Ron's Blog

Camping Washington: Keeping it fresh

2011-05-26T06:34:00.000-07:00

Good news: There's a new printing of "Camping Washington" in store in coming weeks, with new books due on bookshelves soon. This isn't a new edition; it's merely an additional printing of the current book, managed by the excellent staff at The Mountaineers Books. But it's a good sign that the book, one of my favorite ongoing projects, is doing well.

I'm planning an all-new version of the book within the next several years, and all fellow Washington campers can help: If you happen upon a campground where something's changed significantly since I last visited to research this guide, please let me know. I can only be in so many places, and your input is invaluable. Already, I've been able to make a couple small changes for the new printing, noting the return of several campgrounds that had been closed due to road damage from winter storms in 2006.

Any feedback on the book can be sent to the email address on this page, or posted as a comment here. From my end, I'll try to post any updates I come across as we travel the state in our tent and tent trailer in coming months. I'll also be working hard to produce all-new photos for the next edition, and plan to post samples of those new pictures here from time to time.

Thanks in advance for this.

Good times in Glacier-less National Park

2010-08-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

You want a piece of me, punk?

MJ took her maiden voyage into Glacier today and got to experience the Going to the Sun Highway a little more intimately than normal. They're rebuilding the upper stretches on both sides of Logan Pass, so you get a 10-15 minute break waiting for the flagger, which you can use to creep over to the edge, look down -- and get all vertigoed. It's a loooong way down.

Don't look now, but someone wants to ask you a question

In spite of that, we made it up to the pass in time to snag a parking space -- no small feat -- and hiked through the hordes up to Hidden Lake. Actually the hordes are only on the trail for the first mile or so. By the time you plummet down the scree slope to Hidden Lake, 95 percent of them have turned around.

Hidden Lake, Glacier National Park

So, nice day, spent with scores of hoary marmots, a gaggle of bighorn sheep, and countless mountain goats and their little kids, many right on the trail. We head toward home tomorrow, either all the way or most of the way. Passed the 6,000 mile mark on the entire roadtrip coming down from East Glacier this evening.

The marching hordes at Logan Pass.

Aaaaah, Montana

2010-08-09T22:51:00.000-07:00

Big, Big Sky: Polson, MT

Back in my home turf. We crossed the line, officially, somewhere between Bozeman and Missoula. Namely, the spot where I saw my first Les Schwab billboard in two weeks. Something about knowing you can get your tire fixed under warranty, anywhere, anytime, makes a man feel worthy and welcome and just comfortable in his own truck skin.

Nice drive today from Bozeman, where we cheated last night and broke our perfect camping record by getting a hotel for one night after a long drive out of the lovely Black Hills of South Dakota, through the nothingness of Wyoming, and on into Polson, MT, where we are ensconced at the lovely Polson KOA. The drive was nice because A) it was cool enough to travel with no AC for the first time in weeks and B) we didn't have to break camp this morning -- just get in the truck and go.

At Polson, one of my favorite towns, since traveling here annually for a stretch more than a decade ago with various friends, things looked mostly the same.

Polson and the Mission Range: God's country

But not at the KOA, which is a very pretty, grassy site on a bluff overlooking Flathead Lake. The former tent area here is gone, replaced by one of the most amazing RV sites I've ever seen: Spacious, opulent, paved and slated and tiled spaces for mega diesel pushers now dominate the site.

You used to choose a site. Now you're issued a prospectus.

These "camp" spots, which include outdoor kitchens, gas fireplaces, gazebos, landscaping, you name it, rent for the night (if you have to ask...) but also sell, as real estate, for $109,000 to $199,000 each. There, you sit with your other old, rich friends from Arizona and watch the sun set every night on the Mission Range. Good gig if you can get it, I guess. We were told some people spend as much "customizing" their site with all the fixings as they did buying it in the first place.

Oh yeah: There's also a monthly "association" dues assessment to keep the grass mowed.

Sadly, it's an iconic thing as well as just a business development. Some workers we talked to here said this "Phase I" development, wildly popular, is the first of three. Somewhere in between the next two phases, the existing KOA campground -- one of the nicest I've ever seen -- will be squeezed out. But, all those people in their half-million dollar diesel pushers on quarter-million dollar campsites probably won't miss us tent trailer types. So it goes. God Bless America.

But, we didn't let that spoil our evening in Polson, where a major T-storm blew through right around dinner time, allowing the skies to open up into the usual late-evening Big Sky splendor. We went out for a stroll up a local road, armed with my little Lumix point-and-shoot camera, which hasn't been used much. So I put it to the test with some tough-lighting scenes in Big Sky country, with decent results. Couple images below, plus more at this link on Picasa.

It's nice to have someone's undivided attention

Twilight, Montana

Day-tripping tomorrow into Glacier NP. Then it's westward bound for home on Wednesday. After 3,000 miles out on US 2 and more than 2600 miles back west from Lake Place via I-90, I close my personal big, oblong roadtrip loop tomorrow in West Glacier, where Elliott and I passed through on the journey East more than three weeks ago.

Over and out.

South Dakota: Spectacularly wild

2010-08-07T20:57:00.000-07:00

Great day on the road in the Black Hills today. First, a morning tour through Wind Cave National Park, home to a cave that's 132 miles and still counting (they haven't found an end to it yet). We didn't go into the cave, not being cave people so much. But we did tour through the park, which is a stunning combination of black hills pine forests and sweeping grasslands, home to all sorts of animoles, which were in fact out to be stumbled upon. It's really an amazing destination, one most people have never heard of. A lot like Yellowstone, sans geysers -- and crowds.

Wildlife highlight: A coyote stalking prairie dogs for breakfast. A guilty-pleasure highlight: The "Begging Burros" of Custer State Park, which need no further introduction. A couple pics below.

Clearly ticked at all the ink given to the meerkats

Here little prairie dog...

The sign pretty much covers it: Custer State Park, South Dakota

I know there's food in that thing. I know it. I know it. I know it.

Next: Off to Mount Rushmore, which was lousy -- and I mean it in its true context -- with Harley Riders, but still rather amazing, to someone who hadn't seen it since age 12. Have to say, the NPS has done a bang-up job of moving people through this place. The visitor center (underground) and parking garage (mostly underground) built since my last visit 35 years ago are impressive. And the mountain up close is just a completely different experience than through a lens. Nevertheless, some of my images below.

The boys

George from Presidential Trail

A side you don't normally see

George looking blue

Abe, ready for closeup

Afterward, at 95 degrees in Hot Springs, we got wet, MJ in the mineral pool in Hot Springs, me in the, uh, mineral pool at the KOA. Great day. Best on the trip yet.

Tomorrow: Wyoming (quick stop at Devil's Tower), then on to Montana, far as we can get toward Missoula.

More pics of all this are uploaded to Picasa at this address. That album includes my pictures yesterday from the Badlands. Such as they are.

OK: Before we close. By popular demand -- one more begging burro! Or several, in this case.

(For the record, I fed the burros, which prefer Cheet-o's, a protein/carb balanced breakfast bar, to better control their blood glucose levels. I'm always looking out for the wildlife. Look: We had to give them something, or they would not leave. These beasts are unbelievably savvy: They walk right out in front of your car to get you to stop, then mosey right over to the window and demand you roll it down. Everything but the window-washing shakedown. And I bet if you gave that one on the right a squeegee, he would use it. Evolution in progress. We should have Congressmen this smart.)

Hot Springs, SD

2010-08-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

BAD, BAD LANDS

No, we likely won't be using them. But we're camped at a nice KOA on the outskirts of Hot Springs, which is south of Rapid City. Hot here today. Mid-90s, pushing 100. But right now, a fierce-looking thunderstorm is headed our way from the Black Hills, so we've battened down the hatches and hunkered in. All we need to get out for is to put the laundry in the dryer in about 15 minutes.

