Hey, we found this neat AirBnB place in Reno where we were lucky enough to get a long-term reservation!
We stayed Friday night in Billings, MT and had decided to take it easy and stay at Twin Falls, ID on the way to Reno. However, when we got up Saturday morning, we decided we had enough traveling and just wanted to get home. Left early and arrived home about 10 p.m. It was Interstate all the way (90 to 15 to 86 to 84 - a little bit of US 93 - 80).
Montana is such a beautiful state to drive through (and biiigggggg). The 80 mph speed limit helps you get through it. It has so many natural resources which are easily apparent as you travel through the state - cattle, timber, farmland, coal, oil, water, mountains, etc. One of their treasures is the Wheat Montana Bakery in Three Forks - without a doubt the best bakery in the country. We had to stop and get a loaf to take home - we passed up the cinnamon buns (you gain about a pound just looking at them).
Three Forks is kind of an interesting town - it's at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison Rivers. If you know your geography, you'll realize that they form the Missouri River. Just east of Butte, MT, we crossed the continental divide at 6363'. Interesting because the day before we crossed the continental divide in North Dakota at 1491'; however, that one is the divide which separates East from West in the US.
Driving from Twin Forks, ID to Wells, NV, we ran into a hellacious rain storm. Who knew you had to return to Nevada to get caught in a deluge! After that, it was an uneventful trip on I-80 across Nevada. Where's auto-pilot when you need it? As we got closer to Reno, the smell of smoke was heavy in the air. We later found out that there are five fires burning up near Pyramid Lake - a total of over 32,000 acres! They sure could have used that rain which we hit in the eastern part of the state.
Back home we moved the Jeep out of the garage - it protested, but the Red Baron takes precedence. Unloaded the car, unpacked some bags (I think the Impala raised about two inches when everything came out). Ken and Melanie had given us some elk sausage when we left Christine. It survived the trip well, but Vi wanted to reapportion it into smaller portions, That will be a reminder of our visit there for a while. The sausage came from an elk hunting trip which Ken and Connor had made to Colorado. Ken, we noticed a sign in Montana which advertised "beetle cleaned mounts" - maybe you should try that on Connor's rack :-).
Think we'll stick around Reno for a while (although the Garlic Festival is going on in Gilroy, CA). Hot August Nights starts this week, so it'll be fun seeing all the old cars in town.
Our thanks to everyone for their hospitality on our month-long trip across the country. It's the longest trip we've taken in a while, but we caught up with everyone along the way. The only one we missed was George - guess we'll have to wait and visit them in Pensacola in the winter.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Friday, July 29, 2016
Billings, MT
Here we are in Billings, Montana after a straight line drive from Fargo, ND. Where's the automatic pilot when you need it!
We missed blogging yesterday and I know you all are dying to know what we did and where we went - yeah right! Anyway, it was a day of doing errands. I took the Red Baron to a local Chevrolet dealer for an oil change and lube. We're still under the warranty, so it's free (always a good thing). Vi and Melanie went to Fargo, did some shopping, and then met Michelle and Karen for coffee.
After a great dinner of northern pike and Carly's alfredo pasta, we went to Celsey's final summer league basketball game. I had never seen Celsey play and was amazed at how talented she was. Here's this "delicate" little blonde running back and forth, shooting three-pointers, and just being a great player. Obviously, it was recognized because she got the All-Star award for the summer league for the second year in a row.
Friday morning we checked out of Ken and Melanie's and stopped by Michelle's to say hello to Adrian. He had been in Seattle for the week, so we never got a chance to see him while we were in North Dakota. Visited for a while and then headed west on I-94 toward home. Great weather for our trip and it's always fun driving through North Dakota and Montana. Beautiful country - we just need that auto-pilot - that way we can catch up on our sleep and still make time :-)
The drive through Montana gave credence to the Big Sky moniker for Montana. I-94 in Montana follows the Yellowstone River and is an awesome drive through farmland, cattle rangeland, and wide open prairie. Looks like it was pretty drive because some of the feeder rivers into Yellowstone River, like Powder River, were almost dry.
