Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Gay July-30-12
7:18 PM | 
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It
was raining when we got up this morning. I had to put on a rain coat to get
things put away and to close up the 5th wheel. The rain didn’t last
too long but we did have rain showers off and on most of the day. We were on
the road by 6:15 am as Cheri and both didn’t sleep well. So being early getting
through Prince George was a breeze. On the west side we stopped at a Canada
Super Store. It is very much like a Super Wal-Mart. We got the few things we
needed for the next few days because once we get to Hazelton there isn’t much
to choose from. They also have fuel here and we needed to fill up. First we
went and got our groceries so we could have the fuel discount. When we checked
out we asked the clerk if we needed a card to get our fuel discount and she
said that we have to get the fuel first and then you get a discount for food.
You might know that we would do it wrong. Just goes to show things are
different in other counties. When we went to fuel up the price of fuel was
$1.199 per liter, which works out to $4.539 per gallon. I was talking to a guy
that was filling up his motor home and he said that this was a good price. He
was returning from Alaska and he said that he paid as high as $1.309 per liter.
The next town we came to we saw a sign for a welding shop and I told Cheri we
should see if we could find it to have our cargo carrier fixed. Well when we
pulled into town I stopped along the street in front of a gas station and went
in to ask if they knew were the welding shop was. When I turned around and
looked out the window I could see the welding shop name on a building on the
next street over. So I walked over and talked to a guy about my problem and he
said drive around into our parking lot and he would take a look at it. I did
and he said they could fix it and started on it right away. Within and half an
hour they had it repaired, painted and back on the 5th wheel. There
was a Subway across the street so we walked over and had an early lunch. Just
goes to show if you trust in God he will take care of your problems. We arrived
in Hazelton around 3:30 pm and are back in the mountains. Sometimes I think I
was born to live in the mountains, the only problem is I don’t like the cold
weather that goes with it in the winter. https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on
album: Prince George, BC. to Hazelton, BC
Gay July-29-30
7:16 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We
were back on the road by 7:10 am. I didn’t get the generator out last night so
it didn’t take long to close up as I didn’t have to unhook the truck so all we
had to do was put the slides in and hit the road. We were just getting to the
mountains and within 30 miles we were deep into the beauty of the Canadian
Rockies. I think they are much prettier then the US Rockies. Cheri took some
great pictures. At one of our stops to see a waterfall a couple from Belgium
started talking to Cheri and asking her questions about our truck and 5th
wheel. They said they never seen a truck and 5th wheel that big.
They said we could never have anything that big in Belgium. We showed them the
inside of the 5th wheel and truck. Afterwards they took our picture
and we took one of them. They are in Canada for a 3 week holiday. We gave them
a business card and told them they could follow our trip to Alaska. They said
they would e-mail us a copy of the picture they took of us. After a very nice
visit, it was time to head on up the road. We made several stops taking
pictures and looking at waterfalls, lakes, glaciers, and mountains. At one of
the stops I notice the cargo carrier that I added to the back of the 5th
wheel was bending down. It was supposed to carry 200 pounds and our generator
only weighs 75 pounds. I guess the bouncing was just too much for it as we were
on some pretty rough roads. So I ended up taking the generator off and putting
it back in the basement. Now I need to find a place to get the cargo carrier
fixed. We are staying at a pull off from the highway about 30 miles east of
Prince George, BC. We got here at 4:30 pm local time as today we picked up
another hour and are now on Pacific Time. I got the generator out and Cheri
fixed a meal of potatoes, green beans and pork chops that I grilled a couple of
days ago. With all our stops to see thing we were still able to put on 404
miles today. We were going to stop in Price George for the night but we were
both tired and not ready to face the city traffic. To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on
album: Morley, AB to Prince George, BC.
