Announcement 2

[tbhd]

Congradulations on your 3400. There was a couple staying with their daughter in there 3400 this summer down the road from us. They use to have a motor home before and just can't believe how much room they have now.

sreigle---when are you going to Glacier? We will be at Mountain Meadows campground 6/19 thru 6/23. Maybe we'll run into each other.

[sreigle]

Tbhd, that would be great if we did! We want to do both Glacier and Yellowstone, then head on over to Reno, assuming the next rally is there. Our youngest granddaughter's second birthday is 6/25 so we'll probably be in the Kansas City area at that time, then head NW from there. Which way are you going after Glacier?

[tbhd]

Steve we will be staying at Yellowstone from 6/16 through 6/19 and then on to Glacier. We have our reservation already. We will be leaving Michigan on 6/12 and have to be back to pick our daughter up on 6/29. We plan on making a second trip to the rally if at all possible but will have to bring our adult daughter to that. This will be our second time to Yellowstone but our first to Glacier.

[HamRad]

tbhd,
Wow! If you haven't stayed there before then you're in for a real treat! It may be the most scenic park we've ever stayed at. You literally are in the mountains with not much meadow. At least where the CG is located. The roads are steep and the trees are close. Plan your approach to your campsite carefully. Not just for entering but also for exiting. We had no problem but when I first saw the site I was ready to go back and ask for another. No problem in the end other than having to back out of the site instead of being able to simply pull on thru.

But it is so nice and pretty that we will definitely stay there again when we go back to that area. Enjoy it. I know you will! By the way we could not get satellite from our site but we were able to get a few channels on either the cable or our TV antenna. I don't remember which.... but it worked out fine. We did have good to excellent cell service. I was able to connect using our aircard for the internet.

HamRad

[sreigle]

Dennis, what park did you and Mary Kay stay at?

Tbhd, which parks are you staying at in Yellowstone and Glacier?
Is that the Mackinac Straits Bridge in your profile? We stayed a week or so at a park within site of that bridge, just to the west, back in August. Beautiful area. We really enjoyed it.

[tbhd]

Dennis & Mary Kay----
Thank you for the information especially about the satellite and cell service. It's really nice to talk to someone who has actually been there. We all know the camping books sometimes do not give a very accurate description. On Mountain Meadows web site they say they have big rig sites so that's what we have reserved. We can't wait until our trip next year. Thank you again.

sreigle----
We will be staying at Fishing Bridge campground in Yellowstone. It is the only campground inside of Yellowstone that has electricity. Then onto Mountain Meadows in Hungry Horse, Montana. From what I understand there are two campgrounds inside Glacier but they don't have electricity. ELECTRICITY is important to me.

Yes, you're right that is the Mackinaw Straits Bridge. That picture was taken from the upper peninsula (St Ingnace state park) looking back at the bridge. Did you get a chance to visit Mackinaw island or travel into the U.P. when you were here? Across the bridge there are some casino that have camping. No water or sewer though. In the upper at the Kewadin Casino in Sault Ste Marie there is a campground at that casino. All you need to get is a "Player Club" card and that is free from the information desk inside the casino. That gets you three free nights of camping otherwise it is fourteen dollars a night. They are closed October till May. Then from there we usually travel up to the Soo Locks. It's very relaxing to sit on the park benches and watch the ships going through the locks.

[stiles watson]

Too bad you don't get to Montana your way to Houston. Since that is where I reside, I am always looking for the Montys on the road. Let me add my congratulations to all the others. May your excitement increase as you bask in the glow of your new rig.

[sreigle]

Tbhd, we spent a week at Lakeshore RV Park in St. Ignace, just the other side of the bridge from where your picture was taken. We arrived there via US 2, coming from Wisconsin. While there we did get to the island and to the fort at Mackinaw City. We took a drive out to DeTour Village, another up to Tahquamenon Falls State Park (beautiful), a few lighthouses along the way, and generally drove around enjoying the beauty of the place. We also got to the walmart supercenter at Cheboygan! We also got up to Sault Ste. Marie, visited the Soo Locks, watched a couple of ships go through the locks, then drove across the border to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. First thing there we came up to a stop light where I wanted to turn right and it dawned on me I don't know if I can turn right on red in Canada!

We very much enjoyed our all-too-short stay in the UP. Someday we'll do it again and see what we missed this time around. We're finding in many places a week is just not enough to really get to know and experience the area.

On our way south from there we overnighted at Traverse City where we met Patodonn, then overnighted down closer to Detroit where we met RC and Samantha. All very nice people, fun to be around.

[tbhd]

sreigle--glad to see you were able to take in some of the sites. Dennis has a brother that lives in Indian River about 30 miles south of the bridge. Small country. We live about 20 miles north east of the Detroit border.

