Yellowstone National Park

We spent 3 days visiting Yellowstone National Park. Since we are staying in Idaho, we drive through three states – from Idaho through Montana to Wyoming/Yellowstone and yet, it is less than 20 miles. We have been entering the park through the west gate. Every morning and evening, we drive past an American Bald Eagle’s nest near the road. Because of the nest being near the road, the speed limit has been lowered, and people are not allowed to stop their car nor walk near the nest. Sandy did manage to get a few pictures of the eagle sitting in the nest as Dan drove the car by slowly.

We saw our first wild grizzly bear. He seemed to be playing peek-a-boo with the crowd of people watching him from across the river. He was lying down in the brush on the other side of Yellowstone River. Every once in awhile, he would raise his head above the brush and look at us then disappear again. We found out later from a ranger that he had a calve carcass and was eating and then making sure the people watching him were not getting any closer. Later that same day, we were surprised to see two wolves crossing the road in front of us. They disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. What a great day!

Yellowstone is a very big park. A lot of our time was spent driving from point A to point B with a vigilant eye out for wildlife near the road and beautiful panoramic views. This is our second visit and we will probably visit here again.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July weekend!

On the Road

In the past couple of days we traveled west through Wyoming and Montana. We drove through some beautiful scenic areas with snow-capped mountains, rolling green hills, and swift running rivers. We are staying at a campground just southwest of Yellowstone NP near Island Park, ID. It is less than 5 miles to the Continental Divide and Targhee Pass. We will be here for 6 days. Our site faces Henry’s Lake and Mt. Jefferson.

During one of our travel days, we stopped for lunch near Hardin Montana in a museum parking lot. We had planned only to eat and get back on the road since we had 4 hours travel to go. But curiosity won and we toured around the Bighorn County Historical Museum (pics in On The Road). There are 22 buildings filled with history, pictures, artifacts, and machinery. We were so impressed with the museum’s exhibits that we spent more time there than we should have. It was a little scary as we found ourselves recognizing quite a few of the artifacts on display. Dan saw many of the tools his dad had in his barn and Sandy pointed out quite a few items from the farmhouse. Yep, it was like taking a trip back in time to our childhood homes, but feeling a little old at the same time. Take a virtual tour of the exhibits on this link: BHCM.

Oh, we decided to name our new found kitty friend – Hitch - short for Hitchhiker. He is adjusting, but longs for his wild days of roaming outdoors. Hitch and Dusty tend to shadow each other while the others just tolerate the young-whipper-snapper.

South Dakota

We joined two nation-wide campground memberships, Coast To Coast and Resort Parks International. For a small annual membership fee, we can now visit privately owned parks we could not get into previously – most for only $10 a night. With this in mind, we decided to stay a while longer in the Black Hills area to use our new memberships. The entire Black Hills area is beautiful right now thanks to all the rain. We moved closer to Rapid City and relocated to Hart Ranch RV Resort. Set in the foothills near Hwy 79, it is a very nice Resort (not really a campground) with plenty of activities to keep a person or family very busy. They have a large heated pool, three hot tubs, store, restaurant, tennis courts, pool tables, a paved trail for bikes, walkers, and golf carts and much more. Yes, they have an 18-hole golf course, too.

We were warned of Mountain Lions in the area near Hart Ranch, but encountered a different type of cat entirely. For several days, a young solid grey cat approximately 4 or 5 months old kept walking up and down the street in front of our RV. We finally called and he came right over, so we checked him out. It was a neutered male and very friendly (and hungry). After feeding him, he stopped walking around the RV Resort, and chose to remain on and under our RV step.

The next door neighbors also checked him out. The cat liked their two bird dogs and their 4-year-old daughter who was able to pick him up with no problem. He also liked our cats when we let them nose each other. This was one well socialized cat! We checked for lost cat signs all around the Resort, and checked with management and workers with no success of finding his people. We tried to find him a home in the park with our neighbors and park workers with no success. It is hard to believe someone dumped a neutered cat this well socialized, so perhaps he got out of the rig without the owners noticing until they were many miles down the road. We learned today that he is quite an escape artist when he wants to go outside - and difficult to pick back up.

He tired of living on our coach step while we were looking for his people and ran inside every time we opened the door. You can guess the rest of the story – he moved in and would not willingly leave, crying near the door when placed back outside. Now we have 3 too many cats! He has now been to the vet who confirmed he is a neutered male. We had him de-wormed and given immunizations as a precaution – even though he may well have been vaccinated previously. He also likes to travel by RV, sitting on the couch while we drive with no complaints at all. He has no name yet, though Little Guy, Smoke, Houdini (the escape artist), and Hitch for Hitchhiker are possibilities. Time to name the cat - any suggestions?

In the pic above he looks quite happy with his new home.

