2014 US Trip - Day 7 - Thursday September 11th 2014

We all woke early as we knew that the weather forecasts were going to offer some incredible contrasting views of the sun kissed snow capped mountinas and that we had a decent drive in front of us. And we were not disappointed. We  drove out of the RV park and to the side of a lake where we stopped for a photo opportunity. The temperature was still quite brisk and we excitedly took lots of pictures of the snow covering the mountains, tress and ground. The pictures you may have seen would not do the experience justice. Just breathtaking.
 

From there we drove up to a picnic area that had access to the lake so more pictures were taken down there. Once everyone was done we then started the long drive out along through snow covered forests. But as we've experienced elsewhere on this trip, the terrain changes quickly and we go from mountainous pine covered hills to bare open planes.
We stopped to refuel the RV's and grabbed some lunch at a nice local cafe. Service was good and everyone had a hearty meal. I went for a plain hamburger and fries downed with a Pepsi. From there we wanted to visit a dinosaur museum but unfortunately it was closed. So we got back in the cars and pushed on to our next stop, Great Falls.

This town has the Missouri River running through it and there are some water falls near some man made dams. The water flow wasn't particular great so the opportunity for pictures was limited so we found a local super market and stocked up on food. Service again was very good and after loading up the RV's we were on our way.
 

We drove for a couple of more hours, firstly on open planes and then through mountains. We passed a ski resorts out in the middle of no where and looked like a nice little place to ski. Along the way we also had to slow down a number of times due to deer on the road. There were single deer and pairs, mother and child.
 

The final stop of the night was the RV park. Not particular big but would do the trick. After checking in the majority of us feed some local trout that were in one of the dams on the property. Reminds me of my time as a child in the Snowy Mountains.
 

I finished the evening my staying out outside taking pictures of the night sky. The evening was crystal clear so though I should take advantage of it even though the temperature was well below zero. I had approximately 40 layers on and was warm. In the end though, i achieve what I aimed to do and that was to see and photograph the Andromeda Galaxy which is one of ours nearest. Through both the image stabilised 18x50 binoculars and on the sky tracked photos, all it looks like is a smudge. But it's definitely there. The moon, though not full, started to appear adding to the noise pollution so I packed up for the night.

2014 US Trip - Day 6 - Wednesday September 10th 2014

We knew today was going to be cold, but didn't think it would turn out like this. Woke at about 8am after a good nights sleep. Wasn't particular cold but as always had on a lot of layers. Was initially greeted with snow capped mountains behind the RV camp but then it started sleeting followed by light snow then heavy snow. We decided that today was not going to be spent driving around but instead to catch up on washing and other things. I did a load of washing and dried it before catching up further on some blog updates.

Trevor, Karen and Laurence cooked a hardy lunch of bacon, eggs, tomato and toast. Very enjoyable in such cold and miserable weather. Some of the guys ventured out about 2.30pm to go in the outdoor spa whilst it was still snowing and blowing a gale. I wisely chose to stick it out in the RV.
 

Snow continue through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. A couple of us chose to have pizza delivered which could be ordered through the reception desk. Delivery of the pizzas came from the local town only about 10 minutes drive away. I am sure that they rely heavily on people ordering pizza when they just could not be bothered to cook. The pizza when it arrived was devoured pretty quick and we were all happy with the result.
 

We finished the evening with the boys congregating in one RV playing the card game Presidents and Arseholes whilst the girls congregated in another and I have unconfirmed reports the topic of discussion was fashion, nail polish colours, hair tints.

2014 US Trip - Day 5 - Tuesday September 9th 2014

Woke to a chilly morning. The vodka from the night before had made for a pleasant sleep and got out of bed just before 8am. Some of the others were up and getting some breakfast. I grabbed a biscuit or two for breakfast and some orange juice. Had a quick shower up at the shower block before packing up and getting ready for today's drive. Compared to the first two days this was only going to be quite small.
 

