The Eagle Has Landed

Well, Kinsey and I have landed. Which means we made it home from our latest adventure.

We had a super duper time of it. I think Kinsey is a little pooped out. I'm not a lot of help accept for supervision and getting under foot. This was my longest road trip ever and I'm beginning to appreciate that solo RV'ing is a lot of work. Thank goodness Kinsey really loves it despite the work and responsibility. The old girl is pretty handy I'll grant her that.

Our trip took us down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We mostly just drove through Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks. US national parks don't allow dogs on the trail so we explored the surrounding national forests. What adventures we did have. We even met a movie star fly fishing on the Madison River in Montana.

So, stay tuned. I kept notes on all our travel experiences and as soon as Kinsey recovers I'll be after her to process the photos of our trip so I can show you as well as tell you about all the cool stuff we saw and experieinced.

The below photo is just one I got her to do for me. It's a picture of our rig at the Yellowstone Holiday RV park on Hebgen Lake in Montana. It was a very cool place to end our trip. We were right on the water!

Clementine (Winnebego View) & Shadow (Ford Focus) on Hebgen Lake, Montana

The photo was taken at sunrise. I don't seem to be in it so I musta still been snoozing.

Ciao for now.
Molly Montana

©Kinsey Barnard

Koocanusa Lake of Many Faces - Montana

This week we took a trip over to Lake Koocanusa. Actually, it is not a lake but a man made reservoir. Libby dam, built in 1972, blocks the free flow of the Kootenai River forming a narrow lake that runs 90 miles, 42 miles of which are in British Columbia.

The reservoir was a joint project with Canada and that is how it got it's name. The water flowing into the lake is from the Canadian Kootenay River and flows out to the American Kootenai River. So, you get Koo for the Kootenay(ai), Can for Canada and USA; Koocanusa. Ok, I just learned something. The name actually came from a local woman who won a contest for coming up with it.

LAKE KOOCANUSA

There are many outdoor recreation opportunities at the Koocanusa. There are a number of campgrounds, some improved some primitive, and fishing is pretty good. Most local people go for the kocanee salmon. You can find a listing of campsites and boat launches here. You see what you might catch here here. Because of it's relatively isolated location almost any time of the year you'll have to lake nearly to yourself.

A DIFFERENT KOOCANUA

The reason I call the Koocanusa the lake of many faces is because depending on the day and time you go it always looks different. The water can look like the tropics or it can be dark and brooding. If you are a photographer this affords endless opportunities to try and capture something special. It was exactly at this time OF year that I got my one really special photograph HEAVENLY EYE.


KOOCANUSA SUNSET

This is the time of year when the lake is drained down to allow for the spring runoff from the Canadian Rockies. The low water exposes some interesting landscapes.

KOOCANUSA SHORELINE

WALK ALONG THE BEACH

If you go to the tiny berg of Rexford (pop. 149) you can find an RV Park boat access and hiking opportunities. There is a really nice little trail that follows along the bluff overlooking the lake. For a really good workout you can walk for miles on the sandy shore but you have to come at low tide so to speak.

Speaking of sand I took this photo of the sand and no, the sand isn't really blue I used a filter to give that effect. I'm a little daffy over the patterns in nature. To my eye there are just plain pretty.


Blue Sand by Kinsey Barnard

So, there you have it, Lake Koocanusa. If you looking to get away from the madding crowd you can certainly do it here.

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK

Dow 8952 -82 ----- Gold 858 -17 ----- Oil 49 flat

Saturday we did KP and other house cleaning activities. Sunday it rained most all of the day so I worked in Lightroom. And I published a post at Simply Photos. It's a series of photos taken at Agua Caliente Park, one of the few places you can find water around here.

I also finished reading another novel. This one was kind of fun. It was called Utopia by Lincoln Child. It's about sabotage and and ultra high tech theme park in the Nevada desert. I wish there was such a place. I would love to go there.

There certainly wasn't much to cheer about with the real start of the new year. It kind of depressed me actually. I did find this video that is a humorous look back at 2008. Not that it's really funny but what is one to do? You either gotta laugh or you gotta cry.



