Back Home

After 6,969 miles in the coach and untold miles touring in the truck, and after 81 days, we’re back home in Rome, bringing our trip to a conclusion. And what a trip it’s been! Looking back over the trip, it’s been a saga of scenery – mountains, waterfalls, coasts, and canyons; of thoroughfares – highways, byways, and railroads; national parks, state parks, and historical sites – punctuated by hiking, dining, entertainment, and meeting fellow travelers. In addition, it was a great history lesson; we learned a lot about the Lewis and Clark Corp of Discovery and the Oregon Trail pioneers. And we have a great deal of appreciation for the courage and determination of these explorers and pioneers. George lists these places and events as his “best of trip” winners: Country Coach and Boeing factory tours, the volcanic features in Sisters and Bend, OR, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, OR, Golden Spike National Historical Site in Promontory Point, UT; the Canadian railroads and the Fraser and Thompson Canyons, Mt. Revelstoke, and Yoho National Park in British Columbia (especially hiking the Hoodoos Trail and our gorgeous comp site on the river – now the main photo of our blog); Glacier National Park with the Highline Trail hike, and visiting the Minuteman Missile Historical Site and the Clinton Presidential Library. Didn’t leave out many places, did he? And I guess that about sums it up: we enjoyed every place we visited, and we appreciate having the good health and circumstances to be able to make a trip such as this. We especially appreciate our friends who were interested in following our trip on our blog.

Elvis Presley's Graceland

These last few days of our trip seem to be combining very different venues – from a presidential library in Little Rock to Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis, TN. Visiting Graceland was nostalgic, looking back at Elvis’s career and listening to his songs. Graceland evoked a previous era with its furnishings, replete with shag carpets and gold colored appliances in the kitchen. However, most of the tour focused on memorabilia including a hall of gold and platinum records, an award from the City of Memphis for Elvis’s philanthropy, and his proudest award, a 1970 Young Man of the Year award from the Jaycee’s. The tour ended in the Meditation Garden where Elvis is buried, along with his parents and grandmother. There is also a memorial to his twin brother who died at birth. We couldn’t be in Memphis without eating BBQ so we went to Corky’s, recommended by friends who previously lived in Memphis, to get their famous dry-rub BBQ ribs. M-m-m-m GOOD!

William J. Clinton Presidential Center

Heading south from Branson to Little Rock was more of a task than the 170 miles indicate; it was a very curvy, hilly road and took longer than we expected. But we should be used to that kind of road by now! We spent about half a day at the Clinton Library watching the introductory video, viewing the displays, listening to the tapes, and also hearing an 87 year old lady who is an artist tell about the replica of the Clinton cabinet room. Some of the highlights of the center to Irene include seeing the duplicate of the Oval Office and the Christmas display from the White House, including a crystal Christmas tree created by Dale Chihuly, and listening to the artist friend of the Clintons tell about the Cabinet room and her attendance at the Inauguration. For George the highlight of visiting the center was briefly reliving a happier time in the country.

Branson, Mo

At this point in the trip we have decided to leave the camera behind as the remaining activities of the trip do not lend themselves to being photographed. Our Fantasy/Creative World RV tour of Branson, MO, which we won at Lazy Days in Tampa last winter, was a very interesting experience. The area is hilly and marked by large stacks of rocks which give Table Rock State Park in Branson its name. It reminded us of a combination Pigeon Forge, TN, and Myrtle Beach, SC – long strips of restaurants, shops, theaters, and LOTS of congestion, even though there was considerably less traffic now than during the summer. Our first day included dinner at the Dixie Stampede which began with bison running around the arena. The most outstanding feature of this show was the marvelous horsemanship. There was singing and comedy as well the “fingers only” dinner. A bit messy! Silver Dollar City was our destination on Sunday. George and Irene focused on the blue grass musical performances. Irene also enjoyed seeing the craftsmen’s demonstrations, especially the basket weaver and glassblower. Monday morning we attended the Buck Trent morning show, an energetic, fast-paced production. Buck, a banjo virtuoso, is an ex-Hee Haw cast member. In the evening we boarded the showboat Branson Belle for dinner and a show which rivaled any cruise ship’s evening entertainment. Two couples sang and danced, highlighting show tunes. A ventriloquist held a conversation with his Boston terrier which was hilarious. A Russian couple’s amazing dance/acrobatic performance was a highlight of the show. The Branson Belle was our favorite event in Branson.

