JUNE 2008
USA-Colorado-Golden
Sunday 1st started well, as we were
leaving the camp three Moose crossed the road and walked into the
trees. They reappeared crossing the river close 
to the bridge. We then drove into the
Rocky Mountains National Park alongside the baby River Colorado, which
followed the road into the park and then up to it’s source which was in
the park. As we drove up the road we saw an Elk and another
Moose. A second Elk was seen later on. The scenery was
superb, the Rocky Mountains at their best. We stopped at the view
points to admire the scenery and Howard‘s Mountain, we crossed the
Continental Divide at 10,075ft. At 11,500ft. We entered the
Arctic Tundra. Howard saw a Mountain Blue Bird, superb, it was a
brilliant blue. After the highest point 12,183ft. among the snow
fields we descended to view a Lava Cliff hundreds of feet high, we then
followed the Ridge Road down through magnificent scenery to the
exit. We turned left for the camp and immediately saw three male
Moose alongside the road undisturbed by our van. At the camp,
where there were bird feeders there were up to ten Green Humming
Birds. A fine day for scenery and wild life. Monday driving back through
the village, where the camp was situated, we saw three Elk a male, a
female and a yearling. We then drove to Longmont to visit
Camping World to buy items for the van and
then on to Greeley, to Wal-mart, to wait for an air-conn fitter to
arrive to repair our cab air-con. Although he worked up to 2200,
he was unsuccessful, but now we know the fault, a leek in one of the
roof units, and we need a part from Britain. Tuesday after our late
night, the camp sent their mechanic to check on “a noise”. He
thought transmission and suggested an oil change. We went to
Truck City where they changed the oil. After lunch our route took
us north into Wyoming, where we drove through a very heavy, short rain
storm with high winds, then we drove east to camp at Pine Bluff, on the
Nebraska border. It was a cheap camp but run down. Wednesday we left the camp
to travel east into Nebraska as far as Kimball where we turned north to
Scottsbluff. There was a lot of rain so we went to a well set up
camp, instead of into the National Monument, we decided to go to the
National Monument tomorrow. Thursday a day of
prolonged, heavy showers. We started by a visit to the National
Monument, the van was too long so we took the shuttle bus. The
driver gave us an interesting description of the monument as he drove
along. There was only one stopping place with two short trails to
overlooks. Fortunately the rain held off for the visit to the
top. From the National Monument our route took us north, east and
then north again to Chadron, just short of the South Dakota
border. An honesty camp with free Wi-fi (which didn’t
work). Friday
with an early start into South Dakota, we saw on the way 28 Pronghorn
in ones and twos. There were lots
of cattle and
horses. Soon after the border we entered the Black Hills, there
was varied scenery some of it very steep and some of it reminding
Howard of Capel-y-ffin. Our first park was the Wind Cave National
Park, with a few Buffalo, and then a herd of twenty. We took a
dirt road close to the Buffalo herd. We then retraced our path
back to the tarmac road and pressed on into the Custer State Park where
we camped, taking the last site.
