2021 To Oregon and Back
26 June, 2021
Getting ready for our next adventure! Alice is packing her trip essentials. I will do that Sunday and whatever is missing, I plan on picking up in Parkersburg right after I get the oil changed in Pearl; the notional plan has us traveling over 8,000 miles so must change the oil before we go
30 June, 2021
Took off early morning of 30 June and headed to Dayton Ohio where Alice and I dropped off Coco. Headed towards Indianapolis and we did not stop off anywhere along the way. We ended up staying in Greenfield IN for the night.
1 July, 2021
Stopped by Rantoul IL and spent about an hour and a half exploring the closed Air Force Base at which I was stationed October 72 to June 73.
Alice outside the dorm I lived in for 9 months. I was on the first floor about 30 feet to the left of the edge of the photo. Illinois plans on demolishing this group of dorms as soon as funding is available; most likely before the end of 2021.
Standing between two rooms; I cannot remember which room was mine, the one to the left or the one to the right. I think it was the one to the right in the photo.
Alice standing by the rusting Minuteman missle positioned at what was the main entrance of Chanute Air Force Base.
Made it to Beloit WI late, late afternoon of 1 July. Got a room, ate
and then crashed. Busy day.
2 July, 2021
Just across the parking lot of the hotel we stayed at in Beloit WI. Just getting some fresh cream for our coffee. Just kidding, we drink it black.
We arrived just after lunch at our cousins lake house. Lots and lots of visiting while we awaited the sister and her hubby, and after they arrived mid-afternoon, more lots and lots of visiting. Dinner out; I drove us all in the Tahoe as Pearl seats six very comfortably. First time Alice had ridden in the third row and it is comfortable but not sufficiently so for an extended ride, say 50 miles or more. Well, we got the Tahoe for the two us to travel in and the two front seats are extremely comfortable and 400 miles in a day is an easy stretch. Great dinner, unfortunately, as I am trying to keep off the 10 pounds I had lost prior to the start of this adventure.
Relaxing on the lake house porch. Coffee in hand, again no cream or sugar.
3 & 4 July, 2021
Lots of great conversations, catching up and remembrances and boat rides around the lake. Two cookouts; salmon, steaks, brats, burgers, corn on the cob, brussel sprouts, green beans, roasted potatoes, salad, ice cream, chips, and I believe at least 10 pounds of candy and nuts. Saturday night we watched, from the boat, the fireworks shot out over the lake. The dueling fireworks of several lake houses made for a display that, I would argue, is better than many professional displays. The only activity we did not get to during the weekend, was a rousing game of Pit.
Steve and Alice on the boat July 4th.
Paula, Brenda and Gil relaxing with us on the porch.
Jerry stayed inside while we sat out on the porch
5 July, 2021
Left the lake house about 9:30 and, based on everyone’s recommendation, we headed to Bayfield, WI and the Apostle Islands.
Stopped by The Windmill Ice Cream shop in Nokomis, WI.
The ice cream was superb and I had my first ever bowl of Rum Black Cherry. Alice enjoyed her taste of it too! I enjoyed a taste of her butterscotch sundae with nuts.
Alice’s vanilla, butterscotch sundae with nuts and my rum black cherry.
Pressed on to Bayfield WI and arrived mid-afternoon. Scouted around; it is a true vacation spot, and deserves a good three day stay. Maybe next year.
Cheapest lodging we found was over $200 so we decided to continue on to Duluth, MN which was the planned destination for 5 July anyway.
Photo of the Bayfield marina as we drove out of town and on to Duluth.
6 July, 2021
Hotels in Duluth, MN are expensive. Most are between $150 and $200. We found a place last night that came to $112 after tax, tip and license. Not the best of places, but it will do. Went the restaurant next door for an expensive breakfast (most items $12-$16) and the wait was 50 minutes. So, we went elsewhere and plan to try the next door place again in the morning on our way out of Duluth. Decided to take a down day as it was pouring rain, and I mean pouring, and we attempted to do the laundry, but the dryer was broken. Good thing we have a couple of more days before we MUST do laundry. Because of the cold and rainy day, we did not do any sightseeing but sat around reading and I worked on this web page. I have realized while working this web page and posting photos to go along with prose, that I need to take more and different types of photos.
7 July, 2021
What a great day! Started off getting ready for traveling, packing up Pearl and heading off to breakfast at the Duluth Grill, an organic, locally sourced restaurant. A lot of vegan dishes too!
