The first stop was Chappel Hill, TX because the throttle got stuck open for the first time. Scott got it unstuck and tried to figure out the problem. This happened at least 4 more times before it was all over and we ended up driving on just 2 of the carbs 4 barrels. \240At some point it got very hot inside the truck, we figured that the heat, which is separate from the AC in this truck, was stuck on and the AC just wasn’t keeping up because of the 105 degree weather. We stopped and got a valve to turn off the heat completely Once we made it to the campsite we decided drive into town and buy a brand new carburetor after dinner. Scott got it installed just as it got dark. I guess he will tune it in the morning before we leave.

PS. The young guy at the auto parts store asked us what we were buying. Then said no really what is that. I’ve never heard of that part before. What does that do?

When we arrived at 7pm someone’s tent, grill, and other belongings were in our reserved spot but they were not around. We spoke to the camp host and he suggested we set up in a better spot. I don’t think those people ever returned. They just abandoned there stuff.

Once we got set up I discovered this little disaster. A full bottle of ground ginger spilling out of the spice cabinet. The lid had come off.

Before we left this morning Scott put the valve in to shut off the heater completely. By the time we stopped for lunch the hose he put the valve on had melted to the exhaust manifold. When trying to fix it the valve completely broke into 2 pieces. Luckily we were next door to a hardware store so he bought a new valve to install tomorrow. All in all not too bad a day For the truck, only 1 breakdown.

There are lots of trees, shade and cooler temperatures so we actually are spending more time outside than we have so far.

I set up camp all by myself today since Scott disappeared as soon as we parked. I even put out the awning for the first time.

I drove most of the day. It was the first time I pulled the trailer with the Jeep. It wasn’t bad until we got just outside of Las Vegas, NM and we got into the hills. The truck was struggling to get up the hills with the Casita in tow. At one point I had it in 3rd gear going about 35 trying to get up a hill. I don’t know how we’re going to climb the mountains in Colorado. Scott took over driving and has been trying to figure things out. We have gone up about 6,000 feet in elevation so the carburetor probably needs to be adjusted and he suspects the trailer breaks are dragging. So the truck saga continues.

We stopped and made lunch at Hermit’s Peak.

Stopped to take pictures of the views as we let cars pass us.

Then we came across the Rio Grande Gorge. It was a pretty cool stop.

We walked out on the bridge to see the view.

It’s a long way down.

We started the morning driving dirt roads without the camper at Heron Lake State Park.

After we finally got off the dirt road we passed this animal bridge they were building.

Tonight we are sitting listening to the water flowing below and watching the boats on the Navajo Lake.

We drove the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray.

We we’re pulling the Casita, so we were only doing 35 mph on the steep grades.

That made for plenty of time to enjoy the views.

As we came into Ouray we say 10 full size jeeps headed out to ride trails.

We got to the campground early. They wanted $30 to check in an hour and a half early so we found a pull off next to the river to hang out in until check in time.

Mom and Dad met us hanging out at the river so after we dropped the camper off they took us to lunch on Ouray.

When the Full Size Jeep Ouray Re-invasion group got back from wheelin for the day we met a few them and they recognized us as the Black Jeep pulling the camper from the road and Scott finally got to sit around a campfire. \240

We are going to meet up with some FSJ peeps tomorrow and ride some trails with them.

Then we took a trail ride in the Jeep.

There were some beautiful views.

We stopped at Animas Pass to check out the old town.

The Jeep made it to the top, no problems.

It was cold up there at 12,000 feet.

We went across Engineer Pass to the other side of the mountain.

There was snow next to the road.

The area is considered an alpine tundra. There were lakes and flowers all around.

There was a herd of sheep.

And sheep herding dogs.

About 6:30 we realized if we kept going we wouldn’t make it off the mountain before dark so we turned around and went back the way we came. We made it off off the mountain about 8:30 just as it was starting to get dark. But it wasn’t over yet. I had to drive the Million Dollar Highway back to Ouray in the dark. There are lots of cliff sides without guardrails and we kept seeing deer and even a herd of elk. I don’t mind saying I did that drive averaging about 20 mph.

