Today after sleeping in and taking the pups to the campground dog park, we saddled back up and biked into Leavenworth again.
Shopping, and Eating, and Drinking
We started off with some coffee for Cat. She found a spot that did a bourbon maple latte and had to try it.
We then started strolling through the town, popping into shops, and picking up some souvenirs. Along the way we found the Danish Bakery where we popped in for some turnovers. I got a raspberry cream cheese and Cat got cherry. They were both delicious.
Leavenworth is full of wine tasting rooms, so we did a few different tastings. We didn’t love any of the wine we tasted, but it was fun to try! We then finished shopping.
After all of the shops, we went to München Haus beer garden for some sausages, drinks, and Cat’s mini pretzel.
After lunch and shopping we hit the post office to drop off some post-cards, and pedaled our way back to the campground.
Lake Wenatchee State Park
While shopping in the local pet store, we overheard the owner telling another couple about Lake Wenatchee State Park, just down the road from our campground. After relaxing for a bit, we loaded the pups up and headed to the park to check it out.
Despite only being a few miles away, it was much windier and colder at the park on the lake than it was in town, but that never deters Woody from going for a swim!
Emmie and I wisely stayed on dry, warm, land.
After the park, we headed back to the RV, and started packing up to prepare for tomorrow’s journey to Anacortes!
Leavenworth is absolutely worth a stop if you are in the area! The town is unique and full of good food and cute shops and it is all surrounded by beautiful nature!
Today was one of our shortest travel days yet. A quick trip from Spokane to the Bavarian Village of Leavenworth, WA. When planning our trip, Leavenworth had come up as a bit of an attraction in Washington. Nestled into the hills of the Cascades is a small town completely made up to look like a Bavarian town. I figured it was worth a stop on our trip to check it out.
The Route
Like most destinations, we had a couple of route options. The first, take I90 from Spokane then cut north and reach Leavenworth via Wenatchee, or take the more scenic route 2 the whole way.
While on many of our trips we tended to stick to the freeways to maximize travel time, and truck stop availability, on this trip we are really trying to take our time, and enjoy the scenery. So we opted for the scenic route.
In total we are looking at about 194 miles, and about 4 hours of drive time.
The Journey
After a short trip through downtown Spokane on I90, we got off on Route 2 for our journey. Unfortunately this stretch of 2 just outside of Spokane was full of round abouts. We ended up going through 3 of them. Normally I do not mind round-abouts, but they can be a bit tricky going through in the RV, so I usually end up taking up both lanes to make sure I have room.
A lot of this journey was flatlands through Washington farm country. As we neared the end of the route we started to encounter our first of the Cascade mountains. Things started to get hillier, and or gas milage suffered.
Route 2 took us across the Dry Falls Dam, a part of the Grand Coulee water reclamation project. Apparently the Grand Coulee dam itself across the Columbia river is a sight to see in itself, so we have that marked out our list of things to see in our future adventures.
We continued on Route 2 until we ran into the Columbia River, then we turned south. Fun fact, we actually, sorta, encountered the very start of the Columbia River in our adventures in Banff. The Columbia Icefield that we stopped at to walk on the Athabasca glacier feeds the tributaries that lead to the start of the Columbia river, so on this trip we will follow that river from its start, through to its end when it meets the Pacific Ocean.
We followed the Columbia river south to the Wenatchee area, passing many, many, many cherry orchards. The season is in full swing and there were lots of roadside fruit stands. Unfortunately, we could not find any that looked RV friendly until we were well past, so we will have to plan to get our cherries at the Pikes Place Market in Seattle.
We were briefly delayed just north of Wenatchee by a vehicle accident blocking the road.
We were only stopped for about 20 minutes, giving plenty of time for a quite restroom break. The Joys of having a motorhome!
Once we got going again, it was a quick 20 minute drive through the Wenatchee river valley to reach Leavenworth.
