Day 21--Denali to Fairbanks

Has it been three weeks already?  We took a little extra time getting off today because we knew it was going to be a short drive, only about 125 miles.  We called the RV park to make sure that the flooding we had heard about was not affecting them, and it wasn't.  We arrived shortly after lunchtime, and located the RV park on our way into town.  It came highly recommended as one of the top five RV parks in the nation, and I'm sure it's much prettier when it's not raining!  We found our assigned site, and it turned out to be right next to the folks from San Antonio we had met last week in Dawson Creek, and again in Ft. Nelson, and again in Watson Lake.  We checked on some tours that are available tomorrow, and detached the trailer.  We'll be driving around town to get our bearings, and won't be leaving for a couple of days, so we'll need the pickup. Not much to take pictures of, yet.

We did notice some experimental fields of crops on the way into town.  The University of Alaska's main campus is here, and they are the land-grant school for the state of Alaska.  So they have an extension mission, like A&M in Texas or OSU in Oklahoma.  Except that U of A is a lot smaller than either of those other schools.  

Day 20--Denali National Park

There's Mt. McKinley.  See it?

Okay, this is what?  the sixth national park on this trip so far?  We made the 6:15 bus departure and spent the next 11 hours riding out to Wonder Lake and back.  When we got on the bus, the driver informed us that HER job was to get us safely out to Wonder Lake and safely back.  OUR job was to look for wildlife.  She would be glad to stop so we could snap pictures or simply observe the animals, but she would be watching the road and wouldn't be able to help us look for wildlife.  But as a matter of fact, all but two of the wildlife sightings for the rest of the day were hers.  She could look at a hillside and tell "something isn't just right."  And it would be a bear taking a nap halfway up.  Turns out she had been driving that bus for seventeen summers.  So not only was she familiar with the road, she knew all the terrain like it was her home neighborhood.  The bus trip covers 92 miles out to the lake and every one of them back in again.

We didn't see much in the way of wildlife:  a moose, early in the morning, munching on shrubby growth in a lake; a couple of grizzlies taking naps; a few elk;  and, on the way back, a herd of caribou, which we had not seen prior to today.  We did spot a golden eagle resting on a rocky ridge, and there were arctic ground squirrels scurrying across the road from time to time. Oh, yeah, the pavement runs out about 15 miles from the visitors' center, so most of the trip was on a gravel road, the only road in the park.  The mountain--Denali, or Mt. McKinley--was visible not long after we left the visitors' center, but the clouds soon overtook the summit, and we lost sight of it.  Other mountains in the area were spectacular, and we saw much that was impressive.  The point of going to Wonder Lake was that we would be able, theoretically, to get the best views of the mountain.  You can find pictures posted on the web of Mt. McKinley reflected in the water of Wonder Lake.  Alas, not only was the summit of Denali covered in clouds, most of the rest of the mountain was, as well.  And to obscure our views further, clouds rolled in where we were and it began to rain intermittently.  Wonder Lake being the halfway point of the trip, we ate the lunch we brought with us (no food concessions anywhere except the visitors' center) and tried to keep it from the pesky gray jays that wanted us to share with them.  (We had been warned about them, and told not to feed them.)  After a few minutes' rest, we climbed back on the bus and started back for the visitors' center.  We were disappointed that we hadn't been able to see the mountain for very long, but as the bus driver said, we saw it as almost everyone does:  not at all or in our case barely at all.  We were also disappointed that we had not seen more wildlife, but then, it's a big park with millions of acres, and the animals don't have to show themselves to tourists.  They have plenty of square miles of wilderness to live in.  The rangers indicate that they really don't want the animals to become accustomed to tourists, because they are living in a natural state now, and humans would introduce changes to their state and that would probably be dangerous for the animals (and sometimes for humans, too).  The jays at Wonder Lake are a good example of the effects of humans on the birds' behavior.

We returned to the RV park, with the rain settling in steadily, and it kept up a steady pattering on the roof all night long.  

Day 19--Wasilla to Denali National Park

Today was to be a short driving day, because we have the opportunity to attend church services in Wasilla.   We attended the worship service of First Baptist Church, which Catherine did not recommend.  It is not her church, but it was close to Robert's house, and we figured that since we had attended services Friday night at her church, it was okay to attend a different one today.  It was a much smaller church than we are accustomed to attending, but it reminded me a lot of our old church in Bishop.  Despite the fact that Wasilla is much larger than Bishop, the church had a distinctive "country" feel to it.  Perhaps it was the informality and the many testimonies from church members who had been in mission projects last week.  Or maybe it was the fact that several of the hymns were sung from a hymnal instead of an overhead screen.

After church we grabbed some fast food and headed north.  We have reservations at an RV park about eight miles north of Denali National Park.  It's the closest one that's not actually in the park.  The one in the park is smaller and doesn't have full hookups.  The park is a little less than 200 miles north of Wasilla, and will take us about 4 hours to get there, with no stops.

We did stop, however, at several pullouts along the way.  Usually they had signs indicating the possibility of seeing Mt. McKinley, the highest point in North America, a factoid that has been taught to every kid in school for all of my life, anyway.  The problem is, you can't really see it.  It's there in plain sight, all right, but usually it's obscured with clouds, which result from the extremely cold temperatures on the mountain coming in contact with warmer air moving up from the more temperate zones around Anchorage.  We did, however,  see the spots where it was supposed to be!  The main attraction at Denali, aside from Mt. McKinley, is the abundant wildlife in what is a pristine wilderness.  With millions of acres in the park, only one road travels across it, and it's not even paved.  We're planning a shuttle bus ride across the park tomorrow, so we'll see about those wildlife.

We arrived at the RV park without incident (no flats!), and found it to be very full of folks who had similar plans as ours.  We have to be at the bus stop at 5:45 tomorrow morning for a 6:15 departure.  Of course, the sun will be well up by then.

Day 18--Wasilla, Alaska

Today we spent resting, then went for the two tires for the pickup.  When I got to the tire shop, they took my pickup into the bay and started to put the new tires on, but the attendant couldn't figure out which tires I was wanting to replace, because they were all barely legal.  So--I bit the bullet and had all of them replaced.  Hey, I've got years and years to pay them off.