Nice day today on the road through South Dakota, a short day by our standards. We drove through Badlands National Park, stopping to illegally climb on some of the hills in a couple spots. Beautiful day. Some of MJ's pictures below and above.

Some early settlers crossed here. Imagine the chafing.

Oh: We're calling an audible on our schedule, probably dropping our planned trip to Banff from the itinerary. Just too much to do in too short of a time, and to do it all, we would have had to push, push, push every day, which we're tired of doing. So, we're probably spending a whole day here -- two nights in one place, first time on the whole trip for me -- to see the sights around the Black Hills tomorrow. That includes Wind Cave National Park, a couple local wildlife haunts, and of course Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Monument.

Once we cross the Missouri River, everything will get better. I KNOW it.

We accidentally arrived here in sort of the worst possible time, crowd-wise. The big annual Harley rally starts in Sturgis on Sunday. They're expecting 500,000 people. We've passed most of them on I-90, in line at the gas station, in line at the bathroom at Wall Drug, you name it. It's sort of chaos, and a surprising number of the Harley people come across, at least, as sort of loud and really stupid. Hate to generalize, but. It's so nice to be standing on a bluff in the Badlands, looking for wildlife in a huge, silent meadow, and have four dozen hawgs come blaring through, literally shaking the ground. So, word to the wise. If you're headed this way for the sights and not the beer and all-day concerts, don't come during early August.

Yes, that's a vehicle inside that vehicle in front of that other vehicle...

Also learned something interesting along the way. The average Harley freak does not, as I had always assumed, ride his/her Harley from points unknown down to Sturgis. The bikes -- or the rider's butts -- are too precious for that. I'd guess that a good 75 percent of the bikes that we've seen down here are cloistered away in trailers, being towed by massive motorhomes. They take them out at night to polish the gas tank and spin around the block, then put them back in. The guys camped across from us last night had a massive Class A diesel pusher RV pulling a trailer that carried a small SUV and four Harleys. It's all quite the monument to gas consumption. Sort of amazing. Makes me wonder how far most of these show-pony bikes even ever get ridden. Oh well. To each his own.

Too pretty to ride

The upshot is that all the tour stops down here -- including the NPS's new Minuteman Missile Silo tour, which is a bit eyebrow-raising, both in a cool and creepy way -- are completely overloaded. The street outside Wall Drug today looked like the bar scene from Star Wars, with biker guys lighting up enough cigs to leave a tobacco ring on the local water tower.

"Your Life Starts When You Get One," say the Harley T-shirts. Or sometime much later.

Speaking of Wall Drug: Bizarre moment as we were wading through those fifteen rooms of tacky gifts. I lost track of MJ completely and couldn't find here. She couldn't find me, either. One display stand for cheap jewelry had mirrors on it -- which I could see her in, and she could see me in, but we couldn't find each other in person. Fun House hilarity at its finest here in South Dakota.

So, we're having a nice evening here in Hot Springs. MJ reading the Rapid City Journal, which she says is a nice paper, me blogging and laundering and wondering what would happen if the metal roof of our tent trailer gets struck by lightning. (If you see this post, it probably didn't.) Big, hair-raising, stomach-pit fluttering thunderstorm cell just descended on us. A major gully washer. Awesome. We're cozy and dry in the trailer, AC running, glad we're not in a tent. Really glad. So, this trailer might have been a decent idea, after all. In spite of the fact I have threatened to park it and sell it at least four times.

Neglected to mention that yesterday's post left out another good development: We stopped at a Toyota dealership in Sioux Falls -- the second such detour on this trip -- to see if they could help identify why the truck was not sending 12 volts back to charge the trailer battery and run the fridge while driving. They worked us in with no notice and found a blown fuse -- one I thought for sure I had already checked, and replaced it for little charge. So, that's nice to have that fixed. I think, at least hope, it's the last bit of damage from that fateful Whitefiish KOA incident where the trailer slipped off the hitch and pulled some wiring out of the harness. Sheez. Pilot error strikes again.

The up/down of the trailer is pretty fast, and MJ is a whiz at it, so we have it down to something of a science. But it's still a lot to remember day-in, day out when you're road weary and doing it twice a day. So we'll enjoy the luxury of having an entire day tomorrow with no up-down drills. And we can run around SD with just the truck. Nice!

The road ahead: Sunday morning we will set out for Wyoming and Devil's Tower. Then on across 90 to Missoula and up the Flathead Valley to Polson/Whitefish. We'll likely spend a day or two in Glacier, which MJ has never seen, then head across Hwy 2 -- I miss Hwy 2! -- to Spokane for the last night, then home, probably via Hwy 20, by next Tues/Wed.

That's unless we just get pissed at tired and drive all the way home one of these nights. Not likely, but you never know!

MJ says Hi to everyone and we can't wait to see most of you again soon.

P.S.: Note to explain cryptic "dry"comment on South Dakota pic below: We spent three nights in high-humidity hell in the Midwest. Humidity and i mix like Sarah Palin and deep thought. It was not pretty. I'll take 100 and skin-crackin' dry any day. But I'd prefer Bellingham weather to all of it.

Some random road pictures follow. Cheers.

We are both ashamed to have camped here. But sometimes you get desperate.

Mid-afternoon in the Badlands, the truck thermometer called it quits

Our Midwest road experience. At least it's not corn. There's a lot of corn. Did we mention corn?

Note the traditional Sioux indoor/outdoor carpeting, made from the rare Green Plains Bison.

--30--

South Dakota. Hot but thank God dry.

2010-08-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Somewhere in Indiana

2010-08-03T20:26:00.000-07:00

Now I see how the other half lives.

Driving across the U.S. on Hwy 2 was lonesome and frustrating at times. But it was Interstate Nirvana compared to the alternative -- crowded multi-lane, multi-headache affairs such as Interstate 90, which we've followed now from upstate New York on to Indiana.

About half of the "thruway" through New York and Pennsylvania is under construction. As in, one lane, total cow trail. And the traffic is off and on heavy. Sort of a comedown after having the road all to yourself on the way out. And total culture shock, when we pull into those roadside "service areas" complete with gas station and four food outlets run by inattentive minions.

The one saving grace today: Tim Horton's in a couple of them. Nothing like a few fresh Timbits to get you going down the road.

Oh: Did I mention we're paying a toll every 55 yards or so? We are.

Tonight the rig is in a, and I unfortunately am not kidding, Yogi-bear themed campground -- one with 600-odd sites -- that was hand-selected by MJ. It's not a bad place, but it is completely, absolutely, unequivocally Out of Control. Tomorrow we plan to skirt around Chicago, like an orbiter slingshotting around the moon, and head out West onto the Great Plain, sticking to 90 and hoping it gets better.

The only other big news: it's hot. It's sticky. It's the Midwest. I HATE the Midwest. Not sure how anyone can live here, or why. The big bad AC unit on the Coleman saved us last night, and again tonight. Even MJ, the Heat Queen, has blessed its presence.

Life is good.

More to come.

Pointed West

2010-08-02T20:47:00.000-07:00

|Call it payback.

All across the U.S. -- 2,950 miles from Seattle to Lake Placid, NY, Elliott and I managed to avoid the "Heat Wave Sweeping Nation" (eg, Washington DC and NYC) at the time. But today, as MJ and I point the Tundra west for the first time for the return trip, we're crawling into bed in the camper with that big rooftop AC humming for the first time.

Camped in a soggy-bottom private park near Rochester, NY, where the humidity is about 150 percent, by my standards. Even MJ was seen sweating a little.

