On our Dinosaur Trail Adventure of 2016.
Getting all this information, photos, videos, audio, together has taken waaaaaaaay longer than I thought it should! In an effort to get this posted I'm breaking the story into smaller chunks and getting them posted as soon as I can now! After all, it was 3 months ago now!
Overall, and I think I can safely say this trip was, for all of us involved with this trip,
.................., a blast!!
And Sandy even said she felt it was "the best trip ever"!
Yes, taking a trip mid tourista season (July in the USA) has many drawbacks due to those crowds, made much worse in 2016 by (relatively) "cheap" gas and the 100th anniversary year of the US parks service. Then throw in this year's record heat too, but when we weren't at those big ticket crowded places and farther North, like Northern Montana, it was a great time. Almost 3,000 miles in a little over 2 weeks.
The day we left had started off very unsure.
Friday, August 8th and I had taken the day off anyway to get things all squared away at home for our trip and we were going right after work since we both couldn't take the day off with other people already off that day. The night before though, when Stacy and I wanted to go ahead and hook up the truck to the trailer in getting ready, we were outside getting a few things into the Chevy and I noticed the interior lights didn't come on when the door was open. Then, when I go get the keys and try to start it, nothing, absolutely nothing when I turn the key. What the................?
I start checking, and both batteries are totally dead, BOTH batteries! (Chevy Diesel 3/4 ton trucks, and Dodge and Ford too, normally have 2 batteries due to the high electrical load of starting, the glow plugs, starter and such)
But how did both batteries go dead without any indication????
Plus, less than a year ago we'd spent over $220.00 for 2 new batteries for the truck. And just a couple of weeks before we'd spent over $600.00 to get the 100,000 mile service done early since while we didn't have that many miles yet, we wanted the comfort of knowing we had new fan belts, radiator hoses and coolant as well as rear end and transfer case gear oil and such changed and checked since I change the engine and transmission oils myself.
All we can do at 8:00 on a Thursday night is fret big time and put the batteries on chargers and check online for any similar problems that may have been noted with our vintage and model of Chevy truck.
As the batteries charged it became clear with my searching that there was no way to know until I could get the truck to a shop because it could be as simple as a bad battery dragging down the good one, to the engine's electronic brain box shorting out! Neither had a positive outlook for our bank account or for the trip we were leaving on, THE NEXT DAY!
We plotted on a plan "B", just in case it was something major with the Chevy to continue with our trip using that truck. It would have been pretty tight but with plan "B" we could have taken our 1998 Dodge diesel truck since it is also a 3/4 ton truck and could easily tow our trailer, it just would have been really tight seating since it is an extended cab with the jump seat for the back passengers and not a crew cab like the Chevy is, and with 2 child seats in the back and 3 adults it would have been a challenge.
After not sleeping very well with the concerns of the truck and the trip, Friday morning we go out and I try to start the truck. It starts right up with a little difficulty so I can tell the batteries aren't fully charged yet.
At 7:30 am I take it straight down to our area Les Schwab Tire store which in addition to tires handles many car and truck maintenance items for our area, and where we'd bought the batteries a few months back.
The tech checks all he can, tests and charges each battery, hooks the engine up to the testing computer in an effort to find the cause, since yes, the main reason for 2 batteries is the backup or redundancy of them both and 2 dead batteries is not supposed to happen!
After over 2 1/2 hours of waiting there I get the verdict, he can't find any reason for the dead batteries. Everything checked OK, the charging system, batteries, with nothing jumping out except something that does happen in many communities where you don't have the driving commute many areas do, you just plain do not drive enough to keep the batteries charged.
In California, when we worked in San Bernardino and lived in the high desert, we commuted 80 miles a day round trip just to and from. Here, it's 10 miles to and from and we more often than not we will commute in the Prius. So days, even weeks, can go by with the none of the trucks being driven.
Ah, but I knew all of this already and have a bunch of 'float' trickle chargers I use on the vehicles except for the Prius for these long parking sessions.
