We returned to civilization as we landed in Seattle on July 1. The trip to Alaska was amazing and we couldn’t stop talking about it as we mooch-docked off Dan and Brenda through the 4th of July in the Seattle area. They live in a development that is surrounded by tall hills. Some of their neighbors believe in celebrating the 4th of July from the 2nd through the 5th with LOUD firecrackers that reverberate throughout the area. From there we headed south to Jessica (Teri’s niece) and Patrick’s where we retrieved Sarge. We spent a couple of days in the area. They live near Portland. Sarge was a little perturbed that he got left behind and showed it by ignoring us but eventually warmed back up to us. I think it was his way of saying “Don’t ever leave me again!!!”

While we were camped in an RV park along the Columbia River, I took a ride along the airport road and was amazed at the amount of homeless camps, trash, burned out vehicles, destroyed motorhomes and junk just piled up along the road. I later had the opportunity to speak to a local businessman who said the city hadn’t made any decisions on how to deal with the homeless population, so for now the area was not patrolled by police and the ‘campers’ were allowed to live in peace. It was disgusting and a bit scary.

Once we left the Portland area we headed east. We drove through the Columbia Gorge and commented that this was definitely a place we needed to return to. As you enter the Gorge, the canyon walls start growing taller until you reach the middle of the Gorge, then the walls start to diminish as you head toward Idaho. Near the middle of the Gorge you are in a relatively narrow canyon with the walls climbing 100+ feet in the air above you. There are numerous scenic and historical spots to stop however the majority of them denied truck access. Our rig isn’t much shorter than a semi-truck so we figured if trucks were refused access, we probably shouldn’t be in there either.

We stopped for a couple of nights in Bonner’s Ferry, ID. We stayed at the County Fairgrounds which did not charge anything to camp. We were only about 20 miles from the Canadian border. I found a wildlife refuge on my morning bike ride, so later that day, Teri and I took a hike through the refuge finding a waterfall and creek. We didn’t see a lot of wildlife. Sarge had a blast romping through the park grass.

As we headed toward Montana we came across a sign for Kootenai Falls which had a swinging bridge and a short hike. We had to go look. We parked the motorhome in a chain up area along the highway and drove the jeep to the parking lot. We walked to the falls and walked across the swinging bridge. An amazing sight. The bridge was initially built for the forest service to assist in fighting fires on the north side of the river. It was damaged and rebuilt and is now used for administrative purposes and for visitors. Of course we had swing the bridge as well. There were several people in the area who were very skeptical of crossing the bridge. The falls were mesmerizing. We finished the hike with some polish dogs and ice cream at the food truck that was parked there. We drove back to the motorhome, hooked up and were back on the road.

Our next stop was Whitefish, MT home of Hammer Nutrition. As many of you know, Hammer Nutrition is my primary support for my bike riding and racing and yes, I’m a sponsored rider for them. No, I don’t get any royalties for mentioning them here….

I didn’t realize Whitefish was such a resort town. As we walked through the town, it was obvious they rely very heavily on tourism for activities on the Big Mountain. Teri and I took a morning and hiked a newly developed trail up on Big Mountain. Of course, I had ridden the trails on my mountain bike the day before. I find some fabulous hikes for us when I’m riding so I get to see many of the trails multiple times. I stopped at Hammer to pick up some product and as I was walking out the front door, I literally bumped into Brian, the owner of the company. He and I met at The Cactus Cup race in Phoenix in 2019. As we got caught up he gave me a tour of the facility. The team wa feverishly working to get orders filled and shipped. Each person I spoke with had a smile and seemed to enjoy what they were doing and did all they could to make my visit a pleasant one.

Teri and I developed a cough post Alaska with Teri feeling the worst. My cough disappeared after just a couple of days but Teri’s lingered. While we were in Whitefish, we stopped into Urgent Care. It was a husband and wife operation. The wife ran the front desk while her husband was the Dr. They were extremely personable. Teri did not have Covid and we left with a pocket full of pills.

