Today is Tuesday, August 21, 2018, and Judy and I are going to make an extended trip around and through the Rocky Mountains including the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and end up in Texas for Thanksgiving. Now this is not to be the “All American Vacation,” where you can look at your watch and say “Oh! it’s Tuesday, we must be in Denver.” Instead It will be a “Meandering.” The NP Wallace Idaho Depot Museum
Here is my definition:
Meandering Vacation: To drive a hundred miles or so and find a place to stay. If there is interesting things to do, stay a couple days. Then pack up and do it all over again. Have a general idea where you want to end up, but make your decisions on where to go based on chatting with fellow campers and your bucket list. Agents Desk looking into the Ladies Waiting Room
Peeking into Agent’s Office from the Ladies Waiting Room
Today’s goal is St Regis and we are going to ride the Hiawatha trail tomorrow. We will be following in Judy’s dad’s wheel ruts as we traverse Lookout Pass. Pat Starr drove for PIE and liked to bid the Lookout Turn or Missoula Run. The Lookout Turn had the Spokane and Missoula drivers start at the same time and meet at the top of Lookout Pass. They swapped trucks and returned to their home base. Home every day. The Missoula trip went all the way, layed over for rest and returned home the next night. Home every other day.
How my Blog works:
I upgraded my website this weekend. It is acting kind-a strange, however. I installed a new reCAPTCHA routine so I can open up the comments function again. However, I did not get the defunct reCAPTCHA removed properly so if you just make a comment and then try to post it, the new reCAPTIA gets trumped by the ghost of the old reCAPTIA and you can’t leave a comment. However if you are a member and you have signed in, you get shuttled around the whole reCAPTIA thing and your comment goes right in. Trouble is, the reCAPTIA guards the registration too. If you are already a member you can comment, everyone else will have to wait until I figure out what to do.
I expect to try a number of styles for the web pages themselves, feel free to leave comments either here or on Facebook. I will continue to post a text only version to e-mail. I have recently been posting a link on my Facebook page also.
Ending note: We have stopped in Wallace to visit the historic NP Wallace Depot. I will write a few highlights and include a photo and then send this Blog to the publisher.
The Wallace Northern Pacific Depot museum was built in 1901 so it is 117 years old. It has been moved several hundred feet and across the river to make room for I-90. Prince Albert in a Can
It is beautiful and very worth the time to stop and see. W took up three full on street parking stalls right on the main drag. We spent a good hour in the museum. I still think the Ritzville NP Depot museum has done a better job of representing the look and feel of a railroad depot. Wallace has too much stuff displayed out of context. Besides, they forgot the crowning touch. Ritzville has a genuine Prince Albert Tobacco tin jammed down behind the telegraph sounder. Every depot when I was working the Northern Pacific had the exact same thing. An empty Prince Albert Tobacco tin wedged between the sounder electro-magnets and the wooden back of the sounder box. This is thought to amplify the sound of the telegraph so you can read the code easier.
“The Grand Adventure” lasted just over three weeks. We saw Buchart Gardens in full bloom, Orca Whale cruising along surrounded by a fleet of “Whale Watching Boats.” At least they kept a safe distance. We saw Porpoises, (Dolfins,) Bald Eagles, and everywhere Great Blue Herons. We got as far north as Lady Smith BC, and ran the gamete at Deception Pass both ways and both at high slack and low slack. High slack was smooth, Low slack was a sled ride through standing waves. The sledding was fun but the high slack offers a more predictable passage.
Upon returning, Judy and I each had a session with an eye doctor. My doctor confirmed that I have not progressed to wet macular, and Judy’s doctor shot her in the eyeball, patted her on the shoulder and said she was good for another 12 weeks. These shots are keeping her vision clear. I hate to think of the alternative.