Saturday 7th we made a fairly early start hoping to see some wildlife on the Wildlife Loop road. Our first animal was a Buffalo scratching on a roadside post. On the tour we saw a few Mule deer, several Pronghorn and four buffalo herds, the largest one of over one hundred, the smallest one of twenty. Leaving the park we proceeded to the unfinished Crazy Horse Monument, it will be huge (too huge) when completed in fifty to a hundred years time. As we headed north Mervyn spotted a cheap camp. We stopped for the day. Sunday we set off for Mount Rushmore, it was interesting to see it. We were able to get within photographing distance, not like the Crazy Horse Monument. We continued on to Rapid City for elevenses. The Dances With Wolves film set was next door, not the post in the open, but Fort Hayes. We visited it. A knife maker gave us a very interesting talk on how to make knives. After lunch it was time to do our washing. Monday we drove into Rapid City early to have two fan belts changed and the replacement compressor for the cab air-con fitted. The third garage said “yes possibly in the afternoon“. The second tyre dealer said yes to two new front tyres, but no to the tracking. The tracking specialist said about one o’clock. We found a Best Buy computer shop and Howard left his laptop for a diagnostic check and for a new DVD player to be added. We eventually left for the Badlands National Park just before 1500 and arrived about 1700. Tuesday we drove into the park at 0900, it was not as Howard expected it to be, it had lots of grass with the very soft rock bulging up in patches. Our travels took us back along the road south of the park, where we saw half a dozen white animals (possibly Mountain Goats) in the distance. Briefly crossing the park we continued on into Rapid City and back to Sunday’s camp. Wednesday another early start to be at the garage by 0800, they didn’t start work on the vehicle till 1100, and they finished at 1700. We rushed off to Best Buy to find the laptop was OK. We set off to camp at Black Hawk. Mervyn quickly cooked the dinner and we settled down for the evening. We tried to use the new DVD system but the original Power DVD kept butting in, it did work better than before the check up. Thursday panic stations we couldn’t get the internet. A rapid trip back to Best Buy where they searched for and switched Intel PROset Wireless back on for us. Then our journey took us into Wyoming, on a day full of heavy rain showers and strong gusty winds, to camp at The Devil’s Tower, in the National Park. We missed Deadwood due to a rock fall blocking the road and the other road meant a long detour. Friday we drove to the Visitor’s Centre to park for a walk around The Devil’s Tower. The walk took about an hour, on the south side of The Tower we saw a Prairie Falcon, one of the pair nesting there. Then we set off east back into South Dakota, to turn north on state road 85. The winds seem to get stronger every day. Between Belle Fourche and the North Dakota border we saw several Pronghorn.
Saturday 14th when we left the Devil’s Tower we headed for Medora to collect our post. We arrived at 1030, only to find the post office shut at 0945, on Saturdays. We found a camp nearby and booked in for the weekend. As we were booking into the camp, the Camp Host pointed out a Great Horned Owl perched in the fork of a Cottonwood tree. Sunday we left the camp for a tour of The Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit. On the tour we saw three Buffalo and several herds of Wild Horses, as well as several Prairie Dog Towns. In the evening a buffalo and three Wild Horses passed through the camp close to us. Monday we went to the post office and collected our mail, then we set off to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Northern Unit. As we were driving along outside the park we saw about 150 Buffalo and a lot of Wild Horses just inside the park. We continued on into the Park’s Northern Unit where we saw another 150 buffalo, this time well inside the park, but
alongside the park road. After we left
the park we continued north to Fort Union on the Montana border. We
camped at Fort Buford (four miles away), we were the only van and miles
from anywhere. Tuesday
after another early start we drove north and then east into
Montana. We travelled on highway 2 for the day until we reached
Malta to camp. Wednesday
a quick search round town to find the cheapest fuel, there was only one
fuel station, therefore it was the cheapest! We went a short way
on 2 and then we turned northwest into Canada. At the border we were
asked “how much we had spent in the USA and what were we importing into
Canada“!!! The only purchases we had were for food. We
continued north and then west to camp at Medicine Hat. Thursday an early start
driving west along to, and through Calgary and on to Exshaw to camp
well-off the road among the trees. Friday the day started with
a puncture in one of the back tyres. The electric pump inflated
the tyre and we asked at the camp office where we could find a repair
shop, only to be sent on to the next town, 
which was on our way. The first repairer
didn’t have anyone available and they sent us on to Ben’s Tyres.
After an hour’s wait we had the puncture repaired. On to Banff
where we located a fuel station and a bank. With a full diesel
tank and some Canadian currency we drove into the Banff National Park,
two annual tickets were much cheaper than many visits at the daily
rate. Driving to the camp we saw four Rocky Mountain Big Horn
Sheep at the side of the road, Howard felt too poorly to photograph
them. At the camp we were warned of Bears. We didn’t see
any.
