Category: United States

January 6, 2014 Columbia SC

Drove down today from Maryland expecting to pick up our Tiger.  When we arrived at 2 PM today, this was the status of the Tiger.

This is what we saw when we arrived more than two weeks after the promised delivery date.

Frankly I was shocked into silence.  I expected to see a shiny new Tiger sitting in front of Provan.  Instead we were presented with this.  When we left on December 23rd we were under the impression that there was very little work left to be done and that they would have no problem at all meeting delivery on January 6.  When we arrived today the water tanks were still not installed, some electrical work was still being done under the hood, and much of the cabinetry was not completed.  In addition the airbags were not installed and parts were still on order and as of this writing are not on hand.  None of the systems had been tested, but at 2 pm we were told they would have it ready by 4pm so that we could camp in it.  At this point the credibility for them was very low and I was not going to risk sleeping in an untested camper in 12 degree weather.  So once again we are in the Country Inn and Suites, and not in our camper.

Provan has a great reputation for customer service but right now I am not feeling the love.  Just to give a quick history.  The order with deposit was placed in April with a promised delivery date of June.  In June Mark said there were some issues with development of the Malayan and some upgrades he wanted to do and could I wait for the delivery until September. I agreed.  In September Mark again asked to delay delivery until late November or the first week of December.  After some back and forth Mark agreed that he would deliver the truck on December 19, so we booked flights and as I have said above it was not ready for delivery. 

I heard a list of reasons that they were not ready, but I also saw a nearly completed Bengal in the shop that is heading west for the winter shows.  The two major issues that were cited as the reasons for the delays (cabinetry issues and wrong brackets for the airbags) were known issues when we departed on December 23rd.)  So for them to find out that they again had the wrong brackets on January 5 and the fact that the plumbing system was still being installed today,  leads me to believe that finishing up our Malayan may not have been the number 1 priority during the 6 work days between our departure and arrival today.

I hope this is an anomaly and does not reflect future service or the quality of the product, but 3 production delays and 2 missed delivery dates are not acceptable and I hope Mark and his team at Provan will make sure that this does not happen again to any customer.

December 22, 2013 Columbia SC

Since this is supposed to be a travel blog today we will talk about our time around here.  Columbia is the capitol of South Carolina.  We spent some time Wednesday, Thursday and  Friday exploring the town.  

On Wednesday we had dinner with Mark Guild, Fred and Denise Cook, and Chief Warrant Officer Robert Nixon at an Indian Restaurant in Columbia.  The food was good and the company fun.  Fred and Denise were picking up their Malayan so we enjoyed discussing future plans for our Tigers.

The highlight was a visit to to Conquest Brewery.  It reminded us very much of the small breweries we see in Portland.  We punched the address into our trusty Garmin and we ended up in a dark street next to the University of South Carolina football stadium.  Just as we were going to turn around we saw a little industrial park with a small hand painted sign and we had found it!  We tried a sampler and the beer was very good.  If you are in Columbia I highly recommend it.  The highlight beer for us  was a coffee infused IPA.    We usually are not big fans of infused beers, but this one won us over, nice aroma and just a hint of coffee in the beer did not overpower the hops.  

The sign for the brewery is well concealed.

We had some interesting conversations as this is not only a brewery, but a Christian brewery.  Later in the night they had a discussion of art and Christianity in the brewery.  Talked to one of the brewers and he really he knew his beer.  He strongly recommended we visit Asheville NC as they now have more breweries per capita than Portland.  Sounds like we will have to make a visit.  We enjoyed the place so much we returned again on Friday.

While not having the Tiger ready on time has been a pain, it did result in one good thing.  Ton’s cousin Pee Porn lives near Charlotte.  If anyone is responsible for Ton and I being married it is Pee Porn.  When we met on Okinawa 33 years ago Ton was visiting Pee Porn.  We had not seen her in over 30 years.  Saturday we drove up and spent the day with her and her husband Richard.  We had a lot of catching up to do and it was a great evening.  Pee Porn cooked some great Thai food that we ate for lunch.  Later Ton mentioned Ron’s love of Carolina BBQ, and before we knew it we were off to a great BBQ joint called Garry’s in China Grove NC.  We had a dinner of Carolina BBQ with hush puppies, onion rings, coleslaw, and baked beans.  Ron was in heaven, and the price was unbelievably low.  It was really nice to see Pee Porn and her family again and we promise that it will not be 30 years before we do it again.