Later, that afternoon, we drove down to Anchorage to have dinner with my cousin Tasa and her husband Artie, and when we got there, my sister Melanie and her husband Ken were there, too.  They've been here all week, enjoying their first trip to Alaska, and are here for Catherine's wedding, too. It was a fun evening and we really enjoyed our time with them.  About 9:30, we needed to return to Wasilla to prepare for the trip to Denali tomorrow.  It's really weird that the sun is still way up in the sky at 10:00 at night.  It's been hard to get to sleep at night because the sun is still up.  Sunset is around midnight and the sun comes back up before 4:00 a.m.  Short "nights."  The folks here love it, because they've endured a winter with the opposite characteristics, but it's disturbing my sleep.   

Day 17--Wasilla, Alaska

Today, we intended to buy four new tires.  We had to go find the best deal, but before we left Roberts' house, we discovered one of the remaining tires was flat!  So there it was, the fourth flat.  It wasn't a blowout, though; evidently, the tire had developed a slow leak, and lost it overnight.  So, at least, the rim was not ruined.  We looked for tires in four different stores, and got what we believed was the best possible deal we could, given the quality of the tires we were seeking: radials, 6-ply, good enough to get back home on.    We explored Wasilla, discovering that it has almost anything you might want in the way of shopping, except a Sam's Club or Costco, but the word is that they're coming.  Oh, there wasn't a high end mall, but there was almost anything else you might be interested in.  After traveling for thousands of miles through forests and tundra, Wasilla was a real city.  Although the posted population is around 8,000, there are about 50,000 people who live in the Matanuska-Susitna (Mat-Su) valley, most of whom do not live in an organized city, but they certainly contribute to the economic vitality of the cities that are there.

After getting the tires mounted and the two spares built, I inquired about the need to replace two of the tires on the pickup.  We made an appointment to come back tomorrow to replace two of those.  They're a lot bigger, wider, and thicker, and will be a lot more expensive.

Day 16--Tok, Alaska, to Wasilla, AK

At last we're nearly to our objective.  By this afternoon, we should be in Wasilla, and be able to see Catherine and Robert (when they get off work).  We set off fairly early and headed down the Tok Cutoff toward Glennallen and the Glenn Highway to Palmer and Anchorage.  The highway was very good for the first few miles, then some rough spots began to appear.  After about 40 miles, we heard a "pop" that didn't sound like anything that belonged on normal road noise, and we decided to pull over and check out the tires. Within a few hundred yards, there was a turnout on the left (east) side of the road, and we turned in there.  Sure enough, a tire on the left side of the trailer had blown out.  Okay, that's number three.  Maybe these were all scheduled to wear out at about 4000 miles.  I changed the tire (using my bottle jack and the new lug wrench) and now we were without a spare--again.  According to the Milepost book, there was a gas station/restaurant/lodge a couple of miles ahead, so we decided to stop there and inquire about tires.  We were still about 90 miles from Glennallen and, frankly, I was reluctant to test the strength of the fourth tire, or the spares that were now on the ground.

The folks at the Mentasta Lodge were wonderful.  They didn't have a tire or wheel, but they knew people who did.  They suggested that we go back to Tok and get the tire and wheel and bring it back.  We dropped the trailer there and left it with them, and drove the 45 miles back to Tok to Willard's Towing to get the tire and wheel.  And it was another $170 or so.  By the time we got back to Tok and picked up the tire, it was lunchtime, so we grabbed lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Tok.  Who knew?  With only a thousand people or so in Tok, I was surprised to get such good food, but it was nice.  It almost made the delay and ordeal worthwhile.  But I'm not going to wait for that fourth tire to blow out.  As soon as we get settled in Wasilla, I'm going to go find four good radial tires to put on the trailer.  And I'll keep two spares, just in case.

Back to Mentasta, we loaded the wheel and hooked up the trailer and rolled on.  We arrived at Robert Gordon's house, my future son-in-law, without further incident, and backed the trailer into his side yard and hooked up the water and electricity.  Because we were so late getting there, both Robert and Catherine were already home from work.  It was great to see them at last and to meet Robert's sons, Regan and Wyatt.  We're here.

Day 15--Whitehorse, YT, to Tok, Alaska

Leaving Whitehorse, we are scheduled to go through exactly one "town" before reaching Tok.  Haines Junction is located at the intersection of the Alaska Highway with the highway to Haines, Alaska.  Haines is one of those towns in southeastern Alaska, which, like Juneau and Ketchikan and others, is on the inland waterway and is otherwise accessible only by air or by water.  But there is one highway from Haines Junction which goes about 125 miles to Haines.  We won't be going to Haines, however, but will turn with the Alaska Highway toward the border and Tok.  You can see downtown Haines Junction in the photo above.

The highway--it's the worst road we've seen on this trip.  We were warned yesterday that the road from Whitehorse to the border is undergoing much construction and repaving.  It seems that it suffers from the winter frost heaves and such more than other stretches of the road.  Every summer it has to be patched and repaved in large sections.  Until it is finished, it's really rough.  We did encounter a grizzly who was willing to pose for a few pictures.  The red flags on the side of the road warn motorists of a rough section.  There should have been a lot more of them!

We had just entered one section under construction when one of the state pickups pulled up alongside and waved me down.  He yelled that I had a flat!  We pulled over and it was the tire I had just changed two days ago.  Once again, a blowout had gone unnoticed and I had to stop and change the tire.  Again, the rim was ruined and I would have to replace it.  There was one little settlement up ahead, Beaver Creek, but I had little hope of finding a replacement tire and wheel there.  But, I've found that almost every little place that has a gas station also has a tire repair shop (with these highways it would be steady business, for sure).  And sure enough, there's a towing service/auto repair/tire shop in Beaver Creek, and the proprietor sells me a used wheel and tire that I can use as a spare.  It's actually in pretty good shape and I get both of them for just $70.   And on we go to Tok.  We cross the border about 4:00 and the highway improves drastically! We're back in the U.S.A. and the signs shift back to miles versus kilometers.  We'll be in Tok in a couple of hours.  Maybe we can get there without blowing out another tire.

Day 14--Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, to Whitehorse, YT

Today started out with a trip to BeeJay's, the auto repair and tire shop that had been recommended yesterday.  Turns out he did have a tire, and a wheel, and was able to get them mounted on the trailer before too long.  To the tune of $170.  I put that tire on the ground, and the tire on the ground became the spare.  So now we're ready to go to Whitehorse.  I need to get a lug wrench, but no one in Watson Lake has one.  Well, if we make it to Whitehorse, I'll try to get one there.

