Water, Water Everywhere

Today we took a tour around Lake Coeur D’Alene (in Idaho) and then went north to the Grand Coulee Dam (in Washington).

We were going to take a boat trip on Lake Coeur D’Alene, but at 10:00 this morning it was only 58 degrees, heavily clouded over, and there were strong, gusty winds.  Even with a sweat shirt on, I was still freezing just standing in the motel parking lot.  The idea of sitting on the beach, or spending two hours out on the water, just wasn’t appealing.  So, instead, we drove on the scenic byway around part of the lake.

At one of the many overlooks of Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Lake Coeur D’Alene was formed when the glacier that covering that area started melting and the flooding deposited sand and gravel that blocked up three rivers and created this lake.  It covers 30 square miles and has many finger-like bays going off to the sides.  In some areas of the lake there are beautiful, very large homes along the shores with gorgeous boats at their docks.  There are many marinas also along the shores.  But there are also many places where the shores are not yet developed.  At the one turnoff, in one of these isolated areas, we saw an eagle soaring over head and also spotted the eagle’s nest, high on the top of a pine tree. 

Then we drove through the back roads in to Washington and came back on to I-90 at Spokane.  It was a total shock.  After three days of isolated back roads and seeing few other cars, all of a sudden we were on four lanes of bumper-to-bumper cars.  Luckily we were just on I-90 for 5-6 exits and then got off on to another back road that led us northward again.

Grand Coulee Dam is in the north eastern corner of Washington along the Columbia River which is a majestic river.  The Grand Coulee Dam is used both for flood control and for controlling irrigation to this very dry region.  It provides electrical power for 11 western states and is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the United States.  There are actually three different power plants at the dam.  It is one of the largest concrete structures in the world and is 550 feet high.

Grand Coulee Dam upstream and downstream views

 We drove along the Columbia River for a ways before coming up to the dam.  The river is quite wide, with high hills on both sides.  Typical of this area of eastern Washington, the land is very bare.  There was a spectacular view at the top of the dam, looking down at the backside.  Then we drove down to the base of the dam where the Visitors Center is located.  There was lots of water going over the spillway.  Like other places in the Midwest, there has been so much snow pack that the melting has been causing problems.  They have been gradually releasing water for the past three weeks, in order to avoid flooding places downstream if they were to release it all at once.

More evidence that we are not in West Virginia anymore.   We saw numerous signs today of “Open range area – watch out for livestock”.  In these areas ranchers do not have fences up to keep in the cattle, but we never did see any just roaming loose.   At several rest areas and visitors centers we have signs “Watch out for rattlesnakes.  Stay on the sideswalks”.  We have seen people riding horses along side the roads and there are signs warning about people horseback riding.  We were driving through areas of Indian Reservations and saw 2-3 signs for the _____  Community Long House, which must be gathering places for those tribal people.  On the hills (mountains) there are pine trees, but on the open plains it is just grass lands and sage brush – no trees.  Where there are any crops – wheat, rye, alfalfa – they use large irrigation devices. 

The gusty winds are constant.  You can really feel the effects as you are driving, and it made it feel much colder all during today.  During our picnic lunch today, we had to keep everything weighted down so it wouldn’t blow away.  The picnic table was roofed over to provide some shade, but we also had the one trees next to us.

As we were getting up into the north eastern region of Washington, late this afternoon, we saw one fruit orchard after another.  They were all using irrigation for their trees.  This must be cherry season because there were several fruit stands selling cherries.  We also saw labels on the orchards for pears and different varieties of apples.

We have stopped this evening in a little town, Oroville, Washington,  just 6 miles from the Canadian border.  Went to a little family restaurant, that the man at the motel recommended, and had the most amazing Greek dinner.  We started with a wonderful Greek salad with lots of feta cheese and a different dressing than I am used to on a Greek salad but it was very good.  Dad and I ordered different things so that we could sample two different dishes.  One was moussaka and the other was spannikopita.  Talked with the waitress and then the cook and learned that they grew up in a Greek family in Dearborn, Michigan and learned to cook these dishes from their grandmother.

Tomorrow we will cross in to Canada and get to Manning for the dinner and gathering in the evening. 

Land of Snow-Covered Mountains

Looking across the road from our motel parking lot.

 In coming out of the motel this morning the first thing that I noticed were the range of snow-covered mountains just to the south.  Hadn't noticed them when we arrived the previous night because it was already dark.  Throughout the day today we always had snow-covered mountains either in front of us, or to the right or left side.   Late this afternoon, as we were entering Idaho, I thought that we had left the snow, but there was more to be seen.  This last area the mountains were even closer to us and the snow was down in the tree areas, not up on the rocky tops of the mountains.

