CLIFTON, COLORADO

After twelve days since leaving Salmon Arm and 2339 kms (1462 miles), we are at our destination. We are parked alongside our friends house in Clifton which is a suburb of Grand Junction, CO.  The spot we are parked in is at least twice as long as our motor home and has water, sewer and power hookups.  How can you beat that?  We arrived here on Monday in the early afternoon and our friends Ken and Marie were here to welcome us as Jim and Judy had met traveling friends for lunch.  After sitting on the patio visiting for the rest of the afternoon, the six of us had pizza, salad and chocolate pie for supper.
Last night the six of us gathered at Ken an Marie's for a rib supper with peach and lemon pies for dessert.  Later, we were indoctrinated into a version of Hand and Foot which the ladies won 17,000-4,000!  Aileen, the newby, was key to the ladies win providing much of the score.
Aileen helped Judy and Marie at their church today providing for the needy.  I went off hiking, geocaching and photographing today and had an enjoyable time.  I hiked up two canyons from the road and within minutes the only sound I heard was provided by nature.  Very peaceful.  Well there was the sound of my puffing and the dripping off my brow as it was in the high 20s C, somewhere around 80F, I'd guess.  But it was worth it.  I did get 8 more geocaches as well as a couple hundred photos.  After a shower and walking Mitzy, we joined Jim and Judy and their friends Vern and Charlene for supper at a nearby restaurant.

This ground squirrel was guarding a geocache yesterday

Interesting leaves up one of the canyons I walked today

A late season flowering Columbine up the canyon.  It was very tiny and I didn't see it when I walked by but I sat and had a snack and finally spotted it.

Open wide.  This is a distant shot of a rock formation atop the canyon walls.

Going up the second canyon, I noticed this two foot wide piece of colourful sandstone in a low overhang and thought it looked like a gold motherlode.

Driving along the secondary highway this afternoon, I spotted these swallow condos

The above photos are from my Canon SX50, the rest below are from my Canon 6D

This interesting feature is across the I-70 freeway from Clifton and I parked alongside the highway to take these images

Still some fall colour

Not sure what the white secretion is in the rock but it sets off the coloured leaves nicely

The only large group of colourful trees along the secondary highway today

WELLINGTON, UTAH

Another day of travel covering 357 kms (223 miles).  Even on Sunday, Salt Lake City and area is very busy.  Just like the last time we drove through there six years ago, there was lots of road work being done and the temporary lanes were higgly squiggly with lots of wandering back and forth and lots of traffic.
We turned off I-15 onto #6 which was somewhat quieter but lots of hills.  There was a rest stop at Tie Fork that had lots of train history and a replica of an old steam locomotive that was quite well done.
They had a imitation turntable and a water tower as well.  There were lots of displays showing what could be done for recreation in Utah and lots about the ATV riding areas.
Tomorrow should see us in Grand Junction, CO after about a three hour drive.

When I went to step out with Mitzy this morning I spotted this sunrise

Hidden in the trees beside our campsite was this old Dodge

And a tractor

Looks like the old Dodge could use a bit of work!

The above photos are from my Canon SX50, the next two are from my Canon 6D

We went for a drive after supper looking for some nice lighting on the hills but I couldn't find a road to take us there.  These two shots were taken between Price and Wellington, Utah.

MOVING RIGHT ALONG - MALAD CITY, ID

We're in Malad City, ID tonight about 100 miles north of Salt Lake City and 13 miles from the Utah border.  We traveled 396 kms today which is about 248 miles.  We had a head wind buffeting us for much of the day which made for more difficult driving.   This is a pretty little town but the old commercial section had been mostly let go with lots of vacant buildings and many in disrepair.  The older residential sections still seem pretty vibrant and the residents are very friendly with most people waving as you pass by.  Even the kids call out a friendly greeting.  I walked part of the town this afternoon and rode my bike around more if it after supper which is where all these photos came from. Tomorrow should put us in Wellington, UT with a short drive the next day getting us to our destination of Grand Junction, CO. 