Minuteman Missile NHS/Ellsworth AFB

On Saturday we drove north from Custer into Rapid City, SD where we could see the prairie as we descended the hill into the city. Our mission was to visit Ellsworth Air Force Base on behalf of George’s lifelong friend, Cliff Bagwell who was stationed there as a Minuteman nuclear ICBM missile launch control officer in an underground launch control center. Cliff and June were newly weds when Cliff began his career in the USAF at Ellsworth in 1969. We visited where they had lived in Rapid City before moving to the base two years later. We visited the Air Museum at Ellsworth which included a tour of the base as well as a missile silo training center. On July 24th we had a reservation to visit the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site where we were able to go down into one of the decommissioned missile control centers. This center, Delta – 1, was one that Cliff had served in as a member of the 66th Squadron of the 44th Missile Wing based at Ellsworth. We took many, many pictures to help Cliff and June relive their twenties in Rapid City, SD where their son David was born. George never imagined he would be able to go into the top secret missile control center, so he was very pleased to be able to see firsthand the facility he had head Cliff talk about his entire adult life.

Click HERE to see pictures of Ellsworth and the missile silo.

Click HERE to see pictures of the missile control capsule.

Cathedral Spires/Norbeck Scenic Hwy

Today’s drive partly retraced our previous day’s drive over Needles Highway as we headed to Cathedra Spires to hike the trail there, but we certainly didn’t mind seeing the sights along here again. Unlike the previous day which was warm by mid-morning, today was a bit chilly and quite windy though sunny. We set out on the three mile trail which began through woods and in sections was a bit of a climb over rocks and around boulders. As we hiked, we caught views of the spires from different angles – very impressive. The end of the trail was sort of an anti-climax. It just stopped amid trees at the top of the incline – no views from the top. In fact, there was a sign saying “End of Trail” – not something most trails need. In spite of this, it was a good hike and we enjoyed visiting with a couple from Minnesota at the “End of Trail” area. After lunch, we drove the Iron Mountain section of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway. Like the Needles Highway, this road has its share of hairpin turns and tunnels. Its three tunnels perfectly frame Mt. Rushmore in the distance. In addition it has 3 “pigtail-shaped” bridges which connect the tunnels to lift the traveler from one level to another without adding miles of road. (Interestingly, the designer of this technically tedious section of road quit school at age 13). We passed by Mt. Rushmore’s entrance and stopped at a pull out where we could see a profile view of George Washington gazing off into the distance. It was a spectacular drive.

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Needles Scenic Hwy/Rushmore

Returning to Custer State Park today, we drove the very scenic Needles Highway which is composed of 14 miles of hairpin turns, 3 narrow tunnels, and amazing views of granite formations reminiscent of needles, organ pipes, and spires. We were a little nervous driving through one of the tunnels in the truck because it was very close on the sides, but later we saw a tour bus on the highway – so it must have come through that tunnel, too. Unbelievable! We stopped at Cathedral Spires, really awesome rock formations, and watched 3 rock climbers on one of the spires. When we arrived at Sylvan Lake, we had lunch at the lodge which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Then we drove to Mount Rushmore to see the memorial of four presidents sculpted in the Black Hills under the guidance of Gutzon Borglum who, incidentally, began the Stone Mountain sculptures. Borglum selected the subjects for the memorial: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln representing the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the country. Despite having seen pictures of Mt. Rushmore for years, we found the memorial very powerful especially the profile view of George Washington which can be seen from a nearby highway. The visitors’ center was very informative, and we enjoyed the ranger walk along the Presidential Trail.

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Canyons Tr Wildlife Loop Custer

At Jewel Cave NM we hiked the 3 ½ mile loop trail. The trail descends via switchbacks into lithograph canyon then passes through open grassland into Hell Canyon where the original entrance to Jewel Cave is located. There were some very pretty sections with colorful rocks and canyon walls, though a fire in 2000 destroyed much of the forest land. We returned to the visitors center in time for Irene to take a cave tour which was led by a ranger from Nashville, TN – almost a neighbor to Rome! Then we drove Custer State Park’s Wildlife Loop which was a big success in that we saw bison and burros crossing the road and pronghorn antelopes along side the road as well as deer, prairie dogs, and turkeys. After stopping at Peter Norbeck Visitors Center, we enjoyed dinner at the State Game Lodge. George had pheasant while Irene had a spinach salad with salmon.