Gay July-28-12
7:14 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We didn’t get on the road until 10:15 am. We got a call from Darren this morning; we had tried to call him last night but went to voice mail. So we got have a nice visit with him. We got to the Canadian border at 11:00 am and had to wait about 20 minutes as there were a lot of cars ahead of us, no problems, just answered a few questions and we were on our way. We had trouble getting through Calgary, the signage and wasn’t that good and our GPS wasn’t the best help has it has never been updated since we got it back in 2007. We did make a couple of wrong turns but with Cheri’s map help and the GPS we made it without having to turn around anywhere. We pulled into Morley, AB at 4:39 pm and are staying in the Stoney Nakoda Resort & Casino parking lot. Now all we have to do is stay out of the Casino or it will cost us more to stay here then it would have at a campground. We did 270 miles today.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Gay July-27-12
10:42 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We got to have a nice relaxing day. We walked around the campground this morning, need a jacket as it was a little cooler then the last few days. Cheri did some laundry this morning and I did some outside work, the last few things before we head north tomorrow. On the way in yesterday we saw a Pamida store so we head over there and it was closing up and everything was 40 to 60 percent off, didn’t find anything we needed. Then we stopped at the gas station to top off the fuel and then downtown to see what they had, wouldn’t you know it, they had two quilt shops. Bet you can guess where we spent most of our time down town, Cheri did buy a pattern for making a purse. It was after 1:00 pm when we got back to the 5th wheel and time for lunch. This afternoon I took the computer up by the office so I could get some internet service, got the banking done and e-mails sent. The rest of the afternoon was spent reading. Around 5:00 pm I got the grill out and gilled some pork chops for tomorrow night’s supper and a steak for supper tonight. This may be the last blog posted for a few days, depends on internet service in campgrounds. I know we will have internet service when we get to Hazelton and that will take us 4 or 5 days to get there. We also won’t have any phone service while we are in Canada plus some places in Alaska.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Gay July-26-12
8:48 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I was up a little after 5:00 am, couldn’t sleep thinking about all I needed to get done this morning before we leave the campground. The first thing was that we didn’t have any internet service to up load the blog. Will after our morning walk and breakfast I went to work washing the truck, I had already paid for the water to wash it and wanted to get it done. Long story short we got everything done and pulled out of the campground at 10:45 am, we had to be out by 11:00 am. The trip to Shelby was only 80 miles. The county opened up to nothing but wheat fields, many will over 100 acres. It was neat to see the wheat and there were a lot of combines working in the fields. We arrived at our campground in Shelby and were all set up by 1:00 pm. We had a sandwich for lunch and then headed into town to pick up our mail. On the way out of the campground we see this class c motor home from Florida and wondered if maybe it was a couple that might be on our caravan. When we got back to the campground we check our list of people and found one couple from Florida had a class c. So we went over to their camper and the guy was outside, I asked him if his name was Dick Holt and he looked at me and said yes am I supposed to know you. We told him we were his tail gunner for their Alaskan tour. His Wife Marie came out and Dick introduced us to her. We ended up in their camper visiting for the next two hours, what fun we had with them. They are leaving in the morning to do more sites seeing on their way to Hazelton the caravan starting point. Now we need to check out the rest of the campground to see if anyone else is here that might be on our caravan.
Gay July-25-12
8:27 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Nothing going on this morning, just waiting for the call telling us the truck was done and we could come and pick it up. We were told the parts would be in early this morning and I figured the truck should be done by noon. Well at 1:00 pm we hadn’t heard anything so I said to Cheri lets ride the motorcycle over and it should be done by the time we get there. Well when we pulled in there wasn’t any one working on it. I asked them what was going on and they said the parts just came in and was just getting ready to start working on it (not sure, but I think I am getting the run around). I asked them when it would be done and they said in a couple of hours so I told them we would be back at 3:30 pm. So with nothing left to do we headed back to the 5th wheel. So at 3:30 pm we headed back and when we got there they were just finishing up. Then when I went to pay the bill, I checked it over and didn’t see the air filter on the bill. I said what about the air filter and they looked at me like what are you talking about. Long story short we got the truck at 4:30 pm and headed back to the 5th wheel to pick up the motorcycle lift and before we left for the storage unit the truck repair shop guy was here to install the new air filter. We then headed for the storage unit got the motorcycle put away along with a few other things we don’t need to haul to Alaska and back. Then we headed to Wal-Mart for groceries and miscellanies things we needed. By the time we got home and things put away it was 8:30 pm. I still need to wash the truck and that is going to wait until tomorrow morning. We have had enough stress for one day.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Gay July-24-12
9:22 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We worked on getting more information together for our Alaska caravan. We had e-mailed Don and Dorene Foster for information. We had went on the caravan back in 2008 with them and last year they were tail gunners for the third tour, so who better to talk to. They e-mailed us a lot of information and today we called them to get some more information on the campgrounds we will be staying at. They have been a big help and it will make it easier for us, Thanks Don and Dorene. Every time I think we got things ready we come up with some more ideas on things to do. So hopefully we will be prepared to do a good job and enjoy the trip. Cheri and I played one game of Hand, Knee and Foot this afternoon which I won (lucky me). This evening we walked over to Dairy Queen for a Blizzard, my treat to Cheri for letting win the card game. We also got a call from Pat and Roger (Pat is Cheri’s lifelong girl friend). It was good to hear from them. It was another hot day but not as bad as the ones before. If everything goes right tomorrow will it be a very busy day getting things ready to leave Thursday morning. Here are the sunset pictures that I tried to upload yesterday before the internet went down for the day.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Gay July-23-12