I rode to the upper part of town and this is looking down one of the streets

This old log structure has been whitewashed or painted

Some of the old downtown

The very wide main street, probably so they could turn a wagon team around on it

The rest are on a side street that was still showing some life

Big old Co-op store

Old drug store

Nice display in front of the flower shop

SECOND DAY IN THE US - PUTTING ALONG

Well, not really putting to our way of thinking, but probably in the minds of those following sometimes.  We traveled 263 kms (164 miles) yesterday and 441 kms (276 miles) today.  In theory, today was our furthest travel day.  We had a smooth border crossing yesterday at Roosville, south east of Cranbrook.  We spent last night in an RV park along Flathead Lake which is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the US.  Today we continued on down Hwy 93 then took I-90 to I-15 and tonight we are in a park just south of Dillon, MT.  Tomorrow, we hope to get almost through Idaho and close to the Utah border.  We finally caught some warm weather today with it being 25C when we arrived here.  I put my shorts on this afternoon, haven't been able to use them much the past six weeks or so.

And this would be why they call Montana "Big Sky Country"

Our campsite at Dillon, MT

Detail in the scene below

This replica building is in the campsite we are in tonight.  I thought it was worth playing with and I didn't have to drive anywhere to do it.

And a fanciful black and white version

Just as I had my blog about ready to post, Aileen mentioned that the sky was colouring and I'd better have a look

I thought the reflection on the side of our home looked neat

A QUIET DAY FOR OUR ANNIVERSARY

We had a pretty quiet day here in Cranbrook.  I did three loads of laundry so that's all caught up.  Aileen has been working hard at making sure we use up any food that isn't allowed across the border.  We did go and have a very nice lunch in a Bavarian type restaurant called Frank's.  Our server was very good about ensuring a gluten free experience for Aileen and he and another server sang happy anniversary to us.  He made Aileen's day by saying he thought we looked like 35 years married when in fact, this was number 48.
Yesterday morning, we caught the 8:10 am ferry across Kootenay Lake from Balfour to Crawford Bay which is a 45 minute ride.  I seem to recall them saying it is the longest free ferry ride around. Immediately after getting off the ferry, we parked the motor home and drove down a side road then walked up to the Pilot Bay lighthouse.  After a very slow trip down the east side of Kootenay Lake, mostly because of all the 40 and 50 km per hour corners, it was nice to get back on Hwy 3 and be able to cruise along at a good clip.  We traveled 195 kms arriving in Cranbrook about 3 pm which turned out to be 4 pm as we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone just before arriving here.
Tomorrow we plan to cross the border on our way to Grand Junction, CO.   Not wanting to rush, I have broken the trip into five days so the longest day should be only 270 miles.  I activated our Verizon air card this morning so we should be able to have internet along the way.  I will charge up our US cell phones tonight so we should be current with having phone service as well.

These two photos were taken just below our campsite at Balfour

As we were leaving Balfour, this is the last point of land on the west side of the lake

Looking back to our departure point, Balfour on the right and Procter on the left

This is the ferry.  Logging is very important to the local economy as witnessed by the three logging trucks on board.  Our motor home is at the back under the 2000 

An inland lake lighthouse, Pilot Bay Light is high on a hill.  You can see the ferry off in the distance making another run from Balfour to Crawford Bay

TAKING OUR TIME

We spent two nights in the Lemon Creek Lodge Campground.  There was a couple from Idaho a few sites up from us the first night but we had the whole campground to ourselves the second night.  Very peaceful.  We had more time to ourselves also as there was no internet or cell service in the area.  It did make it more challenging for me as I decided to extend our travel days to five from four in the amount of time it will take to drive from Cranbrook, BC to Grand Junction, Colorado.  I had to work with paper maps and the Good Sam RV Camping Guide when looking for parks for the night.