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Pompey's Pillar

En route from Red Lodge to Sheridan,WY we visited Pompey’s Pillar, a Louis and Clark national monument which is a 150 foot sandstone column located about 25 miles northeast of Billings, MT. On their return trip, Louis and Clark took separate routes for a month in order to cover more territory. Clark passed by this stone column on which Indians had carved petroglyphs. William Clark carved his name and the date and noted this in his journal. He named the column Pompey’s Pillar after the son of Sacagawea whom he had nicknamed Pomp. This carving is the only surviving physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Earlier (9/12/07), in Great Falls, MT, we visited the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, an excellent presentation of the expedition as they ported the Missouri’s falls in that area. Rather than the half day that Lewis and Clark had anticipated, it took a month for them to portage around the falls, a grueling task. We viewed two videos, one a Ken Burns production about the Lewis and Clark expedition and the other about the portage at Great Falls. The Interpretive Center and Pompey’s Pillar, plus Fort Clatsop at Astoria, OR, make three Lewis and Clark sites we’ve visited on this trip. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Beartooth Chief Joseph Scenic Bwys

What a drive we made today over two amazing scenic byways. We began the Beartooth All-American Road at Red Lodge, Montana, and drove west to the summit at 10,936 feet. To get there, we climbed around 5000 feet from Red Lodge over countless switchbacks, stopping at pull outs along the way for amazing panoramic views. Our first stop was at Rock Creek Vista Point with views of upper Rock Creek Canyon and Hell Roaring Plateau. Twin Lakes, tundra, Pilot Peak, icy slopes, and several other lakes appeared along the way. The road crosses into Wyoming and then back into Montana at Cooke City before continuing to Yellowstone National Park. Before reaching Cooke City, we turned off the Beartooth to drive Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, also an amazing road both for its structure and scenery. The road gets its name from Chief Joseph who led the Nez Perce Indians on this route as they fled from the U.S. Army. While not as high as the Beartooth, Chief Joseph has its share of switchbacks as it goes up and down the mountains. The road crosses Sunlight Creek on the highest bridge in Wyoming over a gorge between two mountains. The color of the rock changes unexpectedly along the route. Just as unexpectedly, a rainbow appeared as Irene was photographing the red rock – a real delight.

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The Highline Trail

Today we hiked the greatest trail of our lives. We drove the Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass at the Continental Divide where the Highline Trail starts across the road from the Visitors Center. This amazing trail follows along the edge of the continental divide and has amazing panoramic views of the mountains and deep valleys of Glacier national park. It was around 40 degrees and quite chilly in the shade when we began our five mile hike, but by the time we returned, we had peeled out of our jackets. It’s hard to say anything exceeded the scenery, but the highlight of the hike was seeing big horn sheep- up close and personal. They were actually posing for us (or so it seemed) on the cliff above the trail. They kicked some rock loose and we were almost hit by a falling rock as one of the Rams jumped off a rock. A lady we met on the trail said one of the rams came down the trail earlier head down clearing the trail. Needless to say, we took too many photos of rams! And then, as if not to be outdone, two mountain goats appeared. It was an exhilarating hike that we will always remember, though we were mighty tired at the end of the day. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Glacier NP, USA

We awoke this morning to find that our rain on Friday afternoon and evening had turned to snow on the mountains – and quite a show it made. All along the way, we stopped to take photographs of the snow topped mountains. We crossed the border at Chief Mountain Border Crossing where our one remaining Alberta steaks was confiscated. “That’s ours,” said the officer. When the customs officer began to walk into the living area of the coach with his shoes on George said, “Excuse me, sir, could you put on these shoe covers as we do?” The officer complied and George assisted him in putting them on. Other than that, we were quickly on our way, arriving at St. Mary KOA around lunch time. We went to the visitor’s center and saw the video there about the park and looked at the exhibits. Then we drove to Many Glacier Hotel to hear the ranger talk about the history of the hotel which was very interesting. Its history is closely tied to the Great Northern Railroad which built the hotel to promote its passenger rail business. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and then checked out the campground there and looked for mountain goats, visible only thru the binoculars. We reminisced about our trip to the hotel in 1980 when we were in our early thirties just before George went on dialysis.