We didn’t win any prizes in the car show.

But it was fun getting to meet and talk to everyone.

We met people from Colorado, Missouri, South Dakota, Indiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Arizona.

And they raised around $2,800 for Ouray Mountain Rescue!

We stayed in a little state park that had 20 campsites, a boat dock and a beach for swimming. After dinner Scott and I went to the beach and hung out in the water for a while.

On the way to the beach \240the power window on the passenger side of the truck broke, so when we got back to the campsite Scott took the door apart and tried to fix it. He figured out we are going to have to order a part so while he had the door apart he installed one of the new speakers we bought for the truck before we left.

There was this dam that created a lake.

This looks like an awesome area to camp.

We drove across a prairie.

We climbed some crazy mountains where we learned never to stop on the ride up to make lunch. Always make it to the peak first. Otherwise you have to climb the mountain in low range in the Jeep.

And then we arrived at Grand Teton National Park. The first National Park on our trip.

We didn’t break anything on the truck today, but our campsite is too small for our truck and trailer. \240We got the trailer level, but the truck is hanging off the parking pad. The site itself away from the parking is great, shaded, lots of room, and a fire pit. This is our first campsite without any hookups at all. We will see how that goes. It’s supposed to get down to 45 degrees tonight.

Scott finally got to make a campfire of his own. \240The neighbor asked if her son could make s’mores on our fire and they made me one too.

Turns out it was a road to the Bar BC Dude Ranch that was long abandoned. We had lunch at the trail head then hiked down to look at the old buildings.

Then there were lots of stops to look at the Teton Mountains and read about glaciers.

We did a brief drive by Jenny Lake because the Jenny Lake Visitor Center was packed. Turns out that was one of the smaller lakes.

Another trip down a dirt road brought us to 2 remote campsites, a boat ramp, and a chance to get into the clear lake water in the larger lake, Jackson Lake. \240Scott never passes up a chance to put his feet in the water.

We drove to the top of Signal Mountain and found geological survey marker.

Here is a pretty good view of the snake river. Lots of people fly fish here.

Water in a “pothole” or kettle formed by glaciers. Some potholes had little forests growing in them.

We came around a corner and found a bunch of cars pulled off the road looking at bison. Most seemed at a reasonable distance, but there were a few people who could be the main character in a bison attack story.

Tonight Scott Had to climb onto the tailgate of the truck to fix the bathroom fan because we noticed this morning that the seal was missing and the fan was dislodged. That fan has never shut right and it must of come open while we were driving. He also fixed the window on the passenger side of the truck with things he had in the truck. Hopefully it lasts a while.

We crossed the continental divide 3 times.

We missed the 3rd sign because of the construction.

We made it in just time to read about glaciers and watch Old Faithful erupt.

We got to camp and set everything thing up. It looked good at first, we were even on a lake and then the mosquitoes came out.

Scott says that this lake was colder than the one in the Grand Teton that he waded into.

With a river for Scott.

There were some really nice views of the river.

And falls.

We did eventually stop to look at some hot springs.

And Geysers.

On the way out of the parking lot we saw a truck older than ours.

We went back to the old faithful area to watch another predictable geyser, Daisy.

Here is a video.

Up until this afternoon we were starting to think Yellowstone didn’t have any animals.

Watch this video. I was afraid for the truck.

After the wildlife experience we found some mud pots.

And steam vents.

We hunted down some more falls.

Along the way traffic stopped and everyone jumped out of there cars to get a picture of this big elk.

On the way back to camp we remembered to get pictures with the sign.

And the lake of course.

There is so much traffic around the blind corner at the boat ramp 20 yards from our campsite they have a person stationed there to direct traffic. They advertised showers but you have to pay 3 tokens for 6 minutes. Scott said what am I a trucker. And did I mention the train that comes by at least every hour. Watch the video. Scott says he hopes it doesn’t derail because we will all be dead, it’s that close.

But there is a lake…

And they had 1 water hose hookup for the whole park. So we did get to fill up our tank. But still no electricity or dump station.

So we drove to the east side of the park to Two Medicine Lake.