Ton and her cousin Pee Porn in front of a great BBQ joint.

Sunday we headed to Charleston, made the obligatory visit to Costco, then headed to  downtown Charleston.  We stopped at a coffee bar and taproom and sampled some of the local brews.  Nothing knocked our socks off, we then headed towards the market.  We were lucky as one Sunday a month they close down one of the main streets downtown.  There were all kinds of street musicians, and food vendors on the street.  It was a great walk with lots of interesting people to see.  We had visited Charleston the year before and enjoyed it then, it is a beautiful old colonial city definitely worth a visit.

December 21, 2013 Columbia SC

We arrived in South Carolina on December 18 expecting to pick up our Tiger on December 19.  As you can see from the date we are still in Columbia.  On arrival at Provan we met Mark the owner.  He said they had run into some delays and were most likely not going to make the delivery until Friday and possibly Monday.  When we went out to see the truck it was obvious that delivery was going to be delayed.  The build was significantly behind schedule.  There were a lot of reasons including problems with mounting the Sterling Unit, delays on the Cook’s Malayan that was being delivered nearly simultaneously, and Murphy getting involved in a couple of the material orders.  When we ordered the Malayan we understood that we were in essence working with a custom built prototype unit and some things would be designed as we went.  So after some initial panic at the unexpected state of the unit we decided to use the opportunity to learn more about the Malayan as we would be able to see more of the build then we expected.

Mark offered to put us up in a hotel near the plant and let us use the company Suburban for the weekend and if necessary to drive to Maryland.  By being there with the build we were able to make some minor tweaks such as adding additional electrical plugs in the kitchen.

Some of the issues that came up.

The Sterling Power Unit.  As they were installing the Sterling in the Cook’s unit they began to have some concerns.  The Sterling had never been used with a dual alternator set up and the Provan team had some issues with the installation.  As a result before we left Oregon Mark had called us and recommended deleting the Sterling.  His feeling was that with the dual alternators on the truck we would have enough power to charge the house batteries.  While the Sterling would move more power Mark felt that it may not be enough to risk the additional complexity that the Sterling would bring to the build.  We decided to let Fred test it on his Tiger and if the results were positive we wold retrofit the Sterling in our unit.  As a result we decided to delete the Sterling at this time.

Not quite ready for delivery.

The Cabinet Behind the Drivers Seat.  We had initially added this to increase our storage.  This cabinet was suggested by Fred Cook and we were excited to have it included in our build.  When we received the call about the Sterling Mark also said he would have to delete the cabinet.  Due to space issues he needed to use the back wall of the coach to install the Magnum Inverter.  When we saw Fred’s Truck I was really jealous as the cabinet looked good and added a considerable amount of storage.  On Thursday Marks team realized that they could place the Magnum where we had planned to install the Sterling eliminating the interference that had caused the elimination of the cabinet.  This allowed us to install the cabinet, but the cabinet had been deleted and would not be ready in time to install before January.  So at this time it looks like we will be coming back in January to install the cabinet.

Exterior shot under construction.

Water Fill.  When we arrived Mark said they were having a difficult time with the water fill for the tank.  They were proposing that we fill it inside the coach, instead of from outside.  This would have meant pulling a hose into the coach each time we filled the tank.  I was concerned that no matter how careful we were filling with a hose there would be a little spillage each time, and over time could cause some problems with water damage, and potentially turn into a mold farm.  This was a big problem with me.  The issue was that there was no way to position the opening to allow a gravity feed due to the installation of the farings on the truck that you can see in the picture above.  After some brainstorming we decided to install a switch valve at the city water connection (where you hook up the water in a RV park)that would allow a pressure fill of the water tank when filling with a hose, and to cut a large hole in the top of the tank to allow as big a target as possible if we were filling with water cans.

