Our Winter Home

We have a very nice space to be parked in for the winter. We have a nice Palo Verde tree in front of our patio. You can kind of see the mountains in the background. Jim was charging up the batteries in the boat otherwise the boat is parked behind another building not next to our rig. We had a beautiful warm day to celebrate Christmas. It was almost 70 degrees (most of the day) and bright sun so we and the rest of our workamper group had a big dinner outside.

We know a lot of people down here because of staying in the area last winter so we had lots of invites for Christmas dinner. We decided we would just eat at home with our own little group which was very nice. Working the visitor center over the holidays we see a lot of folks stopping in that are just passing through the Yuma area. We are used to most people staying for the winter. We forget that there are a lot of people still working and they can only take short

vacations.

We've been watching the weather in New Mexico and Texas where we spent our first two winters. Its so much colder there than Yuma. Those other places have their good points and we miss all the friends we've made but we prefer being warmer!

Wildlife

The mule deer came very close to our rig. It was in early November and all of us workampers hadn't been there very long. They seemed quite shocked to see us obviously they had been using a path by our rigs to get down to the water all summer without being disturbed. We have not seen them come by this way since this picture.

We visited friends at an Rv park south of us that is also on the Colorado River. The park has a large marina with lots of docking and a large boat launch. It has the usual pool, hot tub, exercise room and activity building but it also has its own golf course. This is the green grass in the bird picture. The only green grass in Yuma is in golf courses or you'll find it in the fields being raised as a crop.

We aren't sure what kind of bird this is. I think its an orange variant of a western tanager or its a vermillion flycatcher. Either way a very pretty bird. We also have 6 different varieties of hummingbirds that hang out around the refuge for the winter. I doubt if I will get any good pictures of them but I might give it a try.

Water views

There are some nice water views from overlooks in the refuge. You can see the backwaters of the Colorado River with the Chocolate Mountains in the background. The backwaters are usually filled with coot (mud hens). The coot are mostly the kind of duck that hang out here -- not good to eat so there isn't much duck hunting in the area. Cibola refuge just to the north of Imperial up by Blythe, Ca is where the waterfowl hang out that come south.

Martinez lake is a backwater of the Colorado. I took a picture of the lake homes along the lake. No matter where you live in the country people love having a lake home. Many of the people that have lake homes here live in San Diego. It is only a 4 hour drive to the "lake". The water temp has dropped down into the the 50's because of the cool nights but it is December. At least here it will not freeze over -- not even form ice around the edges!

Colorado River Jet Boat Tour

All of us volunteers and a few of the employees for the Imperial, Kofa and Cibola Refuges got to go on a jet boat tour up the river through the refuge boundaries. The jet boat held 30 people comfortably. The picture doesn't do it justice -- makes it look small. The driver stands in the back and steers and narates all along the way. The boat only needs about 4 inches of water so it has no problem on the river -- getting around sandbars and it can get in very tight places for its size.

We stopped along the way at an old miners cabin. We also stopped and saw petroglyghs and the site where an old town called Norton's Landing was located along the river. This is where paddlewheelers used to stop. Our last stop and as far north as we went was Draper's cabin (see picture). This cabin was on an old ranch site.

The river was beautiful -- it is still odd to see palm trees growing by a river but thats the southwest. The Yuma jet boat tours are really a neat thing to do if your ever in the area but be prepared- its on the spendy side. They say that the tourists subsidize all the school children class groups they take up the river.

BBBB Wash

I went on the guided hike the naturalists do on Wednesdays. They take up to 16 people on a two hour hike through a wash called the B wash. The B stands for bees, bats, burrows (holes) and wild burros (donkeys). In the center of the picture just above and a little left of the dark hole is a smaller hole. If you look at the smaller hole closely it looks like a mouth with long teeth hanging down inside it. It is actually a beehive and the "teeth" are the honey combs.

