After we left Sandpoint, we headed down US-95 and decided to check out a national forest near a lake. Google Earth said there was a campground, but we never know how accurate it is. Well, the dirt road we headed up to get there was pretty iffy, but got better so we kept going. Then there was a sign at a fork saying the campground was 1 mile down a hill. We knew it was down by the water, so we figured we would be going downhill, but there was a sign that said no motorhomes or trailers. Normally this means because there are no wide areas to turn around. It would have been nice if they had mentioned that the road wasn't maintained.... There were some pretty good ditches in the road, but nothing that we couldn't get past, it was a one lane dirt road with a wide spot every-so-often. We made it to the bottom. One side looked like parking for the water and there was yet another road going the other direction. We took that and got to a parking lot. Looking around, it was only tent camping (park, then walk to the site). So, we just swam to cool off then headed back up the hill. It definitely went better on the way out.
Leaving that area, we didn't want to completely rule out boondocking for the night, so we found another road to head down. The road was pretty decent until the fork we decided to try. Then it was definitely an old logging road. Unfortunately, one thing they do is dig a trench across the road for drainage. This isn't something that's an issue for a pickup, but with our long back end, it can be bad. Most weren't a problem, but we got to one that was too bad, so we got out and decided to see if it was worth it. Not too much farther, there was a large clearing and a perfect spot to stay. We went back and started working on cutting up some of the dead wood and even splitting some of it to fit into the ditch and drive over. Then once we drove over it, I put it on the back rack and we drove to the next one. We did that about 4 times before getting to the clearing. The spot is great. Definitely no one comes up here (it looks like it was cat loggers and the brush piles are already burned, everything's very overgrown) and we even have decent internet. It's not great, but it will work.
So, the plan is to stay here over the weekend. After all that work, we better be able to stay that long!
-Miranda
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Sorry for not updating sooner. The mountains make for wishy-washy internet.
We aimed to leave Tuesday afternoon, but we didn't end up leaving until 7pm. We didn't get too far. There is a lot of national forest along highway 2, so we ended up finding a cute national forest campground near McGregor Lake and staying there the night. The lake was gorgeous. Super clear. It was pretty cold though, so we didn't go swimming.
We left in the morning and continued down highway2. We really wanted to find a boondocking spot since there was so much national forest. We found one road, parked on the side, then biked up it for 3 miles. Yes, biking in the mountains is not a ton of fun. At least not until the return trip. :D We didn't find anything up there, so we kept going. We found another small road nearby that ended at highway 2, so we headed down that. There was a smaller road that branched off from that. Instead of taking the bikes off, we took Curly out with us, and went for a short walk to see if there was a spot down there. Curly did really well, but we didn't find anything, so, back in the RV.
There was yet another road that branched off that one, so we headed down there and there was a nice clearing. The area wasn't perfect. You could hear the highway, but since it was early afternoon, the cats got to hang out outside for a number of hours. They were pretty happy.
It got hot though! No breeze. We had tons of extra solar though, so we pulled out the fan. We both ended up with headaches, probably from the heat.
We left right away in the morning and found a cute cafe in Bonners Ferry to have breakfast at. We are currently sitting in a parking lot in Sandpoint, ID working since the internet is decent.
So, we'll get some work done, and on the road again we go!
-Miranda
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Well, we've been here for almost a week now. We're mostly just working. Joe started working on the RV yesterday. He's been pulling stuff out and will start building shelves tomorrow. We bought new carpet for it today, so we'll get that put in once we're done with everything else.
There is a family of foxes living in Pat's woodpile out back. One morning we saw them out playing, so I went out, got a bunch of photos and took a video. The cats stay pretty close to the house, so I don't think they'll bother them. They pretty much stick around the wood pile. Curly's the only one that really wonders, and I'm not too worried about him. The hope is to head out within a couple weeks, but we'll see how work on the RV goes.
-Miranda
Curly in the bird feeder....
A couple of the fox kits.
Here's the video of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6Dx4VlokJU
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Well, we did end up staying at a rest area that night. It was a very small one, but worked out well. We left in the morning and decided to head for the National Grassland.
There were oil derricks everywhere, but we finally found a road that didn't have one at the end. We found a spot and pulled over, then let the cats out. The day was gorgeous, so we worked for a little bit, then decided to go for a bike ride farther down the road to see how it looked. The road ended at a large field that overlooked the nearby river. We walked down the hill to the river, then worked our way back up the hill to the bikes and back to the RV. Unfortunately, during that time, I got quite a nice sunburn on my back. Apparently I'm not used to that part being exposed now that I have short hair... Ooops.
The cats were super happy that they got to hang out outside a lot, so we stayed there the night. We left the next morning and kept working our way down Highway 2. We got to Havre, MT and stopped for dinner. After leaving there, Joe noticed some little girls standing outside on the sidewalk and realized it was an ice cream shop, so we stopped there and got some ice cream. We then continued on our way and made it all the way to the continental divide between East and West Glacier on the southern border of Glacier National Park. We stayed at a rest area there. The hope was to check out some of the forest this morning, but it was pouring last night and still pouring today, so we just drove on through and made it to Kalispell around 11.
We don't know how long we'll be here, but we have some work we want to do on the RV, so at least until that is done.
-Miranda
The spot we stayed at in the national forest in Minnesota.
A double rainbow we saw while driving through the rain.
The kitties following us outside at the national grassland in North Dakota.
Happy Lucy.
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Yesterday we finished packing and left the house a bit before 12. We stopped in Duluth to pick up the surf boards, then worked our way out of town to Highway 2. Highway 2 actually goes right through Kalispell, so we decided to try that route (it's shorter in miles than the interstate) since we hadn't taken that way yet.
Our aim yesterday we for the Chippewa National Forest. There looked like there were probably lots of spots we could have stayed. We picked a road and went down it. At the end, it was close to the lake in the area and a nice clearing that even had a fire pit. Unfortunately, there was also some garbage there, but not terrible. It's probably a popular place on the weekends. The cats had fun playing outside and we even used our little triangle chairs we bought at REI last year, to eat dinner down by the lake.
This morning, we left by around 10ish. We stopped in Bemidji and had a wonderful lunch at a cafe in, what I assume was, downtown. The food was excellent. They even had a homemade veggie burger, which is not always easy to find.
We're on our way again now and hope to make it to a patch of National Forest in North Dakota, but don't know if we'll make it. My allergies have been acting up a lot, so my eyes are heavy and Joe can't drive too long anymore. Who knows, we may end up at a rest area tonight. We'll see.
-Miranda
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