Lake Itasca (MN) to Saginaw (MN) - 161 miles

Sept. 17, 2011 - We drove the car back to the Mississippi River headwaters after a breakfast of applesauce pancakes.  It was the first time I stirred homemade applesauce into the pancake batter; it was really good.  There were a lot of people at the headwaters this morning.  I’m so glad we had the place to ourselves last night.  The river is higher than normal, so there wasn’t a place to plant our feet on each side of the water.  We saw the Mississippi River several more times as we headed east on Highway 2.  It is a long and winding river...

We stopped in Grand Rapids, MN to take a few photos for a friend of ours who lives in Sequim.  She was raised there 80 years ago.  It was fun for us to get out of the RV and walk the downtown streets.  We discovered an old school that has been turned into a museum and shops.  Judy Garland was also born in Grand Rapids and there is memorabilia about her.

We’re spending the night in an RV park near Saginaw, Minnesota.  It got dark here by 7:30 pm.  Yikes, is Fall on the way?

Great MN sweet rolls - Yah, For Sure, You Betcha'

Larimore (ND) to Lake Itasca (MN) - 149 miles

Sept. 16, 2011 - We are now in Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes.  We stopped at a small grocery store along the highway and bought two sweet rolls - a jelly-filled Bismarck for me and a glazed cinnamon roll for Tom.  We ate them as soon as we got back to the RV; they were Oh, So Good!  You just can’t get sweet rolls in the West as good as those made here in the Midwest.  My friend, Flo, says it’s the flour in the Midwest that makes the difference. 

Tonight, we’re staying at Itasca State Park near the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  The forests here seem so much smaller to me now that we are living in the Pacific northwest with its huge trees.  After we backed into our campsite, Cooper escaped from an open window and hid in the framing under the RV.  It took Tom a half hour to coax him out.  After that little drama, Tom and I escaped in the car for a scenic drive along the lake.  We discovered that the restaurant at the Douglas Lodge was serving walleye.  It was a wonderful dinner, complete with a wild rice salad.  Mmmmmm...Oh, So Good!

We still had daylight, so we headed over to the headwaters of the Mississippi River.  It was so cool to see the clear water of Lake Itasca flow over a rock spillway to begin the Mississippi’s 2,552 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tom at Mississippi headwaters - Lake Itasca, MN

Pat at Mississippi River headwaters

Williston (ND) to Larimore (ND) - 313 miles

Sept. 15, 2011 - It was another windy day of driving, but we were on divided highway today which made it easier.  I’ve dubbed the RV - The Hippo!  It’s wide, slow, difficult to control, and sucks up a steady flow of fuel. 

The southeast winds today stirred up whitecaps on the shallow roadside water holes along the highway.  We could see areas where the spring floods left high water debris on fences and large tree branches and trunks pushed up along the side of the road.  We drove by the geographical center of North America at Rugby, North Dakota.  We passed from the golden open plains of Montana and western North Dakota to a region of cornfields and green grasses and trees that remind me of our Midwest homeland.

While traveling the open plains on Highway 2, the northern east-west route across the U.S., we saw several bikers loaded with gear cycling west.  The big surprise, though, was seeing two separate backpackers loaded with their gear walking westward in the eastbound lane.  They were not hitchhiking.  I would love to hear their stories.

We’re staying at a wonderful place tonight - Larimore Dam Recreation Area.  We walked to the lake as soon as we got the RV parked.  I love seeing oak trees again; I have missed them since we moved to the Pacific northwest.  The smell of autumn is in the air.  The nights are cool.

Havre (MT) to Williston (ND) - 313 miles

Sept. 14, 2011 - It was a long day crossing the high plains of Montana on a narrow, two-lane road with a wide RV heading into an east wind.  The loose steering wheel on the RV makes it a challenge to keep the vehicle in our lane.  Tom was frustrated with RVing today.  Our engine battery is dead every morning and Tom has to switch over to the RV cabin batteries to start the RV.  We are not impressed with the Ford chassis (FORD = Fix or Repair Daily).

