Sunday, June 28, 2026

Island Park, ID to Plummer, ID

 June 15 - 27, 2026

We left Island Park on Tuesday, June 16 and headed to Yellowstone's Edge RV Park south of Livingston, MT to see my cousin and his wife.  They usually spend the summers there and since we were so close we wanted to stop and see them.  It was their wedding anniversary two days before ours. The RV park was full hookups for $105.84 per night.  We probably wouldn't have gone there if we weren't going to see family.  I was having such a good time I forget to take pictures.

We left on June 18 and went to Divide Bridge Campground in Divide, MT.  It was a BLM campground with no hookups and with our senior pass it was only $7.50.  It was quiet. I enjoy camping like that.

One our way to Hamilton we went by this sign.  Many years ago we took our picture here, again in 2024, and again on June 19.  It's become a tradition that we have to stop and take a picture.

We stayed in Hamilton, MT at Anglers Roost RV Park.  It was full hookups for $69.54 per night.  It was right off Hwy. 93 so there was some traffic noise during the day but it was quiet at night.

Friday, June 19 was our 50th wedding anniversary.  We had dinner with John's friend from elementary school and his wife, and his wife's sister.  We went to The Wild Mare in Corvallis to celebrate. It was good to see them again!
Saturday we went to the Farmers Market in Hamilton and got a huckleberry pie, an organic romaine lettuce bunch for $3, and some grass fed and finished cube steak.  The pie is long gone and so is the lettuce, but the meat is in the freezer just waiting for us.
Sunday, Father's Day, we went to Bitterroot Valley Calvary Chapel in Hamilton.  It was a very good message and the people were friendly.  Although we watch our Sunday and Wednesday services on YouTube it's always nice to be in church again.

On Monday, June 22 we drove to Coram, MT with an unplanned  detour to Whitefish.  When we were in Hamilton the truck gave an error message and John thought it was the air filter so he changed that and thought it was fixed.  But when we left the campground he got a different error message.  The truck seemed to be working fine and we had a schedule to keep so we left.  When we got to Missoula the GPS routed us to a 13' railroad tunnel, but we are 13'3".  So we stopped, created a small traffic jam, and were able to back up to the street we just passed thanks so some nice and understanding people behind us who helped.  It would have been nice if the city put a sign with flashing lights to let people know, but they didn't.  I looked on the truckers map and also RV Trip Wizard and neither one said anything about a low clearance.  After we got out of Missoula we got another error message on the truck that would pop up every once in a while and the check engine light came on.  John checked the engine and everything looked good so we continued.  About 25 miles from our campground the truck went into limp mode.  There was a dealership in Whitefish and we tried calling three times before we got someone in the service department.  We told them what was happening and that we were on our way there. They were very nice and a mechanic stayed a little after he was supposed to leave to look at it.  John asked the mechanic to clear the codes and we made an appointment to bring it back the next morning.  All was good for 10 miles and it went into limp mode again.  Thank the Lord we made it!


When I opened up the closet door that night this is what I found. Every single thing that was hung up wasn't any more!  Montana has some bumpy roads!

We stayed at North American RV Park in Coram, MT, just outside Glacier National Park.  It was full hookups for $95 per night.  I had kept the campground informed about our truck problem and I think the man that checked us in felt sorry for us and gave us this nice end site.  It was a little short but we made it work.
Tuesday was spent taking care of the truck, and although they didn't have the part they needed in stock they were able to get it overnight.  They gave John a rental car to use; we picked the truck up the next day and it was fixed. It had a warning light they said would go away but it didn't.  John looked it up (good old YouTube University!) and it said it was the suspension which is why the air bags weren't working.  He disconnected the battery for 30 minutes and the air bags worked again.  Then the cameras and display didn't work but he let it sit and it eventually came back on.  The next morning, Thursday, he got the tires rotated at Costco.  All this was an answer to prayer!

That afternoon we went into Glacier to visitor center and the Lake McDonald Lodge.  We decided to go on the boat ride that was leaving in a few minutes.  It was a beautiful day.



I think these old red buses from the 'olden days' are so cool.