2:33 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were patently waiting to hear on the truck because we have many things to get done before we leave Great Falls. We also wanted to go for a motorcycle ride but it was so windy and very hot, feels like a blow torch outside. We figured we would hear around noon that the truck was done. Noon came and went so we headed out to Pizza Hut for their lunch buffet. When we got to Pizza Hut we find that it was on that didn’t offer the lunch buffet. The guy there said that there was a Golden Corral up the street a couple of blocks. That sounded goods so off we went, well that was another mistake. It was pretty bad and didn’t even come close to the one in Zephyrhills. We were back at the 5th wheel a little after 1:00 pm. I waited until 2:00 pm and called on the truck. They told me that the parts just came in; I asked him if it would be done today and he said that he was working on it. I said that wasn’t an answer to my question, he said we will try and get it done. Well near 4:00 pm we get a call and were told that they were shipped the wrong parts and have to order them again, the parts won’t be in until Wednesday. I told him we had to be out of the campground by 11:00 am on Thursday as the campground is full for the rest of the week because of the fair. He said that it would be done on Wednesday. So story short we will have a lot of work that has to be done on Wednesday night after we get the truck back. We have already done all we can do until we get the truck. Well we had a beautiful ending to the day with the sunset. I know that it is Gods way of saying, take it easy and everything will turn out OK. Couldn't upload the sunset pictures today, really bad internet service.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Gay July-22-12
7:47 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
The campground has 141 sites and when we walked this morning we found only three vacant sites. We have never been in a campground where there are so many units that come and go each day. We lounged around this morning with our coffee as church wasn’t until 10:45 am. We went to Valley Community Church here in Great Falls, a very good message from the book of John. We had planned on taking a motorcycle ride this afternoon but it was just too windy and hot. So we stayed inside, reading and watching TV, a very lazy day. I think we have everything ready to leave here, all we need is our truck and to get things put in the storage unit. Tomorrow we are supposed to get our truck back.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
9:25 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Not much going on today. Cheri spent the day working on things that we can do while we are on the caravan. She even had me searching for quilt shops in Alaska that we can stop at, of course she said that she wanted the information so she could let the other ladies on the caravan where they are at, makes me wonder. I also did some searching on some helpful web sites that may be of a benefit for the guys on the caravan. I did get the drill out and drilled the holes in the Watson Lake signs for Cheri. We were talking to our neighbors beside us this afternoon (Dale and Diane Melton). Diane is quilter so Cheri showed her the quilts she has done and they traded a lot of information. Dale and I sat outside talking about 5th wheel problems. They were going to get the truck fixed while they were here (needs new injectors) but the campground is going to be full with the extra days they wanted to stay. That made us nervous because we want to extend our stay for an additional three days. We have to be out by Monday at 11:00 am and our truck won’t be done until late Monday. So we headed down to the office to see about staying three more nights. No problem, but they are full up for Thursday through the weekend. When we came back we stopped by to let Dale and Diane know that we got the extra days we needed to camp here. We visited for a while longer and decide to go out for supper together. As long as we didn’t have the truck Dale and Diane drove. It was a very nice evening with more visiting after we got done eating. They are leaving in the morning and we have made plans on getting together when we get back to Florida as they are from Sarasota.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Gay July-20-12
8:07 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Cheri is still having back problems but it didn’t stop her from cleaning the 5th wheel and doing laundry. I have a hard time getting her to slow down. I worked on cleaning the basement and getting things together that will be going into the storage unit. It was 90 degrees today too hot to do most anything outside. I did take a ride to the local Napa store to check on the prices of the brakes, calibers and rotors to make sure we don’t get over charged for the parts at the truck shop. We played a couple of games of SOB which I won and Cheri was done playing cards. We had pork chops on the grill for supper. A couple next to us pulled in late yesterday and were on a 60 day caravan that started here going to Alaska and were out for only 10 days and had truck trouble and so they came back here to get there truck repaired. The funny thing is that they are parked next to us and took their truck to the same place that our truck is at. We talked this afternoon and said he would like to have a truck like ours. One other thing is that they are from Sarasota FL, small world.
Friday, July 20, 2012
Gay July-19-12
10:00 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Cheri got up with a bad back this morning; she spent too much time leaning over the table yesterday painting the signs. So she is on light duty today. I decided to wash the motorcycle this morning before it got hot. It was already 65 degrees at 6:00 am. Supposed to get up to 97 degrees today didn’t quite make it as it topped out at 94 degrees. It was noon before I got the motorcycle done. I had nice visit with our new neighbor next to us. They are from Calgary AB. He said that if we hadn’t already had the storage unit we could have stored our motorcycle in his garage, nice thing to do for a stranger. Around 11:30 am I got a call from the truck shop where we are having the brake down, Yea! It’s done, nope he told me that the calibers are bad and can’t get new ones until Monday. Ok so our plans have changed again. We were going to move to Wal-Mart on Monday and Sam’s Club on Tuesday and then back to Wal-Mart on Wednesday before we left for Shelby on Thursday to save some money. It’s going to cost more to get the brakes done and more to say here in the campground, so much for saving money. We had a beautiful sunset last night.
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Gay July-18-12
9:08 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Cheri went back to work on her signs and I made a trip to Home Depot to get what I needed so I could lock the cover over the generator. Cheri and I both finished up at noon. After lunch we took the truck in to have the brakes inspected, wanted make sure everything was good for the Alaska trip. I rode the motorcycle and Cheri drove the truck so we didn’t have to wait around for the inspection, so we went shopping. Cheri wanted to go to the Ross store. While she was in there I went to the sporting goods store. Then we went to the Big R where we bought the cargo carrier. It is a man’s store and also has a lot for the ladies. We spent quite a bit of time there as they had so much to look at. Then we headed back to see what they found out about the truck brakes. As it turns out we need new rear brakes. They ordered the parts while we were there and said it would be done late tomorrow. We were lucky to get it in and taken care of so soon. God was looking out for us again today. When we got home I did some computer work for Cheri so she would have the information she needs when she get the caravan group together to do their signs. To see pictures of Cheri’s signs and my cargo carrier for the generator click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Cheri’s signs and Gay’s cargo carrier.