We left Lake Placid around 1 p.m. today and just did a half day to reimmerse in the practice of long driving. We'll probably try to average about 400 miles a day or so for the next week, to put us in Montana.

The route: I-90 most of the way. It's a totally different experience so far from the US 2 route we traveled out on -- different in a bad way. It's a freeway, with lots of construction slicing things down to skinny lanes, and freeway tolls, to boot. Hope it gets better farther west.

The plan is to blow through the midwest as quickly as possible, visit some roadside sites in South Dakota, then blow through into Montana and cut north to Calgary, then over to Banff, one of my favorite places on the planet, so far, and one MJ has not seen. Even scored a campsite reservation at Tunnel Mountain campground in banff for next Monday/Tuesday nights. So we'll be up there and then, we hope, home by next Wednesday or Thursday.

More to come.

Made it

2010-07-27T06:38:00.001-07:00

Lake placid 7 pm monday

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Far East

2010-07-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

El on the road in Ontario.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Hwy 2 ends

2010-07-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

St. Ignace, MI. Now just Ontario to go to NY. 2172 miles east of everett.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Breakfast

2010-07-25T07:04:00.001-07:00

Big Boy, Manistique, MI.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Camp Duluth

2010-07-23T18:11:00.000-07:00

Water, at last!

The Backwards Lewis and Clarks have arrived in Duluth, Minn., where for the first time it feels hot (confession: Only about 80), and we are based at Indian Point campground, a city of Duluth facility with so-so facilities, but a strong wi-fi signal.

Camp Duluth

We crossed Minnesota today and passed many, many, many lakes. Not unexpected. Forests of birch trees, pines, all sorts of stuff. Very, very nice trip, with -- again -- ideal driving conditions in the 70s.

Started the day with, what else, a shopping trip at Cabela's in East Grand Forks, then a purchase of some Chippers chocolate-covered potato chips at Widman's, then on down the road through Bemidji, home of the U.S. Curling team (no sign of Pete Fensen or Cassie Johnson). There, we had a personal encounter with the, ahem, famous statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox, which, to be honest, we expected to be bigger. Like, epic-sized. But, they appeared to have fresh paint and looked in fine condition.

Yes, that's a baby seal it's mauling at Cabela's

Along the way, we listed to hours-long commodities reports from the Red River Farm Network on a.m. radio, which was sort of interesting in that it informed us about most of what we'd been driving through, crop-wise: Soy, corn, wheat, potatoes. Lots of all of those.

You've gotta take it where you can get it.

It's very pretty up here in Duluth, where Highway 2 comes down a sweeping hill with water and bays (Lake Superior) as far as the eye can see. At least my failing eyes.

Nice to drive all day without worry of blown fuses. We have plenty of extras to offload on someone else.

Bemidji

Among the other "firsts" today: First time to arrive at a campsite at a decent hour and not have to race to set up the trailer. Elliott has seized the opp to do a load of laundry. Also first time I cranked up the AC in the trailer, which felt mighty fine after the always sweat-inducing setup (which we're getting better at daily.)

Chief(s) Bemidji

We're feeling confident now about getting to Lake Placid on time by next Tues/Wed. More important, we have the bulk of Hwy 2 behind us. Only a few hundred miles to go, we think, across a bit of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan before we cross up to Sault Ste. Marie and into canada for the last part of our trek, through Ontario and then down into Upstate New York.

You pretty much have to do it.

We've traveled pretty much every inch of US 2 from Everett to here: About 1,700 miles. It's a cool way to see the country.

(Today's photos by Elliott.)

Minnesota achieved

2010-07-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Quick update: We blew across North Dakota today. Pretty country, all of which began to look A LOT alike, which isn't to knock it. Big mileage day, over 550 miles to get us down the road.

Just before nightfall, under heavy gray skies that looked more like Kalaloch than the Midwest, we pulled into Grand Forks, crossed the bridge into Minnesota, and nabbed a campsite at the Red River State Recreation Area, a fine state park right on the banks of the river (yes, the one that flooded recently.) It's a nice spot, hidden behind a berm that convinces you you're not really camping in downtown Grand Forks, even though there's a brand new Cabela's a block away.

We learned of it during our most fortuitous stop of the day -- the Toyota dealership in Devil's Lake, ND. We pulled in there about 10 minutes before closing and begged for help with the fuse problem. A young guy there named Mike whipped out this inch-thick book titled, "Toyota Tundra wiring diagram," and began scrolling through it. He figured out that the fuse in question shared wiring with the turn signals, which share wiring of course with the trailer.

So Mike took the plug from the trailer apart and, lo and behold, discovered that some idiot (that would be me) had fastened a wire to the wrong post when putting the thing back together after it pulled apart during a trailer lurch in Montana. Problem solved. Mike refused payment, and sent us on our way. His manager told us about the state park in Grand Forks -- a great bonus. So, we feel like our luck has changed and that we're sort of back on schedule -- as much as we ever were on schedule in the first place. It felt good to get the vast plains of Montana and North Dakota behind us. Tomorrow, we'll likely make our way across Minnesota to somewhere near Duluth, then cross Wisconsin and hit the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by the weekend.

Minnesota

2010-07-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Red river bridge, Grand Forks, ND.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Centered

2010-07-22T14:18:00.000-07:00

The sign speaks for itself.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Day Three: The "Hi Line" across Montana

2010-07-21T21:56:00.000-07:00

Sweetgrass Hills, Mont.

GLASGOW, MT -- For years, I've been telling people exactly what makes me uneasy about the Big Sky country that I otherwise love.

"It makes me nervous," I say. "I'm from the Puget Sound. We are born and raised under cover. When you get out there in that big, wide open, I feel completely exposed. I'm always waiting for something to just swoop down and pluck me off the face of the earth."

This time, covering new ground on the "Hi Line," Highway 2 from Whitefish across the roof of the U.S., I didn't feel that way.

For one thing, someone was looking out for us. Sailing across US 2 at about 70 mph, trailer in tow, the weather was uncommonly kind. The highest temperature recorded in the rig on this midsummer's day in the high, dry lands was about 71 degrees. A high overcast did the trick, blocking the sun just enough to keep the land cool, putting some spring in the step of an occasional antelope, which otherwise would have been bedded down midday.

It did the same for us. The Hi Line, which runs due east-west on a route often touching elbows with big grain and shipping-container trains operated by Burlington Northern Santa Fe (it's the original route of James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway), is a marvel in the sheer vast emptiness of the land that surrounds it. Cruising across it on a mild day, with little to no wind, turned out to be a joy -- not the barren, Wyoming-like wasteland we'd feared. It's the kind of country where you can finally exhale.

Even better, the Tundra chased some thunderheads all the way across the vast expanse, driving along on a smooth, rain-cooled surface that appeared to have been freshly watered down just for us. Karma payback, I figured, for that road construction project in Sandpoint, Idaho (think: sheep trail). The rain soaked the grasslands and wheat fields to the north and south just enough to bring out the succulent scent of sweetgrass. Very nice stuff.

There is just something intensely liberating about racing through land where only the wind is big enough to push you around.

Great views to the north of the Sweetgrass Hills along the Canadian border ("hills" being a name that only those fresh out of the 12K foot Rockies would apply to 6,900-foot peaks). And, surprise, surprise, the farther east you go, the more the terrain gets varied and interesting and even more green, with the Bears Paw Range eventually looming to the south, leading the historically curious to the spot where Chief Joseph finally gave it up to the U.S. Cavalry.

It's the sort of country where you expect to see a massive herd of buffalo coming over the hill at any moment. Alas, it's mostly combines, freight trains and travel trailers these days.

