On to the Philippines

Lyn has decided for us to keep the blog going throughout our trip to the Philippines. She would like a record of our travel there and to be able to share our trip with friends and family around the world who cannot make it back to the Philippines to her Mom’s funeral. Hopefully I can write it in a way that will capture the moments and give her a way to remember our time there. Lyn’s Mom was a strong woman who raised seven of her own children and was a mother figure to countless others. Lyn always said that she was strict but fair and really cared about everyone that was there. I can attest to this. On my last trip to the Philippines Lyn’s Mom always made sure that someone was with me to make sure that I had no problems wherever I went. Even if I left the hotel just to get a coke I had an entourage with me at all times. I am so glad that we were able to renew our wedding vows there and that I was able to meet both Lyn’s Mom and Dad and really get to spend time with them.

Well it has been a couple of tough days. After learning about the death of Lyn’s Mom we drove for two days to get home. We finally arrived Wednesday night around 9. I think my Dad wonders sometimes if his age is slowing him down. Well yes in some ways it has. He walks with an unusual gate and probably cannot win a foot race but put him behind the wheel of a car and he is “The Man” We drove over 11 hours each day through some crazy traffic and a few wrong turns near Chicago. No matter what the situation, he always managed to pop up in my rear view mirror. On the way home Lyn and I made lists of things that needed to get done over the next two days. We leave for the Philippines on Saturday and will be there until the 30^th of July. I am sure our trip will be filled with great sorrow and great joy as we celebrate the life of Lyn’s Mom.

Lyn wrote this about her Mom. I think it sums up the kind of woman that she was and the legacy that she leaves behind.

“I just want to thank all of our family, friends and relatives in behalf of Lamorena family! You're thoughts, prayers, messages, calls & texts really help us go through this grieving time! It really meant a lot to me & my family. I feel that my mom is fortunate enough to be surrounded with loving people. During her lifetime, most of my relatives (cousins) love her as a mother figure for out of all of her 11 siblings, there are only 3 of them left. She helps them in their formative years, some of them stayed with us & she selflessly dedicate herself as a mother to them despite being a little strict, they loved her! They know they can count on her advices whenever they have problems. She is helpful, kind hearted, sweet & friendly person. Always cheerful to her friends. All of my nieces & nephews love to sleep-over at night just to be with her! They call her "mamangkit"(grandma) which sounds so sweet to me & she loves it! Most of the time she thinks of them first rather than herself. Mamang, you are the best and you're always be missed! I love you so much! Thank you for bringing me into this world and tendering me into a person I am now! I will always treasure the love, advices, hugs, kisses and care you've given me! You're forever be in my heart! Now, you finally reunited with Papang ! We love you both & thank you for looking after us!”

Tomorrow we leave for the Philippines out of Raleigh around noon. We will fly to New York and then Tokyo and then finally arrive in Manila Sunday night at 9:45. God Bless our trip.