Saturday 21st we drove north through the park, stopping to photograph a Black Bear grazing down a bank just off the road. We then continued along the park road to camp at Waterfowl Lake. Sunday our day took us north along the road into the Jasper National Park and on to the Columbia Glacier, where we took a tour onto the ice. It was an hour and a half’s tour with a twenty min walk on the ice. We drove back a short distance to camp at Wilcox Creek. Monday was a continuation along the park road with several stops for cine filming. We had some good views of the Columbia Ice Cap, on top of the mountains. At a place where several cars were stopped we saw a Mountain Goat and Kid. Our camp was just before Jasper where we were again warned of Bears also Elk with Calves. Our camp was only just set up when we were visited by six Elk, grazing in the camp. Tuesday we left the camp to start east for Edmonton but we diverted south to go to Maligne Lake. On the way we saw an Elk with velvet antlers. Medicine Lake was more picturesque than Maligne Lake. We returned to the Edmonton road to stop at Hinton. We couldn’t find the advertised camp but we found another with no one to book us in and no booking forms. We moved in. Wednesday a day when we drove for most of the day, we set off to visit Art and Gerry, two of the Canadians we met at Poza Rica, in Mexico. They live north east of Edmonton and we arrived mid afternoon to spend the rest of the day chatting. Thursday we spent the morning discussing the refixing of the door side overhead cupboards, which had come loose. After lunch Art drove us into Fort Saskatchewan to buy the necessary screws. Friday was spent working on the cupboards. We finished at 2100.
Saturday 28th Howard was not well, so it was a day of rest and chatting with Art and Gerry. Sunday Howard finished off the cupboards and then Art and Gerry took us into Edmonton to visit Fort Edmonton, an old fur trading post, with streets and houses from various eras. There were horse drawn vehicles and an old steam train. After the visit we took Art and Gerry out for a meal. Monday morning we shopped, we went to Costco for new rear tyres (we were advised to order in Alaska), to Bosch for fittings to repair the van air-con and for Art to buy new wheels for his mower. In the afternoon Art repaired the air-con.
to the bridge. We then drove into the
Rocky Mountains National Park alongside the baby River Colorado, which
followed the road into the park and then up to it’s source which was in
the park. As we drove up the road we saw an Elk and another
Moose. A second Elk was seen later on. The scenery was
superb, the Rocky Mountains at their best. We stopped at the view
points to admire the scenery and Howard‘s Mountain, we crossed the
Continental Divide at 10,075ft. At 11,500ft. We entered the
Arctic Tundra. Howard saw a Mountain Blue Bird, superb, it was a
brilliant blue. After the highest point 12,183ft. among the snow
fields we descended to view a Lava Cliff hundreds of feet high, we then
followed the Ridge Road down through magnificent scenery to the
exit. We turned left for the camp and immediately saw three male
Moose alongside the road undisturbed by our van. At the camp,
where there were bird feeders there were up to ten Green Humming
Birds. A fine day for scenery and wild life. Monday driving back through
the village, where the camp was situated, we saw three Elk a male, a
female and a yearling. We then drove to Longmont to visit Camping World to buy items for the van and
then on to Greeley, to Wal-mart, to wait for an air-conn fitter to
arrive to repair our cab air-con. Although he worked up to 2200,
he was unsuccessful, but now we know the fault, a leek in one of the
roof units, and we need a part from Britain. Tuesday after our late
night, the camp sent their mechanic to check on “a noise”. He
thought transmission and suggested an oil change. We went to
Truck City where they changed the oil. After lunch our route took
us north into Wyoming, where we drove through a very heavy, short rain
storm with high winds, then we drove east to camp at Pine Bluff, on the
Nebraska border. It was a cheap camp but run down. Wednesday we left the camp
to travel east into Nebraska as far as Kimball where we turned north to
