The Numbers and Farewell

This is what greeted us on our retaining wall - 7 ft high weeds!



The Campbell's Traveling Salvation Show made it home safe and sound. We spent the first few days emptying out the trailer, cleaning the inside and outside of the trailer and giving the truck a good inside and outside scrubbing. There were some very nasty things stuck to the front of the trailer and truck from all over the country! My friend Nadia was a real sweetie and helped me with the project. Meanwhile Kirk supervised and fixed lunch for us. So as you can tell things are normal! I had 8 loads of laundry since I had not done wash in 3 weeks. Since Kirk did not pack a lot of changes, near the end of the trip he was getting pretty desperate! The trailer and truck are awaiting their next adventure.


The house was in good order. Surprisingly, there was not 2 inches of dust accumulated on the furniture. Kirk went through 20 pounds of mail - it took him hours to sort it all out. Most of it was junk mail anyway.


As you can see by the picture above, we had quite a crop of weeds in various places around the house, particularly on the retaining wall. I spent 8 hours weeding the yard and filled 5 yard waste bags! Also a huge bundle of taller weeds. Our neighbor boy did a great job cutting the grass but we never asked him to cut weeds. Who would have thought we would have such a bumper crop!


We managed the whole trip with only a few minor spousal moments and they were all associated with helping Kirk back into our campsites. Thank goodness there were more pull through sites than back in ones! After being together 7x24 for so long we still like each other!


So here are some interesting numbers -

> number of campsites visited - 17

> number of states visited including Canadian provinces - 10

> number of miles traveled - 11,500

> number of miles traveled pulling the trailer - 5,000

> longest travel day - 420 miles - 8 hours driving and pulling the trailer

> number of rounds of golf - 20

> Kirk's most difficult driving day - Glacier National Park to Canmore Alberta Canada

> Carol's most difficult driving day - Denver to Las Vegas New Mexico

> number of days gone - 75

> number of national parks visited including those in Canada - 10

> number of state parks visited - 4

> number of times we went to the food store - too many to count

> number of times we visited package liquor and beer stores - WAY too many to count

> number of times I wore any type of makeup - 0

> the value of the trip and being together - priceless

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We thank all of you for joining us on the trip by following our blog. Hopefully you received some inkling of the wonderful sights and adventures we had on the trip. We hope it inspires you to venture out and see for yourself what our country has to offer. Kirk and I enjoyed working on the blog together and selecting pictures and creating commentary for your pleasure. This will be our last posting for the Campbell's Traveling Salvation Show or at least until we plan another one - Traveling Salvation Show Part 2! I felt a little poetic about the end of this trip so I share with you a little prose.

............................................ Imagine
Imagine
...... standing on a hillside trail with towering majestic mountains before you
Imagine
..... a valley of green lush meadows covered in wildflowers below you
Imagine
..... snow capped mountains in the distance holding long ago secrets of nature
Imagine
..... sheep and mountain goats sharing the trail with you
Imagine
..... all around you is the smell of pine and clean, crisp mountain air
.
Imagine a moment in time when all this beauty is before you and you are a part of it
It is a moment of spiritual well being tied with the wonder of God and nature
.
Imagine living this moment over and over again for the rest of your life
.
Imagine you could share this moment with all your loved ones.........
And so we do by the pictures and words that have been placed here
.

Love,
Kirk and Carol

The Road to Omaha!

Wendy get her winnings!

Our campsite in North Platte

The four of us at Wild Horse in Gothenburg

The Traveling Salvation Show left Colorado and headed to North Platte to meet our good friends, Wendy and Terry to play golf for three days. We met on Monday night and enjoyed a few adult beverages and some chicken wings. Early Tuesday we headed for Wild Horse golf course in Gothenburg. We played 27 holes of golf and by the time we were done it was pretty toasty outside. Of course we had to quench our thirst back at the trailer and had a fabulous steak dinner prepared by Terry and Kirk while Wendy and I toasted their culinary talents! The next day we played at Lake Maloney golf course, south of North Platte. The boys decided we should play girls against boys and the winners were to have a 10 minute massage. The girls barely won since the boys started to play out of their butts on the back nine. After the first 18 holes we decided to play a 2 person scramble for the next 18 holes. It was very hot and steamy but again we enjoyed a wonderful dinner back at the trailer. Wendy and I collected our winnings that night. As you can see by the picture, Wendy opted for a foot message.

Thursday we packed up the trailer and headed for a last round of golf at Cozad Country Club. The course was not in the best shape, particularly the front nine. Wendy and I foolishly made another bet with the boys for a 15 minute massage. And we also said we would play the white tees while the boys played the blue. What a big mistake! We got our butts whomped! It was a great day for Terry who played a great round of 86!