Roadside, Chester, MT

I recently read a NY Times piece about a decade-old about a group of Northern Montanans who'd banded together to lobby Congress for some development and tourism finds for the Hi-Line, once a major north-south interstate before the more southerly Interstate 90 stole the four-lane show. Which is unfortunate, because this largely forgotten interstate, which cuts across the geographic center of North America (more on this in North Dakota), is a unique slice of America. Didn't find a followup piece, which probably tells you all you need to know about what became of the lobbying cry. But signs of the effort still are visible along the route.

Would a little earmark kill anyone?

We stopped for lunch at a lovely, grassy wayside in Cut Bank, and were tempted to join in the 100th birthday barbecue bash for the town of Shelby. But the road beckoned. We wound up pushing the odometer to right around 1,000 miles from Everett before we started hunting for a campsite.

One place looked promising: A Bureau of Reclamation site on a reservoir about an hour west of Glasgow. Gorgeous spot, pelicans paddling around in lakefront campsites largely devoid of people. Two steps outside the truck, we learned why. The mosquitoes came at us from high and low and everywhere in between. After firing off a single frame from the camera, we high-tailed it back to the truck and back onto the Hi-Line, slapping each other all the way to put the interlopers to the sword.. Forty five minutes later, we pulled into Glasgow in time to pop up the trailer and cook up some salmon burgers on the tailgatge before dark. We're in a private campground at a motel here, just up from the rail yard that you don't see until you pay. So it should be an interesting night.

Pelicans, as mosquito blood extraction commences

Tomorrow: Off early on down the road, out of Montana and into North Dakota. One unplanned itinerary item is a search for a Toyota garage. Since our little wiring episode last night -- related or unrelated, who knows for sure -- a fuse for all the instrument-panel gauges keeps blowing on the truck. We went through three of them today, unable to diagnose the glitch. A guy at a garage in Cut Bank opined it's coincidental to teh trailer wiriing, and sold us a fuse that automatically resets itself after hitting the breaking point. Who knows. But fixing it appears to be above my pay grade (what isn't?)

Really useful information...

So, wish us luck. We have an entire ashtray full of extra fuses, and don't mind driving without a speedometer (especially in Montana), but for some reason this fuse also kills the turn signals, which isn't good.

Much more TK.

Rest stop

2010-07-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

Cut Bank Mont.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Lunch stop

2010-07-21T13:49:00.001-07:00

Washington cherries, Cut Bank, MT.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Day Two recap: Spokane to Whitefish

2010-07-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

Wow.

That's about all we can say from the Whitefish KOA (a cultural circus all itself; more on that later) after what we believe will be one of the highlight days on the Highway 2 Nowhere tour.

The big mountains, seas of trees and big rivers of the Idaho Panhandle and Northwestern Montana rarely disappoint, and didn't today. Mostly clear skies, temps in the high 70s, nice breeze. It was stunning all the way across, at least once we got clear of the greater Deer Park metroplex north of Spokane, where, apparently, most single-wides go to die.

The six hours between Spokane and Whitefish truly are stunning -- the sort of open road you dream about. Particularly spectacular: The Kootenai River Valley and Kootenai Falls area. I'm posting one pic here; have many more but this one took about 10 minutes on weak campground wifi, and I'm tired.

The only disconcerting thing about today's journey: The sprawled-out growth of Whitefish and Kalispell, which are reaching out with Petco/Costco/Hone Depot big-box tentacles to try to reach out and touch each other -- a feat at which locals fear they someday will succeed. It's sad.

Note: We almost got delayed by several hours this morning because when we first hit the road, we honestly debated driving all the way back to Davenport to get another milkshake at Edna's. Might have been worth it.

And then tonight, a short lesson in trailer light wiring as the tent trailer slipped off a jack, yanking the receptacle cord (still plugged into the truck) loose and pulling several wires out of the harness. Let's see: Little red wire goes to terminal A, B, or C? Got it all put back together and turned on the left turn signal. The right one came on. Success! Just had to switch two wires, and we're back in business.

Tomorrow we head into the Great Empty east of Whitefish across central and eastern Montana. Not sure where we'll wind up. Hopefully someplace with a good chicken-fried steak nearby.

Day One recap: Bellingham to Spokane

2010-07-19T22:34:00.000-07:00

Day one on the Highway 2 Nowhere began with the typical West-to-East wonder of heading up a mountainside under what we call the, uh, "marine layer," then busting into the sun in the Cascades and sailing down the other side into the Ponderosa. If you're doing Highway 2 faithfully, you get the even-larger jaw dropper: The 8-mile stretch of 2 between Orondo and Waterville, where the highway takes you from the flat lands along the middle Columbia River, literally up through a steep, rocky gorge best suited for bighorn sheep, then spits you out atop a great plateau at about 3,000 feet -- Washington wheat country.

The next hour-plus brought some interesting side-of-the-road action: A pack of six or seven parasailers who had launched -- God knows, where? From the ground? -- sailing between 2,000 and what looked to be 5,000 feet above the wheat fields, riding the same thermals that send those omnipresent mini-tornado "dust devils" sailing at your car. One of them crossed the highway right on top of is. You could see it coming, and your brain did the math and went, it's coming right at us. But at 65 mph, whaddya gonna do? Just hang onto the wheel a little tighter and let it go right over, watching the trailer fishtail just a little in the rear-view mirror. Nothing broken. It's sort of like going through one of those big tidal whirlpools up near Campbell River on Vancouver Island: You just go sideways a little on your same heading.

Not long after that we careened down through Moses Coulee, nothing but a warmup act to the spectacle of Dry Falls and the Grand Coulee up the road a piece. Elliott had never seen this, and was duly impressed. Me, I'm always impressed by the sight, and was happy to simply confirm that dry falls is, indeed, still dry, in spite of all those melting glaciers up in Canada.

Fueled by the 14-gallon jar of gazpacho MJ made for us to take on the road, we then did our own parasail across Lincoln County's wheat fields, hit Edna's in Davenport for a killer chocolate/peanut butter milkshake, hung a left at a godawful structure called the "Northern Quest Casino," and made our way down the Spokane River to Riverside State Park, where a riverfront campsite awaited the tent trailer. Backed her in there with little problem. Nice place. Lovely evening, about 80 degrees. Were visited by old (old, OLD) friends Seabury Blair and Marlene Kocur, who live nearby and dined with us and swapped old newspaper tales. Great time. Great to see them again.

Now, we're sitting by a small, bright campfire watching a half-moon rise over the sound of crickets and the river as we discuss tomorrow's trek: From Spokane to Whitefish, Mont., a favorite old stomping ground where a KOA campground -- and some good childhood friends of Elliott's -- await.

Tune in tomorrow for a gazpacho-gauge update. (We sent a bit home with Seabury and are down to about 1.5 gallons, I believe.)

We're going to relish the scenery in NW Montana tomorrow before crossing the Big Empty, Eastern Montana, on Wednesday.

Remember the scene from Lawrence Arabia where Lawrence leads the troops on an ill-fated journey across The Desert That None Dare Cross? That'll be us, except with a tent trailer instead of camels.

Note: We have pictures, but signal is too low to post tonight.

Davenport

2010-07-19T17:25:00.001-07:00

Edna's.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Dry falls

2010-07-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Still quite dry.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

FRUIT

2010-07-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Orondo.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Breaking news

2010-07-19T13:12:00.001-07:00

From Leavenworth, where it is 86 degrees.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

First stop

2010-07-19T11:02:00.001-07:00

Ron judd the elder and younger, west end of Highway 2 Nowhere!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

On the road!

2010-07-19T10:46:00.001-07:00

Team Highway 2 Nowhere is on the road, rolling through cloudy, cool Everett WA about 10 a.m.

First stop: Monroe, to show the new trailer to Ron's Old Man.

More to come...

