My Journey

[JerryYukon]

I started my new job this week at Kintla Lake. It's an incredibly beautiful place but not near as remote as I had envisioned. The National Park Service has done a great job of getting me set up in my site. My days are spent reading, hiking and kayaking, and occasionally doing something constructive (but not very often). The weather has been quite good with lows around 40 and highs in the 70's. The water temperature is 52 so I've yet to swim. Today starts my long weekend (3.5 days off) and I'm headed for the back country and then maybe a day in Kalispell as well. I love it here, love what I do, but I must admit I continually think of moving down the road. I just take things one day at a time and we shall see where it leads us.

My Drive to Work-North Fork Flathead River

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My Office-Kintla Lake

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Dogs Are Not Allowed Off Leash in National Parks So I Was Provided This

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[marcall]

Great thread! Looking forward to more.

I have a couple questions for you.

1) Just curious about the overnights in the Wal mart parking lots. Is this a common thing for traveling on the cheap? is it because awl mart is open 24 hours or something?

2) You mentioned hiking in the national Parks and that you'd have to leave the dogs behind (I love your dogs btw) where do they stay? In the camper or something?

[JerryYukon]

Wal Marts are great for free over night camping. No it has nothing to do with their hours, it's always been a rule of Wal Mart to allow people to camp there.

My hiking in the National Parks is always along the roads. Fortunately for me the road is rarely traveled up there so it's not so bad.

Quick update............I spent the weekend outside of the park and enjoyed myself getting to know the city of Kalispell. I found a beautiful lake to the west of town and spent Saturday and Sunday there doing lots of swimming with my dogs. I met some wonderful people there. It was such a nice change from the strict rules of the National Park regarding dogs. I have to admit that I'm a bit bummed to have to report back to work this morning. I loved my freedom quite a bit. So off to get a shower and on with my park uniform. I did watch a big black bear this morning while I had my coffee. Got to love the bears.

The Very Expensive Mercantile That Sits Right Outside the Park Boundary

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North Fork Headquarters - My Boss Works Here

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[JerryYukon]

So we decided this week that camp ground hosting in a national park was not going to work for us. There are just too many rules when you have two dogs and it almost seems like being in prison. I felt bad to leave but the fact was that I was a fill in for someone else so at least they got a few weeks in. And there really isn't much to do there. Not much more need to be said about that.

Yesterday we drove to McGregor Lake which is just west of Kalispell. It's a beautiful lake where we spent the afternoon and evening swimming. This morning we got in one last swim and then we pulled stakes and are headed west again. We are currently in Libby, Montana trying to figure out where to go next. So many possibilities.

I met some awesome people in Montana and it will always be my favorite state.

McGregor Lake

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Our Overnight Spot at McGregor Lake

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[JerryYukon]

Yesterday we found ourselves headed west along Route 2 through Libby, Montana. We came across Kootenai Falls so we decided to stop for a bit. After a short hike we arrived at the falls. As temperatures were soaring yesterday (98 degrees) we were quite pleased to find that the temperatures along the falls were at least 20 degrees cooler. We sat at the edge of the falls and enjoyed watching the power of the rushing waters. But the three of us seem to have trouble sitting for long and we all wanted to go for another swim. Soon we were headed west again and found ourselves once again stopped at a boat check point. They pointed us to a swimming hole along the Pack River. The water was surprisingly cold so we didn't stay long. As we approached Spokane I spotted a Wal Mart store and stopped for the night. I need to get some laundry done today so maybe we'll stay another night before moving west.

I'm thinking that I'd like to do some peak bagging in the Cascade Mountains and then maybe continue west to the Pacific Ocean. We shall see.........

Kootenai Falls and Us

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[azken]

Thanks for posting...pictures sure help to tell the story...have a safe journey.

[JerryYukon]

So yesterday became clean the truck camper and truck cab day. After six weeks on the road (and off the road), everything had become a bit disgusting. I emptied much of the truck camper and the truck cab out onto the Wal Mart parking lot. Worked great for me but I must admit that I drew many odd stares. But the good news is that I was able to locate a horrible smell in the truck cab and get it cleaned up. I also decided to remove the carpet from the interior of the truck camper. The dogs seem to definitely like it better now (the cooler tile floor) and it probably smells a bit better in there as well. We also headed over to the laundromat and cleaned a load of dirty laundry. Combined with our daily walks (we set our record for this trip....10.10 miles for the day), the very hot and somewhat humid day went by fairly quick. We stayed up late last night reading a book, watching a movie, and taking a bath in the kitchen sink.

I had planned to leave Spokane this morning but after a very late awakening, I looked outside and the skies were dark and gloomy. I decided to hang out to see what the weather would do and it wasn't long before the skies opened up. I don't care to drive in inclement weather so I hit the Red Box, got me a movie and stayed inside most of the morning. The passing storm brought cooler temperatures, what I like to call sleeping weather. So I found myself napping the day away. Of course it's too late to pick up and move today so we'll spend a third night in Spokane. This is one of the advantages of no schedule and no destination.

I have no pictures for today so here's one of my favorite pictures of my dog on her first journey 4 years ago............what the hell.

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[kevint]

That's a winner.

[JerryYukon]

Haha...........somebody spammed my thread. Poor guy. What a waste of time and effort.

Yesterday we took a tour of downtown Spokane before we continued our journey west. I saw a sign for Gonzaga University so being the college basketball fan that I am i thought I'd have a look. Wow, what a beautiful campus. I really knew nothing about the school but learned that it's a small Catholic school with 3 to 4 thousand students. The school campus was immaculate and all I could think of was "dogs please don't poop on their beautiful landscaping". After a tour of the old city we drove west to Coulle Dam. That was OK but we didn't stay. Just a jump out of the truck and get a picture type thing. It was just too hot to hang around and I wanted the air conditioner in the truck on. So we drove into Okanagan National Forest where we found ourselves a spot for the night. That evening we took a long walk on a forest service road before calling it a day.

I will add some pictures in day or two when I can get some good internet access. I'm trying to use my AT&T account for my smart phone to upload pictures and it's horrible (and always has been).

School With Great Basketball Program

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Coulee Dam

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Camping in Okanagan National Forest

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[McZippie]

or two when I can get some good INTERNET access. I'm trying to use my AT&T account for my smart phone to upload pictures and it's horrible (and always has been).

Been enjoying your travels. FWIW I do a lot of uploading pictures while on the road. What seems to work best (assuming you have a smart phone with a decent camera)

Open a dreaded Face Book account, you can make it private, to be use only for pictures hosting.
Add a Face Book App to a smart phone.
After taking a picture that you want to post on Expo, first post it to Facebook.
Facebook will auto resize and reduce file size. The best part, it will keep on trying to upload the picture even with a week Internet connection.
If it fails to upload, just try again later.
To post the picture on Expo, find picture on your Facebook page, right click on properties, copy URL and paste to "insert URL' on Expo post.

I do the same type of thing with a good camera too, by transferring pictures to my computer first and then uploading to Facebook.


Later I'll update a Expo thread when a good Internet connection is available, with the posts and pictures that have already been downloaded to Facebook.