Gay July-17-12
9:11 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
The last few mornings we have been walking around the campground. It is a very nice campground with green grass at each camp site. There are a lot of campers coming and going each day. Cheri worked all day on painting signs for us and Spike to put up at Watson Lake sign forest in the Yukon Territory, plus she is getting the sign boards ready for everyone to paint their own sign, Cheri is going to furnish the sign board and all the paints and will have a sign painting party a day before we start the Caravan. It has been a long time since Cheri has done any painting and she said that she was having fun doing it (good therapy). I finished putting together the cargo carrier for the generator. I took off part of the motorcycle lift and got the carrier installed. The grill cover we bought was too big to cover the generator, so we took it back to Home Depot and I bought lumber and paint to build a cover. I got the cover built and now have to go back to Home Depot to get what I need to fasten it to the cargo carrier. We had a little rain storm come through while I was working on the cover and Cheri helped me put the picnic table under the awning so I could keep working. I think by project was more work then therapy. Once again our internet is so slow that some of time nothing happens it just continues to clock, the first day we were here it wasn’t too bad. Tomorrow I will post pictures of Cheri’s sign painting and the cargo carrier.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Gay July-16-12
8:42 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Well plans have changed again today. We had planned on staying here in Great Falls for a couple of days and then head up to Shelby MT and leave our motorcycle at a storage facility and pick it up on our way back. It was a good place to leave it then we would take Hwy 2 back to Wisconsin. Well I called two different storage places in Shelby and they didn’t have any vacant units. So I called here in Great falls and got a storage facility that must have 200 units and they told me that they would check and call me back. About a half an hour later they called and said that they only had three vacant units. The way things were going I was afraid to take a chance and call another place so we now have a place to store the motorcycle. I wanted a 5 by 10 but had to take a 10 by 12 unit. Late this forenoon we headed to Big R and got the cargo carrier and then stopped at Big Lots and a sporting goods shop to buy gold pans so we can make our fortune with all the gold we will be panning (I can dream). We went to Home Depot to get some ply wood so I can put a solid floor in the cargo carrier. We also bought some lumber to make a sign for the sign forest in Watson Lake, also enough lumber so everyone on the tour can make one before we get to Watson Lake. It was after 2:00 pm before we got back to the 5th wheel. Cheri fixed a late lunch and I went to work on putting the cargo carrier together and cutting the plywood for the floor. I have the floor panted on one side. Cheri was working on the Watson Lake sign. We are going to stay here in Great Falls until 26th and then we will go to Shelby for two days getting our mail and taking care of last minute details before heading into Canada on the 28th. You never know everything could change again tomorrow.
Gay July-15-12
9:10 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
I didn’t sleep very well last night; I couldn’t get my mind to shut down for the night, thinking about all the things we need to get done before we leave the states. We were also parked in a spot that we could have had a problem getting out of Wal-Mart and we needed to get some fuel before we got on the road. As it turned out all of my worries about getting out of the parking lot was for nothing. I was able to back the 5th wheel around and drive right out and down the street about a quarter of a mile was a gas station that was an easy in and out. While I put the fuel in the truck Cheri went in and got us a cup of coffee. We were on the road by 7:00 am and only had 87 mile to travel today. We didn’t want to get into the campground until after noon. So we stopped at a rest area for a while and then went on into Great Falls Wal-Mart and bought some of the things we want to have when we head into Canada. We got to the campground around 12:30 pm. We planned on staying a week because we get an extra day free for staying a week. Well they didn’t have any more weekly sites available. So we only paid for two days and are going to think about what we are going to do next. Nice being retired and doing pretty much what want and not being dictated by someone else. This afternoon we opened all the windows because it was pretty hot and a nice breeze and then headed out looking for a receiver hitch cargo rack to put on the back of the 5th wheel after we take the motorcycle off in Shelby. We are going to put the generator on the cargo rack. We stared out by going to Home Depot and they didn’t have any but I did get some more water filters. The guy at Home Depot made a couple of phone calls for us and found two of cargo carriers, one at Sears for $139.00 and one at Big R for $169.00. So we headed to Sears and when we got there they had no idea what we want and said they never heard of a cargo carrier that went into a receiver hitch. While we were in Sears a rain storm and wind came through and yep the one time we leave the 5th wheel windows open. We went to another store called Big Bear and no luck there for a cargo carrier. We were near Sam’s Club so we went and picked up a couple of things there and had pizza before we left, we really like Sam’s pizza. We stopped a Napa store on the way home and they didn’t have any cargo carriers in stock. So we headed on home to see how wet everything was in the 5th wheel. The first thing I noticed when we pulled in was the grill cover which I had covered the generator was gone. As it turned out the rain and wind came from the side of the 5th wheel where there aren’t any windows. So it was only a little damp where it came in the back window. I went looking for the grill cover and didn’t find it so I went to the office to see if anyone turned one in, no luck there. I asked a couple of people near our 5th wheel if they saw a grill cover come flying by. No luck on that. When I was headed back to the 5th wheel I looked up the street and saw some kind of cover laying on a picnic table and sure enough that was our grill cover. After all of that I had enough excitement for the day. Now we have to decide do we stay here for a week or do we stay at Wal-Mart and Sam’s club or move on north to Shelby. The only thing I know right now is tomorrow we are going to Big R to get the cargo carrier. To see pictures Cheri took on our way from Blackfoot ID to Great Falls MT link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Blackfoot ID to Great Falls MT.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Gay July-14-12
3:41 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were on the road by 8:15 am. We had 297 mile to go today. The weather was cloudy this morning and didn’t see any sun until near noon. Cheri took several pictures but they will have to wait until another day for me to post them because our internet service here is very slow and probably wouldn’t be able to upload them. So I will do them tomorrow. We are staying in the Wal-Mart parking lot here in Helena, MT. There were several RV’s already here when we came in around 2:30 pm. It is now 6:30 pm and I just went for a walk and there are 14 RV’s here, the most I have ever seen in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Tomorrow we only have 85 miles to travel to Great Falls, MT. Ok you may be wondering where we are going because we told everyone that we were going to the Black Hills in SD when we left Colorado. Well there is a good reason for our change of plans. Last Sunday we received an e-mail from Alaskan Discovery RV Tours. The owner Spike wanted to know if we wanted to be tail gunners for his third tour. We had done his caravan in 2008 and had a great time. Long story short the tail gunners that were supposed to do the third tour could make it. So Cheri and I are heading to Hazelton, BC where the caravan starts and will be tail gunning. Back in 2009 I signed up as an alternate tail gunner if someone couldn’t make it. Being we were already in Colorado it was an easy decision for us. We will be spending a week in Great Falls to take care of all the things that we need to have done before heading into Canada. We have to in Hazelton, BC on Aug 6; we really want to be there a few days early so we can get our tuck and 5th wheel washed. More about the caravan later.