Of course the beehive is owned by killer bees. There are no native bees left in Arizona. They have all been hybridized with the African strain. They make great honey and the bee keepers have all learned how to deal with these more aggressive bees. If you are out in the wild and come upon a hive get away from it quickly. The only time they will attack is to defend their hive and you have to get fairly close to it for them to get aggresive. There were several hives in this cliff wall and they were far enough up from the bottom of the wash that we didn't have to worry. Although there were a few bees flying around us and we were told not to swat at them. It could rile them up.

We saw bat caves and burro trails and lots of burrows. Most desert critters take shelter in some kind of hole in the dirt. We also got to see antlions. They are very small insects that actually dig sand traps. They wait at the bottom of their trap for their prey - ants.

Life on the Refuge

Hooray, we can show pictures again. We finally broke down and bought a Verizon MIFI system so we have internet service. The only way we were getting online since moving to the refuge was when we ran to town or to the local bar and used their wifi -- and that wasn't working out! Of course its another monthly bill but at least we can suspend the service when we don't need it.

Otherwise life on the refuge is very nice. We've been hiking the trails and taking a refuge owned truck out exploring more of the Imperial and Kofa Wildlife Refuge. Our 5th wheel is parked so we have a view of the Colorado River valley. We can't actually see the river from where we sit -- maybe if we were a little higher. We work with really nice people and the three days of work zip by. We managed to get the boat out on the water but going up the river was a huge challenge. The river is so low there a lots of sandbars to get hung up on so we finally had to turn back.

We are seeing lots of mule deer. They come pretty close to our rv's. We've seen coyotes trot by on their way to the river for a drink. We have also spotted some of the wild burros but haven't spotted a desert bighorn sheep yet!

Beautiful Sky

Sorry, no picture of the beautiful sky. I'll have to try again when I have a better WIFI signal. The sunset at our new winter home in the Imperial National Wildlife was spectacular one night. We have a great view over the Colorado River valley although we can't actually see the river from our RV space. We've had our orientation to the place and have started working. So far its very interesting and we are learning a lot about the lower Colorado river's flora and fauna.

We are hoping to get our boat in the water soon and take a cruise on the river but you need to be very careful because the water level fluctuates a lot even from morning til night in the same day. Jim has been able to get out and do some great hikes in the refuge while picking up litter. I'm working in the visitor center talking to people that stop in and showing them all the displays and brochures etc. we have.

Hopefully, I will get to load some pictures next time!

Quartzite Rock Alignment

A little north of Quartzite is this rock alignment. It is a Q and an arrow that you can kind of see from the ground but it was meant to be seen from the air. It was made when General Pattons troops were out here in the desert training. It pointed the way to Quartzite so the pilots wouldn't get lost during training. We stayed at this Rv Park and the building that the park office and cafe were in was actually General Pattons headquarters.

We had a really good time while staying at Blackrock and everyone we met there was very nice. As it gets closer to November more and more people are coming back to their winter home. There are signs everywhere welcoming the snow birds back. Its finally starting to cool off to the low 80's during the day and mid 50's at night. When we first got here it was in the 100's during the day and the low 80's at night.

Oatman, Az

We visited Oatman while staying in Kingman, It was a beautiful drive but coming from Kingman the road is very narrow and winding. The town of Oatman is considered a ghost town. It only has a few residents and a few businesses line the main street. The town only has the one road "main street". Oatman is famous for two things -- its on the old Route 66 and wild burros come in to town to beg for food. The burros have gotten used to being fed by the tourists so be advised to bring carrrots. This little town actually has someone who scoops up burro "piles" to try and keep the street clean and smell free.

We had a late breakfast at a the saloon. The food wasn't too bad and the saloon still had the original bar -- as a decoration. It was too dark inside or I would have taken a picture. If you ever visit Lake Havasu or Laughlin you should take a little side trip to Oatman. The road coming from that direction is better.

We are still enjoying 90 degree weather here in Brenda, Az. Its nice to have pool to cool off in but we are giving it up at the end of the week. Our next stop will be Imperial National Wildlife Refuge.