Montana is a wide state - 667 miles crossing on Highway 2.  We were glad to get into North Dakota late this afternoon.  We headed for Trent Lake to spend the night, but discovered that spring floods devastated the recreation area and closed it to camping.  A young man fishing at the lake filled us in on the details of the area.  The lake, a wide spot in the Missouri River, rose 6 feet during the flood.  There were even white caps on the water over the road!  He is working for the oil companies that are extracting oil in this area.  He is from Minnesota and sends money back to his mother and sister.  He reminded me of the young CCC men who worked after the Great Depression to send money home to their families. 

We got back onto Highway 2 and found an RV park just down the road.  We’re parked near the highway again tonight, but we’re glad to have a spot.  With all the oil workers needing lodging in the area, we heard it would be hard to find a place.  It’s late and we’re tired and hungry.  We drove into Central Time at the Montana/North Dakota border.  By the time we got settled and started dinner, we were eating about 8:30 pm.  We needed a special boost tonight, so we put a favorite Leonard Cohen DVD into the player and actually ran our TV!  It’s the first time that the TV has been on for this trip - eight days on the road.

West Glacier (MT) to Havre (MT) - 230 miles

Sept. 13, 2011 - “I wonder where we’ll end up tonight.”  Those were my words as I woke up this morning and started the day.  Each day is an adventure... 

I made time this morning to do stretches; I really needed to make that a higher priority.  Tea in bed came afterwards!  By 11:00 am, we were on Highway 2 driving around the south border of Glacier National Park.  We passed over the Continental Divide at Marias Pass - 5,280 feet.  Driving out of the Rocky Mountains and onto the high plains, we followed the railroad the entire way.  Tonight, we’re in an RV park in Havre, MT, spittin’ distance to Highway 2 on one side and a railroad yard behind us.  This one is not a wilderness setting!

West Glacier (MT)

Sept. 12, 2011 - Today we decided to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road across Glacier National Park.  It’s a spectacular 50-mile road cutting through the heart of the park.  The road was designed to blend in with the natural environment.  It is a work of art with its quarried rock supports and arches and tunnels.  There is major road construction going on now to repair surfaces and rock walls, but the delays did give us lots of time to gaze at the wonderful views of Glacier’s mountains and valleys and wild flowers and waterfalls.  We were thrilled to see a small black bear cross the road in front of our car.  We even saw two mountain goats high up on a snowfield when we hiked 4 miles on a trail at Logan Pass, 6646 feet in elevation, to an overlook of Hidden Lake.  This was the same trail that Tom and I had hiked some 30 years ago, but we hadn’t made it to the lake.  Maybe in 30 more years we will make it all the way down to the lake! 

We turned around near the east end of the park and returned to West Glacier on the same spectacular Going-to-the-Sun Road.  It was nice to get back to our RV site to relax with good books and wine/beer.  Tom’s trying Montana brews - tonight’s was Golden Grizzly Ale.

The RVers next to us had just returned from a five-day backpack trip in Glacier.  They are from Alberta, Canada and travel in their fifth wheel trailer to wilderness places.  They did see grizzly bears on their hike.  I’d love to backpack in Glacier someday, but I just can’t imagine sharing the trail with grizzly bears!  Besides, this RVing lifestyle is really starting to grow on me!

Pat on Going-to-the-Sun Road

Black bear (taken through car window)

Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park

West Glacier (MT)

Sept. 11, 2011 - A layover day... After a late breakfast of blueberry pancakes, we headed into Glacier National Park to kayak on Lake McDonald.  We paddled up the west side of the lake.  The mountains at the head of the lake were shrouded in a smoke haze from a wildfire burning in the Bitterroot Mountains west of here.  We found a nice pullout along the shore for a lunch break.  Someone had created an artistic stone design on the shore using small, colorful stones.  A larger rock was etched with “Barbara was here 9-10-11.”  It was a special surprise to find her stone artwork.  We paddled against a light wind heading up the lake.  On our return trip, the wind changed about a half mile from the boat launch and we were paddling into a strong wind.  Tom has never seen such an immediate wind change on the water!

We ate dinner at the Belton Chalet in West Glacier, an old lodge dating back to 1910.  It was our first restaurant meal since we began our trip.  We checked at the main desk to see if we could use their internet connection, but they wanted $5.00 to connect.  We passed on that, and discovered that the office of our campground has a great free connection.

Tom on Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Circle of Stones