I knew it has been a while, a long while. Not this long though!
So, readers in the either, if there are any still around, what's been going on with our life adventure?
The high points since February 2018:
1. We almost bought a new truck.
2. While we didn't finally buy a truck in late March, we traded in two-vehicles and bought a 2018 Toyota, Rav4 Hybrid, CUV (Compact 'sports' Utility Vehicle).
3. We had a fantastic summer trip with the granddaughters spending 9 days in Yellowstone last July. The bunkhouse 5th wheel trailer we bought July 2017 right after our June trip in 2017, proved to be the BEST way to comfortably sleep and house the 5 of us, me, Stacy, Sandy, and the granddaughters, for a trip.
4. In August we got Stacy the one RV trailer she's been wanting for several years now, a Winnebago Micro-Minnie, a 20-foot long travel trailer that sleeps two. Stacy used it for a week-long business trip to Boise for state-level meetings just a couple of weeks ago. Her own room, food, bathroom, and no more hotels for many of her trips especially in the summer months.
Now the low points:
1. I'm sorry, but to me, you can not argue global warming isn't a "thing" as this was the second summer of hotter and dryer area and regional weather.
2. Included with the hot, dry air was the second season of incredibly bad air due to the regional forest fires. Over 35 in our general area and over 600 in nearby Canada again making super smokey, and hard to breathe weather.
3. This was another summer of very bad, crazy amounts of Hornets in the region.
As mentioned above, it was a long hot summer.
Above: This photo is of the mostly dead field that normally grows Alfalfa, not so much this year. Just one harvest in the spring and then dead and weeds.
And now, here it is just after the start of fall. The hot temps lasted until late August, then a couple of hot days sputters, and now it has already been in the upper 20s at night and the 50s in the daytime. The air is clear, the fires almost all out with some rainy days and many more to rainy and then snowy days to come.
The new truck, then a car instead!
We felt dejected a bit, I won't lie, new is nice! But it would be that domino kind of thing this causes that, and both cost money!
After that deal fell through Stacy had to be in Boise for a week. She flew down and had a rental to drive for the week. It was a Nissan, Rogue, SUV. The rental had been a great experience for her and got her thinking about maybe a vehicle like that for us as probably the last brand new 'family' style auto we'd buy.
Long story short we watched a lot of videos and did a lot of research about the current market of these autos.
It turns out that the small SUV market is currently the most popular car segment in the country (USA), and the top three CSUV's (Compact Sports Utility Vehicles) are, The Honda, CRV, the Toyota, Rav 4, and the Nissan, Rogue.
As there are dealerships for all there brands in the general Coeur d' Alene area, we decided to spend a Saturday and drive them all. So we did!
It was a cold and rainy day, but we spent time at all three dealers. We liked the Honda's best as seeming to be "high class" in amenities, fit and finish. The Toyota was seemingly the sportiest with a taught suspension yet very well appointed, and a firm but comfortable ride and there was a Hybrid version, that we really liked and test drove.
The Rogue that Stacy had liked so well in Boise was a distant third place here. The dealer had none of the Hybrid versions of the Rogue in stock and couldn't say how long it would take to get one to the dealer if we even wanted one. The salesman wasn't really very helpful in knowing about the Rogue. It seemed like it lacked a lot of power and if you bought the model with the expansive sunroof it cost in headroom for all passengers!
It came down to money again, the Honda, while nice, wasn't a very good interest rate. The staff at the Honda dealer even said that "since these cars sell so well we don't get any incentives to pass along to buyers."
We've had experience with Toyota, having owned 1991, Toyota Camry for several years and almost 230,000 miles. As well as Stacy's 2013, Prius. We KNOW they're built well and will last. Plus, at the time, March 2018, Toyota's were available at zero percent interest.
So, we talked and ultimately decided to trade in my 2007, Pontiac, Solstice and Stacy's, 2013, Prius for the "deal."
Above: two photos, top on the day of taking the Rav4 home, with Stacy's old Prius in front of it, and about a month later while on a drive in Montana. We are still happy with the purchase. The car has plenty of room for 4, front and back with reclining rear seats too. It is very comfortable, I really enjoy the phone integration for listening to audiobooks and podcasts as well as answering calls and even texts.