We are so enjoying our slow pace here that I wanted to take some of the haste and long days out of the trip south.  We put on 215 kms the first day from Salmon Arm to Nakusp.  After two nights there, we traveled 89 kms to Lemon Creek, spent two nights then traveled 95 kms today.  We are in Balfour tonight and went up to Ainsworth Hotsprings after supper.  I love the hot pool there and Aileen is able to tolerate the cooler pool.  We will put on considerably more tomorrow as we are planning on getting to the Cranbrook area where we will lay over two nights before heading across the border and south on Thursday morning.

I spent part of two days geocaching along the Slocan Valley Rail Trail.  The fall colours are at their peak and it was just gorgeous travelling along it.  I spent nearly as much time taking photos as I did geocaching.   I rode/walked 12 kms the first day and 19.5 the second.  

This accommodating grasshopper let me put my SX50 very close to him.  I love the macro capabilities of this camera.

And even closer

Yesterday, I drove down to Winlaw and rode both directions on the rail trail.  The river was dead calm and the reflections superb!  I spent lots of time pursuing photo opportunities rather than geocaching.

This whitetail doe posed quite nicely along the trail.  Shot while straddling my bike.  Taken with my Canon SX50 with the lens at just over 1100mm.

There were lots of fat robins stuffing themselves on the berries preparing for their southbound journey.  Shot with my Canon SX50.  Lens at 1200mm and digital zoom at 1.54X.

My trusty bike,the river and the rail trail

Today after leaving Lemon Creek Lodge Campground, we drove down to Winlaw, parked the car and motor home then walked some of the rail trail that I had done on my bike yesterday.  Again it was gorgeous and I wanted to share it with Aileen.  We walked just over 8 kms.  We'd left Mitzy sleeping in the motor home but got her out when we walked the other direction for a short distance.  She got to play with a Jack Russell and a larger dog later named Memphis.  The people in this area are very friendly for the most part.

Along a couple of areas there were a lot of spider webs.  I call this a spider's highrise.

This bridge crosses the Slocan River at Winlaw allowing traffic to go up and downstream on the other side from the highway.

ARROW LAKE AND NAKUSP

After that gorgeous blue sky image in my last post, this is the view at the wharf the next day

The fog gives a nice touch to this fall scene

This was this morning in the Japanese Garden in Nakusp, a small town on the shores of Lower Arrow Lake in south central BC 

These Canada Geese are not sitting in the air but on the calm lake water

Here are the geese along with a houseboat coming in to the local marina

Nakusp has a beautiful walkway along the waterfront

While Aileen and I were out geocaching today we saw this beautiful immature Bald Eagle perched in a Hemlock tree alongside Mosquito Creek

On our way to Nakusp yesterday we stopped at Ione Falls, one of my favourite spots

Back in 1976, before we moved off Vancouver Island, Nakusp was one of the places we subscribed to the local paper  getting a feel for the area before making a decision about where to actually move to.  It is still a nice little town with many activities that have appeal.  There is lots of opportunity for ATVing, four wheel driving, hiking, hot springs and lots of great scenery.  The major downside is the distance to any large population centers for medical and shopping.  To the north, there is a free ferry and about 200 kms to Salmon Arm.  The biggest problem with the ferry is the sheer number of people using it in the summer months as this is a very popular tourist destination.  Going the other direction entails another very long drive down to Nelson or Castlegar.   We spent two nights in the municipal campground right in town which was great as it was very quiet but close to everything and lots of walking available.  For those not familiar with the Arrow Lakes, they are the dammed up Columbia River in BC before it enters Washington State.

Tomorrow we will move on probably over to Lemon Creek Lodge and Campground just south of Slocan Lake.  This is in the next north/south valley to the east of here and puts us more into the West Kootenay.  Slocan Lake and River flow into the Kootenay River that then joins the Columbia River at Castlegar.  There are some geocaches along an old railway grade that I can do on my bike.  Lemon Creek Campground was super quiet last time we were there in September 2013.