Yellowstone Adventures

Tuesday was our travel day from Big Timber to West Yellowstone.  We’d discussed several different routes and studied maps and Google Earth.  Finally, we combined the advice we’d received, and headed west on I-90 as far as Bozeman, where we took off on 191 south.  But instead of staying on that road all the way to West Yellowstone, we cut over on Montana 84 and then to US 287 south to Montana 87, and finally to US 20 where we passed by the north side of Henry’s Lake before arriving at Lionshead RV Resort, 7 miles west of West Yellowstone.  We checked in a little after 11 a.m., and by just after 1:00, we were at the gate of the park.

Not far into the park, I spotted a bald eagle in the trees not far off the road:

 

Then I saw the nest with the baby eagle’s head poking up:

 

That was a good start to our first exploration of the park.  The woman who checked us in at the rv park said the best place to spot wildlife would be the upper section of the north loop of the park, so that’s where we headed.  We figured that, since the weather was cool and cloudy, and we’d arrive late in the day, that we might have a chance to see some animals.

Of course, we had to stop to view some hot springs on the way!  Dortha and Jim walking along the boardwalk at one of them:

The blue water looks beautiful, but oh so hot at Beryl Spring!

Our next stop was at what’s called paint pots, because of the varied colors found in the soil, mud and water in the hot springs.  This is a view from the top of the walkway we climbed:

  We continued on the north loop and eventually got to Mammoth Hot Springs, where we took a little drive around the top tier loop and found some beautiful rock formations:

At Mammoth, we were at the top of the north loop.  It was getting late in the afternoon, and with the weather was cool and cloudy, it was just the right conditions for spotting elusive wildlife, like this bull elk:

Just a little ways further, we spotted another group of cars stopped by the side of the road.  Note to people who’ve yet to visit Yellowstone:  Anytime you see a group of cars parked either in the middle or along the sides of the road, that’s your clue that some wildlife is nearby!  So we pulled over and got to see this bull moose:

We’ve since discovered that spotting a large bull moose like this is very rare!  We feel really fortunate to have experienced this guy!

Further along the road we climbed a mountain pass, and along that way, sure enough, there was another group of cars pulled over.  This time, we got to see this grizzly bear up on the side of the slope:

Those are the highlights of our first afternoon in Yellowstone.  It was truly amazing to see all these animals.

If there’s a downside to the outings in the park, its that we are taking so many pictures, we hardly have time to download them before we’re off on another adventure!

Even though I realize I’m behind on posting our activities, I’m going to save our next adventures for another day.

Exploring and Hiking

Yesterday was our day for exploration of the little town of Big Timber. There was a farmer's market until noon, and Janna & Mike came by the rv park around 10. They led in their vehicle, while Mark drove his Jeep for the 4 of us. We explored the farmer's market and ended up with some wonderful, fresh, whole wheat bread and some home-made sausage. Then we walked around the 2-block downtown of Big Timber and stopped in at a few shops. The men did their own shopping at the Ace Hardware, while Janna showed us the quilt store, a small boutique and the shop she used to own.

Jim wanted to find some habanero peppers, and Mark was looking for a trucker antenna for their internet air card, so Janna and Mike led us to the little (but bigger than Big Timber) town of Livingston, where we had lunch and then stopped at a Verizon store, and a Radio Shack. (There was an antenna, but not the correct adapter, so Mark decided to wait until he could talk to the folks at 3gstore.com, which is where I purchased our router and antenna. Nice folks. Real people answer the phone, and if you have a question, the same real people actually answer the question and help you out.) Then on to Albertson's. Yay, they had habaneros, so Jim was set to make another batch of his "peachanero" jelly.

When we got back to the Spring Creek RV Park, Janna and Mike left us with our goodies and we settled in for some jelly making and trip planning.

This morning, Dortha and I left the guys to do laundry while we went for a hike with Janna. Yes, the guys were invited to go on the hike, but they chose laundry instead. Hmmmm....exercise avoidance at its best! Well, they missed some awesome scenery, and the hike was pretty easy, without any really extreme climbs.

I'm not sure what the sign says for mileage, but our gps units told us we hiked about 3.5 miles round trip.