Update I couldn’t get on the internet last night or this morning to post the blog.
Friday, July 13, 2012
Cheri July-13-12
8:55 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We left Price, UT at 7am this morning. We were up early, I fixed breakfast and we were off. Much of the way it looked as if we were traveling in the desert. There was nothing but dirt with a little sagebrush here and there. Finally we got into the mountain area. It just looked like high mounds of dirt. The land was real barren with a few scrub trees. There was no sun today and it was very hazy. Gay pulled over to wash the windshield so I could get a few pictures.
We fly right through Salt Lake City and ended up in Blackfoot, ID for the night. We parked in a Wal-Mart parking lot and Gay got out the generator, started it up and I fixed a late dinner. It is cooler tonight than last night. The pictures didn’t come out good, due to all the haze in the air.
 |
| Cheri said she couldn't see to take pictures |
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Gay July-12-12
7:47 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Not a very exciting day. We got on the road a little past 10:00 am. We drove 243 miles today and are spending the night at the Wal-Mart campground in Price Utah. We arrived here around 3:00 pm. It is 97 degrees here and I wasn’t going to put out the slides, but with it being so hot we put out the slides and I got the generator out and now we have the air conditioner going and is very comfortable. We went into Wal-Mart and they have a Subway in the store, so the first thing we did was get something to eat as we didn’t stop anywhere for lunch. We only need one thing and that was some candy to have while we are driving. Well before got out of there we were able to spend $28.00. Cheri took a few pictures as we were driving and when you look at them you can see there wasn’t much to look at and I think the few pictures she took was the best of what we saw today. To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Montrose, Colorado to Price, Utah.
 |
| view out the back window of our 5th wheel at Montrose campground |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Cheri July-11-12
11:48 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Gay rode back into Montrose this morning at 9am to pick up the shocks for the truck, when he returned we were on our way to Ouray.
Ouray is nestled in some of the most rugged and towering peaks of the Rockies. It is at 7,792 ft elevation and it is surrounded on three sides with 13,000 foot peaks. It has been nicknamed the Switzerland of America. It is a town with lots of Victorian architecture.
When we arrived in town, we stopped at the Visitors center and picked up a map of the town. Gay walked over and took pictures of the Hot Springs located nearby. We didn’t bring our suits to try it out, maybe next trip.
We made our way to Cascade Falls. It was located at the northeast end of town. We had to travel on another DIRT ROAD to get to the parking lot and hiked up to the 280ft falls. It was beautiful. People were walking around on the cliffs behind the falls. It was quite a site.
Box Canyon Falls was located at the southwestern end of Ouray. This one we had to pay to see. It was also on a DIRT ROAD. We followed the path and we began to hear the sound of the river crashing down on the rocks. We went down some shallow stairs and began our entrance into the canyon. We continued along the cat walks on the edge of the canyon walls. You could look down below and see the remnants of old mining equipment and the pipe that brings the mineral hot spring water to the famous Hot Springs Pool in town.
The water plummets into a narrow canyon spilling thousands of gallons of water per minute.
Box Canyon is the summer home of the beautiful and rare Black Swift bird. They like to nest only in cold damp cliffs near waterfalls and cliffs. They winter in Brazil and come back to Ouray every year. Gay was able to get a picture of one of the nests, with a bird in it.
We were able to take the stairs (65 steps) to the bottom of the falls. It was very impressive. The mist from the falls sprayed out around the rocks.
We were told the Ore House was the place to go for lunch. It was at one of the old hotels. It was not a good experience for us. It took a long time to even get waited on, and another long wait to just get our water. We asked for a straw and he forgot that until we reminded him. Other people came in, got served and we were still waiting for our meal. I got up and went and asked about our food and he went and checked and brought it out right away. It had been sitting back there, ready for a long time and was cold when he brought it to the table. We told him it was not acceptable and walked out.
It took a long time to find another place to eat—with that done we checked out a few shops and then made our way back to the 5th wheel.
Gay got busy putting the new shocks on the truck. It took him about 1 hour and he said they went on easy.
It was time to call it a day!