Hoover Dam

We are using a Wifi service at the campground we are at that slows down to a crawl when you download too much. Jim was watching UTube videos of model planes all afternoon Sunday so I've had to wait until we had a fast connection to do the blog. There are several guys here in camp that fly model planes and Jim has been enjoying watching them.

After we left Williams, Az we went to Kingman and spent a few days. We went up to the Hoover Dam on a day trip. We had driven over the new bridge this spring and couldn't see the dam from the bridge so we wanted to go back and see it.

I also have a picture of the bridge and Lake Mead but no luck downloading all of them. I guess I will have to take the time to learn how to do small photo albums on the blog.

We are going to be heading to our volunteer position on the 28th so we are enjoying our last days of being lazy -- and still trying our luck at some gold panning.

South Rim of the Grand Canyon

We tramped all along the trails that follow the rim of the canyon. We did not attempt to go down into the canyon. That is for the truly adventurous. We drove to the east along the rim. The east end is called Desert View and this tower (the Desert View Watchtower) is there.

We stayed in Williams, Az in order to visit the Grand Canyon. This is an expensive area (obviously they survive on tourism). We did find a good restaurant in Williams called the Country Pine Restaurant. It has great food ( even the cooked veggies were very good) but they are more well known for their pie. Of course we had to try some pie ----mmmmm good.

We went on to Kingman from Williams and are now in Brenda, Az down by Quartzite. We've started exploring and rockhounding the area along highway 60 between hwy 93 and where intersects with I-10. There are lots of old mines and great places to walk in the desert.

Lake Powell

We left Kanab, Utah we went on to Page, Arizona. It's another beautiful drive and goes along the Vermillion Cliffs. We stayed at a campground right on Lake Powell. Its in the Glen Canyon National Recreation area. Lake Powell is formed by the Glen Canyon Dam which dams up the Colorado River before it enters the Grand Canyon area. The lake is huge with lots of slot canyons you can duck into and explore. We would have liked to stay and play there but the campground was expensive and very busy. We could only stay two nights so we didn't get a chance to launch the boat and explore the waters.

You can take a nice raft trip from the bottom of the dam to Lee's Ferry which is mile 0 of the famous Grand Canyon raft trips. This raft trip is on slower, calmer waters so you don't get wet or have to worry about rapids. The picture of the water that I took was from close to where we were camped.

We went to Williams, Arizona next which is on the famous Route 66. We spent time there and went to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and from there we spent time in Kingman, Az and now are in Brenda, Arizona which is a little east of Quartzite. It's hot! in the 100's during the day and 80's at night but they say it has cooled down a lot and will be getting a little cooler everyday.

North Rim of the Grand Canyon

We got to Kanab, Utah and the weather was perfect. We drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon on a day trip. It was about 75 miles from our campground. It was a fairly desolate drive but beautiful. We saw a herd of mule deer along the way. The North Rim is at a higher elevation than the south rim so it gets colder sooner and most of it is closed in winter. The day we were there it was in the 60's with bright sun so it felt nice and warm. We had breakfast at the Grand Canyon Lodge with a view of the canyon. Jim's tip about breakfast there -- don't order the ham -- not worth the price its just the "lunchmeat style" ham.

The North Rim is much less busy than the south. It's off the beaten path and takes about 5 hours to get there from the south rim. It's definitely worth checking out. When we got to one of the overlooks along Cape Royal road we saw a bunch of firefighters coming out of the woods all smoke and sweat covered. They had just finished putting out a fire that had burnt all the way to the edge of the canyon and and had even started to burn down the slope just as they got it under control.

I would say that at least half if not more of the tourists at the parks we've visited have been foreign, German, French, Japanese, Dutch, etc. I guess one good thing about the exchange rate --its cheap for foreign tourists to come here and spend their money. We should appreciate all the foreign tourist dollars coming into the country.