On the way to Whitehorse, we did see some cute little bears, a sow and three little cubs.  A little later, we ran across a couple of grizzlies, who actually came down from the woods and ran across the highway in front of the car.  The scenery is often fantastic.  It's hard to believe we're getting much closer to the top of the world.  The Yukon is one of those places that is almost mythical, existing only in the works of Jack London, and Charlie Chaplin's little prospector.

 After we got set up in the RV park, we went into Whitehorse to look for a lug wrench and to make a food and supply run to Walmart.  And, like all the other towns we have seen, it's a modern well-equipped city.  After all, it is the capital of the Yukon, but it was full of the kinds of stores that larger cities often lack.  Not only did we find Walmart, but we found Canadian Tire, and Safeway and all kinds of restaurants as well.  It's a really pretty town.  The fellow at the Ford dealer didn't have a lug wrench to sell, but he did check my truck to confirm that the jack and lug wrench were missing.  Nice guys, these Canadians.

We went to Canadian Tire, and sure enough they had lug wrenches, and I snagged one.  Walmart is ubiquitous, thankfully, and it seems like a visit home to go into one.  But you know what you're getting when you get stuff there.  The prices are noticeably higher, though:  89 cents a pound for bananas instead of the 52 cents a pound in Tahlequah.  But,

 as a tribute to international trade, they did have bananas, my favorite example of powerful distributions systems.  Nobody grows bananas in Canada, or in the U.S. for that matter, but every supermarket has them.  A minor miracle, when you think about it.  So now with a bottle jack and a lug wrench, we'll be able to change a tire if we have to do it again.  Tomorrow, Alaska!

Day 13--Ft. Nelson, BC, to Watson Lake, Yukon

Today began with an oil change.  I naively inquired whether there was a Jiffy-Lube or something like it in town, and that brought a laugh from the RV park manager.  But she did know a mechanic who could get me in first thing in the morning to change the oil.  I needed to get the oil changed, because we were facing a 350+ mile trip to Watson Lake.  And it was time to do so.

So I got the oil changed--and my wallet emptied--and we headed for Watson Lake.  We're going to the Yukon, for crying out loud.  Surely, that's beyond the bounds of civilization.  All I could think of was Robert Service's The Cremation of Sam McGee.  (Who was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows.  Why he left his home in the South to roam 'round the pole, God only knows.  He was always cold, but this land of gold seemed to hold him in a spell.  Though he'd often say in his homely way, that he'd sooner live in Hell.)


We finally saw a moose wandering alongside the highway, and approached the Liard River area, which includes the hot springs (famous!  if you live in northern British Columbia), where swimming is supposed to be something you do.  It's one of the few places where you can swim outdoors in this region, if you're of such a mind.  But the area is full of parks, camping, and outdoor activities.  We decided to stop to refuel at one of the remote gas stations, and as we were about to get back in the pickup, a couple of guys said, "Wow.  Your tire is really messed up."  What?  I went around the trailer to look at the right side, and could not believe that I had not even seen that my right rear tire was shredded.  And I hadn't felt a thing when it blew.  So now what to do?  I had a good spare tire, and a jack, but I couldn't find a lug wrench in the pickup where it was supposed to be.  Later, we were to find out that the pickup didn't have a jack or a lug wrench.   But I had purchased a bottle jack for the trailer in order to grease the axles, and that really came in handy now.

Fortunately, or providentially, the young man working the gas pumps had a lug wrench and helped me changed the tire, but no one at the small settlement had a tire or wheel.  Oh, yes, the wheel was beat up so badly, it was beyond use.  So we had to drive on to Watson Lake without a spare.  I don't think we put our full weight down on the rest of the trip.

When we got to Watson Lake, it was too late to inquire about a tire, but the RV park manager gave me the name of a repair shop there that might have a tire and wheel to purchase.  We went to the main tourist attraction in Watson Lake, the sign forest with over 70,000 signs left by passers-through.  I found many signs from various towns in Texas, and a few from Oklahoma, but it's an incredible sight, taking into consideration that some of them must have been brought there very deliberately from other countries, because there were many from Germany and Scandinavia.  There are some old pieces of construction equipment, left over from the construction of the Alaska highway back in 1942.  But you have to wade through hundreds of poles to find the equipment.  Oh, and there was this one other notable sign which is evidently from Olney, TX.

So now we can end the day wondering whether BeeJay will have the tire and wheel that I need for a spare, so we can drive on to Whitehorse, Yukon's capital, and stay on schedule.

Day 12--Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Ft. Nelson, BC

Today began with a Walmart run, stocking up on food and supplies.  Then we went to church at the New Beginnings Baptist Church in Dawson Creek.  There was another Baptist church, but as I studied their web sites, the New Beginning church seemed to be more like our home church in Tahlequah, at least based on their programs and affiliations.  It turned out to be very different, indeed!  It was much smaller, with probably no more than 75 people in attendance.  They actually used a hymnal for the hymns!  It was very informal, with prayer requests coming from people in the congregation, and with no nursery for the little kids, there was much coming and going during the hour-long sermon.  Yep, I don't know how long it's been since I've sat through a sermon that long.  But we enjoyed visiting with the pastor afterwards.  He was an ex-patriate American who grew up in Kansas and taught at Criswell Bible College at one time.  But he is a committed Canadian now, and hunts moose and elk every year.  He even offered to give us some moose steaks, but we didn't have time to wait around.

We headed for Safeway to get some fresh veggies and fruits, then headed north for Ft. Nelson.  It was a relatively short driving day, since we knew we'd spend the morning in church.  Nevertheless, it's going to be 283 miles to cover today.  We stopped in Fort St. John, 45 miles north of Dawson Creek, to get lunch at the local McDonald's.  After Fort St. John, there's not much on the way to Ft. Nelson (see photo at left).  It was beginning to seem like wilderness, even though there was still lots of traffic on the road at times.  And as for wildlife, we saw this black bear, but not much more.  There were signs on the highway warning of moose on the highway, and deer and elk, but we decided they were put up by the various Chambers of Commerce and bore little resemblance to actual events.

We arrived in Ft. Nelson--no Walmart, no Canadian Tire, but there was a Boston Pizza.  We found the RV Park, and had a great spot under a bunch of trees.  After dinner, we wandered around the park, which was very full of trailers and motorhomes, and ran into the folks from San Antonio again.  This was beginning to feel like summer camp.

