Kim & Johns

Western Adventure
Summer 2013

Our Summer of 2013

June 1, Minnetonka MN Cue Simon & Garfunkel, "We've gone to look for America . . ." Well, at least the northwest portion of it!

June 1, Casselton ND Eventful first day. Lost our second 20 foot awning when it decided to self-deploy (much like it's predecessor) at 60 mph, compounded this time by gale force North Dakota winds. Cut it loose and recuperated at this less than picturesque parking lot campground west of Fargo ND.

June 2, Bismarck ND Hit the sights on Day 2. We found the largest buffalo in the world in Jamestown ND, and learned the tallest building in North Dakota is the rather nondescript State Capitol in Bismarck. Who knew?

June 3, Dickinson ND Thanks to all your terrific travel tips (feeling alliterative today), we took in part of ND's Enchanted Highway Truly amazing art, including this 80 ton, 150 by 110 "Geese in Flight," the largest scrap metal sculpture in the world, fittingly constructed in ND of oil well tanks and pipe. Like all rock tours, we've decided to christen our summer sojourn the "World's Biggest Tour." Im thinking we need to print commemorative t-shirts . . .

June 3, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND With every visit to a National Park, a grateful nation turns its eyes to Teddy Roosevelt, who first visited the Dakota Territory in 1883 . . . albeit not in a diesel pusher. The beautifully rugged landscape in his namesake park is a legacy of the conservation policy he shaped to benefit so many generations yet to come.

June 3, Glendive MT Were averaging one marriage-affirming RV challenge a day, mostly electrical, and so far, science, skill and cunning are winning out over fear, ignorance and superstition. Others involve operator error, where our latest life lesson was gleaned from trying to park a 17 ton rolling house on uncompacted gravel after a week of rain. Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from bad choices . . .

June 4, Billings MT Took a look down a westbound road, right away I made my choice . . . Still cloudy, but we seem to have finally outrun the rain, knock on naugahyde. Absolutely gorgeous night in Billlings on the Yellowstone River at the worlds very first KOA. Kant make th is stuff up!

June 5, Anaconda MT Crossing the Northern Rockies in Montana, its difficult not to wonder at the intrepid spirit of the Lewis and Clark expedition more than two centuries earlier. In another first today, our search for the worlds perfect lemonade ended with a street vendor in Anaconda MT.

June 5, Missoula MT A word about our Beast of Burden. Its a vintage 1990 Monaco Signature Crown Royale, lovingly restored (see before and after pix). For the cylinder-index crowd: Cummins L-10 engine, Allison transmission & Bendix cruise that would carry us to the top of K-2, if asked. For the HGTV crowd: refinished solid oak cabinets, 3/4" hardwood flooring, dry stack stone in kitchen and bath, convection oven, washer/dryer, satellite HDTV, WiFi & assorted man cave electronics. Lewis & Clark 2.0

June 5, Rocky Mountains Rocky Mountain Hiiiiiiiigh, Mon-tana-Ida-ho! Its been three decades since I called Colorado home, but memories of the summertime Rockies came flooding back today. Brilliant, clear skies that go on forever. Hot, penetrating sun, soothed by a pine-scented breeze. High mountain meadows cut by icy streams. Sweater-cool nights with a million stars all around. And the mountain air. Always crisp, forever clean.

June 6, Osburn ID Weve been especially taken by the fellow adventurers weve met along the way. Like earlier explorers of strange new lands, campers of all ages and ilk are refreshingly accessible to their transient neighbors, willingly sharing tips and tales. Our new friends today include an amateur gold-panning prospector, and this gentleman teaching his grandkids how to fly fish . . . and apparently the youngest, how to modern dance.

June 6, Wallace ID One of the joys of adventuring is discovering little towns along the way. Todays find was Wallace ID, an old mining town where every downtown building is on the National Historic Register, home of the Wallace Blues Festival, beer of "historic proportion," and a manhole cover declaring it the center of the universe.