The One That Got Away
Next on the agenda was a three day camp-out with all our old friends from the Plymouth Presbyterian Church of St. Helens OR. We all met at Milo McIver State Park near Estacada, Oregon. We had lots of food each evening followed by Guitar, Ukulele music. We joined an owl walk one evening and saw some bats, we joined the bat walk the next evening and saw more bats. Actually the morning after the Owl walk a Great Horned Owl parked in the tree over our rig and started hooting away about 4 am. We alll hiked down to the river and watched a man almost catch a steelhead. Everything but landing it. The fish put on a spectacular aerial show. Great Blue Heron Flying Over
Here is a story:
There was once a young damsel in distress. Her camp wagon had this nifty water heater, but it would not heat water. Neither with gas nor electric. Three gallant knights galloped to her aid. They opened the heater, they tested the wires, they looked in all the nooks and crannies for the magic lever or toggle that would start the hot water flowing. Soundly defeated the knights retired to the courtyard and contemplated a change of career from “Saver of Damsels” to “Court Jester.”
Meanwhile the Damsel’s son returned saying “What’s new?” She told him about the afternoon spent looking for the magic lever or toggle to start the hot water flowing. He said, “ No problem, just flip one of these switches by the door…” {rim shot} the end.
Note: Any similarity between the characters of this tale and real live persons is purely accidental.
Now it is Monday and we are on I-84 headed for Umatilla. (Actually the Corps of Engineer park on the Washington side in the tiny town of Plymouth Washington. We are planning to hang out with my sister, Holly. On our way across I-84 we started hearing something banging on the coach, and affected by the wind. I finally traced it to the front quarter panel just in front of the left front tire. It had broken it’s fiberglass splots that hold it to the frame of the coach and it was flopping in the slipstream breeze. I cobbled up a rope and duct tape hold down for it and we are good to go again. Oh oh, Judy says it looks dowdy and the high uppity RV Resorts will probably reject us. Fortunately the Corps of Engineers Park managers didn’t notice the rope and duct tape side panel and we are now safely parked in a rather beautiful and green park and campground right on the Columbia River.
Link to the on line blog: www.dinsmore-enterprises.com/20180813-life-after-the-grand-adventure
On Thursday, August 2, we got serious about getting back to Brownsville Marina and Seabeck. We have been gone exactly 3 weeks now. We gathered our resources for the quick run behind Whidbey Island down to Kingston. Then it is a quick hop around the corner to Abby Normal’s home in Brownsville Marina.
Gary (Papa or Skipper Emeritus)Skipper GlenBryce, (Swab and Deck Hand)Judy and Barb kept this whole thing together. (What can I say!}
On Friday I took a full length video of our transit of Deception Pass. It is “boring.” so you will only get to see clips of it. I really needed to get a video of the North bound trip. There we rushed the timing to pass through the rapids a few minutes early, and the ride was wild. This time we rushed the timing by a full 20 minutes and it was flat water and a light following wind. The difference is due to three factors, the phase of the moon, it was a week after a full moon. We are having “neap tides” and the tide simply doesn’t go up and down very much. Second: we chose the high slack time period to pass through Deception Pass. So the water is full depth and the rocky bottom doesn’t throw up the big standing waves we get on the low ebb. Finally there was little wind outside the pass to throw wind waves at the cliffs. “Boring.” It was a little chilly this morning at 7 am with s threat of
rain. In the afternoon that cleared away and we are set for more idyllic warm weather.
One of the things that Judy, Glen and I found fun to do has been a bird walk each morning. The sun rises early these days we’re not inclined to sleep in. About 5:30 a.m. We gather up the camera and my cell phone and choose a so called “Hot Spot.” Recently Judy has been doing all of the camera work. I keep track of the identified birds in an application called e-birds. The e birds app is a free application for tracking your bird finds and helping you identify birds. It does more than that. You start by identifying where you are going go birding. You then indicate if you’re going to move or stay in one spot. You then pick a spot that other people have birded at, or create one of your own spots, like your own back yard. E-bird sets up a bird list containing birds that would be expected in your area.
While the app is running, it tracks where you go by GPS, and how much time you spend. You add new birds by scrolling to the correct species and tapping the counter. You can search out species by typing a few letters of the name.
If you are unsure of the bird’s identity, you click on the name and a page is opened with access to photos and details about the bird. Things like range and voice help narrow down the possible choices. When you finish your walk you check off a couple of information blanks and submit the report right from your smart phone.