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Ouray Day Trip.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Cheri July-10-12
9:19 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We were packed and ready to move by 11:30am. We only had 75 miles to go to our new campground in Montrose. We will be staying here for 2 days. It is a small campground, with GREEN GRASS and we have internet & phone service here. Hurray!
We got set up, had lunch and then took off on the bike to investigate a group of old buildings. It looked as if they were trying to create a fort and ran out of funds. Gay got some neat pictures.
We stopped off at a GMC dealer and Gay ordered new shocks for the truck. He wants to see if that will take some of the shake out that we feel while we’re driving. This seems to be a problem with this model truck. The shocks will be in tomorrow and Gay will put them in himself.
We had heard a lot about the Olathe Sweet Corn grown in this area and wanted to give it a try. We spotted a guy along the highway with a truck load of corn for sale so we checked it out. We asked him why this corn was so popular, he said because of the low morning temps and the high afternoon temps during the day; it makes all the sweetness go to the top of the stock. They only pick the top ears off the stock because that’s where the tasty ears are. The rest they plow under and use them as fertilizer for next year’s crop. He gave us an ear to try and we couldn’t believe the sweetness in the ear.
We made a stop at target and then on to some antique, rock & carving shops before returning to the 5th wheel. Temps today were in the high 80’s.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Montrose Ride.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Cheri July-9-12
8:44 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We had one more ride to do before we leave Gunnison. We took a back road called Ohio Creek up Ohio Pass and up over Kebler Pass, at 9,980 elevations, then down into Crested Butte and back into Gunnison. It is a 90 mile loop.
The road began as a paved road and the climb up the mountain was beautiful. There were lots of old buildings and grazing meadows for the cattle. We soon ran out of paved road and once again traveling on a hard packed dirt road. We went by a formation called The Castles, inspiring spires carved from the West Elk volcano, extinct for thousands of years. One could easily see why it was given the name Castles.
The tall pines were beautiful. It wasn’t long before we were into the Aspen. They lined both sides of the road and as far back as you could see. As we neared the top, it leveled out again and we had Aspen on one side of the road and huge pines on the other side.
The road now was dirt with rocks to weave around. The wild flowers were beautiful on top of the pass. It was hard to get good pictures of them as we traveled.
We headed down the pass into Crested Butte. We picked out one of their many restaurants and settled in for some lunch. We didn’t spend much time there because we had already checked out all the little shops in town last week. This trip was just a sightseeing day.
It was only 27 miles back into Gunnison and we can’t believe the sun is still shinning.
We made a stop at the Traders Rendezvous. We spent a little time in this shop. They had every wild animal native to this area, stuffed and ready to sell as well as thousands of antlers.
We walked out of the shop and guess what, it was SPRINKLING! We jumped on the bike and headed for the 5th wheel. We just wanted one day that we didn’t have to put the rain suits on. Now that I have 2 rain suits! Hopefully I won’t ever have to wear one.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Ohio Pass Ride.
Gay July-8-12
1:16 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today weather wise was a repeat of yesterday with a 75 % chance for rain. We left for Gunnison at 9:00 am to attend the Community Church once again. The message was just as good as it was last Sunday (Book of Luke about John the Baptist). It was almost 11:00 am before we left church as we visited for a while with some of the other people. We decided to go to Marios Pizza Place for lunch, when we got there they were closed and wasn’t sure what time the opened because there wasn’t any sign with the hours of operation. Right next door a large sporting goods store was having a side walk sale. Cheri found a rain suit like the one I have for less than half the price I paid for mine. So now she has two rain suits. The way our motorcycle rides had been going we were getting wet every ride and so I was teasing her that now she will always have a dry one to wear. After we got done at the sporting goods store Marios Pizza Place was open so we had our Sunday pizza and it was very good. Then we headed up the road to Wal-Mart to get a couple of cooler bags to put our cold groceries in that we got at the City Market. We also filled up the truck with fuel. I got 35 gallons for $3.459 because we had bought over $100 of groceries. The other 75 gallons cost us $3.559 which is the lowest we have paid for fuel since we left Florida.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Gay July-7-12
8:17 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
It rained some during the night and was cloudy when we got up this morning. The weather report said a 75 % chance for rain today. We never did see the sun today and heard thunder most of the day with very little rain. The temp high for the day was 67 degrees. So the weather being what it was we decided to stay home. We played cards, read, and watched movies on the TV. I wanted to do a few things on the internet but it is so slow during the day that it is impossible to get anything done. If I want to get anything done I have to do it late at night or early in the morning. Enough complaining, all in all life is good and wouldn’t trade with anyone. At 5:30 pm we went down to the Rec Hall for the Saturday night steak dinner. It was good but not as good as last Saturday night. We sat with another couple who are members of this park and were telling us different places that we should visit and we have pretty much done everything they told us about. So I guess it is time to be moving on to some new country.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Gay July-6-12
8:33 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Well it is supposed to rain today, so we planned a short ride in hopes of getting it in before the rain comes. We left for Gunnison around 10:00 am to do some shopping as I needed a water filter so I could regenerate the water softener. Cheri had a store that she wanted to stop at; it is one she was in a few days ago and wants to show me something that she liked. It is easier for me to add a picture of it then to describe it for you. After shopping we saw a sign for a yard sale and had to make a stop to check it out, nothing we needed. We stopped at Subway for lunch and then were ready for the rest of our ride. Well when we came out of Subway the sky was getting dark in the direction we want to go. We decided that we would head back to the 5th wheel. We have been on six rides and have gotten wet on five of them and didn’t want to get wet today. When we got back Cheri did a load of laundry and I got the water softener regenerated. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and was kind of nice as we have been on the go the last few days.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Cheri July-5-12
8:25 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
We decided to go back to the Black Canyon since we got rained out yesterday.
