End of Glacier

I'm settled for the night in Grand Junction, Colorado, after a wonderful weekend on Lake Powell with my friends Sue, JJ and McKenna, and their friends Betty and Greg Britton and their family. There were 15 of us total on the houseboat, 9 adults and 6 kids from 15 months to 12 years. What a great way to spend a vacation! I was so exhausted from playing with the little ones in the water, in addition to some drinks and a great dinner on Saturday, that today I couldn't keep myself awake riding out of there. I left in a storm, so that didn't help the situation. So I stopped early, had a nap, a shower and some dinner, and I'm going to try to get some final photos posted from Glacier. We'll see how long I can keep my eyes from slamming shut. I don't think I'll get much more than that done, so hopefully tomorrow night I can catch up the Glacier to Powell portion, or at least as far as Pocatello, Idaho, where I stopped last Thursday evening.

I want to share a few photos that Kari took at Glacier. She just posted them, and I stole them :)

A break at St. Mary's

Me and Kari

Me and my cousin, Jim Collen.

Cool old cars, the Red Bus Tours. These are vintage 1930's vehicles. You can read the history of them here: http://www.glaciernationalparklodges.com/red-bus-tours/history/ . Next time I visit here, I want to take one of these tours, when the Going to the Sun Road is fully open again. We just didn't have time on this trip.

Another shot of the base camp for the firefighters.

Kari got a few shots of me, so I thought I'd share.

Me and Jim watching Kari precariously getting a photo of the lake.

I sure enjoyed seeing this guy again! We spent a lot of vacations together as kids, but 3,000 miles have separated us for a lot of years. This is at Many Glacier, the hotel is in the background.

Jim started this trip on a Harley Davidson Heritage Softail. After Glacier he and Kari went to visit her parents in Great Falls, Montana. Apparently he's been bitten by the touring bug after his first long trip 2-up, because while in Great Falls he traded for a larger Harley. This is the new one, an Ultra Limited. That should allow for much more comfortable travel for the two of them :-)  Maybe we can do some "meet in the middle and ride" trips in the near future!

I truly am tired, so I'm going to close for tonight and try to get some rest that will get me up early and hopefully able to make at least 700 miles tomorrow. Since it's all interstate, it's doable, but will still take the whole day. If I get an early enough start, I may even be able to cover more, which will let me spend more time in Illinois with family on Tuesday and Wednesday. I may be finishing up this blog from my living room!