Before leaving I was able to get some money out for the first time in a couple of days which was a pleasant relief. Not being able to get money out had been a real pain considering the effort I went to to organise the global currency card.

We hit the road just before 10am and this was going to be my first day of serious driving. The journey took us back towards the Glacier National Park entrance that we went in yesterday, but instead of turning off we kept on going as the RV's wouldn't be allowed. We later found out that the weather conditions had closed the road so felt very fortunate to have been up it yesterday.

The drive north was spectacular with large mountains either side and a hint of sleet. A cold change had moved in over night and the sky was overcast but that did not detract from the spectacle. We had our first stop at around 11.15am after we turned off the main road we were driving along. The small town had a general store, some cafes and restaurants. We all grabbed a coffee and a bit to eat before heading to our next destination inside of the Glacier National Park beside a lake. At this stage it was snowing and very cold along side the shoreline though we took our time for photos. From there we head back out of the park and north further still. It didn't take us long to move from driving along valleys to be out on open plains again before taking a left and heading back towards the snow capped mountains.

We finally arrived at the RV park, located just outside of St Mary, just before 3pm. AFter checking in we hooked up the power, water and sewerage. After a quick bite to eat we went for a walk around the RV park which is quite large in size. Located beside a lake it has some amazing views though we will need to wait until a sunny day to really enjoy it. After the walk we decided to have dinner at a restaurant that was highly recommend by people at Peter's work. It was at the Many Glacier which was around a 30 minute drive away. The vista was nothing short of breath taking. On a sunny day you all you would want to do is sit there in awe. At the end of one of the lakes flanked by large mountains was the Many Glacier Hotel. After finding a spot to park, difficult to do with 3 RV's, we were greeted by an amazing foyer filled with chairs either located strategically around a fire place or looking back along the water. Utterly breathtaking. This was not a place for hobos, but that of the well to do. Nothing much has changed here for the 100 years that the hotel has been around. We grabbed a place in the line before being seated in a reasonably amount of time. We all had a good feed with me consuming a double pork schnitzel on a bed of vegetables.

 
The drive back to the RV park was a slow one as the journey there had been spent missing cows that were grazing on or beside the road. Caught up on some emails before settling into bed with the heater turned on ready for a cold one overnight of -3C.

2014 US Trip - Day 4 - Monday September 8th 2014

The plan for today was to get up into the Glacier National Park. We however, would not be able to take the RV's as the road we were driving on would not accommodate. There were some other alternatives such as catching courtesy buses throughout the park but we opted to hire a van capable of holding 10 people. We dropped into the local airport and this was my first opportunity to drive on the right hand side of the road. I felt I went fine, all it requires is a higher level of concentration. Pete and Laurence were able to hire the car and they followed us back to the RV park where we picked up the rest of the gang. Though it was a tight fit it was a good option for us.
 

We drove for about 15 minutes before we hit the park and stopped off shortly after at a lake for photos. From there we ventured deeper into the park following a lake and then one of the rivers that feed into it. The views out the window were amazing. Large mountains on each side, some with pine trees whilst others were just rocks. We stopped a few more times for pictures before pushing towards the top to Logans Pass. This was a very busy place given the time was around 1.30pm the car park for around 60-80 cars was completely full. A few of us got out of the car and grabbed some lunch before we finally got a car space. We then decided to do a walk up to a lookout at about 2.30pm. Just before we left I noticed a thermometre said about 10C. The walk was not overly difficult and much of it was along a board walk. After getting in trouble momentarily by a ranger for before "off trail" for taking a photo he let us go as there were bigger fish to fry further up the mountain.

