Sept 22 thru 24

Sept 22 We are now in Kalispel, Montana for a couple days. We are going to Glacier National Park tomorrow. The only pass in Glacier Park (Logan) is closed for repairs, so we are only going to see the East side of the Mountain.
Sept 23 Today we started to go to Glacier Park but there was clouds covering the peaks of the mountains and the forecast was better for tomorrow so we decided to wait a day.
On the way back to the RV we found a Costco and since we hadn't been to Costco since we left, Kent went nuts. I thought he was going to run in the front door and kiss the floor and hug all the employees.
Sept 24 It was a beautiful sunny day to go to Glacier so we packed a lunch and went to the park. The drive was very steep and the road was pretty narrow. Sharon didn't look down in some of the areas. We saw a huge Mountain Goat feeding and a lot of Kodak film was in use by the many tourist taking his picture. Farther up the mountain we saw 2 Big Horn Sheep real close to the road but there was no place to park. About a 1/2 mile up the road there was a small pull off so we stopped and walked down the hill to where we could see them. Some people saw a Moose and a Bear but the only thing we saw at the bottom of the mountain were 5 Deer. Glacier National Park sure had a beautiful view, drive and our lunch was great, this is a must to see.

Sept 21

Sept 21 Our next stop is Shelby, Montana. We have had fun trying to find a postcard for Sharons granddaughter. We finally went to the train depot and found a picture of the depot with the name on the building. While looking around town we found a welcome to Shelby sign.(picture) Shelby is a small town and is known as the crossroads of the US. All trains going North, South, East, and West pass through the town. They had 6 tracks and 3 of them were full of trains that had over 120 cars. They say that 60 or 70 trains pass by Shelby every day. That explains why we went to the train depot for the postcard, it's the most active place in the town. Across the street from the depot was an Elks Lodge. We decided to ask them where there was a good place to eat. They recommended a Mexican restaurant down the street. The food was very poor I think we should have stuck with eating meat and potatoes in this part of the US.

Sept 19 and 20

Sept 19 Today we arrived in Glasgow, Montana. On exploring the town we came upon our first Albertsons grocery store since we left home. We are having Spaghetti for dinner tonight so we bought some "real west coast hot French bread" and some Gold and Soft margarine that we couldn't find on all our travels. ("we're living in luxury").
Outside of Glasgow is Fort Peck Dam. The World Almanac lists the dam as the largest earth filled dam in the USA. It was the first dam built on the Missouri river basin. It was authorized by President Franklin Roosevelt and was built in 1933 during the depression. The peak employment was 11,000 people who came to small towns around Glasgow. Many more people came to Montana for work and setting up many businesses to supply the needs for building the dam.
At the dam there is a museum which has many artifacts that were uncovered during construction. There were dinosaur (picture) fossils found and more than 400 specimens that include a scull of a Tricera (picture) on display. This museum was run by the Corp of Engineers and had a lot of interesting information on how the dam was built and the towns developed.

Sept 18th

Sept 18 We are traveling on Highway 2 all across the northern part of the United States. We picked up Highway 2 in Michigan and will leave it in Idaho. Everyone we talked to said it was going to be real slow but we have found just the opposite. The traffic is real light in fact we will go for 30 or 40 miles before we will see another car(almost scary).
We drove to Minot, North Dakota. Its a small town, population of 13,000. There really isn't much to see here so we will just stay one night and go to Glasgo, Montana in the morning.

Sept 15 thru 17

Sept 15 We are on the road today heading to Grand Forks, ND. It is a really cold and raining which we aren't accustomed to having. This will be a night that we will watch TV and listen to the rain.
Sept 16 Another wet and cold winter day. We stayed home and caught up on the Computer. One of our stops is Glacier National Park we are hoping we didn't plan seeing it to late in the year. They say it could snow up in the northern Rockies.
This evening we went out to dinner and the stock car races. Our plans for the races were canceled because lighting had blown out the power in a 30 block area where the races were being held. When we got home the TV said they had a tornado alert until 1:00 AM. Sharon was real nervous when they kept showing our County in the storm center alert. She had seen a couple of them go over her house in South Dakota years ago. Sharon said she was going to stay awake until the alert was over but when Kent woke up at 12:30 AM she was sound asleep. The thunder and lighting was severe and we used our battery radio for news coverage until the alert was over.
Sept 17 Today we went to Grizzlies Pub they had a football feed. All the hot dogs you can eat for $5.00. Brats are one of Kents' favorite meals, so we watched football and ate lots of Brats.
The table next to us said we should go see the Ralph Engelstad Ice Arena. It is one of the finest hockey fields in the world. The floors are imported Marble and is 400,000 sq ft. It has 5 stories and will seat 11,406 people. It was closed when we were there, darn!

