Heart of the Midwest and a mess in PA

  Next we were off for the heart of the Midwest: Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio. We stayed at Blackhawk Campground in Milton Wisconsin about an hour and fifteen minutes west of Milwaukee. We rested the first day and took a trip to Milwaukee the second day.

I was pleasantly surprised how picturesque and cultural this rust belt city is. We strolled along the Riverwalk and had a late lunch and posed with the bronze Fonz.

Beer is an integral part of Milwaukee so a visit to the Beer Museum was in order.

They have a collection of brewery artifacts from the era of big name breweries. Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, Miller.

 After a long drive back to the campground I came to the conclusion my back was going to be an issue. The next day as I was leaning over the sink to wash my hands I almost could not stand straight up. As the day progressed I felt a pain radiating down my leg and I could not sit or stand without immense pain. I tried to lay down and struggled to achieve a position without pain. I would have to go to the emergency room.

As you can see I have a pinched nerve and I was given a steroid injection and prescribed steroids and muscle relaxers along with the doctors orders not to drive for a few days. That was going to be a problem. We were scheduled to leave the next day, Friday of Labor Day weekend and go to Indiana. We checked with the campground and there was no opening to extend our stay there so I had to soldier on. J don't think I could have driven 10 miles without the cruise control. I used it at every chance. We made it and I really had to evaluate my condition to determine if I was going to make it through the rest of our planned trip. We had 1900 miles planned ahead of us. If we went straight back to Florida from Indian it would be less than 1000.

  We arrived in Clinton Indiana at Horseshoe Lakes Campground where I was just going to rest my back and take the medication then we would decide.

 I had to test my back so we took a ride into town for the Italian Festival in Clinton.

We walked around the festival and my back felt better. We made a trip to Walmart about 20 minutes away and I still felt okay. We would continue on to PA and the planned trip.

  Our next stop was a two nighter in Wilmington Ohio and other than numbness in my right foot I was able to drive fairly pain free. I think my back had been working towards a major acute attack since California. With that attack finally coming it has caused me to slow down and decrease miles between trips if possible along with the long side trips. That is why our sightseeing has decreased considerably. If the campground we choose is more than an hour from an attraction I will not go to it. 

  That wraps up our travels through new states and experiences. Now we will be entering old familiar territory and encountering all too new problems as usual. Our arrival in Pennsylvania was greeted with a problem just as last year. This year it is a  broken hot water tank. We arrived at my pal TC's house in Mercer again and set up in the front yard. As I was extending the slides I noticed a large puddle of water on the floor. I removed the panel in front of the water tank and saw the tank's supports had collapsed causing the PVC tubing to crack and leak water.

Great! What a fine mess! Thank you Ohio highways. After quickly draining out any remaining water I had to evaluate the damage. There was cheap, flimsy wood holding the tank about 6 inches off the floor above the pipes and that had cracked and the tank just collapsed to the floor pulling it out of the frame outside.

With the help of my pal Ron, who was visiting we eventually got the tank propped up on wood blocks and straightened out into the opening. Now it was nightfall. No water tonight but we had the availability of TC's house.

The next day brought futile attempts to repair the thing. It was time to call a professional. The Roto-Rooter man came and seemed to quickly restore the working functions of the tank. After he had departed I noticed small droplets of water under the fittings he installed. I had been running a portable heater to dry the carpet and was not sure if the new fittings were merely sweating (they are brass) or had a leak. Now a full day and-a-half later the water is still dripping. We called Roto-Rooter and the tech will return on Monday.

North Dakota and Minnesota

I have lost track of time. I also didn't have a wifi signal for a long stretch. After Montana we had two quick stops in North Dakota for a total of five nights. The first was near Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora North Dakota. 

Teddy was a grieving widower and came to the Dakota Territory to revitalize himself by buffalo hunting and ranching. He was a true to life adventurer who wanted to experience the wild frontier of the west. 

Herds of bison and prairie dog towns are everywhere

The Scenic Loop drive around the entire park is only about 30 miles, however the park is broken up into three separate units; north, south and Elkhorn Ranch.

Next stop was for two nights in Casselton North Dakota about 15 miles west of Fargo. The RV park was attached to a Days Inn Motel which was different.

It was nice to walk to the hotel bar and restaurant to eat and drink. We spent one day in Fargo and a trip to the wood chipper. The movie Fargo is one of favorites and the wood chipper from the movie is on display at the tourist center. 

After a quick two days it was off to Minnesota for four days. We stayed at a campground that was out in the wilds of the state about an hour and forty-five minutes north of the Twin Cities near the Wisconsin border along the St. Croix River.

Our plan was to take a trip to the Twin Cities for a day but my back was not up to it. I had been having soreness and stiffness form all the driving and I just couldn't do it. Instead we found a couple local things to do in the town of Hinckley. But first we a nice lunch and one of the best Bloody Mary's I've had. The drink comes with a pony bottle of beer.

Hinckley is an old logging town way past it's heyday. That heyday was before a great fire the occurred in 1904 that wiped out the entire town killing hundreds of people.

We hit the local Indian Casino to catch the second half of the Steelers third preseason game.

I milked my $10 in the joker poker machine while watching the game at the bar.

I was really feeling the pressure in my lower back with each drive and it would eventually get worse.

Big Sky Country- Montana

Now I am finally getting to blog in real time and there is no lag of time and place. We are in Hardin Montana in Big Horn County. This is our second stop in the Treasure State, our first being Hungry Horse near West Glacier, about 10 miles from the entrance to Glacier National Park.