June 7, Moses Lake WA We found a little touch of CO in the Pacific Northwest in the eastern high plains of WA. After an afternoon dip at our nice little RV resort, we discovered a wonderful little shop that had Kims childhood bike and clever lamps built out of household objects, including a motorcycle cylinder head and shifter for a switch!

June 8, Cascade Mountains Completed our outbound leg today after the Beast courageously surmounted another couple of mountain passes in the glorious Cascades. Planning to dock in Port Seattle for a few days to visit friends. Interesting how we land voyagers have adopted the nautical terms, tho urban campsites are far less sylvan than we are used to!

June 9, Seattle WA Spent a wonderful day with my college roommate Ted and his lovely wife Jeanne rediscovering Seattles vibrant arts community, natural urban environment, and fresh salmon! Its so nice to share such a comfortable familiarity with someone from your deep, deep past. All these things that dont change, come what may.

June 10, Bonney Lake WA The mountain was out today, and the bluest skies youve ever seen are in Seattle! Fellow Minnetonka retiree Joe and his delightful wife Bev shared with us their friendship and beautifully renovated home, and then let me live a vicarious moment on the ultimate twowheeler. After a great sea-side burger, we took in the sights of verdant Point Defiance Park and the Tacoma Narrows bridge, whose predecessor infamously bucked and collapsed under wind resonance to the awe of us onetime engineering majors.

June 11, Vancouver BC The Beast carried us into international territories today as we left the U S of A and arrived in Vancouver BC for a few days. Aside from the impossibly lush flora along the coast, humungous trees, pleasantly mild climate, cool suspension bridges and interesting place names, we are particularly impressed that the snow stays in the nearby mountains - where it belongs!

June 12, Victoria BC Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call. Following a misty morning ferry ride, the liquid sunshine of the Vancouver Island mountains delivered us into another day in paradise. Strolled among the landed gentry at Victorias world renowned Empress Hotel (shown here with my own Princess), before opting for a more modest afternoon tea at one of those delightful chance discoveries. Ive my fathers French Canadian name, but carry my mothers English tastes.

June 13, Capilano BC 1,860 miles on The Beast and 350 more on The Toad at our halfway mark. To my Canuck greatgrandfather (and namesake, John Gunyou), thats 3,557 kilometers. I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles . . .

June 13, Vancouver BC Vancouver BC is the land of emerald rain forests, without the stifling humidity. An interesting meteorological phenomenon only Paul Douglas Fir might explain. A clime that nurtures mossy beds and huge, first-growth ferns that predate time. And trees. Reeeeeealy big trees. Awe-inspiring trees that still tower over you when standing on a suspension bridge watching eagles fly below.

June 14, Vancouver BC The Vancouver bromance continues. Primordial forests, nearby mountains AND oceans, breathtaking gorges and First Nation carvings, vibrant urban density at a livable scale, multimodal boulevards with gargantuan hedges, But mostly, its the incredible skies. Skies in constant motion, with ever evolving depths and hues, impossible to faithfully capture in twodimensional digital images.

June 15, Vancouver BC As we reluctantly leave the west coast to cross the Cascades, I find myself thinking about the waters we have come to know, and the salmon who defy logic and gravity to return to the place of their birth to spawn and complete their life cycle. Leaving the bays that only hint of vast oceans to enter the streams that cut through rocky, tree-lined canyons, up into waters with a compelling life and energy of their own. Waters so rightly captured by Norman Maclean, "When I am alone in the half light of the canyon, all existence seems to fade into being with my soul and my memories of those I have loved. Eventually all things merge into one . . . and a river runs through it.

June 16, Leavenworth WA The high plains and rolling Columbia River valley between the Cascades and Rockies must have been a welcome respite for those intrepid, if not slightly unbalanced, souls who ventured west in the pre-HoJo days. Diverting onto blue highways, we spent a delightful evening on the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth WA, the self-proclaimed Accidental Bavaria of North America, where even multinational banks and McDs sport Germanic script.

