Winter Excursion 9, Day 269

We had a lazy morning and then went to a local joint for burgers and beer. Back at camp we watched a few movies and relaxed.

Temps moderated in the late afternoon and we got a nice breeze, so we sat outside. I got the drone out and got a few pics of the area.

Here's our current campground. We are on the bottom right.

And a close up of our site and camper.

The next four are looking north, south, east, and west from 300 feet above us. First pic is the little town of Bowman, ND.

We did some air fried chicken wings for dinner, caught another movie, and hit the sack. It's been a nice relaxing day.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 268

We left The Fort at 49 Campground and Restaurant, Custer, MT around 0900. We drove I-94 north to near Miles City, MT and picked up Rt 12 heading east. This is a two lane road, but was in good shape most of the way. We stopped for gas in a small town and I dinged one of our rear stabilizers leaving the gas station. I'll have to replace it. It's bent pretty bad!

We arrived at The Ridge Campground in Bowman, ND around 1400. Temps were in the 90s. We had reservations here and the last email said to pick any site. Out of the 17 sites only two were open! Here's site #17. No frills, but FHU!

We will be here for three nights after driving everyday for the past four days. It will be nice to just chill out.

We had a bad storm blow through around 2300 that was not forecasted. The weather radio went off and we had winds around 60 mph! There was tons of lightning, but very little rain if any. The camper got a good shaking!
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 267

We left 2 Bar Lazy H RV Park around 0830 and arrived at The Fort at 49 RV Park and Restaurant in Custer, MT around 1430. The drive was uneventful except for the gas stop at Big Timber, MT. The place was crowded and folks were "parking" at the pumps to go inside and shop or eat. We sat behind a truck with a boat at the pump for 20 minutes! We finally backed up and drove around to another pump, of course the guy with the boat showed up as we were moving. The new pump I pulled into was broken. So around we went again and finally got a working pump. We spent over 30 minutes at this gas stop!

Here's Site #12 at The Fort at 49 Campground and Restaurant, Custer, MT. When we arrived the place was empty. Owner said take any site you like only three of you will be here tonight. Sites are level with FHU! I'll get a pic of the restaurant this evening as we are eating there and the owner has some good stuff on the menu!.

 Here's the restaurant pics. The food was fantastic! 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 266

Today is a mile stone in our travels. It is camping day 2000 since we started 9 years ago with our first travel trailer  If you do the math that's 5.475 years of camping in 9 years! If you round that up it's five and a half years of camping!

Today was a repeat of yesterday. We left Wolf Lodge Campground in Idaho this morning at 0900 and drove the 272 (YAHOO) to 2 Bar Lazy H RV Park, MT. After the time change we arrived at 1530 (lost an hour). We stopped at a Rest Stop for lunch and had this little guy begging for food the entire time. He "chirped" constantly!

We did not feed him as he was to fat from others feeding him junk food!

We stopped for gas in Drummond, MT and got this pic across from the gas station.

I'm not sure what you can do with a "used cow"! Maybe some sour milk!

Our new site is just a "Plain Jane" It doesn't even have a picnic table! We did not unhook the truck again. It's another one night "stop n' go"!

It does have FHU (Full Hook Ups) that is great for pooping!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 265

We had an easy if not long drive today. We left Ft Lewis, WA around 0900 and arrived at Wolf Lodge Campground, ID just east of Coeur d'Alene at 1530. On the way we stopped at a rest stop in WA along I-90 to eat lunch and got this pic. Notice the mountains in the background.

Here's Site #9 at Wolf Lodge Campground, ID just east of Coeur d'Alene, ID. It's a Good Sam CG and just right for 1 night. The site is totally level, we didn't even unhook! Makes for a fast get-away in the morning. Sites are a little tight for our liking, but will do for a night!

We did 345 miles today. Tomorrow will be a little easier, only 272...YAHOO! Notice it rhymes..LOL!
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 264

The day started out a little rough! I was typing up yesterday's blog entry when I noticed the Camp Host pull our site tag. I went out and asked why. His answer was "you are leaving today"! I was stunned at first, but said we were not leaving until tomorrow. He said we would have to talk to the clerks at 0900 when the office opens. I was first in line. Seems they made a mistake and checked us out a day early! There was already a new camper coming into our site, so we had to move. Here's site #301. Probably one of the most unlevel sites we've ever had.

The rest of the day went a little smoother. We loaded up on supplies for our trek home and then relaxed at our new site.