We did a hike where we saw a moose.

Lots of little animals.

And a waterfall.

We are planning to come back in a few days to do a boat tour of the lake.

On the way back to camp we found this fresh water spring. The historic marker said I t was at the first rest area in Montana.

The reservation for the park is for tomorrow so we spent the day moving campgrounds, doing laundry, and washing the truck.

We kept seeing these \240“Red Bus” tours that were the original busses they used in the park. They are so cool.

The roof was open and there were like 6 doors in one side.

There was lots of snow melt running down the mountains.

Glaciers everywhere you look.

The old glaciers that are gone now dug out the valleys into u shapes like this one.

There was so much snow melt in this location it was called the weeping \240wall. It went on for about a tenth of a mile.

This was next to the road. This must have been the place they were still having to plow in June.

We went on a short hike to Baring Falls.

Just past that on the trail was a little beach on Lake McDonald.

The hike was so nice we continued on the trail to St Marie’s Falls. Here people we jumping off the cliff in the stream from the falls. They said the water was so cold it took your breath away.

This ended up being our longest hike yet at about 6 miles.

While waiting to get in we saw this guy panic and finally decide to cross in front of us.

The “Going to the Sun Road” did not disappoint on views for a second day.

At Logan Pass Visitor Center I got to see my first mountain goat.

We also got to hike across a snowfield.

Once we got across the snow we saw some real mountain goats.

There were lots of squirrels too.

On the way back across the snowfield we got to see big horn sheep cross the snow.

This was a pretty good hike. There was a hidden lake at the end but apparently I was so excited about goats I didn’t even get a picture of the lake.

On the way back we visited with some mountain goats.

Looked at a waterfall.

And took in the views on the way back.

We tried looking for a boondocking site in the national forest nearby. We decided the dirt road was too rough to drag the Casita down so we extended our stay at our current campground through the weekend. Scott says this is his favorite campsite because he can walk to the farm store next door.

We took a boat ride across the lake and hiked back around.

The boat driver told us the story of the names of the mountains. It is called two medicine lake because two different medicine women choose the location of there swet lodges in this area and they Blackfeet people thought that was significant enough to name the river, lake and valley after that event.

We did a short hike to twin falls.

After we left the falls we came around the corner and stumbled across a moose.

Click the image below to see a video of the moose.

The hike back was about 5 miles. It was almost all through trees. It was much more pleasant than the last long hike we did. \240We even got to cross a stream.

Scott says it’s a chicken. I don’t think so.

Then on the way back from that lake we saw a bear eating huckleberries.

This is as close as Scott got to getting into the water today because…

On our way to see Kintla Lake the truck sputtered to a stop and refused to keep going.

Scott figured out it was the fuel pump and he had a spare one in the back of the truck so he hooked it up and had us back on the road.

On the way home we saw another bear eating huckleberries by a much bigger road. Scott’s been saying he didn’t believe the bears existed and now we’ve seen 2 in one day!

Click the image below to see a video of the second bear.

Scott had to have a picture with the town mascot.

We visited the Hungry Horse Dam. It was pretty cool, but they no longer do tours.

The we had dinner at The BackRoom. The broasted chicken, Chicken fried in a pressure cooker, was good. The ribs were ok.

We also had huckleberry pie a la mode, with huckleberry ice cream, at The Huckleberry Patch.

It was delicious!!!

The truck has been making a funny noise for a few days so we got up early this morning, 5am, to head towards Colorado. Scott has a friend there and he was going to try and fix the problem there since the campground here won’t let you work on cars.

Well we only made it about 100 feet from the campground when the rear differential broke and we came to a screeching stop. \240Scott put it in 4 wheel drive and managed to get us back in our spot at the campground.

We spent all day trying to find a mechanic to fix it. Every place had at least a 3 week wait. We tried to rent a car, but there were no cars to be had anywhere. Last resort, we are flying home to Houston to get the white truck and car trailer to take the Jeep to Colorado so he can work on it.

Scott took a look under the truck and the picture shows what fell out of the differential once he opened it up so we plan to put the Jeep and Casita in a storage unit tomorrow morning and then take an Uber to the airport to catch our 5:45pm flight to Houston.

