7/29/1991 - Monday

John:  We slept in this morning and then had pancakes and bacon outside for breakfast.  We renewed our same camp spot.  We went into Jackson Hole and went to all the shops.  We ate lunch at the Cadillac Grille.  Pretty nice place and good food.  Around mid-afternoon we got some groceries and went back to our camp spot.  We decided to check out the river that runs a ways back of our spot.  The kids had fun in a very shallow off shoot of the river.  They caught tiny salamanders.  There was a nice deep spot on the river which I tried to swim in... but the current was too swift.  We caught some rays for a while, then walked back to our spot.  We ate a late supper so it was too late and weather getting too bad to have a fire.  We stashed the wood we cut up into our roof carrier for some other night’s fire.  (The roof carrier is really falling apart but I think it will make it home.)  The nights now are back to normal and that now seems a little bit strange to us.  Oh well, guess we’ll get used to it again along with getting re-acclimated to the altitude.  We only drove 27 miles today... into Jackson Hole and back. 

ODOM:  31462

Karen, Susan &                  Kari

at the Jackson Hole Town Square

Susan & Kari playing in the river.

Kari & Susan in their swimsuits in the river.

 

7/25/1991 - Thursday

John:  Well, it was very cloudy this morning and yucky, so we decided to hit the road.  We ran out of propane last night some time, so had to get some today.  We had planned to camp at Flathead Lake, but the sky was full of major black clouds, so we stopped and got a few groceries and hit the road again.  Flathead Lake was quite nice and big.  We saw a nice bald eagle flying in Montana just outside of Missoula.  We drove 181 miles today.  We also washed the truck today with a car wash that did soap... (all the car washes in Alaska & Yukon only had water.)  The truck looks good!  We are camped at Beavertail State Recreation Area in Ravenna, Montana.  Nice private wooded spot.  Plan to make a fire, as there was some wood left here.

ODOM:  30933

7/24/1991 - Wednesday

John:  We took a leisurely drive up Logan Pass to the west side of Glacier Nat’l Park.  There are some very tight and narrow places on the west side of Logan Pass.  Very nice scenery and water falls.  We saw a deer in a river along the way.  The water in the rivers here are so crystal clear!  We stopped early at the Apgar Campground (in Glacier N.P.)  and got a very private level spot.  We took a walk to check out MacDonald Lake and stop at a little grocery store.  While walking, I saw a Colorado plate, then I saw the driver for a moment... I said to Karen, “That guy looks like Herbie”... I turned and saw the Colorado Volvo put on it’s brake lights and it whipped around and came back.  It was Herbie!!!  I couldn’t believe it.  He was coming back from visiting his daughter in Seattle.  We talked for a little while then headed out.  I still can’t believe it.  We decided to eat out at a little cafe and go swimming in Lake MacDonald.  The water was crystal, crystal, crystal clear with a bit of a nip to it temperature wise.  We all (except Karen) swam from 2 to about 5:30.  Karen swam for about an hour.  You had to just jump in as the water was a little chilly.  It was very refreshing.  Susan found out the lake was almost 500 feet deep.  There are great mountains on the opposite end.  The day was very sunny and hot all day, so the cool dip was great... so great, that if it’s nice tomorrow we will stay here and do it again.  We’re writing this outside on the picnic table next to our nice small campfire.  We drove 45 miles today.

While Susan was lying on the dock, she spotted two monster fish under the dock.  They were 18-20 inches long or more!  We all saw them.

ODOM:  30752

Karen, Kari, Susan & John (I believe this is at Glenns Lake)

Waterfall

Deer in Stream

Susan, Karen & Kari by a Stream at Glacier National Park.

Susan, John & Kari swimming in MacDonald Lake.

Kari swimming in the crystal clear waters of MacDonald Lake.

Karen, Susan & Kari testing the waters of MacDonald Lake.

Kari getting her sun on!

Dinner at the campground.

7/18/1991 - Thursday

John:  After a pancake and bacon breakfast, we left Carp Lake.  On the 20 mile dirt road out, we saw a grouse-type bird walk across the road... then about three babies went across.  Not too much excitement after that.  We got some groceries and gassed up the truck in Prince George.  Tried to go on a tour of two different pulp mills, but they were booked up until the next day at one and next Monday at the other one.  Can’t believe the big rush on pulp mill tours!  We are camped at Beaverview Campground in McBride, BC on the Fraser River... (with the Canadian Northern Mainline Railroad off in the distance, but still within ear shot of their whistle...).  We drove 239 miles today.

ODOM:  30076

Note:  The nights are getting to be a little more normal now.  It gets dark about 10:30... don’t really know when the sun comes up.

7/5/1991 - Friday

John:  Drove into Anchorage today and found our campground that we had reservations at.  It was pretty scurfy... so we checked out a couple others in town.  We got good and lost... probably put on 20 miles driving in circles.  We found a much better spot.  We are actually a full day ahead of schedule.  Soooo, I first called the Alaska Railroad to see if we could switch our train ride to Seward from Sunday to Saturday.  We got switched with no problem.  I then got camp spots for tonight & tomorrow at this better campground... Then cancelled our reservations at the crummy campground.  We did our laundry and figured out how to get from here to the train depot.  We also bought groceries.  Gas in Anchorage is 97-99 cents per gal!  (I wish I had a tanker trailer for my truck so I could load up).  It’s early to rise tomorrow morning as we have to be at the train depot at 6:30 AM.

ODOM:  27817