Janna and Dortha at our turn-around spot:

Which was this stream with a pretty waterfall:

There were whole hillsides covered with these beautiful wildflowers:

I was concentrating on looking at the beauty around me and watching the path where I was putting my feet when all of a sudden, Dortha, who was in the lead at that point, stopped and turned around and said she saw a bear run down the hill and across the path in front of us!

We were more alert to the possibility of seeing either the same little bear or it's mom the rest of the way back to the car!

But all we saw was a marmot, although we saw a few deer back on the road and near Janna's house where we'd left our car.

It was a beautiful hike, what a great way to start the day.

When we got back home, it was time for a little break and then we started talking trip plans again. We had our plans and reservations made as far as our next two stops, but after that we did not have the specifics down as to where and when. So we spent an hour or so discussing and making reservations, when Janna called and said they would not be able to come for dinner as planned because Mike ran into some delay on a job he was helping out with.

We rearranged our evening to prepare a quick "breakfast for dinner" meal so we could save our planned menu for tomorrow, when, hopefully, Janna and Mike will be able to join us. We were still talking about plans when all of a sudden, a storm came up and a huge gust of wind knocked a large, old cottonwood tree down just in front of our sites. Good thing it fell away from us! However, it fell right across the road out of our loop. The campground managers were able to get it taken care of nearly as soon as there was a break in the storm, and it's completely cleaned up already.

In between all the activities, I'm working on cleaning up my hard drive. By moving pictures to other storage media, I've opened up several gigs of space, but I have a ways to go. I know I should take care of that little maintenance task as I go along, but somehow, I always seem to find other things to occupy my time! Imagine that.

Big Timber, Montana and a Computer "Uh-Oh"

Once again, we were up early, eager to wrap things up in Hardin, Montana and be on the road to Big Timber, where we planned to spend some time visiting Janna and Mike Clark. Jim and I met them 2 winters ago in Tucson and have been keeping in touch through our blogs ever since. Janna's blog is Tin TeePee-Log Cabin.

The day's journey was around 125 miles, all interstate, so it was a very easy travel day. We stopped on the eastern edge of Billings and filled up our diesel tanks, then continued on.

It wasn't long at all before we saw this sign for our exit. The Crazy Mountains are in the background:

And shortly after that sign, here was the one to the Spring Creek RV Park:

A few days ago, Janna sent us an e-mail with detailed directions, not only to the campground, but to their house, which is way in back of anything! Mike was born and raised in this area, which by the way, is where the movie, "The Horse Whisperer" was filmed. They owned a large number of acres, and sold most of it a few years ago, but kept a few acres to build a house on.

We found the campground with no problem, but we were a little concerned about getting to their house. However, Janna's directions were perfect and we went right to it. What a beautiful spot! I now understand why they are so eager each spring to return from the warmer south to get back here.

Janna took us to the main attraction in the area, a natural bridge. The bridge actually fell in 1988, but the Boulder River flows into the rocks and comes out below in an amazing gush where the bridge used to be. Janna said that as recently as a couple of weeks ago, the river was so high that it was flowing over the rocks as well as under them.

In the picture below, you can see the river gushing out at the bottom of the rocks. It's harder to see the water as it flows into the rocks above, but if you look at the middle of the picture where the shadow meets the sun, that is the spot where the water flows under the rocks:

After our excursion to see the falls, we headed back to Janna and Mike's house, where we enjoyed happy hour on their deck, visiting and enjoying the many hummingbirds that frequent their feeders.

Janna was finishing up the salad while Mike carved the tenderloin. What a wonderful afternoon and evening, thank you again, Janna and Mike!

Now, as to the computer "uh-oh", I knew this day was coming and just didn't get my act together sooner, or more consistently. I have run out of space on my hard drive, primarily because I am not good about getting my pictures moved to either an external drive or cd's. So, until I get them off the drive and free up some space, I'll be posting a limited number of pictures. This computer is running so slow!

The other thing I want to mention is a big thank you to all of you who sent us greetings and good wishes for our anniversary. Since we've been living this nomadic life, we have met so many wonderful, caring people. It made us both feel good to have you comment on the blog, send e-mails and phone calls! You made our day even more special.