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Judd's "Highway 2 Nowhere" roadtrip begins Monday

2010-07-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not exactly to Nowhere. Highway 2, which begins in downtown Everett, WA, ends in St. Ignacius, MI. And that's where I'm headed, along with my friend Elliott Almond, for a great American roadtrip along the roof of the USA, the "Hi-Line" route, as parts of it are known.

US 2 roughly follows the route of the old Great Northern Railway, and a lot of the (dashed) hopes and promise of James J. Hill are plowed into the ground along its shoulders. Parts of it are spectacular, parts of it (nothing against Eastern Montana, but hell-o, Eastern Montana), are best described as desolate.

But the key concern here is that it's a part of our great country I've never seen. And neither has Elliott. So, off we go on Monday July 19, departing from Bellingham.

We'll be traveling in my Toyota Tundra and pulling a new (to me) Coleman Tacoma tent trailer. That's the rigging right there on the right. (We are sponsored neither by Toyota nor Coleman/Fleetwood, but should either entity like to give us a new truck or trailer, we will gladly accept them.) In any case, there is little doubt that various calamaties will ensue, as two boys with failing eyesight hit the road to see the sites. Stay tuned here for updates, pictures, and requests for helicopter evacuations.

Along the way, we'll be visiting Spokane, Whitefish, all of Northern Montana, the top side of North Dakota (plus a dip into the seldom-visitied Theodore Roosevelt National Park), Minnesota and Michigan's Upper Peninsula to the end of US 2. Then we'll be heading north into Ontario, skirting the Great Lakes and slipping past Toronto before dropping down into upstate New York and cavorting through the Adirondacks on our way to our final destination, Lake Placid, NY, MJ's ancestral homeland, where she will be spending time with family and resting up for the long ride back to God's country, route TBD.

Elliott, who has traveled big chunks of the world with us covering the Olympic Games, will either fly home or finally find an honest woman and settle down and raise a family on a farmstead in Tupper Lake, whichever seems most appropriate.

Since no one asked: This blog will serve mostly as an entertainment device but also, I hope, as a set of notes that I'll later use to write a magazine piece about this journey along one of America's longest forgotten highways.

Stopover hints and ideas area appreciated. Post us a note!

2009-12-27 Swans

2009-12-28T00:53:00.000-08:00

Some swans in the Skagit Valley on a fine Sunday afternoon.
2009-12-27 Swans

Camping Washington guide: It's coming, soon

2009-04-25T19:11:00.000-07:00

Did something today I've never done before, which was give a talk and slideshow to promote a book that technically doesn't exist yet. The book is Camping Washington, and it's going through its final touches at the publisher, The Mountaineers Books. It will be available in early June, just in time for the summer camping season. The book is an all-new, much-improved version of the old Camping! Washington guide, last published by Sasquatch Books four years ago. Look for updated campground listings, ratings, photos, maps and much more here, including the soon-to-be-required-reading Judd's Guide to Family Camping.

The slide show was part of the Grand Opening of the new clubhouse, on Sandpoint Way near Magnuson Park, for the venerable Mountaineers Club. It's a grand building -- basically a modernized interior of an old concrete structure, complete with indoor and outdoor climbing walls, meeting rooms, classroom space, a grand library, a nice granite fireplace, and a really great bookstore. Check it out when you get time.

Also, keep watching this space for more book updates. Also due out in short order is the second edition of Day Hike! Mount Rainier, published by Sasquatch Books, which I co-wrote with friend and longtime colleague Seabury Blair Jr. This guide has been the most popular day-hiking guide to Rainier on the market since its inception, and we're happy to be able to roll out a new, post-great-floods edition in time for summer hiking season.

Five-Star Campgrounds Revealed

Finally, here, by special request, is a list requested by some nice people at today's presentation. Drumroll please, for all of the 5-STAR-RATED CAMPGROUNDS in Camping Washington (it's an honor I'm quite picky about bestowing; the guide includes almost 600 campgrounds):

Deception Pass State Park

Cape Disappointment State Park

Fort Flagler State Park

Kalaloch Campground

Moran State Park

And one to be named later. (C'mon, you have to buy the book for something.)

Happy camping.

"The Winter Olympics" is now available

2009-01-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

Amazon.com and other retailers now have my new Olympics book, "The Winter Olympics: An Insider's Guide to the Legends, Lore and Events of the Games," in stock. This was sort of a labor of love -- my inside view of the Winter Olympics, including detailed description of each sport, rules and fields of play, history, prominent medalists, fun trivia, personal experiences with various sport at the Games, some of my favorite columns filed from the Olympics, and a lot of detailed infomation about venues for 2010 Olympic events in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. It's also a gorgeous book, with 135 color photos and quality stock. A keepsake, I hope. Check it out and let me know what you think.

And a bonus: Two collectible covers!

2008-12-23T18:31:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Bellingham

Christmas in December

2008-12-23T17:59:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's painfully obvious I haven't been around here for a while. For good reason: I've finished up a couple book projects. My new Winter Olympics keepsake guidebook is due out in February. Also due out this coming spring are revisions/updates of two very popular guidebooks, Day Hike Mount Rainier and Camping Washington. I'll post more information on all as publication becomes imminent.

Meantime, the snow is piled up -- deep -- at the house in Escrow Heights. See Emjay chipping away at it above, before we got another 8'' on top.

Christmas in July

2008-07-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

It was a pretty heavy snow year up in the North Cascades, 60 miles east of our home in Escrow Heights. How heavy? The state snowplow crews, as usual, are just finishing their work clearing the final 2.5 miles of Hwy 542, the Mount Baker Highway, to the end of the road at Artist Point, elev. 5,140. Some photos from a visit on Tuesday.

Thanks to our friend Bronlea Mishler of Washington DOT, who arranged a tour behind the gate. That's her in the first photo, standing atop the roof of the Artist Point restroom, where Emjay herself had summited a few moments earlier (restroom summit photo below).

About 20 ft of snow remain at Artist Point -- about half what would have been there in midwinter. The site is just up the road from the Mount Baker Ski Area, where a world record snowfall -- 1,140 inches -- was recorded in the winter of 1998-99.

The highway to Artist Point opens Friday July 18.

Blue Tarp Bible Sweeps Nation

2008-06-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Or at least buffs it up, in a Swiffer sort of way (less mess).

On a national radio tour this week, we asked Blue Tarp Nation to log on here and post their own most beloved/loathed tarp applications for Le Tarp Bleu. Bring them on, and stay tuned here for more details about upcoming Blue Tarp Bible events.

Meantime: Look for the book on Amazon.com or from publisher The Mountaineers books. And enjoy this fine review (headline: "An Entertaining Look at Bad Taste") from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, from up in a place there they offer post-graduate degrees in blue tarping.

Seattle Times Olympics blog debuts

2008-04-20T09:51:00.001-07:00

For frequent updates on the Olympic world, see my new Seattle Times blog, "Olympics Insider," found here.

Finally

2008-04-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

IOC President Jacques Rogge, facing an organizational crisis over the torch relay, finally applies some minor heat to the Chinese. What's more interesting, and telling, is their response -- outright rejection, and accusations that the IOC is meddling in its Olympics showcase by introducing "irrelevant political factors. NY Times coverage here. Also note in the story the Chinese claiming they have uncovered a plot by ingrown terror elements to kidnap or blow up foreign journalists and athletes -- or maybe get them with "poison meat." As to the latter: They've tried that on us, to no avail, at every Olympics.

On the Olympic torch relay

2008-04-09T16:19:00.000-07:00

The ongoing torch relay for the Beijing '08 Games has become a farce. The entire idea behind the relay, in my eyes, is to get the Olympic flame, and what it represents, close to people who will never get so close in any other way. I've seen this phenomenon in person countless times. If you have, too, you might relate. (See my column from 2004 about carrying the torch.)