The Last Post

We woke up in miles city about 6 AM. The temperature had cooled off to about 55 so it was a great night for sleeping. Today our plan was to leave by 10 AM and head to Bismarck North Dakota. It would be about a 6-hour drive and would put us right in the middle of the state. We would be going right by Theodore Roosevelt National Park so we decided to stop in a take a quick tour of the park and then head on our way. They do have campgrounds at the park but they do not take reservations so it is first come first serve. Most campers roll in at 10 to get a site before they fill up. Anyway we arrived about 1 PM and went into the visitor center to take a look and get information. We were told that we were in the south park and could do the loop in two to three hours depending on how much we stopped. We decide to check out the campsite for future visits. The campsites were huge and shady and much to our surprise they were open. We decided to have lunch and decide whether to stay or go. We decided to stay and found the perfect site near a bathroom and a water supply. This campground was basic. Pit toilets and water was about it. It made up for it in cool temperatures and over all beauty. We set up camp and then headed out to see the rest of the park. This was considered the Badlands as well but it had a different look and feel to it. Theodore Roosevelt came here after his Wife and Mother died the same day to grieve his loss and rebuild his spirit. He was one of the first people to talk about conserving the area so that many generations could be able to see and enjoy it in the future. As we drove through we saw that while it resembled the Badlands in South Dakota it had a lot of green grass and flowers added in. It was beautiful. This park is an under promise and an over deliver kind of place. It is relatively small but had great vistas and herds of bison. If you ever get a chance make sure you do the loop drive up to Buck’s Hill and check out the view. I will bet you the price of a campsite that you will not be disappointed! By the way the campsites here are only $10 a night however since we are traveling with senior citizens ours was only $5 for the night. This place is a deal by any standard. After our tour we came back to the campsite and had a spaghetti dinner made by Lyn with puto for dessert. Yum Yum!!! At 9 we went to the amphitheatre and were treated to a show abut the “bad “animals of the park and a little history about Theodore Roosevelt’s connection to the park. So after hearing an interesting talk about local residents, which included mountain lions and rattlesnakes. (Oh lord here we go again.) we carefully walked down the trail back to camp and we all went straight to bed. What a fun unexpected treat this park is. If you are ever in the area you should make the effort to come here and remember if you do not like it your first nights on me! Oh and by the way we found out late that they do have regular bathrooms here we just happened to be near the only pit toilet in the park. Here is a short video of our campsite. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152582295258130&set=vb.752963129&type=2&theater

This was written yesterday and today we wake up in Minnesota to the sad news that Lyn's Mom died of a heart attack at 1AM this morning. (We do not have all the details yet.) We are headed home. It will take us two days to get home and then we are off to the Philippines. Lyn's Mom was a very strong woman who raised 7 children. She will be missed. God Bless our family during this difficult time.

Bison

Lyn in Roosevelt's cabin kitchen.

On our way to the nightly ranger program.

My Dad trying his hat on Sturgis style.

In the town of Medora ND.

Town of Medora.

Original store in Medora.

Fellow camper complete with dog and goggles!

Fantastic park!

Miles City Montana

Lyn and I both got up about 6:15 after another great night of sleep. Today we were headed to Miles City Montana. It was about 9 hours away so we would need to get an early start. After packing up we left about 8AM. We drove on desolate highways about 90% of the time. Most of the time we did not have cell service of any kind. I am not sure what you are supposed to do if you break down out here but luckily we did not have to find out. They call Montana “Big Sky Country”. After today I can see why. Your windshield is filled up with it and as you look around hat is about all you can see. We passed mostly hay fields that had just been cut. Sometimes all you could see for miles was the round bales of hay in every direction. Anyway I am glad to report that traffic was minimal and the roads were in good shape so all we had to do was get the driving time done. We arrived at Miles City around 6 PM. They did not give us a key to the city and there was no red carpet laid out however we were rewarded with two of the biggest and shadiest campsites that we have had so far. My Dad and I set up camp while Lyn and Joanne went to Wal-Mart and restocked supplies. We plan to spend one night here and then head to Bismarck ND tomorrow with a stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park along the way. Lyn fixed another great dinner and we were off to bed around 10:30. Not much to report today so I will leave you with a few quotes heard around camp over the past few weeks.

"No talking to people with a full urinal in your hand." (This should not have to be stated.)

Dad: "Where's my car keys." Joanne "Have you checked your pockets?" Dad "Got em!" (This is an every day occurrence.)

"No urinals within 10 feet of the picnic table." (Again should not have to be stated.)

My Dad: If you were just guessing how far the drive is today how far would you say? Me: About 6 hours. My Dad: Are you sure?

I pooped today! (Apparently this is pretty common among campers. See the shirt below.)

Cows in the road.

Hay in Montana.

Jasper getting ready for a nap.

Jasper napping.

A city made just for us!

Saw this shirt on a camper in Yellowstone!

