Montana to Maryland Sept-Dec 2020

                                                                            Our Summer Home

Pat demonstrates the proper way to stand on a SUB      Don tries it his way

We settled on our Summer House in mid-July and spent the next few weeks cleaning and buying furniture. We managed to get some hiking in each day. In addition to the many miles of trail in the MT Helena city park, we were only a half hour to the Continental Divide and under two hours to the lake region of the Rockies. It was fun to explore the surrounding area and discover new hiking opportunities. Being off the road during the summer crush proved to be relaxing, not worrying about finding an open campsite on the weekends. Several times we packed up the RV and headed into the mountains on Sunday and returned on Thursday. We were able to get work done on our car and RV including buying 10 tires.  You would not believe how difficult it was to get Goodyear (for the car) and Michelin (for the RV) tires. Even getting a replacement bike for Pat took months due an increased demand and less production during COVID.  

 

                                                    Don enters the Scapegoat Wilderness

Don at Lookout

We left MT in late September because we had reservations at timeshares in Wisconsin in early Oct. First, we stopped at Little Big Horn Battlefield. The site was very compact esp. when compared to Civil War Battlegrounds. Next, we had to stop in Rapid City, SD to get our Driver’s Permit renewed. We also dropped off our absentee ballots while we were there.  We stopped in Blue Earth, MN and camped next to the Jolly Green Giant. We noticed that the chrome wheel cover on our right rear tire was missing. We assume that when we return the RV to the shop in Helena to get the wheel torque adjusted, the cover was not put on tightly. We also found the air pressure low on the inside dual tire - most likely, the valve stem extension was damaged by the cover blowing off. We found a tire shop and got the tire pressure fixed. About 8 miles further down the interstate we heard a loud pop. Sure enough, that tire had a blowout. We called Good Sam Road Service and waited for the service truck, and waited and waited. Four hours later a truck showed up. The driver said it was a common practice for road service companies to call around and get bids from different tow companies, before contracting with one. Luckily, we carried a spare tire which the driver mounted; however, the tire was not balanced so it was a bit of a rough ride after that. Later I was able to arrange for a free Michelin replacement tire when we return to Helena next year. 

Pat meets the Pillsbury Dough Boy

Pat at Devil's Lake SP, WI 

 Our first timeshare was on the Door Peninsula in WI. This was our second visit to this beautiful area. There were lots of county and state parks to explore and few people, once the weekend crowd from Green Bay went home. The leaves were turning and the weather was cool. As we traveled cross-country this fall, we didn’t see the vivid colors we usually see.  We returned to the Wisconsin Dells for another timeshare week. Our next stop was the Phoenix Cruiser factory in Elkhart, IN where we got some work done on the RV.

Don at Cave Point City Park, WI 

Don's Family

We returned to MD and stayed at Patapsco SP for the last week in Oct before moving to an RV park in Woodbine, MD. We had dinner with Barb and her girls just prior to Sharon returning to her mission work in Albania. Barb was found to have COVID symptoms later in the year. In mid-Nov we winterized the RV and stored it at Susan and Windsor’s and headed to a timeshare in Williamsburg, VA. I had been having problems with my back and left knee, and while walking in a park, my knee took a turn for the worse. I know it’s just arthritis, but the pain pretty much kept me from doing much walking for weeks. Linda Erby came down and did some hiking with Pat. We had another week in Virginia Beach and a long weekend in Ocean City, MD. We drove down the boardwalk to enjoy VA Beach Holiday Lights and walked through OC Winter Wonderland. Most of these two and a half weeks had excellent fall weather, which made it all the harder to be sidelined while Pat was enjoying the parks.

Norfolk Botanical Gardens

Ocean City MD Winter Wonderland

We returned to our favorite AirBNB in Savage, MD for the month of Dec. I was able to get PT for my knee and Pat had surgery on her right hand. After New Years we will head south and see if our bodies recovered enough to do any hiking and canoeing in NC, SC, GA and northern FL.

Coast to Coast Part 1, Florida to Montana March - May 2020

Blackwater Falls

When we left Jupiter, FL in mid-March, we planned to fly to Tanzania to see the Great Migration. We had cancelled our trip to Portugal. After a long drive to Jacksonville, we found the campground we had reserved just closed due to COVID-19. We returned to MD just before we got word that our group tour in Africa had been cancelled. After spinning our wheels in MD for a while, we decided to get some work done at our property in Lewisburg WV. We were planning to sell it, so we needed to start cleaning it out.  We set up camp at Douthat State Park in VA and did some hiking before going to Lewisburg. Our intent was to use Goodwill and Restore to take the household goods we had stored, but no longer needed. When we got to Lewisburg, we found both stores closed indefinitely. We spent our time sorting stuff into Keep, Trash, or Give-a-way piles. One of our neighbors offered to buy our 20-acre property and we were delighted to accept their offer. Since they only wanted the property for hunting, they said we could continue to use the garage for storage as long as we needed it. We returned to the Douthat State Park, only to find out it was closing. We moved down the street to a private campground, home for many redneck campers. It wasn’t the type of place we wanted to stay for more than a few nights. 