We were going to try to make it home in two days, but decided to stop in Billings and then make another stop somewhere along the line heading toward Reno. We are staying in a Best Western in downtown Billings and found a neat pub across the street to have a drink. They had a terrific band (Slender Ribs), but while we were there, they were only practicing for a later performance at 9:00 p.m. Great music, even it was only practice. We later walked down the street and had "dinner" at a local tapa's place.
Tomorrow we're heading down to Bozeman and then into Idaho, probably staying at Twin Falls, ID before driving home on Sunday to Reno.
We missed blogging yesterday and I know you all are dying to know what we did and where we went - yeah right! Anyway, it was a day of doing errands. I took the Red Baron to a local Chevrolet dealer for an oil change and lube. We're still under the warranty, so it's free (always a good thing). Vi and Melanie went to Fargo, did some shopping, and then met Michelle and Karen for coffee.
After a great dinner of northern pike and Carly's alfredo pasta, we went to Celsey's final summer league basketball game. I had never seen Celsey play and was amazed at how talented she was. Here's this "delicate" little blonde running back and forth, shooting three-pointers, and just being a great player. Obviously, it was recognized because she got the All-Star award for the summer league for the second year in a row.
Friday morning we checked out of Ken and Melanie's and stopped by Michelle's to say hello to Adrian. He had been in Seattle for the week, so we never got a chance to see him while we were in North Dakota. Visited for a while and then headed west on I-94 toward home. Great weather for our trip and it's always fun driving through North Dakota and Montana. Beautiful country - we just need that auto-pilot - that way we can catch up on our sleep and still make time :-)
The drive through Montana gave credence to the Big Sky moniker for Montana. I-94 in Montana follows the Yellowstone River and is an awesome drive through farmland, cattle rangeland, and wide open prairie. Looks like it was pretty drive because some of the feeder rivers into Yellowstone River, like Powder River, were almost dry.
We were going to try to make it home in two days, but decided to stop in Billings and then make another stop somewhere along the line heading toward Reno. We are staying in a Best Western in downtown Billings and found a neat pub across the street to have a drink. They had a terrific band (Slender Ribs), but while we were there, they were only practicing for a later performance at 9:00 p.m. Great music, even it was only practice. We later walked down the street and had "dinner" at a local tapa's place.
Tomorrow we're heading down to Bozeman and then into Idaho, probably staying at Twin Falls, ID before driving home on Sunday to Reno.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Christine (cont'd)
I think yesterday was the first day we did not go anyway - didn't get in the car, didn't go for a hike, didn't go out to eat, didn't do "nothing" - except to visit with family. We spent the entire day at Ken and Melanie's talking and just having family time with people as they drifted in and out. It was one of those picture-perfect days in North Dakota, sunshine, slight breeze, and temperature in the 80's. The Chamber of Commerce couldn't have provided a better day. Even the mosquitoes cooperated by staying out of the way - at least until late evening! Conner cooked lunch - chicken breasts and sausage made from elk that he and Ken got in Colorado last year, with wild rice.
In a way, dinner was kind of a repeat of the previous evening with all the family present. Continued celebrating Reilee's twenty-first birthday and Melinda's XXXX birthday. They were almost born on the same day, would have been a great mother/daughter story! Speaking of birthdays, this was the first opportunity for us to get all three people together who were born on April 30th. You may recognize the one in the middle. On her right is Christopher Friesen (Melissa's son) and in her arms is Asher Friesen (Blake's son) - the latest addition to our family. I think it's the first time I have ever heard Vi say - "Take a picture of me" (with the baby)!!!!
In a way, dinner was kind of a repeat of the previous evening with all the family present. Continued celebrating Reilee's twenty-first birthday and Melinda's XXXX birthday. They were almost born on the same day, would have been a great mother/daughter story! Speaking of birthdays, this was the first opportunity for us to get all three people together who were born on April 30th. You may recognize the one in the middle. On her right is Christopher Friesen (Melissa's son) and in her arms is Asher Friesen (Blake's son) - the latest addition to our family. I think it's the first time I have ever heard Vi say - "Take a picture of me" (with the baby)!!!!