Sept 13 and 14

Sept 13 We are in Bemidji, MN slowly working our way home. Today we are driving to Itasca State Park where the mighty Mississippi river begins its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. The RV park has a RV Caravan checking in on the weekend. The RV Caravan of about 30 RV's is going to follow the Mississippi rivers 2552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico. The headwaters of the Mississippi starts out of lake Itasca and is so shallow and narrow everyone removes their shoes and wades across the river on foot. probably 500 tourist per day. (a good place to get athletes foot). (picture)
Sept 14 We spent the day looking around the area and town. We went to dinner at a Casino and had some slot fun. We ordered Fish and Chips and it was a whole 12 inch Walleye deep fried. They didn't serve Fish and Chips for dinner only during lunch but they made an exception for us. We have found the service in the mid west is exceptional. Tomorrow we are heading for North Dakota.

Sept 11

Sept 11 Today we toured the Historic Congdon Estate (Glensheen). It is a 39 room mansion on7.6 acres built in 1905 for Charles Congdon and his family. He was an attorney mining entrepreneur and state legislator. The home was built right on Lake Superior with its own garden house, boat house and a place for a very large vessels to tie up. It was built with the very best of everything. It has three levels plus the attic. Every room has the original carpets, drapes and furniture. There was an intercom system in all the rooms. Everything was way ahead of its time with the best of everything money could buy. The house was willed to the University of Minnesota (Duluth)

Sept 7 thur 9th

Sept 7th and 8th Doing odds and ends and travel.
Sept 9th We are now in Duluth, Minnesota, the drive was beautiful with all the Sugar Maple and Birch trees changing color. The Birch tree is the weed in the North woods, when they cut down the pine, maple, and tamarack tree the Birch tree reseeds and grows wild.
Our campground is on an Island in the middle of the city. To reach our Island we have to cross a steel aerial lift bridge that's 138 ft high and 336 ft long. (picture) The campground is in a marina right on the water. We enjoy the shops and the restaurants that are on the other side of the bridge. Sharon took a picture of the jetty light through the steel bars of the bridge when we walked across for lunch.
Our parking space is used for large yachts during the winter so it is right on a pier. The marina is full of fishing, sail boats, and yachts that we can see from our window. We can see the city lights across the water and also view the bridge while sitting at our dining room table.
The bridge allows large grain and gravel ships to enter and leave the harbor. When the ships leave the harbor they sound their horn and depart under the bridge for lake Superior and the ocean. We saw a over 500 ft long ship leave the harbor for the Atlantic ocean.We were amazed to find out the elevation of Lake Superior is 602 ft. This means that the ships that enter and leave Lake Superior must enter 14 locks to reach the Atlantic Ocean. That takes about 8 days for the ships to get through the locks. It sure didn't look all that difficult when we watched them sail by.

Sept 5th and 6th

Tues. 5th We drove to Iron Mountain, Michigan. Our campground is run by a young couple in their first year in business. They are very helpful and are making sure we are very happy. We haven't had this kind of service since we left South Dakota.
Wed. 6th As we explored the town we saw a sign directing us to the "Bat cave". It is an old abandon Iron mine (1928) where the top is closed off and a strong steel cage is built over it with the top left open. (picture) It is the second largest colony of bats in North America. There are 8 species of bats there ranging in a lot of different sizes. They start hibernating in Aug and Sept. By October they are all in the cave for the winter. Until it gets cold, they come out and feed in the evenings. We watched them come out at dusk, it was very interesting. We had to overcome the thought of them getting caught in our hair or hitting us. The city has benches to sit on and signs with all the information on all the species. We were laughing with some other people there what strange things you find to do when you have lots of time to do everything.
Thur. 7th We went to the ski jump here. It was the tallest, steepest wooden structure I have ever seen. They had the World Ski Jump Cup here in the year 1996. I am not sure exactly on the year. All the states enter the competition by signing up and the Olympic people come and use the jump and when all jumps are tried out, the best one gets to host the cup. It is 176 ft high 380 ft long and has a total ride length of 1032 ft. Kent climbed over half way up,(picture looking down also one looking up) and he scared me half to death. When he stopped and looked down, he realized how straight up it went and stopped and made it back down hanging on to the rail with both hands. Black clouds , thunder and rain sprinkles also started up after he got half way.

Sept 2 thru 4th

Sat 2nd We drove back to Green Bay to see more of the city and have lunch at a cafe that was recommended by a worker at the Stadium. It was suppose to be the best hamburger in Wisconsin. What a disappointment I think the cook was the same one that started the place in 1929.
Sun 3rd Today we packed a picnic lunch and went to the harbor and watch the fishermen while we ate our lunch. Wisconsin allows a fisherman to have 3 fishing rods in use, it didn't seem to help because we didn't see any caught using the 3 rods. After lunch we walked out on the jetty and saw a fisherman using one rod catch a 8 pound Coho Salmon. It was nice and bright I wonder if fresh water Salmon taste different?
Mon. 4th We are leaving Wisconsin tomorrow for Iron Mountain, Michigan. Today we finished our excursions in Wisconsin by going to the city of Manitowoc. Most of the Wisconsin Ports have maritime Museums but this one is suppose to be the best. Manitowoc Ship yard had built Submarines during World War II so they had a submarine to tour. It was quite interesting hearing how they really functioned and it wasn't as roomy and glamorous as the movies show. Sharon thought the galley was cute (picture) and the eating an sleeping quarters were tight and cozy.(a woman's point of view) It made our home on wheels really seem large.