We also do like that we bought a hybrid version. I thought it was interesting that the gas-powered versions of the RAV4 are made in the USA, the hybrid versions are made in Japan, as ours was. But the straight gas is reported to get from the low to mid-twenties for miles per gallon. The hybrid from the upper twenties to mid-thirties in MPG. Ours has been pretty consistent being in the low to upper thirties for all tanks so far, with 31 the lowest and 38 the highest MPG. So we're pretty happy, great comfort and very good fuel economy too. Turns out, this from Consumer Reports, the Rav4 is the number one selling car in the US even topping the now number two best selling Ford F150 truck!
The summer trip of 2018.
For 2018 we had to switch back to a July vacation to make the time off work with the people at work and their time off as well as the grandkids school schedule. I really liked last year's June trip as it had been a bit less crowded and cooler overall.
We had already decided what we would do this trip, and Stacy had made almost all of the reservations for the RV parks and some of the planned activities before Christmas in 2017!
The trip of 2018 was primarily going to be a Yellowstone Adventure.
We spent 9 days going into Yellowstone from our RV park parking in West Yellowstone. It was the best Yellowstone trip by far, in my opinion! We had wanted to go again after the trip of 2016 because daughter Sandy, had had such high hopes for that trip and wanting to do hikes with the granddaughters as see so many places. That trip wound up being very hot and really crowded with many of those related problems of crowds and heat.
With this trip, while still pretty hot, we could change up the getting into the park going in late in the day and Sandy and I even going in really early one morning to get some good photos and skip the crowds. We all saw so many of the sites we had not seen in a long time or had ever seen at all!
It was a great trip.
So, readers in the either, if there are any still around, what's been going on with our life adventure?
The high points since February 2018:
1. We almost bought a new truck.
2. While we didn't finally buy a truck in late March, we traded in two-vehicles and bought a 2018 Toyota, Rav4 Hybrid, CUV (Compact 'sports' Utility Vehicle).
3. We had a fantastic summer trip with the granddaughters spending 9 days in Yellowstone last July. The bunkhouse 5th wheel trailer we bought July 2017 right after our June trip in 2017, proved to be the BEST way to comfortably sleep and house the 5 of us, me, Stacy, Sandy, and the granddaughters, for a trip.
4. In August we got Stacy the one RV trailer she's been wanting for several years now, a Winnebago Micro-Minnie, a 20-foot long travel trailer that sleeps two. Stacy used it for a week-long business trip to Boise for state-level meetings just a couple of weeks ago. Her own room, food, bathroom, and no more hotels for many of her trips especially in the summer months.
Now the low points:
1. I'm sorry, but to me, you can not argue global warming isn't a "thing" as this was the second summer of hotter and dryer area and regional weather.
2. Included with the hot, dry air was the second season of incredibly bad air due to the regional forest fires. Over 35 in our general area and over 600 in nearby Canada again making super smokey, and hard to breathe weather.
3. This was another summer of very bad, crazy amounts of Hornets in the region.
As mentioned above, it was a long hot summer.
Above: As I'd said last year, these kinds of scenes remind me of smoggy summer southern California days. This photo is looking due west, and that's the afternoon sun up in the top left of the photo.
And now, here it is just after the start of fall. The hot temps lasted until late August, then a couple of hot days sputters, and now it has already been in the upper 20s at night and the 50s in the daytime. The air is clear, the fires almost all out with some rainy days and many more to rainy and then snowy days to come.
The new truck, then a car instead!
Above and below: In March, the 2018 Chevy truck, we almost bought!
It was a long bed, diesel, one-ton, 4x4, Silverado
A "W-T" or "work truck" edition (in the US) which used to be one of the most stripped down versions you could get. Many of our Animal Control trucks were these W-T versions.
Looking at the photo below only partially shows how nicely equipped they are nowadays!
OK, why we didn't buy the truck.
It was due to one thing really, the height of all new trucks! It used to be, 2-wheel drive trucks were lower than the same thing in a 4x4 version. Our 2004 Chevy and GMC trucks even with both being 4x4 are about the same height and substantially lower than any of the more recent versions, and both 4x4 and 2-wheel drive versions are the same heights today.