The Chinese might be wise to cancel the rest of the relay -- at least the parts outside the friendly confines of their own country. That's up to them.

What's troubling to me are suggestions, by people in U.S. media, that the fiasco of this edition of the relay suggests the tradition should be dropped altogether. One such piece was offered today by my colleague Steve Kelley, then seconded by one of our editorial writers, Ryan Blethen. I respect both of them and their opinions, and often agree with both. But I vehemenly disagree on this one, as I expressed to Ryan in this comment to his blog:

Dousing the torch would be a "teaching moment?" Please.
-
Yes, the torch relay originated with the 1936 Olympics. People have known that for, well, 72 years. It's no secret. The inclusion of the torch was not the brainchild of Joseph Goebbels. It was part of an Olympic plan devised by Carl Diem, Secretary General of the Organizing Committee for the 1916 German Olympics, which never took place because of World War I. Historical debate continues about Diem's degree of affection for Nazism, but clearly, he was at least complicit with the Nazi propaganda machine. But that point is largely irrelevant, because the notion that Olympic torch relay should die simply because of its origins is completely farcical.
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The fact is -- and I'll just come right out and say it -- the idea of a torch relay, in spite of who had it in the first place, was a great one. It borrowed the concept of an "eternal flame" -- part of the symbolism of the ancient Olympics, which featured burning cauldrons at nearby temples, and was a prominent feature of the 1928 Amsterdam Games. It mixed that concept with a relay run -- itself an appealing part of the Ancient Games, before which messengers would run from town to town to spread news of the "Olympic truce." The torch relay melded both symbols with the modern-Games ideal of peaceful competition between nation states. It also served to physically link the modern Games, which started in 1896 in Athens and then moved to other capitals around the globe, with the ancient Games by bringing the flame from Greece to the new host city every year.
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What's missing from the simplistic argument that torch=Nazis=bad is subsequent history itself. Clearly the torch relay was part -- a very small part -- of a grand master Olympic plan by Hitler to put the superiority of the Aryan race on display. That plan, one might recall, failed miserably. Jesse Owens, an African-American man, proved the star of the Games designed to demonstrate the superiority of whites. It was a beautiful irony. And so is the fact that the torch relay devised by Hitler's lackeys would grow into a universally recognized international symbol of peaceful cooperation. After Berlin, the Olympic world -- so enamored with Nazism that it locked Germans out of the first few Post-War Olympics -- saw the in the torch relay many elements of good. So good that subsequent hosts -- reasoned, intellectual, forward-thinking leaders from peaceful nations -- decided to keep it.
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It was a good call. Since those early, PR-stunt days, the torch relay -- like the Games themselves -- have morphed into something entirely different from their roots. I've been to a half-dozen Olympics and followed the torch through the streets. It's magical; people travel hundreds of miles just to see it. The reason is simple: It's a symbol of an ideal -- the Olympic ideal -- that people still hold dear. I've carried the torch through Seattle and literally felt that pull -- people being drawn to the flame, because of the Games' rich history as the only modern event bringing people from all corners of the globe together to do something other than kill each other. For many people who carry the torch, it's a true life-changing event. And in spite of grotesque commercialization that has engulfed the Olympics in general, it's part of the modern glue that holds Olympism together.
-
Suggesting that this tradition -- the closest most common people get to the Olympics and all it represents -- be abandoned now, simply because some people Googled "torch" and saw the word "Nazi," is patently absurd. Television coverage of the Olympics also debuted in the '36 Games -- events were broadcast to 25 sights around Berlin so regular people could watch. Should we abandon that tradition, too? Likewise, Basketball, handball and canoeing debuted under the Nazi flag. Guess those should go, too, so tainted they stand today.
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And what of the Games themselves? The notion of a modern Olympics was the brainchild of Baron de Coubertin, a wealthy French aristocrat who devised the games as a healthy, international activity -- largely for other wealthy aristocrats. The Games as originally devised were never meant to be accessible to commoners. Certainly not people of color. Women? Absolutely not. So should we then reject the entire idea, based on its backwards roots?
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Of course not. The Olympic Games, since that time, have evolved into something far greater than their roots. They are still run by aristocrats, but the people of the world have so embraced the concept of friendly competition that the ideal has taken on a life of its own -- too big for any one klatch of rich folks to control. So it is with the torch relay.
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What's wrong with the current torch relay is not the torch. It's the into whose hands the torch has fallen. China.
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The International Olympic Committee took a huge risk in awarding the Games to China. Clearly, IOC leaders believed the attentive eyes of billions would create sufficient peer pressure on China to change its repressive, dictatorial and yes, often murderous, ways. They were wrong. What you're seeing today on the streets of San Francisco, Paris and London is the other shoe dropping. It is not hateful protest over the Olympics, the Olympic movement, the torch, or any part of Olympism. It's about China. And -- so long as they stay peaceful -- the protests are understandable and justified.
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It's too bad, for the athletes, the participating nations, and especially for those poor torch bearers, that the symbolism has been mixed. It also was unavoidable. Even more tragic is the knee-jerk reaction to that. Commentators will apply a superficial understanding of history to suggest that the torch relay itself is to blame, all because of its nefarious roots -- ignoring the realities of what the torch relay has come to represent. A little history, in the wrong hands, indeed is a dangerous thing.
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Even more disturbing is the deflective nature of that protest; clouding the issue with silly guilt-by-association misses the opportunity to point out exactly why people are throwing their bodies in front of police vehicles. They're making a worthy point. China is an international thug when it comes to human rights. (Not that we can, with a straight face, occupy the moral high ground in America anymore, as we wantonly spy on our own citizens, torture prisoners, and occupy nations. Imagine: If the Olympics were coming to America this summer, how would our own torch relay be greeted by the world's citizens? Perhaps part of our disgust with the Chinese -- and the protestors -- is simple transference.)
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The torch relay was an idea sound enough to outlive the Nazi butchers who first put it into motion. We can only hope it proves strong enough to survive the current clutches of the modern Chinese -- and people who can't distinguish the flame from the heat.

Blue Tarp Bible -- Now in King James Version!!

2008-04-04T15:32:00.000-07:00

The Blue Tarp Bible, the feel-sorta-good thriller of the late spring, is now available from retailers. Each cover of the book contains one actual grommet, constructed of the highest-grade Chinese lead paint. OK, probably not. However, I would personally not suck on it, and it is not approved for industrial use.

Anyway, the book is very slick, and even has -- I couldn't make this up -- tarp blue type on the inside pages.

Production note: The illustrations for the book -- the most comprehensive guide to blue tarp use of its kind -- were drawn by Chris Cox, a wonderful artist who is an old friend from back when she worked at The Seattle Times. Her image of the blue-tarp dog sheath, which made the back cover, is one of many fabulous pieces of art in the blue tarp genre contained inside.

Order extra copies from Amazon or somewhere else. They're small.

Watch for more shameless promotion of the Blue Tarp Bible here in the coming days, followed by even more shameless promotion into the summer, followed by shameless bookstore appearances of Grommit, the blue tarp superhero (pictured above).

More on China

2008-03-25T09:53:00.000-07:00

To illustrate what we suggested below, see reports from Bloomberg and others today about European Nations urging direct talks between China and the Dalai Lama (don't hold your breath), and France's continuing threat to boycott the Opening Ceremony -- a token but still-significant gesture that appears to be gaining steam internationally. Meanwhile, people continue to die during the crackdown in Tibet. And the New York Times' Richard Sandomir queries NBC's Dick Ebersol about Chinese restrictions on television coverage, and the big human-rights question.

