Repostion – Verb. place in a different position; adjust or alter the position of.

Repositioning is what RVers do when they need to move from one part of the country to another.  Some do it slowly and take their time.  Some don’t.  We are the latter this case.  We are repositioning to East Grand Forks, Minnesota.  More on why later…

Portland

We had a wonderful time in Portland visiting with Callie. We spent a week hanging out and helping her out. I made more food than she can eat (leftovers are a wonderful thing). Jim worked on her car, repaired a few items, etc. We took her shopping and got her a queen size bed as an early birthday gift. We visited her at work. It was a great week for all of us.

My scientist Callie at work!

We visited a restaurant on the OHSU campus called the Feathered Nesst. They have a webpage you can pull up on your phone that shows you all the beers on tap AND how full the kegs were. We geeks loved it!

Jim and I did do a bit of sightseeing. But the traffic is so horrible in Portland, it kind of deterred us. Callie lives west of the downtown,our campground was north of downtown. Unless it was the middle of the day or the middle of the night, you were certain to sit in traffic.  Sorry, not many pictures were taken.  Next time we’ll stay on Callie’s side of town.

Jim got a big kick out of this solar powered trash compactor. Only in Portland….

Callie spent the last night our visit in the RV with us. She had an early flight the next morning, and we were right next to the airport.

Dinner with Callie the night before we left.

An early flight for Callie meant we were all up at 3:30 a.m. Jim headed east in the RV. I took the Jeep, dropped Callie off at the airport, and headed East to meet up with him. We had picked out a rest area along the way, so it was no problem. And it got us out of Portland before the rush hour traffic started. Phew.

Sunrise along the Columbia River Gorge, as seen through a bug splattered windshield.

Lewiston

For the first leg, we drove through the Columbia River Gorge, then across Washington State, to Lewiston, Idaho.  Lewiston held particular interest for us, since that is where Janelle spent the summer of 2015 working for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Upon arriving in Lewiston, we parked the RV and unhooked the Jeep. I then directed Jim to the top of the “hill” overlooking the city. You see the Snake River on the right and the Clearwater River on the left joining into it.  We took the Interstate to the top of the hill and we took that curving road back down.

The description of the Old Spiral Road we were about to drive down.

We spent the night at the campground where Janelle camped for much of the summer.

The picnic pavilion that Janelle’s crew used for the summer. It can be used by non-Fish and Game people in the off season.

The Clearwater River, running along with campground.

Jim and I are still trying to figure out what the deal was with this faucet in the campground. Do you plug it in to keep the pipe from freezing????

The next day, we drove Idaho State Highway 12 through the Bitterroot Mountains, along the Clearwater and Lochsa Rivers. Janelle drove that road more times than she cares to remember. It was fun to see all the places she had been. It’s also the area where Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery traversed to get to the Columbia River. it boggles the mind to think of crossing these mountains, carrying all your supplies, and wearing moccasins on your feet. I’m going to apologize for the fact that all the pictures were taken through the window.  Remember, we are repositioning!

The Lochsa River in the Bitterroot Mountains.

Janelle told me off hand about this sign and how the Fish and Game crew always chuckled at it. Hey Janelle, I have now chuckled at it too. And they weren’t kidding!

The Lewis and Clark Trail

Forest destroyed by fire the summer Janelle was in Idaho.  Her crew had to avoid the fire areas more than once.

Montana

That long day ended with a Harvest Host visit to a microbrewey in Missoula, Montana. Yup, instead of a winery, we camped at The Big Sky Brewing Company. We got free beer samples, bought a six-pack, and got a free place to camp for the night (in the parking lot…but it was FREE).

Big Sky Brewing Company

I will never be a Kardashian who takes good selfies. Oh well, here I am with my free beer sample.

The next night we scored another free nigh in a Kiwanas rest area/campground in Lewistown, Montana.  Montana really is Big Sky country.  It was hard to capture the expanse of the sky with a camera, so I didn’t even try.  I do have some dashcam video.  But my upload speed is so slow right now, we’d be back home before it even uploaded.

Maybe we should have taken a different route. We ran into construction and had to follow a Pilot Car to get to the other end of the section of road torn up.

Cough, cough. Enough with the dust!

North Dakota

We entered North Dakota and the area where the Bakken Oil Field is.  This place was booming up until two years ago.  You can see evidence of leftover oil worker housing, etc. This way of life is foreign to us in the Northeast. We met a number of people living in RVs because they were oil workers and had to go where the work was.

Some oil rigs are stil pumping crude

Train cars waiting to haul the crude oil away.

Houses that used to house oil workers and their families.

Last night we arrived at Lewis & Clark State Park in Williston, North Dakota.  The park is on the Missouri River and again, Lewis and Clark came through here.  Are you sensing a theme?  Lewis and Clark and Janelle.

Approach to the campground.

Is that Louis, Clark and Sacagawea? No, it’s just a 18″ tall silhouette of them along the campground road. I thought it was nicely done!

The marina at our campground, off Lake Sakakawea,

Lake Sakakaweaa, formed by damming up the Missouri River.

Our home for the next few days. Note, the Jeep is still hooked to the RV. We aren’t going anywhere!  We are the only ones on our loop.  Ahhhhh, peace and quiet.

Repositioning for Sugar Beets

So back to repositioning.  We are headed to Grand Forks, North Dakota / East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Why? Because Jim is about to cross something off his bucket list. He has always wanted to work the Sugar Beet Harvest. It only happens once a year and lasts for only two weeks.  Those two weeks are October 1 – 14. Jim got a job driving loads of Sugar Beets off the field for Sproule Farms.  He’ll be working noon to midnight for those 14 days.  Me, I’ll be lounging around the RV being lazy, eating Bonbons and watching TV.  Hah!  I actually have a huge list of things I want to accomplish.

So tune in next time and we’ll all learn about Sugar Beet harvesting.  It WILL be an experience, I’m sure.