Glacier National Park

Lyn and I woke up in the car about 6:30 from a fitful night of sleep. We told Dad and Joanne the story about the bear and then had breakfast and packed up camp. Still a little shaken, but we got on the road at 8AM just as planned. Today was going to be a big driving day 8 hours plus. We were leaving the southern end of Yellowstone and headed north to Glacier National Park. The entrance to Glacier is only about 30 miles from the border of Canada so we needed to get going. It took us about 2 hours to reach the North entrance of Yellowstone. We saw a lot of beautiful country along the way. Once we reached the entrance we got to go under the Roosevelt tower. On the way to Glacier National Park we drove on about every road possible and drove through some of the most uninhabited countryside that I had ever seen. Some of it was being worked on and we often had to stop or drive at 35 mph. This caused an 8 hour trip to be about 10.5. I had already called ahead and found out that the campgrounds were full so we decided to stay at a KOA that is only a mile from the entrance. While our preference was to stay in the park this campground worked out great and was just what these weary travelers needed. We got two campsites near each other for two nights. It was getting late so we ordered a pizza and just ate at the campsite. Mmm mmm good! We were all tired and went to bed around 10. While the bear experience was still on our minds we were just too tired to care think about it and fell fast asleep. We woke up around 6AM and had breakfast with my Dad while Joanne slept in. Just for fun I put in Greensboro in the GPS and found out that we were 2395 miles from home. Wow! Today the plan was to do some laundry and head out to the park around 10 AM. Glacier Park is supposed to be one of the nicest parks around. Today we will tour about 5 hours worth and determine if it requires a future trip and a longer stay. Unlike Yellowstone the mountain and lake views start immediately upon entering the park. I went to the visitor center and told them how much time we had to spend and she mapped out a route that would make the most of our time there. I cannot really explain how beautiful this place is but both my Dad and Joanne said it reminded them of the Swiss Alps. The views were similar to the Grand Tetons except we were already at a much higher elevation. The temperatures were in the 60’s and dropping and it felt great. After several stops to look at the scenery we made it to our half way point Logan’s pass. (This was also the continental divide.) The guide told me to stop here for the views and the wild flowers that were just starting to bloom now that the snow was finally receding. The visitor center looked similar to an alpine ski lodge and had trails and vista’s to walk around in. It also had snow. I am not talking a little dab will do you snow I am talking full on fields and mountainous slopes. We were able to walk on the snow and see some great views as well. Some people carried skis up the slopes and skied down. Wait is this July?!?!?!? Why yes…… yes it is in Glacier National park! Next it was on to “The Loop” the turn around place that our guide outlined on our map. The road was cut out of the mountain so the entire drive from this point on was right on the edge of a cliff. It was beautiful! We had lunch at one of the pullouts and enjoyed the vista in front of us while hearing a waterfall behind us. Does not get much better than this. (See pictures below.) We continued the drive to the loop and decided that this park would be one that we would come back through maybe on a trip to Alaska in 2016 or some time in the near future! We shall see!!! We drove back to camp and did what we do best we took a nap! Not sure if I can give these up in the future or not. I do have a couch in my office at work so we shall see if I can work that into my schedule. J After our nap it was time for dinner. Lyn cooked quiche for dinner. (Or the closest that you can get to it on a camp stove.) After dinner we all sat around and talked something that is easier done at a campsite without all of the distractions of home. We all went to bed around 10PM hoping for a good nights sleep. Tomorrow we are headed to Miles Montana. That’s right finally a city named after all of us. Hopefully we will get the red carpet treatment or whatever Miles Montana feels is appropriate for us. We may not be a well-oiled machine yet but we are getting use to being on the road and it’s a lovely thing to see.

We made it!

Near the entrance.

Along the way.

The weeping walls.

Dad and Joanne and the retro bus.

Dad, Joanne and Noel.

Lunch time!

Snow in July!

Along the way!

Finally a mirror that is sized for Lyn!

Dinner time!