A couple of mountain views from the road.

It was unusually warm here yesterday and the beginning of today - in the high 80s.  Because of this, the snow that is up there is melting even faster.  This past winter they had unusually heavy snowfalls, so they have already had a problem with flooding when the snows first started to melt.  The rivers were all very high, but we only saw a few places where they were flooding over their banks.

It is easy to tell that we are "not in West Virginia any more".   The speed limit is 75 and, at least until we were up in the mountains, the roads are flat and straight.  It is easy to follow along with the flow of the traffic (when there is any) and find yourself going up to 80.  The distances are far apart - you go for miles without any "services" such as gas or rest areas (bathrooms).  Which means that you have to plan ahead.  With the flat prairie lands, the winds (and along with the winds, the duststorms) and you have signs along the roads warning when it is an area of gusty crosswinds and they even have a windsock up so you can tell the direction of the winds.  I was driving when we experienced some of those gusty winds this afternoon.  There are signs telling you of the areas to parking on "chain on" and chain removal" areas before and after the passes.  There are signs telling you that chains are mandatory when the lights are flashing.    Then there are always the signs warning that the interstate road is closed when the lights are flashing and gates that come down (like railroad crossing gates) that close off the road.

But, like West Virginia, there are construction zones everywhere.  They typically have one lane blocked off, or send you over to the other side and you have the on-coming traffic.  The work zones seem to go on for miles.

A sight we saw often.

The railroad tracks have followed the Interstate for the last few days and the trains are constant and very long (70+ cars with 2-3 engines).  Before we got to northern Wyoming (northern corner by Devils Tower) the trains were all coal cars.  Gillette had a huge open pit (strip / mountain top removal).  Dad said that the seams of coal there could be up to 100 feet thick.  As we have come across Montana, now the trains are either tank cars (lots of refineries and oil wells visible) or they are the large truck containers.  Saw some that were Schneider containers.

Along the Platte River; there is a train on the track just across the river with coal cars,stretching all the way across the picture

We ate our picnic lunch in Bozeman, Montana where they not only had a roof over the tables to block the sun, but also walls to block the winds.  We had prairie dogs running in and out of their burrows and chasing each other to provide the entertainment.

Our daily pattern has been to have breakfast in the motel, a picnic lunch in a rest area along the way, and then dinner at a restaurant after we check in to the motel for the night.  We ate at a Perkins tonight and enjoyed strawberry pie for dessert.  The cooler has been keeping things amazingly cool.  Most all of the motels have had refrigerators, so we can freeze the water bottles each night.  And these water bottles, along with a zip lock bag of ice, have kept everything nice and cold.

All of the motels, so far, have had internet access, so we can create this blog and also make our motel reservations at least one night ahead of time.  This morning we successfully tried out adding pictures to previous entries, so you might want to go back to earlier sections.

We have switched in to the Pacific Time Zone this evening and we are in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho which is in the northern part of Idaho and just across the border from Spokane, Washington.  There is a huge lake (Lake Coeur D'Alene) and tomorrow we are going to take it easy - limited driving and sitting on the beach and taking a boat cruise on the lake.  Want to charge up our energy so that we are ready for the wedding this weekend.

Glad to see that someone is reading this;  saw that there are at least three followers (Xander, Michael, and Brian)   But, if nothing else, this will help me to remember what we did on the trip.

Devils Tower Adventure

This morning we drove up to Devils Tower National Monument which is in the northeastern most corner of Wyoming and spent most of the day there.   Devils Tower is 867 feet high basalt tower.   I had learned before that it was the old core of a volcano, but they are now saying that the basalt was an intrusive formation.  As you approach Devils Tower from the south, you can see it from quite a distance away.

Devils Tower was used by the native Americans as a sacred spot.  Explorers were sent into the area at the time that gold was being discovered in the Black Hills.  Teddy Roosevelt named Devils Tower as the first National Monument in the National Park System.

The Tower is a popular rock climbing spot and you could watch groups up on the rocks.

After learning about the Tower - its geology and its history - we went out and listened to two different park rangers talks - one about porcupines and one about prairie dogs.

Learned that there are several different species of porcupines, the largest, in Africa, weighing around 70 - 80 pounds.  Those around the U.S. weigh closer to 15-20 pounds.  They are primarily nocturnal.

There are five different species of prairie dogs and we visited the very large area of their colony.  The fields were covered with the mounds of their burrows.  They would sit on the edges of these mounds and give out their loud calls.