Along the way we saw white mountain goats and marmots before being entertained by some chipmunks at the top of the mountain. At the lookout we posed for photos before starting to head back down the mountain. About 15 minutes after leaving we were completely shrouded in fog and could only see approximately 100 metres in front. This continued all the way down to the car park at which point the temperate had dropped to 4C. We were all glad to get back into the car but thankful for being able to experience such a great walk and beautiful vistas. The drive back down the mountain was amazing and we enjoyed the sites we had seen earlier in the day one last time. We got back to the RV park around 6pm and dropped off the 10 seater back to the local airport. On the way back we stopped off to buy some "hard liquour" that can only be sold in special state run shops. Beer and wine however can be bought in super markets. We arrived back to the camp site by about 7.15pm where we tucked into some pasta cooked by Trevo, Karen and Laurence. We then all spent the night and the camp fire being buffeted by cool winds. I decided to call Westpac to see why my Glocal Currency Card had not been working and was surprised to hear that they had put a hold on it. I verbalised my frustrations to the operator around the fact that I got no notification of this decision though was thankful that the card was now reactivated. Tomorrow I would give it a go at the general store located a short 2 minute walk away.

The final task for the evening was to try to take some long exposures of the night sky. Though the setup appeared to work well, the high winds and very bright moon light made it a difficult proposition. I will have to wait until I get home to Sydney to properly check out the results.
 

The evening was a late one given this was the first night of us all enjoying the hard liquor around the camp fire.

2014 US Trip - Day 3 - Sunday September 7th 2014

Overnight the majority of us froze in our beds. We hadn't quite figured out the heater and the setting of the thermostat. Only Pete and Maggie had a comfortable night sleep and with the new information at hand as to how to get it working we wouldn't make that mistake again. After unhooking the power and water we were on our way to Bannack, a historic village now a ghost town. This was the real wild wild west with stories of shoot outs in the local tavern and the barber located in one corner not missing a stroke of the cut throat razor. Amazingly the town was still occupied until the 1950's and concerned locals grouped together to preserve the town. The entrance fee was small and we spent about an hour or so before heading back to Dillon to grab some lunch and some extra supplies.

Once we grabbed some local delicacy, McDonalds, we were on our way. The roads I must admit are amazing with dual lanes for pretty much all of the day's driving. The scenery changed quite a bit from rolling planes to more mountainous covered with pines. Along the way to our stop this eveing in West Glacier we made a small detour to visit a wild life sanctuary that had bison, elk and deer. For $5 we were able to drive through a section taking photos. Got some amazing shots that I will shar elater on. We stayed there till just after 6pm and then made the final push towards out final destination, the RV park in West Glacier.

It wasn't until around 9pm that we got there. Everyone was exhausted from the days driving and were happy to settle in for a quiet evening.  

2014 US Trip - Day 2 - Saturday September 6th 2014

Woke up after a good nights sleep. The bed was very comfortable and compared to that of an airline seat I did appreciate lying horizontally. We all met in the foyer before heading out for some breakfast. We wandered around but wasn't able to find anywhere so we ended up back at the hotel where we grabbed the usual bacon, eggs, fruit, coffee etc.

The plan for the today was to pick up the RV's, do some shopping and then get on our way. Pete had organised for some cars to pick us up and to drop us down at the Cruise America depot for around 10.30am even though they had said we should look to arrive in the early after when all the vans would be ready. Fortunately when we got there two RV's where ready so we grabbed those with the intent of doing the shopping first and then picking up the remaining 2 RV's later. After a quick orientation as to how to use the RV we were on our way to Walmart. For all the pages on the internet bagging Walmart and their customers I found it to be very nice and had everything we wanted. We spent about 1.5 hours in there grabbing stuff before we headed back to the Cruise America depot to pick up the final 2 RV's by about 2.30pm. We were then on our way.

The journey out of Salt Lake City was a busy one. Lots of traffic but thankfully we were on good roads and with Pete in the lead with his GPS we simply followed. We tracked along the valley floor with large mountains to one side and slowly as we got further away the traffic began to die down. We were on our way. Watching the 3 RV's in front of us in a convoy was amusing and I am not sure what other road travellers would have thought either. From a scenery perspective we were driving along open planes. Not a lot of trees about and if they were they were small shrubs.