Yellowstone

Well we just spent three days in Yellowstone! No Internet here and even spotty phone service although you could usually get a call out when you needed to. We left Cody about 10:40. Joanne had heard about a good place to buy boots so we went by there about 10 and after 40 minutes Joanne walked out with a new pair. We headed to Yellowstone and in about 1 hour we were already at the east gate. It took us about another hour and half to reach the campground. We stayed at Bay Bridge campground and with our senior citizen discount we would pay only $12 a night. This campground had water and flush toilets! You could say luxurious. Right when we pulled in a lone Bison walked through the campground and greeted us. After he moved on we set up camp had lunch and set out to West Thumb Geyser. We took turns watching the dogs and viewing the geyser. West Thumb is right on Yellowstone Lake and very large. What a great way to start our visit to the park. By the time we got back it was around 5 and everyone was ready for their daily nap. After a nap Lyn fixed a great dinner that we finished around 9. Perfect timing as there is another amphitheatre at this campground and tonight they were going to talk about wolves. We enjoyed a great presentation in the cool of the night and headed back to our campsite. Tonight it would be in the low 40’s. A little high for Yellowstone this time of year but plenty cold for a good nights sleep. The night went well except for the occasional slip of a blanket that would cause you to wake up freezing and cover your self back up. Jasper worked his way under our blankets in the middle of the night and warmed us up completely. We woke up about 6 am and it was cold outside. I decided to build a fire and then fixed breakfast. It was great to sit around the fire while the temperature had barely hit 50. Not bad for the middle of July! We had to drive 4 miles to take a shower at another campground. It was across the famous “Fishing Bridge” which is beautiful anytime of day but at 7AM ……….well what can I say I do not have the vocabulary to describe it. Lets just say if you have the opportunity to hang out there on any given morning you should take the time to do it. You will be better for it. After we got back we headed out for day two of Yellowstone. We decided to do the bottom loop. This would take about 6 hours counting the many stops and time for lunch. We stopped at the “Grand Canyon” of Yellowstone and some idiot suggested that we do Uncle Tom’s trail. (Of course that idiot would be me.) We would be able to view the upper falls from the bottom. The trail started off slightly down hill and Joanne, Lyn and myself gladly walked down the winding trail and finally the trail turned to the occasional case of stairs and further on it turned into just stairs. Not wimpy stairs mind you stairs that were just one step away from being considered a ladder. Every time we stopped and considered turning around the view got better. We kept pushing ahead. The funny thing is that all of the people going down were laughing and joking around. All of the people coming up looked stressed and those that could utter a word cannot be quoted here. J Anyway we finally made it to the bottom and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the upper falls.  After starting to go back up I figured out that we were in trouble in about 5 minutes. It took us about 35 minutes to climb back to the top. My Dad greeted us wondering what took us so long and none of us could utter a word. Next stop Midway Geyser Basin. We had recovered by the time we stopped here. Lyn, Joanne and myself went and toured the Geyser while my Dad watched the dogs. It was really nice and we got back in the car with a little more vigor this time. We had lunch at Old faithful and got to see it do its thing and then went and toured the Old Faithful lodge.  Naptime was near so we headed back to camp took a nap. It was bit hot but we made do and ate another one of Lyn’s great meals around 8. We saw another ranger program about discovering Yellowstone and headed to bed about 10:30PM. After another great night of sleep Lyn and I got up about 6. We had breakfast and decided to take an early shower. Lyn had planned on doing her make-up and drying her hair there since they had a very nice facility. I found a place to charge my phone and got ready for a long wait. Surprisingly Lyn came out really fast. I asked her why she did not do her hair and she said the mirrors were to high and she could not see herself in them…. Ha Ha! That’s life at 4 foot 10 inches!! We decided to head down to the Grand Tetons. Some people refer to these as a\the American Alps. They do not disappoint! (See