The day to start our journey finally arrived on Wednesday, May 18. Our caravan started out with about 8 RV's a year and a half ago, but for various reasons the number has dropped to five. Besides Pam and I, we have a couple from Florida, Tom and Paula, one from Georgia, Craig and Angie, one from Oregon, Rich and Joan, and Van from North Carolina. Van's wife Sandy under went emergency back surgery at the last minute and decided to take some time for recovery before joining us. We hope she will flying into Anchorage and join us later.

Craig, Angie, Tom and Paula started the trip on May 1 in Nashville and continued to St. Louis and up the Mississippi River towards the headwaters. They ended the Great River Road tour in Minnesota and then headed west for Billings, MT. Pam and I met Van at the Flying J at Watt Road on Wednesday morning and hit the road at a tiring pace in an effort to catch the others before Billings. We achieved our goal Saturday afternoon when we arrived at the Red Trail Campground in Medora, ND. The last leg of the journey from Fargo to Medora was brutal due to a constant South wind at 25 MPH gusting to 37 MPH. If you have never driven a 40 foot motorhome you may not understand the difficulty of driving with that intensity of wind. Imagine trying to carry a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood under those conditions. The couple from Oregon is scheduled to meet us in Dawson Creek, BC on June 1st.

Pam, Van, and I spent our first night in Benton, IL and hit the road early on Thursday, May 19, for Kellogg, IA and the Kellogg RV Park. Pam and I knew what to expect at the Kellogg RV Park because we had been there once before. The campground is nice for an overnight stay and the people are wonderful. The campground is an addition to a family owned combination fuel stop/restaurant. The theme is Iowa's Best Burger Cafe as can be seen form the photos. Of course we walked over to the cafe and had a burger for the evening meal. The burger was good but we don't think it will win any national awards.

One of the attractions at this stop is the storm shelter. Here is a photo of Van looking to the sky ready to open the shelter.

Speaking of weather, we have been very lucky on the trip so far and seem to be one step ahead of the bad weather. As I write this we are in Billings, MT and the news is reporting storms and tornado warnings for the area we just traveled through two days ago. Just before we arrived in Billings they had severe thunder storms with some hail damage. Guess we need to count our blessings.

Friday morning we continued our way West until I-80 intersected I-29 and proceeded North on I-29 toward Fargo, ND. Soon we crossed into South Dakota and could not help but notice the speed limit signs. South Dakota and Montana both have 80 MPH speed limits on the interstates. It is doubtful that we will be pulled over for speeding in our motorhomes.

Fargo was a little to far for us to drive in one day and we stopped in the small town of Summit, SD to spend the night at County Line Campground.

Summit South Dakota is one of those towns that thrived in the days when transportation and highways limited travel and no one had thought of Fedex or UPS. As seen from this photo of downtown Summit, it is obvious that the town is now a bedroom community and folks must travel to a larger community to purchase most of their needs.

Looks like Van and I both decided to take pictures at the same time.

Here are our coaches as we prepare for departure on Saturday morning and the final leg of the journey to catch Craig, Angie, Tom, and Paula.

We made it to Medora, ND in the late afternoon on Saturday and did not have much time for site seeing as we were leaving the next morning for Billings.

 We are four RV's strong now and here we are at a rest stop in Montana.

We arrived at the Billings KOA mid afternoon on Sunday May 22 and plan to stay here for three nights. This is the largest town in Montana and has all the merchants we require to purchase necessary items before heading into Canada. Pam, Van, and I can use the downtime to rest and chill out after the tiring four day journey here.