Leavenworth KOA Holiday
It was an easy drive to find the campground entrance, however, to reach the office you have to pretty much drive through the entire campground first. This was a long winding journey with many speed bumps. We got checked in fairly quickly, waiting a few minutes for an escort to our site, and continued… all the way back to the entrance where our site was. Without remembering it, we had booked a deluxe patio campsite, so we had a nice extra long, extra wide site with a concrete patio, furniture, a gas grill, and a fire put. Unfortunately the area is in a full fire ban, so we won’t be able to put that fire pit to use.
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 175 Fuel Used: 19.8 gallons Day Average MPG: 8.8mpg
Trip Average MPG: 8.6 Trip Total Miles: 1822 Trip Total Fuel Used: 212g
Dinner In Leavenworth
Once we got camp setup and took the pups for a walk, we fired up the ebikes and took a short 1 mile ride right into town. There were lots of bike racks available, so we locked up the bikes and took a stroll through town, as well as through their riverfront park. After walking through the park, we went on the hunt for authentic Bavarian cuisine. We ended up at the Andreas Keller Restaurant.
Cat was on a quest for some German sausage, and I was looking for some schnitzel so we decided to split their sausage sampler, and a schnitzel. Some how Cat was not enticed by their large pretzel.
We wrapped up dinner with some apple strudel. This actually ended up being disappointing.
After eating a bit too much, we rolled our way out past the live accordionist, grabbed our bikes, and pedaled our way back to the campsite for the night.
Today we leave our great northern neighbor and head back to the good ole USA. Our travels today follow much of the same path that we took on our travels to Banff, however instead of crossing the border at Roosville we crossed at the aptly named Eastport, Idaho.
The other difference, some of the nice downhills we took coming in to Banff, we had to climb back up and over. This gave the ol’ Schlanni Bus a run for its money, but it handled it like a champ.
Departing Banff
Since we didn’t have full-hookups at our campsite, our first stop on departure is the dump station. This is the area of campgrounds where RVers can go to well, dump, their holding tanks. Our RV can be fully self contained with 90 gallons of fresh water, as well as 70 gallons of ‘gray’ water, which comes from showers and sinks, and 50 gallons of ‘black’ water, which comes from the toilet. At 4 nights, our stay at Banff was one of our longer trips without full hookups and we only ended up using about 1/3 of our fresh water tank. But that means we had about 30 gallons of not so fresh water to dump.
We left our site just before 9am and ended up waiting in line at the dump station for about 20 minutes. It took us about 10 minutes to dump, and we were on our way out by 9:30.
The Border
While our entrance into Canada was quick, easy, and friendly, our return back into the United States was a wee bit more complicated.
The adventure started just with entering the border crossing. The signs indicated there were 2 lines, one for automobiles & RVs, and another for commercial trucks. The commercial truck lane was pretty backed up, but we entered the automobile line. As we were progressing down the line, we were met by a very angry cattle hauling trucker who started yelling at us, and even threw his trucker cap at us as we drove by.
Unsure what was going on we continued on to the checkpoint where we ultimately found the automobile lane was closed and they were routing all vehicles into the commercial truck lane. Unbeknownst to us, we were ‘cutting the line’.
Once we realized this, we waited until all of the trucks that were in the line got through, and then merged into the open lane.
We had a friendly chat with the CBP officer and thought we were in the clear until he asked us if we had any eggs. Unfortunately, given the bird flu situation, eggs are not able to cross the border and we still had some of our home grown Schlanni Farm eggs. This led to us having to park and head inside.
Bonus shot of our Schlanni Farm Chickens!
We entered the building and spoke to the staff there, we walked through all of the items we had in the RV relating to fruits, vegetables, animal products, plants, and seeds. They then came out, had us take the pups out and they searched the whole RV top to bottom, inside and out. When they were done, they came out with a handful of items.
In total they kept/destroyed:
Our potted Snake Plant – as we couldn’t prove it came from the USA
Eggs
The 12 grapes left in the bag
Rice (purchased in the USA and still in the original bag?!)