However, those extra inches mean problems for connecting the truck to a 5th wheel trailer! The trailer should be as level as possible for safety and the safe operation of RV components like the RV fridge and the wheels and bearings.
I did investigate and found that it could cost as much as $1,300.00 to $2,000.00 MORE dollars to raise the 5th wheel up to a point it would ride level with the taller truck!
So, a new truck, the new truck payment as well as come up with the extra money to raise our trailer or take a chance and use it as it would be, slightly nose high, and hope for the best.We felt dejected a bit, I won't lie, new is nice! But it would be that domino kind of thing this causes that, and both cost money!
After that deal fell through Stacy had to be in Boise for a week. She flew down and had a rental to drive for the week. It was a Nissan, Rogue, SUV. The rental had been a great experience for her and got her thinking about maybe a vehicle like that for us as probably the last brand new 'family' style auto we'd buy.
Long story short we watched a lot of videos and did a lot of research about the current market of these autos.
It turns out that the small SUV market is currently the most popular car segment in the country (USA), and the top three CSUV's (Compact Sports Utility Vehicles) are, The Honda, CRV, the Toyota, Rav 4, and the Nissan, Rogue.
As there are dealerships for all there brands in the general Coeur d' Alene area, we decided to spend a Saturday and drive them all. So we did!
It was a cold and rainy day, but we spent time at all three dealers. We liked the Honda's best as seeming to be "high class" in amenities, fit and finish. The Toyota was seemingly the sportiest with a taught suspension yet very well appointed, and a firm but comfortable ride and there was a Hybrid version, that we really liked and test drove.
The Rogue that Stacy had liked so well in Boise was a distant third place here. The dealer had none of the Hybrid versions of the Rogue in stock and couldn't say how long it would take to get one to the dealer if we even wanted one. The salesman wasn't really very helpful in knowing about the Rogue. It seemed like it lacked a lot of power and if you bought the model with the expansive sunroof it cost in headroom for all passengers!
It came down to money again, the Honda, while nice, wasn't a very good interest rate. The staff at the Honda dealer even said that "since these cars sell so well we don't get any incentives to pass along to buyers."
We've had experience with Toyota, having owned 1991, Toyota Camry for several years and almost 230,000 miles. As well as Stacy's 2013, Prius. We KNOW they're built well and will last. Plus, at the time, March 2018, Toyota's were available at zero percent interest.
So, we talked and ultimately decided to trade in my 2007, Pontiac, Solstice and Stacy's, 2013, Prius for the "deal."
Above: on trade in day, Stacy's 2013, Prius and below, my 2007, Pontiac, Solstice. We had to dig out a snow pile to get the Solstice out and get it the 2 hours to the dealership.
I really liked my Solstice, it really looked great, we'd bought it new in 2008, but it just wasn't the car for this area and wound up sitting out winter every year. It also was not comfortable for Stacy as the passenger area had a cut out for the battery which took away a few inches of legroom that was just in front of the passenger in the engine bay. And, the biggest things, it had no storage and was like 5 inches off the ground! So, not really 5 inches, but it wasn't the easiest car to get into and out of being so low.
Stacy really misses her Prius, but again, it was low to the ground and had problems at certain times of the winter as being only 2 wheel drive. We had "spikey" snow tires for it that we put on each year, however, there were still times we couldn't chance trying to drive the Prius for fear of getting stuck someplace. It did get almost 50 MPG though!!!!
Above: two photos, top on the day of taking the Rav4 home, with Stacy's old Prius in front of it, and about a month later while on a drive in Montana. We are still happy with the purchase. The car has plenty of room for 4, front and back with reclining rear seats too. It is very comfortable, I really enjoy the phone integration for listening to audiobooks and podcasts as well as answering calls and even texts.
We also do like that we bought a hybrid version. I thought it was interesting that the gas-powered versions of the RAV4 are made in the USA, the hybrid versions are made in Japan, as ours was. But the straight gas is reported to get from the low to mid-twenties for miles per gallon. The hybrid from the upper twenties to mid-thirties in MPG. Ours has been pretty consistent being in the low to upper thirties for all tanks so far, with 31 the lowest and 38 the highest MPG. So we're pretty happy, great comfort and very good fuel economy too. Turns out, this from Consumer Reports, the Rav4 is the number one selling car in the US even topping the now number two best selling Ford F150 truck!