The USOC -- and some media -- get it wrong about Beijing

2008-03-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Over at NBCOlympics.com, writer Alan Abrahamson recently had this to say about the swirl of protests already beginning to even further cloud the skies over Beijing at five months out from Opening Ceremonies:

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge, speaking (Feb. 28) at a news conference in Vancouver, site of the 2010 Winter Olympics, said the IOC believes the 2008 Summer Games will "be a catalyst for change in China." It's unclear how and when that change will and ought to be measured, he said, but the Games will undeniably leave a "positive" influence, he declared, asserting, "By giving the Games to China we are giving China the opportunity to show itself to the world."

He goes on to opine: While acknowledging with respect the points of view of all those activists seeking to leverage the Games for their own interests, it's important to acknowledge this, too: Rogge is absolutely correct. -
You know who else, as usual, is absolutely correct? Peter Ueberroth, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee. He said last week at a USOC board meeting in Atlanta that he expects the 2008 Games to be "literally, the best ever," adding of the criticism of the Beijing Games that has in recent weeks intensified, "This is a virulent worldwide disease that takes place before any Olympic Games, and that's that the doomsayers all come out and every worst-case scenario is portrayed. I think it's fair for people to do that, but it seems like business as usual."
-
I've been covering the Olympic movement for nearly 10 years. Seems like business as usual to me, too.
-

Business as usual? Hardly. I've been covering the Olympics for more than a decade, myself, and this all sounds like a far cry from "usual." Ueberroth's comments might be almost a month old now, and plenty has happened on the protest front since then (the little incident in Tibet, among other things). But Ueberroth, and some of the media covering him, still seem blinded by the false logic of "business as usual" -- as if mounting opposition to China's wanton human rights violations resides on the same level as the various "fringe" protests that befall any Olympic effort.

Here's some perspective: What's going on in Vancouver these days -- low-income housing protesters throwing paint bombs at the 2010 Games countdown clock downtown and such -- is "business as usual" in an Olympics run-up. It's when every fringe group in the book capitalizes on the media focus from the Games to make their case for whatever (often just) cause they support -- be it political, ecological, social, environmental, religious or what have you.

The gathering storm of protest over China just might not prove to be usual, at all. It's a serious effort by a large army of interest groups, each with a legitimate cause which, unlike those spat out by typical fringe protest groups, actually might gain worldwide traction. Why? Because the sins of the sinner, in this case, are so broad and egregious and so damaging to so many people that fair-minded observers cannot conveniently look the other way -- unless, apparently, they run the USOC.

Tibet and Darfur lead the ticket, but let's not forget about the Chinese totalitarian government's other lists of transgressions, from jailing journalists and dissidents to squelching all manner of free speech to dislocation of millions of innocent bystanders simply to stage this giant floor show of a Summer Games for three weeks.

It might ultimately prove true that the Chinese have such complete control over this process (this, after all, being their strong suit) that the Games will come off as usual. And it might prove true that the Chinese have the International Olympic Committee -- which, one would hope, sought and received assurances from China on human-rights issues before the Games were awarded -- so firmly in their back pocket that the Games will meet the usual and ridiculous "best-ever" standard.

But don't count on this. Just this week, protest groups finally -- and deftly -- began hitting the IOC where it hurts -- in the pocketbook, pressuring major sponsors such as Coca-Cola to take a hard look at what they're putting their brand name all over in Tiananmen Square.

Speaking of which: Note that the Chinese government already has nixed the idea of live broadcasts from the square, by major sponsor NBC and others, throughout the Olympics.

You think that -- in a world where Olympic authorities typically fall all over themselves to accommodate television -- is simply a minor inconvenience for the producers of the Today Show? A little glitch that NBC, just happy to be there, will take sitting down? Think again: It's a major zit on the happy face the IOC and the Beijing Organizing Committee have been wearing in the years-long buildup to the Games. And the full-on breakout may yet be to come.

Yes, every Olympics has its detractors. But this is not every Olympics. It's a Chinese Communist Party coming-out party in the making for more than a decade. Add to all the current toxic political atmosphere the nation's even-more-offensive physical atmosphere -- one so polluted that prominent Olympians already are dropping out of marquee events -- and it suddenly seems possible that Chinese officials, when it's all said and done, might wind up wishing they'd simply watched the Games from somewhere else on TV.

And what's even more surprising is that Ueberroth, the head of the USOC, seems completely blind to it. Apparently Ubie is so grateful to the Chinese for saving (read: allowing a profit) his 1984 L.A. Games by refusing to honor the USSR's retaliatory boycott that he'll happily look the other way -- and glare at anyone who dares protest -- while secret police swarm into Tibet. Hell, he'd probably be putting shotputters on a plane to Beijing if the Chinese were rolling tanks into Cleveland.

-
That's his perogative. But it's not exactly befitting a man in his place. It's one thing to continue to support -- as any USOC head should -- the concept of keeping the Games separate from politics. It is quite another to go as far as the USOC has gone -- aggressively, almost angrily, dismissing the notion of political pressure up to and including a Games boycott as childish impudence by every nutcase with an internet account and a grudge to bear. It is nothing less than a green light to the Chinese goons being dispatched to Tibet. And it is an insult to people legitimately battling Chinese oppression to so assuredly suggest, even obliquely, that pole-vaulting is more important than basic human dignity. The louder the USOC doth protest the protesters, the more insular, superficial and out-of-touch it looks to a general public increasingly enlighted to China's malfeasance.

"Business as usual?" If that's the case, and if the Olympic world is supposed to put on a happy face and look the other way over China, then the Olympic movement is a business that's rotting to the core. What you're seeing today -- and likely will continue to see for the coming 135 days -- might be the first sentinels in a very big flock of pigeons coming home to roost over the IOC's decision to hand the Games to Beijing in the first place, accepting on faith that change would come before the torch was lit.

Well, as of today, it's burning. Anyone see evidence of the new China? One that's more progressive than the Old China?

The Chinese clearly will get their wish: The spotlight of the world during the summer of 2008. But people who like to operate in the dark might not like what all that light ultimately reveals. Americans in prominent positions who keep pushing the light switch down until the medal ceremony begins do so at their own peril.

2008-03-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Great spring skiing these days at Mount Baker. And with a midweek price of $36, it's a bargain.

Note to whoever designed the new K2 Apache Recon skis: Wow.

For some of us, ski season doesn't even begin until around March 1. See my column in Thursday's Times for more on this.

More snow

2008-03-03T14:47:00.000-08:00

It's snowing again today at Mt. Baker. Which means even more snow like this, on Mount Shuksan, which is not Mount Baker, but is near Mount Baker, where the ski area is, which is on the foothills of Mount Shuksan, not Mount Baker. Questions? See the latest snow report here.

Whistler Gears up for 2010

2008-02-29T14:38:00.000-08:00

Speaking of the Olys: We spent much of last week up at Whistler, B.C., which hosted its first World Cup alpine races since 1995 -- a rare North American appearance of the men and the women at one venue. Great time, sunny skies, fast, fairly firm race courses. My account of Whistler's readiness two years out from the Olys is here. Above is Lake Tahoe's Julia Mancuso, talking about her race in the mix zone.

The funny thing about these rare North American World Cup stops? In spite of big-bucks investments in the ski teams from the U.S. and Canada to "Own the Podium" at the Salt Lake and Vancouver Games, respectively, almost every World Cup I've ever seen in person on this continent has been won by an Austrian. Some things just never change.