I just hadn't used them on the Chevy since getting it serviced the two weeks earlier and knowing that they had let the truck idle for a long time when they changed the coolant to "burp" the coolant system, and then short in town drives and the long idling could be the culprit since an alternator won't effectively charge any vehicle especially at idle. So I didn't know the batteries were that low and thinking everything was fine didn't 'plug in the truck' batteries.
So, the batteries were down from not being fully charged, idling for a couple of hours then sitting with the normal daily drain of memories and systems that draw from the batteries.
I felt better but was still concerned, he suggested I take along a voltmeter and check the batteries every evening and again in the morning to see if there is some kind of major draw on the system overnight.
Stacy was concerned to the point she was talking trading in the Chevy for a brand new one. That day!
After everything was all charged up and some nervousness the first few days, we never had another problem with the truck for the entire trip or since we've been back! I did check the batteries the first few evenings and mornings but everything was where it was supposed to be so I quit checking.
Above: Around 5 pm and I'm getting things ready to go. We left our place about 6:30 pm to drive down to the CDA area for our first night out.
Stacy and I are on our way, a little late, but not too bad this time. Stacy wanted to be on our way by 5:30 and we actually left at 6:30 pm and it wasn't all my fault this time!
We drive down to Blackwell Island RV resort in the Coeur d'Alene area, a nice place we've been by often but never stayed before. It was our first night out with us to be picking up Sandy and the grand daughters the next day from the Spokane International Airport.
Blackwell Island was a packed place mid season! It is a large camping facility but you pretty much need to have a good RV since they don't have many bathroom/shower locations around the grounds so you really need your own bathroom unless you want a hike from some of the site locations.
Since we got there and set up by about 9 pm we just went to bed, looking forward to the next day when the trip really started!
Day 1!! or, day 2 really, but the day the trip really got going! CDA to Spokane, then back to CDA and then to Missoula.
Above: All packed up to head out and Stacy with an umbrella checking the back of the trailer as I get ready to back it up a bit so I can then pull forward and swing wide to miss hitting the red water spigot and gray power post in this picture, and another RV in the general path I needed to go in front of the truck, a little closer than I'd like.
The day started wet and raining with it having rained much of the night. We had made arrangements with the RV park to leave the trailer at an overflow parking area so we wouldn't need to drag it with us to the airport and then unhook at the Wal-Mart nearby, go get the girls, then hook up and head out, but coming back this same way on our trip East to Montana. We just had to hook up and move it to that area and unhook.
Sandy's flight was originally supposed be in a little before 11 am. That morning Stacy got a text that the flight was delayed due to mechanical issues to after 12 noon. No problem with the trailer being left there, we just had more time to kill and then still had about 200 miles to drive for the next stop in Missoula, Montana.
We get to the airport, get everybody, and head back to get the trailer with a stop in Liberty Lake, Washington for lunch.
Now, with almost 2 and almost 4 year old girls, eating out is not a quick or easy feat. Debris fields often abound in the area of the kids when they eat and here was no exception. But everyone ate and then it's back in the truck and over to CDA and the trailer.
We hook up, it's getting a lot warmer since the rain of the morning and hazy sun of the afternoon, and then we get settled for the drive, and now the trip is on it's way!
A few hours later and the first night was set to be the Missoula, Montana, KOA. Stacy and I had stayed there September 2015 on our trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho, for the annual IJJA conference. We chose primarily KOA's for this trip because of the consistency of amenities due to the KOA organization and its ideals, most often you can be sure to have a nice spot to park, good bathroom and laundry facilities, and for this trip especially, kid playground areas and often a pool.
So, many of the places we stayed during our trip were KOAs. We have a "Good Sam" membership also and if they weren't KOAs there were often Good Sam RV parks for those same consistency of amenities.
For Missoula, Stacy picked the more expensive but well worth it parking with a patio site and we tried for those sites when we could at other locations for more spacing between neighbors as not all KOA's have these changes as the company diversifies into 3 different kinds of facilities with different expectations for the campground depending on whether the place is a "Journey", "Holiday" or "Destination" facility.
