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Trip Report: The Perfect Family Trip, Northwest 2016

tragusa3
Explorer
Explorer
In a groove...

I believe we are becoming accustomed to this lifestyle. Just 3 short years ago, my wife and I had never taken more than a week in a row off. Not for 20 years. There's been a change, and it's for the better! In the last 3 years, we have traveled over 20k miles, covered over 30 National Parks and probably as many states. This is a travel resume' that I didn't think in my lifetime would be possible. I had even convinced myself that travel was for "other people". People with time, that I'd never have.

Well, life and circumstances change. My family has been blessed. Not with riches, but with love and time...the all elusive TIME.

We just returned from another epic 40'ish day summer! Another "Perfect Family Trip"! This year took us to the Northwest. We covered parks that many would put near the top of their rankings. The cornerstones were Yellowstone and Glacier. We traveled almost 7k miles. And once again, we had our cameras by our side the entire way.

The thread in my signature titled "Southwest 2014: The Perfect Family Trip" was so rewarding for me. I enjoyed sharing, I enjoyed the feedback and comments, and I learned from the input. I hope to cover this trip as well as the first, and I hope for the same rewarding participation. Please join in.

We've had a different philosophy on this trip, and didn't know how it might change the experience. For SW2014, I had researched and planed down to the gnat's eyelash. 90% of our nights were reserved, and 90% of our daily itineraries were decided. In other words, the trip was intentional. This year, I'm not sure why the change, but we researched very little and planned even less. Of course, we had reservations for Yellowstone and Glacier, but the rest of our nights were left to the wind. We also had zero itineraries planned. We weren't even sure what was in the parks until we went to the visitors centers. Both strategies have pros and cons, and we now think we understand them better.

June 3rd was my last day of school. We finally left the house of June 4th. Our itinerary would be the following:

1. Grand Tetons
2. Yellowstone
3. Glacier
4. Black Hills
5. Badlands

Much fewer parks than SW2014. We tried to fill in-between parks with whatever we came across. At times we did well and at others we struggled to find anything. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In the first 3 days, we logged in some heavy miles. Day 1 was about 480. Day 2 was 575. Day 3 was somewhere around 500. It wasn't in the plan that way, but I was feeling good. We stayed in a campground the first night (due to it being hot), but the next few would all be Walmarts or Cabelas.

We high tailed it like this until we hit western Nebraska. We were on I80 and came into Chimney Rock and Scott's Bluff. Thanks to my planning thread, we knew we would come across these and were ready to slow down.

I am out of town right now and don't have access to my photos, so, I'll stop here until I get back home. We weren't home a week when I decided to drive 1500 more miles to see my parents for a bit before the school year started. I'm a gluten for punishment.

Again, I look forward to this thread. I'll post lots of pictures, but it will take time. Bear with me. Speaking of bears... ๐Ÿ™‚
New to us 2011 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 34TGA
Join us on the road at Rolling Ragu on YouTube!
95 REPLIES 95

Twain
Explorer
Explorer
I'm all caught up and ready for more.
Early 1999 F-350 7.3 DRW CC, 4.10
2016 Open Range Light FL295FBH
3 Kids, 2 Dogs, 1 Wife.

ppine
Explorer II
Explorer II
If I ever took my woman and 3 dogs on a trip averaging 500 miles a day and stayed in Wal-Mart parking lots there would be a mutiny and they would never go with me again.

fil564
Explorer
Explorer
tragusa3 wrote:
I'm such a heel. This report will drag out until we're already on the 2017 adventure... I can't claim anything else but being lazy. ๐Ÿ˜ฎ

Maybe this will buy me some more time? It's a trailer for the video series. It was just a template from iMovie, so not much creativity on my part.

Northwest 2016 Trailer

Hope to pick up with the photos soon. Mpond, you will see later on, that the Black Hills were a high point of our trip!

D.E. Bishop, I enjoyed your input and perspective. Thanks.


Looking forward to the update on the Black Hills and why it was the high point since we are headed out there in July!!
2017 Ford F-350 Lariat Crew Cab 6.7L Powerstroke
2014 Rockwood Windjammer 3008W
1 Wife
2 Really Spoiled Shih Tzu's
that have Passed the Rainbow Bridge

tragusa3
Explorer
Explorer
Thank you so much for posting Frances. I'm glad you enjoyed the report! We leave in about a month to do the 4 corners area AGAIN! Of course, we will try to find things we didn't stop at the first go round.