Bryce National Park

After spending some time in Rexburg, Idaho doing day trips to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National parks. We headed south and spent a night on the north end of Salt Lake City. Traveling through Salt Lake during morning rush hour isn't fun especially with the freeway torn up for 30 miles. We ended up close to the crossroads of hwy 89 and hwy 12 south of Panguitch, Utah. We spent a week there exploring Bryce National Park, Red Rock Canyon and the highway 12 scenic byway.

So much beautiful red rock everywhere in the coolest shapes. We got to see our first "flash flood". There was a dry creek bed that followed alongside the highway. At least it was dry when we went to the park but on the way back it was a roaring river of water. A real "gully washer" -- very dangerous. Amazingly just a few hours later and the whole thing was dry again.

This area is close to 5 national parks so it is very popular for foreign tourists. Many of them rent small RV's to see the parks. Its amazing --and scary-- anyone can drive an RV of any size without any special license.

We are now in Kanab, Utah a little farther south and on our way to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Richest Hole on Earth

Butte, Montana was the site of the richest copper mine. Back in the late 1800's they started mining copper in underground mines here. Eventually, they went to open pit mining and created this giant hole. Its miles around and over a mile deep. They still mine copper in another open pit mine behind this one. They also recover copper out of the leach water left over from the original mining operation. This pit full of water is so acidic it will kill birds that land on it and stay too long. They have a big noise maker they blast to scare birds, ducks, etc. The city of Butte is using this toxic pit as a tourist attraction. I guess its working -- we went to see it. Its all part of a superfund clean up site that stretches from Butte to Anaconda all the way up to Missoula. They are all connected because of the rivers that flow through all of this and got very contaminated from all the mining. It's nice to see that it can be cleaned up but its going to take at least twenty more years.

Jim got his cast off and now just wears a removable brace. We are planning to head to Rexburg, Idaho next. The start of our journey south. It is time to leave Anaconda. It's getting into the very low 30's most nights -- almost had frost one night. The truck has all new filters and fluids and the tires and brakes have been checked. We just need to do a few more maintenance chores on the 5th wheel and boat and we will be good to go.

Coolidge Ghost Town

About 50 or 60 miles south of Anaconda is the Pioneer Mountains Scenic Byway. Along this byway are beautiful forest service campgrounds. Many have paved roads and paved camping sites. There are also many points of interest along the byway to stop and admire along with some great designated picnic areas. We were on this road several times going to the Crystal Park digging area and were amazed at all the great camping places and they never seemed very busy -- at least during the week.

Several miles north of Crystal Park is the turnoff for the Coolidge Ghost Town. We followed the road and it turned out to be a pretty nice gravel road. It goes up a mountain about 4 miles and turns into a one lane road with "turnouts". There were not a lot of turnouts to use to move over and let someone pass but luckily we only met up with one road grader. You park and walk about 15 minutes to the actual ghost town. They mined gold here and we walked up to the old mine. It is blocked off and gated so you don't get any silly ideas of trying to explore inside it. The town was good sized and had lots of old buildings with many of them still at least partly standing.

It was very interesting place to walk through and imagine what life was like for the people living and working here. This place is so isolated and at least now there is a nice road to it but back in the day it had to be a nightmare to go and get supplies.

Montana Flowers

Wildflowers in the mountains are so beautiful. At Logan Pass which is at the highest part of the Going to the Sun road there was a carpet of yellow glacier lilies. You can see the snow at the left edge of the picture of the lilies -- and its August. The orange flowers in the foreground of the other picture are called indian paintbrush. Indian paintbrush is the Montana state flower.

We loved every minute of Glacier and went over the Going to the Sun road four times. After leaving the Kalispell area on the west side of Glacier we took highway 83 south. This is another scenic byway that goes along mountain lakes and wildlife management areas. We followed it down and then wound over to Missoula and from there south to Anaconda.

We are going to stay in Anaconda until after Labor Dy weekend. We found an orthopedic doctor in Butte for Jim to see to get his cast changed to a removeable splint in another week. We've been up to Gem Mountain west of Phillipsburg and found some more sapphires. We got all excited because we found one that was four carats -- but it was too flawed to make into jewelry. Someone the week before had found a 19 carat sapphire there -- they said it was worth a six figure sum of money. No such luck for us.