I need to find a place tomorrow morning to change the oil in the pickup.  It's about that time.

Day 11--Hinton, AB, to Dawson Creek, BC

Today we drove into British Columbia.  We woke up to a beautiful day in Hinton.  At last the rain has stopped, and we are scheduled to head into the wilderness of northern British Columbia.  We went into Hinton to get gas, and then had to come back for the highway to Dawson Creek.  The highway goes through Grand Cache and Grand Prairie, both in Alberta, and those are the only towns we will pass through all day.

The morning drive to Grand Cache is beautiful, with hardly any traffic at all either going or coming.  We encounter a pair of small grizzlies on the side of the road which appear to be yearlings, we suspect.  They're much bigger than cubs, but seem smaller than a full-grown grizzly should be.

Grand Cache, population around 3800, was about 84 miles up the road from Hinton.  It's interesting to drive for a couple of hours without going through any towns.  There was a feeling that we were leaving the civilized part of Canada and heading into the wild.  And after stopping at the visitor's center in Grand Cache, we headed north to Grand Prairie, which was over 110 miles away.   Oh, the folks at the visitor's center were very friendly and loaded us up with all sorts of information about attractions in the area.

As we headed toward Grand Prairie, we noted that there was a lot more traffic on the highway, much of which was truck traffic associated with a growing oil and gas exploration and production in the area.  A huge coal mine was a short distance out of Grand Cache, and all the distance to Grand Prairie, we were hardly out of sight of another vehicle.  Some wilderness!  I felt like we were in Oklahoma or Texas again.

We reached Grand Prairie in the afternoon, and found Walmart and a whole lot of other things.  Although I had never heard of Grand Prairie, Alberta, before, it's a vibrant, growing city of 55,000 people, and it has all the amenities that you would expect in such a town.  So, not just Walmart, but all the other U.S. big box stores, fast food and hotel chains.  It was not exactly wilderness, with malls and other upscale shopping.  But we were headed for Dawson Creek, mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, and 80 miles away.  That had to be wilderness, didn't it?

The first twenty miles out of Grand Prairie were on a four-lane divided highway, and there were a couple of small towns that we passed.  Then it narrowed down to a two-lane, but there were still lots of oilfield service trucks coming and going. The oil sands activity in Alberta is really booming, and the whole economy seems to be benefitting from it.  There were huge pastures and fields of crops, which we figured were winter wheat, but found out later that oats are also a major crop in the area.  So there was agricultural equipment on the move, as well.  I was beginning to look forward to reaching Dawson Creek to get out of the traffic, at least.  Finally, it was in sight.  And almost the first thing I noticed in Dawson Creek was their local Walmart.  Right next to the Canadian Tire store.  Canadian Tire is a major chain in Canada that sells a lot more than tires.  Instead of being rustic and wild, Dawson Creek was modern and looked very flush with new buildings and offices supporting the oil and gas industry.  The wilderness would have to wait.

We found the RV park before it got very late and did laundry.  We met some folks in the laundry room from San Antonio and it was good to have conversations with folks from (close to) home.  

Day Ten--Calgary, AB, to Hinton, AB

Today we drove through some of the most spectacular scenery in the world--really.  We left the Calaway RV park west of Calgary, and drove further west to Banff to pick up the Glacier Highway, from Banff, Alberta, to Jasper, Alberta, which has been named the most beautiful highway in North America by several travel companies.  Banff National Park and Jasper National Park are adjacent and the highway passes through the middle of both parks.  Officially, the highway's designation as the Glacier Highway ends in Jasper, but the road continues through the national park.  We were expecting to see much wildlife and didn't see much.  But we did see the magnificent Canadian Rocky Mountains, and glaciers and ice fields, rivers, lakes, and more mountains.  Our destination was Hinton, Alberta, which I had never heard of before I started planning this trip.  But it looked like it was an appropriate distance along the highway, but who knew what to expect from a small Canadian town you've never heard of. 

The most exciting experience along the way was the tour of the Glacier Skywalk at the Columbia Ice Center, which is about halfway through the two parks, but actually is in Jasper National Park.  You may have seen the Skywalk advertised this year, as it just opened last month.  It's a glass walkway that literally extends out over a river canyon.  It comes with an educational component concerning the glaciers, how they form and move, and how they are receding.  In particular, the Athabasca glacier is the focus of much of their exhibits.  You can buy tickets on a "bus" (with tank treads) that takes you out onto the glacier, but we didn't have time for that.  The ice on the Athabasca glacier is hundreds of feet thick.  We did see a bighorn sheep and some mountain goats further on in the park. 

 We found the Jasper Gates RV Park, with a Hinton address, but actually just outside the national park, and about 6 miles from Hinton.  It was a nice park with lots of trees. Tomorrow, we leave civilization and head for the wilderness:  Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and mile zero for the Alaska Highway.

Day Nine--Shelby, Montana, to Calgary, Alberta

It has rained all night!  The wind blew and the rain fell until probably 3:00 or 4:00 a.m.  In neighboring communities, people got flooded out and roads are closed.  I called AAA for a tow truck to get us out of the mud, and thankfully, they responded quickly.  The folks at AAA were concerned that I had a trailer attached to the truck, because they only covered the truck itself.  They indicated that the trailer would require "RV" coverage, which I had not purchased.  But I couldn't detach the trailer, because of the problems discussed yesterday, and besides, the mud was so deep that I wouldn't be able to use the truck to pull the trailer out if they towed the truck out by itself.  So I told them I would pay the difference between the pickup towing charge, which they would cover, and the "pickup-attached-to-the-trailer" charge.  When the tow-truck driver showed up shortly thereafter, he simply hitched to the front of the pickup and pulled out both the truck and trailer very easily.  (He had a big truck!)  I didn't know whether he was aware of the differential charge or not, until he said, "If AAA calls and asks about the tow, tell them you detached the trailer, because they won't pay for both of them."  Well, I wasn't sure I could do that, because it wasn't true, but luckily when they called, they simply asked, "Did you get towed out?"  And I didn't have to say anything more.  We drove on north, and about a half-hour later, we reach the Canadian border.  It took about 30 minutes to move through the border crossing and then we headed north to Calgary on a four-lane divided highway that was essentially the same as the U.S. interstate we had been driving on.