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Waterton Lakes NP, Canada

Leaving Calgary we stopped to buy diesel which is sold by the liter ($.85/liter) – considerably less than regular gasoline ($1.05/liter) – but that equates to $3.23 per gallon – not exactly cheap. En route we passed a very large farm of electric turbine generators that were quite close to the highway – the closest we’ve seen these giant windmills. We stopped in a small town to buy a few groceries and bough some great fresh corn from a local farmer. We arrived at Waterton, “Where the mountains meet the prairies,” and checked out Waterton Town Site, a charming small village of motels, restaurants, and shops, and collected info about the park. Though a small park, as national parks go, it offers much. We took the boat cruise to Goat Haunt Ranger Station in Glacier Park, Montana, and enjoyed learning about the area from the captain’s narration. We drove to Red Rock Canyon where we took a short loop trail showing the rock formations in the canyon. Our 800 ft climb up Bear Hump Trail took us to a fantastic view of the town and Waterton Lake and the surrounding mountains. We met a man from Scotland on the trail and continued the hike with him. We also talked to a couple from Blairsville, GA. Small world, huh? When we arrived at Waterton on Wednesday, it was a warm, sunny, breezy afternoon, but by Friday afternoon the weather was chilly and rainy. Fortunately, we only had occasional drizzles on the hike.

Waterton to Mary’s Lake – Glacier National Park 9/8/07 We awoke this morning to find that our rain on Friday afternoon and evening had turned to snow on the mountains – and quite a show it made. All along the way, we stopped to take photographs of the snow topped mountains. We crossed the border at Chief Mountain Border Crossing where our one remaining Alberta steaks was confiscated. “That’s ours,” said the officer. When the customs officer began to walk into the living area of the coach with his shoes on George said, “Excuse me, sir, could you put on these shoe covers as we do?” The officer complied and George assisted him in putting them on. Other than that, we were quickly on our way, arriving at St. Mary KOA around lunch time. We went to the visitor’s center and saw the video there about the park and looked at the exhibits. Then we drove to Many Glacier Hotel to hear the ranger talk about the history of the hotel which was very interesting. Its history is closely tied to the Great Northern Railroad which built the hotel to promote its passenger rail business. Afterwards, we ate dinner at the hotel and then checked out the campground there and looked for mountain goats, visible only thru the binoculars. We reminisced about our trip to the hotel in 1980 when we were in our early thirties just before George went on dialysis.

Click HERE to see more pictures.

Calgary - The big City

We drove to Calgary Monday (Labor Day in Canada as well as the US), arriving at our RV park shortly after lunch. We took a break from the camera so as to be more nimble walking around the city. The remainder of the day was, in fact, labor day as we bought groceries, did laundry, and washed the RV. Tuesday we took the light-rail, called the C-train, to downtown Calgary where we visited the indoor gardens on the 4th floor of a shopping building which was like a little mall. We ate lunch at Eau Claire Market and enjoyed walking in the adjacent Prince’s Island Park, a lovely urban park much enjoyed on the warm sunny day. The Heart and Stroke Assoc. was having an event in which different groups pedaled a long chassis frame thru the park with much fanfare. There were about 20+ bicycle seats and pedals, two abreast, down the length of the chassis with a steering wheel at the front. We stopped at a farmer’s market and Wal-Mart on the way home, and with construction and many new roads which the GPS maps didn’t know about, it was not an easy trip back to the RV park. Calgary is an oil boom town that is growing very fast and has a lot of highway construction.

Yoho NP, Canada

At Yoho we camped at Chancellor Peak Campground, a newly renovated national park campground with no hookups in a beautiful setting with a branch of the Kicking Horse River on either side. We were very close to the river and also had a view of the towering mountains. We really loved this spot – it was beautiful in all directions and very peaceful. We hiked the Hoodoo Trail in the afternoon – about a 2 mile trail plus another half mile on the road to reach the trail which was very steep climbing 1,100 ft. The views were great and the hoodoos were unbelievable – almost eerie! The capped pillars of glacial debris looked as though someone had placed the stones on top of them. It was an exhilarating hike – the amazing hoodoos, beautiful views, and gratifying that we could still do a hike like that. We enjoyed walking around the campground after dinner at the coach. 9/2/07 Sunday we drove through Yoho N.P. and went to the visitor’s center at Field and then ate lunch. We continued to be awed by the amazingly rugged and beautiful mountains. We went to Takkakaw Falls, the 2nd highest waterfall in Canada, to Natural Bridge, Emerald Lake and Emerald Lake Lodge, and also to the Spiral Loop Tunnels viewing area where we saw a long freight train going thru the tunnels which were built to make a gentler climb for trains over the kicking horse pass. The long train was still going in the first tunnel when the locomotives emerged from second tunnel.