We are close to the Big Hole River which is very famous for trout fishing. We went by it and there were rafts filled with people every 200 feet in the water. People come from all over to fish here and most fly fish. The river is shallow and rocky so only rafts and those funny shaped river boats with curved bows on each end can be used. We haven't done any fishing since Washington.

We did get some good news. We got hired as volunteers at the Imperial National Wildlife refuge down by Yuma, Az. We get a site for our rv with full hookups in exchange for working in the visitor center 3 days a week. We start November 1st and the job runs until the end of March. There is a boat launch close to the visitor center so we will try doing some fishing in the Colorado this winter.

Glacier National Park

The Going to the Sun road in Glacier is one of those things that should be on everyones to do list. I got to drive our big truck on the twisty, narrow road that climbs up the side of a mountain and then follows along the edge for quite a while. There is road construction going on which turned out to be a good thing. You are stopped on the road for awhile waiting for your turn to go through the construction and you can get out of your car and take pictures. Otherwise there aren't many pullouts to stop and look at the scenery. There were times when I'm sure I passed another vehicle with only an inch of clearance between us. There is a free shuttle service you can ride instead of driving your vehicle if you just want to enjoy the views without the excitement of driving.

We got to the top of Logan Pass and there were big horn sheep wandering around in the parking lot. I took a picture of one that was "parked" illegally by the no parking sign. We also got some great pictures of the mountains reflecting into St Mary's lake on the east side of Logan's Pass.

We have moved on from Kalispell and are now back in Anaconda which is a small town 20 miles west of Butte. We will be here for a few weeks before heading to Utah.

Gold and Cedars

Before Jim broke his wrist we were having a good time gold panning at a site along Libby Creek. The area was mined for gold in the past and is now a gold panning site the forest service supports. You dig out some dirt from a big hill of gravel and pan it out. We found a small amount of gold and may have found more if we could have kept at it.

We did some more sightseeing around Libby. We went to the Ross Creek Cedar area. You walk along the trail and see the most amazing cedar trees. They are very old and as you can see HUGE. It is just a mile loop trail nice and level so Jim could manage it. The drive to the area was equally beautiful. Overall the whole northwest corner of Montana is great. The summer weather is usually in the 80s with low humidity and few biting bugs. We would love to go back to the Libby area in the future.

We are now back in Kalispell and finally getting our chance to go on the Going To The Sun road.

Swede Mountain Lookout

The day before Jim's accident we took a drive up to a fire tower. They advertise it as a tourist attraction. There are picnic tables and a person working the tower that will talk about doing fire watch. We started going up and got more and more nervous about the road. The road was gravel and kept getting more and more narrow and windy. We saw a forest service truck a little bigger than ours going up so we thought if he could go we could too. Well the last half mile of the "road" was just a washed out dirt track. The road was so narrow that we are sure the outside dually tires weren't even touching any road.

When we got up to the top we got out and kissed the ground. We did go up in the tower and saw this beautiful scenery. You can see the town of Libby down below and the Kootenai River running by it. The truck is in the bottom left corner of the other picture. The peaks of the Cabinet Mountains (with snow) are in the background. The guy in the fire tower laughed at our terror getting up there. He takes his truck up and down the road all the time. He stays up there for days at a time. He has to haul water up to the top of the tower and the outhouse is down at the base. No power but he seemed happpy to be working there -- he did have one heck of a view.

Yaak Falls -- Jim Falls

We drove up toward the town of Yaak. The road follows the Yaak river and about halfway between the town of Troy and Yaak there are falls. I've seen pictures of these "falls" when the water is low and I've seen people sliding down the rocks in this water. Obviously, the water is way too high and fast to go sliding.