[HamRad]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

Dennis, what park did you and Mary Kay stay at?

Hi Steve,
We stayed at Mountain Meadows RV Park in Hungry Horse. As you come out of the Hungry Horse the entrance is on your right. You drive up a very well manicured driveway. At the end of the driveway you turn left to the office. Of course you are in the pine trees by this time. As you look to your left, while waiting for the better half to register, you see a spectacular view of the mountains and meadows. Immediately to your left is a small pond full of trout. As we were waiting they started jumping for their food..... some sort of small flying insect.... my doxie boys... Roscoe and Stormy were totally intrigued by the fish jumping. As was I. What a beautiful scene.

The park has plenty of 'big rig' type sites. You will have no trouble other than as I indicated in previous post.

We had originally planned to stay in the NP at Fish Camp where Jim n Karen were hosting. But they had to leave a few days before we arrived. Since the weather had turned wet and cooler we decided to stay in a park with full hookups. Glad we did because it rained every day we were there. But we still enjoyed the park.

HamRad

[FireTruckerWife]

Mountain Meadows is where we stayed this summer on our way to Banff. We spent 5 days there seeing the area before moving on. Only problem was as HamRad mentioned in his post. We weren't sure we would be able to level the trailer, but it went smoothly. Never tried to level it on a slope before. Really nice rv park.

[HamRad]

tbhd,
Hello Dennis and Sharon,
If this is your first visit to Yellowstone then you are in for a treat of a lifetime. Enjoy it. We have not stayed at the Fishing Bridge CG but understand it is a parking lot type facility and that you are packed in like sardines. But there is not much else there that has FHUs. Also the roads in the park are very narrow and windy and ALWAYS under construction. But that is ok because traffic rarely goes more than a few hundred feet without stopping. There is a ton of wildlife and folks stop and take pictures. Very few places to pull out so you just stop on the road! You need at least a couple of weeks to just scratch the surface.

It is about 450 miles from where you are in Yellowstone to Glacier. Will you be stopping somewhere between those points? If you are going north on 89 to I-90 and then west to Missoula let us know. We drove that route coming out of Glacier and can recommend a park or two. Just talking about all this has me ready to head out that way tomorrow! :-)

HamRad

[tbhd]

Thanks everyone for all your info. So nice to have the inside scoop and know what you are pulling into. Everyone's description of Mountain Meadows makes me wish I could leave now. Can't wait to get there sounds beautiful.

This will be my third time to Yellowstone and Dennis's second time but enjoy it each and every time we go. We have never been to Glacier before.

HamRad we had not planned on stopping between Yellowstone and Glacier but thanks to your info that it's 450 miles I think we are going to change our plans. We do not want to be rushed---getting to old and don't move that fast. Please let us know about the campground you stayed at either here on the forum or feel free to e-mail us.

[HamRad]

tbhd,
Dennis and Sharon,
Well you are "old hands" at Yellowstone. What a great place. If your route is north up 89 out of the park and then west on I-90 then we'd recommend the CG called Pipestone RV park. It is located about 20 miles east of Butte, MT. It is at the foot of the mountains that you must go over to get to Butte. If I remember that is a fairly steep grade.

Pipestone is a just off of I-90 on the south side. It is out by itself... not near town of any sort. Sites are gravel and fairly level. Grass everywhere! FHUs with a picnic table at each site. Very friendly and helpful owners. There is a pool and spa. Both outside. Also one of the few places that had a place to wash the rig. A very nice setup. It costs about a $1.00 or so. Very convenient if you are in need. Also have a modestly stocked store on site. I do not remember if we had cell service there or not. I don't think we did. We did have good satellite signal.

It would be located just short of 200 miles from Fishing Bridge. There are many parks along the way so if you don't stop there you'll have no trouble finding a place. We did not stop in Butte but that would be a good place to stop.

We also stayed at Jellystone RV park just west and north of Missoula on Hwy 93. Nice open sites. At our site we could not get any cell service. But just a mile from the park we had a full service signal. There is a hill blocking the cell signal into the park!

If your route is up 93 to Glacier I'd recommend you take Hwy 35 when you come to Polson. This will take you up the east side of the big lake. It is a good 2 lane road but the traffic is not nearly as heavy as it is on the west side. Also if you take 35 you are closer to Hungry Horse and it is a very scenic drive; But then all the drives are scenic in this part of the world! When we went in last year Hwy 93 was completely torn up for construction in the town of Kalispell. Took us the better part of an hour to get about 3 or 4 miles! Of course they probably have it all fixed by now..

You folks have a great trip!

HamRad

[sreigle]

Dennis, thanks for all the great info. You provided so much good info I had to save this page in three different folders for future reference!