I'm sure you didn't realize, but I think you intended to post this over on the 2014 thread. Maybe you can move it?

BTW, I have just started up a YouTube channel in which I am putting out episodes of that 2014 trip right now. Three episodes are posted, but I have about 20 more already in production. They should come out at least once a week for awhile. Click the link in my sig RaguFilms and you will find them. ๐Ÿ™‚ Please subscribe if you find them interesting.
New to us 2011 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 34TGA
Join us on the road at Rolling Ragu on YouTube!

Floridafrances
Explorer
Explorer
tragusa3,

Found your report researching for a possible trip to Rocky Mountain NP in June. Instead of scrolling through to find that part, I took time to go through it all. We've been to almost all the places you went, including some of those unpaved "roads" around Ouray and near Arches. Your post brought back many wonderful memories. Thank you.

Your comment about trying to make things relevant to real life for your students rang a bell. My husband is a retired chemistry professor and he always tried to do that, especially in his labs. His students could make their own aspirin now if they wanted to.

Now I have to check out your 2016 trip. Yellowstone is one of our favorite places. We've been there 3 times, each in a different season. Our oldest grandson just turned 9 and is always asking when we're going to take him to Yellowrock.

Hope you and your family have many more wonderful trips together.
Frances & Tom with 3 rescue cats - Peaches, Snippet,and BP. And in spirit Aja (Dec 2014) and Tipper (Oct 2016).
2011 Winnebago Vista 30W
2008 4 door Hardtop Wrangler Unlimited 4X4

tragusa3
Explorer
Explorer
Sometimes, a map fools me on driving time. This was one of those times. We spent most of the day at LBH thinking that we'd have no trouble getting to Devil's Tower. Turns out, it felt like it took FOREVER. I think the more miles we accrue, the harder each mile gets. At this point, I am painfully aware of how many miles we are from home. We've travelled about 20k miles in the last 3 years. I think every mile is cumulative, even if taking 9 month breaks in-between. But listen to me...complaining about traveling too much. Good problem to have! ๐Ÿ™‚

We stayed on the "big" road and just north of the Big Horn mountains.



We arrived at DT a little late in the day, but were hoping for inexpensive camping in the park. We weren't so lucky. We drove through several times, but ended up at the KOA. I always think of KOA's as a poor value. I know they are great for some people, but we don't use the amenities in most cases. This one came to just over $70 for a night. What are you gonna do? Sometimes you have no choice. DT is out in the sticks, and you really don't have many other options. My recommendation is to get there early for the $10 spots in the park.

The kids were happy despite my wallet being emptier.



And as it turns out, we did use some of the niceties of the KOA. As soon as we were set up, we went over for the nightly showing of "Close Encounters". Cheesy, yes. But a lifetime memory was made watching the movie with DT looming behind the screen.



I don't have the nighttime camera skills of some, but here was our campsite at night.



The next morning, the kids went for a swim (using those amenities) and then we went into the park. They don't allow trailers into the park, so they provide a lot for you to drop it. Turns out, when we got back to the visitors center, there were 6 or so trailers parked. Wish I had known, as unhooking and hooking is always nice to avoid.

We did the hike around the base, which was very nice. However, I don't see that there is much else to do? This is one of those "look at it" and roll on kind of parks. We spent about 3 hours total. When we left, we sat in the lot where the trailer was and had lunch.




I guess what I'm saying with this report is that (for me) I wouldn't go back and wouldn't have missed much to not have gone at all. It added several hours of driving, cost too much to stay, and didn't offer much more than you see on a postcard. Okay, haters can start hating. The kids probably feel differently.


New to us 2011 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 34TGA
Join us on the road at Rolling Ragu on YouTube!

padredw
Nomad
Nomad
Continuing to enjoy being with your family on this trip. My reason for posting is this:

I want to give a plug for "Discount Tire". Of course, there are none in Montana, so I called my local store in SC for how my warranty might apply. The person on the phone did not hesitate. He said, "You enjoy your vacation and we'll take care of you. Put the tire of your choice on the truck for now. When you return home, we'll reimburse you for that tire and install the correct one." I thought is sounded too good, but this is exactly what ended up happening. Can't say enough about the customer service, at least at my local branch


I had a very similar experience at Rifle Gap State Park near Rifle, CO. Could not get a tire in Rifle, but called the Discount Tire in Grand Junction. Fortunately, I had bought the tires at Discount Tire here at home. The nice young man who answered the phone asked my phone number and from then on had my name, address, and details of my purchase back in Texas. He said, "We will take care of you. I have your exact tire in stock." By coincidence, it was that same young man who met us at the door and seemed to be waiting for us.