Eb did some hiking on a 3 miles Red Rock Trail that circled below the Tower, through the red rock formations, and through the prairie dog colony.  I enjoyed sitting on a bench under a pine tree enjoying the breeze.  Had a picnic lunch under the trees near the prairie dog colony.

Headed north to I-90 which took us north in Wyoming and then up into Montana.  In Wyoming we could see high mountains in the distance and found on the map that these were the Bighorn Mountains.   We could see white along the front of the mountains which I first thought were low clouds, but as we got closer could see that they were still covered with snow.  As we got into the town of Sheridan, Wyoming, where there is a large road that connects over to Yellowstone, we learned that the road was closed because of slides (caused by the snow melt) blocking the road.

Montana is a very empty state, at least where we have traveled so far.  We went almost 100 miles before arriving at the first rest area.  You go miles without seeing any towns, ranches, or any habitation.  There is not much farming, but lots of cattle grazing and oil wells pumping.  We have seen several oil refineries.

For tonight we are in Columbia, Montana in a Super 8 motel which is located next to (surrounded by) a Pilot truck stop.

Taking Time for Tourists

Saturday and Sunday were focused on covering as many miles as possible.  Saturday we covered 550 miles in going from Morgantown to Bloomington, Illinois.  Sunday we covered 619 miles in going from Bloomington to Kearney, Nebraska.  Today we only covered about 450 miles in going from Kearney to Newcastle, Wyoming.  Saturday and Sunday were primarily traveling west.  Today we went to the western end of Nebraska and then got off the Interstate and then went primarily north;  going to the northern edge of Nebraska and then traveling to the northern part of Wyoming.  Saturday and Sunday were on interstates;  today we were on several state roads, as well as the interstate.

Interstate 80 definitely plans for severe weather situations.  There are gates at the entrance ramps to close off access;  signs along the road announcing that the road is closed ahead when the lights are flashing;  and large gates that can block off the road.  In Wyoming there are permanent wooden snow fences that stretch for long distances to help keep the blowing snow off the roads.

Western Nebraska and eastern Wyoming are still farming areas, but the color of the fields has changed from green to yellow and brown.   The land is no longer flat but more rolling hills.  Wheat seems to be the primary crop and large fields are used for grazing cattle.  In Wyoming the side roads were all labeled for the "ranches" - definitely not called farms.   Houses here are miles apart - you definitely don't have a neighbor close by.   Even the towns along the road are far, far apart.   Several times we have had signs warning about the distance to the next services (such as gas, food, etc.).  These distances have been 50 - 80 miles away without any services available, so you definitely need to keep track of the gas gauge.

Our first "tourist" stop was at Ash Hollow State Park.  It was supposed to be a fossil collection with the bones having been covered up with volcanic ash.  It is a relatively new park and we drove around the road and found no signs.  When we finally located the Visitors Center it was closed due to "budgetary cutbacks".  It was up on a hill and we did have some neat scenic views down on to a large lake and there were some interesting formations on the sides of the ridges.

Some of the outcrops of the volcanic ash in which the fossils are found.

Cottonwood trees, looking straight up.  The white specks in the blue sky are cotton blowing off the trees.

Our second "tourist" stop was at Chimney Rock National Historical Area.   Chimney Rock is a very large rock formation in western Nebraska.  It has a large cone-shaped base (about a half mile in circumference) and has a chimney-shaped formation perched on top of this base.  The top formation is quite tall.   All of it is white in color and can be seen for quite a distance.  It was used as an important landmark by the settlers heading west on the Oregon Trail to guide them in to the flat Platte River valley.

Judy and Chimney Rock

Our third "tourist" stop was at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument which was approximately due north of Chimney Rock and up in the northwest corner of Nebraska.   A rancher discovered fossilized bones and got some paleontologists to come look at his discovery.  They discovered one of the largest "bone piles" in North America with many unusual bones / fossils.   Researchers have worked on excavating the bones and also trying to explain why this occurred.  Since we weren't in any hurry, we also enjoyed conversations with another visitor - a middle school math teacher from Massachusetts who is following along the Oregon Trail for his vacation.  We also chatted with one of the park rangers about different national parks.

Chatted with Betsy on the cell phone.  She had tried calling yesterday and I returned her call.   This is the first time I have tried using the phone since we have been on the road.  But, at least here in Wyoming, it is working.

Tonight we are staying at the Autoinn Motel in Newcastle, Wyoming.