Happy Face in Dolly Sods WV

This was the beginning a several difficult months, in a period I call “RVing in the time of CORONA”. Now whoever the genius was in Washington who came up with the shutdown rules recognized only two types of RVers. First are the Recreational RVers. These are the people who head for a campground within a few hours drive from their house. They sit around the campfire and socialize/drink beer for two days and then head home. The second type are the Long Term RVers who stay at the same campground for six months or more. So, the Washington geniuses decided to close campgrounds - this would keep the recreational RVers home. They allowed an exemption to those already residents at long term campgrounds so they could remain there. What they didn’t address was the RVers like us that don’t fit in either category. We needed campgrounds open so we have a place to shelter in place other than the Walmart parking lot. The long-term campgrounds would not let us in, because the exception applied only to those who were already long-term residents. Therefore, it became impossible to “shelter in place” when they closed all the places we shelter in! As a result, we were constantly drifting around looking for places to stay. We didn’t feel guilty about traveling because we really had no other choice. I also love the decision to close public bathrooms, since when was going to the bathroom an option?

Busy Beavers in MN

With campgrounds closing everywhere, we booked a timeshare at Shenandoah Crossing in Gordonsville, VA for two weeks. We thought this might get us through the worst of it. It proved to be an interesting stay - we had two power outages, both over 6 hours long, and an unplanned water shutdown that lasted 8 hours. I experienced a problem with my left leg. An ultrasound confirmed it was not a blood clot. A week of steroid treatment finally cleared the problem. It may have been phlebitis. Pat had a Dr appointment in MD to get knee injections, so we got an AirBNB near Ft Meade for a week. After that we moved to an AirBNB in Davis, WV for two weeks. Canaan Valley and Blackwater State Parks were nearby, and we could walk to the Dolly Sods Wilderness area from our AirBNB. The area was practically deserted so we could hike all day and not see another person. “Social Distancing” taken to the extreme! We liked it there so much, we started shopping for a condo there, but didn’t find one we liked.

Pat walks across the Mississippi River

We had three weeks in Fernie reserved for us, but the border was still closed and no one knew when it would open. If it opened by early June, we wanted to be there so we could get in. We had planned to spend most of the summer in British Columbia. So, we left Davis in early May and headed West. We found that some KOA’s were open, so we made it to Indianapolis, and spent a couple days with Phil and Connie. Finding camping became more difficult as we headed west and then north to Breezy Point, MN where we had a timeshare for a week. Diane came up to visit for a while. All the campgrounds in MN remained closed in May, so after the timeshare we moved into an AirBNB for a week in Bemidji, MN. First, I had to winterize the RV for the extreme cold weather that was coming. I never had to winterize in May before! At Itasca State Park, we walked across the Mississippi River.

A Bad Day in North Dakota

We crossed North Dakota and the ticks were waiting for us. On one short hike I picked up 28 ticks. Each day in ND I picked up more than my fair share.  Before we left the state, we got into a sticky situation with our RV. See attached “A Bad Day in North Dakota”. We were glad to get out of ND. I often wonder why anyone would choose to live in North Dakota or Oklahoma. I guess we thought these states were good enough for Native Americans.

Hauser dam on the Missouri River

We entered MT, spent a few nights in Helena and took a hike along the Missouri River. We went to Missoula where we had our RV serviced, and met Robert from Savenac in ST Regis for lunch. We headed up to Whitefish and stayed at the Whitefish Lake State Park. We were only an hour from the Canada border when we found out the border closure was extended for another month. We were frustrated that we were unable to get into Canada and use our place in Fernie. While we were in Whitefish, we started looking at condos for sale. Pat wanted to get off the road in the summer, and we really like MT. We found a nice mountain condo but someone got a contract in just ahead of us. 

Cathedral of St Helena 

Robert and Don

Spring Wildflowers

Coast to Coast Part 2, Montana and Idaho June 2020

Garnet Ghost Town

Lima Peaks

We gave up on getting into Canada anytime soon, so we decided to explore MT. We visited the ghost towns of Garnet and Granite on our way to Bozeman. We looked at several condos near Bozeman, but I didn’t care for the area. Not enough trees for me. I did like the area around Helena, and Pat found a mobile home there that looked nice. We decided to check it out. The home looked in pretty good shape, so we put a contract on it.

We headed south and toured the ghost towns of Virginia City and Nevada City before heading into Craters of the Moon NM in Idaho. Near Twin Falls, we visited Shoshone Falls and watched BASE jumpers leap from the Perrine Bridge. This was near where Evil Knievel attempted to blast across the Snake River Canyon in a steam powered rocket in 1974. (Spoiler alert: He didn’t make it, but only broke his nose). 