After using our membership for one week at the Hart Ranch, we moved to Rushmore Shadows RV park, also near Rapid City, for 3 nights to use our membership there as well - again for $10 a night. We plan to depart the area on Tuesday.

The weather wasn’t as bad this week. It would start out sunny and by noon there would be thunderstorms. We managed a trip to the Badlands NP and only had a few raindrops fall while seeing the sites. We stopped to eat a roast beef sandwich special at the Wall Drug in Wall, SD. We were surprised by the maze of stores and eating areas as we wandered around inside the drugstore. It is an interesting story about the beginning of the drugstore and free ice water. Ted Hustead and his wife, Dorothy were quite the entrepreneurs in their time. You can find their story at this website.

Sandy has added more pictures from the area to the Black Hills 2. There are pictures of our drive through Spearfish Canyon with three waterfalls to visit and Mt. Rushmore. Of course, we also walked the Presidential Trail as well. While we were visiting the presidents, we noticed people on top of George’s head. It turned out to be a rescue team practicing emergency evacuations of injured workers.

For Sandy’s quilting friends: this folder also includes her Christmas Bears wall hanging designed by Mckenna Ryan along with her new designing fabric wall. Thanks to Cher’s suggestion, Sandy used the backside of a picnic tablecloth for her designing fabric wall. She was able to keep the tablecloth attached to the side of our rig with the magnetic clips, but still needs to use straight pins to keep the blocks from blowing away. Sorry, no pictures of mountain goats. Maybe next time.

Black Hills Quilters Guild Quilt Show

Dan’s sister, Kristy took Sandy to Rapid City with only one agenda – quilts and more quilts! Sandy had a blast last Saturday. She enjoyed meeting many of Kristy’s quilting friends along with the owner of Quilt Corral Too. Joan is the most friendly, easy-going shop owner that Sandy has ever met. The Strip Club quilting group showed many new items and material to purchase, but Sandy’s favorite part was the Show-n-Tell by the people attending. So many amazing stories and quilts! Kristy and Sandy spent over 3 hours between the Strip Club and browsing through many bolts of fabrics and patterns.

After re-energizing with lunch, they went to the annual quilt show at the Civic Center. There were over 400 quilts entered this year. There were also quite a few booths filled with quilting merchandise from shops in surrounding states. It was Heaven! Yes, Sandy took many pictures of the beautiful quilts. She has posted them in Webshots under Black Hills Quilt Show.

Here's a picture of Dick & Kristy on their back porch.

But wait! There’s more. After the quilt show, Kristy took Sandy to one more quilt shop - a beautiful 2-story historic building packed full of material. Every room in The Thimble Cottage Quilt Village is filled with anything and everything you can imagine for quilting. From the website here is a description of how this store became a village: Our wonderful new shop consists of a hotel built in 1934 and a Victorian house built in 1917. The two buildings were connected with a huge foyer in the early 70’s. So the Thimble Cottage Quilt Shop became the Thimble Cottage Quilt Village. Sandy did not take pictures of the quilt shops, but you can find both online. She highly recommends visiting both shops if you happen to be in the area.

Of course, Sandy was so inspired by her day out with Kristy that she had to come home and start sewing on her machine. Since it was raining, she had to setup her sewing room in the kitchen/dining area by clearing off her side of the counter and putting on the sink covers for extra space. She has been sewing ever since. Oh yea, and Dan can still sit at the dining counter with his laptop without getting stuck with a pin.

Sandy would also like to note that she did not bring home bags of material. She only brought home one small bag with Batik Fat Quarters for an ongoing appliqué project and a couple of patterns.

If you are wondering what Dan was doing this whole time, he was busy installing a US Gear Unified Tow Brake system in the Subaru in Dick and Kristy’s garage. It was nice to work indoors in a well set-up garage for the install.

There’s Rain in Them There Hills

Weather has not been the best in the Black Hills so we haven't been getting out much to see the sights. For over a week, we have had a heavy mist and/or rain over the southwest area. Could be worse, it could be snowing. The hills are so green right now that we feel like we are in Washington State instead of South Dakota. There are some pictures posted in Webshots under Black Hills. If the weather clears up, we will definitely add to the folder.

The first couple of days were great with beautiful blue skies and fat fluffy clouds. We took it for granted and did not rush around trying to look at all the sights. We drove the Pigtail and Needles scenic highways. We were able to see Mt. Rushmore through the Pigtail tunnels. We stopped to see many different lakes and hiked up a couple of the trails. At one pullover, Dan found himself surrounded by chipmunks. We think Sandy’s camera clicking brought them out. One chipmunk thought he was a model. He would pose – click – move closer – pose – click – move closer. This went on until he got so close to the lens that Sandy finally had to get up before the chipmunk climbed on to her camera. On another rainy day, we drove through Custer State Park and saw many buffalo, antelope, deer, wild turkeys, and of course, the Burro Gang.

