Into the hills of Oregon for Crater Lake National Park which is as per its namesake, a high altitude volcanic crater, now a lake. After a long hard drive up to the rim, we joined the hordes of tourists doing the rim drive. However, there is a good reason hordes of tourists visit this attraction each day, the lake is a deep clear blue, pretty much a perfect mirror of the surrounding crater edge and oh so stunning. Combined with our perfect weather we were very spoilt for views.

     From Crater Lake our destination due north was Boise in Idaho with nothing of note in between. We therefore cut cross country through wild life reserve and farming communities right through the heart of Oregon. Late afternoon on the 4th of July (for those not in the know - American Independence day and a HUGE holiday in the US) we pulled into the small country town of Vale, Oregon. We had a deja vue from Texas. The whole town folk and surrounding communities were all lined along the street for a big Independence Day rodeo parade. We quickly pulled off and sat around watching a very entertaining parade. We decided to stay in town for the evening.

     James struck up conversation with one of the onlookers who was there with his family. It turned out he is a hunter recently returned from Africa and loves the place. After chatting a little about our trip in which he was very interested, we accepted an invite back to his mum's ranch for the night. Jim and Pam have a wild family, a few divorces, problem children, 7 kids between the two of them and huge personalities made interesting viewing. Jim grew up in this little town before becoming an Ace army Helicopter pilot, winning numerous US accolades for flying and eventually going commercial with his own fleet of helicopters and a couple of private Jets.

     We attended the evening rodeo and after a set up by Jim, Kerry and I were introduced to the whole town over the loudspeaker as the furtherest travellers to the rodeo from Zimbabwe! Embarrassing enough, James was then called into the arena by the cowboy clown to be milked along with a couple of old bulls, had the piss taken out of his "weird way of talking" and was eventually sent away much to the crowds amusement. We did however have a great evening.

     Jim and Pam now lived in Boise, Idaho where we were heading next and thus received an invite to their enormous luxurious home for the night, were taken out for dinner and treated like celebrity. We could get used to this living. Thanks a bunch to the two of you, we hope to reciprocate the hospitality one day.

     While in Boise we visited the Peregrine Falcon Fund visitor centre, had a short tour around their facilities before James got chatting to one of the biologists in charge of worldwide projects including Orange Breasted Falcons in Belize and Taita Falcons in Zimbabwe. We were then invited into the Falconry Archives containing numerous priceless falconry related artefacts and paraphernalia. Kerry was mildly interested and James thoroughly engrossed.

     Continuing east, we spent the next few days zigg-zagging through the Idaho forests including a visit to Sun Valley, USA's glitzy ski resort containing numerous vacation homes of the rich and famous and Craters of the Moon National Monument.

     Eventually reaching Wyoming, our first stop was Jackson Hole, another adventure sport Mecca where we picked up some info on local sport climbing spots and headed for the hills where we enjoyed some awesome climbing in perfect picturesque mountains.

     Grand Teton National Park was our following destination having seen a documentary in Texas on wild life spotting in Teton we had prepared ourselves for the best. Grand Teton is a range of rugged, often snow capped granite mountains very similar to some spots we had seen in Patagonia. The main difference here, you are with 20,000 other tourists, all fighting for the limited camp spots and aiming for the best view of everything. The Tetons were as promised spectacular in all their glory and we were lucky enough to spot our first Grizzly bears, 2 to be exact, at very close quarters and not in the slightest worried about the numerous tourists snapping thousands of photos of them. Every evening here a storm brews over the Tetons and one is overawed by nature's power to turn a calm evening into a whipped up frenzy of wind, rain and lightning in a matter of minutes.

     About 30 miles north of Grand Teton we entered Yellowstone National Park, a destination James had been introduced to at the age of 10 in boarding school in Zimbabwe and having harboured all these amazing images in the mind over the years it was magical to actually be here in person. Our first visit was the Rangers Station as we planned to do an over night hike into the back country and required a permit for the occasion. After finally selecting our desired hike in the area of Old Faithful, we then took the scenic drive round to our trail head to begin the hike. En route we were lucky enough to see 2 white wolves beside a lake, at a distance, but one of the wolves was feeding on an Elk. Unfortunately in the interim, a hail storm had brewed and as we were packing our final camping items, we were pelted by hail. An Omen perhaps! We continued regardless.

     Fortunately the storm blew over pretty quickly and we started our 7km hike into the back country at 6pm. Yep 6pm. Fortunately it only gets dark at about 9.30pm so we should be OK. The "easy hike" in also turned out to have a lot more hills than expected resulting in us puffing our way into our destination 2 hours later. We had chosen the remote Mallard Lake to camp next to and the setting was breath taking. A mirror glass lake with namesake mallard ducks floating in oblivion to their surroundings, fir forest on all sides right down to the waters edge. However we had arrived in the witching hour. The mosquitoes were the worst either of us had ever seen. We quickly set up tent, set up all our bear precautions as this was Grizzly country and started a pot of tea brewing so we could decide what to do.