Went out to Saguaro West this afternoon and hiked the two-way road you hit on the Bajada Loop. It was a pretty nice afternoon and may have gotten a couple of keepers for the Koty Bear site. I never really know until I process them.

Getting close to pulling up stakes time. Leave for Apache Junction Saturday morning. I've never stayed two months in an RV park before. When you stay that long you seem to make a lot of new friends that you are kind of sorry to leave. So far it has been my experience that people who RV are by in large a very nice bunch. There are the few jerks but those are in every pot and easy to ignore because there are so many nice ones.



Koty at Saguaro National Park West

Ho! Ho! Ho! It's Back to Alberta We Go! Part 1

Well, off we went like a herd of turtles. You may recall we were up there a couple of weeks ago and had to return early on account of I was off my feed. So, we packed up Clementine, hooked up Shadow and back to Crowsnest Pass we went. We ended up at an RV park in Blairmore called the Lost Lemon. Wow! Was it a lemon. Worst RV park we ever stayed at. People were so crammed into this place the awning of one unit touched another. Usually, I like to park myself outside while mom does her work but not here. I couldn't get in Clem fast enough. Mom needs electricity for all her equipment and there are not a lot of choices in this area. If you can live with just electricity we later found a really nice provincial park at Lundbreck.



Not only is the park way nicer but get a load of these falls! They are called the Lundbreck Falls and are on the Crowsnest River.



Back to mom's favorite old saw about clouds and silver linings, the wildflowers this go around were really great. They were all over the place. This particular bloom we found on Miner's Path just up the road in Coleman. It's a nice little path that ends at a small waterfall. You can see more of the wildflowers we saw at mom's Simply Photos Blog




We did a whole lot of driving around this trip mostly because mom kept missing turns an getting lost but the thing about it is we learned a lot. You can really find stuff when you're lost! For instance, Albertans have a great sense of humor as can be seen from this ranch sign. And, let me tell you, they had some beautiful asses out in the pasture! I woulda chased anyone of them!



And, at least here in southern Alberta, Montanans have a whole lot in common with Albertans. It's the same western flavor. This is truly cattle country. And, awesomely beautiful. Mom really loves it! Course, when mom was a little girl she dreamed of being Annie Oakley while other little girls dreamed of Barbie. Don't tell her I said so but I think she turned out more like Calamity Jane! :)

Stay tuned for part two. Mom finally finds Chinook Lake and Old Man River. No kidding, it's really called Old Man River!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography

COUNTRY ROADS TAKE ME HOME

At last we are headed home! Mom is driving me nuts though because she cannot stop singing Country Roads and you outta hear her try and carry a tune! John Denver would have a heart attack. But, it's ok because my mountain mama is taking me home.

First I want to say how much we enjoyed our time in Florence and appreciate the new friends that we made. There was Paulie at the Pacific Pines RV park. If you are RV'ing through Florence, I highly recommend this park. It's like a home away from home for us now. Thank you Paulie!

Then there were Glen & Keith at the Dunham RV Service Center. These two guys were princes to work with and treated my mom really well and did great work. Believe me some of these RV places treat people like last weeks lunch. Thank you guys!

And a great big thanks to Virgie, Bill and Patrick at the Bill Roberts sign shop. They were the ones that did the sign work on Clementine and Shadow and made me look so handsome. Well, really they had a lot to work with! :)

And, last but certainly not least thank you to my friend Buddy. The little runt is a weenie dog and he bit me! Can you imagine? :) And a VERY special thanks to Buddy's mother Marilyn who drove us all over the place. It's that "blowing the coat" time of year and I left an incredible deposit of hair in the back of her SUV. She was extremely gracious about it! You don't know what shedding is until you see a husky blow its coat!

We left Florence a little late in the day and only got as far as The Locks along the Columbia River. We are headed for Spokane where we will wait for good weather and clear roads. Since our ranch is at nearly 4,000 ft. we may not be able to get all the way home. But, I don't care. We are headed in the right direction!

©Kinsey Barnard Photography