Great Falls, MT - The start of our Alaskan trip

Just a little update.

We spent 10 days in Yellowstone.  This was our 6th visit in 30 years. In some ways it hasn't changed and in other ways it's changed quite a bit.  The geothermal activity has changed over the years.  Some of the geysers, mud pots and hot springs are drying up and slowing in activity.  The colors aren't as brilliant as they used to be.  Old Faithful used to go off about every 58 minutes to an hour.  Now it's about every hour and a half to an hour and 45 minutes but it's still beautiful and worth the wait.

Every time we've visited in the past we were lucky enough to see large groups of Buffalo with their new calves walking on or beside the road several times a day making for great photo ops.  This time we didn't see nearly as many large groups and when we did they were usually to far away to get good pics.  Our last evening we FINALLY saw a large group walking down the road which had oncoming traffic backed up for almost a mile.

We saw a black bear, a grizzly bear with her cub, elk and dear.  We didn't see any mountain goats, moose, coyotes or wolves this time.  Seeing the animals has always been my favorite part of going to Yellowstone.

Here are some of our favorite pics.

Old Faithful

Old Faithful

Mud Volcano

Upper Yellowstone Falls

Upper and Lower Yellowstone Falls

Norris Basin

Most buffalo still had some of their winter coat.

 

Algae growing in a hot spring

Sapphire Pool

Parking can be a problem!

Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring

Elk

Elk

Yellowstone Lake

Yellowstone Lake

Grandpa doing some shopping in West Yellowstone

Wednesday we arrived here at Dick's RV Park located in Great Falls, Montana. Today, Sunday June 14, was the official kickoff of our Alaskan Caravan. Tonight we had our kickoff dinner in a small restaurant in the old part of downtown Great Falls. It was a great dinner. Before eating each person that served in the military had to give a brief introduction about themselves and introduce their spouse.

We finally got a chance to meet everyone that we have been conversing with via emails for the last year.  We found out yesterday that a woman on this caravan tripped and broke her arm. She still wants to go, but not sure she can. She will be having surgery tomorrow. They are hoping that she will be released by Friday and if her doctor gives the OK, they will try to catch up with us at Dawson Creek, BC in about a week.

For the last couple of days most everyone has been catching up with last minute maintenance on their RV. Rick finally got a chance to wash our motorhome. After over 2,600 miles, rain and road construction it really needed it. Other than that there has been a lot of getting to know everyone. Les and Rae, the couple we met up with in Rapid City, are parked next to us. We've been out to dinner with them a few times. So far everyone we've met seems nice.

Tomorrow morning at 10AM we have our first group meeting explaining how all of this is going to work. Then at 1PM we have a meeting explaining how to use the 'Milepost'. The 'Milepost' is kind of like the 'bible' for traveling to Alaska. It has information on EVERY mile post marker for the Alaskan Highway. Pretty much information overload if you tried reading it.

Wednesday we'll actually hit the road to Alaska. We'll be leaving in groups of five about 15 minutes apart. This is the day we will cross over to Canada. Like most everyone else we are concerned about what we can or cannot bring. We've checked the Canadian border websites and get a lot of conflicting information. The only thing we know for sure is - do not even try to bring a hand gun into Canada. Not a problem with that, we don't even own a gun. After the boarder crossing our first stop will be at Fort Macleod, Alberta.  This will be a short day of only 220 miles.

During this trip we will be staying in 26 campgrounds. We won't be posting here every day. We plan on just doing a post or two for each of our stops. Some stops are only overnighters, while other stops are up to six days.

Anyway here are a couple of photos here at Dick's RV Park. Not every RV in the photo belongs to the S*M*A*R*T group. Fantasy and Adventure Tours are also here in the campground with us. Both of these  groups are also heading to Alaska.

  This is our motorhome in the front.