We got there just as all 7 of the gates they have were preparing flights to leave. Our flight however was still 5 hours away. Once that first set of flights left there was probably less than 100 people in the airport with us the rest of the day.

We have a little less than an hour in Salt Lake City and mom and dad will be picking us up a little before 1am.

The white truck had a gas leak that Scott fixed in about 30 minutes, but it and the trailer both had expired registrations. So he had to get them both inspected and visit the tax office to get the registration stickers. He also changed the oil on the truck and mowed the back yard.

Since it’s my birthday and there were a few things around here to do we decided to stay home one more day. Scott finished up with the weed trimmer and mowing in the back yard. I went to Academy for some long sleeve sun shirts, I couldn’t find them for less than $50 out of town. I also did laundry and then we had dinner with Mom, Dad, Terry, and Rufus. Susi didn’t get to come because everyone in her house except her has Covid.

We are hitting the road early tomorrow.

After the tire business we stopped at the Casita factory to get a new seal for the Casita’s bathroom fan. They also showed Scott how to fix the fan so that it will close properly and we won’t lose the seal again.

We did a lot of driving and called it a day just before Amarillo because hotel rooms were cheaper here. We walked next door and bought frozen dinners and frozen vegetables to make in the room. We will be at it again early in the morning.

We stopped at a grocery store to pick up something for lunch and found the last coal powered train in Colorado and 50 state flags in order of when they joined the US.

We found the Jeep and the Casita just where we left them.

We loaded up the Jeep onto the trailer and got some stuff out of the Casita.

We left the Casita all alone, but we will hopefully be back in about a week to get it.

We had lunch at The Night Owl, sister restaurant to The Backroom we ate before we left this town last week.

On the way from Columbia Falls to Great Falls the brakes on the truck started dragging and smoking. We pulled over to check things out and the cows all just stared at us.

Couldn’t fix the brakes so we drove slower and used the trailer brakes for stopping. We ordered some parts from the auto parts store. They will arrive before noon tomorrow so looks like we will be getting a late start tomorrow.

And the falls.

We finally got on the road and about 20 miles out of town a trailer tire blew. Scott put on the spare, but it was super old so we went back to town and got 2 new tires and a used wheel and tire so now we have few spares. The ride with a new tire is much smoother, but Scott thinks the truck brakes are still dragging. We didn’t get to leave the second time until almost 4pm and we already have a room for tonight in Sydney so it looks like we will get there about 10pm.

A rock with Native American drawings. A hand print.

An owl.

And a foot.

The same town also had this sculpture of the northern lights.

We noticed the white truck was getting really bad gas mileage so Scott finally changed the oxygen sensor that has been causing the check engine light to come on.

Shortly after we changed the sensor the light came on again but this time the code said it was the other oxygen sensor. We will have to get another one and change that one too.

Snow shoes.

A pole barn, Scott wishes he had this kind of space at home.

We got to see and hear loons, the Minnesota state bird.

And Scott’s cousin Janet taught us to paddle board.

After that little detour Scott wanted to get in Lower Red Lake but once we stopped there was a sign sayingit was only for tribal members, all others were trespassing. So I took a quick picture and we kept moving.

We ended up back at the same hotel in Sidney, MT thanks to Priceline’s express deal.

Visiting the town off Shelby.

One the way back to Columbia Falls where the Casita was we finally got phone signal in Hungry Horse so I was able to order broasted chicken from The BackRoom 10 minutes before they closed. Scott was so happy. \240We picked up the chicken, then got the Casita and got a spot in an RV park for the night so we could plug in to charge the battery.

The RV park had lots of long term residents. We could tell because they had everything set up for winter time with the water lines insulated had heat traced.

Scott went swimming but it was too cold for me once the sun went down.

The water is so clear.

We went swimming.

Also we need a boat.

We couldn’t see it from the lake because it comes out directly into this log jam.

We are having broasted chicken at The BackRoom again. I think Scott is addicted.

Click the image below to see a video of the bear.

The views were amazing.

