2017 Florida to Alaska Trip

[Stripe34]

Originally Posted by bfisher003

Tomorrow, 7/6/17, we leave Denver and head north to WY, MT, AB, BC, Yukon and Alaska. We borrowed our sons SPOT and will have it running, starting tomorrow. Here is the link: SPOT Shared Page
Zoom out when it loads.

That thing is pretty cool!

[bfisher003]

Day 11, 7/5/17: Today, while my wife and two sons took our nine year old Granddaughter to The movie, Despicable Me III, I drained and flushed our tanks, filled the freshwater tank and did other prep work for our departure in the morning for WY and MT on our way to the border crossing at Sweet Grass, MT. Our sons came over in the evening and we grilled steaks for a final dinner with them. It has been wonderful seeing them again! But it's time to head north.

[HavingABlast]

Loving your reports. That spot thing is awesome.

[Jerry TX]

Enjoying your reports on the journey, really looking forward to them as you travel north. SPOT looks like a great for family and friend to keep track of your travels - Big Brother really is watching us[emoji2]

[Jerry TX]

Sorry missed a word in my previous reply, supposed to read SPOT looks like a great tool ......

[bfisher003]

Day 12, 7/6/17: We left Denver around 8:30 AM this morning and traveled 400 miles to Buffalo, WY. We are camped for the night at Indian Campground in Buffalo. We tried Deer Park and the KOA, but they were full. We got the last site here, but it was only long enough to hold our 31' TT, so we had to back in and disconnect. We only hooked up power, which according to my PI EMS, is good. When we pulled up to the office a storm hit with rain and "pea" sized hail, but Jeri was on the phone with the office and we beat out another camper for the last site. LOL Why on earth would three campgrounds be full in Buffalo?? Turns out this town is the basis for the TV series Longmire and it is Longmire Days. I guess the cast and crew are in town for the annual event. We drove through some fantastic scenery today in Wyoming. Love this state! Even with all the ups and downs we averaged just over 9 mpg with our 3.5 Ecoboost. According to our Garmin RV760 GPS we have around 500 miles to go to reach the Canadian border at Sweet Grass, MT. We are about one mile south of I-90 which we will get on in the morning. It was a beautiful day of driving although the temp hit 93 F. So, tonight we will watch a Longmire episode or two. LOL. Jeri is cooking cheeseburgers for dinner and I am enjoying a Captain & Coke or two (or three) LOL. The staff at this campground are very friendly and my wife says they have a really nice camp store. Seems to be a nice campground with lots of shade. I will do a full review on RV Park Reviews and maybe Campendium later tonight or tomorrow.
Our campsite:

[Superslif]

Was the construction finished on I-15 North of Helena in the mountainous section? When we went thru last Sept. it was a little hairy.

FYI - - - Many of the Canadian Visitor Centers have free WiFi.

I hope the southern Alberta winds are in your favor. Miulk River AB. says wind of 11 mph out of the SW.

[boomersooner]

Captain & Coke. CHEERS!!! Keep writing, been following since the day you left.

[bfisher003]

I appreciate everyone who is following and I hope I manage to provide some useful and interesting information.

[kyfarmboy]

Keep it going. Thanks for sharing with us ✌️

[bfisher003]

Day 13, 6/7/17: What a day!!! It started a bit after 5:30 AM this morning when I was awakened by our dog who had gotten out of bed and was scratching around on the floor. Closer examination showed lots of doggy diarrhea all over the floor! Yuck! I started cleaning it up and my wife got up and we scrubbed and scrubbed. We threw out a couple of small throw rugs, too. Our Sugar Belle acted normal, but a couple of nights ago we had given her a small handful of leftover ribeye steak and yesterday my wife had some trail mix in the back seat of our F150 Screw and the dog had eaten some of it. Anyway, we broke camp and got on the road to Great Falls just after 8:30 AM and headed north and west on I-90 up to Billings, stopping to walk the dog at just about every rest area. Temps got up into the low 90s. At Billings we took Highway 3 up to US12 West to 191 to 87. Our dog, although acting normal was continuing to have abdominal issues and right after one stop she vomited a bunch of undigested trail mix in the back seat of my truck, of course. Then about 25 miles out of Great Falls and almost 5:00 PM while walking her at a rest area she squirted out some blood. That really got us worried and my wife immediately got in touch with a vet in Great Falls and we managed to get there about 5:30 PM. Big Sky was the name of the vet clinic and they were great! The vet checked our dog, including a stool sample and provided us with three drugs to give her that should clear it up. She (the vet) also sold us a few days of bland food. She said that hopefully it should clear up in 24 hours or so.
It was starting to get a bit late in the day by the time this was done so we just booked into the KOA, despite a lot of very negative review. We wanted the most important thing when it's 90+ out—yep, AC. We pulled into one site, #93 and like I always do I hooked up the power and let my EMS check the power and it reported a E2 (open ground) error. Called the office and they moved us to another site (97) and the power was okay. She even thanked me for troubleshooting the power. My wife informed me we set a record for an overnight campground cost—........—$70 and that was after our 10% KOA discount! We did 388 miles today and it is 124 miles to the Canadian border at Sweet Grass. The drive today was very beautiful, although we were a bit stressed over our Sugar Belle. Hopefully, our little bundle of fur will be better tomorrow. Should you need vet service in Great Falls, keep Big Sky in mind. Our total bill, including some other items we bought was $190. Tomorrow the border crossing. I am so excited!! Hoping my 12 gauge doesn't cause a problem. I have the paperwork (Firearms Declaration Form) all filled out and ready. The Captain & Coke was earned today. LOL

[bfisher003]

P.S. The Walmart right next to the KOA looked to be full of RVs.

[bfisher003]

P.P.S. I guess I reach my $1,000 limit on my RVPlus card with Pilot/Flying J because when I attempted to use it in Billings I got a message to see the cashier. Guess I'd better pay them tonight! LOL

[HavingABlast]

Enjoying the reports. Hope that your doggie has a quick and complete recovery.