On Friday, June 26 we were taking a Red Bus Tour Crown of the Continent, which goes from West Glacier, to Many Glaciers Lodge and back again.  We left the campground earlier than we had originally planned and it was a good thing.  Going to the Sun Road had just opened the Monday before and it took us 50 minutes to get through the gate.  (In years past they had a timed entry system but they decided not to do that this year.)  Fortunately they called while we were still in line and we told them we were getting to the pick up parking lot as soon as we could.

Lake McDonald from the parking lot.  The weatherman said it was going to rain all day, and it was cold.

It was beautiful everywhere we looked.



Our driver, Jammer Ryan.  All the drivers are called jammers because back when the buses were new the drivers had to jam the gears.  He gave us a lot of history and kept us entertained.  The only thing I didn't like was that all the national parks try to shove evolution down our throats.  The earth is not billions of years old and everything was caused by The Flood as written in Genesis.  All the uplifts, the volcanoes, etc.

This is the three arches bridge.  The only three lives in building the road were lost here.  They were working on the wall and an avalanche came down and swept them down with it.



I thought this snow cave was cool.

Logan Pass

Logan Pass



Lake by Many Glaciers Lodge.  We had the top of the bus open and it didn't start raining until we were almost here.

Front of the lodge

Back of the lodge.  We stopped here and had our lunch.

The island in the center was in a movie and beer commercial.

On the way back we stopped at Logan Pass again to take a break, and then it got really foggy.  I was glad that Jammer Ryan knew the road so well.  That's all he could see out the front of the bus.  It got better as we went down in elevation.  We started the tour at about 8:50 and got back to West Glacier at 5:30.  A long day but so worth it, even if we didn't have the best weather on the way back.

Saturday, June 27 we left Glacier and headed to Idaho.  These were some mustard fields not to far from Glacier.  I thought the contrast of the bright yellow flowers was interesting against the dark sky.

We made it to Idaho!

I haven't taken a picture of out current campground so will write about that later.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
Psalm 33:6



Sunday, June 14, 2026

Yellowstone National Park

 June 10 - 14, 2026

We went into Yellowstone with the family on Thursday and Friday.  They had quite a trip on Wednesday.  With Alicia and family, and Jason's family, there were twelve of them.  They flew into Bozeman on Tuesday and drove to Billings to stay the night because they wanted to drive the Beartooth Highway on Wednesday.  They got up and there were reports of snow on the Pass, but they decided to drive as far as they could and see what they could anyway.  They got to the MT/WY state line and were turned around.  Since they couldn't get to Island Park through Yellowstone that way they decided to drive to Cody and come in the east entrance.  They got through the entrance, with the attendant saying nothing, and in a few miles encountered blizzard white-out conditions.  Once again they turned around (now there are road closed signs entering the park), headed for Cody again, and are now they're calling me asking about which way they should go.  Going south and around Jackson wasn't an option because there might be snow going over the pass on WY22.  So they ended up going back to Billings and Bozeman, then south to Island Park.  They got to their Airbnb a little after midnight, with many hours sitting in their cars.  What a day!

Since we went to Yellowstone in 2019 I didn't take a lot of pictures this time.  It was fun to see the park through their eyes.  Just a few pictures.

I barely got the Yellowstone National Park sign.

Gibbon Falls






Yellowstone Falls

Midway Geyser Basin

Alicia and Jason

Mud Pots

Grand Prismatic Spring

Can you tell it was a little windy?  Sometimes we were engulfed in the steam.  Not the smell I want in my hair though.

Alicia and Chloe waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

Old Faithful
This was the best of all the times I've seen it.  It went for over three minutes.

There's something special about an 18 year old son that still wants to love on his mom.

Inside of Old Faithful Lodge

Alicia standing on the 3rd floor.

Bison!

Friday night we went to the Airbnb where they were staying and had dinner (they will be moving on to the Tetons on Sunday). I took these pictures on the way home.


We will be here until Tuesday, and then we will be visiting with Bill and Lisa, my cousin and his wife, and then we'll be...

Roving on.

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.
Psalm 33:6







Dayton, NV - Bridgeport, CA

 July 19 - 22, 2026 On Sunday, July 19 we traveled down Hwy. 395 and arrived Willow Springs Motel & RV Park near Bridgeport, CA.  They h...