Dog Food (We buy in bulk and keep it in a plastic tote. Since we didn’t have the original bag they couldn’t prove its origin and had to destroy it)
We were told we could have received a $300 fine as we didn’t properly declare everything (we forgot about the grapes, blueberries, and some raw potatoes) however they decided not to fine us. They also provided us with a list of banned items (that they do not publish on their website) advising us to make sure to dispose of those items before crossing the border. We were also advised to ensure we had a good inventory of everything in the RV before we cross the border.
Additionally they also asked to see the vet records for the pups to confirm rabies vaccinations, and to ensure we completed the CDC Pet Import form, all of which we had available.
Overall it was a very interesting experience. It seems enforcement has certainly been stepped up, as our past trips across the border did not include this same level of scrutiny.
Idaho/Spokane
After our border adventures, the rest of the journey down US95 was really smooth sailing. We have been quite lucky in avoiding traffic through this whole trip, but I expect as we continue west towards the coast our luck will run out.
US95 brought us down to I90, just west of Coeur D’Alene. We were running a bit low on gas (about 25% remaining) since we did not fill up at all in Canada, and there were very few options in northern Idaho. In pulling up our Open Roads fuel program map, we noticed there was a very significant difference in diesel cost between Idaho and Washington, with prices in Idaho being a full $1 cheaper per gallon.
Given that, we made a stop at a Maverick at the last exit in Idaho and managed to fill for $3.57 (before our discount) instead of right around $4.50 one more mile down the road.
I probably broke some Maverik code by wearing my Bucees shirt, guess I may need to pick up a new shirt on our next gas stop at a Maverik.
In total we added about 72 gallons of diesel for about $250 after our discount.
Arriving at Spokane KOA Journey
After our gas stop, it was a quick 10 minute drive down the road to our stop.
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 349.4 Fuel Used: 38.3 Day Average MPG: 9.1mpg
Trip Total Miles: 1630 Trip Total Fuel Used: 189.9g
Dinner in Spokane
Once we got camp setup and the pups settled we hit the road to find dinner in downtown Spokane. Our campground was about 20 minutes from downtown, and we were at the height of rush hour so we hit a bit of traffic.
We got into downtown, parked in a parking garage and took a walk through the downtown area, ending up at a small little restaurant called Durkins, which is known for their cheeseburgers.
We ordered a few cocktails. I got the The Blacker The Berrie, and Cat got the Whenever, Wherever (I also ended up getting one of these as well).
We both ordered the Durkins burger. It was quite delicious, and the fries were fantastic!
After that we continued our walk downtown, popping into the Lego store for good fun, then went back to the camper and called it a night!
Today (Monday, June 9th) we drove our motorhome about 307 miles from our campground near Glacier National Park, to the Tunnel Mountain Village II campground inside Banff National Park in Alberta Canada!
Driving from Glacier to Banff
When researching the route, we found 2 different potential routes, one going up the east side of the park and coming in from Calgary, and the other going up the west side of the park through Kootenay National Park. We opted for the more scenic westerly route.
We left our campground (Moose Creek RV Park and B&B) around 10:30AM and stopped right away to top off on gas. Despite many trips to Canada, I still do not understand their gas prices and figured it was best to top up before crossing the border as I seem to recall it being more expensive.
Border Crossing!
We meandered our way up US93 and crossed the border at Roosville around 12:30pm.
After a quick 2 minute chat with Canadian border protection, we were on our way, continuing on Canadian route 93.
We made a brief pitstop at the Rock Creek Rest Area near Caithness around 3:30. This rest area was a little different. Instead of an easy off-ramp/on-ramp type we see in the US, it was a turn off with a big loop turnaround to go back out the way we came. Not really designed for many big vehicles like ours, but did the trick.
Outside of some slow downs due to the construction of a wildlife bridge just south of Radium Springs, it was a lovely scenic drive.
Tight Squeeze
Once we got to Radium Springs and entered Kootenay national park we hit the mountains. Right off the bat we encountered a tight pass with rocks overhanging the road, and steep climb.
This stretch of CA 93 zigs and zags itself through various mountain passes so it was a mix of pretty river valleys and meadows, with steep mountain passes. Overall, it was very pretty, and not too difficult of a drive.