On a different day, we drove up to Sturgis. It certainly looks different than it did during Sturgis Bike week. We had lunch in Deadwood at Kevin Costner’s restaurant Jake’s inside the Midnight Star. The restaurant is entertaining with costumes and posters from Kevin’s movies to look over while waiting for lunch to be served. We also stopped by Saloon Number 10 to see where Wild Bill was shot in 1876.

Traffic Jams & Highway Robbery!

We were very happy to see the Black Hills of South Dakota after traveling through the plains of Kansas and Nebraska. Kansas and Nebraska were very pretty with miles of green wheat fields, but we were ready for some pine trees and mountains.

We thought we were done with traffic jams and tolls for a while only to run into both! On our way to Spokane Creek Campground, we spent a half hour in a traffic jam. Please see pictures to the right. Some people tried to reason with the buffalo only to be chased back to their cars. Others tried to sneak around the buffalo only to be blocked in on the wrong side of the road. There was no reasoning with the big guys. It took a group of motorcyclist’s rev’ing engines to convince the buffalo to move off the road.

The next day, we decided to go for a drive before visiting Dan’s sister, Kristy and her husband, Dick. We ran into a highway robbery already in progress. When the Burro Gang saw us, they immediately surrounded us. The leader stuck his head through Dan’s window and started demanding food in order for us to pass. We only had stale tortilla chips, which they took, but we were told next time they would expect something better. Whew! Close call!

We are having a wonderful visit with Kristy and Dick. We enjoyed a quiet Sunday on their back porch watching a variety of wildlife go through their yard. We are also doing a lot of sightseeing so we should have lots of pictures to add to Webshots the next time we post a travel blog.

Full Time RVing Info

Several people have asked us about RV full timing, and they are considering the lifestyle for themselves. We’ve had in person conversations, and email exchanges as well. We decided to place some of the information into our blog.

Sandy says: full timing is great, but it is not for everyone. You do a lot of downsizing and suddenly you don't have a permanent house. It was scary at first. I have to admit that once we were rid of all the stuff, the house, and the bills, it was a relief to know I did not have to go to work everyday just to pay for things that were no longer making me happy. I am a lot happier now, and I feel more relaxed than after an hour of yoga.

What's great is that you can enjoy better weather in the winter and still have a cabin (on wheels) by the setting of your choice at any time.

Things I don't like: finding a place and time to do my quilting, but I am working on it! It can feel a little cramped at times, but the great outdoors usually fixes that problem. Hunting for or digging out well-stored items and then wondering what was I thinking when I packed everything. But we have only been doing this for less than 3 months and I hope to get better as we travel around the US.

We decided on our Bluebird partly because it doesn’t have slide-outs, it feels more solid, and our cats would be with us as we travel down the road. The slide-outs have some problems, but a lot of people like them. If a slide-out breaks while out, you don't go anywhere until it is fixed or you figure out how to get it back in. If it is very windy out, the slide-outs may need to be pulled in and traveling they are in, and that makes for a more enclosed area.

My suggestion is to physically get out there and look at different rigs. When you are looking at the rigs, think of how you would live in it. Would you be able to cook in the small kitchen area? What about storage areas? Enough room in the shower? If you decide on slide-outs, can you live in it with the slide-out in because of bad weather/travel? It is just like buying a house just smaller.


Dan says: The best full timers’ link on the internet is Escapees Forums, so research there first. On the forums, the question of 5th wheel versus motor-home versus trailer has been discussed many times. There are all types of “how to” questions/discussions. You can spend days/weeks reading old posts - very informative:
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php .
People on the forums are very good at answering all questions. Escapees RV Club is designed for full-timers, and is inexpensive, offers a TX address and mail forwarding as well. Escapees has some campgrounds, and options to lease/buy lots as well.

Most people choose TX, FL, or SD for "domicile". All are state income tax free. We chose SD and use http://www.americas-mailbox.com/ in Rapid City as our mail forwarding service - it is our address. We use a Verizon air card for internet connectivity, $60 a month, with a 5 gigabyte per month limit. We connect through a roof cell antenna, amp, wireless modem, laptops, wireless printer - details are elsewhere on our blog. We use Verizon for our cell phones as well.

With 5th wheels, you MUST have a big enough tow vehicle. Pulling power AND stopping power for safety is a must. A Ford F350 dually is marginal at best with a large multi-slide 5th wheel. A 550 class, or Medium Duty Truck (MDT), or Heavy Duty Truck (HDT - think semi) is highly recommended. Once into the 38-40' foot multi slide 3 axle 5th wheels, only a MDT or HDT is safe - read escapees forum website linked above for sections on MDT/HDT.

Once you have a MDT/HDT to safely pull a large 5th wheel, then it becomes your (large) drive around vehicle when you park the 5th wheel. The 5th may get hot or cold while you pull it. When you pull over for a break, you lock the tow vehicle and walk back to the 5th wheel. The upside is more room, and it is more like an apartment on wheels.