We reached Calgary and drove through to our campground at Calaway RV Park.  It's my first driving trip to Canada, and the cities and towns we encounter are often ones that I have never heard of.  Lethbridge, for example, is a city in southern Alberta, which, if it were in Oklahoma, would be the fifth largest city!   Nice town, with every kind of amenity you would expect.  And, of course, Calgary itself is a large city whose most famous attribute, arguably, is the Calgary Stampede, which will occur during the first two weeks of July.  It may just be the world's largest rodeo.  This is definitely cowboy country, with horses in all the pastures.

It rained again this morning, and we have learned that between 3 and 4 inches of rain fell in Shelby, and even more in Glacier National Park to the west of where we had been.  Calgary TV stations are talking about the flooding that occurred last year on this same date, and it displaced tens of thousands of people, the most damaging flood in Canadian history.  It would really be nice to get out of this weather into something warm and sunny.

Day Eight--Yellowstone to Shelby, Montana

We woke this morning to snow on the ground.  Although the picture doesn't show very much, I took this before the heaviest snow began to fall.    I remembered (duh) that we had automatic coverage for the trailer for a year after purchase from a firm called "Coach-Net."  So I called them to ask for help with the hitch.  I figured that if we could just get the hitch lifted, we could attach it to the pickup and then just drive the rest of the way without unhitching again.  Perhaps in Wasilla, we would have time to solve the problem.  To shorten the story, they arranged for someone from the nearby auto repair shop in the visitor's center to come over with a hydraulic jack and raise the trailer.  The park service contracts with a company which runs the hotels, restaurants, gift shops, etc., and also with a different contractor who operates service stations and, surprisingly, seasonal auto repair shops at the primary visitors' centers around the park.  The Fishing Bridge auto repair shop was less than a mile away.  And the cost of the service was completely covered by Coach-Net.  Whew!

We hitched the trailer, and set out for Shelby, Montana.  But what we had not factored into the time planning was just how long it would take to get out of the park.  There were major road repairs going on in the northern part of the park (actually a major widening of the highway) and we were reduced to one lane and major waits for "our turn."  It took two hours to go about 50 miles. And we then got sleet and hail, in addition to the snow which kept coming until we got away from our section of the park.   But finally we exited the park, entering Montana (a first for me) and drove the rest of the way with no incidents.  It rained off and on all day, and as we approached Shelby, it began raining steadily.  Shelby is the last town on Interstate 15 heading north toward Canada, except for the little settlement of Sweet Grass, where the border crossing is. We had reservations at the Shelby RV Park, and after we got our site assignment, I faced the prospect of setting up the trailer in the rain.  The sites were gravel, and looked solid, but when I parked, I discovered that I was stuck completely, even when I shifted to 4-wheel drive low.  What next?  A tow-truck will be necessary, but that will have to wait until tomorrow morning. 

Day Seven--Yellowstone

Today, it was still raining and cold.  We decided to go back to the north rim of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to see more of the waterfalls (upper and lower), then to spend the rest of the day looking for wildlife.  They aren't as visible as I had always believed.  A person can see wildlife in Yellowstone, but it's nearly always serendipitous.  Most of the park is not accessible by highway, and there could be thousands of individual animals in those areas, but if you are not going to hike into the back country, you have to depend on the animals coming near the highways in order to see them.  And, occasionally,

they'll do just that.  We found bison herds in the northeastern part of the park, within sight of the highway.  In addition to the herds of bison, we saw a magnificent elk, nesting ospreys in the Canyon, a silver fox, and pronghorns.  The bison are almost everywhere, individually, and on our visit, they were the most common animal we saw.  We wanted to find moose, but never did find any. 

I still don't know how I'm going to get the trailer put back on my pickup tomorrow.

Day Six--Yellowstone

Yellowstone's most famous landmark is the Old Faithful geyser,
and we were determined to see it in action.  And about 4 zillion other people had the same idea at the same time.  Honestly, it was like the parking lots at about three super Walmarts combined.  But Old Faithful is nothing if not faithful, and right on time, plus or minus 10 minutes, there she came.  It has rained all day, and standing out in the rain waiting for water to shoot out of the ground seems a little strange, but hundreds of people did it with us.  And for just a few minutes, the rain stopped, and we were able to observe the phenomenon without getting drenched.   The geyser area, which has two hotels, restaurants, a museum, an educational center, service station, and, of course, retail stores and gift shops, was about 40 miles from our campsite at Fishing Bridge.  We were hoping to go on down to Grand Teton National Park (adjacent to Yellowstone) to see the mountains there, but the weather was so cold and drizzly that we decided to look for wildlife in Yellowstone.  We saw lots of individual bison, but no herds.  Signs warned of wildlife on the roads, but we didn't see any on the roads, and just a few off the roads.  We visited the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone River, and since each can be viewed from either the north rim or the south rim of the canyon, we did both, but at the north rim, it was raining and cold, so we didn't spend much time there.  By the time we got to the south rim, it had stopped, and it was spectacular.  But what was really spectacular was the sight of dozens of people trying to get pictures of the bear that wandered through the area.  I got one, too. 

Fifth Day--Sheridan, WY, to Yellowstone National Park

Today, we went to church at the First Baptist Church of Sheridan.  Interestingly, the music was similar to our home church, although none of the songs were familiar.  The sermon, preached by one of the other staff members in the absence of the pastor, was interesting and motivating, but the people seemed to be oblivious to strangers in their midst.  No one spoke to us. 

After lunch, we found Walmart and made a food and supply run.  Then we headed to Yellowstone.  But to get there, we had to cross the Big Horn Mountains.  What views!  We climbed about 4000 feet and then came back down again.  In the middle of all that, we encountered Shell Falls National Recreation Area, which is focused on Shell Creek and its surroundings, including Shell Canyon.  Absolutely spectacular.  Pushing on westward, we finally reached Yellowstone, only to find that our campground was 26 miles on ahead from the East Entrance, where we entered the park.  But a bison met us at the entrance, then a moose appeared in a pond, and finally, a bighorn sheep wandered across the highway high on a mountain pass.  Little did we know that the moose and bighorn were the only ones we would see in our
whole visit.  There are lots of bison, but we
didn't see any more before we got to the campground. 

At the campground, there were lots of signs indicating that bears were migrating through the area.  At the check-in desk, we were told that we probably wouldn't need bear spray unless we were going hiking by ourselves.  We don't intend to.