Dinner was a fantastic array of foods, highlighted (at least for me) by the shoopnoodles and walleye fillets. That's not the correct way to spell shoopnoodles, but phonetically it's close. It's a flour and water mix fried in a pan. The really fun part was watching several generations standing at the stove making the dish. The walleyes were caught by Carley earlier in the week - see previous entry about the North Dakota Fish and Game Commission hot on her trail for exceeding her limit! We destroyed all the evidence. The meal was delicious and everyone had a great time. All contributed something, even if it was only in helping with the serving and cleaning-up. We won't even talk about the desserts - hardly a calorie in the bunch! The chocolate zucchini cake sounds like an odd mixture, but it was delicious.
Again, lots of conversation and recounting of family stories - actually, the stories started early in the day and continued until bedtime. It wasn't just a rehash of old stories, but a remembering of good times and not only those who were present, but all of the family - past and present. Now with Asher and younger generation in school and some about to graduate, it's also about the future. Really a great day and evening.
Today is running errands day - need to get the Red Baron serviced for the trip home tomorrow and pick up some items in Fargo. Vi will probably stay out at the Ken and Melanie's while I venture into the thriving metropolis. It's amazing to us how Fargo has grown over the years, no longer a sleepy little community, it's a thriving center of business, industry and retail. Being at the intersection of I-29 and I-94 doesn't hurt either.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Christine, ND
Check your Rand McNally Atlas for Christine - you'll find a huge town of 150 along the banks of the Red River. There seems to be a little larger city called Fargo about twenty miles north. We're staying with Vi's niece's family - Ken and Melanie Knudsen.
Started out from Grand Rapids, MN this morning and crossed the Mississippi River twice before heading south toward the lake country of Minnesota. As we were driving through Remer (probably about the same size as Christine), we noticed a lot of trees down along the highway. Seems like they had a storm with 90 mph winds come through recently - so recently that they haven't had a chance to dispose of all the downed trees, they just cut them back to the shoulder of the road. Must have been a scary storm since some of the damaged trees were good size.
As we passed through Walker, MN, we noticed a huge building to the right. Would you believe a casino? Northern Lights is a 40,000 square foot casino at the foot of Leech Lake - I think it's the Ojibwe Indian tribe which runs it. We thought that perhaps we would stop and let them help offset some of our trip expenses - instead we ended up contributing to their building fund. Oh well, better luck next time.
Continued through Detroit Lakes and hit US 10 into Fargo/Moorhead. Arrived a little after 1:00 p.m. and went to visit the Holy Cross Cemetery where Vi's parents and brother are buried.. A sad occasion, but we always pay our respects to them.
On a happier note, we arrived in Christine in the midst of Celsey's school picture operation. I think D-Day might have had a little more forethought, but it's close. Neat to see her as young woman about to graduate from high school. Karen, Vi's sister-in-law, came out and we had good time catching up while Melanie helped with the photo op. I took a walk around the farmstead and out to the Red River. Got my exercise not only by walking, but also by swatting the mosquitoes which Melanie said had just arrived in great numbers the day before - talk about good timing for our visit!
That evening we went into Fargo where they had a huge welcoming party for us. Oh okay, it was actually Reilee's 21st birthday party and Russ and Melinda hosted the family and her friends for dinner at Paradiso's Restaurant. Reille will be a senior at NDSU this coming year, graduating in May (same month as Danny, but a little earlier). It's going to be tough next year planning our trip around the various graduations. Afterwards, we stopped by Shotgun Sally's Saloon for a drink. I gather it's named after the song (look up those lyrics someday), but nobody who worked there was sure where the name came from. We were just going to have one drink, but a rainstorm moved through Fargo while we were there, forcing us to stay a little longer :-).