CA 93 met up with CA1, the Trans-Canada highway. Despite some climbs this was an easy divided 4 lane road with extensive wildlife management. The entire highway seemed to be lined with tall electrified animal fencing, and many wildlife bridges spanned the highway. This was a short stretch that brought us directly in the Banff.
Downtown Banff
Unfortunately, it brought us directly into Banff. Our route took us directly through downtown Banff, which is a hopping place with lots of pedestrians, bicyclists, cars, motorhomes, busses, as well as trucks pulling trailers piled high with river rafts. Not the most exciting of places to be driving a large motorhome, but we made it through slowly with no issues.
After passing through downtown we headed up Tunnel Mountain and made it to Tunnel Mountain Village II campground. After a short line of RVs checking in, we got our site and were on our way.
Tunnel Mountain Village II
Since this stop we only had electrical service, we stopped at the dump station on the way in and filled our freshwater tank up to the tippy top. This ended up being overkill as we only ended up using about 1/3 of our 90 gallon fresh water supply, but I would always prefer to have more water than we needed. If we needed more, we would have to breakdown the whole RV, drive back to the dump station, and take on more.
We then made it to our site, C1. This was the first time we have encountered a campground where all of the stops are just lined up on the street. So we just parked the RV on the shoulder and setup camp! In the future, I would like to stay at Trailer Court campground. Those spots were off the road like a traditional campground, and had full hookup, but it was hard enough scoring these reservations, so I will take it!
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 307 Fuel Used: 34.6 gallons Day Average MPG: 8.9mpg Check Engine Lights: 0 Trip Total Miles: 1280 Trip Total Fuel Used: 151.6g
Our third day in Glacier National Park was Tyler’s Birthday! I woke up and made him a big griddle breakfast that included pancakes with huckleberry syrup (of course). We then headed back into the park for the last thing on our list, biking Going To The Sun Road. While part of the road is closed to cars due to still being buried in snow peak, you are allowed to bike it. We drove to Avalanche and tried to find parking. It was crowded and they were turning people away. We made a loop around when the ranger had walked away and drove into the campground that they were using as overflow parking. We were able to find a spot pretty quickly and got ready for the ride.
The Ride
This was one of the moments where you look around with tears and your eyes and can’t believe you get to experience something so beautiful. The views were incredible and it was exciting to be able to do something that most visitors do not get a chance to do. With the help of our e-bikes, we made it 7.5 miles to “The Loop” and then headed back down. While the e-bikes were a huge help, it was still a tough ride up. The ride down was much easier, which was lucky because both of our bikes’ batteries died about 2 miles before the end.
We made it back to the car, packed up and headed back to Apgar Village for some last minute souvenirs and some food. Despite the impromptu dead batteries, biking Going To The Sun Road was a highlight of the trip.
Dessert
To save room for dessert we shared a bison burger while sipping on some huckleberry cocktails and then ended lunch with a warm huckleberry cobbler.
While the cobbler was good, it was no where near as good as the crisp we got in Missoula. We drove back to the RV to spend the rest of the evening at the campsite with the dogs and start packing up for our journey to Banff!
I learned from the day before and had a plan for our second day at Glacier National Park. We were going to take a boat ride at Two Medicine Lake and hike to Twin Falls.
Journey to the east
We woke up early and drove to the east side of the park. This was about an hour and a half drive, so I made sure to download some podcasts for the trip. We enjoyed the Night of the Grizzlies episode of Stuff You Should Know about bears in Glacier and the podcast, Headwaters, which is put out by Glacier National Park. On the way, we noticed a lot of cars stopped by the side of the road. We parked and were graced with our first moose sighting! A female moose was chilling in a marsh, eating away.
We got to Two Medicine Lake with plenty of time, which was good because I forgot my sweatshirt and it was cold out. I went to the visitor center and bought a new cozy one and Tyler found a sticker for his water bottle. We took the obligatory water bottle sticker picture and then it was time for the boat trip.