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Glacier NP, Canada

We stopped at Giant Cedars trail on the east side of Revelstoke NP today as we drove toward Glacier National Park. It’s a short boardwalk-and-stairs trail through an old growth giant cedar forest. In the afternoon we hiked the Loop Brook Trail which features railroad history and is a National Historic Site. The trail follows the giant stone trestle supports of a pair of curved trestles forming two switch backs that were designed to gradually climb Rogers Pass. The section of track was abandoned by the Canadian Pacific RR when they built the Connaught tunnel under Mt. Rogers to avoid frequent avalanches in the area. It was an enjoyable hike that crosses a rushing stream, goes through a mixed forest, and had info along the way about railroad history.

8/31/07 We drove through Glacier N.P. to Rogers Pass Visitor’s Center where we really enjoyed the displays and videos. The building itself is designed to resemble a snow shed, and exhibits there focus on the role of the railroads in opening up this rugged area of Canada. Incidentally, A. B. Rogers, who discovered the pass, was an American with an engineering degree from Yale. George especially enjoyed the video of railroading in the area in the 1950’s. There were also displays of animals native to Glacier Park including grizzly bears, caribou, and elk. We stopped at the Rogers Pass marker which commemorates the completion of the Trans-Canada highway thru the pass in 1962 and drove past the Stony Creek Bridge, a much photographed railroad bridge.

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Revelstoke, BC

8/28/07

Today we continued up TC 1 passing by Lake Shuswap which is a big resort area. The CP railroad again was our constant companion. We stopped for lunch at Craigallachie which is the “golden spike” location for the Canadian Pacific Railway. George bought a map of the western Canada railroads at the gift store. We spent the afternoon at the Revelstoke Railway Museum. Soon after our arrival, we had the pleasure of seeing the Rocky Mountaineer pass by. We rode this train two years ago with our friends Jim and Hope Tarpley. We went through a 1928 parlor-sleeper car that had seen service on the “Trans-Canadian,” the crack passenger train across Canada in the 20’s and 30’s. George drove a diesel locomotive in the locomotive simulator and spoke at length with a retired CP engineer from the steam era who was a museum docent. We enjoyed the information about the engineering challenges faced by RR pioneers as they considered how to build a RR through the Canadian Rockies. The history of the railroad is very much an integral part of the history and present lives of the people of this area of B.C.

8/29/07 Today was spent exploring Revelstoke National Park which is just right outside the town of Revelstoke. We drove the 12 mile Meadows in the Sky Parkway which goes almost to the top of Mt. Revelstoke (steep, curvy, many switchbacks). Then we took the shuttle to the top where we did some short hikes, one of which took us to the peak. The views are marvelous, and neither words nor photographs quite capture it – but we tried! The wild flowers which bloom in July and August are beautiful. Here we realized why people come to the Canadian Rockies.

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Trains Trains Trains

We left the rain behind and enjoyed a mostly sunny day as we headed to Kamloops. Trans-Canadian Highway 1 passes through 7 tunnels to get through the Fraser Canyon. It’s a beautiful drive but obviously hilly and curving. We stopped near Lytton to see the Cisco Bridges spanning the canyon where the Canadian Pacific and Canadian National railroads cross the river and swap sides. In Lytton we saw the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson rivers, one muddy and the other clear. Here the railroads part ways with the CN going up the North Thompson river to Jasper and Edmonton while the CP heads up the Thompson Canyon to Kamloops, Revelstoke, Banff and Calgary. Via's passenger service follows the CN while the private Rockymountaineer serves the CP route to Banff. There were a number of awesome overlooks along the way, and almost continual freight trains snaking through the canyon. The scenery changed quickly as we approached Kamloops which is in the high desert.

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Hope, BC

We drove from Everett, WA, to Hope, B.C. on Friday, crossing the border with no problems at Sumas, WA. We had a great view of snow capped Mt. Baker on the way. First, though, we stopped at the IGA to buy Tillamook Chocolate Mudslide ice cream which we learned about on the Tillamook Cheese tour in Tillamook, WA. It’s chocolate ice cream with large chunks of chocolate in it. As we approached Hope, the mountains rose up around us – some large jagged peaks, others more rounded. It was a marvelous view. We arrived at our RV park shortly after lunch and were awed by the views – the same large jagged mountains, lots of tall conifers, and a beautiful sunny day. During the afternoon we drove to the site of the Hope Slide where, on Jan. 9, 1965, a mountain peak collapsed sending tons of rock, mud, and trees onto the highway southeast of Hope. Four people were killed when their vehicles were caught up in the wave of mud which swept back into the valley from the south side. At the pull out along the highway, travelers have an awesome view of the damage cause by the slide which filled up the bottom of the valley to a depth of 200 feet and absorbed all of Outram Lake. The portion of the mountain that remains standing is a bald dreadful reminder of the power of Mother Nature.