The photos below are the site, the same one where we stayed last September. We brought the green exercise step to help little legs make it up the stairs since it's a big step to the lower step on our trailer. Sandy in the swing talking with Natalie.
And the bottom photo is Stacy playing with Justine and Natalie in the same swing seat.
The longest single driving day of the trip, day 3, Missoula to Idaho Falls.
To get 'set up' for the drive to get way South of our area and to the Dinosaurland area in Northern Utah, we had to go from Missoula, Montana, down to Idaho Falls, Idaho in a long day, to break up the miles and make the miles more easily done with small kids and to take into account sometimes long stops and meals along the way. So, up early, packed up and on our way for the 320 mile drive.
Photos from along the way;
Above and below: Lunch stop at the rest area near Anaconda, Montana.
Above; After lunch we explored the things to see at the rest stop. The girls are looking more at the gravel all over, they have a thing for rocks, but they're at an old smelter bucket from the Anaconda Copper Mine which is just up the road from the rest stop and there was signage telling about the mine and this bucket. There is also a nature trail to walk out to and if you have the time, hiking trails around the rest area.
Day 4, Idaho Falls, ID to Rock Springs, Wyoming. 262 miles
After getting there and the trailer setup at our site for the night, Stacy made dinner and I went with Sandy and grandkids to the playground until dinner was ready so the kids could exercise off all that energy from sitting for several hours in the truck. After dinner it was clean up and getting ready for bed. The first night Sandy and both girls slept on the queen bed in the bedroom, Stacy and I got to try out the fold out couch and it's air mattress, also queen sized but the air mattress was terrible!
It never lost air, it just was never very comfortable! Our 2015 model year was the last with the air bed feature, with the 2016's and going, pretty much it seems that most RVs now come with the considerably more comfortable 'memory foam' mattresses for fold out couches. If we trade this one in as we're considering for a 5th wheel, it will have a foam mattress for the couch!
Next morning after breakfast we got on the road again towards Rock Springs, Wyoming, for the next night. We detoured off the I-15 freeway and took the considerably more interesting byways to get over to our destination in Wyoming.
Above: How can you eat your breakfast when your sister is watching "Wall-E" on your mom's iPhone? You just have to turn around to see what's happening, even if you've already seen it dozens of times!
Below: There's a rest area in almost Utah on I-15 that has a volcanic area to walk through with many descriptive and educational geological things to see and read. Justine and Natalie walking the path while mom takes photos in the background.
With the back roads drive Sandy was often checking her phone, when we had cell service that is, for interesting sites to see along the way. We stopped to check out and then made it a lunch stop at "Soda Springs" to see the 'captured' "cold" geyser.
Above: Sandy and I with the G-kids, walked to the observation deck of the geyser.
Above: Although there were signs all over that it has become somewhat 'irregular', the Soda Springs geyser did go off almost right on time! It was actually very large at an estimated 150 to 175 feet. It was going off for a full 7 minutes, quite a long duration there too.
Below: It started 'erupting' while we were eating our lunch we'd brought over to a picnic table with the meal that Stacy had put together in the trailer. Sandy pointing out something about it as it started to burble as it worked up to the full eruption.
The only thing I didn't like about seeing this was where I'd parked the RV, I felt I had parked the RV far enough away from the geyser and with the way the winds were blowing when we parked I wasn't concerned about any spray. WRONG!
The winds shifted just minutes before the eruption and the entire parking lot around the vicinity of the geyser was lightly sprayed with geyser mist. The geyser water turned out to be loaded with minerals that spotted the windows and finish of the truck and trailer on the left or drivers side towards the geyser all the way from the front of the truck to the rear bumper of the trailer! The windows and finishes stayed spotted the rest of the trip too! After we got back I was finally able to clean the water spots off the windows and finishes.
After our great lunch at the geyser we drove on towards Rock Springs. Before we caught back up to the I-80 from our byway, we'd started to see the signage for "Little America". I don't think we'd ever been there before so we planned to stop and check it out. Little America turned out to be a very large, fuel, food, store, gift shop, truck stop, gas station, and restaurant, all with a large motel attached to the grounds.
