From the Editor

This issue of RoadNotes is a bit late in being posted to the web site. I've got a good excuse, though, as I've been traveling throughout the Northwest.

You see, it's been three or four years since I've taken time off from work. Sometime during the summer, my brother and business partner presented the idea of taking a couple weeks off to go meet some business colleagues. This two-week business trip ended up being a month-long, 6,000-mile whirlwind tour of America's Northwest. We traveled through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and Utah. We drove through national forests and national parks, traveled several scenic byways, and visited many of the places we've been writing about for the past 15 years.

In this issue of RoadNotes, I'll be covering just a few of the places we visited. As I sort through all the information collected and the photographs taken, I'll post articles and photos to the RoadNotes blog and photo gallery.

Touring America

Garnet Range Back Country Byway

Garnet Range is a 12-mile scenic byway that crosses public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. The byway is about 30 miles east of Missoula, Montana, via MT Hwy 200. The ghost town of Garnet is a major point of interest along the byway.

Knowing that this scenic drive is a Type IV Back Country Byway (a rough road usually requiring a four-wheel-drive vehicle and one that is groomed in winter for snowmobile use), we were uncertain about driving it in our vehicle -- especially since it was raining. To our surprise, the byway is easily traveled in a passenger vehicle. In fact, after touring the ghost town, we found two trucks and their attached fifth-wheel trailers in the parking lot. To see more photos of the ghost town, visit the photo gallery.

To learn more about this back country byway and the ghost town of Garnet, visit these web sites: Montana Tourism Web Site, Garnet Ghost Town, and RoadNotes.

RV Vacation Planner

by Donna Flanders

Donna is retired from computer programming. After 20 years of computer work, she now devotes her analytical, organizational and research skills to developing vacations for others. She is a list maker and she shares her lists with you at RV Vacation Planner.

If You Build It, They Will Come

Campfires are one of my greatest joys when camping. I am always relieved to see a fire ring on my campsite when we pull in. We don't care if it's dark. We don't care if it's hot or cold. We have a campfire any night when it isn't raining or extremely windy. Sharing a campfire with friends or new acquaintances makes it extra special. The more, the merrier.

Preparing for a campfire is simple. Start with dry wood. Wood that is split will catch faster. Try building your campfire the way my husband does. Start with 2 logs down parallel to each other as far apart as the ring allows. Then place 2 logs on top going the other way as if you were building a log cabin. The next level should be smaller wood. Then put your kindling wood on top. As the kindling wood starts to burn, it drops down into the center of the logs and creates a growing hot spot.

Select this link to read the rest of the article.

Fun Stops U.S.A.

Point of Rocks Stage Station in Wyoming

This sandstone stage station on the south bank of Bitter Creek was built in the summer of 1862 when "Stagecoach King" Ben Holladay moved his stage line south from the Oregon Trail to the Overland Trail because of Indians destroying or marauding the current business site. The Station was attacked by Indians who attempted to burn it, but without much success because of its rock composition. Reportedly, it was also the scene of a robbery committed by the notorious Jack Slade-renegade agent of the Overland Stage Line-in which seven stagecoach passengers were killed. Read more...

Virginia City/Nevada City, Montana

Virginia City is an old west gold mining town about 90 miles west of Yellowstone National Park. Nevada City is adjacent to Virginia City and is filled with buildings and artifacts from the 1800s. Being a fan of the PBS show Frontier House, I was interested in seeing these historic towns. The cost to tour the Nevada City site is $6 per person and takes about an hour. I took well over 200 photographs while visiting these places, some of which are in the photo gallery.

Road Trip Dreams

by Carol White

Phil and Carol White are the authors of Live Your Road Trip Dream, a book that describes how they turned their dream of traveling into reality -- and how you can do the same. To learn more about the book, see our online bookstore.

The following article is from Phil and Carol's travel journal during the time when they were living their road trip dream.

Only One Time Zone from Home!