June 17, Coeur DAlene ID Our portal to the Rockies was Coeur DAlene, a picturesque mountain town on a beautiful Idaho lake. We especially enjoy the local adventuring at the end of our travel day, and todays discoveries included a charming college campus, downtown public ball field, very cool wooden hulled boat, extraordinary sidewalk commemoration, and the longest floating boardwalk in the world another notch on our biggest tour!

June 17, Post Falls ID Nearing the Montana border, we felt compelled to order rare steaks for dinner last tonight, and were not disappointed. My heroes have always been cowboys. And they still are, it seems . . . all I know is, weve definitely left the land of Earl Grey tea, fresh cream and honey.

June 18, Bitterroot Range ID A peaceable drive today through the Western Rockies along gorgeous river valleys. Skirting the Bitterroot Range brought to mind another Norman Maclean memory, "As the moon lingers for a moment over the Bitterroots, before its descent into the invisible, my mind is filled with song. I find I am softly humming, not to the music, but to something else. A place remembered . . . somewhere else. A field of grass and wild flowers where no one seems to have been, except the deer. And the memories are strengthened by the feeling of you . . . dancing in my arms." I do so miss mountains in my life.

June 19, Butte MT Stood alone on a mountain top, starin' out at the Great Divide. Land Yacht carried us across the peak of North Americas watershed in a steep climb that necessitated downshifting, leaning forward and gritting out teeth. Down into the Land of Big Skies, and boy are they ever! Skies so big you need an owls neck to take it all in. Skies so big I have to wear my grandpa goggles to screen all that sun.

June 19, Livingston MT Weve been leading a charmed Camelot life, where it never rains till after sundown . . . or at least until after we hookup! It was a dark and stormy night at a beautiful little campground on the banks of the Yellowstone River, owned by John & Kim (no relation). Ambled around historic Livingston MT, and returned for breakfast at a little diner we discovered the night before our usual routine. Kim, sporting her new non-sweatshop sweater, had the best French toast ever, and I enjoyed perfectly prepared soft scrambled eggs, a rasher of slab bacon, and even a honey jar for my tea. The historic Murray Hotel sports an identical sign as Minneapolis classic steakhouse, and we found out later that a MN friends brother owns it!

June 20, Billings MT Mountain pass downgrades are a challenge as Newton points out, bodies in motion tend to stay in motion (especially massive bodies!), unless acted on by an outside force (like Jake brakes!) Land Yacht sailed through the high plains of southeastern MT, where cattle graze among rolling buttes that look like sock lumps under a green blanket. In Sheridan WY, King of Cowboy Towns, our campsite fittingly faced a horse pasture.

June 20, Sheridan WY We spent a fun evening at a street festival in Sheridan, complete with a cowboy band, future Olympian, street artists, somewhat ancient cavalry drum corps, and even a Penneys with the J.C.!

June 21, MN ND MT ID WA BC WA ID MT WY SD MN There is a road, no simple highway, between the dawn and the dark of night . . . Navigator Kim has truly risen above and beyond our directionally-challenged marriage. (It was an omen that neither of us could remember where we parked our car after getting our marriage license.) She has skillfully balanced such exogenous variables as daily mileage limits, habitable campgrounds, nightly new towns, Google-mappable and Beast-drivable routes, to construct a remarkable voyage across the northern tier of our country. All that, and entertain the pilot by conjuring up creative limericks . . .

June 21, Gillette WY We cruised through the Gillette WY coal fields, which triggered flashbacks to my former CO consulting life. Then, the Dakotas welcomed us back the way we left them with menacing thunderstorm clouds that outran The Beast, and reached down to envelop us like a Steven King fog.

June 21, Black Hills SD Well, after 21 days of peaceful coexistence, The Beast turned on us. After removing its 50 lb. starter in a thunderstorm (the next day was drier), the failing organ had to be admitted to the diesel hospital, and with the weekend, that means were at least two days behind our original MN ETA. The good news is, were marooned in a beautiful Black Hills park. The bad news is, satellite, internet and phone service is more than a little sketchy. The good news is, we have an excuse to see more of the local sights. The bad news is, many of them involve reptiles, animated creatures, wax figurines and waterslides.