the pictures below.) In any National Park you do a lot of driving to get from point to point. During this time I found out that Joanne has a condition known as Auto-narcolepsy. Anytime she rides in the car she can be asleep in 5 minutes. Usually we would be riding along and a beautiful view would pop out through the trees. My Dad would yell Joanne’s name to wake her up she would be startled a wake and yell something like “lake…got it!” This happened about every 10 minutes through out the entire park. It was very entertaining! Thanks Joanne! We stopped at the visitor center and then walked around back to the Marina where some of the best views of the Tetons are. After that we took a two-hour tour around the park stopping at Jackson Lodge for lunch. We brought our own picnic lunch and had it right in front of the hotel looking out over the mountains. It was priceless! After touring the Tetons we headed back to camp and arrived around 5. Lyn fixed Spaghetti and salad and we finished up around 7:30. It was already starting to cool off so we just sat around camp while waiting for the nightly ranger show. One thing that has been hard at Yellowstone is not having access to wifi and the Internet. Even our phones were limited and can rarely get the Internet to work. So to find out information you have to use all of your resources.  That may include rangers and word of mouth from other campers.  We had been trying to get information on Glacier Park our next Destination. We had been especially interested in the weather since things have been a little hotter than usual these past few days. All of a sudden my Dad gets a call from the “Mole” a childhood friend who’s real name is Dane (He calls my Dad “Turtle” for reasons better left unknown.) that had been looking up the weather for us. Thanks to that call we now knew that we going to be treated with Daily temperatures that will be   10 degrees cooler than here. Thanks Dane you are a lifesaver! We did not want “The Hot Woman” to return! Ha Ha! After the ranger show we went to bed about 11. I woke up at 12 and could not sleep for some reason. I could hear a father in the distance yelling at his kid that had to have a midnight bathroom break. I also heard hushed conversations around the camp. I l so heard something like an electric fan being turned on and off. It was like woosh and then woosh and then woosh. Kind of strange since there is no electricity in the camp. As I lay there this sound started getting closer and closer. Finally the sound arrived at our tent accompanied by heavy footsteps and the sound of something eating grass. By this time Lyn and I were fully awake and both quietly listening to this noise that just got louder and louder. I wondered if maybe the lone bison had come back. The sound grew louder as it got up to the tent and as we waited for it to pass on by it started to circle our tent. By now it was obvious that this sound was that of a large bear checking out our tent not a Bison. The sound was the bear exhaling. I had already grabbed Jasper and kept him in a wrestling hold with my hand forcefully covering his mouth. I could tell he wanted to bark but he made now whining sounds. The three of us waited quietly for the Bear to leave but it kept circling our tent. We could hear every exhaled breath along with every footstep and the occasional rooting along the ground. Our heartbeats increased with every sound while we tried to remain as silent as possible. At the ranger show that night we learned a little about bears. They told us that the black bears were mainly to the north and the grizzly bears wear the ones that were known to come through our campground. Lyn and I were both praying and waited for what seemed like ever for the sounds to move away from our tent. Finally it moved away by maybe 10 yards. We had to decide what to do. The problem was to get to the car I had to get the keys, put Jasper’s leash on and then unzip the tent. The zipper alone would make a lot of noise so while we were debating quietly it came back. Finally it moved away and we could not hear it any more. We quietly went to the car and got in. We felt safe but our hearts were pounding. Our car was next to Joanne and Dad’s car. We decided to let them sleep as we could blow the car horn if it came back and we felt like it had left. This was by far the scariest moment of my entire life and I am sure it was for Lyn as well. We slept off and on in the car for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we head off to Glacier National Park. We shall see if we camp in our tent or try our hand at car camping! (Sleeping in the car.) Either way the adventure continues and I am glad to be on it!