Snake River Canyon

BASE jumping at Perrine Bridge

Box Canyon Springs

Thousand Springs

Smith Rocks OR SP

Rocky Mountain wildflowers 

Coast to Coast Part 3, Oregon, and Montana July 2020

Mt Baker

Oregon Coast

 We headed over to Redmond OR, where we had an AirBNB reserved for 17 days. This got us off the road for the 4^th of July weekend plus the week before and after. From here we were able to take day trips into Bend, Sisters, the Cascades and a three-day trip to the Oregon coast. Due to the continued closure of the Canadian border, we cancelled our plans to visit Tom and Cornelia in Renton, WA and our AirBNB reservations for 5 weeks on Vancouver Island. This freed us up to return to Helena for settlement on our home.

Oregon Coast

West Coast Wildflowers

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Sparks Lake

Willard Creek, Helena NF

Soda Creek Falls

Our Home

So, after being “homeless” for 15 years, we now had a place of our own. Fortunately, we had just settled on selling our 20 acres in WV, so you might say we traded our land for a house. This will basically be our summer home, and our base for local travel and extended trips into the northwest and western Canada.

Florida Jan-Mar 2020

Belted Kingfisher

Capsized cargo ship being passed by sister ship

Once the holidays were over, we headed south, with Jekyll Island, GA being the first place where we spent a few days. A good place to bicycle and walk the beach. A cargo ship full of new cars heading for Baltimore overturned last September and remains in the channel between Jekyll Island and Brunswick, GA. It is scheduled to be cut up and removed before Hurricane season, but I wouldn’t bet on it. 

Paddling at Salt Springs Rec. Area

Manatees at Blue Springs SP

We headed over to north central FL and canoed Ichetucknee Springs and Rainbow Springs. We spent a day at the Florida RV Supershow in Tampa, just to see the newest stuff available. We spent a week in the Ocala NF, canoeing and hiking. The Manatee Festival was happening when we arrived at Blue Springs SP. They were delicious grilled. (Just kidding!) There were over 300 manatees between the warm spring and the cooler St John’s River. 

Roseate Spoonbill and friends

Bald Eagle

Purple Gallinule

The Juniper Spring canoe run is usually packed on the weekend, so we waited until Monday and had a true wilderness experience there. We spent a week in the Titusville area, saw a rocket launch, and enjoyed hiking and bird watching around Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

Dinner is served

Black Crowned Night Heron

Back to the west side of central FL, we went to Sargent’s Park, where many birds gather, and canoed the Hillsborough River. We also met up with my cousin from Newfoundland, George and his wife Pam. They arrived, after experiencing a Snowmageddon, 30 inches of snow with Hurricane force winds, in St John’s NFLD. Fortunately, Newfoundlanders are hardy and used to extreme weather conditions. They took us out to dinner for my 70^th birthday. 

Paddling into the Green Swamp

Black Vultures drying their wings

Green Heron

Black bellied Whistling Ducks

Spear fishing

Barred Owl

Figure it out

Corn Snake

Circle Bar B Reserve never disappoints when it comes to birds, and we saw plenty this year. We enjoyed the biking and reptile watching at Highland Hammock SP. After canoeing the Little Manatee and Peace Rivers we headed over to Sarasota to visit with Jean and Gordon. Jean retired last year as a Travel Agent. Good timing Jean! We have a big oversees trip planned to start on March 20 and we are bit concerned considering everything going on with the coronavirus. 

Canoeing in the  mangroves of Hell's Bay

Pat’s Aunt Ann came down to visit Jean, a former neighbor. Coincidently, we had been staying at the same campground as Jean. We all got together for a nice dinner.

Southern Blue Flag Iris

The Everglades were our next stop. We managed several canoe trips through the mangrove maze. We were surprised at the lack of birds in the park. Luckily, we found birds in other areas of FL. 

Morikami Japanese Gardens

Green Iguana

We started up the east coast and learned 16 ways to play BINGO with my cousin Mary. Even with 12 cards/game we never got to yell BINGO. The Morikami Japanese Gardens proved to be beautiful and interesting with an unexpected variety of wildlife. 

Dinner with Mary

Alba's selfie with Randy, Lady and Shelton.

At Lake Worth, we enjoyed a “Taste of Lake Worth” with Randy and Alba. Later we played trivia and attended an Agathe Christi play, Witness for the Prosecution. 

Bad day at Jupiter Reef Club

Our last week in FL was at our timeshare in Jupiter. It was very windy for the first four days of our stay and the ocean pounded against our new sea wall, which is still under construction. Ocean spray soared 20 above the wall and flooded out the lower patio. Constant pumping kept the water level contained in the depressed area. The was no danger of our unit being flooded out. With less that a week before our flight from IAD to Tanzania, we packed up the RV and headed up I-95.