We had a wonderful time with our friends even though some of us did not play well! We parted company and each of us headed home. HOME! what a wonderful place. We have missed our family and friends and I am anxious to see all the grandchildren. So the Traveling Salvation Show made the trek across Nebraska.

I have to still pay off my gambling debt --- I cannot imagine what body part Kirk will want massaged!

The Campbells Traveling Salvation Show will probably have one more post before it concludes! Stay tuned!

Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado

The Colorado river, one of the many beautiful streams that you can see while hiking. Lots of fishing here!

Grand Lake Golf Course

Cascade Falls near Grand Lake Colorado

One of the many elk we saw in Rocky Mountain National Park. This one was near the road and was looking right at us.

One of the peaks you can see while driving on the Old Falls River Road leading from Estes Park to the Alpine Center at the top of Trail Ridge Road.

A snowshoe hare that was on the road as we drove up the Old Falls River Road.

The is a view as we walked around Sprague Lake which is on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park

The family photo on the walk around Sprague Lake

Our campsite on Granby Lake.

Kirk fishing but this one was very little!

Mama Moose and baby moose near the trail where we were hiking

This picture was a view of the mountain meadows and the beautiful sky

The boy on the right is a relative of Bucky's! Actually it is Brady and Kelbie posing with some old time outfits.

At Holzwarth Historic site we all dressed up in bonnets and aprons so we could look domestic! Believe me it is only for photographic purposes!

Another moose in the meadow as we walked a trail

A large herd of elk at the top of Trail Ridge Road

The Salvation Show left Wyoming to camp at the last national park - Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. There we met Patti, Brady and Kelbie who came to stay with us for 4 days. Kent could not take off from work so Patti came with the children. She borrowed our van and drove out with them. What a trooper driving so far by herself!

Our campsite was in Stillwater Campground which is located next to Granby Lake. We have never explored the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park and had only ever made a brief visit to Grand Lake years ago.It was quite the adventure! Initially we all were surprised about the absolute devastation of the park because of the pine bark beetle infestation. Our campground at one time was totally tree covered. Now there in not one single tree left in the campground. However, the lack of trees provided us with a 180 degree view of the lake since the campground is on a peninsula on the lake. It was beautiful! At night it was clear skies and a full moon and the light danced across the water while we sat by our campfire and made s'mores. We were delighted to have family with us. I really missed them and even though Kelbie was restricted to a wheelchair, we had lots of activities. We found as many wheelchair accessible trails as possible and walked all of them. One of them was at the very top of Trail Ridge Road, 1/2 mile hike with a 200 foot elevation gain. Pushing a wheelchair up that path was quite the chore but the view was great. A rain storm came up and we rolled Kelbie down the hill at breakneck speed. It was cold and by the time we arrived at the car there were snow flakes.

One of the pleasant surprises was that the west side of the park was much less crowded, had lots of nice trails and wildlife. We saw moose, lots of elk, deer, a snowshoe rabbit, marmots, pikas and tons of chipmunks. All to the delight of Brady and Kelbie.

Kelbie and Patti eaned their Junior Ranger badges by completing the activity workbooks available at the visitor center. It was quite the big deal and I did not have my camera with me at the swearing in ceremony. Brady regretted that he did not participate and get his badge.

One of the walks we did was at the Holzwarth Historic site which is a group of cabins that were used in the early days of the park for visitors. Very primitive. We had a lot of fun donning the bonnets and we made Brady put on the bearskin coat and a hat so we could photograph him. We told him he looked like Bucky's son!

We thoroughly enjoyed taking the ride up the Old Falls River Road. Kelbie particularly enjoyed sticking her head through the moon roof of our van to see the sites.

It was a sad day for me when they left and I realized it was getting time for me to come home. I miss family and friends.

Kirk and I managed to get in another round of bad golf at the Grand Lake Golf Course.

Kirk was also able to do some flyfishing. While he did that I went hiking on some other trails. There were so many more hiking trails that I would have liked to try but we ran out of time. After 7 days at the park, it was time to pack up and get to North Platte Nebraska to meet our good friends, Wendy and Terry for three days of power golf before the Salvation Show heads back to Omaha.

Canada to Rocky Mountain National Park Colorado

Bucky with beard shaved and eyebrows plucked (ouch!) - good thing he is drinking his Pigs Ass Porter from Belt Montana.

Dedicated to all us women who enjoy beer! One of the 5 bars in Dayton Wyoming population 697.