As our year of The Great American Adventure draws closer to an end, we seem to be moving along more quickly. Maybe we're starting to get anxious to put down roots again and give up this nomadic lifestyle!

Since we left you last month in Arkansas, we have passed through Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and are now in New Mexico. You would think that with all that driving, we wouldn't have had time to see anything, but we've really done a lot.

One of the most moving things we've seen on the entire trip was the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum. If you haven't seen this, it should be on your list. The Memorial sits on the footprint of the Alfred J. Murrah building. A peaceful water feature replaced the street in front of the building and two granite monoliths at each end display the time one-minute before the bomb went off and one-minute after, changing that city forever. 168 bronze and glass chairs inscribed with each name are arranged in 9 rows for the nine stories of the building and where each victim was found. Very compelling.

The museum is equally well done and was developed with input from families, survivors, rescuers, local citizens, and government officials melding the viewpoints of all who were a part of this horrible incident. We really liked the way it was presented, starting out with "just another day" as people headed off for work and school. Then you are sitting in a water board meeting when the bomb goes off. From there the chaos of the next several days is dramatically shown, and finally all of the aftermath. A tough subject but handled extremely well.

Select this link to read the rest of the article.

RVer's Guide to Dump Stations

The new second edition of RVer's Guide to Dump Stations is now available. The book includes information about nearly 2,000 dump stations located across the United States. Visit our web site to learn more.

Discovering Your Public Lands

Glacier National Park

Glacier National Park, in northwest Montana, preserves over one million acres of forests, alpine meadows, and lakes. Going-to-the-Sun Road is a beautiful drive through the national park. Vehicles longer than 21 feet and wider than 8 feet (including mirrors) are prohibited between Avalanche Campground and the Sun Point parking area.

There are 13 campgrounds within the national park. Apgar is the largest with nearly 200 sites, flush toilets, and a dump station. It's located near Apgar Village where you'll find a visitor center, gift shops, a camp store, and a restaurant. The campground is usually open early May to mid-October; camping fee is $15 per night.

At the National Park Service web site, you can view live pictures from the many web cameras set up in the park. You can also view some of the photographs I took while visiting the park.

RV Tech Tip

by Mark Polk

Fresh Water 101

At the end of your camping season you drain the water system, winterize the RV and put it in storage for the winter. One problem with this is that on most RV's when you drain the fresh water holding tank there is still some water left in the tank. Let's say you do manage to drain all of the water out of the tank. There is still moisture in the water system. Just imagine what can grow in that moist tank and in the water lines while it sits for three or four months. I'd rather not think about it.

This is the water tank that you drink from and the water you use to wash dishes and take showers with. We cannot assume that it will stay safe and fresh like the water system in our home. Contaminated water is extremely dangerous. We not only have to deal with a water system that hasn't been used for sometime, but when we travel in the RV we hook our water system up to a different water source every time we stop to spend the night some where. We hook up to city water, well water, and eventually contaminated water. You've probably heard people say don't drink the water if you go to Mexico. Well that can be true anywhere. We stopped at a campground one night just to get a few hours of sleep and I didn't bother to use the water filter. The water coming out of the faucet was cloudy and had small particles suspended in it.

There are no guarantees that any water is completely safe for us to drink, but if we take certain precautions we can keep our RV water system safe to use. So where do we start? First of all you should always use a white non-toxic drinking hose. Hoses not labeled safe for drinking can contribute to lead and other dangerous chemicals getting in the water. Use the white non-toxic hose for hooking up to the water source and take along a green or black garden hose for all other uses like flushing out holding tanks or washing the RV. When you're not using the drinking hose roll it up and connect the two ends together. This will keep dirt and other debris from getting in the hose. The next time you use the hose, run some water through it before hooking it up to the RV.

Select this link to read the rest of the article.

Exploring State Parks

Priest Lake State Park

Priest Lake State Park is in northern Idaho about 20 miles north of Priest River via ID 57. The 755-acre state park offers an abundance of beautiful scenery and recreational opportunities. There are four campgrounds within the park. The largest is Indian Creek with more than 90 sites. Water and electric hookups are available. Some sites have complete hookups. Camping fees range from $7 per night for a primitive site to about $20 for a site with complete hookups.