I found the campsite and prepared to make camp when I discovered that the electric tongue jack was jammed, and I couldn't get it to work manually, either.  I couldn't get the trailer off the pickup, and I was at a loss as to what to do.  I didn't want to drag the trailer all over Yellowstone, and I asked a camper in the next site (which were the closest I've ever seen) if he had a wrench I could use to get the jack to work.  He didn't, but came over to offer his help.  Other campers came by as well, and we decided to use my bottle jack, which I keep in the pass-through, to raise the tongue off the hitch.  It worked, but as I detached the anti-sway bars from the pickup, the tongue slipped off the jack and

crashed to the ground.  Now what were we going to do?  Another camper brought over a hydraulic jack which we used to raise the tongue once again, and this time were able to place the bottle jack under it in such a way that it stayed put.  I have no idea what we'll do when it's time to leave on Wednesday.

And as we prepare to hunker down for the night, the rain is starting and it seems to be getting colder.

 

Fourth Day--Hill City, SD, to Sheridan, WY

Today we left Horse Thief Campground and headed westward.  Our route took us through Deadwood, South Dakota, which has to be one of the quaintest places I’ve seen.  The town meanders along a creek of the same name, nestled between steep hills which limit its expansion, at least laterally.  And with a population of only 1300 or so, you would not expect much.  However, it apparently does so well at serving tourists that it is hugely prosperous and pretty, with many amenities of much larger cities.  The downtown area has brick streets and large buildings, banks and other edifices that would appear to serve a much larger population.  Scattered throughout are chain hotels and restaurants which would not be there without significant demand for them.  The Deadwood on TV may have developed into this city, but there is little resemblance.

While it was very near, we didn’t take the time to detour over to Sturgis, since I wasn’t driving a bike.
Our primary destination other than the RV park here in Sheridan, Wyoming, was Devil’s Tower, which you’ll remember from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  And you’ve seen this iconic monolith in dozens of other images as well.  It’s a national monument, and even though there are very few people scattered around this great state, all the tourists that are not in Yellowstone must have been at Devil’s Tower.  You enter the park through the standard National Park Service entrance, where they take your fee if you don’t have a Senior Pass, then drive for three or four miles around the tower to the visitors' center and parking area.  They have limited parking for RVs, and it was too limited for us.  We couldn’t find a place to park anywhere.  There was an overflow parking area for “large vehicles” about a mile away from the main parking lot, and we parked there, had lunch, and waited for some of the other RVer's to leave.  But we didn’t see any of them leaving.  Other RVs with the same idea, I’m sure, came into the overflow lot where we were.  But it was raining intermittently, and we decided we’d rather go see the prairie dogs that have an extensive colony beside the entrance road.  We did get lots of pictures of the tower.

The turnoff from I-90 to go to Devil’s Tower is at Sundance, which is not where the film festival is held (that’s Park City, Utah), but is the town which gave Harry Longabaugh his nickname, before he teamed up with Butch Cassidy to rob banks.

After the excursion to the Tower, we drove on to Sheridan, which we reached about 4:30 p.m., and camped for the night.  The campground has nice facilities (and Internet!), but the sites are tightly packed.  We can almost reach out from the front door and touch the motorhome next to us!  We’re hoping to attend services at the First Baptist Church tomorrow morning.

Third Day--South Dakota

Today was one of those days that makes you wonder where to begin.  So I guess I’ll take it chronologically.

We went to Mt. Rushmore, which looked exactly like all the pictures.  However, we didn’t let that stop us from taking lots more.  So now we each have dozens of pictures that look exactly like all the other pictures of Mt. Rushmore.  (See examples.)  There were hundreds of people there, and the park is very well designed to handle the crowds.  There is obviously a lot more to the park than the sculptures of the four presidents in the side of the mountain.  There is a museum, and a theater, and bookstores, and gift shops (of course), but we also hiked the Presidential Trail, which loops along the front base of the mountain, and toured Borglum’s studio where the work was laid out and planned.  And we did get some shots that you don't normally see.

Afterwards, we went into Rapid City, about 25 miles away, to find lunch.  We had decided that, as much as possible, we want to eat local food, rather than chain restaurants or fast food, whenever possible.  Most meals, of course, we eat in the trailer, but there will be days like today when that’s just not practical.  But for whatever reason, we could not find anything that looked appealing.  We finally found a Mexican restaurant which looked decent and which turned out not to be very good.  The entrees had very little meat in them.
We next headed for the Badlands National Park, and to get there, we got on I-90 and headed east for about 60 miles.  And all along I-90 were all kinds of restaurants, mostly of the national chain variety, but all of which looked much better than what we had found in town.  During the drive to the Badlands, I noticed the tonneau cover on my pickup had managed to pop loose in the rear, and I couldn’t figure out what would have caused that.  It was to be a forerunner of trouble to come.

We drove through the Badlands and stopped at several places to hike into the canyons.  What a magnificent example of God’s handiwork!  The pictures never do justice to the reality of a place that spans from horizon to horizon.  Wind and water have shaped the landscape and will continue to make their mark on this incredible place.  And even though it looks totally devoid of life, there are all kinds of fauna (and flora, too) which make their homes there.  Prairie dogs and black-footed ferrets, bighorn sheep and coyotes, and all manner of plants which have adapted to the short summers, long winters, and cold and wind!  We were very fortunate to get a rare glimpse of some bighorn sheep.

Bighorn Sheep in Badlands National Park

The wind!  It blows constantly, and we got a taste of its capabilities on the way back to Rapid City.  We saw the storm clouds coming while we were still in the national park, but they hit while we had stopped for gas, and the rain was plentiful, but the wind was the major factor.  We estimated the force at 60-70 mph of straight-line wind.  Having lived in South Texas for over 20 years, I am accustomed to constant wind, but I had never seen wind like that.  It blew the tonneau cover off, and we stopped and reattached it, and twice more it blew the cover off.  We had slowed to 55 on the 75 mph interstate, but it didn’t seem to make much difference in its effect on us.  Then I saw a pickup in front of me that was carrying a camper in its bed.  He had slowed to about 40 because the wind was threatening to tip him over.  High center of gravity and all that.