The summer trip of 2018.
For 2018 we had to switch back to a July vacation to make the time off work with the people at work and their time off as well as the grandkids school schedule. I really liked last year's June trip as it had been a bit less crowded and cooler overall.
We had already decided what we would do this trip, and Stacy had made almost all of the reservations for the RV parks and some of the planned activities before Christmas in 2017!
The trip of 2018 was primarily going to be a Yellowstone Adventure.
We spent 9 days going into Yellowstone from our RV park parking in West Yellowstone. It was the best Yellowstone trip by far, in my opinion! We had wanted to go again after the trip of 2016 because daughter Sandy, had had such high hopes for that trip and wanting to do hikes with the granddaughters as see so many places. That trip wound up being very hot and really crowded with many of those related problems of crowds and heat.
With this trip, while still pretty hot, we could change up the getting into the park going in late in the day and Sandy and I even going in really early one morning to get some good photos and skip the crowds. We all saw so many of the sites we had not seen in a long time or had ever seen at all!
It was a great trip.
Above: This is the Yellowstone sign just outside the park in Gardiner, Montana. Another person taking photos took this one for me after he was done. This sign, being mostly in the shade all the time is the best one in my opinion.
Above: actually on the way to West Yellowstone and at a rest area on Interstate 90 in Montana. The just barely one-year-old Jayco 5th wheel turned out to be an excellent RV for this and future trips with the grandkids. Bunks in the back meant no more setting up and taking down the dinette and couch for sleeping arrangments. And the outside kitchen, at the bottom part towards the rear of the 5th wheel, is a feature I used to think was more of a gimmick turned out to be another excellent thing to have!
Above: out in the Lamar Valley, we were there to see this large heard of Bison come over then cross over the highway and go up towards the mountains to the right.
Above: This trip was going to experiences, this experience was Sandy and Justine having their first Whitewater Rafting trip. Sandy is waving with Justine to her right with the white hat on. As this trip down the river was eight miles and since there were kids on board there was a couple of sections of rapids, but nothing too crazy. Both Sandy and Justine loved the experience, even though there was a lot of fear of the unknown before their adventure actually started, and now they can't wait to try again at a rafting trip like this one.
Maybe a place in their own area for their next time.
Above: One of my personal 'bucket list' of things at Yellowstone was taking the hike to the Old Faithful overlook. For me, to get this photo was worth it! This photo was taken with the then new lens Sandy had gotten me for an early, birthday, Christmas for the next two years present of a Tamron, 150 to 600 mm long zoom lens for my Nikon D-750 DSLR.
It was quite the hike as I took the more "straight up" eastern trail instead of, the longer but less strenuous west trail. I made it up, and all was good, until, almost at the bottom beginning of the trail on my way back down, I lost my footing on a patch of finely ground sand on a flat rock from all the hikers taking the trail. I crashed, landing on the left side of my knee, camera bag, and left elbow. There was blood! Luckily I didn't damage my camera landing on the camera bag with all my weight as I crashed. And in addition to the series of photos like this one, I'll have the scars on the left side of my elbow and knee from the experience. Ah, the memories!
Above and Below: On a Sunday morning, Sandy and I left our camp at West Yellowstone to get into the park really early, beat the crowds and get some good sunrise time photos if we could. We left the RV at about 4:45 am, 3:45 home time so I at first was not happy! If you want to get in without paying, get there before 5 AM! Even with our Parks Pass, I was surprised to find no Rangers at all during that early hour entrance.
The photo above was a stop a little west of the Fountain Paint Pots but this early, before sunrise and a cold 43 degrees, it was pretty spectacular to see the steam from all the hot water features as it rose in the early morning cold.