One final part of this story. The only place in Rife that could check my tire was WalMart, which I was a bit reluctant to use. After changing the tire from my pickup, taking off the spare, checking the "flat" tire, the report was that they could not repair the tire and did not have a replacement. They put on the spare and put the flat tire on the spare carriage. Each step of the process is one that I was glad to avoid doing myself--took some time and effort. When I asked how much I owed, the woman in charge said, "You don't owe us anything. We couldn't fix the tire and we don't have a replacement. She printed out a full receipt with amount owed as $0.00.

My appreciation for both Discount Tire and Walmart went up exponentially.

That tire had been going flat for I don't know how many miles on a crowded, narrow highway--no way I could have stopped even if I had known I had a tire problem. As it was, my wife discovered it after we had set up in Rifle State Park. I had never noticed it. But I was able to air it up enough to get into town and to WalMart.

tragusa3
Explorer
Explorer
I neglected to mention the WIND during our stay at Glacier. It was a major character in our story. There were 2 of the 6 days that we literally could not be outside and we felt the trailer might not be all that safe of a place. All tents around us picked up and left and even the large motorhomes pulled in their slides to give less for the wind to grab hold of. We were disappointed to loose those two days. We would have surely gotten in one or two other major hikes.

We were a bit somber leaving Glacier. Being this far from home, we know the chance that we ever see it again is fairly slim...at least not until retirement. We left via Browning and headed southeast across Montana on a diagonal towards Billings. We were warned by the Chamber of Commerce near Yellowstone that we didn't want to drive through the Blackfeet Reservation. But that was our direction...so. It was a sad sight, as many/most of our reservations are. Our travels have given us a great respect for native americans and an embarrassment of some of the white man's historical and present choices. If you ever drive across Montana, the sense of wide open space is overwhelming, and I couldn't help but wonder why, with so much space, there was a need for reservations.

This first shot shows the majesty of the mountains behind us with the foreground being the small, rundown, getto like reservation. It may be that way for many reasons that I don't know, but it was sad, none the less.





When we weren't but a few miles out of Glacier, there was something in the road that we hit fairly violently. I watch the road like a hawk, but was surprised when I heard the bang. For the next few stops, I watched the tires a little extra close. Although, after the bearing failure in 2014, I had been taking air pressure and hub temperatures at every fuel stop anyway. Extra work, but the prudent thing to do.

All was fine for the entire drive across Montana. When we arrived in Billings, my low pressure warning light came on. We had driven how many hundreds of miles that day (after hitting the object) and it wasn't until we arrived in civilization again that the problem presented itself. We pray as a family over our trips, and feel that not being left in the middle of nowhere was protection from God. Coming down the hill off the interstate, we were 2 miles from a Walmart, we limped over to it and discovered that the road debree had slashed the inside sidewall of a rear truck tire. Seeing the slash, I don't know how that tire drove hundreds of miles.



I was particularly upset about the tire, as we had just purchased a set of expensive Michelins (the new Defender M/S2 in an 'E' load range). We did this specifically for safety on these long summer trips. Now, my matching, new set was compromised.

I want to give a plug for "Discount Tire". Of course, there are none in Montana, so I called my local store in SC for how my warranty might apply. The person on the phone did not hesitate. He said, "You enjoy your vacation and we'll take care of you. Put the tire of your choice on the truck for now. When you return home, we'll reimburse you for that tire and install the correct one." I thought is sounded too good, but this is exactly what ended up happening. Can't say enough about the customer service, at least at my local branch.

These tires did have a marked impact in the stability of my rig, and the trip home was less stabil with a mismatched tire, but it all worked out. ๐Ÿ™‚

On with the show...

We did much of this trip without having a plan each night. As we closed in on "Little Big Horn", we thought we would stay the night in Hardin, MT. However, the few options were either sketchy, or pricey. We took our chance, as the sun was starting to set, and pushed on. We were lucky, and stumbled into "7th Ranch" campground in GaryOwen.



