We made it to Idaho!

July 28 – Our last day of travel for a while.  Yee haw!  I’m ready to settle down for a while and stow as much clutter as possible and have some time to just chill.  The drive to Island Park is about 2 hours by car but a little longer in the RV. 

We packed up for the last time for 2 months and that’s when the fun began.  First we

A pretty bird at our neighbor's

discovered water in two of the compartments on the kitchen/washer side of the RV.  Bill dried them out as best he could and it looked like the water was dripping from the slide down in but we didn’t really see where it could be coming from.  So we closed it up and figured we’d see what happens once we stop.  I thought maybe it had rained during the night and water settled on the slide topper, however, there wasn’t any wetness anywhere else.

After bringing in the slides and retracting the leveling legs we ran into the next glitch for the day.  Normally we have issues with the front legs and if I retract 2-3 times we are good to go.  This time the driver’s rear leg would go up and then back down 3-4 inches.  I retracted 10-12 times with no luck.  We called the campground office and got the name of a mobile tech.  He didn’t answer so we left a voice message, knowing it could be hours before he could get to us.  Bill text Frank, our mobile tech at home, and he asked some questions and wanted a photo of the control panel.  Then he said to hold all four leg buttons down for at least 30 seconds, as that should reset the system.  The first try to retract didn’t work but we were exuberant when it went up the second time!  Finally, we left the campground at 11:05.  Darn!

The drive from Bozeman to West Yellowstone is one the most beautiful, serene drives we

know of.  There is only 1 tiny town along the way and rest is driving along the Galletin River as it rushes by.  Today there were several groups of rafters as well as many fly fishermen and kayakers.  Part of the drive there’s only the narrow 2 lane road, the river and the walls of the mountains.  All along are houses dotting along the road or back in the woods.  Then

It's difficult to keep an eye on the road!

the valley opens up with verdant fields with horses and cabins, rustic campgrounds and retreats.  I only saw one deer along the way but my focus was on the road. Looking up all along the way and seeing the snow on top and beautiful clear Montana skies is spectacular.

We didn’t stop in West Yellowstone, but we love that little town.  It’s 14 miles to Valley View RV Park so we do go in once a week or so.  There are lots of gift shops that we like to peruse and this year we’re going to the Grizzly and Wolf Park that we didn’t get to last time.  There are lots of restaurants to check out.  We were bummed to find that the tiny movie theater is permanently closed.    

Our space was ready and waiting for us at Valley View.  We are site D-1 so we have a view of the Laundromat/office.  Two of the other couples are in C-1 and B-1.  It’s a good idea so we can be the eyes and ears as the owners have a cabin in the area.  The owners, Elaine and Wendell, were at the bank and running errands so we got hooked up and started settling in.  The view from our RV is the snow covered mountains.  We have decent size yard and a couple of trees that do not obstruct the satellite. 

View through the window of the RV from our site

Once Elaine and Wendell got back we went to greet them and met one of the couples, Beverly and Nick.  They are full timers and this is their first time here.  The other couple, Sue and Hank, is off today. They are seasonal and were here in 2014 and he had a stroke while here.  He’s really not in very good shape and we’re told he is limited to what he can do.   The third couple has been coming here for years, Pat and Dusty, and they mow 2 days and work the office and bathrooms one day.  We told them we only want to work 2 days for our site.  The others work 3, get their sites and get paid.  I don’t want to work 36 hours a week, 2 -12’s is plenty for us.  We think we’ll be scheduled with Sue and Hank so Bill can do what he can’t.  They said we’d talk about it tomorrow.  Our first mail packet from Kam was waiting for us.

Getting fully set up takes some time.  I set up my printer and stand on the dash, my computer table and turned the driver’s seat around as my chair.  The rugs are down and the coffee table it up and we can actually sit comfortably at the dining table.  Nothing is behind the chairs so you can’t move in or out and there’s no printer on the floor so you can’t put your feet down.  The car is as unloaded as it’s going to be for a couple of days.

Too pooped to cook, I heated up the leftover bison roast and some leftover wild rice and it was a feast as far as we were concerned.