Hope and the Othello Tunnels 8/25 Today we headed to Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park to hike the Othello-Quintette Tunnels. Here one of the most difficult sections of the Kettle Valley RR has been turned into a park where visitors can hike through the tunnels and over the trestles through the Coquihalla canyon. Many said it was impossible to build a rail road through the canyon, but Andrew McCulloch, a talented Canadian Pacific railroad engineer, did it. He was a fan of William Shakespeare and named many of the stations after Shakespearean characters. He lowered himself into the canyon in a straw basket in order to survey the route for the tunnels which turned out to be perfectly aligned. The Kettle Valley railroad was built just after the turn of the twentieth century in a competitive bid to outsmart the Americans who were trying to build rail road lines from the US into the fertile region of Canada. The Kettle Valley railroad won the contest by building a shorter but more difficult route through the mountain ridges rather than going up the level valleys between them. The tunnels, trestles, and old road bed made for an enjoyable hike along the Coquihalla River on a cool pleasant day. We returned to the truck shortly before a light rain began. We stopped in Hope to see the chainsaw carvings that a local artist began when a large tree died in the local park. There are over 30 carvings about 12 feet tall throughout the town including bears, raccoons, salmon, and mountain sheep.

Sunday was a cool rainy day – we actually had the heat on in the RV – but by afternoon it was mostly clear and we headed to Hell’s Gate, the deepest and narrowest point on the Fraser River with very turbulent waters. Spanning the canyon at this point is the Hell’s Gate Airtram which descends 500 feet to the other side of the river. Canada's two rail lines run on either side of the river, and there are fishways built to help the salmon get upriver to spawn because the water is so turbulent there. It was always narrow but became even narrower after a landslide during railroad construction. There's a display about the construction of the railroad and the International Fishways. We also stopped for a short walk at historical Alexandra Bridge across the Fraser River, now a part of Alexandra Bridge Provincial Park.

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Boeing Tour

The Boeing plant tour leaves from a modern aeronautical-styled museum built in 2005. Neither the museum nor the plant tour are free as Boeing is a money making business not only in the air, but on the ground too. The museum had exhibits that demonstrated how conventional Boeing jets are fabricated. It was interesting to see the inside story of the jets that we have flown on our entire adult lives. The aluminum skin and frame of the fuselage are fastened mostly with counter sunk rivets that are pressed on with tools applied simultaneously from the inside and outside by Boeing workers. The basic fuselage framing consists of circumferentials that are circular frames connected by “stringers” running the length of the fuselage. This type of structure flexes and is subject to metal stress and thus has a limited service life. On the other hand, we saw how the new 787 (Dreamliner) uses a radically different construction technique pioneered in the aerospace industry. It uses carbon fiber strips that are “wrapped” around a fuselage jig by special machines. The strips are applied with a bonding agent and the completed fuselage sections are then heated under pressure in special ovens. The result is a structure that has 100 percent fastening area whereas the conventional constructed fuselage is fastened only where there is a fastener (rivet). The new fuselage of the Dreamliner is consequently much stronger AND much lighter than previous models. The 787 is 40,000 lbs lighter than a same size plane of conventional construction technique. The additional strength allows for larger windows and a lower altitude cabin pressure. The only question about this technique is it’s rigidity since it does not flex. The company is currently using a large vice-like device to squash the fuselage to test its breaking point. It is also dropping finished out fuselage sections with a crane to test its integrity all while the FAA watches closely. Other exhibits showed how the Dreamliner cabin is laid out, and there were exhibits about the new avionics and flight deck design including “heads-up” instrument displays. There was a full size Pratt and Whitney jet engine on display and an actual vertical tail section from a retired Boeing 747 that had put in 28 years of service. The plant tour was fairly brief due to the fact that visitors cannot go on the floor of the plant area due to safety reasons. Instead, we rode up on a freight elevator and viewed the factory floor from an elevated platform. The Everett plant builds 747’s, 767’s, and the new 787. We got a close up view of the 747 line. The planes were surrounded by huge gantries and “saddles” that allow workers to reach all surfaces of the plane. The factory building is the largest building in the world (68 acres) and employees are issued bicycles to get around the plant. The building is so large that clouds were forming in the ceiling in the early days. This problem was solved with the installation of fans that mix the warm and cool air in the building and prevent cloud formation. The building was constructed in 1968 for the 747 project. 27,000 employees work at the Everett plant. The plant has doctors, nurses, and nineteen cafeterias. We were fortunate to see two of Boeing’s fleet of four specially modified 747’s called Dream Lifters that are capable of holding any of the 787 assembled parts including the wings that are made in Japan. The planes fly parts for the 787’s to the Everett plant from all over the world where they are made by a multitude of international subcontractors. A 747 takes about four months to build, has six million parts, and costs about 200 million dollars. Customers must pay a third down on order, another third when the plane goes to the paint hangar, and the final payment upon delivery. Delivery is a big ceremony customized to the customer’s culture. We saw quite a few planes painted in their owner’s livery awaiting delivery or being tested by the owner’s test pilots after already having been thoroughly flight tested by Boeing test pilots. Boeing’s lead test pilot is female and forty percent of the workforce is now female. All-in-all a very informative and interesting tour that took a half day. After the tour we had lunch at a bay side restaurant as we watched ferries go and come from the ferry landing. We also checked out the Mukilteo light station and enjoyed an ice cream and the sunny weather.