We eventually arrive in our first overnight stop in Dillon at around 9.30pm where we refueled and made it to the RV park. Then became the first adventure of hooking up power and water. The night sky was clear and there was definitely a coolness to the air. We were not long out of bed given that it had been a long day.

2014 US Trip - Day 1 - Friday September 5th 2014

Well as with most of my preparations for finishing up cleanly at work, it didn't work out too well. Made getting ready for the trip that more difficult. Whilst I was sort of ready from a packing perspective i didn't leave myself with a huge amount of rest the night before the flight. Friday 5th September started early with the alarm clocking ringing at around 5.30am. I had been clock watching for part of the morning.
 

The cab picked me up right at 6am and the journey to the airport took about an hour. Checking in was very quick and the usual people watching took place. Got through immigration and security checks relatively quickly and then it was time to grab a coffee and croissant.
 

Boarding of the flight was delayed by about 45 minutes and I started to get a little bit nervous for my connecting flight though I had approximately 3.5 hours to play with. Once we got off the ground I realised that there was a familiar face on board, Karl Stevanovic. Throughout the flight he came back to entertain some of the other staff that were on the flight with him. The girls were swarming around him like puppy dogs. One word, "player".
 

The flight itself had good food and movies. The only mishap was when they came around with an ice cream which was fantastic to eat though it instantly froze to my tongue when I first tried to eat it. Luckily I didn't remove a large chunk of my tongue as I remove it.
 

The flight landed about 15 minutes later in the end and quickly disembarked. Getting through customs was also quick along with baggage claim. I then dropped the bag off for the onward flight to Salt Lake City and then went about finding my connection. I had landed in Terminal B and needed to get to Terminal 4. Had no idea how long that was going to take me to get there but thankfully the terminal was next door and was able to walk. Got through another security check and then onto the gate. I had to catch a bus to a smaller terminal where the flight to Salt Lake City would depart. Made it in plenty to spare and wait for about 45 minutes.
 

The plane to Salt Lake City from Los Angeles was small holding only about 60 passengers. The flight was not full and fortunately the lady originally sitting next to me moved to another seat that was vacant. Our steward, Juan, was Hispanic. I like Hispanics because they define my gender and state of mind so well.
 

After taking off and heading over the Pacific Ocean for a little while we tracked back and headed east. View California from above you can really see that it is a very dry state. The rest of the flight was a mix of me falling asleep and looking out the window.
 

Checked into the Hilton Hotel with no issues and dropped my bags off before heading out. Salt Lake City is hosting a Comic Con and there were people of all ages out there in their uniforms and costumes. There were even whole families that were getting into it to a high level of quality. I had hoped to see Polygamy Man, who is a super hero capable of managing multiple "wives", though did not see him.
 

I then visited some churches and the local mall which was landscaped to a high level of finish. Running through the main street is a free tram that does a loop of the main shopping areas and the other avenues of the grid pattern were wide, spacious and beautifully designed.
 

I returned to the hotel after completing a loop. I chilled for a little bit longer in my room before catching up with Daryl, Kate and Lachlan. They took me through their holiday so far which has compromised island hopping in Hawaii before arriving in Salt Lake City this morning after an overnight flight.
 

We then made contact with Karen, Laurence and Trevor and bumped into them in the hotel foyer. From there were ventured down the road to grab some food. The food was good and hardy and very reasonably priced. I had pork shank which is just like lamb shank but with pork instead. After finishing dinner we retired back to the hotel.
 

Around 9pm Pete and Maggie made contact that they had arrived. I was debating whether I would catch up with them this evening as at this point I had not slept in a bed now for 30 hours. I decided that the bed could wait and met them as they pulled up in their cab. Karen, Laurence and Trevor appeared shortly afterwards and we had a night cap to round off the evening.