Boat Tour
As we were getting on the boat, we learned that the bridge was out on the trail to Twin Falls, and unless we wanted to forge a creek that was over knee high, we would not be able to get there. We were bummed but determined to enjoy the boat ride. The mountains were beautiful, but what we most enjoyed was learning about the park from the boat captain. She told remarkable stories about the park and its history. We were on the boat for about 45 minutes and then headed back to the car.
We made a quick stop at Running Eagle Falls which is just a short walk off the main road. It was my favorite waterfall in the entire park!
Many Glaciers
Because we were already on the west side of the park, we decided to drive another hour up to Many Glaciers and explore. I have been on a never ending hunt to spot a big ole daddy moose (aka a bull) ever since we moved to Colorado. I had read that the best place to see moose is up at Many Glaciers, so I was pumped. I had really wanted to take the Many Glaciers boat ride and do some hikes from where it dropped you off, but those tours did not start for a few more days. Instead we parked at the Many Glacier lodge, grabbed a snack and then hiked half way around Swiftcurrent Lake and to Lake Josephine. Due to construction, you could not go around the whole lake, so we turned around and headed back to the lodge. In total we did a nice and easy two miles.
We did not see any wildlife on our hike besides a few deer, so we went up to the balcony of the lodge with binoculars. We enjoyed the views for a little while and then headed to our next stop.
St. Mary’s
Just a few minutes down the road is St. Mary’s, which has the other half of the Going To The Sun Road. We decided to drive up it as far as we could. The views were otherworldly and we finally got to see our first glacier in Glacier!
Once we hit the closed section, we turned around and started the two hour drive back to the RV and the puppers.
We made it to stop number 2 on our road trip. We enjoyed a slow morning at our campsite with the pups before heading into Glacier National Park for the day.
McDonald Lake Lodge
Our only plan was to head to McDonald Lake Lodge for some lunch and then plan our day there. We got to the lodge and the dining manager sat us at “his favorite spot” and we had a beautiful view of the creek running into the lake. I ordered a regular burger and Tyler ordered an elk burger with huckleberry jam. Mine was pretty average, but Tyler’s was delicious! We have become huge fans of all things huckleberry and the burger did not disappoint.
Once we were done eating, we were ready to make a plan. Now, when you read in multiple places that you should plan ahead and download maps before entering the park, you should totally listen. We had zero service the second we entered into Glacier National Park, so we had to get out the map they give you at the Ranger Station and plan our day the good ole fashion way. Luckily I had done some research and knew the hike that I wanted us to try.
We spent some time on the Lake McDonald shore line admiring the views and the clear lake water. I particularly liked all of the colorful pebbles you could see in the water. Tyler did not hesitate to remind me that I could not take one home.
Avalanche Lake
We drove up the Going To The Sun Road until we hit the closed section. Visiting Glacier in early June is great because it was not super crowded, but a lot of things, including the Going To The Sun Road and the Many Glacier Boat tour, are still closed for the season. We had to drive around a little bit for parking, but were able to find a spot in the closed camping area in under 5 minutes.
We started off on the Trail of the Cedars, which is an easy hike right on the river, surrounded by beautiful trees.
That trail led to the Avalanche Lake Trail, our goal for the day! On all the apps and blogs I read, this trail was marked as “easy” and “great for the whole family”. We quickly learned that did not mean it was fat friendly. I was huffing and puffing my way up this trail, being passed by children and old people alike. There were more than a few times where I did not think I was going to make it, however, when I could see through my sweat, the hike was absolutely gorgeous. Turquoise water in the nearby river, mossy trees and rocks in the forest. When we reached the lake at the end of the trail, it was all worth it. The crystal clear blue water was surrounded by mountains with cascading waterfalls.
We hung out at the lake for awhile, refueled with some snacks and then started the trek back down. Hiking back was a breeze and we got to really enjoy the scenery.
All in all the hike was 4 miles round trip.
Dinner
We stopped by Apgar village and looked through the shops and then headed back to the campground to take care of the pups. After taking them to the dog park and feeding them dinner, we set out to find some food for ourselves. We found our way to the Huckleberry Patch and had some pretty mediocre diner food. The star of the show was the huckleberry milkshake (I told you we were obsessed). We bought ourselves some huckleberry candy and syrup and headed back to the RV for the night.