The storm passed over and the wind died down to its more normal levels, when we saw the flashing lights up ahead in the other lanes.  At some point, the wind had evidently blown an 18-wheeler enough for the driver to lose control, and there had been a massive pile-up.  Three tractor-trailer rigs, and at least a half-dozen cars in various states of destruction, all over the interstate, except in our west-bound lanes.  There were already three or four emergency vehicles there, but it was probably only about 10-15 minutes or so since the accidents had occurred.  One of the cars was under one of the trailers, and one of the 18-wheelers was in the ditch with most of its cab missing.  As we passed on toward Rapid City, at least five ambulances and a half-dozen other emergency vehicles flew past us on their way to the accident.  As we arrived at our turn-off, the police were blocking the highway in Rapid City to divert traffic off the interstate.

Perhaps the delays we experienced with the tonneau cover on the pickup bed were just enough to keep us out of that accident.  Whether that was God's protection or not, we both felt very humbled that our trouble seemed so trivial compared to what many folks were going through at the end of that day.

Second day--Kearney, NE, to Hill City, SD

We left the campground about 8:45, then made our way to the local Target store for some additional supplies we discovered we were missing.  On the way out of town, we drove by the campus of U of Nebraska-Kearney, one of our MIAA opponents.  The Lopers, whatever that is.  But it’s a nice campus in a beautiful little town.

We headed west on I-70, and turned off to go northwest at North Platte, Nebraska.  North Platte must be the railroad headquarters of the world.  I’ve never seen such a trainyard, not even in Kansas City.  As we drove along the Platte River valley, we met train after train loaded with coal headed for North Platte (and points further, I suppose).  I’m guessing that all that coal was coming from the mines in Wyoming, and it seemed that no sooner had we passed one train than another appeared.  Seriously.  It seemed like there were dozens of them.

The countryside soon became treeless, but not barren, or flat.  Everything was deep green, as though rain had been plentiful this spring, and the ground had serious roll to it.  Lots of up and down hills as far as you could see.  But when we entered Nebraska National Forest, we were in the middle of a pine and spruce forest.  It didn’t last long, and soon we were back to the treeless, grassy covered hills, with not a tree in sight.  For miles and miles, the only trees were those that farmers had planted around their houses as windbreaks.

We entered South Dakota and the Black Hills were soon in sight.  Or at least mountains that we assumed were the Black Hills.  We passed through Hot Springs, which has to be one of the most picturesque little towns I’ve ever seen.  Many of the beautiful old buildings are made of rock from the surrounding hills, and, as you might imagine, are populated with antique shops, art galleries, coffee shops, and others geared to the thousands of tourists that come to this part of the country each year.

We stopped at the Crazy Horse Memorial (pictures), and watched the movie and toured the museum.  We were in time for the last performance of the dancers from the Oglala Lakota tribe who live nearby on the Pine Ridge reservation.  There was a profound sense of déjà vu after coming from the capital of the Cherokee Nation.  I’m thinking there must have been one master choreographer who taught dancing to the Native Americans.  But the massive sculpture (in process) is impressive and when it’s finished, sometime in my grandkids’ lifetimes, perhaps, it will be even more impressive.  It will be the largest sculpture in the world.  All the presidents on Mt. Rushmore would fit just in the head of Crazy Horse.

We’re now at Horse Thief RV park, just out of Hill City, South Dakota.  It’s heavily wooded, and just a couple of miles from the highest point in the state.  And about 12 miles from Mt. Rushmore National Monument, one of tomorrow’s destinations.

First day (at last)!

At last the day has come to head north (to Alaska!).

We left Tahlequah about 7:25 this morning.  That's about 25 minutes later than I wanted to get away, but I hadn't counted on how much time it would take to get packed.  I had spent most of Tuesday loading stuff in the trailer, but there were still a few items that I needed to wait on until this morning.  What I didn't realize was just how many there were.  And then there was the process of closing down the house.  So it just took a little longer.

I admit that I left with a little anxiety about how the truck would perform.  I had taken it on several short camping trips, and it had done fine, but none of those trips were any longer than 40 miles from home.  And none of those trips involved as much "stuff" as this one would.  There must have been an extra thousand pounds of food, clothes and other supplies that were loaded aboard the truck and trailer.  But the truck did fine.  We were able to cruise along at 65 mph with all that extra weight and the truck handled it with ease.

Actually, since Google Maps estimates driving times based on speed limits, it underestimated the amount of time it took us to get to Kearney, Nebraska, where we're camped now.  Even though we were able to drive 65 (actually, we could have gone faster, and did at times, but for the sake of gas mileage, I wanted to keep the speed to 65), that was usually below the posted speed limit, so we got here about an hour and a half later than Google Maps said we would.  No problem.  There was still plenty of daylight and we didn't even unhook the trailer from the pickup.

The high point of the day, other than the beautiful hills and prairies of Oklahoma, Kansas, and southern Nebraska, was our stop in Cawker City, Kansas, the home of the world's largest ball of twine.

 We had no idea that we would encounter this amazing and iconic tourist attraction, but as we were driving north in Kansas, we saw the sign on the highway welcoming us to Cawker City and we just knew we had to look for the ball of twine.  Sure enough, it was on the main street and we couldn't miss it!  Who would have thought it?

We arrived in Kearney about 5:30 and were able to set up the trailer and fix a meal with little hassle.  Maybe I'm getting the hang of this thing.  Now if I can just get some sleep tonight, tomorrow will be a lot less anxious, I think.  Tomorrow we head for Hill City, South Dakota.

New hosses!

Today, I got the new pickup.  It's a Ford F-150 Lariat, with lots of bells and whistles, but the main thing is that it has twice as much towing capacity as the Dakota.  Here are pictures:

 I think it will do nicely for the trip to Alaska.  I'm not sure when the next "dry run" will take place.  All the Thursday-Saturday time slots are taken up for the next several weeks.  But we're planning the next trip to Natural Falls State Park here in Oklahoma.  It's just off U.S. 412 west of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, about 40 miles from here.  It should be a good test of the truck's capabilities.  And besides, it's a nice park with beautiful scenery and a chance to get out and enjoy nature without any hassles.  And Siloam Springs is just a few miles away, with

good restaurants and an Aldi supermarket.  After that trip, I'd like to get to Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas, which is supposed to be pretty spectacular.  It's about an hour and a half away.  And then there's the trip to see Mom on Mother's Day.  That will be a major trip.  

Back to the routine

Today we hiked another of the park's trails, this one a nice, smooth, paved trail that wound around the park visitors' center and close to some of the lookouts and fishing holes that are for the park visitors.  The posted distance is about a mile, but this time it seemed shorter than that.  But without fishing gear, or a boat, there was nothing more to do except relax, and after a while, we decided to pack it up and head for home.

