17 - 31 July 2021 Cook, Washington with Zoe and Family

Home with Lulu, Zoe, Gabe, Pearl

We never get tired of the ride along the Columbia River on Oregon I-84 when you come around a corner and see snow topped Mt. Hood looming in front of you. And then there's the view of Mt. Hood heading up the mountain a few miles from Zoe's, rising above the Columbia River (see below). Way more spectaclar in person!

16 miles north of the Columbia Gorge, their home is nestled high in the forest between three volcanos; Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.  the entire gorge area is trees on top of lava flows.   For the past few years, much more worrisome at present is fire.  At the moment most of the fires are north and east of them and we have no smoke.  That can change at any moment and we have fire evacuation plans.  They are near the end of any paved road except the one to their house from the Gorge.  The post office doesn’t deliver past the little dirt road they live on. There are only three houses on the main road past theirs before it turns to dirt and their mailboxes are next to Zoe’s.  

We traveled west on one of them on our way to Goose Lake with Zoe and there is no way we can get the RV through.  They say the other road north of them is worse.  So we will have to leave the RV if the southern route is blocked.  Goose Lake was beautiful but it took an hour to go the 23 miles as about 15 miles of them were dusty, washboard, dirt roads!   

Lava Flow Behind Zoe at Goose Lake

Cooling Down A Hot Day

Gabe spends much of the warmer months on these awful  roads throughout Washington trapping wolves, attaching radio frequency collars and doing a medical checkup including taking blood and DNA sample from their ears.  Zoe also travels in the outback for her work working with livestock producers encouraging non-lethal methods of wolf control and with native tribes providing bear awareness training.  Defenders of Wildlife recently published a “Bear Awareness” booklet that she produced.    

Our Hawaii friends, Dean and Jaynine spend 4 months a year RVing in the Northwest and we have been able to meet up with them a couple of times which is crazy cool.  They came out to Zoe’s one day and we had a grand time catching up, telling stories, hiking around the property and swimming in the river.  Can’t believe its been 20 years since we moved from Hawaii.  

  

Having a Blast with Dean and Jaynine

Mt. Hood above Columbia River 

Just love it, Zoe is still a rebel fighting for what she believes.  From the time in high school when she argued with her teacher and classmates that snakes have the right to survive to a recent conference where she was invited speak about Defender's wolf projects.  Her presentation was well received.  After watching a film about the host groups conservation efforts, Zoe stood up during the Q&A and said to the effect, "really, you think dissing fellow wildlife conservation groups efforts and infighting is going help the conservation cause?" Some argued back, some agreed.  At future meetings with people she sometimes get "oh yay,  your the one who stood up at the ......  conference......."

7/14 -15 Headwaters Of The Missouri State Park, Three Forks MT

We dry camped in the 20 spot campground in this park which is about 1.5 miles long at the confluence of the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers which all merge to form the headwaters of the 2300 mile Missouri River. Lewis and Clark explored and named these rivers in 1805. To explore like Lewis and Clark with the goal of paddling and swimming in all 4 rivers, we put the kyack in by the road on the upper left corner of this photo. We floated for 2 lovely hours beginning in the Madison River. As we came to the Jefferson we paddled up it a litle ways and got out to swim and explore. Saw tracks along river bank for deer, moose, a possible bear, gulls and I found a large piece of an antique green blown glass lamp shade. We could hear the Gallatin River coming into the Madison well before we could

Approaching the Gallatin and Missouri Rivers

see it which was unnerving as we were determined to paddle it and swim. Coming around the bend it hit us broadside and we had to paddle like hell to maneuver up river. Once we made it to the bank, we walked upriver a bit and floated down one at a time so the other could grab on if we tried to shoot past and end up in the Missouri River for a 2 1/2 month float to the Gulf of Mexico. Adventure is worth it when only a little damage to the body or boat results! The Missouri begins where the Gallitan comes in so we got our 4th river paddle and swim as we disenbarked. Amazing to think L&C paddled and/or walked their boats against these currents for hundreds of miles! Sacajawea was captured here as a child and eventually returned as a member of the L&C Corps of Discovery. Another member of this expedition, John Colter, later made several trips to this area in search of furs and is where he began his famous run from the Blackfeet Indians. (Google it, an incredible story of survival). Pioneers slowly settled the surrounding area and transformed it into profitable grazing and farming land.