 
 I booked the campground for five days and figured we would have plenty of time to see the park, therefore, I spent day one doing repairs. The trailer's nose piece was separating again and I had to drive into Columbia Falls about 15 miles away to find a hardware store. I got the repairs done and we went to the park the next day, Sunday.

The late morning sun was warm. About 90+ degrees warm. It was actually 103 degrees the day we got in so I was dressed in my usual tee shirt, shorts, and flip flops this day. 

We parked at the Apgar Visitor's center and I prodded Doreen to let us take the shuttle system to the various points of interest in the park. 

I just did not feel like driving and she was very anxious on the bus. This was the proverbial case of getting back on the bus (horse) after it throws you. The ride to Logan Pass Visitors Center was two legs- the first a large shuttle to Avalanche Pass and then a transfer to a smaller shuttle to Going To the Sun Road to Logan. 

Going to the Sun is an engineering marvel. Built on the side of the mountain rising 6646 feet at it's highest. 

Scenery along the way.

Our destination was Logan Pass where views of the glaciers are spectacular. As our shuttle driver approached the parking area of Logan she was diverted from the entrance and informed us of an emergency situation in the parking lot. She checked with the park police and we were cleared to debus. 

As you can see here it is getting a little chilly. The clouds and the elevation have dropped the temperature to about 60 degrees.

Well, come to find out all traffic was stopped coming in and out due to an air ambulance ready to land in the parking lot for a medical emergency.

The line for the return shuttle back to Apgar Village was growing because of the delay. No traffic was coming into the parking lot while the evacuation was in progress. Also high winds were a concern and an ambulance was on standby in case the helicopter could not navigate in the high winds. 

We took a quick look around and did not want to get stuck in the ever growing line.

The helicopter finally takes off into the gloomy, ashy sky and the crowd awaits their shuttle.

As fate would have it the shuttles became stacked up waiting to get in and the first half of the line eventually got carted away quickly when the traffic was opened up. Unfortunately we were in the second half of the line. We would have to wait for the shuttles to return. A round trip would take how long?

Now lets do the math: 45 minutes from Avalanche Pass to Logan, 30 minutes from Avalanche to Apgar- best case scenario was the shuttles would be back in about two hours.

At first I was just chilly. I could tough it out. Only 60 degrees, no big deal. 

Two hours on line and I was shivering. I would periodically seek shelter from the gale force winds in the nearby restrooms, peeking out to see if the shuttle was there.

About 8 PM the next convoy of shuttles arrived and we were on board. The sun was setting on the Going to the Sun Road and I relished the heater on the shuttle. 

As we rode our shuttle back to the Apgar area we went by Lake McDonald, which earlier in the day we saw smoke billowing from the north end of the lake. 

Now the area was ablaze. 

We were bearing witness to the Howe Ridge fire which would cause evacuations and the closing of Going to the Sun Road from Apgar to Logan Pass. Apparently a lightning strike started the fire Saturday evening and had spread due to the high winds on Sunday.

We were screwed for more park visits the rest of the week. Once again wildfires played a prominent role in our travels. The only way to see any of the park would be to drive around to the east entrance at St. Mary's, a two plus hour drive. I wouldn't mind a two hour drive but, to drive that far and see smoke ensconced glaciers was reminiscent of Crater Lake. I knew that visibility was going to be limited.

Our view of the road going to Glacier:

We made the best of it. We found an establishment with a name ending in "ery", as in distillery this time:

Nothing like a whiskey tasting flight at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. 

We popped into Glacier just for something to do, but with the road closed we only went to Apgar Village and the south end of the lake.

  After enjoying what we could, we moved on to Hardin Montana. The ride took us through the Flathead National forest and, as usual, the ride was very scenic (but smokey). 

Hardin Montana is near the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, formally the Custer Battlefield Monument. Coincidentally the 100'th anniversary of the Crow Nation fair was underway as well. Custer did not fight against the Crow, but the Sioux. The Crow were actually employed as army scouts and received pay equivalent to a private in the army, about $14 a month plus 40 cents a day if they used their own horse and saddle.

The most famous story of Custer is the "last stand".  Last Stand Hill is a monument to the troopers and officers of the 7'th cavalry where each fell during fighting on June 25, 1876 along with Lt. Col. G.A Custer. 

No one is sure of the exact circumstances of the deaths of he and his entire command. The bodies were interred where they were discovered after the battle. Custer infamously split his forces into thirds and no one was sure of his whereabouts until it was too late. Overwhelmed by superior numbers of Sioux warriors the entire detachment of 220 men were annihilated. 

Throughout the park, white, marble markers indicate the spots where soldiers were felled during battle.

A national cemetery also occupies the grounds and was filled to capacity by 1973.

A very interesting portrayal of the battle along a five mile drive with an audio tour via cell phone is well worth the time.

Next up was the Crow Nation Festival.

The tipi capital was correct. The entire fairgrounds were inhabited by tipis like these:

This was an actual Indian reservation and we whites were definitely a small minority attending. The festivities started off with a color guard and presentation of the participants for dances and other programs. 

The participants were all attired in traditional costume and very vibrant.

All ages participate and the Crow people are very proud and patriotic. 

I was moved by their love of country considering the history of the native Americans and the US government. 

Now I am really caught up. We leave for North Dakota tomorrow and the Midwest beyond that.