Went to another 'boys night out' movie this afternoon to see the newest 'Bourne' adventure. Not a bad plot, a decent back story to fill in the pieces of how it fits with the original movies and the acting  by the new guy was decent. That being said, it just wasn't as good as the originally 3 movies with Matt Damon in the title role. Not sure why that is so, but all of us that saw it seemed to agree. And again, that being said, it was still a fun movie to watch and certainly fulfilled it's job as a boys night out movie.

   Earlier this morning a guy came out and installed a new windshield in the truck. It was certainly time for a new one as there was the crack nearly the whole way across the lower windshield, the new chip right in front of the driver from a truck two weeks ago, and then several years of driving through wind storms with all the pits it produced. The guy did a good job of getting it out and the new one in, even if he managed to slice the back of his hand when the windshield shattered right in the center. Not a huge slice, but he will certainly need a couple of stitches in it to make it heal right. Good thing he had a clean compress and I had a whole roll of duck tape. We got it pulled together and the bleeding nearly stopped by the time he got the job done, with only a little help from me. The new one looks good though and it will be nice to be able to fully see again when I leave.

   So the list of things to do before taking off again is getting shorter. Still a need to get the oil changed and the truck still needs 4 new tires put on. Will probably wait until I get back from the Grand Canyon trip though. Also; still haven't heard anything from the RV place about my trailer wheel bearings. Will need to get on the phone with them tomorrow and figure out what is going on there.

   Spent a little bit of time this evening on the computer lining up some tickets to a Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas for myself, Tom and Donna. We planned all along to spend a couple days there after the trip down the Grand Canyon just to see some shows and goof off. None of us really gamble that much, certainly not me anymore, (to many statistic's and other math classes in collage I think), so we needed something to occupy our time. So we will check out some other shows when we get there and I imagine we will wander around the town and stare in awe at what can be done, for good and bad, with nearly unlimited amounts of money.

   The show we will see is 'Mystere', the first Cirque show ever done in LV. It was also the first of many that I have seen over the years, and it still remains my favorite one to see, although every one of them I've ever gone to is so amazing. Maybe some day I'll get a chance to see them all. We will likely see a couple other shows while there. Tom was particularly interested in seeing Celine Dion while there, but it turns out that it won't be playing during that time period. We will find something else fun to occupy our time for sure.

Here are some pictures from our 5th day on the Missouri River Trip on August 5th.

Early morning on the river and you start to see a lot of volcanic extrusions mixed in with the overlaying sandstone. Formed when molten magma was forced upwards into cracks in the overlaying rock, it then solidified in place. When the sandstone later started to erode these volcanic dikes and plugs appeared. This is 'Grand Natural Wall at river mile 56.9 left.

Eagle Rock, another volcanic plug that became a landmark along the river. It is at river mile 59.7 left.

Another volcanic plug and another famous landmark, one that I can't remember the name of right at the moment. (Just found out it is Citadel Rock). This one is just up river of  'Hole in the Wall' so I always look forward to seeing it. River mile 62 right.

Looking like some kind of castle, this formation is across the river from 'Hole in the Wall'.

Obviously this is Hole in the Wall. What is still interesting to me and my friends are that it isn't even mentioned in Lewis and Clark's journals. River mile 63.8 right.

A closer view. Normally we would spend some time and walk up to the hole. You can actually climb right up into the opening and admire the view up and down the river. Unfortunately the climb up also includes a section of trail that Rhodie can't climb so we passed up the hike this time. If you are on my fb site you can see pictures from two years ago that show this and other sections of this trip.

Looking across the river at some additional rock formations. Lewis and Clark mentioned how some of the formations reminded them of great buildings and ancient monuments. They were right.

Everywhere you look there is something interesting to see.

A 'painted lady' butterfly.

Looking down river from Hole in the Wall.

That is Dark Butte in the distance with the Arc Angel formation in front. River mile 69.5 left.

Steamboat Rock. It is said that it is named because the two columns looked like the smoke stacks on top of a steamboat. It is located just off the river at mile 69 left. It should also be noted that it is about 2,215 river miles from St Louis.

A view of Dark Butte from the down river side.

Lots of mushroom type formations. Formed when a slightly harder sandstone layer, with some additional iron content, was laid down over the more easily eroded white sandstone. The upper layer protects the underlying layer a bit and creates mushrooms.

The bridge at Judith River. Once another car ferry ran here, but the bridge was built some 30 years or so ago. (1982) The Judith River was named after a cousin of William Clark whom he later married. This whole area was important through out history as an area where natives gathered for trade and to cross the Missouri. River mile 88.0  

The Stafford Ferry, one of two that still operate along this section of the river.

Both ferry's are free, but only operate at certain times of the day and only part of the year. Obviously they close in the winter when the river freezes over. There are little push buttons on poles at either side of the river that you push to summon the operator. I would imagine that traffic is kind of light on some days.

McGarry Barr, river mile 103.2 right, our campsite for the night. A nice place to be because of the shade from the cottonwood trees. You notice that trees generally grow in a line along the river bank and while a few smaller trees may be closer to the river, larger trees are often quite a distance from the water. Turns out that when the ice on the river breaks up in the spring time it is often pushed up onto the banks on either side of the river where it scrapes off everything in it's path. If you look at the mature trees closer you can see scars where large ice floes crashed into them, but they were large enough by that time to live through it. 

Another nice view from my tent.

The bugs were pretty fierce on this evening and Rhodie was certainly taking the brunt of their bites. She had learned that if she got into the tent they couldn't get to her so she would go over and look at the door until someone would come and let her in.

We weren't quick enough for her this time so she picked the next best option. Tom finally got up and let her lay down on her pad in his tent.

Late afternoon light on the river and the view just keeps getting better. 

Looked like it might cloud up and rain a bit but it never did. The clouds that rolled through looked neat though.