Having said that: One of the most underreported sports stories of the year is the phenomenal performance of the U.S. Alpine team, both men and women. With fewer than 10 races left, Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn lead the respective overall points races; Miller is a threat to pass Didier Cuche of Switzerland for the downhill title as well; and Vonn already has cinched the women's downhill title by finishing second in the Whistler DH. It's also been a breakout year for other, less-known U.S. racers, including Scott Macartney (recouping from that horrendous fall at Kitzbuhel), Steve Nyman and Marco Sullivan. And Ted Ligety is hanging tough in the GS and slalom standings, all the while attempting to diversify into a four/five event skier.

Bottom line: It all bodes well for 2010. Notes from the trip:

The Courses

Most racers describe the downhill courses -- on Franz's Run for the women, and a slightly altered version of the traditional Whistler Dave Murray Downhill course for the men -- as steep and fairly technical. Even the Austrians had good things to say. The women's course is said to be among the steepest in the world. Vonn liked it a lot, but then, she's in such a zone that she's been eating up everything thrown at her this season.

The "Secret" Downhill Course

No men's DH was run at the event, and no World Cup stop is scheduled for Whistler next year. That means the course will be brand new to Olympians come 2010. That's a bit of a rarity. DH courses usually are run many times before a major competition, frankly because the event can be so dangerous. I asked Steve Podborski, the legendary Canadian downhiller and former Crazy Canuck who also is a member of the Olympic organizing committee, whether the lack of a DH this spring was intentional. Nope, he said. It simply was a matter of scheduling, and the race schedule was determined by FIS, not the Vancouver Organizing Committee or Alpine Canada. Not so sure was Maple Leaf nation's top downhiller, Eric Guay: "It's to give us an advantage, for once," he said. It's interesting. And it's hard not to notice that even at next year's Canadian Nationals at Whistler, the men's DH will be run on the women's course.

And Then There's Bode

All of the current U.S. alpine team members are uncommonly user-friendly to media, making time for interviews during their rare North-American stops. Except for Bode, of course, who remains ... Bode. He declined to say much of anything to anyone at Whistler. That's his right, and, as a journalist, I respect that. Especially since he's left the team and its funding and technically is competing on the World Cup circuit all on his own, with his own trainers and coaches and ski techs, this year. The arrangement feels like a win-win for him and his former team. Miller, skiing, as I said in my Seattle Times piece, for the "People's Republic of Himself," is free to do what he wants -- and he sure can't blame U.S. Skiing if it doesn't work out.

Ski team members such as Nyman say they don't really notice: Bode is still a friend and supporter, but he never was much of a team guy, anyway. The down side is that current team members lose out on making regular training runs with perhaps the fastest skier in the world. But one upside, Ligety says, is that Bode's coaches and support people are amenable to helping other U.S. racers, as well, so there are more coaches and staff people pulling for the same team.

A lot of us trashed Bode during the Torino Olympics for his ribald behavior and embarrassing rejection of the whole notion of "team," let alone national pride. And he deserved it. But he seems to have made a wise choice for himself by cutting the team ties. And there's no denying that when he's on his game, he's the baddest skier on the planet.

Bode at Whistler, 2010: Anyone Taking Bets?

Will Bode ski at Whistler in 2010? Never got a chance to ask. But former teammate Nyman had this to say, all with a good-natured grin: "He said he wouldn't. But his word means nothing."

Update

This just in: The Bode did speak to media in Europe after finishing second in the downhill on the Olympic course at Kvitfjell, Norway. He said he doesn't think much about the overall title: "I pretty much hope I win every day. That could make a good season at the end of the year and hopefully win the overall. But it does not do any good to think about it now." See ESPN.com's account here.

Update Update
Bode wins the downhill at Kvitfjell the next day, pulling to within 5 points of Cuche in the DH race, and widening his overall World Cup lead on Cuche and Benni Raich of Austria, who DNFed. It's Bode's 31st World Cup win, obviously a U.S. record. WCSN's coverage is here.

Mancuso Comeback

After a season in which things just haven't clicked, Tahoe's Julia Mancuso seemed to pull it back together in a solid way at Whistler, finishing third in the downhill.

Scotty Mac on Road Back
Macartney said he has few lingering bad effects from his Kitzbuhel crash, which came on the last jump, at a speed approaching 90 mph. See Emjay's piece in the Seattle Times here.

Book Note

We gathered lots of good info here for my upcoming book, an Insider's Guide to the Winter Games, to be published in spring, 2009. Stay tuned here for details.

Moss-Backed Summer Olympians Profiled

2008-02-28T11:07:00.001-08:00

The better half of the Judd family, Emjay, has a new piece in Seattle Metropolitan magazine, profiling a half-dozen potential Summer Olympians with Washington State ties -- including how they train. You can see the cover and a summary here, but will need to pick one up in newsstands, starting this week, for the whole thing. (It's the March issue with soccer goalie Hope Solo on the cover.)

Summer Olympic News -- Schedule Your (Crappy) Vacation Now!

2008-02-27T17:03:00.000-08:00

Hotel rooms are full. Tickets are basically sold out. And the air is expected to be thick enough with particulates to cut with a knife.

But there's still time for someone -- someone with a lot of money and not much common sense -- to arrange for a gonzo trip into Beijing for the 2008 Summer Games, says the New York Times.

The Times, noting that some hotels not even built yet are booked solid, with waiting lists, insists that Olympiphiles "willing to be flexible, spend a little more money and perhaps blend in with the locals," can still get there, namely by signing away their life's savings to tour operators. A couple examples:

"CoSport, a tour operator based in New Jersey — and the official Olympics ticket agent for the United States — has numerous hotel packages that include tickets to many events. A recent search on its Web site, http://www.cosport.com/, turned up a five-day package at the Landmark Hotel in the Chaoyang district with tickets to four events (women’s gymnastic finals, beach volleyball preliminaries, women’s springboard diving preliminaries and men’s basketball preliminaries) for $5,943 a person, based on two sharing a room.

"Another operator, Roadtrips Inc. (http://www.roadtrips.com/), based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has five-night packages from $6,250. It even has nosebleed seats left for the coveted opening ceremonies. "

There you go. For that kind of cash, we can only hope they throw in a fun-sized sample of HGH, or something from the Marion Jones treat box.

A Brief Intro

2008-02-25T23:53:00.000-08:00

Thanks for finding your way here. The Judd blog will endeavor to do what my other writings have done -- amuse, entertain, enlighten, cajole and just plain poke fun -- in an interactive (finally) forum. I've spent many hours engaging in useful conversations with readers via email, phone and snail mail, and hope some more of the same acted out here might prove productive in this public forum.

What to expect: Frequent postings on the scene behind my other work. Dispatches from the field when I'm out reporting for my newspaper columns, books or freelance pieces. Things that tick me off and make me laugh and inspire me. Cooking tips for exotic species. Events and opinions about news, sports, and the Olympic Games, one of my favorite pursuits. Links to other journalism, online or off, by friends or enemies, that I find notable.

You name it.

So, that's it. Go ahead, ask me something. You'll be surprised how often I'm here. Oh, and: Please feel free to contact me with suggestions for the site or the blog: I'm a newbie at this, so be sort of gentle.

Thanks.

Hot -- well, at least warm -- off the press

2008-02-25T23:35:00.000-08:00

The publicist from the publisher keeps calling with forms to fill out, so the printing presses clearly are about to start rolling on The Blue Tarp Bible, my new assemblage of creative semi-non-fiction.

The new book is a collection of tips and tales about the best uses and abuses of the Big Blue Tarp, the fabric that binds a nation. Should be on bookstore shelves in April/May. Stay tuned here for more details, including readings, signings and other events organized by the fine people at The Mountaineers Books.

Ron's Blog

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Good times in Glacier-less National Park

Aaaaah, Montana

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Summer Olympic News -- Schedule Your (Crappy) Vacation Now!

A Brief Intro

Hot -- well, at least warm -- off the press