When you have a Motor-home (coach), you climate control it while you drive, and can pull a small economy vehicle behind to run around in when parked. On safe wide 4 lane roads, the passenger can walk back to use the restroom, grab a snack etc. When the driver pulls over for a break - he/she can walk back to the rest-room or for a snack in seconds, without leaving the vehicle (think busy rest stop with questionable folks hanging around, or a driving rain).

If you travel with pet(s), they are right with you in coach; usually they are back in the rig with a 5th wheel. With a coach, you may already own a car you can tow behind - links below with info on that.

So you are trying to decide on either a 5th wheel, or a coach, plus a tow truck or tow car, and if you have a budget less than $$ big bucks to get started, as most of us do, you run into these choices:

Choice one is a new/newer, lower cost, but also lower quality rig that really is not designed for full-timing. It WILL begin to fall apart over time - how long do you envision full timing? If you go this route pay the $100 or so to join RV Consumer Group and get their ratings. http://rv.org/

Choice two is an older high end rig designed for longevity, but perhaps needing to be updated for modern technology and to upgrade/replace some aging items like tires, batteries, fridge, hot water heater, etc. I recommend option 2, but saving $10,000 on your allotted budget for upgrades/replacements (perhaps better converter/inverter, solar, GPS, XM radio, tires, batteries, etc). It helps to be mechanically inclined and able to work on 12 volt power systems.

On this second choice we looked at used high end 5th wheels and tow trucks, bus conversions, Country Coach and Newmar motor-homes, and finally Bluebird Coaches. Bluebird Wanderlodges were very expensive when new and were/are high end rigs - see below for some links.

http://www.rvtrader.com/ will give you some ideas on used rigs, and NADA on line has some pricing info. Specific Bluebird info is below in case these coaches interest you. Search for "Bluebird" and also for "Wanderlodge" if you look for NADA pricing, or when searching for rigs for sale.
Good links:

Campground reviews: http://www.rvparkreviews.com/
Passport America 1/2 price camping: http://www.passportamerica.com/

How to:
Poop sheets by Fred http://www.phrannie.org/phredex.html
Tow car wiring for lights: http://www.roadmasterinc.com/pdf/85-1409-E.pdf
Set up for towing car: http://www.blueox.us/ and http://www.towingworld.com/
Modify your car for towing: http://www.remcotowing.com/
What cars can you tow w/o modifying vehicle: http://www.motorhomemagazine.com/output.cfm?ID=213607

NADA Prices: http://www.nadaguides.com/SectionHome.aspx?LI=1-28-0-5000-502-579-50251&l=1&w=25&p=0&f=5602

Sewer hoses: sewer master is superb - tons better than our old hoses - http://www.dmbruss.com/zFullTimeLifeStyle/FTLS_Sewer.htm

Bluebirds are available in several types. Some of the newer Wanderlodges ran almost a million dollars new, and were designed (when maintained correctly) to be million mile rigs. There are superb support owners groups on line to maintain these rigs - a very knowledgeable group you rarely find with other rigs.

Bluebird (BB) links:
I like this one best: http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.com/forums/

More BB links:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/BlueBirdBMCowners/
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/WanderlodgeForum/

Some "Birds" for sale are listed here:
http://www.birdconnection.com/

And more for sale here – and a great guy to deal with on consignment coaches, with some really good deals right now. This guy used to own the company producing Dupree sewer dump valves, used on many rigs. He has been around Bluebirds most of his life - one of the top experts in the country: http://www.buybyebluebird.com/ Prices are WAY down from 1 year ago.

To learn about Bluebird models/changes year by year start here 1st: http://www.vintagebirds.com/
See history and at top left of the page click on model changes (Includes model list for each year and a cheat sheet as to what a FC/PT/BMC/SP etc are).

We had an 83 Bluebird Wanderlodge FC35 before this coach. On transmission, 5 speeds are better than 4, and 6 better than 5. I prefer a 4 stroke engine over a 2 stroke. I prefer PTs and BMC over FCs. On FCs, I prefer the 87 - 89 years. The SP is nice.

The PTs with 2 stroke Detroit engines and 4 speeds will be lucky to get 5-6 MPG. BMC/FC/SP will likely get 8 MPG (which is what you see at best on all big motor-homes pulling a tow car). A PT with 5 speeds will do better on MPG than the 4 speed. If you have the bucks, a PT with a Detroit 4 stroke engine and 6 speeds is very nice - and decent mpg for a high end bus based coach.

Our BB BMC is on a Spartan chassis with a Cummins 4 stroke engine and an Allison 6 speed trans with 2 overdrive gears. It is simpler than the Wanderlodges, yet still has great build quality. We plan to keep ours for a very long time.