During this same morning excursion, Sandy and I went to the parking to hike to Fairy Falls. We stopped at the overlook to the Grand Prismatic Spring but there, because it was still cold and all the hot water, nothing could be seen there but clouds of steam. So we took the about 3-mile hike out to see Fairy Falls and to get photos of them. Below is one I took of those falls. So if you're reading this and you have never made the hike, this is what you're missing! The falls are on the shorter side and here, at the falls, not in this shot is the pool of water the falls, fall into. It wasn't bad but not in the photo are the hoards of mosquitoes that were enjoying us the 15 or 20 minutes we were there getting the photos. YES, there was the very necessary repellant, it was just about 3-miles away in the truck! If you ever make any hike in Yellowstone, especially during the summer, don't forget the bug repellant! Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it! That goes for Bear Spray too!
Above: Back at the RV Park, it was "Grizzly RV Park," in West Yellowstone, Montana, by the way, there were several of these beautiful sunsets to watch. Most happened while we were in Yellowstone but this very nice one was when we were back at the RV park.
Above: I wasn't able to fly my quadcopter in Yellowstone, an expensive fine if caught and not worth the risk, but I did fly from near the RV Park so I could get several photos and videos of the park and the general West Yellowstone area. Even though it says in the park paperwork not to fly quadcopters in the RV park, while we were there a couple of people flew several times anyway in the evenings.
I waited until the morning when most people were leaving and went outside the park boundaries then flew high and stayed over the RV park only a short while to get the shots I wanted as unobtrusively as possible. Our 'rig' is in the photo above.
Above and Below: After leaving Yellowstone we went to the "Louis and Clark Caves" state park and campground in Montana. Since we had the grandkids with us, we went on the kid and handicapped friendly cave tour. There is still a short hike involved but only two rooms to see, so it was the perfect tour for us and a bunch of other people also on the tour. These are photos from each room just to give you an idea of the caves. We learned that actually, Louis and Clark had nothing to do with these caves. They never even came through this area! The original owner of the caves, before giving it to the state, had used the Louis and Clark expedition tie-in and it just stuck. Louis and Clark were in the region and came through the area several miles North of the site during their exploration.
Above and Below: We stayed at the campground for the state park. It turned out that around 2009 Stacy and I had stayed at this exact same spot when we were going to a relative wedding in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The site didn't have any electricity back then, and that was the only "hook-up" available now. But electricity really helped as it was pretty warm until the sun went down.
Below: With no signage seen, the next morning I flew the quadcopter briefly and got this aerial overview photo of most of the campground. Again, I flew out away from the campground and up high above as to not 'disturb' anyone! Red truck in the lower right of the photo was our site as seen from above.
Below: the last photos for this post, after leaving the Caves we detoured through Phillipsburg, Montana, as Stacy and Sandy thought looking for gems would be fun. Here, parked in the biggest space I could find to park the 'rig'.
Above and Below: So, this place, Gem Mountain, was the business they thought was worth a look. It was just a bit up and across the street from where we'd parked and turned out to be pretty much as good as any of them!
Below, here, is Stacy, Sandy, and Justine looking through the pile of dirt. Actually, just one of them as to how this works, you pay for literally a 5-gallon bucket of dirt gotten from a big in the store just for these searches. The more you're willing to pay the more likely you'll find something of "value." You can keep everything you find here, but they also do literally "nickel and dime" you with possible 'extras' that keep the costs going up and up. Do you want to "be sure" you got something worth some money? They'll gladly 'assay it' for you, for a price and a cut of it should it be really worth something!
They all had fun, and I'd say just go and do this for the fun. The adventure of doing something different, even if it is rigged a bit.
You are about as likely to really find an expensive gem as you are to get the winning lottery ticket! They don't mind taking your money at all either!
The rest of the trip was actually short. From here we went to, and stayed our last night out, at the Missoula, Montana, KOA, as we've stayed there many times due to the location and proximity should we be on a trip east as we were heading back from this trip.
Another very good trip! As for 2019, we decided to keep it close next time. Going to Oregon and spend the time there, go along the coast, see Crater Lake, things like that.
As it has taken me about another three weeks to get this far, I'll stop here.
It should NOT be another few months before the next post!
I'll start right away and pick up from the trip to October, even if it is almost November! I've got to type about our second little trailer! Next year we'll be actually able to stay at our area campsites! Our 5th wheel is too long, and the Micro Minnie is a bit short but is exactly what Stacy wanted and will easily fit just about anyplace!
Tad
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