Today we hit the road early to get to the I-State Truck Center in Missoula, MT as early as possible to get a diagnosis of our check engine light. If all goes well we can get back on the road to Glacier National Park!
After talking to their service advisors, their techs start arriving around 8am, and it is first come first served so we wanted to be close to first in line.
We got on the road to Missoula around 6:30, with about 2 hours of driving. I90 from Butte to Missoula was mostly flat driving, which was nice since we didn’t quite know what was wrong with the bus yet. In all we got to the truck center a little after 8:30 and we were second in line.
We also happened to hit 9.9MPG on this leg of the journey! This was partly due to the flat terrain, and partly due to taking the trip at a slower speed to avoid putting any extra effort on the bus until we knew what was wrong.
Once we got the bus checked in for service, we disconnected the Jeep, loaded up the pups and headed off to explore Missoula.
Missoula, MT
Our first stop, the dog park! Since dogs aren’t allowed on most trails within Grand Teton (or Glacier), the pups had been spending a lot of the days in the RV by themselves so we wanted to spoil them a bit.
The dogs got to spend a good while off leash, chasing balls and playing with other dogs before we loaded back up to check out Claras park along the river. This was a pretty little park along side of downtown with a path along the river. Here we saw our first (and only) instance of surfing in Montana.
After the park we ventured out to Bass Pro Shop for some shopping, before heading back towards downtown to find some lunch.
For lunch we found an open patio seat at Iron Horse Bar & Grill. I got the french dip, and Cat got the BLT. Both were absolutely delicious. Since we each only ate half of our lunches, we decided to share a Huckleberry Crisp for dessert, and it was fabulous. Highly recommend Iron Horse if you ever find yourself stranded in Missoula while your RV is being repaired.
While eating lunch, we got a call back from I-State Truck Center with the diagnosis. Turns out it was a cracked boost hose. A detour, $500 diagnostic fee, for a $40 plastic hose replacement. The service center got it all patched up, did a test drive to confirm, and had the RV ready for us once we got back from lunch.
Outside of the cost, the only downside was their test drive dropped the average MPG from 9.9, to 9.5.
Onward Ho!
We were able to get the Jeep hitched back up the RV quickly and after a brief fuel stop at the Love’s truck stop, we got back on the road for a short and very scenic route to our destination, Moose Creek RV Resort and Bed & Breakfast. Our route took us up along Flathead Lake which was another beautiful drive. This area is apparently known for its Cherries as we passed dozens of cherry orchards.
From Kalispell it was a short easy drive up towards West Glacier, and we arrived at our campground around 4:30PM – setup camp, grabbed some firewood, and ate our lunch leftovers by the fire.
So while the day took an unexpected turn with our stop in Missoula, it was well worth the detour to explore the town, and we still made it before dark!
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 260 Fuel Used: 27.7 Day Average MPG: 9.4mpg Check Engine Lights: 0 Trip Total Miles: 973 Trip Average MPG: 8.3 Trip Total Fuel Used: 117g
Today we depart our stay at Fireside Buffalo Valley campground and begin our journey north to Glacier National Park. As this is about a 9 hour drive (about 500 miles), we decided to split the travel into 2 separate days, which ended up being a blessing with a surprise detour into lovely Missoula, MT.
The Route
Coming out of Grand Teton, we had 2 choices for routes, the first option was to go south to Jackson, and take route 26 over to I15 in Idaho falls and take that up towards Butte. That route would have been about 339 miles, and just over 5 hours.
The other route option was to continue taking 287 north out of Grand Teton through Yellowstone up to I90. This route at only about 250 miles, was also just over 5 hours. Since we did not visit Yellowstone National Park on this trip, and it would be the same amount of drive time, we figured we should at least drive through, so we opted for this route. The only downside to this route, was gas stops. While there are plenty of gas stations in West Yellowstone, none of them looked like they would be easy to get our 36ft motorhome + Jeep in and out of.
