June 13, 2005 - Day Four: Coeur d' Alene, Idaho to Glacier National Park
Miles: 289
Miles-to-date: 1680
States: 2
Gas Stops: 1
Rest Stops: 1
North Idaho Trailblazer Hats Acquired: 2
Times Sean Stuck H2 In Deep Snow: 10
Times Ken Laughed at Sean Who Stuck H2: Countless
Times We Sang Kumbaya: 0
Tech Editor Sean P. Holman:
So the giant hungry bears haven't gotten us...yet (Ken says they don't exist in these parts, but I am still keeping myself busy by scanning the forest for Monkeys!). But, if we keep averaging 5 hours of sleep or less a night, we might find a mutiny on the S.S. H2. Last night, we drove around Coeur d' Alene, ID looking for Wi-Fi hotspots, thinking that we would be in and out within an hour. One hour turned to several as the connection while sitting outside a closed FedEx Kinko's wavered and information on our upload was lost. We just wish the local Starbucks would have stayed open one more hour... figures, being Sunday and all. As the clock swung past 11, all of our hopes and dreams of eating at Chili's faded. When we were finally finished at midnight, it was off to the local Wendy's to raid the dollar menu. By the time we finally ate, drove back to camp, and showered, it was close to 1am and we had to be up early to meet with Mark of the North Idaho Trailblazers for a morning snow run in some scenic logging and mining country.
Mark arrived at camp around 7 a.m. and after another filling KOA pancake breakfast, we gassed up the Hummer and headed out to Mullen, ID where we met up with Mark's friends, Brent and J.T. After several miles of climbing, we finally hit our first patch of icy snow. Figuring the H2 was probably going to get stuck, we decided to break-in our new Warn/Hummer XD9000i multi-mount winch by stretching the cable. With snow ranging from 6-inches of ice patches to a few feet of the white stuff, our winch came in very handy several times. Apparently, I better stick to dry wheeling because I wasn't doing our H2 any justice by repeatedly high-centering it in the deep mush. Ken, our own resident Yeti was loving my futile attempts at snow driving. I had fun early on, but after a while I was ready to wheel again on dry, solid earth. I gotta give it to you guys in the Northwest, you have got some skills, but I think I'll stick to my own backyard, the So Cal desert. Also, a special thanks goes out to the boys, Ken and I love our honorary membership in the club. You can see us sporting our North Idaho Trailblazers headgear in one of the adjoining photos...word.
A few observations of my own here... Ken wore pants today. Not that he doesn't normally wear pants, but the man likes his shorts (he also likes to tear sleeves and collars off Four Wheeler staff shirts. I think he is trying to show his off his bratwurst-like arms, but he looks more like Tom Hanks in Cast Away). Maybe it is because the man is always hot, you see I have this watery girley-man So Cal beach blood, and he has this stuff running through his veins that is more akin to molasses. I was surprised that the pants came out when the temperature dropped below 50 for the first time - no jacket though. He also zipped two Coleman sleeping bags together, and apparently can't get them apart now or roll this mass of fabric up. Since he likes his roomy bag, any spare room on the inside of the Hummer is now absorbed with this mega-blanket. Oh yeah, props to the State of Montana, damn you have nice and clean rest stop bathrooms, best ever. Seriously, if you are traveling in the Northern U.S. and feel the need to interview Shatner, do it Montana. One last thing, our internet guy Trevor Reed, back in the office, has been doing wonders to help us out, adding the links to the maps, and doing some behind the scene template work, so that we can be more efficient with our uploads. Thanks Dude!
Fortunately, we had a great day of wheeling, and made good time driving, so we are sitting at a local coffee house, just outside Glacier National Park, and using their Wi-Fi, just to get this update to you early today and give us time for a good meal and some much-needed rest. Looking at the map, the next few days seem somewhat bleak for internet connections, so we'll hop in and update when we can - as long as those bears don't get us first (Or the legendary Forest Monkeys, right Ken?)!
Senior Editor Ken Brubaker:
Today was a blast! We met up with Mark, JT and Brent from the North Idaho Trail Blazers and we all went `wheelin in the Idaho high country. They joined us with two Jeeps and of course we drove our H2 SUT. We wanted to explore a snowy trail and they obliged (or is that humored?) us by leading us to a trail covered in over three feet of snow. Our 35's were no match for the steep and deep white stuff and we got to try out our new Hummer accessory line Warn winch. A lot. As a bonus, thick clouds were even spitting snow.
After we explored the Idaho high country for a few hours we made a beeline for the Glacier National Park KOA near Kalispell, Montana. Tomorrow we're going to tour the park before we continue our eastward trek. Tomorrow's journey will take us deep into Montana's midsection. We're excited about this leg of H2our De Force because the area we will be traveling through will be very remote and we'll be far from "civilization." Because we're camping in a remote area Tuesday night we may not have access to the internet, thus there may be no update for Day 5.
Today's observations:
1.California dude Holman hates cold weather. Morning lows only dipped to the upper 40's and he emerged from his tent wearing a potpourri of clothing and a sour look on his face. He looked like a gangsta' Frosty the Snowman.
2.We're averaging five hours of sleep a night, which makes for some very interesting in-car conversation. Okay, maybe not.
3.We sat outside of a Fed Ex/Kinko's in Coeur d' Alene from 10 p.m. to midnight last night so we could use their wireless internet to upload our web update. Amazingly, the CDA cops left us alone.
4. Coleman is one of our bestest buddies in the whole wide world. We're enamored with all the stuff they sent, especially the sleeping bags and air mattresses
VIDEO introduction
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9