Poor Randy, poor Lynn and poor Edna

Friday was indeed the toughest day of the trip thus far and a real tough day for Edna, our trusty steed.  She is old, rusty and floats a bit when you drive her, and now there is some issue in the exhaust system front right...she has become loud and ticks constantly, especially when under any strain.  It was bad enough that she looked like she just left a salvage yard but now with the exhaust business going also it is not a pretty presentation coming down the street.  The Canadian Customs guy wasn't real amused and wanted to make sure we did not intend to sell Edna in Canada or even give her away in Canada.

Anyway, in an attempt to present a little more civilized, we stopped at a "Muffler and Brake" place.  Mechanic crawled under old Edna and came back with some gibberish about everything being all rusty and how hard it would be to fix the exhaust, and that supposedly he would have to take about the whole front end apart to fix it, and that parts for a 1994 van probably didn't exist in Montana but maybe he could order them from Tennessee where they just might be available, but it would be days before he could get the parts and no way could he give us any idea of cost...might take all day to fix.  Obviously I was having none of that and so we jumped in the van to leave and the brakes went out totally (coincidence) and there was this big puddle on the drive that consisted of my brake fluid.  Back under the van he went and again came up and said it really looked bad and the only place to get this brake line was Memphis; called the Memphis place and could get the part shipped if we decided to fix it within the next hour...cost was impossible to estimate because of all the rust...then the bomb shell; part would not arrive for 4 days and he was real busy and didn't know if he could get right on it on Monday when, and if, the part got there.  I don't know much about brake lines but don't they make them up as needed and on demand right in the shop?

So now what?  Lynn and I went in the waiting room of the place and got on line looking for something to buy...that was big enough to load all the crap I had brought with us.  It seemed the only thing that would work would be something like a Suburban.  Well we found this 2004 Suburban and some car dealer in Great Falls, Montana, about a hundred miles away and got this guy to accept $8,800.00 for it and he got Edna.  We were both thinking this would be great as it was 10 years newer, had 40,000 less miles and the brakes worked...and we could probably sell it when it got back to Grayling.  Small issue or two; 100 miles to
Great Falls, it was Friday evening and no banks were open, and the dealer wasn't having anything to do with our personal check or credit card.

While we are doing this discussing the mechanic comes in as said he just might be able to do some "barn yard mechaniching" and build a line that might work; go figure.  He wasn't going to make any promises but he would give it a try. So we sat for an hour and in he pops with this rusted out line and announces he has successfully extended the life of Edna. $200.00.  So I'm thinking we, are good to go but I, in my exuberance to make the best out of the situation, had sold Lynn on the idea of buying a Suburban, and now she will have none of keeping this unsafe van and driving it through the mountains at Glacier Park.  The only reason we don't own a Suburban this very day is because we could not find a way to pay the car dealer until Monday and we didn't want to sit around for three days.  So we are now in Alberta, on our way to Alaska.


Lynn:
Well, Randy glossed over a couple of things.  Like the fact that we did not know where we were going to stay again.  Ended up in Cut Bank, Mt.  Found an RV park that was full, but the owner (who happens to be from Fife Lake) found us a spot that wasn't really a spot.  It was high and exposed to the wind.  All went well until 2:30 a.m. when I woke up, and upon exiting the van to make my way to the bathrooms, I found the wind had whipped up and was threatening to blow away our tent.  I actually tried and succeeded in securing two corners of the tent roof, but then I tried to stake them down by myself, without bothering Randy, who needed his sleep so as not to kill us in the van in Glacier National Park.  Not gonna happen. So I woke him up, and by then the wind was a gale.  The tent walls and roof were flapping all over the place and acting like sails.  The temp had dropped to about 50 degrees; I was in a T-shirt and flip flops and then--it started to rain.  I give myself a lot of credit for not starting to cry, or curse at Randy.  Somehow, together, we managed to salvage the tent and wad up all the pieces and throw them in the front seat of the van, leaving our boxes of stuff to the mercy of the elements.

Frackin' the Bakken

Randy:
Frackin the Bakken has really ruined North Dakota from my perspective and I really feel sorry for the natives.  I can't even begin to explain this whole boom town mess with big tractor trailer trucks by the hundreds on every single road.  Everywhere are oil well pumps with 6 to 12 storage tanks for the crude because they are pumping more than they can ship out...it really is awful.  There has been talk of this sort of thing in Northern Michigan..it would just ruin it.  You really have to see it to understand how awful it is.