Day 1 – Fireside Buffalo Valley to Butte KOA Journey
We had the RV packed up and hit the road around 9:30 in the morning and made our way to Yellowstone. We encountered very little traffic on our northbound trek and made smooth progress up until we got close to Old Faithful, around there we started to encounter a lot more traffic. From Old Faithful until the West Entrance road the parked looked to be very busy.
Overall the drive through Yellowstone was beautiful and worth the extra time. Once we got out of Yellowstone it was a bit more on the boring side through the valley. The exception to this was right outside of Yellowstone when we went around Hebgen lake. This was a beautiful mountain reservoir, and may be worth a stop of its own some day. Just past Hebgen lake was Earthquake Lake, which was formed during the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake when a rockslide dammed the Madison river forming a new additional lake.
We continued on our journey north and stopped for gas and lunch in the town of Ennis. This was a happening little town with a lot of bars and restaurants along its main drag, along with a lot of campgrounds and RV parks.
Fuel Stop
We stopped at the Rocky Mountain Supply/Cenex gas station on the north side of town. They have what looks to be a brand new island of diesel only pumps put in with lots of room and long RV parking spaces. While a ways outside of the West Yellowstone entrance, this was by far the best gas stop for a large motorhome.
Miles: 173 Fuel Purchased: 46 gallons Price: $3.49/gallon – no Open Roads discount here Average MPG: 8.9 – while Yellowstone was hilly, the slower speeds + the flat plains of the valley gave us great MPG.
We continued on after the gas stop making our way up towards I90 in Cardwell. I90 was smooth sailing until we reached Homestake Pass, a mere 6 miles from our destination in Butte. Homestake Pass is the highest point on interstate 90, and is one of the many times we crossed the continental divide on this trip.
On the way up the peak, a mere 6,300ft of elevation, the motorhome started sputtering and threw the first and only check engine light we have ever had.
To help monitor additional temperatures and gauges beyond what is on the dash we use a BlueFire bluetooth OBD scanner. This allows us to get additional details from the coach such as transmission temps, boost pressures, and other helpful information. It also allows us to see engine codes. In this situation, the bus was reporting code 102-18 – Engine Intake Manifold #1 Pressure. Data Below Normal Operating Range – Moderate.
Since we were only 6 miles from our destination, and it was ‘Check Engine’ and not ‘Stop Engine’, we decided to safely come down the pass and continue on to get to our overnight stop and troubleshoot from there.
Destination
We arrived at the Butte KOA Journey just after 3pm without any additional issues.
Once we got settled, I did some research into the error code and did not find much helpful information. It looked like it could be anything from the air filter ($) to the turbo ($$$$).I checked the filter and confirmed that it was not obstructed, so we prepared for the worst and checked with Freightliner for the nearest service center.
The closest certified shop to us was I-State Truck Center in Missoula. While not originally on our travel destinations, we made plans to head to Missoula first thing in the morning.
We then headed out to Wal-Mart, Petco, and CVS to stock up on provisions and things that we had forgotten to bring with us.
After unloading all our provisions, we went on a quest for dinner, settling on Casagranda’s Steakhouse.
This was a cool stop in an old warehouse in the Butte historic district (fun fact, Butte has one of the largest historic districts in the USA!). There was a 20 minute wait, so we popped into the bar for a drink before dinner. Unfortunately service was a bit slow and it took us almost 40 minutes to get our table.
Casagranda’s meals are all 4 course meals served with a soup, salad, entree, and ice cream. The soup of the day was Grilled Cheese, which was basically a cheesy tomato soup, it was delicious. We both ordered the Ribeye, the steak was Ok. Cat’s was over cooked, and we both found it to be a bit tough. For desert, rocky road ice cream, not my favorite, but hey – you put ice cream in front of me, I’m gonna eat it. But all-in-all 4 course steak dinner for $40 a piece, not too bad.
After dinner we headed right back to the RV, hooked up the Jeep and got ready for an early departure.