Aiken Hotel, Old Town 1869

Trappers came shortely after L&C , and miners for the gold and silver discovered, then settlers/farmers began Gallatin City which was one of the earliers settlements in Montana. In In 1880, hoping the railroad was going through this area, entrepeneurs Asher Paul and brother-in-law Michael Hanley purchased 160-acres from Mr. Shedd and changed the name to “Bridgeville” because of couple dozen bridges Shedd built across the rivers, now the present-day “Old Town”. Unfortunately the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks were installed a mile south of Bridgeville. Paul and Hanley dabbled in mining with "The Silver Mine". Paul and Hanley sold their lands in Bridgeville in 1882 to a group of Englishmen, John Charter and Co., who settled the area and platted town, officially calling it Three Forks. Other reports say that Paul and Hanley platted the town and called it Three Forks. The cool little Three Forks Heritage Museum has some information about this Michael Hanley who we need to research to see if he is a relative. These Hanley's were from Limerick, Ireland. Many Hanley's were buried here in the 1800's. A short walk from the campground are remains of "Old Town" including the Aiken Hotel. Walking through the tall grass kicked up hundreds of grasshoppers with every step. This beautiful sunset from the campground doesn't show the hint and smell of smoke from all the wildfires burning north and west of here. The weather this summer has tempereature and rain records all over the world. In this area it is DRY DRY DRY although the temperature while were here was comfortable.

Smokey Campsite Sunset

7/11/21 Black Hills, South Dakota

 

Crazy Horse Monument

7/11 Every Time we come here to visit Joan and Craig we say we’re going to stay for a week but it never gets into the schedule. This is one of the most beautiful places in the world (I know, we say that a lot throughout our travels across this beautiful country) with so much to see and do that we have decided the next family reunion should be here. 

This time we stayed at Sheridan lake State Park and it is magnificent. As far as the eye can see, the Black Hills are covered with pine/fir trees which look black when approaching them from miles away.  Truly amazing is the beautiful grass covering the forest floor.  We didn't fill our empty water tank at the last stop figuring we were going to fill it at this campground. They said they had potable water but they didn't say the spigot could not attach a hose! Good thing there’s a lake to bath in. The park is quiet with lots of room between sites as you can see in photo with John doing his morning stretch routine we call "Nelsen's" after our Hawaii friend Dean Nelsen who put the basic routine together. Joan and Craig came out to visit us at the campground and we had great time learning about plans for their new house with a 360 degree view from the hilltop behind their current home.

 View from RV

Looks like Joan’s Subaru Towing the RV

Crazy horse memorial is a fabulous place to visit. The size of this project is incredible. The monument is being carved out of Thunderhead Mountain (in background of picture above) about 10 miles from Joan and Craig's house. Crazy Horse (1840ish - 1877) was a great warrior who led the Lakota against Custer in the 1887 battle known as Custers Last Stand. Lakaota Chief, Henry Standing Bear (1874-19....), a cousin of Crazy Horse (1840-1877), commissioned the poor, self taught, Polish-American sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski saying "My fellow chiefs would like the white man to know that the red man has great hero’s also." Standing Bear gave the Forest Service his personally owned 900 acres of land in exchange for the rights to erect this memorial "to honor the principles and values for which Native Americans stood and to honor all the indigenous people of North America. Crazy Horse is riding his steed out of the granite of the sacred Black Hills with his left hand gesturing forward in response to the derisive question asked by a Cavalry man, “Where are your lands now?” Crazy Horse replied, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.”" Korczak's final dimensions were planned to be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The arm of Crazy Horse will be 263 feet (80 m) long and the head 87 feet high; by comparison, the heads of the four U.S. Presidents at Mount Rushmore are each only 60 feet high. Started in the late 1940's, it could take a hundred years to finish due to issues with funds, access to qulified stone masons, weather and millions of tons of more rock to remove. Built entirely from private funds so that no government agency can have any say/control of the project, Korczak's family are still running the operation which is now developed into a heritage center and a university where Native Americans can go for free to learn about their culture.  Photo below is of Korczak and Chief Standing Bear. 

Crazy Horse Final Product

7/6/2021 Westwards Ho

RV Hall of Fame

7/6/21  Yeah, we’re on the road again and traveling to see Zoe, Gabe, Pearl and Lulu in Washington state. The first two days of travel were much longer than planned due to traffic and construction. John’s plans for six or seven hour days turned into 10 to 12 as we made 835 miles to Elkhart Indiana on the second night. Listening to James Taylor “The Secret to Life Is Enjoying The Passage Of Time”  and Johns favorite “Damn Damn This Traffic Jam, hurts my motor to go so slow” helped pass the time.  The next trip we’ll add another day so we don’t arrive so tired. Guess we gettin old. 

We stayed at a Walmart parking lot in Dubois, Pennsylvania the first night which was packed with other RVs. Have never seen this many RVs on the road. A phenomenon that has occurred as a result of RVing being a safe way to travel during Covid.  John started making reservations in March for this trip and often found they were full or we were getting about the last spot. We stayed at our favorite Elkhart RV Motorhome Hall of Fame Museum and took the time to tour the new exhibits of RVs and motorhomes dating back to Conestoga wagon’s.  

Will and Carol

7/8  Met up with John’s cousin Will Duke and his wife Carol at their seasonal Hickory Grove campground in Sheffield Illinois. Tucked amongst the corn and bean fields, the setting was Midwest idyllic and dear to their hearts since they are farmers having inherited farms from there elders.  A canal ran right through the fields and we spent a morning biking the towpath having the place all to ourselves.