June 22, Black Hills SD The overwhelming majesty of Mt. Rushmores heroic profiles juxtaposed with one mans unrequited dream of a Crazy Horse Memorial evoked memories of the many faces of America we have seen along the way. The seasoned WA traveler who offered us counsel on his favorite campgrounds. At the top of a MT mountain pass, the trucker who shared driving tips, the retired SD mechanic who drove an hour one evening to help try and resuscitate The Beast, the genial BC border guard who was more interested in our travels than in possible contraband, the ND auto parts store owner who took time to diagnose a problem, then sent us to a competitor, the WY couple who shared stories of their 13 grandchildren wishing their four sons would stop! All our fellow AZ, CO, OR, VA, CA, GA, et al mobile migrants who have provided the many human scale experiences that so enriched our travels.

June 23, Black Hills SD We spent Day 2 of our enforced relaxation in the mountain sunshine on the spectacular Needles Highway in Custer State Park, with its intimidating 8 foot-wide rock tunnels, towering pillars, expansive vistas, mountain meadows and deep blue lakes. Only a ceramic buffalo, but then, everything feels a little grander at altitude.

June 24, Bad Lands National Park SD On the road again. Just can't wait to get on the road again . . . the organ transplant was successful, so The Beast was discharged from our Black Hills KOA to the northern plains. We bypassed Wall Drug, foregoing the requisite bumper sticker, but did divert into the Badlands, which I first visited many years ago on a solo motorcycle trip from CO to MN. Riding quietly and alone through those unimaginable formations, I remember struggling to fathom the awe of the first visitors when they sanctified the grounds for all future beliefs. Now Kim and I both do.

June 25, Belvidere SD There's a song that they sing when they take to the highway . . . This adventure definitely needed a 60s sound track. Looking back on these many posts, it seems Ive managed to invoke (some twice) Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Seger, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Grateful Dead, the Stones, the Eagles, the Who, the Jimmy Buffet, Allman Brothers, John Denver, Judy Collins, even Learner & Loewe and retro Perry Como, and now Sweet Baby James.

June 25, Wall SD Returning to sea level, we seem to have transitioned from grandiose natural scenery to beckoning man-made sights. Leaving the Pacific Northwest, Cascades, Rockies, Black Hills and Badlands, we entered the vast rolling plains of East Dakota, with nature on a much smaller scale, like the curious dragonflies that shared our campsite. Sights ranged from a recreated 1880 prairie town, Elvis Harley, and the worlds only Palace of Corn, all of which will have to wait for a future trip with the grandkids. Although . . . as a child of the corn belt, I found the latter concept strangely compelling.

June 26, Sioux Falls SD Wheels up at 0900 in Sioux Falls SD for the final leg of our month-long adventure . . . foregoing the blue highway hypotenuse for interstate ease, our ETA is 1430 with a stiff tailwind, and as the say in my Mothers neck of the Appalachian Hills, the Good Lord willin and the creek dont rise.

June 26, Minnetonka MN What a long, strange trip its been . . . that seems a proper musical postscript for our 4,825 mile voyage of discovery 3,930 on the Land Yacht, and another 895 on our Toad side trips. Early on, my Mother shared with Kim that all the Gunyou men have the soul of a gypsy. Nearly a century ago, my grandparents took their well worn Airstream on a trip from OH to the west coast, and several decades later, my parents did the same in their more than gently used motor coach. We Gunyou men have been blessed with a modicum of mechanical skills to keep our respective beasts running, but far more importantly, with companions willing to tolerate, if not embrace, our innate wanderlust. As we concluded our road trip today, quite fittingly on our anniversary, Kim and I shared our mutual surprise at how, despite our trepidation, a month of extreme togetherness has actually brought us much closer. In addition to a more comfortable familiarity, it seems the choreography of close quarters has resulted in a penchant to finish each others sentences . . .