Coach Battery Placement.   Our coach comes with four batteries to allow maximum time away from the grid.  Unfortunately with the addition of the tow hitch there was an interference with where two of the batteries were going to be placed.  It was literally a matter of one inch, but as a result two of the batteries had to be located in the rear storage compartment of the Tiger.  This is a problem only on the LT model.

My Christmas present will be late.

North and South Dakota

We have visited the Dakota’s on two occasions, Ron worked in North Dakota for a while and it was the last state that Ton and I visited.  After North Dakota we had visited all 50 states.

October 9, 2016 Tioga ND

Today we headed over to Tioga ND where Ron has been consulting more or less full time for the past year.  We will be spending the next week in Tioga with Ron working and Ton getting her first experience of small town North Dakota life.

The European settlers in North Dakota were largely from Scandinavia and Germany so this excellent example of a Norwegian wood church is in Minot.

October 8, 2016 Theodore Roosevelt NP

The next morning we headed over to the north unit of the park which is about 60 miles away.  We enjoyed the drive over.  The land in the north unit is very different than the south, and we concluded it was overall prettier than the south unit.  

When we finished with the park we were looking for a place we can spend the night on Lake Sakakawea.  Lake Sakakawea is the third largest man made lake in the United States and is formed by damming the Missouri River.  Keeping with the Sakakawea theme we decided to stay in Lewis and Clark SP.  When we arrived at the park we found that we were the only people staying in a campground with 200 sites.  We spent some time exploring the lake shore where we found a group of three very hardy fishermen as it was quite cold and blustery.

A view of the Little Missouri River which cuts thru both units of the park.

October 7, 2016 Theodore Roosevelt NP

We headed over to Theodore Roosevelt National Park for the day.  It is the only National Park in North Dakota.  While the park is open year round, as you can imagine the visitation drops off considerably during the winter.

A giant bison near the south unit of the park.

There are two units to the park both along the valley of the Little Missouri River.  The south unit has a badlands type feel similar to the Badlands NP in South Dakota.  We toured the park and enjoyed the views and had a chance to see Bison and Deer.  For the night we stayed in the parks only campground.  Surprisingly the camp ground was pretty full given the high temperature for the day was 36 degrees, and the low was forecast in the 20’s.

August 16, 2015 Custer State Park SD

Today the highlight of the day was Custer State Park in SD.  Ton noted that we were only 30 miles from the park and it had some spectacular views and animals to view.  

Enroute to the park and we did a drive by Mt. Rushmore but decided not to stop as we got a couple of pictures from the highway and the whole thing felt a little too Disneyland for us.  On the way out though we saw a mom and baby mountain goat right by the road.  

Sometimes the wildlife comes to you. Note the tracking collar on the mama goat.

Going into Custer State Park on the Needles Highway we saw a sign saying low/narrow tunnel, 10’6” high and 9’ wide.  I told Ton we were going to test the accuracy of Marks height measurement, we made the tunnel easy, but later came upon another tunnel surrounded by cars taking pictures of the entrance.  This one was marked 12’ high and 8’6’ wide.  We pulled in the mirrors and squeezed thru.  Today was one of the days when the Tiger concept really proved itself.

The sign said we would fit and we just did.

As we drove thru the park we spotted a lot of Pronghorns which in South Dakota have a little different coloring than the ones we saw in Oregon earlier.  Later we saw some “wild  burros” that were pretty much tame and great beggars.  The scene with the Burros walking right up to cars and sticking their noses in to get food reminded me of old pictures you saw of Yellowstone with Bears begging by cars.  I guess that is the difference between National Parks, and State Parks.  As we were leaving the park Ton commented that we did not see the large Bison herd that is resident in the park.  Just as she finished saying that we came around a corner and ran into a herd of about 100 Bison using the same road  to move from one pasture to another.   After about twenty minutes of integrating ourselves into the Bison herd they finally got to where they were going and left the road.  Happily Ton got some nice closeups of Bison as we moved with the herd.