Information about all of Idaho's state parks is available on their web site.

RV Retirement

Ah, retirement dreams! We look forward to that time of life when we won't have to report to work every day, when we can kick back, relax and enjoy "the good life." For many of us, travel is on the list of retirement dreams. We want to be adventurous, travel to places we've always wanted to see, return to places where we vacationed in the past and visit friends and relatives in far off states.

RV Retirement was written by a retiree in an RV. It has been compiled to share the knowledge, experience and skills developed while spending retirement years in an RV. The book is for RV "newbies" and for RV retirement "wannabies." If you are new to RVing or want to use an RV when you retire, this is the book for you. Select this link to visit our online bookstore.

Gadgets & Gizmos

Rotating Flagpole

The rotating flagpole, by D&M Flags, displays the flag at a 45 degree angle and pivots with the wind. It only takes a slight breeze for the flag to wave and the pole to rotate. The flagpole is hand made and is easy to set up and take down. It's compact and portable, making it ideal for RVers and camping enthusiasts. See the D&M Flags web site for more information.

Legends of America

by Kathy Weiser

Kathy is a personal friend and webmaster of the Legends of America web site. Her site focuses on the history-rich travel destinations of the American West.

Outlaw Big Nose George Becomes a Pair of Shoes in Rawlins, Wyoming

George Parrot, also known as George Francis Warden, George Manuse, George Curry, and Big Nose George, is infamous not only for being hanged as an outlaw, but also for being the only man in American history who became a pair of shoes after his death.

The outlaw, known for his large nose and thus most often called "Big Nose George," was a member in a gang of road agents and horse thieves.

Led by a man named Sim Jan, the outlaws were active in the Powder River country, robbing pay wagons and stages of cash shipments and relieving passengers of their money and jewelry. The gang was also comprised of members, Frank McKinney, Joe Manuse, Jack Campbell, John Wells, Tom Reed, Frank Tole, and Dutch "Charley" Burress.

On August 16, 1878, the road agents planned to rob a Union Pacific train near Medicine Bow by manipulating the tracks so that the train would derail. However, as seven of the outlaw members hid in the brush waiting for the train to arrive, a section crew came along and discovered the tampered rail. Reportedly, Frank McKinney wanted to shoot them, but Big Nose George and Frank Tole objected, saying they hadn't come to kill section men. Meanwhile, as the crewman repaired the track, a railroad foreman rode ahead to stop the approaching train and informed the law that the rails had been tampered with. Their plan thwarted, the outlaws could do nothing but silently watch as the track was repaired, then after the workers left, rode off.

Select this link to read the rest of the story.

Bumper Sticker Wisdom

• This car is designed by computer, built by a robot, driven by a moron
• It's been one of those days all week
• Talk only if you can improve on the silence

Camping in City and County Parks

County Line Park

County Line Park is located about 12 miles west of Kelso, Washington, along WA 4. The park is situated on the banks of the Columbia River and offers day-use, RV camping, and tent camping. The are 20 campsites with electrical hookups. The camping fee is $10 per night.

Roundabout Roundup

Cell Phone Service

While touring the Northwest I would use my cell phone to check the answering machine back in the office and return customer's calls. The bad thing was, though, that my cell phone would not work most of the time (especially in higher elevations). I'm currently with Cingular and have a Motorola V180 phone. I'm not a cell phone guru and don't know if the lack of service was because of my provider, the phone, or my location. What do you think? Who is your cell phone provider and are you satisfied with the service? Give me your opinion by posting on the message board.

RV Know How

The RV Know How web site by Joe and Vicki Kieva provides practical, useful information about choosing, using, and enjoying an RV.

Vehicle and RV Recall Information

This National Highway Traffic Safety Administration web site contains a comprehensive database of all vehicle recalls, including recreational vehicles.