Scottsbluff. There was a lot of rain so we went to a well set up
camp, instead of into the National Monument, we decided to go to the
National Monument tomorrow. Thursday a day of
prolonged, heavy showers. We started by a visit to the National
Monument, the van was too long so we took the shuttle bus. The
driver gave us an interesting description of the monument as he drove
along. There was only one stopping place with two short trails to
overlooks. Fortunately the rain held off for the visit to the
top. From the National Monument our route took us north, east and
then north again to Chadron, just short of the South Dakota
border. An honesty camp with free Wi-fi (which didn’t
work). Friday
with an early start into South Dakota, we saw on the way 28 Pronghorn
in ones and twos. There were lots of cattle and
horses. Soon after the border we entered the Black Hills, there
was varied scenery some of it very steep and some of it reminding
Howard of Capel-y-ffin. Our first park was the Wind Cave National
Park, with a few Buffalo, and then a herd of twenty. We took a
dirt road close to the Buffalo herd. We then retraced our path
back to the tarmac road and pressed on into the Custer State Park where
we camped, taking the last site.Saturday 7th we made a fairly early start hoping to see some wildlife on the Wildlife Loop road. Our first animal was a Buffalo scratching on a roadside post. On the tour we saw a few Mule deer, several Pronghorn and four buffalo herds, the largest one of over one hundred, the smallest one of twenty. Leaving the park we proceeded to the unfinished Crazy Horse Monument, it will be huge (too huge) when completed in fifty to a hundred years time. As we headed north Mervyn spotted a cheap camp. We stopped for the day. Sunday we set off for Mount Rushmore, it was interesting to see it. We were able to get within photographing distance, not like the Crazy Horse Monument. We continued on to Rapid City for elevenses. The Dances With Wolves film set was next door, not the post in the open, but Fort Hayes. We visited it. A knife maker gave us a very interesting talk on how to make knives. After lunch it was time to do our washing. Monday we drove into Rapid City early to have two fan belts changed and the replacement compressor for the cab air-con fitted. The third garage said “yes possibly in the afternoon“. The second tyre dealer said yes to two new front tyres, but no to the tracking. The tracking specialist said about one o’clock. We found a Best Buy computer shop and Howard left his laptop for a diagnostic check and for a new DVD player to be added. We eventually left for the Badlands National Park just before 1500 and arrived about 1700. Tuesday we drove into the park at 0900, it was not as Howard expected it to be, it had lots of grass with the very soft rock bulging up in patches. Our travels took us back along the road south of the park, where we saw half a dozen white animals (possibly Mountain Goats) in the distance. Briefly crossing the park we continued on into Rapid City and back to Sunday’s camp. Wednesday another early start to be at the garage by 0800, they didn’t start work on the vehicle till 1100, and they finished at 1700. We rushed off to Best Buy to find the laptop was OK. We set off to camp at Black Hawk. Mervyn quickly cooked the dinner and we settled down for the evening. We tried to use the new DVD system but the original Power DVD kept butting in, it did work better than before the check up. Thursday panic stations we couldn’t get the internet. A rapid trip back to Best Buy where they searched for and switched Intel PROset Wireless back on for us. Then our journey took us into Wyoming, on a day full of heavy rain showers and strong gusty winds, to camp at The Devil’s Tower, in the National Park. We missed Deadwood due to a rock fall blocking the road and the other road meant a long detour. Friday we drove to the Visitor’s Centre to park for a walk around The Devil’s Tower. The walk took about an hour, on the south side of The Tower we saw a Prairie Falcon, one of the pair nesting there. Then we set off east back into South Dakota, to turn north on state road 85. The winds seem to get stronger every day. Between Belle Fourche and the North Dakota border we saw several Pronghorn.