While I was taking these pictures Jim was up river a 100 yds from me. I couldn't see him and I finally went to find him. I found him -- looking pretty beat up limping along the rock ledge on the shoreline. He had slipped on the rocks and fallen about 4 feet down onto the rock ledge. He yelled at me to put the camera down and come toward him very carefully because the rocks were slick as ice. I got to him and had to help pull him up the rocks -- I even slipped helping him - but didn't hurt anything. Jim on the other hand had a gash on his knee and forehead, glasses broken and both wrists hurting. The left wrist was starting to swell -- I knew it was probably broken.

I drove him to the ER in Libby. X-rays confirmed the broken wrist. They put a splint on it and refered him to an orthopedic clinic in Kalispell to get a cast put on in a week. I tried to take his picture with his arm in a sling but he wanted no part in showing everyone his Owee! He is lucky not to have ended up in that water and only one sprained wrist and one simple fracture. He also can get his glasses replaced for free through Walmart's vision center. Life is better with Walmart.

Swinging Bridge

The Kootenai River runs along Highway 2 south of the Libby Dam. It's still running pretty high and fast. There is a pullout along the highway where there is a county park that follows the river. There are two famous things to see along the river. The Swinging Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that goes over the river. We walked across it and all I could thing of was that Indiana Jones movie where they went across a bridge like it with the water far below and the water was full of alligators. This bridge isn't that high and there are no gators but it did bend and swing as you walked.

The other famous site is the Kootenai Falls. The falls are wide and don't look that high until you get up close to them. This part of the river was supposedly in one of the scenes in the movie "A River Wild" with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. I want to rent that movie and see if I can spot them.

We are doing some gold panning and finding a few specs. It's fun and to get to the gold panning area you have to drive up the side of a mountain -- a very beautiful drive.

Libby, Montana

We are in the northwestern corner of Montana staying at an rv park in Libby. It is a beautiful area right on highway 2 -- the same highway 2 that runs through Minnesota, North Dakota -- all the way to the west coast. The Libby Dam in the picture is on the Kootenai River and the reservoir it creates is Lake Kookanooska. All trout waters of course -- the water is glacial. The Cabinet Mountain Range runs through this area. They call these mountains "Glacier National Park" without the tourists.

There is a lot to see and do around here so we are staying for a month. The monthly rate is always much cheaper than the daily or even weekly rate. The weather is fabulous mostly in the 80's and some 90's but it is always cool at night. During the day when it heats up we go up higher into the mountains to explore and it stays cooler there. We are just starting to sightsee and have already found lots of interesting places.

We even found a place in the national forest here that has a public gold panning area. We just checked it out and panned a little while and already found a few specks of gold. We figure if we aren't going to fish we might as well play in the "pay dirt".

Lake MacDonald

We got some great pictures of Lake MacDonald in Glacier National Park. The bears also were out foraging close to the road so we got some pictures. This black bear had a beautiful coat. We also saw a tan colored one that had a shaggy coat and a few other black bears. Grizzly bears have a slight hump behind the neck. They like more open meadows which are found on the east side of Glacier. I'm not sure if we will get to the east side.

Glacier -- at least what we've gotten to see -- is breathtaking. The snow has been melting rapidly since we got here. It may all be gone in a few weeks -- it's only July -- for goodness sake. We are going to have to give up the idea of fishing anywhere along the Missouri river on the east side of the state. The water isn't going to go down until August.

It is finally summer -- our first days in the 80's so we are just kicking back and enjoying it for awhile. Although we are trying to line up a job for the winter in Arizona. If something comes up that sounds good for the rest of the summer we may take it.

Roaming Western Montana

Our computer is in being fixed -- or it may have to be replaced. I am using a computer at an internet cafe at a campground in Kalispell, Montana. I can't download any of the great pictures we have taken so far. We have been to Gem Mountain near Phillipsburg, Mt. $20 gets you a bucket of gravel that you wash and then poke through and find sapphires. We found over two dozen and two of them were at least a carat and gem quality so I figure for $50 each I'm getting jewelry made out of them and they will be worth twice that much.