The bison decided the road was the easiest way to get over the hill.

August 15, 2015 Badlands NP

Today was our furthest point east on this trip.  Ron has always wanted to see the Badlands NP.  But before that we had quite a storm last night.  Wind gusts around 40 mph and rain and lighting.  We got a little concerned when the loudspeakers on the Airforce base came on and told all personnel to take cover from lightning and severe weather.  Ton says I slept through most of the storm but I was really awake and listening to the storm.

On the way to Badlands the signs for Wall Drug started popping up, and I asked Ton if she wanted to visit Wall Drug.  To my surprise she said she had no idea what it was.  Ton like many people who have adopted the US often knows more than natives about the country so I am always surprised when she does not know something about the country.  So we stopped and I had a cup of coffee while Ton explored Wall Drug.

Maybe the original tourist trap. Wall Drug in South Dakota.

I know I am starting to sound like a broken record, but I am not sure we realize how spectacular the National Park System is.  Badlands was 25 miles of spectacular other worldly formations carved by wind and water.  I am not sure our pictures are going to do it justice.  It was definitely worth the 1300 mile trip to see.  I hope the other parks live up to the Badlands.

Part of Badlands National Park.

August 14, 2015 Ellsworth AFB SD

Today we started out with plans to drive 8 hours to the Badlands NP.  But enroute our youngest son Dylan called and convinced us to swing by and see the Devils Tower National Monument.  This was the first national monument ever created.  It is a 800 foot rock that sticks straight up in the air with what appears to be columns.  We walked the base of the rock which takes about 45 minutes.  A very impressive feature but very crowded today with people scrambling all over the rocks.  For me it took away from the experience as it is a place that deserves some quiet contemplation.  Especially since there are signs all over saying that climbing on the loose rocks requires a climbing permit, and I doubt the park service is issuing permits to 4 year olds.

The very impressive rock called Devils Tower.

After the stop we decided to stop short and ended up at Ellsworth AFB.  When we got there the normal RV park was full but he said there was an overflow lot a couple  of miles away.  So tonight we are parked in an old parking lot with two other RV’s at the end of the runway in an abandoned part of the base.  We do have a great view of B1 and B52 bombers landing and taking off.

A B1 bomber outbound from Ellsworth AFB.

October 18, 2017 Yellowstone NP

Today was geyser and hotspring day at Yellowstone.  We visited all of the hotspring sites between the west entrance and Old Faithful.  We then stayed for an Old Faithful eruption and had lunch.  While the skies were still clear it was colder and windy so while it was good picture weather it was not good hanging around outside weather.

Hotspring near the park entrance.

Mid-afternoon we decided to head over to Mammoth Hot Springs as Ton was not going to let her friends see Yellowstone without seeing where our son Dylan worked as a ranger.  We did not have the best light for Mammoth but it is still pretty spectacular.

One of my favorite hot spring photos.

We returned to our campsite well after dark tonight and whipped up a quick meal.

And of course Old Faithful.

October 17, 2017 Yellowstone NP

Today was critter chasing day.  The plan was to head over to Grand Teton NP and see what critters we could see.  To facilitate that we rented a car for our stay in Yellowstone.  Elephant costs .35$ per mile to drive, and we figured that the cost of the rental car would mostly be offset by the miles we saved not driving Elephant and we would gain the flexibility of being able to squeeze into smaller places.  It turned out to be a good decision.

Noi is a professional photographer and ran her own travel magazine in Thailand.  She asked me what the big five were in Yellowstone.  I did not initially understand her question until she explained to me that there were a big five animals you should get photos of in the Serengeti.  Ton and I did not know if there was an official big five list for Yellowstone, but we made one up consisting of Bison, Elk, Wolves, Moose, and Bears.

Bison on a river crossing.

We were not more than a few miles into the park when we crossed our first animal off the list as there was a large herd of Bison.  After about an hour of photos were shot we headed on down the road towards Grand Teton.  On the parkway between Yellowstone and Grand Teton we got to cross another big five off the list.  There was a grizzly contentedly grazing right next to the road despite the considerable scrum of humans about fifty yards away shooting pictures.  So far a good day.