Alakef Organic Rain Forest Alliance French Roast Coffee! Looks like I have a great idea, but no, nothing beyond drinking this coffee.
Coffee first, now time to eat!
Multigrain pancakes for me and French toast for Alice. Both with eggs over medium and apple smoked bacon. Real maple syrup.
After breakfast got on the road and headed to Bemidji, MN. Came across a historical display a few miles down the road.
A 2-8-8-4 just sitting beside the road.
The entire train on display.
Back on the road to Bimidji but a construction detour took us a few miles out of our way; Pearl navigation went nuts trying to get us to turn around and go back to the main route. Turned it off. Got to Bimidji and visited the Paul Bunyon attraction. He is bigger than the photos imply.
Alice dwarfed by Paul.
To call the animal Babe is like an ox e-moron.
I was a little surprised that there was not a bird’s nest in there!
Just below is a panoramic view of Bemidji lake, part of the mighty Mississippi headwaters!
Made it to Grand Forks ND without incident. Staying in a 5 star hotel for less money than we spent for the 2.5 star hotel we left this morning. Now time to head to the in hotel restaurant, for dinner.
Got our drinks and just waiting on our meals. What a fantastic hotel!
Vegetable Pasta Primavera for dinner (yes I know, red wine does not go with pasta) and NY cheesecake with an Amaretto sour for dessert!
8 July, 2021
Not much doing today except traveling. Got up, checked out, hit Mc Ds for breakfast, then Walmart to get some fruit and something we can nuke for dinner tonight.
It will be 5 weeks tomorrow since Alice had her surgery to remove the plate, pin and screws from her ankle which had been implanted about 17 years ago due to a severe bone break. We obviously stopped walking following surgery, but today we started back up. We found a bike path about 20 miles out from Grand Forks along our route of travel and, combined with our roamings around Walmart, we put in 1.6 miles today. This is Alice on the return leg to Pearl.
After our walk, we stopped by this drive in hoping to get a “fancy’ drink, like a root beer float, but they were not yet open and we did not want to wait almost an hour to just get even fatter! (Note the name of the establishment)
Stopped in Michigan, ND for about 30 minutes. You can read why in these photos. The surviving locomotive is on display in MT, right along our planned route to Oregon. I plan to stop. Stay tuned.
Been on the road for 9 days. Staying in, eating teriyaki chicken noodles and doing our laundry.
9 July, 2021
Today we went out Minot Air Force Base where I was stationed from June 1973 to June 1974. The building I worked in is gone! Finally found the dorm I lived in with the chow hall across the parking lot; mmm... midnight chow. Did get a walk in of almost a mile around a camping area. Photos on the base are not allowed but Alice took some photos of the entrance signs. I was amazed at how little I remember about the base. In my defense though, a lot has been torn down and much is new such as the BX and commissary and a lot of base housing.
Found a seafood place for lunch. I was not expecting much but it was surprisingly good! We both got fish and chips and I added some clam strips.
Drove around the city of Minot for awhile; I remembered almost nothing. I guesstimate that it has grown by more than 50% since I was here, but nothing was familiar.
10 July, 2021
It was a long drive today; we drove almost 450 miles but still had a chance to stop and smell the steam engine. Also visited an Native American veterans memorial.
Native American veterans memorial. I only included the main stone and the WWI stone as it has some really interesting names.
Even after driving through several swarms of grasshoppers, we still had an appetite for a healthy veggie wrap!
This is the steam engine that was pulling the train that was plowed into at Michigan, North Dakota I wrote about above. It is on display in Havre, Montana.
11 July, 2021
A lot easier drive today; just over 300 miles so stopped a few extra times.
Stopped by this scenic overlook of the Maria river which flows into the Missouri River 15 miles downriver from this spot.
Panoramic shots cannot capture the true grandeur of anything but I tried.
Another scenic stop. A gorgeous place for a house. The haze is from wildfire smoke nearby; in fact we drove “through” a fire.
The photo out the rear window of Pearl is of a helicopter dumping water on the wildfire.
Again, the grandeur does not come through this panoramic photograph.
Some photographs along the ride into Butte Montana are below.
12 July, 2021
Drove from Butte to Libby Montana today. Some photographs from the ride below.
