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ROCKIES’ EAST
SIDE
Aug. - Oct. 2008
Hit by
a Big Rig!
At
Dawson City we crossed the
Yukon river once again – by ferry
this time.
We
travelled back on the Alaskan
Highway - Elk and Bison grazing
next to the road -to Mile 0 at
Dawson Creek.
It was
autumn but there was still tourist
traffic, like cyclists, motorbikes
with trailers, huge motor homes
towing a car and big trucks
pulling a large caravan (trailer).
We met a couple on a bike
travelling with a small dog in a
padded kennel at the rear!
ALBERTA,
Canada.
Our
travels became meaningful again in
Edmonton, Alberta when we
looked up good friends from 30
years ago. They arranged for us to
have our own deluxe suite in their
complex.
On the
way to the Canadian Rockies we
once again had a close shave!
Behind us a truck driver was on
his cell phone when he found
himself about to hit us from
behind. He braked hard (Jan saw
smoke coming from all 26 of his
wheels in the rear view mirror)
and veered off – his 2 trailers
swerving all over the road.
Fortunately he caught Dipli just
on the left spare wheel, giving us
a nudge forward while we were
doing about 90 km/h…
The
beauty of Jasper and
Banff National Parks was not
overstated. The brown banded
mountains had fresh snow and
contrasted with the intense
turquoise lakes. Waterfalls
cascaded from glaciers into
streams and canyons. It was out of
season but Labour Day long week
end and the lovely lodges and
historic hotels were jam-packed.
After
a soak in Radium Hot
Springs we came across
Kimberley a mining town named
after the South African one, but
now revamped to resemble a
Bavarian Alpine village.
IDAHO,
USA
In
Sandpoint, Idaho we knocked on
the door of a couple who had left
a note on our windscreen in Chile
2 years ago! We were grateful for
their hospitality and enjoyed a
jaunt in their boat on Pend
Oreille lake.
MONTANA
In the
town of Missoula, at The
Smoke Jumpers’ Centre we learned
how the National Forest Service
trains people to parachute from
planes to fight forest fires. They
land with heavy packs which have
to be carried out on foot
afterwards. Montana’s big sky was
blue and there were horses and
cattle grazing on the undulating
grasslands. After visiting
Butte, historic mining town
with its copper baron mansions, we
found a riverside spot where J
could replace wheel bearings.
WYOMING
In a
freezing wind we waited for Old
Faithful geyser to erupt and blast
hot water 30m into the air.
The next days we saw all the
fascinating geothermal features of
Yellowstone National Park:.
Bubbling mud pools, clear blue hot
springs, hissing fumaroles; green,
yellow, brown and red deposits of
thermophiles. We wondered how long
before the massive caldera under
the park would erupt!
We
spotted pronghorn sheep, coyote,
bison and a wolf. The lodgepole
pines were regenerating after the
devastating fires of 1988.
NORTH
DAKOTA
We had
to make a detour to Rugby
to find the Geographic Centre
of the Continent of North America.
There was a monument in the town,
but the actual centre was 30km
outside of town in the middle of a
small lake, which meant we could
only get to about 150m of it at
N48º 10,06’ W100º 10,03’.
The
town of Rugby also has the
remarkable Prairie Village Museum
with reconstructed historic
buildings and exhibits of the
Scandinavian settlers in the area.
SOUTH
DAKOTA
“Amazing USA!”, we said when in
close proximity we came across
Badlands National Park, Reptile
Gardens (‘largest collection
in the world”) Bear Country USA
(nearly all US mammals on view in
natural settings) and one evening
a Chuck wagon dinner and cowboy
music show.
In the
Black Hills is Mt
Rushmore, the awe-inspiring,
carved rock faces of Washington,
Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt
sculpted by G Borglum from 1927 to
1938 (by using small charges of
explosives).
A
current project is the world’s
largest monument: A 170m sculpture
of the Sioux leader Crazy Horse.
NEBRASKA
Near
Chadron there is an old
trading post where as many as 2000
Sioux Indians would have camped
trading tanned buffalo robes for
all sorts of manufactured goods.
The Museum of the Fur Trade
exhibits a large collection of the
trade goods. One buckskin was
worth $1. From there the term
“buck”.
We
passed agricultural lands with
sorghum and corn, stretching to
the horizon. Hay was being rolled
and baled. There were problems
back home and at Ogalla library we
could do some urgent email. The
librarian’s beau was a South
African – who comes each year with
a team of 30 to harvest. Hay at
$80 - 200 per ton is exported to
Japan!
KANSAS
Fields
of sunflowers were ready to be
reaped. The centre of this
industry is Goodland. In
the middle of the city was a 10m
tall reproduction of van Gogh’s
“Sunflowers”.
We had
a plane to catch and prepare for,
so we went rapidly south passing
through the OKLAHOMA
panhandle.
NEW
MEXICO again
We met
up with our good friends on their
farm near Santa Fe where we
could repair and prepare in
peaceful surroundings. We watched
hummingbirds in the day and shared
companionship in the evenings
around a piñon wood campfire. We
also met their most delightful
neighbours who had personally
built their stylish large adobe
house.
Next SOUTH
EASTERN USA
This
journey up to October 2008:
Time
on the road (excluding home
visits): 5 years, 4 months
Kilometres driven: 229 000
Countries visited: 88 (with
Dipli). US States: 18
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