Trip Totals
Total Miles Today: 246.5 Fuel Used: 29.3 gal Day Average MPG: 8.4 Check Engine Lights: 1 Trip Total Miles: 711.5
For our first stop on our big adventure, we spent 2 days in Grand Teton National Park. We had previously visited Grand Teton in 2022 during a summer trip to Yellowstone during a brief day trip. When we arrived we were amazed at the beauty of the park and decided we will have to go back and spend more time. Since it is so close to home, it made a great first stop on our grand Schlanni Adventures.
Day One – June 2nd
Weather: Sunny, highs in the 60s
For our first day at the park, our main adventure was to hike Jenny Lake. We took the Jenny Lake shuttle boat across the lake. The shuttle is $20 per person round trip, the alternative is a ~2 mile walk around the north shore. The boat ride was cold, windy, and wet, but quick and direct.
As we got off the boat our boat captain was pulled to go respond to a medical emergency, and we headed off to Hidden Falls. This was a short, but uphill hike to some roaring falls. We ventured a little further up the mountain towards Inspiration Point, but quickly realized that was more than we wanted to take on. Instead we decided to take the remainder of the Jenny Lake Loop trail from Hidden Falls back to the dock and Jenny Lake visitors center. Overall we hiked right around 3 miles.
After Jenny Lake we decided to drive around the park, heading towards Colter Bay. On the way we joined a gaggle of folks stopped on the road and caught a glimpse of our first bear sighting.
So far at Grand Teton we have seen: Moose, Elk, Fluffy Cows, and now Bears.
Baby moose from our 2022 trip.
We also drove around most of the park, stopping at Colter Bay for some lunch at the Café Court. We split a chicken bacon hoagie and potato chips, which was surprisingly delicious. They also served pizza which looked promising. After lunch we spent some time on the beach soaking up the sun listening to the waves lap on shore.
I also added my first national park sticker to my Yeti and had Cat help me line up the perfect picture.
We headed back to the RV, had some burgers on the Blackstone, and some French fries in the 11-in-1 air fryer contraption before calling it a night.
Day Two – June 3rd
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, highs in the mid-upper 50s.
We started day 2 earlier, heading straight to the Grand Teton Lodge for some breakfast at the Pioneer Grill, a 50s themed diner. Unable to decide, we split the Huckleberry Pancakes, and the egg plate for some protein. Overall breakfast was Ok, the pancakes, while tasty, were a bit undercooked in the middle, but other than that you can’t go wrong with griddle eggs, sausage, and home fries (although hash browns are in fact the superior breakfast potato).
After breakfast we were on the quest for a moose. On our past trip we had spotted a young moose right off the trail at Schwabacher Landing, so we headed there, with a few stops at some overlooks along the way. Unfortunately, no moose to be seen.
We continued on to Moose Junction where we stopped at the Windy Point overlook to park, and switch to two wheels. We took our e-bikes up to Jenny Lake, with a detour at the Lupine Meadows trailhead – just in case there was a moose. Overall we biked about 13 miles round trip. By far one of the most beautiful bike rides we have ever taken, and aside from a brief stretch of head on cold wind, the weather held up great for us.
After the ride we decided to head south and check out the town of Jackson. Jackson is a lovely town with a lot of great shops, bars, and restaurants around their central square. We happened to get lucky and find a quick parking spot, that just so happened to be in front of ‘CocoLove.’ So clearly it was fate we stop in for a treat.
I got the strawberry tart, and Cat got the chocolate on chocolate monstrosity, both very delicious. We continued walking around town popping into the various shops before going on a quest for Huckleberry Mule’s and ended up at Sidewinders. I got the huckleberry lemon drop, and Cat got a huckleberry mule. We also split a Sidewinder pretzel, which is really just cheese stuffed pizza crust shaped into an S. Not really a pretzel, but delicious nonetheless.
After the giant pretzel we decided on one more small hike and moose check at Schwabacher Landing. No moose, but I can confidently say, this hidden gem is by far my favorite place in the entire park.
We called it a day after that to head back to the RV and spend some time with the pups and get prepped for our travel day tomorrow. While we only spent 2 days in Grand Teton National Park – we had a blast (despite the lack of moose sightings).
Up next we will be on our way to Glacier National Park!