We left about 10:30 am and rode through some rain before arriving around 11:30 am at the Visitors Center. There was an overlook there that we didn’t get to see due to the rain yesterday.
No matter which overlook we stopped at the views are awesome.
Some stops were a short walk from the parking lot. We’d stroll down the path and wander past the Utah Juniper Trees. The tree twists as it grows. They are an odd looking tree. The pink rocks along the path and at the overlooks were so pretty. Everything you looked at was a beautiful site to see.
We managed to get through all the overlooks and decided to go back down into the canyon to the Dam site. The road was paved all the way down, which was good, but it had a 15% steep grade for 5 miles to the bottom of the canyon. The road weaved back and forth as you drop into the canyon. It was quite a ride.
We were disappointed when we got to the bottom. The dam was all fenced in and you couldn’t get close enough to get any good pictures.
We did however; get to see the Gunnison Diversion Dam that was completed in 1909. It was one of the largest tunnel projects to be attempted at the time. It is eleven feet wide by twelve feet high stretching almost six miles through hard rock, clay, sand and shale. The construction itself was very treacherous work. The tunnel was steamy hot because of hot water seepages, and underground streams often flooded the tunnel. The tunnel diverts water from the Gunnison River for irrigation purposes to the surrounding farm lands.
It started to sprinkle while we were at the Dam. We put our rain jackets on and headed up out of the canyon. We were only 11 miles from Montrose, so decided to head there for dinner. We were lucky enough to arrive at Denny’s in Montrose just before the down pour.
Just as we were putting our order in, the electricity went off. Luckily it came right back on. We relaxed—had dinner and it was barely sprinkling when we left. We had to stop for gas and as we headed out, it began to rain again. It rained the rest of the way home (50 miles). We were wet & cold when we arrived.
Gay made us some cocoa to help warm us up. It is 69 degrees here and 94 degrees in Fond du Lac!
Our ride today was a total of 147 miles.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Black Canyon of Gunnison day two.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Cheri July-4-12
10:21 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today started out with too many things going wrong.
We had tickets for the boat trip on the river down in the Black Canyon.
We got on our bike and started down our street and realized we forgot the camera. We turned around and went back after it. We then headed for Elk Creek Visitors Center to check on our tickets. They said we were just put on a list and didn’t need a ticket. We thought our tour boat left at 10:30am and they said “NO” 10 am. It was 9:10 am then and we had to drive 12 miles and descend down a steep DIRT road to the parking lot at Pine Creek Trail. From the parking area we had to walk down 232 stairs and do a ¾ mile walk along the old narrow gage railroad bed before reaching the boat dock. They suggested allowing 1 hour for the walk. Well, we did all this in ½ hour. We even had time to spare. WOW! Going back up will be at a much slower pace I assure you.
There were 41 people aboard our boat. Our guide explained all aspects of the canyon.
It is call Black Canyon because it is so deep, so sheer, and so narrow that very little sunlight can penetrate it. No other canyon in North America combines all of these features. The Gunnison River here in the Canyon drops an average of 96 ft per mile. It drops 480 ft in one two-mile stretch. At 2,700 feet deep and 48 miles long, it is an awesome site. The depth alone is enough to take your breath away. We were just amazed with each turn the boat made. We thoroughly enjoyed the boat ride and took our time climbing back out of the canyon (45 minutes to be exact).
Black Canyon was proclaimed a National Monument in 1933 but Congress made it a National Park in 1999.
We rode on up to the entrance of the park at the South Rim. They had a number of overlooks down into the canyon that would knock your socks off! When you look at the pictures they just don’t do justice to the beauty we saw. The Painted Wall was awesome.
Once again, we had to dig out our rain suits. We’d only stopped at 2 overlooks, when the rain came. We quickly put on our suits and took in 2 more overlooks before we decided to head back to the Visitors Center and wait out the storm. The wind blew hard and it poured. We checked out the Center and watched the movie on the Canyon and then decided to start for home.
We ran in and out of rain on our 60 mile trip home.
This is definitely a place we want to go back too.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Black Canyon of Gunnison
Cheri July-3-12
7:38 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today we did a 219 mile trip. We traveled the Silver Thread Scenic & Historic Byway. We rode the winding road spotting 4 antelope right away at Blue Mesa Lake. The motorcycle scared them and they began running along the water’s edge.
We continued along Hwy 149. It weaves along spectacular river canyons. We entered the San Juan Mountains and the historic town of Lake city. They were having a craft show in the little park there and we needed a break, so we stopped and looked around. We didn’t spend much time there. All the items were beautiful, but very expensive.
We continued our journey and climbed up over the Continental Divide (over 12,000 ft elevation) via Spring Creek Pass. Near the summit, we pulled off at North Clear Creek Falls. This proclaims to be the most photographed waterfalls in Colorado. It is not visible from the road; it seems to appear almost magically out of a meadow and flows down into a little canyon. It was beautiful.