Back to Christine where Connor graciously had given up his room for our stay. Connor is at NDSU and his twin sister Carley is at UND - always a friendly rivalry, well, maybe not always friendly! Carley had arrived at Paradiso's late, but she was easily forgiven because she had been on a fishing trip up at Garrison Dam and brought back the legal limit of walleye's. Maybe not so legal since they had miscounted and had eleven fish, not ten - but who's counting. I hope the North Dakota Fish and Game Commission don't subscribe to this blog.
Started out from Grand Rapids, MN this morning and crossed the Mississippi River twice before heading south toward the lake country of Minnesota. As we were driving through Remer (probably about the same size as Christine), we noticed a lot of trees down along the highway. Seems like they had a storm with 90 mph winds come through recently - so recently that they haven't had a chance to dispose of all the downed trees, they just cut them back to the shoulder of the road. Must have been a scary storm since some of the damaged trees were good size.
As we passed through Walker, MN, we noticed a huge building to the right. Would you believe a casino? Northern Lights is a 40,000 square foot casino at the foot of Leech Lake - I think it's the Ojibwe Indian tribe which runs it. We thought that perhaps we would stop and let them help offset some of our trip expenses - instead we ended up contributing to their building fund. Oh well, better luck next time.
Continued through Detroit Lakes and hit US 10 into Fargo/Moorhead. Arrived a little after 1:00 p.m. and went to visit the Holy Cross Cemetery where Vi's parents and brother are buried.. A sad occasion, but we always pay our respects to them.
On a happier note, we arrived in Christine in the midst of Celsey's school picture operation. I think D-Day might have had a little more forethought, but it's close. Neat to see her as young woman about to graduate from high school. Karen, Vi's sister-in-law, came out and we had good time catching up while Melanie helped with the photo op. I took a walk around the farmstead and out to the Red River. Got my exercise not only by walking, but also by swatting the mosquitoes which Melanie said had just arrived in great numbers the day before - talk about good timing for our visit!
That evening we went into Fargo where they had a huge welcoming party for us. Oh okay, it was actually Reilee's 21st birthday party and Russ and Melinda hosted the family and her friends for dinner at Paradiso's Restaurant. Reille will be a senior at NDSU this coming year, graduating in May (same month as Danny, but a little earlier). It's going to be tough next year planning our trip around the various graduations. Afterwards, we stopped by Shotgun Sally's Saloon for a drink. I gather it's named after the song (look up those lyrics someday), but nobody who worked there was sure where the name came from. We were just going to have one drink, but a rainstorm moved through Fargo while we were there, forcing us to stay a little longer :-).
Back to Christine where Connor graciously had given up his room for our stay. Connor is at NDSU and his twin sister Carley is at UND - always a friendly rivalry, well, maybe not always friendly! Carley had arrived at Paradiso's late, but she was easily forgiven because she had been on a fishing trip up at Garrison Dam and brought back the legal limit of walleye's. Maybe not so legal since they had miscounted and had eleven fish, not ten - but who's counting. I hope the North Dakota Fish and Game Commission don't subscribe to this blog.
Monday, July 25, 2016
Grand Rapids, MN
Just to see if you're paying attention, you'll notice that this entry is not titled Duluth, MN! Short story is that we arrived in Duluth about noon and found it much too crowded for our tastes, so we continued on and landed here in Grand Rapids.
Started out on M28 from Ipsheming, MI (just love spelling that name) as a continuation of our previous days travels along MI 28 from Sault Ste Marie. You really can't see much along the road as it is a two-lane road between heavily forested land. If it wasn't for those darn trees, we could probably get a good view. Oh well, occasionally, we got a view of a lake through the trees. As we drove through the area, we passed by many houses located out in the boondocks. As Peter and I would say when we were out in the backroads of California and Nevada, you want to knock on their door and say - what the heck do you do out here?
It was really strange but we travelled more than four hours from Sault Ste Marie (straight north of Chicago) in an westerly direction and we were still in the Eastern Time Zone. The boundary between East and Central takes a very crazy path through Michigan and Wisconsin. We didn't hit the Central time zone until about half way through the day!