Tomorrow we will be heading east.
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 263

We are still at Ft Lewis, but in a new site at the campground. We moved from 207 to our usual 103.

We spent the day doing laundry, washing the truck, and relaxing. We did make a run to Camping World this morning for a few supplies.

The camp Host stopped by around dinner time. He noticed the Army Aviator decal on our truck. Turns out he was an OH-58 Maintenance Test Pilot! Small world! 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 262

We were up at 0530 as we are allowed to leave the ship at 0630 because we are handling our own luggage. We were near the front of the line for disembarking, but there was a delay due to a customs issue. We stood in the line with everyone else until 0800! I felt sorry for folks trying to catch an early flight. I'm sure many people missed their flight. We took a shuttle to where the Seattle Cruise Park parking lot is, picked up the truck, and was back in our camper at Ft Lewis by 1000. All is well with the truck and the camper.

It was good to be back to our "tiny house" as Cath calls it. We just hung out here all day, We will be here for three days and then start our trek back home.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 261

We slept in this morning and woke up on the way to Victoria, BC. It was a late night and we lost an hour, we are back on PDT now. We were at sea all day and arrived at Victoria around 2000. Many of the passengers disembarked, but had to be back on the ship 2245 as the ship is leaving for Seattle then.

We spent the day onboard people and whale watching. Cath & finally saw a bunch of whales. We did take in a show around 1600. The Beatles show was very good, you would swear the Beatles were on the stage.

After an early dinner dinner we packed up our luggage and then watched a movie.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 260

We woke up this morning in Ketchikan, AK after the cruise from Glacier Bay.

We all went on a Wildlife tour. It was just the 10 of us and a great driver/guide. Here's a few of the group.

First stop was to check out the Bald Eagles. These birds were not the least bit afraid of us. I was probably 15 feet away from this one.

Here's a pic of a juvenile. He will get his adult feathers around 4 to 5 years old.

Next stop was at a small waterfall. Some of our group hiked up to near the top.

The best stop was to check out the bears.

We were hoping they would do a little salmon fishing. There was fish in the stream, but I guess they were full!

This is a Steller's Jay. They are all over the place. Looks like a bluebird with a black head.

The tour was only 3 hours and ended at an old abandoned saw mill. It now has totem poles. We got a short brief on what some of the totem poles are for and some of the meanings.

Back at the ship we left for Victoria, BC, our last stop on the cruise. 

We had a nice dinner with everyone then hit the casinos and bars for the evening.

Last pic I got just before bedtime around 2300. I took this off of our balcony.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 259

This morning we woke up in Glacier Bay. When I opened the curtains here's what greeted me. 

This Bay (National Park) hosts many glaciers. We spent the whole day here. The Park Rangers gave a lot of info about the park (glaciers) and it was all piped over the intercom system. I took lots of pics, here's a few.

Here's the view out of the front observation deck window.

All those little dots are sea otters. Many folks also saw whales. Cath & I were not so lucky.

There was no shore time while we were here. Cath and I chilled out in the room in the afternoon. As usual the whole family got together for dinner. We had a great meal at the sushi joint!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 258

We took a walk into Skagway this morning. At first it was not too crowded, but that changed quickly. It is a small town and there are three giant cruise ships in port!

The town of Skagway was the starting point to the Klondike Gold Rush in 1897.

Back at the ship we grabbed some lunch and then headed for the train depot for climb up White Pass, the trail the "Stampeders" took. It's a 2000 ft climb! The mountains, valleys, and the river were spectacular.

While in Skagway I got a pic of the biggest snowblower I've ever seen. I'm sure our North Country friends will appreciate this.

On the way back to the ship again we had a passerby take this for us.

And I forgot to mention that these guys woke us up this morning. This is the view from out stateroom balcony.

All is well in the Boss Camp....I mean cruise!

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 257

After breakfast Cath and I ended up in the observation deck. We spent most of the morning there watching the people and the sights on the water.

After a nice lunch we all loaded up in the rental car and headed to Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center. Here's few pics.

From the glacier we drove back to Juneau and stopped at the Alaska Brewing Company Taproom and had a snack and of course a few beers. They had Alaska King Crab on the menu at $80 per pound! We didn't have any...LOL!

Back at the ship we had a really nice dinner in the main dining room. After dinner the whole clan played some UNO No Mercy at the observation deck. The ship left Juneau and when we wake up tomorrow we will be in Skagway.

Everyone wanted a good night's sleep, all the food, drink, and schedule is wearing us out, but we are not complaining.