Off our original itinerary...by many miles, we decided to go to the Ted Roosevelt National Park, North Unit...should only take a couple hours to get there at 111 miles.  4 hours later we pull into the park and I immediately get stopped for speeding (39 in a 25) sheesh; fortunately just a lecture and no ticket.  So here we are in the ND badlands...gotta say; beautiful.

 It is a 14 mile drive up and 14 back on the same road, quite stunning; even saw a herd of Bison.  About half way through, going up a hill the car got pretty loud, not sure what that was but now it sounds like an old washing machine; it's probably a cracked exhaust manifold or some such nonsense...doesn't really matter because there is no place to get it fixed. We had discovered that if you turn up the radio it is not so bad. Montana, there is a state for you.  Jim Sutika told us it is flatter than piss on a plate and he is right...at least the first 200 miles of highway 2.  We are all set up for a great night sleeping in the van...found a delightful campground; life is great!


Lynn:
The Northern unit of Teddy Roosevelt National Park is very beautiful. Unfortunately, I took most of my pictures with Randy's camera and they didn't upload.  The place smells strongly of sage, which is really nice.  I will try to add some photos later.

We are spending the night in Glasgow, MT, which bears absolutely no resemblance to Glasgow, Scotland.  Scotland, of course, puts me in mind of Edinburgh, and the Tiger Lilly.  This could not be farther from the Tiger Lilly.  We are in a campground, it is 90 degrees, and buggy. And in all likelihood it will be pouring in an hour. This because it is a better option than the 3 hotels in the area, which I would not set foot in.

Camping

Not camping

Why Not Minot?

Randy:
    Lynn said let's go to the Louis & Clark place, it will only take an hour so we did, and we got back 8 hours later...we did Louis & Clark and then it only looked like a short little trip (couple inches on the map) to the North Dakota Bad Lands...we gave up after 2.5 hours of driving as we still had at least an hour to go.  This is when the fun started as we found ourselves in the middle of the North Dakota oil explosion.  No other way to describe it; trucks, big trucks everywhere, white pick-ups, all with equipment in the back filling every road...there must be more white pick-ups in North Dakota then in the rest of the US altogether. It is truly unreal the effect the oil fracking business is having on the state to the west of Minot...new pole barn and metal building construction and modular office buildings everywhere,  oil well pumps going in every field, big trucks hauling the crude, excavation equipment, road construction and in the middle of this mess and activity was this old white van with two tourist from Michigan.  

   

Tomorrow we will try to sneak around all of it and go in the back door to the North Dakota bad lands

Lynn:
Even though we hadn't planned to, we spent a second day in North Dakota. Today was perfect weather; I hope not the last one like this.  It is supposed to be 100 in Montana tomorrow.  Randy left out the Scandinavian Heritage Park that we went to in the morning.  Enjoyed the examples of Norwegian buildings from the 18th century.

And these pics are from the re-creation of Fort Mandan, where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1804-05.  Lewis and Clark hauled 60 tons of goods with them on their expedition.  I think that Randy was trying to best them.

Norwegian vs. Italian sculpture

Seen on the road today in Bemidgi, MN: I realized that I have now seen the alpha and the omega of sculptures.

By the shore of Gitchie Gumee, By the shining Big-Sea-Water. . .

Randy:
Finally we got on the road on Sunday at 12:30, headed for Alaska and drove and drove and drove all the way to . . .Gaylord. Had to stop at Walmart for diet tonic water.  Finally we really got going.  Next stop, Munising, MI at the Munising Tourist Park, right on Lake Superior.  Went to set up camp and OMG. . .I can't find anything in this van.  Eventually we got it all set up.  Made ourselves vodka tonics and then met the couple camped next door.  We felt pretty good compared to them; they had 4 young kids and a golden retriever and one small tent. . .they disappeared at 5:00 in the morning when it started to pour.  Not a bad day for day one.  Everything we own is wet. Campground bathrooms and showers not quite as advertised.  

All packed up and ready to go

Lynn:
This is the picture I had of the campground;

The reality:

Bon voyage. . Or last hurrah?

Our friends the Bloomquists threw us a bon voyage party at their beautiful home on Lake Margrethe. No one can really believe that I have agreed to this expedition, traipsing off into Canada in a 1994 conversion van for a month. This for a woman who has a refrigerator magnet that says, "I love not camping."

                                            

North To Alaska ~ Johnny Horton

Just had to add this to our blog. At least we won't be trudging up mountains in the snow!