As we traversed the Upper Peninsula, the time zone was not the only confusing thing. The bigger question is why the UP is part of Michigan at all. It really should be part of Wisconsin. Did a little reading and found that the UP going to Michigan was the result of a land battle between Ohio and Michigan. Seems like Michigan territory owned the peninsula where Toledo, OH is located. There was a long drawn-out battle (only in Congress, not with arms) about who should own what. The end result was that Toledo peninsula went to Ohio and Michigan got the UP. Michigan was upset about what it thought was a useless piece of land not connected to them; however, when copper and iron were discovered, they were somewhat mollified. As a point of interest, it wasn't until 1957 when the Mackinac Bridge was built that the lower part of MI was connected to the UP. OK, enough history for the day.
We crossed through Bessemer, home of the Powderhorn Ski Area - billed as the Ski Capital of the Midwest (how much competition do you think they have for skiing areas). As we drove into Ironwood on the MI/WI border, we looked for (and found) a huge statue of Hiawatha in a local park.
To get an idea of the size, that's me standing at his foot! Maybe we should get him together with the statue of Paul Bunyan in Bemidji.
An interesting side note was our trip to the Wisconsin welcome center. They had a great exhibit on the iron mining industry in MI/WI. I thought that most of the iron mining was done in open pits, but it turns out that they also had deep shaft mines as well. At the welcome center, they had some of the bores which were taken out of the earth in order to sink the shafts. Down through solid granite!
While we were in the parking lot, we got to talking with a motorcyclist who had a beautiful trike. Turns out that it was a home-made trike which he was using to travel cross-country from Arizona to Michigan. It had an Astrovan 415 cc V6 engine and was an amazing piece of mechanical beauty.
We arrived in Duluth about mid-day (after the time change) and went through downtown, but decided that it was too big and too crowded for this trip, so we continued on US 2 toward Grand Rapids. On the way, we spotted a nine-hole golf course, so stopped to play. Fun way to break up the trip. Nice course (the Retreat Golf Course at Floodwood, MN). It had quite a bit of damage from a recent windstorm which they were in the process of cleaning up.
That brought us to Grand Rapids. The rapids are long gone, covered by water backed up by a dam on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi is about the size of the Truckee here. Supposedly, this is the start of the navigable headwaters of the Mississippi. Couldn't prove it by me.
Tomorrow we head into Fargo. We'll be staying with Melanie and Ken out on the farm which should be fun.
Started out on M28 from Ipsheming, MI (just love spelling that name) as a continuation of our previous days travels along MI 28 from Sault Ste Marie. You really can't see much along the road as it is a two-lane road between heavily forested land. If it wasn't for those darn trees, we could probably get a good view. Oh well, occasionally, we got a view of a lake through the trees. As we drove through the area, we passed by many houses located out in the boondocks. As Peter and I would say when we were out in the backroads of California and Nevada, you want to knock on their door and say - what the heck do you do out here?
It was really strange but we travelled more than four hours from Sault Ste Marie (straight north of Chicago) in an westerly direction and we were still in the Eastern Time Zone. The boundary between East and Central takes a very crazy path through Michigan and Wisconsin. We didn't hit the Central time zone until about half way through the day!
As we traversed the Upper Peninsula, the time zone was not the only confusing thing. The bigger question is why the UP is part of Michigan at all. It really should be part of Wisconsin. Did a little reading and found that the UP going to Michigan was the result of a land battle between Ohio and Michigan. Seems like Michigan territory owned the peninsula where Toledo, OH is located. There was a long drawn-out battle (only in Congress, not with arms) about who should own what. The end result was that Toledo peninsula went to Ohio and Michigan got the UP. Michigan was upset about what it thought was a useless piece of land not connected to them; however, when copper and iron were discovered, they were somewhat mollified. As a point of interest, it wasn't until 1957 when the Mackinac Bridge was built that the lower part of MI was connected to the UP. OK, enough history for the day.
