Going To The Sun But First The Kid Who Fell Out Of The Moving Vehicle

Part two of our Montana/Wyoming/Banff trip was supposed to begin with an early start up the Going- To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park for early light at Logan Pass, but the universe decided a test was in order.

Pam and I both have taken multiple first aid classes and feel mostly prepared for stuff that can happen. That being said, we weren't really ready to see a kid laying in the middle of the highway while looking for a campground appearing like he had been hit by a car. Adrenaline and training - I guess - took over as Pam let me out to run over while she called 911 to make sure the kid got some real help. When I got to him another guy, younger and better looking than me and better trained - was also arriving. The other guy was an ICU nurse. Whew!

The kid was just starting to try to get up and, at first we attempted to keep him from moving, but it became apparent that his back was okay, but his affect was very bad and as the people he was with were starting to feel like the situation was resolving itself we had to tell them that he needed to be fully checked by medical personnel to make sure he didn't have a brain injury.

 The actual professionals quickly arrived and we were able to go to wait out our adrenaline calming down. Yikes!

We were up early the next morning and on the road by 5:15 to make the drive to Logan Pass on the Going-To-The-Sun Road and as we climbed it became obvious that our timing was excellent as we made Logan Pass as first light was happening.

We shared the wait time with a few early risers and a Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep. The light did not disappoint.

We headed down after a 3 mile hike on the Hidden Lakes Trail which was closed at 1.5 miles because of bear activity. After the hike we drove down to secure  a camp site for the night and then headed to Many Glaciers to hike to Ptarmigan Falls and then get a shower.

Back at the campground we were informed that a black bear had just walked through the camp site. We may have made a small error by drinking the rest of our hard liquor before crossing into Canada the next day, buy we had fun and got in a movie in the van before passing out.

The crossing went without any kind of inspection so we could have saved the booze for later - oh well. We elected to go through Waterton National Park and Frank where the Frank Slide was that is the deadliest rockfall in Canadian History.

The route took us past the largest truck in the world and to Kimberly for lunch before making our way to Banff National Park where we were trying to cheat the funky weather forecast to get good shots of Lake Moraine and Lake Louise. Our gamble paid off with some great pictures and we were able to get to a great free camping place between Canmore and Calgary for the night.

The next episode will take us into Calgary to visit with old friends so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading and more soon. Peace.

Friends Along The Way/Pam's Boy Paully?

Wow!. We are having a blast so far on our trip. We have made our run across to Billings and then into Yellowstone via Beartooth Pass (on the Beartooth Scenic Byway) which was amazing! We are now in West Glacier and Wednesday will drive the Going-To-The-Sun Road from West to East Glacier.

Our first night we stayed at the Sprague Lake Rest Area. If you do that make sure to have the good earplugs. There are many trucks running generators there.  However, with good earplugs, you can sleep like a baby.

Farther along the way we were able to stop in Missoula and stay a night with Pam's college roommate, Monica, whose three year old Clara decided I should be called "Pam's Boy Paully." If I didn't already have a trail name - He Who Hike With Chicks - I would be all over using Clara's name.

It was Monica's oldest daughter - Zara's - birthday so we went to a nice dinner and wished her a happy 16th.

After Missoula we headed east to Billings to meet up with Pam's old boss from the Vashon Theatre - Jerry -  and spent the night at his storage facility north of town. We had dinner and drinks with Jerry and then breakfast in the morning before heading to Yellowstone via Beartooth Pass.

The drive was beautiful and we even got to have a beer in Cooke City before dropping down into Yellowstone.

Our two nights in Yellowstone were split between Tower Falls Camp and Indian River Camp. We were able to hike - the easier route - up Washburn Peak and enjoy the views between camps.  The camps were only $15 a night which is cheap compared to a lot of state parks anymore that charge $30 plus a night.

Our first camp in Yellowstone we had a full grown Bison walk through our campground and eventually right past our van before he headed for greener pastures. It was a touch tense and we all stayed out of his way and line of sight to keep safe.

We drove up through Gardiner Mt. and were able to catch up with another friend of Pam's Kurt in Bozeman who gave us a route change that we plan to use on our way to West Glacier.