13 July, 2021
Went to the Yaak today. Most people move here to “hide.” Many preppers and others who want to hide or get away from the rat race. It is where Alice’s mountain man, Ron Brown, lived. We visited with a friend of Ron’s and Alice’s, drove out by his homestead and up the pass to Libby until road construction turned us around. I could definitely live out here in the Yaak.
Yaak river waterfalls.
Coffee at the Mercentile, one of two watering holes in the wide spot in the road called Yaak, MT. The photo with Alice shows the front yard of Ron and Alice’s friend in the background..
Road to and from the pass to Libby MT.
14 July 2021
Trip to Glacier National Park. Could not get tickets to drive the Road to the Sun highway, so we drove a mile or so down the road to the mandatory turn around point then on to other park locations.
Road to the Sun entrance to. We managed to get a couple of miles past this point.
Everywhere we go, someone wants to take our picture.
Alice makes new friends wherever she goes!
The sight around each corner just got more and more breathtaking.
Yes, we hiked Glacier National Park
And you know that if anything relating to trains is about, I will find it. This caboose is set up as lodging for an inn immediately outside the southern boundary.
That was a long day, so time to relax with a Yaak Attack IPA; best IPA I have tasted to date!
We tried to ignore the smoke in the air from nearby fires, but made for a great sunset!
15 July, 2021
The Libby Lobby had many wooden sculptures that had been done over the years during the annual Libby fall festival and most of them were for sale, but we cannot the $12,000 for one of the eagle. Cheapest was almost $400.
My good friend, The Duke
Found Bigfoot driving out of the town of Libby, MT
Stopped by the Kootenia Falls
Made it to Clarkston, WA for the night. Had dinner at Roosters.
The Snake River and Rooster's on the river.
16 July, 2021
Travelled down the Columbia River Gorge. Panaramic view of one of our stops.
Dinner at the Bargeway Pub on the Columbia river.
A barge drove by the Bargeway Pub during our dinner of fish and chips.
17 July, 2021
Travelled from The Dalles, OR over to Corvallis, OR via the Over the Rivers and Through the Woods Scenic Byway. Stopped at an old growth forest and walked a footpath through the woods. The photographs do not do the sights justice.
18 July, 2021
Made it to the coast of Oregon, the second reason for this trip. You have already seen the primary reason above; the Yaak. A few photos here showing only a few of the majestic sights we saw this day.
19 July, 2021
Down day; a most excellent breakfast at Wise Cracks, some laundry, updated this web page and did some reading.
20 July, 2021
Long driving day, just shy of 400 miles. Went from Carvalles, OR to Ontario, OR. Went back over the Over the Rivers and Through the Woods Scenic Byway but did not take any new pictures. Got a good number of photos of eastern Oregon. It is a desolate landscape and I have included a few photographs here.
Dinner at Wingers. I had an acceptable fish and chips but Alice had a great Salmon.
21 July, 2021
Ontario, OR to Tremonton, UT. We were in three states today; Oregon, Idaho and Utah.
Dinner at The Grille. We had an appetizer of BBQ Pulled Pork Nachos and then Alice and I split a BBQ brisket.
The Western Inn was a great place to stay. Lots of nice western touches, like Alice’s new friend.
22 July, 2021
Tremonton, UT to Casper, WY. The variety of terrain changed with every passing mile. A few interesting photos included here.
Pizza Hut was right next door to the hotel so we just walked over and had us a medium, hand tossed, garlic Parmesan sauce, banana peppers, green peppers and pineapple. First pizza on the trip.
23 July, 2021
Drove over to Deadwood South Dakota today, which is just outside of Sturgis, host of annual biker rally. On the way, we stopped by Devils Tower, WY. Alice’s ankle and hip were causing her minor pain, so she sat by the visitor’s center while I did my daily exercise and walked the trail around the tower. A few photos of Devils Tower below.
The last photo shows the area Richard Dreyfuss scrambled up in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
24 July, 2021
Stopped by Wall Drug, Wall, SD where I got my free veterans donut. We had to buy Alice's donut. Steve on the street in Wall, SD.
Steve negotiating with a lady of the evening. Note, Alice was right there taking the picture!
25 & 26 July, 2021
As you can imagine, we are tired of being on the road. From here on out, we just booked it for home. The only stops were to spend the night. A couple of photos showing the remainder of the trip are below.
27 July, 2021
Back home enjoying the ponds in the back yard. Long time on the road but very glad we took the trip. Shorter trips from here on out.