Finally Yellowstone!

Bison in on our campsite!

Brutal but beautiful!

Uncle Tom's trail.

Joanne and Lyn at Midway Geyser.

Dad talking to the "Mole".

Upper Falls!

The Grand Tetons!

Marina Grand Tetons!

Dad and Noel Grand Tetons marina!

Lunch time!

Grand Tetons marina!

This guy drove his entire family from Tennessee in this 1964 Olds 98!

Dinner time!

Roosevelt Tower (North entrance to Yellowstone.)

Last Day in Cody

Woke up to anther cool morning.  This is a good thing because it is going to be 90 today. We had breakfast at the hotel. Pretty basic but good all the same. After lying around for a few hours we decide to go in to Cody. The plan was for Dad and Joanne to go to the Cody museum and Lyn and I would explore the downtown area of Cody before it got too hot. On the way there we passed a Dairy Queen and made a quick stop before heading out again. Yum Yum!!! Lyn and I walked around the town and saw a lot of interesting things but managed to hold off buying anything. Wait we did buy two hats. Well, not too bad for a couple hours of shopping. Just like last year we are on a budget and trying to spend on average $100 or less. So far we are averaging below that. One thing that has really helped is the Gas cards that were given to me by my kids, daughter-in-law and son-in-law. They have given them to me for holidays and birthday celebrations. It looks like we will make it all the way to Yellowstone on “free” gas. Thank you Rheagan, Chelsea, Caroline, Justin and Luke!!!! It is also helping us to be traveling with a couple of senior citizens. Tomorrow’s campsite at Yellowstone will only be 13 dollars a night thanks to the senior discount. Thanks Joanne and Dad! Oh yeah back to our day. Lyn and I walked around town until it was time for lunch. We passed a place that was actually cooking their ribs in a smoker in front of their restaurant. Well played! It worked, we went directly in and split an order of ribs. Can you say the word diet??!?!?! We apparently cannot!! Oh well the Rush will have to be our home when we get back. After lunch we went back and took a nap during the heat of the day. As it cooled off we all went out to dinner at another rib place and Lyn and I split ribs again. Yum Yum!!! By the time we finished it was time to go walk the dogs and go to bed. Tomorrow we are headed to Yellowstone. We have a reservation at Bridge Bay campground. When I went to read about it they mentioned that they just recently opened one of the loops in the campground due to bear activity. Yikes!!!!!  Oh well tomorrow should be exciting bears and all.

Cutting the rug!

Dinner time!

Out and about in Cody!

Sporting the new hats!

Hanging out in Cody.

In our hotel lobby.

Sharon and her 1980 TR7. 

She was the day manager at the hotel.

This was her daily driver! Super cool!

On the way to Cody Wyoming

We got up this morning around 6 and were trying to get going by 8. We had about 6 hours of driving so pretty much an all day affair since we will be stoping for lunch and traveling over the mountains. Dad and Joanne have been following us the entire way which means they turn when they see us turn. In other words they usually have no idea of the route that we are taking. This had worked just fine for the entire trip however today it just so happened that a red toyota prius got right in front of us and when it turned so did my Dad. I called them and they turned around and came back to follow us. The problem is that when he turned around he had to back up and when he did he jackknifed and the trailer hit the side of the car. Luckily the camper is fine however Joanne's car was not. It has a little cosmetic damage to the left rear tail light. Everything is still working and nobody got hurt so at the end of the day we are thankful. My Dad always says that if a problem can be fixed with money and you have the money to fix it then you really do not have a problem. Amen to that! After about 3 hours we arrived highway 14 which is a beautiful drive through Big Horn National Park. We were hoping to have a picnic lunch at the same place we did last year. As luck would have it we found the exact same spot. It was a lot cooler up there and we were able to picnic in the shade while watching people fly fish in the stream coming by. Some people have enough sense to have this be their final destination as they offer camping as well. They may just be on to something it is a little slice of heaven for sure. After we left from lunch and made it out of the mountains it started to get hot. At one point it made it all the way to 100 degrees. Even though it gets cool at night, that is pretty hot to try to take care of the dogs and ourselves so we decided to get a hotel. It would give us a chance to explore Cody while leaving the dogs in the rooms with the AC. The plan is to stay here two nights and then head out to Yellowstone on Monday morning. After we got unloaded we headed out for dinner at the Irma Hotel. It is a hotel that has a bar in it that was a gift from the Queen of England. She gave it to Wild Bill Cody for bringing his wild west show to England. It had a big porch with music and karaoke. We heard some really great singers who sang mostly old country songs with a few new ones thrown in from time to time. The night had cooled off and we had a great dinner with great music. Who could ask for more? We headed back and went to bed around 10PM. Tomorrow we will explore the town of Cody. 

Music at the Irma hotel. 
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152555308298130&set=vb.752963129&type=2&theater

Along the way.

Picnic area.

Noel relaxing.

Lunch time.

Jasper.

Home for two nights.

Dinner time.