Kirk hitting another bad drive at the Kendrick course in Sheridan Wyoming

A view of the highway over the Big Horn Mountains

Crazy kite jumpers!

Kirk pointing out Dayton Wyoming from an observation point on the Big Horn Mountain hwy

The Big Powder Boys at the Art Festival in Sheridan Wyoming

The Traveling Salvation Show packed up early and headed back to the USA early Thursday, June 30. Up until Kirk tasted some Montana beer in Glacier, we were planning to spend the night in a rest stop in Montana. After enjoying a 6 pack of Pigs Ass Porter brewed in Belt Montana, Kirk decided we would head to Belt Montana to see the brewery (actually to visit the tasting room). He was determined to get there before they closed at 4:00 PM. It was a long travel day and we pulled into our campsite at 3:05. We unhitched in record time and perched at the tasting room until 5:30. We bought some beer to take with us and the bartender/brewmaster/beer line guy, Martin educated us on the fishing in Montana. We spent enough that he kept pouring us more samples! Belt Montana has a population of 633 and like all small towns, has 3 bars and two churches. We ate a great burger at the local bar that Martin recommended. He actually invited us to come back some day and stay in his cabin so we could fish. After driving over 420 miles from Canada and consuming mass quantities of beer, we went to bed early. Kirk actually only made it to 8:00 PM. We were up early and pulled out of the campsite at 7:00 AM (in pouring rain) since we had another long drive across Montana to a small town in northern Wyoming.

Dayton Wyoming is about 20 miles from Sheridan Wyoming and is at the base of the Big Horn Mountains. We stayed there two days to rest from the back to back travel days. While we were there we discovered that Sheridan was having a Big West Art Festival. We listened to the Big Powder Boys band play some good old fashioned country music. We also played a round of golf at the Sheridan city course - Kendrick. Lots of wind helped us make good excuses for our bad golf game.

The Big Horn mountains were really cool and the country around Sheridan and Dayton is lovely. Although we did not hike in the Big Horns, we drove through some of them and pulled over to enjoy the views. We came across a couple of folks who were kite jumpers. Imagine jumping off a mountain with only the wind and your guts to get you down! I had never been in this part of Wyoming so the visit was a nice experience for me.

We left on Sunday morning to travel to southern Wyoming. Our ultimate goal was to get to Rocky Mountain National Park. The distance between Dayton Wyoming and Rocky Mountain was too far for a one day trip so we camped in Riverside Wyoming - population 59. It was a great campground and I certainly would consider staying there longer. It is located on the west side of the Snowy Range. The excitement for that one day was doing laundry and working on the laptop with a wireless connection. (how do you spell geek??). I did visit with several people who had their own travel adventures to share and to me it was most enjoyable to hear other folks' experiences.

We packed up early on Monday and headed for Rocky Mountain National Park. Patti, Kelbie and Brady were already on the road to meet us there for several days.

Canada- Eh!

Three Sisters - Faith, Hope and Charity in Canmore Alberta

Golf at the Kananaskis Golf Club

Dinner theatre we attended in Canmore Alberta called, "Oh Canada, Eh!"

Cascade Gardens in the town of Banff

Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park - British Columbia Canada

Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park - British Columbia Canada

Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park British Columbia

Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park British Columbia Canada

The confluence of two rivers - Kicking Horse and Yoho Rivers. Notice the difference in color. This is due to the glacier silt in one river while the other one has traveled farther and allowed the silt to settle.

Bow Lake located along the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park - Alberta Canada

A view looking away from the Athabasca Glacier towards the Icefields Visitor Center

Standing near the end of the hike near the "hole". This hole drops over 300 feet to the bottom of the glacier.

Kirk is peeping into the hole while our guide, Ron hangs onto him. Kirk was scared to death! If you fall, there is no rescue. You drop to the bottom and die!

Carol shot this picture while she was looking in the glacier hole. This hole is caused by the glacier melting and the runoff finds a crevice which develops into a bigger and bigger hole.

Our group hiking up the Athabasca glacier

At the beginning of the hike the glacier looks dirty

Kirk is starting up the glacier next to large runoff coming off the glacier. It gets chilly so he had to put on his coat

As we left the trail you can see the beginning or "toe" of the glacier.

Lake Louise in Banff National Park in Alberta Canada.

Temple Mountain in Banff with a very large ice field

A falls on the Johnston Canyon hike in Banff

The Upper Falls in Johnston Canyon located in Banff National Park

The Lower Falls of Johston Canyon in Banff. It was a great hike!

The beginning of the Johston Canyon hike requires walking along a catwalk for about 1/2 mile

Our campsite in Bow Valley Campground located 12 miles east of Canmore Alberta Canada. Kirk is having his first beer in Canada with our ever present flamingoes.