We have been to Yellowstone and saw most of the sights worth seeing. Old Faithful isn't as faithful as it used to be -- something changed a few years ago and now it isn't as predictable. There are at least two other sites that we thought were great. The Giant Prismatic Spring and Mammoth Hot Springs. So many colors in the rocks make the mist off the hot water look pink and blue and orange. Old Faithful has a web cam on it now so you can go online and watch it blow. We stayed in West Yellowstone at a campground with a beautiful view of mountains.

We also drove through some of Grand Tetons National Park -- pretty but went by some lakes that were still frozen. We then went up to Glacier National Park. The Going to the Sun road is closed about 15 miles in on the west side. They are trying to clear a 50 foot drift up by the pass and the going is very slow. The road may not be open for 4th of July this year. We did get to see Lake MacDonald -- what a beautiful blue! We will be in the Kalispell area until after the 4th of July.

We may head to Banff up in Alberta next -- not sure yet.

Sooooo Disappointed

Memorial weekend pretty much did us in as camphosts at Coulee City campground. It's too bad because walleye fishing was just starting to get good. I took a picture of this kid's walleye --35" long and almost 13 pounds -- he was very excited. We will also miss all of the great scenery we were getting to see. This is a picture of Lake Chelan about 80 miles northwest of Coulee City. A beautiful lake surrounded by mountains -- with snow still on the tops.

The holiday weekend brought us a campground full of rv'ers and tenters. It was finally warm enough to tent it. Unfortunately, we soon discovered that at least one fourth of our tenters only wanted to party all night and race through the park all day. After over three dozen visits, patrols, etc from the local police, county sheriffs and any other law enforcement we could get we decided enough was enough and gave our notice. The last straw was taking shifts with our other host couple to stay up all night in order to keep an eye on our stuff.

Most of our campers appreciated our efforts to keep the campground safe for their families although at least two families left because of the thievery, drunkedness and unsafe driving that went on in the park -- don't blame them and told them to demand refunds from the city. All we heard was to expect worse come fourth of July -- no thanks we are out of there.

We are now in Montana and are planning to tour Glacier National Park maybe go up into Banff and then down to Yellowstone before heading south again for the winter.

Grand Coulee Dam

We drove up to Grand Coulee. It is a very pretty drive between Coulee City and Grand Coulee because the road follows Banks Lake. The dam is incredible and there is a very nice visitors center that contains all kinds of stuff that was used during the building of it. They have a laser show at the dam when it gets dark starting Memorial Weekend that is supposed to be worth seeing.

We stopped at Steamboat Rock State Park along Banks Lake. I took a picture of the "steamboat rock". The rock broke off and was pushed out from the canyon wall during the great flood that caused the huge waterfall at Dry Falls way back at the end of the ice age.

We survived the walleye tournament at the park this past weekend. Most of the fishermen were nice guys but we had a few that made life miserable. The other problem with our park is that it doesn't have any closed hours. We have people drive through the park at 1AM -- slowly--and it makes us very nervous -- but they aren't breaking any rule so we are kind of stuck putting up with it. Not sure we are going to stay if we don't feel safe.

Smallmouth & Two Bears Falls

Jim caught a very nice smallmouth over 3 lbs. I still have yet to catch a fish. I also took a picture of this "falls". If you click on it to make it bigger you can see the two black spots that give it the the name "two bears falls".

We are getting ready for a big walleye tournament that takes place here on May 21st and 22nd. Guys are coming in a week early to "prefish" and get a camping spot. Our campground doesn't take reservations its strictly first come first serve. Jim gets to be out on the launch where the judges sit and watch as they start the tournament. Its fun to watch all the boats take off full blast to get out to their fishing spots. Last year some big walleyes were brought in -- up to 14 lbs.

We are not looking forward to Memorial Weekend. There is a rodeo in town and they say we might have 1000 people in the campground. There are only four of us camphosts and maybe and extra police officer on duty. We have decided to stick it out and see how it goes.