The little town of Creede was our destination for the day. It was another 52 miles, nestled in a beautiful canyon, 8,852 ft up in the San Juan Mountains.
In 1889 silver was discovered in Creede. In the early days Creede was one of the largest producers of silver in the country, shipping out more than $1,000,000 in ore every month. Today, Creede is a town centered on tourism. They have great fishing and hunting. All last month they had closed one of the canyons there to build a set for Johnny Depp’s next movie, The Lone Ranger.
The main street is graced with century old buildings. The town is four blocks wide and 12 blocks long and has a year around population of 500.
We walked the streets and checked out the shops. We ended up having lunch at the old Fire House. It gave us a chance to sit and relax. The atmosphere was nice and the food was good.
We had stopped at the Visitors Center on the way into town and picked up a pamphlet on the mining tour there. It was a 17 mile loop on a dirt road (yes, another DIRT ROAD).
The first part of the loop was a steep climb, but we made it ok. We got some really neat pictures of the old silver mines. It started to rain about half way around the loop, so we stopped and put on our rain suits. This was the day they said no RAIN. We finished the loop and headed for home. We must have ridden at least 50 miles in rain.
The scenery was beautiful. We saw 4 deer and I even saw a bear in the trees along the roadside.
We arrived home at 6pm and were ready for something hot to drink. It was a cool-wet ride.
We do hope everyone enjoys the pictures and they make you feel as if you were along with us today.
To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Lake City, Creede ride.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Gay July-2-12
8:15 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
The alarm was set for 4:30 am but we were up at 4:15am the coffee was ready for us. We got dressed and headed into Gunnison for the hot air balloon lift off. We were told that they would be lifting off at 5:30 am. We got into Gunnison around 5:00 am and there wasn’t anyone around the park where the event was going to happen. 5:30 am came and went and still no one was there. So we went to the motel and picked up a paper to make sure we didn’t have the wrong day. The paper said today was the day and the desk clerk said it was in the park where we were. So we headed back to the park and waited. Well around 6:15 am a truck came in with their balloon equipment and started setting up. We went over and talked to them and they told us there would be around 20 balloons going up. The first one didn’t lift off until about 7:00 am (could have slept longer). At 7:30 am the last balloon lifted off for a total of 13 balloons. We have seen balloon rallies before but never get tired of seeing them again; it was well worth the wait. Then it was time to go and find some place for breakfast. We drove down Main Street and found a restaurant where there were a lot of cars so we figured it must be a good place to eat and we were right the food was excellent. After breakfast we search for a solon so Cheri could get her hair cut. The first two we stopped at were all booked up. At the third one Cheri was able to get in at 9:15 am which was only a 40 minute wait. I sat in the truck and read while Cheri got her hair cut. Then it was time to do some shopping down town. After shopping it was time to head back to the campground and get cleaned up. I finally got the return authorization to send back the GPS for repair. So I took the paper work and GPS and headed back to Gunnison on the motorcycle to get it sent off for repair. To see pictures of the day click on this link https://picasaweb.google.com/sharpstravels then click on album: Gunnison Hot Air Balloons.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Gay July-1-12
11:10 PM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
When we pulled into the campground last night the gate was down and no one in the guard shack, I saw the key pad and said to Cheri they never gave us a gate code to get in. So now what are supposed to do, I sat there for a minute figuring out what to do when I looked at the window of the guard shack and there was a paper in the window that said the gate code is 1234. So I pushed in 1234 on the key pad and the gate went up. Sure makes us safe that nobody is going to get into the campground after hours. This morning we left at 8:45 am and headed to Gunnison for church. We found a community church that was listed in one of the Gunnison tour books. We had a wonderful time and heard a great message from the book of Luke, love the messages from the Bible. After church we headed over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and then next door to the grocery store. We were low on just about everything. It was near 1:00 pm when we got home and had a late lunch of pizza. I worked on the computer this afternoon and got our route all planned on how we are going to get to the Black Hills in South Dakota, more about that in later blogs. Cheri bought a couple of magazines and was busy reading them. Later I started a new Clive Cussler book. It is nice to have another day of rest, we are going to need it as our day tomorrow is going to start early, more about that tomorrow.
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1:11 AM |
Posted by
Sharp's Travels
Today was a day of rest. We were slow getting around. I gave Gay a haircut and I did a little reading. Gay worked on our route we will be taking to the Black Hills.
We signed up for the Steak Dinner at the club house at 5:30pm. We shared a table with some very nice people and our meal was very good.
At 7:30pm we were on our way to the Gunnison Valley Observatory. It is open to the public Friday’s and Saturday’s nights. The Observatory opened 4 years ago. The land was donated by the county and they had fun raisers to buy the big 30” telescope and to build the observatory. It is all run by volunteers.
As we drove up all we saw was a mound of dirt. We waited for the gate to open—went in and parked, then proceeded around this mound of dirt to the small domed building.
Our evening started with a brief astronomy related lecture. The gal giving our lecture was a professor at Gunnison College. She told us about the moon, planets and Saturn and its moons. After the lecture we were sent upstairs where the big telescope was located. A portion of the dome was open and we all got a chance to gaze at the moon through this huge telescope. Next we looked at Saturn and we could see the ring around it. That was my favorite. The blue and gold stars were neat too.
It was interesting learning more about this universe of ours. We never thought going to an Observatory would be on our list of things to do this summer!
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