A great start, then it got nuts, then good again!

Wednesday, October 16
Monday we left Gull Lake and headed south down the highway for an overnight stop at Milk River, Alberta. The rain/snow mix that was forecast had all cleared up before we got on the road so we had dry roads and the occasional peek of sunshine on the drive. We stayed at Milk River which is just a few miles north of the USA border. We do this for a couple of reasons......one, we are usually tired by the time we get there, two, it is getting dark and I really don't want to hit a Montana deer, and three, by waiting until the next morning we 'save' a day of time in the US which is important if we want to maximize our allowable time in the US.

Tuesday we were on the road before 7 AM. A short stop at the border to speak to a nice Border guard and we were on our way. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat and fill with reasonably priced fuel ($2.89/US Gallon for diesel) at Great Falls. It was a very nice day with no wind. We decided to stick to the Interstates and head through Butte and down to Idaho on I15. There is an alternate route that many folks use that would take us along a river valley and avoid the big hills and twisty road of the Interstate, but we'll maybe try that route in the spring on our way home.

Sunrise over Montana

Spectacular!

One of the great trout rivers in Montana

Reservoir to manage precious water resources.

Breathtaking scenery.

Idaho is pretty spectacular itself

Anyway, not much to report on the trip. Mostly favorable winds, reasonable traffic, and the usual breathtaking Montana scenery! We stopped at the Fort Hall Casino just north of Pocatello, Idaho for the night. They built a new casino and hotel there. Very nice. Of course we needed to check out some of the slots and poker machines.....just to be sure they were functioning correctly. I'm not sure they were. We escaped breaking even. Doesn't the House always win??

Just northeast of Fort Hall is an outcropping of a lava flow. There is a nice 1/2 mile interpretive trail. Exercise, just what you need after a long drive.

Interesting formations. The lava tubes leave behind caves that animals use for shelter.

The lava tubes collapse leaving these large sink holes.

There are a lot of  old dormant cinder cones in the area.

Very pretty scenery. The sagebrush smells were quite overwhelming at times. 

Wednesday we screwed up our courage and headed down I15 to that gong-show traffic in the Salt Lake City area. About a hundred miles of craziness! What is it with the lines they paint, and then re-paint, and then re-paint again!!!! People trying to figure out what lane they are in , going 80 miles per hour, and us RV'ers desperately trying to keep our sheet metal away from theirs! Arghhhh! I've still never actually seen Salt Lake City at the various Cities surrounding it. My eyes are glued to the bumper ahead of me with the occasional glance further ahead to watch for brake lights and swerving vehicles! I let the dashcam record the insanity. I'll review it later if I ever want to prove innocence!

Notice anything missing on this truck? Like exhaust stacks? Yep, she's electric! Other than tire noise, this thing was super quiet. Kinda freaky when it pulled along side of me.

Somehow we managed to make our way unscathed to Spanish Fork south of Provo and turned onto Highway 6 at exit 247. I'd like to say it was a nice peaceful drive, but I guess compared to I15 it was. Still a busy highway but lots of passing lanes and very pretty scenery. Yes, I actually looked around a bit!

Rugged terrain. If you look closely there are two railway tunnels under the mountain.

Highest point on Highway 6.

Roadway cut through the rock. Price Canyon.

We are staying at Thompson Springs which is about 30 miles north of Moab. Not sure what is going on around here but every campground is booked solid. The Campground even called me earlier in the day to double check we were still coming as they had a waiting list looking for spots.

We got set up and as if we hadn't driven enough we decided to take a spin around town, which took all of two minutes, then we headed north toward some petroglyphs and an old ghost town.

Thompson Springs has seen better days.

Beautiful scenery here.

A few miles north of town is the site of ancient petroglyphs.

We'll come back to explore these further. Maybe Saturday.

Remnants of old homesteads.

Cooking oven.

Fall foliage is prominent.

Old ghost town of Sego, just north of Thompson Springs.

Cemetery at Sego. A lasting monument to the folks that lived here.

Some wild turkeys greeted us on our return to town.

Tomorrow, Thursday we head to Arches National Park and Friday to Canyonlands National Park. You could spend a week at each I'm sure but the weather is a bit of an unknown this time of year and we would rather give them a quick look and move on than risk missing them entirely due to bad weather.


.......and that was Our View From Here!