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Portland

We drove to Portland on Saturday morning – a sunny pleasant day. We spent the afternoon on tasks: buying groceries, washing the RV, and taking the truck to a carwash which we saw on the way to buy a new connector plug for our tow vehicle wiring. Our repair job with new fuses had not lasted – fuses were blown again, inactivating the turn signals and brake lights on the truck. With the new connector installed, we are hopeful it is in fact fixed, but we won’t know until our next day on the road when we drive north to Washington. George worked on the blog some Sunday morning and we both did email, having finally reached a park where the WiFi works properly. After lunch we went to the Portland Saturday Market which is both Sat. and Sun., despite its name. It was billed as an arts and crafts event but was actually more like a big flea market. There was music and food as well as the articles for sale. But the most interesting part of it was the people. Many of them are what people of our era would call hippies – lots of tattoos, stringy braids, and a few panhandlers, the most interesting of which was a man reading a book beside his cardboard sign reading “Out of pot. Please help.” From the market we took the historical trolley which didn’t go very far before it reached its turnaround point. We had arranged to visit Cliff and June Bagwell’s son David and his family at 4:00 so headed there next. We enjoyed seeing David and Emily and their children Blakely (almost 8) and Will (almost 4). David’s dad, Cliff, and George are lifelong friends, and George told David about some of his and Cliff’s youthful indiscretions, misadventures, and exploits. We found the roads and traffic in Portland – especially for Sunday – to be challenging. The expressways are multilayered, and many of the surface streets are one way. And the traffic was moving! At one point, turning from a one way street, and knowing he was coming to another one way street where he would need to be in the left lane, George ended up on the wrong side of the road. At this point, we decided to use Portland’s public transportation on Monday. Monday was not a day for visiting gardens – it drizzled on and off all day – but that was our agenda and we headed out to Washington Park to the International Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden on Portland’s light rail called MAX. We boarded the train at Gresham, the east terminus of the system and only a few miles from our RV park, and rode to the Portland Zoo where we transferred to a bus that took us to the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden, one of the oldest and largest in the U.S., was established by the American Rose Society in 1917. Covering 5 acres on a hillside and containing 7000 roses, it is a sight to behold – all colors, types, and sizes of roses. It was exhilarating to see acres and acres of roses. Next we visited the adjacent Japanese Garden, beautiful and tranquil, and one of the most authentic Japanese gardens outside of Japan. There are 5 different styles of Japanese gardens covering 5 ½ acres. Wood, stone, and water are important in creating the gardens. Walking through the garden was a delight – calm and tranquil with much attention to scale so you feel a part of it. Our last day in Portland took us to both the tallest mountain and highest waterfall in Oregon – Mt. Hood and Multnomah Falls. When we arrived at Mt. Hood, the top was hidden by clouds so we went in the lodge. As we walked in, a ranger was beginning a tour of the lodge which we joined, and it was so interesting to hear about its history. Timberline Lodge, a classic Alpine ski lodge, was constructed during the Great Depression by the WPA and overflows with craftsmanship. The grand stone fireplace goes from the bottom floor up thru the public areas, and the tall wooden columns were carved from huge Ponderosa pine trees by one man. The original rugs were woven from old CCC uniforms and blankets, and a mosaic mural near the entrance was made from discarded glass from the Blue Ox bar at the hotel – all using materials that were available. The original handmade wooden furniture is still in use (with new cushions). We had a delicious lunch in the lodge’s Cascade Dining room with views of the mountains. After lunch we hiked a short segment of the Timberline trail and were greeted with views of Mt. Hood between floating clouds. As we returned to the lodge, we heard music from the amphitheater and stopped there to enjoy the music (and rest a while) before driving to the Columbia River Gorge. We took the Historic Columbia River Highway which opened in 1915 and was a marvel of engineering at the time. It opened the gorge to the casual visitor by making it accessible to the automobile, and, interestingly, it was the dream of a railroad man. We stopped at overlooks along the way, the most impressive being Vista House on Crown Point which was built as a rest area. Unlike today’s rest areas, it was a tall palatial building with stained glass windows and Alaskan marble floors. There were displays about the history of the highway, but the views up and down the Columbia River Gorge from Vista House were even more impressive. Our next stop was Multnomah Falls, at 620 feet the highest falls in Oregon and Oregon’s most visited natural attraction. It was quite impressive and falls in two sections, one quite long and the other shorter. There is an arched bridge directly in front of the falls part of the way up. From here we continued on the scenic highway past Horsetail Falls and then returned to our RV park on I-84. It had been a full and enjoyable day. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Astoria

The Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Park was our first stop in Astoria. The visitor’s center tells a great deal about the Lewis and Clark expedition and the winter they spent camped near at Fort Clatsop, a stockade they built and named after the local Clatsop Indians who befriended them. The displays were excellent and gave a real sense of the expedition’s struggles and accomplishments. The Columbia River Maritime Museum gave a real appreciation of the role of the Coast Guard in keeping boats and passengers safe in the very treacherous waters of the Columbia at its mouth flowing into the Pacific. High seas and constantly shifting sands make the Columbia one of the world’s most difficult rivers to navigate. The lightship Columbia, the last seagoing lighthouse ship to serve on the West Coast, is docked at the museum. We had good views of Astoria from the Astoria Riverfront Trolley and the Astoria Column. The trolley runs along the riverfront and includes a narrated tour. The Astoria Column is 125 feet high with 164 steps leading to the top. It’s patterned after Trajan’s Column in Rove and on the exterior wall has a mural depicting the history of the area. Yes, we climbed to the top and the view was spectacular! The photo shows the bridge to Washington and The haystack rock at Cannon Beach. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Newport, OR

We arrived in Newport Monday, 8/13/07, for a few days at Outdoor Resorts’ Pacific Shores RV Park – a very lovely park with beautiful landscaping and flowers. It’s on a high bluff overlooking the Pacific with a trail leading down to the beach – and a wonderful place to watch the sun set. We also arrived with a problem with the tow car wiring and spent some time working on that. Each time George decide he would have to take it in for repair, he would then think of a possible solution and work on it again. He did a lot of trouble shooting and found blown fuses which he replaced. Then we could start exploring the area. We visited the outstanding Cape Perpetua Natural area south of Yachats where we took a ranger hike up a mountain and through a temperate rain forest. And our ranger was from Athens, GA, where she attended UGA for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Small world, huh? We enjoyed views along the coast as we returned to Newport and visited Yaquina Head Lighthouse, the tallest in Oregon, which is still a functioning lighthouse. A number of Oregon coast lighthouses are now run by state parks and aren’t functioning lighthouses. Click HERE to see more pictures.

Oregon Coast North of Coos Bay

On Sunday we headed north to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area to see the huge sand dunes. Though the dunes are in constant flux, they reached their present size and shape about 7000 years ago. We chose the John Dellenback Dunes Trail, about 10 miles south of Reedsport, to explore the dunes. The 3 mile round trip trail leads through an area of dunes 2 miles wide by 4 miles long – but we didn’t cover all that. The trail goes through woods before reaching the dunes, and it was amazing to emerge from the trees and see really huge sand dunes rising up all around us as far as we could see. We were surprised that the sand was as firm as it was. Our shoes sank only a couple of inches at most as we climbed up the dunes. From the top we could see the Pacific. It was quite an experience. Returning to our RV park in Coos Bay, we crossed one of the beautiful historic bridges that coastal Oregon is known for. Click HERE to see more pictres.