Saturday 14th when we left the Devil’s Tower we headed for Medora to collect our post. We arrived at 1030, only to find the post office shut at 0945, on Saturdays. We found a camp nearby and booked in for the weekend. As we were booking into the camp, the Camp Host pointed out a Great Horned Owl perched in the fork of a Cottonwood tree. Sunday we left the camp for a tour of The Theodore Roosevelt National Park South Unit. On the tour we saw three Buffalo and several herds of Wild Horses, as well as several Prairie Dog Towns. In the evening a buffalo and three Wild Horses passed through the camp close to us. Monday we went to the post office and collected our mail, then we set off to the Theodore Roosevelt National Park Northern Unit. As we were driving along outside the park we saw about 150 Buffalo and a lot of Wild Horses just inside the park. We continued on into the Park’s Northern Unit where we saw another 150 buffalo, this time well inside the park, but
alongside the park road. After we left
the park we continued north to Fort Union on the Montana border. We
camped at Fort Buford (four miles away), we were the only van and miles
from anywhere. Tuesday
after another early start we drove north and then east into
Montana. We travelled on highway 2 for the day until we reached
Malta to camp. Wednesday
a quick search round town to find the cheapest fuel, there was only one
fuel station, therefore it was the cheapest! We went a short way
on 2 and then we turned northwest into Canada. At the border we were
asked “how much we had spent in the USA and what were we importing into
Canada“!!! The only purchases we had were for food. We
continued north and then west to camp at Medicine Hat. Thursday an early start
driving west along to, and through Calgary and on to Exshaw to camp
well-off the road among the trees. Friday the day started with
a puncture in one of the back tyres. The electric pump inflated
the tyre and we asked at the camp office where we could find a repair
shop, only to be sent on to the next town, which was on our way. The first repairer
didn’t have anyone available and they sent us on to Ben’s Tyres.
After an hour’s wait we had the puncture repaired. On to Banff
where we located a fuel station and a bank. With a full diesel
tank and some Canadian currency we drove into the Banff National Park,
two annual tickets were much cheaper than many visits at the daily
rate. Driving to the camp we saw four Rocky Mountain Big Horn
Sheep at the side of the road, Howard felt too poorly to photograph
them. At the camp we were warned of Bears. We didn’t see
any.Saturday 21st we drove north through the park, stopping to photograph a Black Bear grazing down a bank just off the road. We then continued along the park road to camp at Waterfowl Lake. Sunday our day took us north along the road into the Jasper National Park and on to the Columbia Glacier, where we took a tour onto the ice. It was an hour and a half’s tour with a twenty min walk on the ice. We drove back a short distance to camp at Wilcox Creek. Monday was a continuation along the park road with several stops for cine filming. We had some good views of the Columbia Ice Cap, on top of the mountains. At a place where several cars were stopped we saw a Mountain Goat and Kid. Our camp was just before Jasper where we were again warned of Bears also Elk with Calves. Our camp was only just set up when we were visited by six Elk, grazing in the camp. Tuesday we left the camp to start east for Edmonton but we diverted south to go to Maligne Lake. On the way we saw an Elk with velvet antlers. Medicine Lake was more picturesque than Maligne Lake. We returned to the Edmonton road to stop at Hinton. We couldn’t find the advertised camp but we found another with no one to book us in and no booking forms. We moved in. Wednesday a day when we drove for most of the day, we set off to visit Art and Gerry, two of the Canadians we met at Poza Rica, in Mexico. They live north east of Edmonton and we arrived mid afternoon to spend the rest of the day chatting. Thursday we spent the morning discussing the refixing of the door side overhead cupboards, which had come loose. After lunch Art drove us into Fort Saskatchewan to buy the necessary screws. Friday was spent working on the cupboards. We finished at 2100.
Saturday 28th Howard was not well, so it was a day of rest and chatting with Art and Gerry. Sunday Howard finished off the cupboards and then Art and Gerry took us into Edmonton to visit Fort Edmonton, an old fur trading post, with streets and houses from various eras. There were horse drawn vehicles and an old steam train. After the visit we took Art and Gerry out for a meal. Monday morning we shopped, we went to Costco for new rear tyres (we were advised to order in Alaska), to Bosch for fittings to repair the van air-con and for Art to buy new wheels for his mower. In the afternoon Art repaired the air-con.
CANADA-Edmonton