go to the first visitors who get online (no in-person sales) and make a same-day timed entry reservation.  Is your head spinning yet?  Not to worry—it gets even more convoluted.  If you enter the Park from the West Entrance before 7 a.m. or after 3 p.m., a timed entry ticket is NOT required at all.  We opted just to bypass the whole timed entry system, arriving after 3 p.m. at the West Entrance or just gaining entry at any time at St. Mary’s gate.    We learned the hard way that although no timed entry is required for Two Medicines, the Park restricts access periodically due to limited parking resulting from ongoing construction.  The Many Glacier entrance had the same issue as Two Medicines: periodic restricted access due to construction/limited parking.   But we lucked out there and gained entry right away.  (Effective July 1, they banned personal vehicles from entering Many Glacier entirely.  Guests are now  required to use the Park Shuttle Bus Service). Furthermore, North Fork requires a timed entry (we arrived at 2:48 p.m. with no one waiting in line to get in, but were denied entry until after 3 p.m., by which time a line of a dozen vehicles had formed.)  You just cannot fix stupid!

Glacier National Park is spectacular!  A ride along Going to the Sun Road offers majestic mountains, wonderous waterfalls, an abundance of animals, and breathtaking vistas.

Heaven's Peak.

The bighorn sheep were unfazed by us humans at Logan's Pass.  I learned that the 450 bighorn sheep at Glacier National Park live an average of 14 years, and they can weigh an average of 300 lbs., with 10% of that weight attributed to just 1 of its horns.

 

Hiking to Hidden Lake at Logan's Pass.

 

With these views from Logan's Pass...

...I felt like Maria in "The Sound of Music".  These hills were truly alive--with the sound and beauty of nature.

The animals throughout the Park were very gracious...

...and posed for me.

This guy was so focused on finding some huckleberries across the road that he cut right in front of us on Maximus the Trike!  These bears eat  about 100,000 huckleberries a day when it is berry season.

St. Mary River.  I think I spy a beaver den there!

Views as we hiked the trail...

...to St. Mary Falls.

Sun Point.

View from Blackfoot Highway roadside exhibit.  The exhibit explains the Blackfoot creation story of how Old Man Sun created the Earth.

Triple Peak Divide, where streams originate to feed 3 different watersheds: Gulf of America/Mexico, Pacific Ocean, and Hudson Bay.

Teeny, tiny Wild Goose Island.

Jackson Glacier.

Weeping Wall Waterfall.

 Miscellaneous photos taken along Going to the Sun Road.

We hiked Trail of the Cedars first, then climbed Avalanche Creek Trail, where we admired the waterfalls.  But it was the glacial Avalanche Lake at the top of the mountain that left us speechless.  What an awesome world our masterful Creator has given us!

Avalanche Lake was so still, it produced a mirror image of the mountains within the water.

The Park lodges are all historic, designed with Swiss Chalet architecture, and offer a quaint and welcoming atmosphere.

Unique lighting inside McDonald Lodge.

McDonald Lake.  Once upon a time, a glacial river of ice moved down the valley.  It  transported so much rock and dirt with it that it dammed McDonald Creek.  The result was the creation of McDonald Lake.

Glacier Park Lodge, established 1913.

Many Glacier Hotel is on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake.

Gorgeous flower boxes and gardens at Many Glacier Hotel.

Taking in the views...

...and enjoying the flora...

...as we hiked the trails at Many Glacier. 

We visited the tiny unincorporated community of Polebridge, population 31.

This mercantile has been in operation since 1914.

View as we walked along the Nature Trail in Polebridge.

Then we proceeded to the North Fork entrance of Glacier National Park, the least visited and most remote area.  Most of the roads are unpaved and not well maintained, so we got to enjoy some off-roading with my Rambling RV Rat Pack Rubicon.

  

Bowman Lake.

Time to head back home to North American RV Park.

Speaking of off-roading, we did a little side trip to Blacktail Wild Bill OHV Trail, earning ourselves another Jeep Badge of Honor.

 

The view from Packrat Junction.

You never know what you will find when off-roading.

Other than July 4 (when we experienced steady rain all day long) and June 28 (when we had intermittent showers upon our first entry into the Park), we had great weather--high 70s to low 80s during the day and cooler evenings, complete with light breezes.

Well, I have certainly rambled on way too long, so I'll sign off now.  But needless to say, I am so thrilled that I had the chance to revisit magnificent, majestic Glacier National Park.