     After the slog in, we were both in dire need of a shower so James took the plunge first, stripped butt naked as quick as possible and launched himself in the freezing cold lake. Only taking 4 stings on the back and the ass in a matter of 20 seconds was not bad. Now having to dry and get changed before getting eaten alive would be the challenge. With a well thought out plan laid, he launched himself out of the water and while drying and changing Kerry stood over him swatting mosquitoes. The process was reversed for her bath but Kerry being more stealthy (or James more vigilant) she only took 2 stings to the ass. Oh how amusing it would have been to be a spectator we will never know - thank the Lord!

     Eventually getting to bed at midnight and getting about an hours sleep in total, due to Kerry hearing things go bump in the night or both of us getting too cold to sleep, we eventually rose, packed the tent and were hiking by 6.30am the 7 kms down to the Upper Basin thermal area near Old Faithful. A very touristy area, with boardwalks creating a labyrinth across the geothermal area we were in the presence of the Worlds greatest concentration of active Geysers. Old faithful being the most famous we did not have to wait around as the geyser blew right on time. (Every 96 min to the uninitiated)

     The area is packed with fumaroles and mud pools, geysers and hot springs; we meandered for hours and waited for a predicted blast from the picturesque riverside geyser. Almost on time, riverside geyser erupted with a jet of near boiling water about 25m in the air over the stream. Along with hundreds of other tourists we took our photos and then observed in silence.

     The last stop in this area was Morning Glory, a unbelievable clear blue, azure thermal hot spring where at this temperature no algae grows and the suns rays are filtered out reflecting only the amazing blue colour. On our further 6 km trip back to the Landy, still lugging our backpacks we came across a few more of these amazing pools far away from the hordes of tourists. We visited other Yellowstone geothermal sites including Grand Prismatic Spring, voted by both of us as one of the most beautiful natural sights we have ever seen. A large pool the size of an Olympic swimming pool, with a deep blue core, orange and red surround, giving only glimpses of the amazing interior when the breeze clears the boiling steam off the surface. In fact the colour of the algae's is carried in some of the steam thus making it look like brown and red smoke is rising out of the pool. Hopefully the photos give it some justice.

     After our final night camped in Yellowstone we cruised the northern area of the park looking for wildlife, spotting one Grizzly as a speck in the distance and numerous Elk, many Ospreys and a pair of Peregrine Falcons made James' day.

     Here we entered Montana and drove through to a cool little hip town of Bozeman. Here we put in a very late phone call to another couple we had met in Mexico some months before and were promptly invited round for dinner and drinks with some of their friends. Don was away but Lu was the perfect host and gave us a great meal, a hot shower and a spot to park and camp in Lodzi for the night. Thanks for the hospitality Lu and sorry we missed you Don.

     From here we headed for the surrounding foothills as we had advice there was some good climbing - again. We had an awesome afternoon scaling rocks in the great outdoors before setting up a wild camp.

     Continuing north through Montana onto Missoula we stopped here, jumped on the internet and spent half the day either talking, e-mailing or researching online. Unfortunately all is not well with our dear old Lodzi. We now have a new engine oil leak worse than before, the car smokes worse than before, we are still overheating rather rapidly and we now have the clutch picking up air into the hydraulic system somehow. So $1500 spent with Mike in Livermore looks like it was the cost of learning patience for the two of us. We are not very happy about it!

     We battle on with James fixing what he can and topping up as much as possible. We may try find ANOTHER mechanic in Canada and see if they can help. Ah well, at least we are still mobile - for now. The following day we hit our final mainland USA destination Glacier National Park on the border with Canada. Once again a stunning range of ragged and wild mountains, home to bears, Puma's, Mountains goats and Longhorn sheep just to mention a few.

     As we entered through the west gate, our first job was to climb the Logan Pass on the Road to the Sun. You can just imagine what that is like, we had 3 overheating stops before we summited but therefore had more time to soak in the scenery as spectacular as it was. At the summit we undertook a brief 5km hike to Hidden Lake before descending the other side to our chosen campsite. We also caught a brief glimpse of our first Black Bears, a mother and two cubs scampering up a ravine. Too quick for decent photos.

     Up early for our last morning in the USA, we headed into the heart of Glacier NP for a quick, 20km day hike beside glacial lakes and all the way up to a Glacier. Once again just overwhelmed with beauty we also got very close to the first Longhorn sheep we had seen and got some decent photos. After a snack lunch and 10min kip beside the glacier, we returned downhill to the awaiting Lodzi, had a quick shower in the communal area and set off for the Canadian Border. 25 miles later, no US formalities, exactly 3 months since we had first entered, we departed the USA mainland as an end to this leg of our trip.

     The USA, Land of the Free and Home of the Brave, enthusiastically sung, often preached, more or less believed but always embraced. America is larger than life, a different country in every 50 states you visit, a land where we have come across overwhelming hospitality, a healthy curiosity regarding our journey and many of the friendliest people you could hope to meet.

     And of course having family to visit and share some of our experience was awesome, thanks for making the effort bro. We have loved our time here, we have treasured all our experiences, sights, sounds and smells and would like to thank everyone whom we came into contact with and assure them they have enriched our memories of the US as an awesome place to visit.
 
Thanks to all and onto Canada we go……………………