This was from the the porch of the Many Glacier Lodge.

From the lodge we hiked around Swiftcurrent Lake and Lake Josephine. In the stream connecting the two lakes we saw a moose.

Click the image below to see a video of the moose.

This is Grinnel Glacier from the shore of Lake Josephine.

From the same shore we spotted these two wacky ducks. Click to see the video and what I mean by wacky.

Here is a closeup of Grinnel glacier and the falls created by its snow melt.

This is the view of the Many Glacier Lodge. From across Swiftcurrent Lake. It is the largest historical lodge still in use in the park.

At the end of the hike were these little falls.

By this point (5.5miles) Scott was done.

PS: \240The shirt he is wearing says “I’ve been to Duluth” and 6 people passing us on the hike commented on it and this happens every time he wears it. Thanks for buying him the shirt Chelsea. No one every really recognizes it from the movie but they all love it.

We happened to see these wild horses along the tour. \240This picture almost looks like one of the paintings they have depicting the battlefield.

This set us up for getting to our campground in the dark again but it’s small with just a few people so it was no problem.

On the way back to camp Scott had to have broasted chicken from Dakota Broasters and it was better than The BackRoom in Montana.before heading back to camp we got a beer at a local Brewery. Scott was not impressed, but mine was good.

Then we drove the Needles Highway to do a hike to the Cathedral Spires.

We went through some stone tunnels. Then we drove the Iron Mountain Highway and went through some more tunnels but these were made to frame George Washington on Mount Rushmore as you went through them. It was really cool.

We did a small hike around Sylvan Lake and headed back to the campground at Cold Brook Resevior.

On the way back through Keystone we saw this guy doing chainsaw sculptures.

Press play on this one. It’s pretty amazing.

There were also 3 rabbits that we saw in camp.

Twice the prairie dogs went on high alert and started barking.

When we looked around there was a coyote walking around the edge of the campground. I didn’t get a great picture because he stayed too far away.

There are not near the number of bison here as in Custer State park or Wind Cave National Park but we have seen a few.

The views are amazing.

It looks like you are on another planet.

We saw mule deer a few times today.

Then we hiked to ”the door” where we could go down into the badland formations.

After those two short easy hikes we did a more strenuous short hike straight up to Saddle Pass.

You can see our white truck way down there in the parking lot.

The last hike we did was the fossil trail where the signs told you about all the fossils they find in the park.

Done with hiking we made the short drive to Wall to see Wall Drug. It was interesting. They had all kinds of little shops an ice cream parlor, a restaurant and fun stuff.

These were animatronic, they sang and moved.

Scott had to get his free ice water.

Scott made a new friend.

This guy was in the edge of town.

On the way back to camp we drove the Pinnacle’s ridge in the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Lots of people camp here for free every night. They had a pretty good view.

On the way back through the park to our campground we saw some of the oldest formations they were yellow \240

And lots of bighorn sheep.

Here is a video of one.

Here is Scott following all the trail markers on “the door” hike.

I reeled them in and Scott did all the work of getting them off the hook.

Everyone else caught a few also.

We had our fish for dinner!

I caught a perch.

And Scott caught a northern.

And some more bass.

Then we went on a short 5 mile test drive. Looks good so far. Scott said it was hot to the touch. I asked is that bad and he said “It’s supposed to be hot”

Scott thinks he needs to get in every lake. This could take a while here in Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes.

Here he is in Long Lake.

And here he is in Pughole Lake.

To learn how to manage a “fen”, a kind of marshy area they cut down all the trees, burned the area and then seeded the area to study how it would grow.

Here they cleared and burned the area and then grazed cattle here to see if it would control the Aspen tree growth and help the white pine and red pine grow back easier.

Here they did the same thing except they used herbacide to control the Aspen growth instead of cows.

Here is Scott in Cedar Lake.

We had a Bigfoot sighting on the road.

When we got to International Falls we went to Smokey the Bear Park.

Visited the Bronko Nagurski Museum which was also the Koochinching county museum. Both were very interesting.

On the way back we found this Voyagier. These were people who were legendary for how much they could carry and row around for the traders all while being singing and being merry.