This big fellow munched away while a herd of humans tripped over themselves 50 yards away.

The weather was fantastic today with clear blue skies and highs in the sixties.  Grand Teton was spectacular and we enjoyed a really nice lunch in the park.  

The view from our lunch spot.

Finally on the way home in addition to some more Bison we were able to get some nice shots of an Elk herd crossing a river.  As well as watching some stupid human behavior as a clearly agitated Elk was being ignored by one guy who was so concerned with his photo that he risked getting attacked.

The Bull in this photo was very agitated with some people who were too close.

October 16, 2017 West Yellowstone MT

We started the day by heading to Craters of the Moon NM.  Ton and I enjoy the starkness of this place immensely and wanted our friends from Thailand to see it.  

Unfortunately Ron and Noi are both fighting colds so that reduced some of the fun of Craters.  Plus I think everyone was pretty pumped up to see Yellowstone.  So after half a day we headed on over to Yellowstone.  

Craters of the Moon.

Because of the cold temperatures and some of the limitations of Elephant we need to stay in commercial campgrounds when it is cold.  Elephant can only provide about two hours of heat before her battery is drained.  Elephant is really making Ton and I appreciate the flexibility and nimbleness of Scout.

We chose the Rustic Wagon campground in Yellowstone.  When we arrived you could tell it is near the end of the season as we were one of only three campers in the park, and all but one other campground was closed.

October 16, 2016 West Yellowstone MT

The plan for the day was to go to Yellowstone and stay at Hardy Campground.  When we woke up in the morning we decided that we had not done Little Big Horn Justice so we decided to detour there on the way out of town.  

We checked out the movie the Park Service has which is well done in trying to present the story from both sides.  Then after the movie there was a Ranger talk which was also excellent.  We ended the visit with a walk up to the last stand site.  Our little detour cost us half a day and it was almost noon before we took off for Yellowstone.  

We busted along as fast as we could but it was not as fast as we would have liked as there was a considerable wind blowing the entire way which meant we were moving along considerably slower than the 80mph posted speed limit.

We finally arrived at Mammoth Hot Springs around 3:30 pm, only to see that Hardy Campground had closed that day for the season.  With a 60% chance of 1 to 3’ of snow forecast we had a choice of staying at Mammoth Hot Springs and risking the park service closing the road across the park for part of the day, or heading for West Yellowstone and staying in a commercial campground.  We opted for caution and headed over to West Yellowstone.

The winter comes early in Montana.

October 15, 2016 Hardin MT

After a week in Tioga while Ron earned his keep for the month working we moved on to our vacation.  The plan for this week includes, Yellowstone and Grand Coulee Dam in Washington and whatever else we come up with.

After a leisurely start in the morning we drove to Hardin Montana to see the Little Bighorn National Battlefield.  It was a wonderful Indian Summer day with puffy cumulus clouds in a wonderfully blue sky.  The battlefield was quite well done.  While it was like most battlefields a somber place, it is also a place of great natural beauty especially with fall colors.  We really enjoyed ourselves today.

The plan for tomorrow is to head towards Yellowstone and hope the good weather holds for another day.

Part of the Little Big Horn Battlefield.

August 10, 2015 Three Forks MT

We decided to start our return trip west to Portland by heading due east over the Beartooth Highway.  This drive is absolutely spectacular and you really must include it in any trip you take to Yellowstone.  It is one of our favorite drives in the US.  A lot of better writers than I have described it so I am going to pass.  All I can say is make sure you do it at least once.

One of the many scenic views on the Beartooth Highway.

After coming down from the Beartooth we jumped on the interstate and headed west towards Bozeman.  The place we had picked out to stay was full, so we continued headed down the interstate until we came to Three Forks where we ended up in a commercial campground.

August 9, 2015 Yellowstone NP

Our day started by joining our son Dylan for breakfast at the Youth Conservation Corp camp just outside Mammoth.  Dylan has been a Ranger at Yellowstone for 4 years.  This year he is working with the YCC which brings in about 80 high school aged kids for the summer.  The kids get to experience Yellowstone and also help out with projects such as trail maintenance and putting in Bear boxes.