This next part you might want to do first. Go to ebird.org and sign up for an account. You link your mobile app to this account. When you submit a list it shows up in your account here. You can then edit your check-lists, add photos, add or delete species etc.
As I write this, we are on the last leg of “The Grand Adventure.” When we pass through Agate Pass, we will enters Abby Normal’s home waters. That will be the sign that we are finished. The next task is to pack all the gear up the ramp to the cars and clean up Abby Normal.
I didn’t get this posted on Sunday, but the thought is the same. Here are photos of our motley crew.
On Thursday, August 2, we got serious about getting back to Brownsville Marina and Seabeck. We have been gone exactly 3 weeks now. We gathered our resources for the quick run behind Whidbey Island down to Kingston. Then it is a quick hop around the corner to Abby Normal’s home in Brownsville Marina. On Friday I took a full length video of our transit of Deception Pass. It is “boring.” so you will only get to see clips of it. I really needed to get a video of the North bound trip. There we rushed the timing to pass through the rapids a few minutes early, and the ride was wild. This time we rushed the timing by a full 20 minutes and it was flat water and a light following wind. The difference is due to three factors, the phase of the moon, it was a week after a full moon. We are having “neap tides” and the tide simply doesn’t go up and down very much. Second: we chose the high slack time period to pass through Deception Pass. So the water is full depth and the rocky bottom doesn’t throw up the big standing waves we get on the low ebb. Finally there was little wind outside the pass to throw wind waves at the cliffs. “Boring.” It was a little chilly this morning at 7 am with s threat of
rain. In the afternoon that cleared away and we are set for more idyllic warm weather.
One of the things that Judy, Glen and I found fun to do has been a bird walk each morning. The sun rises early these days we’re not inclined to sleep in. About 5:30 a.m. We gather up the camera and my cell phone and choose a so called “Hot Spot.” Recently Judy has been doing all of the camera work. I keep track of the identified birds in an application called e-birds. The e birds app is a free application for tracking your bird finds and helping you identify birds. It does more than that. You start by identifying where you are going go birding. You then indicate if you’re going to move or stay in one spot. You then pick a spot that other people have birded at, or create one of your own spots, like your own back yard. E-bird sets up a bird list containing birds that would be expected in your area.
While the app is running, it tracks where you go by GPS, and how much time you spend. You add new birds by scrolling to the correct species and tapping the counter. You can search out species by typing a few letters of the name.
If you are unsure of the bird’s identity, you click on the name and a page is opened with access to photos and details about the bird. Things like range and voice help narrow down the possible choices. When you finish your walk you check off a couple of information blanks and submit the report right from your smart phone.
This next part you might want to do first. Go to ebird.org and sign up for an account. You link your mobile app to this account. When you submit a list it shows up in your account here
. You can then edit your check-lists, add photos, add or delete species etc.
As I write this, we are on the last leg of “The Grand Adventure.” When we pass through Agate Pass, we will enters Abby Normal’s home waters. That will be the sign that we are finished. The next task is to pack all the gear up the ramp to the cars and clean up Abby Normal.
I didn’t get this posted on Sunday, but the thought is the same. Here are photos of our motley crew.
We were having just another one of those perfect days of sailing in the Gulf Islands. You know, the winds are about 5 to 6 miles per hour coming from exactly were we were going. This simply means we get to tack a lot, (that is turn into the wind and sail close to the wind in a zig zag up wind direction.) Unfortunately familiarity breeds contempt. We have gotten so good at tacking that we decided we needed to spice it up a little. Continue reading 20180728 The Grand Adventure – Part 3→
The Saanich Peninsula and the Saanich Inlet: Genoa Bay and Samsung Narrows,
We have arrived in Canada stayed at a very ritzy marina, The Van Isle Marina in Tsehum Harbor. There were many yachts over seventy five foot long. Hundreds more in the 35 to 50 foot range. We made good use of our time there with a birding walk around the edge of Roberts Bay. Lots of crows, Great Blue Herons and several Cormorants. We saw both Double Crested and Pelagic Cormorants. Continue reading 20180722 The Grand Adventure – Part 2→