As we rolled westward toward Billings, we saw the beginnings of a storm. When we were about 30 minutes from our RV park a black dust cloud enveloped the highway. Visibility was about 10 yards. I could just barely make out the vehicle in front of me as traffic slowed from 65+ to 15 on the freeway. As a side note, I drive 60. I’m still feeling a little PTSD from the tire blowout. I was worried about getting hit by the vehicles behind me. I felt a little relief when I saw a semi-truck in my mirror who was traveling the same speed I was. An AZ haboob had nothing on this storm. As we rolled into the camp to register, another motorhome pulled in along side us. As he got out, we commented on the storm. He had been traveling west. It turns out he was headed for home in Page, AZ. The next morning we learned there had been a multiple fatality on the freeway east of us during the storm that closed the freeway for hours. We were fortunate we didn’t get caught in that.

The next morning as I was closing up the motorhome to prepare for another day of driving, Sarge decided to wander. We have a tracker on him so normally we can find him. We couldn’t find him. We had the help of a couple of other campers looking through the park for him without any luck. The tracker was not connecting to our phones, so we didn’t know where he was. I was furious and scared and threatened several times to just leave him and good riddance. That didn’t happen. I finally got on my bike to ride around the park to look for him. As I got near the office, the tracker connected and we located him in an enclosed area. He had found a way in but couldn’t find his way out. We finally hit the road 3 hours later than planned.

Over the course of several days we had developed a problem with the steps on the motorhome. They had been acting up for a few days but always extended and retracted. Saturday morning, they wouldn’t retract. We stopped at the nearest RV repair facility we could find on a Saturday in Sheridan, MT. As we stopped in front of the business another motorhome pulled in as well. The shop is a family owned/operated business. The husband said he had to help the other coach as they had an appointment, but he provided me some troubleshooting tips. 2 hours later, we were fixed and back on the road. We were fortunate they had all the parts we needed.

Next stop was Spearfish, SD, gateway to Devil’s Tower, the Badlands, Custer’s National Park, Crazy Horse Monument and Mt Rushmore and more. The park we stayed at had a petting zoo, with a couple goats, some sheep and 2 cows. The goats were young and it was fun to watch them play king of the mountain on a tree stump and butt heads like mountain goats. A dear friend, Sharon came to visit from MN and we spent a fun day walking around Spearfish at the Arts and Crafts festival. We took a drive up Spearfish Canyon and completed a brutal 2 hour hike. The views were amazing. From there we headed into Lead, SD an old mining town where we grabbed some lunch and wandered through a few of the stores. The town reminded us of Bisbee, AZ. Narrow streets, with buildings very close together in a valley with remains of the mines on the hillsides. From there we stopped in Deadwood, MT. This is also a tourism town and reminded us of Tombstone, AZ. There is a lot of history, but it is developed for tourism. It wasn’t our cup of tea.

After a couple of days camped and several bike rides, we were headed east again. We stopped in Sioux Falls, SD where we had dinner with Sharon. If you haven’t been to a Scheels outdoor store, you’re missing out. It is a Dick’s, REI, Cabellas, etc all rolled into one. They are proud of their inventory as well. It was a fun store to walk through. We jumped onto a trolley car for a tour around the historical part of the city. A stop at the USS South Dakota to pay our respects and learn more about the history of the ship and a walk around Falls Park. Another amazing water feature that can one can only imagine how impressive it would be in a winter water runoff. We chose to skip Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc but would like to return to see Custer State Park and drive through the Badlands.

As we moved east the countryside diminished in mountains as know them but became rolling hills. It was especially noticeable on my bike rides. The other thing we noticed was the abundance of corn fields and hay fields. I still don’t have an eye for what an acre looks like, but these fields were as far as the eye could see with corn and rolls of hay, so they must have been 100’s of acres in size. In the mid-west they don’t bale their hay in a block, but in a large round roll that is about 4 feet in diameter. From South Dakota we worked our way East and South through Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and into New Hampshire. We didn’t stay long in any one place with our longest stay of 2 nights in Ohio to visit Dayna. We found time for a bike ride and/or a hike in each place we stopped as well as taking in some type of historic site and activity. In NY we toured the Howe Cavern which is similar to the caverns in the southwest except this one had a river running through the middle of it. We even jumped into a boat to float through the cavern for a short distance. One of our nightly stops was at a converted farm to event center. The barn had become a large venue for weddings and the like. The next morning the owner had fixed an amazing breakfast for us and they only asked for a donation.

We arrived in New Hampshire by the 1st of August but that is the next chapter.