Cross the Wide Missouri

Today we crossed over both the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers.  We crossed over the Mississippi at Davenport, Iowa and it was so uneventful that we were up on the bridge before we realized what was happening.  The Mississippi appeared to be at normal levels and there was a camping area and marina just below the bridge area where people were enjoying a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Getting across the Missouri was much more of an adventure.   Early in the day we had heard that I-29 (which runs north-south along the Missouri) was closed in the section by Coucil Bluffs which was where we were going to cross.  I-29 joins with I-80 during this section between Council Bluffs, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska.   They were re-routing I-29 on to I-35 which runs way east of there.   We chose to go on I-680 which is to the north of Omaha and Council Bluffs, since we thought that this would avoid the flooded areas.  We got to the turn-off for I-680 and headed on to the river.  Came to an area where the fields to the south of the interstate were all covered with water.  Then we came to the junction of I-29 and I-680 only to find a road closed barrier across where we wanted to go.  There had been signs about I-29 south in the rest areas and all along the road, but no warnings about I-680 being closed.   We got on to I-29 going north and got out the map and looked for the first possible bridge across the Missouri, and found the bridge between Missouri Valley and Blair on Route 31.   As we headed toward the bridge we were traveling with flooded fields on both sides of us and with the water coming right up to the edges of our road.   When there had previously been cross roads, there were just Road Closed signs and a little piece of side road leading into what were now lakes.  Houses had pushed dirt up into piles to make levees around their homes.   One farm house (with barns and silos) sat as an island out in the middle of the lake.  Luckily there were other cars in front of us and traffic coming the other direction to indicate that the road was passable.  You could see the corn fields with just a little bit of the tops of the plants showing above the water.

The Platte River which runs along I-80 in Nebraska is also at flood levels and right here in Kearney it is just slightly over the flood level.

Early that morning we had checked on The Weather Channel and heard that southeastern Nebraska and southwestern Iowa had a "moderate risk" (which they interpreted as 40% chance) of severe thunderstorms and tornados.  This afternoon we kept watching the darkening skies, but we only got a handful of light showers.   However, on the radio they kept breaking in to the music to announce the new warnings.  I stayed busy looking up the counties named on the map.   They were all around us, but not where we were.

When we left Bloomington this morning, the first thing we saw was a large "wind farm" with about 2 - 3 wind turbines.   During the day we saw several more wind farms in Iowa.  With the flat land and constant winds there, it would seem like a good thing.  The large wind turbines were sitting right in the middle of the corn fields.

Iowa and Nebraska are both still farming areas as we have seen all along but we are now in more rolling hills instead of the very flat plains.  In Iowa there were beautiful wooded areas.  Coming down in to the Missouri River valley we got off at a scenic overlook and there were ridges of hills covered with woods.

We are currently in the Central Time Zone and tomorrow will get into the Mountain Time Zone.   I was impressed that the cell phone knew where it was located and had changed to the Central Time Zone by itself this morning.  (I'm easily impressed)

We were impressed with the Iowa Rest areas along I-80.  Besides being very nice with covered picnic tables, they have free wireless internet available.  The one where we stopped for lunch also had a  playground.

Our picnic table, playground behind.

Tonight we are staying in a Super 8 motel in Kearney, Nebraska which is along i-80/

Tomorrow our goal is to get to Newcastle, Wyoming.

The Adventure Begins

We got packed and were able to leave Morgantown by 10:15 this morning and headed out on I-79 and then I-70.  At Indianapolis we got on to I-74.  We are in Bloomington, Illinois at the La Quinta motel for the night.

We stopped at a rest area just before Columbus and enjoyed a picnic lunch.  We even had an elegant dessert of the last of the cheesecake.  The weather was partly cloudy and the sun kept popping in and out, with a strong breeze.  We were starting to be aware if how flat the landscape was becoming.

From Columbus to the Indiana line we enjoyed listening to a Celtic program with a good variety of music.

Indiana and Illinois are definitely flat and the land is all farming.  The highest structures are the grain silos or storage towers.  It seems to be mainly soybeans and some corn.  As you look out across the fields, it seems like you can see for miles to the horizon.  There are no hills anywhere to block your views - just lots of very flat land.   The fields - and the farms - are quite large.

Right before we got to Bloomington it started with light showers and now has settled in to a steady rain.  But at least while we were driving during the day we had good weather.

From the trip to Florida I learned that I no longer get car sick trying to knit in the car, so I started a new knitting project as we left and have gotten about 6 new inches accomplished today.

Our goal for tomorrow is to continue along I-74 to I-80 and to cross the Mississippi River and get to Kearney, Nebraska which is along the Missouri River.