The van - Vincenzo - has been performing well and our current setup has worked great so far. We just try to continue to learn from using it and make little tweaks to improve it.

We hope this post found you all well and we will post more soon. Peace.

13 Humans, 8 Dogs, 2 Goats, 2 Cats and a Hip Replacement Patient So Far

Since we put our house on the market May 1st a lot has happened and we have learned a lot. After the house deal closed we began our life untethered and learned even more. Here's what we learned.

There is no way to properly describe the feeling of the kindness shown to us by friends old and new. Most of our first couple of weeks were spent with a friend so that the house could be shown as easily as possible. We had to spend much of that time continuing to downsize our stuff to an appropriate amount for van life. At the time we were still attempting to make the transition in our 2013 Ford Transit Connect. It proved to be too small and underpowered for what we needed to pack into it. That became clear on a Memorial Day weekend trip around the Olympic Loop where we struggled with access to things we needed without rooting around.

The day we returned from our trip we went to look at a van we had researched before the trip and -wham bam - we traded in the old van, Vinny, for our new larger van, Vincenzo, who is a 2017 Ford Transit 150. He has a large 6 cylinder engine and is 5 feet longer which makes it easier to have a sleep inside option that we determined was necessary for our future exploring.

We also realized that we were not going to be able to fit our bicycles in the van so we sold them and bought some Dahon folding bikes from friends who weren't using them. Our initial efforts to pack them in the van showed that we weren't done expanding our storage capability so we added a 2 ft wide and 6 ft long roof basket which required us to get longer crossbars for the roof rack and a cargo cover. Now the bikes fit well inside and there is room to get to everything.

So, new van built out we headed off to Vancouver BC to visit friends and see how we did crossing a border or two. All went well and we were off to start a long run of pet sitting.

We began with Sadie the Labradoodle who I nicknamed The White Shadow. She is a kick to hang out with and enjoyed bossing me around which I love. From Sadies' we sat 3 dogs and two goats on Vashon Island for a super nice family where we learned that Pygmy Goats have fun personalities and precocious puppies are a handful. The puppy is a Husky mix named Kenai who had a thing about hats, gloves and ties. You had to listen carefully because she had mad skills at sneaking them out of their proper place. Luckily, only one hat was sacrificed.

That is where friend magic kicked in when one of Pam's friends from grade school on invited us to stay with them for more than a week while we were between sits. I busted out what Judy referred to as the "magic pan" because food kept appearing in it and we all learned the limits of the electronic lady on the Hey Google device they have. Our canine pal there was Ms. Nicky whose name I probably just misspelled. She was another treat along the way.

Next up we headed to Gig Harbor where we hung out with Toby and Phoebe who are both older pups and hard of hearing, but with a zest for life still. The house is beautiful with views of the Narrows Bridges and Mt Rainier. We enjoyed relaxing with the pups and don't get us started on the recliners!

Our sit after that was more unconventional. We were sitting two nearly 18 year old cats and their owner who was having a hip replacement and needed someone there so the doctor would schedule her surgery. The operation went well and our patient was ahead of the game in terms of recovery. She ditched the walker in favor of a cane after 2 days and I had to remind her to use the cane sometimes as well.

Now we are sitting Ms. Bandit who is an aging herding dog. She is currently fast asleep in a ball on her dog bed while I type and Pam works remotely. We are here until Sunday afternoon when we move to another couple of friends who kindly offered to share their home with us for some time this month.

We have a couple of outings this month. We have PCT Days in Cascade Locks Oregon from the 15th through the 18th. and at the end of the month we head out to Montana to visit Pam's old boss from the Vashon Theater and get in some Yellowstone, Glacier and Waterton Parks before hanging out with a college friend in Calgary. From there we head into Banff National Park and then North Cascades National Park before heading to yet another friend from college's place for a night before a string of dog and cat sits that take us into November.

All of that seems a little busy, but tonight we get some friends time with a Happy Hour near where we are staying which is much needed since we have been everywhere but what used to be home.

We decided to save the pictures for when we are actually travelling in the van, so look for them in the next couple of posts.

Thanks for reading and more soon - we promise. Peace.