This is our one and only blog report for "8 Days in Canada - Eh!" We arrived after a 370 mile journey from West Glacier, Montana which was a bit trying . . . many of the roads were narrow, winding, and hilly and the trip through "barely the outskirts of Calgary during rush hour" was not relaxing! But we made it!! The campground was pretty nice and generally quiet.

Early on we ventured into Banff NP and first did a 2 mile hike up Johnson Canyon to visit two different waterfall sites. A good part of the walk was along boardwalks constructed alongside the walls of the canyon. The waterfalls were nice but not as pretty as some we had hiked to in Glacier NP. After the 2 hour hike we took a shorter 45 minute hike up to another set of waterfalls, actually more picturesque than the Johnson Canyon falls; however, we didn't post any pictures as it was actually difficult to get a good representation of the falls in picture form.

Later, we visited Lake Louise, which is probably one of the most publicized and photographed lakes in Banff NP. It was very pretty and it was really nice to just sit along the lakeside and gander at the lake, the surrounding mountains, etc. Just outside of Banff we took some pictures of what was a beautiful snow and ice buildup on top of one of the mountains surrounding Banff.

About mid-week, we decided to book an Ice Walk on the Athabasca Glacier which is located in the Columbia Ice Field just out of the northern edge of Banff NP and just in Jasper NP. Most everything we saw and did in this area took a lot of driving . . . this was no exception, i.e., a 3 1/2 hour drive where we had to get up with the chickens (or the squirrels, deer, elk, moose, bear, etc.) in order to get there by 10:30 to meet our guide. The walk was quite an adventure, perhaps one of the major highlights of our Canadian visit. Our guide, Ron, was very informative, very friendly, and just generally a delight. Our nearly 4 hour walk started out with a fairly steep hike up to the base, or "toe" of glacier. We then set out onto the glacier and walked up the middle of the glacier perhaps a third of the way up the glacier. Along the way we hopped over small rivers of ice cold water and peered down into waterfall ice holes which we were told were probably 300-400 feet deep (you could kiss your ....ss goodbye if you happened to slip into one of these - no way out!!). At the far end of our walk, we saw (based on some measuring rods that the geologists use to study glacier changes, melting ,etc.) how a point where we standing was almost 5 feet lower than it was just 3 weeks earlier . . . . a testimony as to just how much and how fast the glaciers are melting away. This one area, called the Columbia Ice Field, a series of about 5 or 6 major glaciers, provides the fresh water source for perhaps a third of Canada.

On the road back from our icewalk, we probably passed at least 20 huge glaciers sitting at the top of various Rocky Mountain Range mountains . . . really some awesome sights. We also saw our first black bear on the way back . . . I had to put the brakes on hard to keep from hitting him . . . but, unfortunately, he scurried away quickly before Carol could get him on camera.

Toward the end of the week, we took a tour over to Yoho NP (just west of Banff) and there saw a magnificent waterfall, Takakkaw Falls, which drops over 800 ft (by contrast Niagara falls about 170 feet and Lower Yellowstone Falls drops about 300 feet) . . . so this is one of the big ones!!!! As you stood near the bottom, you got drenched from the mist!!! We also saw a natural bridge formed by water which had undercut its way through a wall of rock. In some of the pictures you will think the water white . . . you are right . . . it is white from glaciel till, or rock flour as some would call it . . . . suspended fine white dust that makes the water flow white.

Towards the end of our stay, we experienced rain for about a day and a half which put a bit of a damper of sighseeing. But we filled the time by treating ourselves to a hour long bath in a hot springs pool (103 degrees) followed by a glorious 1 hour massage at the spa next to the hot springs. On the second to last night in Canada, we went to a dinner show which not only had good food but also good entertainment. On our last day in Canada, we played some golf (which we were supposed to play earlier in the week but got rained out). It threatened and occasionally spit some rain while we play but we "tuffed" it out. The course was beautiful with great scenery but was "tuff"!

We got up very early Thursday morning and were on the road back to the States by 6:45 am. The trip to Canada was well worth the mileage since we probably will never be that close again. As we said earlier, the park system required a lot of driving but we saw big, beautiful mountains that pictures cannot begin to present their size and numbers. We are sad to leave here but are anxious to move onto the next adventure which is working our way from Bow Valley Campground in Alberta to Rocky National Park in Colorado. As we look at the schedule we see that the Campbell's Traveling Salvation Show is getting closer to its end so we must enjoy the time we have remaining. We conclude this posting by saying, "Oh Canada, Eh!"