Glacier or bust

As we started to pack the van Thursday night for  for an early Friday am departure, we found we had absolutely no coach power – no lights, no fridge, no nothing. Drove back to La Mesa RV the next morning and by the time we walked to Starbucks and back, Skip had jumped the inverter battery and we were back in business. We wanted to drive straight to Glacier – about 1300 miles – so we were glad the fix was an easy one. But the malevolent  van gods were not through with us.  Just as we were getting up to speed on I 17 outside of Phoenix we caught a road bullet, kicked up by a truck and putting a neat hole in the windshield.

Drove 303 miles (8 hours) to Lake Powell just before the Utah border and stayed overnight at Lone Rock campgrounds, a primitive site on the lake shore.  Highlight: a couple of jack rabbits hopped right past our van.  We left at 6:40 the next morning and drove up to Kanab, had breakfast and headed to Zion NP, one of our target parks.

When we first entered Zion, cars were stopped to look at a herd of big horn sheep crossing the road, so naturally we stopped, too, to take a couple of pictures.  After a slight mishap in the tunnel (Ron couldn’t find the light switch.  It was darker than dark…) we continued on the park road.  Just an aside: one of the reasons we decided to visit these parks in September was to miss the summer crowds.  Not so much.  Every pull out was overflowing with cars, all the lots were full and people were everywhere. Disappointed, we drove right through and continued on our way. Maybe we’ll try again on the way back from Colorado.  We found a campground that night  by Yuba Lake SP, where the wind was gusting over 30mph and kicking up salt from the lake shore.

Driving was great on Sunday – few cars and almost no trucks – even through the heart of Salt Lake City, so we decided we could take a break. We found a wildlife area, the Bear Creek Migratory Bird Refuge, just outside of Brigham City, and spent a couple of hours following the auto road around fresh and salt water ponds.  We saw Clarks, western and pied billed grebes, avocets (including two chicks resting on the shore while mama foraged nearby), cliff and barn swallows and Caspian and Fosters terns. Stopped at Walmart, filled the tank (again!!) and found a campgrounds at Scout Mountain in the Caribou NF in Idaho).

Monday was a long drive day (320 miles) , only stopping for food and gas – twice. We spent the night at an abandoned campgrounds in Deerlodge NF, just outside of Butte, Montana.  When we woke the next morning, it was 26 degrees and our windshield ding had become a long, long crack. Decided it needed to be taken care of asap, so we left early and called Hartford, only to find the deductible for glass was $500, more than the cost of a replacement.  They connected us to Speedy Glass in Helena and we found our way there with no trouble, but Ron, the manager, generously recommended we go to Safelight to take advantage of their nationwide warrantee.  Safelight assured us that is was safe to drive so they will order the glass and we can return Friday on our way to Yellowstone to have it installed.

Continued on our way, stopped in Choteau for lunch and gas (yes, again. These 80 mph speed limits and mountains are killing our average mileage!) then continued on Rte 89 to the park.  There is quite a lot of road work being done on Rte 89.  Twice we had to wait for a pilot car to lead us safely through the construction zones, over dirt and rock for miles.  We finally reached St. Mary’s on the east side of the park, only to find all the inns and hotels closed for the season, prematurely because of the recent fires.  Wound up at the KOA for the night, postponing showers but able to do all our laundry. Coincidentally, the Roadtrek 190 parked on the next site was from New Jersey. We met the owners the following morning and chatted for a while, ran into them again on the shuttle bus later that day.

The trip up to Logan Pass was scenic despite the cloudy, drizzly weather.  We did spy the Jackson Glacier from the bus windows.  Learned a bit about Glaciers at the visitors center; although the park was named because the physical environment was formed by glacial activity, there were still 150 identifiable glaciers when the area was first explored at the close of the 19^th century.  That dwindled to fewer than a dozen today and there will probably be none by 2030. When the shuttle ride was done, we booked a room on the other side of the park at the Apgar Village Inn right on the shore of McDonald Lake and planned to take a Red Bus tour the next day.

Luckily, the weather had cleared when we woke up although it was only in the mid-30s as we waited for the bus to come. The 17 passenger Red Buses have been transporting visitors in Glacier since the 1930s, traveling from the Village to Logan Pass on the west side of the park.  Our guide, JC, knew a lot about the history and geology of the area and shared his knowledge generously throughout the tour. Surprise, surprise. Also on the tour were two retired women from Staten Island, one from St. George who had taught at IS 27 for many years, the other from Tottenville who had taught briefly at Curtis. Small world, indeed.

We left the park at about 2:00 pm and headed back to Helena to have the windshield fixed.  Camped in the Lolo National Forest in the Lake Alva campgrounds.  Although there are 39 sites in this 30 acre park, there are only two other campers here.