And we met Bill and Denyse at Timberwolf Inn for Scott’s favorite… Broasted Chcken.

There are all these lodges and resorts in this area because of all the lakes. They seem pretty neat especially if you like boating or fishing.

We saw some mailboxes today that spin to keep from being destroyed by the snowplow. I would never have thought you had to worry about that.

And some interesting tactics to stop invasive species in the lakes. The wire box is to dispose of your dead bait and the brown box had clean water for you to refill you bait container after you poured out the water from wherever you brought the bait from.

When we got back there was this huge dragonfly on the deck behind the house.

We hit the road early and did a hike to Joyce Estates.

Which was a retreat for a very wealthy family from Chicago during prohibition.

It is now part of the Chippewa National Forest. You can get to it by boat or a 2 mile hike.

Afterwards we went back to the Marcell Experimental Forest.

We missed one experiment Scott really wanted to see. They enclosed different parts of a Spruce bog and heated the air and soil in some enclosures and added CO2 and CH4(methane) to see how climate change will affect the bogs.

Then we finally got to visit the Lost 40. It is a small old growth forest that never got harvested by lumber companies because of an incorrect survey. It is now part of the Chippewa National Forest.

The red pine and white pine in this area were huge.

When we thought we were finished I was rolling up the windows to go in the house and the driver side window broke. \240Scott had to fix one more thing before we could leave. Fortunately he knew exactly what to do since he fixed the passenger side one when it broke back in New Mexico.

He took the opportunity to put in the other new speaker since he had the door panel off. Now we have an all new radio and two new speakers.

Here was an old county garage that Scott could find a job.

We are going to stay in Scott’s cousins driveway for a few days on the north shore \240of Lake Superior. \240We turned on to Jason’s road and it was the nicest minimum maintenance road I’ve ever been on. Later he told us his neighbors want to have it redone😄

I am so impressed with Jason, not only does he make beautiful pottery, he also built this house on his own to be completely off the grid. The weather has been pretty rainy and I just realized I never took a picture this great house. We will have to come back😉 for a picture.

Scott said Lake Superior wasn’t that cold.

We drove the Gunflint Trail in the rain and had lunch at a resort near the end of the trail.

This trail took us to the edge of the Boundry Waters canoe wilderness. It was so beautiful even with the rain.

Along the North Shore there were some cool tunnels.

We stopped at Betty’s Pies for broasted chicken…

And pie of course.

We went across a cool bridge in Duluth and ended up on a peninsula in the lake.

We ended up staying at a city park with RV hookups in Iron River, Wisconsin.

And into Pure Michigan.

I got us a site at a state park and then when we got there learned that along with paying for the site we also had to pay for a recreation pass to enter the state parks in Michigan.

We will have to stay at more state parks here in Michigan to get our money’s worth out of this 2022 recreation pass.

We visited the town where Scott’s Grandpa Mentink was from.

They had a really cool courthouse and the hills were impossibly steep. I would never be able to drive the Jeep here in the wintertime 🥶.

We stopped at Suomi Restaurant for pasties.

Just outside of town we drove the Covered Road. It was awesome.

We visited a steel dam in Redridge.

Then we visited the Freda Mine Ruins on Lake Superior. .

This is our view from our campsite in Twin Lakes State Park.

He just can’t help himself.

Along the way we spotted some wild turkeys.

We visited the Copper Harbor Lighthouse.

And Fort Wilkins at the tip of the peninsula.

Then we went on a short hike to the shore.

Then we did a longer hike to the Estivant Pines. This was a hike to two old growth Eastern White Pine groves. I really like the big trees.

The leaves were just starting to change colors along our route. That was cool, leaves just turn brown in Houston.

On the way back we found the snow depth thermometer. The top is the world record depth for snow in the area, 32.5 feet. The red area shows last years snow depth, 27 feet. I don’t think I’m ready for a UP winter.

This Ford Model A was at the gas station we stopped at on the way home. The license plates say 1929.

This beach was a roadside park/rest area we found following the lake driving east on our way to next camp.

Christmas Michigan.