At breakfast we were able to meet some of the students and some of Dylans fellow rangers.  At breakfast Dylan told us he had to do some last minute work for 3 or 4 hours and he would join us for lunch.

We decided to head out to Lamar Valley again while we waited for Dylan to join us.  We stopped and took a short hike out into a field to get a look at a herd of Bison.  We were following all of the rules staying the proper distance from the herd, but someone forgot to tell a bull Bison the rules.  On our way back to scout we came around a curve with a steep hill to our left and a creek with a 5 or 6 foot drop on the right and ran into a bull Bison about 20 yards in front of us.  Ron decided to retreat towards the creek figuring we could jump down in the creek bed if the Bison took offense.  As we moved down toward the creek Ton grabbed Ron just before he stepped on a snake.  At this point the bull pointedly ignoring our little show sauntered on past and went on his way down the trail.

The bull we ran into was part of this herd.

Deciding we needed Park Service supervision we headed back to Mammoth and picked up Dylan.  We went to lunch in Gardiner just outside the park entrance, and then headed over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  

Dylan opted for home Thai cooking for dinner and invited one of his co-workers to join us.  Ton made some of her famous Larb, and we enjoyed a nice dinner while hearing about Rangering with teenagers.

August 8, 2015 Yellowstone NP

We were going to try to make it to Mammoth Hot Springs Campground because it is the closest one to where our son is working at the park this year.  He told us that they are having record visitors this year and if we wanted to get in the campground we needed to be there before 10am.  So we got up early and headed into a very rainy cold day.  We forgot just how big Yellowstone is, the drive from Grand Teton to Mammoth Hot Springs on the north side of the park was 104 miles and took nearly 3 hours because of the typical tourist traffic and some much needed road work.

When we got to the Mammoth Camp Grounds we found that there were plenty of camp spots still available, probably because of the miserable weather forecast 50 degrees and raining all day.  We had some time to kill because Dylan was working all day so we began by checking out the new visitors center, and all of the stores at Mammoth.  Of course given the weather we were joined by a lot of the other visitors.  

During a break in the rain we went up to the hot springs and it seemed like they were flowing much better than the last time we were there.  Ton took lots of pictures, and then we decided to head out to Lamar Valley as it was not raining too hard at that point.  In Lamar the Bison were out in force and despite the weather there were plenty of people out.  

Mammoth Hot Springs

August 7, 2015 Grand Teton NP

We had not spent much time in Grand Teton NP so we decided to spend a day exploring.  We got up early as the campgrounds fill up early.  The traffic in Jackson Hole was noticeably busier than the last time we had visited two years ago.

When we arrived we parked in the parking lot near the visitors center by the lake.  Ton ran into the visitors center, and Ron was going to move Scout to a better location when another Malayan Tiger drove up.  The Johansons were from Seattle and had their Malayan for about a year.  He had done a lot of work on his truck so it dwarfed scout.  They were quite nice and we exchanged stories about our trucks until we had to leave for a Ranger Walk.

A meeting of Tigers at Grand Teton.

August 13, 2014 Cody WY

Today was spent at the Wild Bill Western Museum.  This museum is a revelation and is actually five museums in one.  There is of course a museum dedicated to Wild Bill Cody which is the original museum.  The second museum is dedicated to the plains Indians.  The third museum is a large collection of  western art.  The fourth museum is a firearm museum which is supposed to be one of the largest in the US.  Finally there is a museum showing the natural environment of the high plains and mountains of the areas.

What is amazing is that in a city of less than 10,000 a museum of this quality can exist. This museum is truly outstanding in all the wings and it is easy to spend 6 or 8 hours in it.  Ton and I spent the whole day in it, and actually had to cut it short at the end. We were both impressed and learned a tremendous amount.   If you are anywhere near Yellowstone plan a trip to Cody to see this fascinating museum.

A sample of plains Indian art.