Day 2 Out of Spokane later than I hoped. I had a little problem working my new sexy netbook . Spent a while working with tech support. Truth be known.. I could have just been an idiot. All is good now. So on the road, a quick stop for coffee and time to make some miles. I took I-90 over to the rest stop just inside Idaho to decide where to go. I decided to slab it to just past Missoula and pick up 200 heading east - northeast. This is where the fun starts. 200 is a wonderful two lane [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to the first edition of the Paulsen travels in the summer of 2009. I am a little slow getting started with the blog this year so will do some catchup with this first message. Our summer travels started in May when we traveled to Zihuatanejo, Mexico for our son Neil's wedding. Had a great 10 days of lying on the beach, enjoying the wonderful food and a beautiful wedding celebration. We came home and spent a hectic two weeks finishing up work items and getting ready for our summer trip to Montana and Washington. We loaded the camper and left [View Full Entry]

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Nach etwas unruhiger Nacht, abends bis in die Nacht und sehr früh am Morgen (ab 5:30) war Lärm auf dem Parkplatz. In diesem Hotel sind viele Bauarbeiter untergebracht und die machen meistens nicht sehr leise, haben wir auf Empfehlung der Rezeption eine Gaststätte für das Frühstück gefunden und von dort ging es dann weiter zum Fahrradverleih. Dort gab es dann 3 Räder. Wo ist hier die Klingel oder das Schutzblech? Solcher Luxus war nicht inbegriffen für 8$ die 1. STunde und jede weitere 2$. Aber wir konnten bei fast zuviel Sonnenschein einen schönen Ausfug entlang des Missuri zu den Wasserfäll [View Full Entry]

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Am Morgen des Canaday Day nach gutem Frühstück in der Gaststätte nebenan ging es dann los Richtung USA mit dem Ziel Great Falls. Das Navi kannte ja die Strecke und hat uns auch sicher ans Ziel geführt, aber Unterwegs bekamen wir dann etwas Zeifel und haben uns beim Tanken noch eine Karte von Montana gekauft. Nach dem Tanken in Raymond wollten wir wieder weiterfahren aber hinter der Tankstelle war auf einmal der Highway gesperrt, ohne Polizei. Die Leute sassen einfach auf der Straße und haben den Umzug angeschaut und niemanden durch gelassen. Es gab eine "Canada Day Parade" und für uns [View Full Entry]

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We are overdue with an entry, but have been busy this week visiting with family and friends and visiting old familiar sights since we are about 20 miles from where I grew up. The weather has been gorgeous most of the time, but it was in the high 90's yesterday which made for a lot of conversation among the locals about how unbearably hot it was. It will be back in the 80's today. There is a great River Trail that follows the Missouri River through Great Falls. You follow the river through the city and out into the open country. [View Full Entry]

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We spent a week in Helena doing odds and ends to prepare for the trip to Alaska. This included getting a new windshield after ours suffered a crack, change of oil in the radiator, finding protection for the tow windshield, stocking up on groceries, settling with Verizon on a phone plan for Canada, and planning our routes and attractions. It was time well spent. And we learned all about hobby horse farming from Al and Laura Calkins, friends of our traveling friends, Cindee and Bill. We had a blast with all of them. Montana's big sky and mountains are gorgeous. We [View Full Entry]

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The mechanics of the trip we’re now on is hurting my spirit! Right now, we’re in Montana - Big Sky Country, and yes, there’s a lot of sky. In some places, not a lot else (100 foot snow drifts and closed roads?), but that’s okay, we made it into the US, and made it with the assistance of an extraordinarily helpful US Customs and Border official who clearly doubles as a tour guide. Anyway, let me go back a few steps…. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, we were in Mexico (the second half of our week). [View Full Entry]

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We are in Helena and checked through the border in about 20 minutes, much to our relief. I don't think the customs officer could be less friendly. "How many in the vehicle and Proof of citizenship please" and that was it. No "Where are you headed today" or "How are you today". It was a quite a nice drive compared to SK. LOL. We didn't get to see the Gates of the Mountain because the only way you can see it is by boat and the last boat tour was at 2 and we didn't arrive until 4, so maybe on [View Full Entry]

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My very good friends Clark and Tiffany came to Great Falls to celebrate the marriage of one of Clark's old army buddies. My other friend Perkins (who was living with me for a chunk of the summer) and I decided to fly up there and pay them a visit. We grabbed some lunch at a pizza joint and went to visit the bird pond. There were so many ducks and birds the water was murky with duck droppings! Then we grabbed some frozen yogurt and made for back for Bozeman. It is always worth the drive to see good peeps, but [View Full Entry]

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Haven't sent a message since we were in Ontario. We have now crossed Manitoba, Saskatchewan, part of Alberta and are now back in the USA in Great Falls, Montana. Had a 4 day stop in Winnipeg to visit David's cousin Karen and her family. Had a great visit. Got to experience some of their annual Fringe Festival, play Canadian 5-pin bowling, eat great food, do a little kayaking and talk a lot. We are already looking forward to their visit to Las Vegas and our next visit to Winnipeg. We arrived in Great Falls on Wednesday, July 25, after 2 long [View Full Entry]

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