Since it was again very warm that afternoon we stopped to get a cool drink and maybe some souvenirs.
Above: Parked in an area of the large parking lot where other RV travelers were parked, we walked over to Little America. Of course I didn't get any pictures of the actual store!
Below: The gas station part of the business was a "Sinclair" chain station. This is an anniversary year for Sinclair also and the company had sent out their Sinclair Dinosaur to many stations as we saw quite a few of them on the trip. The first thing the G-kids wanted to do was sit on the dinosaur!
Stacy with Natalie and lower photo is tailgunner Justine.
While at Little America, the girls got to play at a play area conveniently set up near the store area. While Sandy did a little shopping Stacy and I were out letting the kids play on a section of the playground set that wasn't loaded with kids older than what the age range the area was supposed to be. When it was time to go, neither kid was quite ready yet. Justine grudgingly was coming, Natalie put up a fight! Stacy grabbed her at the bottom of the slide and Natalie clung on and started to bite Stacy on her shoulder! She was saying "get her off, get her off!" and was trying to get her head and teeth away from her shoulder.
She passed her to me and after a minute Stacy took her back and everything was OK because Sandy came out of the store and Natalie calmed down.
We made our way on back to the truck with kids and souvenirs and continued on I-80 Eastbound to the Rock Springs, KOA. The area of the campground was so much like the area we used to live in the high desert area of Southern California. It reminded me very much of the high desert town of Yermo, California.
Above: Our pull-through site at the Rock Springs KOA. All dirt and rock and on a slope, not too bad a slope, luckily. Here, getting ready to have our dinner on the picnic table. So many places were so hot this year! We knew we needed to be able to have electricity for the A/C if nothing else! By making all our reservations in advance we always had A/C power and we needed it many times!
Day 5, Rock Springs, Wy. to Vernal, Utah. 104 miles
We were now making it to the first real stop and the meat and potatoes of the trip, our first real dinosaur adventuring was coming up quick! Most of these 104 miles that day were getting over the passes of the 'Flaming Gorge' recreation areas along the border area of Wyoming and Utah.
This part of the trip brought back many memories for me, Stacy and Sandy. The three of us had been on this same road, going the other way though, way back in 1991 when we were on our first family motorcycle trip from California to Cody, Wyoming, for a motorcycle rally that took place in August of 1991. It was Stacy's first time riding her own motorcycle and Sandy rode behind me on my Gold Wing that later became Stacy's a little over a year later when we got my 1993 Gold Wing.
Of course, that many years ago having passed, none of it was very familiar, except the vista turnout shown below. Of course new signage after all those years, but I could definitely remember our stop going Northbound at the exact same place. Although a new sign, the old sign was about the same place I believe and we have the video I had taken at that stop (8mm video tape!) as we looked over the valley from this vantage point. It was in the morning after camping in the area of the dam, I just didn't remember that big dam being there in 1991 though! It must have been, we just didn't stop back then on our way to finding a campground for the night.
Above: the overlook stop where Stacy, Sandy and I, had stopped when going Northbound in 1991 on first family motorcycle trip.
Below: following along on Highway 191 South and near Dutch John, Utah, is the Flaming Gorge Dam. We stopped for a break and to see the visitor's center.
Above and below: The plaque at the visitor's center entrance and while walking back towards the trailer, Sandy with Natalie as a hot backpack on a really warm day.
We spent a while there at the visitor's center. The girls both found stuffed toy animals they 'had to have', Justine a large Skunk and Natalie a Bald Eagle.
There are dam tours available if one wants to sign up and spend the time as they are during the day and not one right after the other. Due to the general terrorist threat there were several hoops to jump through just to take the tour.
As we've taken the old tour at Hoover Dam in Arizona and Parker Dam tour in California over the years when we lived in California, we opted the "seen one seem them all" attitude and didn't stay around. We had dinosaur bones to see!
OK, so I'll end it here and this will be Part 1. I'll be working on Part 2 and get it posted soon! I hope!
Tad
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