We are using a mental checklist for closing down the trailer, remembering what we left undone on the last trip.  This time, I believe everything is shut off and properly closed down, except for the one chore we haven't done before:  visit the dump station.  Dumping the black water is a simple process, but cleaning up has to be done with care.  And it's a distasteful job, needless to say.  Anyway, job's done.

When we arrive at my house, we unload the trailer and then head for the storage unit.  Backing the trailer in is somewhat simplified by the fact that my "neighbor" has removed his boat and that gives me more room to maneuver.  We get the trailer parked, and unhitched, and take off.

I'm supposed to meet the sales person at the Ford dealer later today to talk about a pickup she's found.

  

At Greenleaf State Park

Today we did what folks do when camping.  We went hiking and explored the park.  One of the features of Greenleaf State Park is a system of hiking trails that can be as long or as short as you wish.  The main trail runs about 8.5 miles from the trailhead to the farthest point, and there are two primitive campgrounds along the route that provide a place to overnight, as long as you pack in your own amenities.  We opted for a shorter portion of that trail, which loops around the southern end of the lake, taking the highway bridge across the lake, and then through the woods out to the eastern end of the lake to a suspension bridge, which crosses a narrow inlet of the lake.  The posted distance is about a mile and a half out, but because it has many elevation changes and varied types of terrain, it seemed much longer.  It was a cool and overcast day, but the weather was warm enough to be comfortable, and the trek was enjoyable, although very tiring.  My lack of running and other exercise during the winter months is obvious to me now.

The suspension bridge

We encountered several groups of people--and some solitary individuals--hiking the trail.  Several of them were carrying large backpacks for overnight stays in the primitive campgrounds.  Surprisingly, we even met a couple of guys from  Tahlequah that we knew.  It will be interesting to hear their accounts of the hike when we next meet up with them.

Later, wandering around the campground, we were impressed with the casual friendliness of the average campers.  That's something to look forward to as we anticipate lots of camping this summer.

This time, I did not forget to load the television, and it was a very weird sensation to be able to watch the Today show while eating breakfast, and in the evening to watch a movie on the DVD player linked to the TV.  Sure beats the tent!  Of course, nothing beats sitting out at night watching the stars without the "light pollution" of the city.  The sky had cleared during the afternoon, and there were millions of stars visible from the mountaintop where we were camped.  And the Google Sky app on my phone identified all the constellations and all of the planets and largest stars.  I am reminded that they're all right where God has placed them and even those orbits are temporary!

Camping Trip #2

After a morning round of golf, we packed up the trailer again for a trip to Greenleaf State Park.  About 30 miles from Tahlequah, near Braggs, Oklahoma, we discovered that Greenleaf was named the outstanding park in the Oklahoma state park system a couple of years ago.  The trip to the park was thankfully uneventful, except that one of the new mirrors I had bought for the pickup flew off and broke on the highway.  So, once again, I was reduced to using the stock mirrors, which simply were not sufficient.  Before we went to Sequoyah State Park, I had test-driven a couple of other pickups to see whether they had the power I needed to pull the trailer.  The sales person and I had actually hitched the trailer to the new pickups, so that we got a really good idea about their towing capability.  Any of them would definitely be an improvement.

We arrived in Greenleaf and found a campsite in one of their campgrounds, and went about setting up camp again.  The check-off system works well, although honestly, it's less critical when setting up camp because you always recognize what's next when you realize what you need.  This campground has electricity and water, but no sewer connections.  So it's a good thing we were only going to be here a couple of days.  We'll have our first experience with a dump station when we leave.  Because we're going to be here a little longer, we unhitch the trailer and thus are able to use the pickup for exploring the area.  The weather is beautiful, there's a lake for fishing and boating, and while the park is not full, there are a good number of folks here.  Tomorrow night, I suspect there will be many more with the start of the weekend.

The next morning

I awoke on Wednesday morning knowing that the night was much more comfortable than the first night spent in the trailer.  For one thing, the temperature didn't drop to freezing levels.  For another thing, the furnace was on and working great.  We cooked breakfast and after cleaning up, decided to close up shop and head for home.

The process of closing down the campsite was routine, but there were some things we forgot.  We forgot to turn off the propane, and I forgot to turn off and drain the hot water heater.  Fortunately, there was still water in the hot water tank, so it didn't damage it.  Keeping the hot water on without water in the tank will almost certainly burn out the heating element, and replacing it is both expensive and a hassle.  Apparently, the process of closing down the campsite will work better with a check-off list!

When we got home, I parked the trailer in front of my house because we're going to leave again tomorrow for a two-night stay at another state park.  

The first camping trip

We're camping at Sequoyah State Park, on Lake Ft. Gibson.  We picked up the trailer earlier today, and loaded up with all the stuff we thought we'd need for an overnight at the campground.  It's only about 20 miles from home, so it's a good chance to do our first dry run.  I had bought some clamp-on mirrors to enable me to see behind me more readily, and the one on the left side does indeed seem to help.  The mirrors extend out about eight inches beyond the edge of the pickup's regular mirrors, and the one on the left is slightly convex, so it does seem to help.  The one on the right side is somehow different and doesn't do much.  The pickup is able to make the short trip without too much effort, but I've started looking for a replacement that will pull the load more easily.

One thing we noticed immediately upon setting up camp was that I had forgot the TV.  I took it out of the trailer when we returned from Austin, in order to make sure it was in working order, and I left it at home.  Well, I've never had a TV on a camping trip before anyway, so it looks like the old Kindle is going to be the backup.  Everything else seems to be working fine.

The park is about a third full, even though it's in the middle of spring break, and the weather is pleasant.  Three campgrounds accommodate RVs, and there's a lodge and a nature center and a golf course, which I've played previously.  Paved hiking trails crisscross the park, which is located on a peninsula in the lake.  Altogether, it's a nice place for a first trip in the trailer. 

Putting the trailer in storage

Parking the trailer turned out to be easier than I had thought.  It has to be backed in to the storage shed, of course, as does most everything else that is parked there.  There isn't a whole lot of room, so you never get to straighten out the pickup with the trailer, but you're always backing at an angle.  Anyway, the trailer went into the spot where it was supposed to go, I detached from it, and it will stay there until the next outing.