The price was a little higher than the $20 we like to keep our average to, but it was a bargain for how nice of a place it was. It started from the minute I checked in, they asked if I had kids and then offered a free Huckleberry ice cream sandwich for each. After a LONG day on the road, you would have thought it was Christmas morning for the kids. I'm sure they will remember what huckleberry tastes like for the rest of their lives.



The park was spotless. Every site looked to be brand new and every blade of grass was in place. We had sunflowers and birds and a beautiful sunset over the Montana hills.





At this point, the boys are a well oiled machine when we setup camp. My job is to hook up electricity. My wife immediately goes in and starts getting the A/C on and the slide out. The boys do the rest! We setup in under 5 minutes for sure. I'm very proud of them. Responsible young men that NEVER complain. They make the trips so enjoyable. As a school teacher, I get to know many, many kids. Only 10% would be enjoyable to have on a trip like this. Now I know why many people say they don't understand how we can manage these trips.



The next morning, our plan was to see the battlefield and then make it as far as Devil's Tower. We did just that.

We were lucky to get to the battlefield early, as parking for trailers is limited. Maybe a dozen rigs total. You can see us in the middle there.



We spent significant time at the visitors center. The Ranger talks were OUTSTANDING! Sitting there listening to the story unfold by an incredible storyteller, while looking out over the actual battlefield was emotional. The sights, sounds, smells, and respectful banter of visitors got to us all. It was a special moment in American history, one that we understand much better for having visited.











We made the driving tour with the trailer. There were many larger rigs doing the same. It is okay, but not great this way. You really can't stop until you're at the far end. There's a small loop that we felt okay stopping for 5 minutes, but not longer.







LBH was a much better stop than I expected. Highly recommended.

On a side note, I got a tip that Wyoming "Port of Entry" will weigh your rig for you. I pulled in and they did, at no charge. I discovered I was 150 pounds over on my rear axle, which I suspected. It was helpful info, and I moved the generator and BBQ to the back of the trailer from the bed of the truck. So I figure we were traveling right about at the stated limit.

Here we are pulling into the Port of Entry.



Next stop: Devil's Tower
New to us 2011 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 34TGA
Join us on the road at Rolling Ragu on YouTube!

tragusa3
Explorer
Explorer
Padredw, 80's! If I can do ANY hiking by then I will be blessed. Heck...at the way I eat food, I'll be blessed if I'm even here by then! ๐Ÿ™‚

Mpond, We're getting much closer!

Thanks again to all for reading. I'm glad its enjoyable.
New to us 2011 Tiffin Allegro Open Road 34TGA
Join us on the road at Rolling Ragu on YouTube!

welove2drive
Explorer
Explorer
Wow! Beautiful pictures. I enjoy your trip reports. We hope to get out to the northwest when we can go for several weeks or more. Your boys are very lucky!I'm sure they appreciate the adventures.
Dave and Marcia
2019 Ford F350 Dually
2013 Lifestyle LS34SB

Hanesworthy
Explorer
Explorer
tragusa3 wrote:
I'm such a heel. This report will drag out until we're already on the 2017 adventure...


Just so long as it doesn't drag out as long as your HT build and build thread!

The less said about that the better - we don't want to accidentally get Logan in on the act over here too!


I'm thoroughly enjoying the vicarious journey, my friend, no matter how long after the fact it takes!

MPond
Explorer
Explorer
Glacier really is a special place - I'm really glad you made it that far from home!

All of your pictures are great, but these two were my favorites from Glacier:





Now hurry up and post about the Badlands! :B
2003 Country Coach Intrigue, Cummins ISL 400
Toad: 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (LJ) toad, with just a few mods...

Other rig: 2005 Chevy Silverado 3500 Duramax Dually / Next Level 38CK Fifth-wheel Toy Hauler w/ quads, sand rail, etc...

2gypsies1
Explorer
Explorer
Thanks for updating. We have also followed you during your trips and it's awesome to see such a happy family sharing these experiences. You are giving a great gift to your children and they'll never forget it!
Full-Timed for 16 Years
.... Back in S&B Again
Traveled 8 yr in a 40' 2004 Newmar Dutch Star Motorhome
& 8 yr in a 33' Travel Supreme 5th Wheel

its_just_me
Explorer
Explorer
I have followed you the entire way. Thank you for bringing back wonderful memories. We have been to all of your places also. Thanks again and happy camping.
2005 FORD F350 DIESEL DUALLY W/ 28 ft Rockwood TT w/ 3 slides.