We crossed through Bessemer, home of the Powderhorn Ski Area - billed as the Ski Capital of the Midwest (how much competition do you think they have for skiing areas). As we drove into Ironwood on the MI/WI border, we looked for (and found) a huge statue of Hiawatha in a local park.
To get an idea of the size, that's me standing at his foot! Maybe we should get him together with the statue of Paul Bunyan in Bemidji.
An interesting side note was our trip to the Wisconsin welcome center. They had a great exhibit on the iron mining industry in MI/WI. I thought that most of the iron mining was done in open pits, but it turns out that they also had deep shaft mines as well. At the welcome center, they had some of the bores which were taken out of the earth in order to sink the shafts. Down through solid granite!
We arrived in Duluth about mid-day (after the time change) and went through downtown, but decided that it was too big and too crowded for this trip, so we continued on US 2 toward Grand Rapids. On the way, we spotted a nine-hole golf course, so stopped to play. Fun way to break up the trip. Nice course (the Retreat Golf Course at Floodwood, MN). It had quite a bit of damage from a recent windstorm which they were in the process of cleaning up.
That brought us to Grand Rapids. The rapids are long gone, covered by water backed up by a dam on the Mississippi River. The Mississippi is about the size of the Truckee here. Supposedly, this is the start of the navigable headwaters of the Mississippi. Couldn't prove it by me.
Tomorrow we head into Fargo. We'll be staying with Melanie and Ken out on the farm which should be fun.
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Ishpeming, MN
Guess where the National Ski and Snowboard Museum? How about that - you got it right! Not sure why, because it doesn't look like there's a hill high enough here to ski off, but there must be something close by.
We had a great ride over from North Bay today. Coming across Ontario, it was almost a straight line through forest and farm land to Sault Ste Marie. Due to my outdated map (see previous entry), we didn't realize that the new 17 bypassed Sudbury, so we missed that opportunity. However, it looked like there had been quite a bit of reclamation since we had last been through there. Danny should look up the Dynamic Earth Museum there (www.dyanmicearth.ca). Pretty drive along the north side of Lake Huron. Crossed back into the United States at SSM - huge bridge over the locks which connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron.
Got back into the US and took Michigan 28 west over to Munising and further to Marquette. The drive from Munising to Marquette goes along Lake Superior and the whole area seems to be one long sandy beach.
Lots of people stopped along the highway to swim and enjoy the beach. We had originally planned on driving over to Duluth; however, that turned out to be too long a trek. So we ended up here in Ishpeming. It's an old iron mining area which is now mostly a recreational area.
Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow, but we'll head over toward Fargo, maybe play golf, and arrive in Fargo sometime Tuesday.
We had a great ride over from North Bay today. Coming across Ontario, it was almost a straight line through forest and farm land to Sault Ste Marie. Due to my outdated map (see previous entry), we didn't realize that the new 17 bypassed Sudbury, so we missed that opportunity. However, it looked like there had been quite a bit of reclamation since we had last been through there. Danny should look up the Dynamic Earth Museum there (www.dyanmicearth.ca). Pretty drive along the north side of Lake Huron. Crossed back into the United States at SSM - huge bridge over the locks which connect Lake Superior to Lake Huron.
Got back into the US and took Michigan 28 west over to Munising and further to Marquette. The drive from Munising to Marquette goes along Lake Superior and the whole area seems to be one long sandy beach.
Lots of people stopped along the highway to swim and enjoy the beach. We had originally planned on driving over to Duluth; however, that turned out to be too long a trek. So we ended up here in Ishpeming. It's an old iron mining area which is now mostly a recreational area.
Not sure what our plans are for tomorrow, but we'll head over toward Fargo, maybe play golf, and arrive in Fargo sometime Tuesday.
Tracefone in Canada
We found out that our cell phones do not work in Canada! Who knew! So if anyone is trying to call us, they will have to wait until this afternoon when we return to the United States.
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