Into Montana

As a student in - was it junior high or high school, I can't remember now - taking American History, all I remember now is how much I disliked the class. I came up with any number of ways to avoid paying attention and actually learning anything. My thinking in those days tended towards disdain of anything old. Somewhere along the line that thinking has changed, maybe because I'm now one of the old timers myself! Anyway, I've been excited about this day for quite a while, since I became intrigued by the "Battle of the Greasy Grass", or as we usually hear it called, the "Battle of the Little Big Horn". Today was our travel day to Hardin, Montana, the closest town to the battlefield where Custer's Last Stand occurred in June of 1876.

We left the Devils Tower KOA at 7:40 this morning and traveled along I-90 about 240 miles to Hardin, where we got settled in to the Grandview Camp and RV Park. There isn't much "grand" to it, either park or view, but it's a place to stop and rest with level sites and full hook-ups. The woman in the office was friendly, and the place is clean, so we don't need any more than that.

Our route through Wyoming, just before the state line took us along the Big Horn Mountains. In the distance, behind that cloud is Cloud Peak, 13,187'. Reminds me of Pikes Peak!

Montana's welcome sign stands in a meadow of waving green grass under that famous Big Sky:

We made good time on our travel and got to the park right around noon. Just as soon as we got the basics set up, the four of us hopped in our car and started off. First stop was Subway for a quick sandwich, then on to the battlefield. We took a guided tour, given by Native American (Crow) college students. Our guide, Josh, talked so fast I was breatless just listening! It's probably a very good thing for me that I've been doing some reading on this battle, so I had some sort of notion about what might have taken place here. It was amazing to me to see the valleys and bluffs and imagine how those days and hours unfolded.

This picture shows the monument, marking the mass graves of over 200 soldiers who fell here. The white markers that look like headstones are actually markers where soldiers fell. These markers can be seen all over the area, not just in this section.

I could imagine these horses running to escape the battle:

A Native American headress, shown in the museum:

We spent several hours at the monument, driving back over the 5 mile route after the tour. Along the way are intrepetive signs, describing the events that occurred in each area. Now, as I finish reading Mari Sandoz's book, The Battle of the Little Bighorn, I will have a much better understanding.

After our exploration, we came back to the rv park and enjoyed our own happy hour in the shade. Mark and Jim talked Dortha and me into going over to Taco Johns, after we checked the points value for some of their menu items, of course! We came back home after dinner and settled in for the night.

Tomorrow the journey continues...

Travel Day to a Really Big Rock

It was kind of hard to let go of Custer! But, it was time, so at 8:46 this morning, we pulled out of Broken Arrow Campground and, followed by the other Phaeton, we drove off to begin our short travel day.

We took Highway 16 West to Newcastle, Wyoming and then 85, 585, I-90, 14, and 24 to Devils Tower. It was the scenic route! The hardest part of the drive was just a few miles west of Custer, over a pass on a very narrow, twisty road. We made it ok, just went slow. Good practice for some of the roads I suspect we'll be on as we make our way to the coast. We saw some beautiful scenery, and even though we were on hilly, twisty roads throughout the 113 mile drive, we got 8.7 mpg overall.

Almost as soon as we got parked, we started preparing our lunch, which consisted of grilled trout, cheesy-broccoli-rice, and fresh veggies. Then it was time to head off to the monument - Devils Tower, or Bear Lodge as it is known to the Native Americans - which we can see right from the KOA where we're staying tonight. The entrance to the monument is just outside the campground, so I guess this is about as close as we can camp without actually being on the monument property.

Scientists are not in agreement about how Devils Tower was formed, and there are several different Native American legends about its origin as well. Volcanoes play a role in at least one of the scientific theories, and the bear has a role in all of the Native American legends. However it was formed, it is an impressive hunk of rock. It was the first National Monument, so designated by Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 under the Antiquities Act.

This is a view of the Belle Fourche River from the path around the base of the tower:

Mark and Dortha stopped for a rest:

We arrived at the visitor's center and started off on foot for our 1.3 mile walk around the base of the tower. As we looked at it and took pictures, we could see climbers scaling the west face. Around to the south, we watched another group of climbers who were on the way down. According to the literature, about 5,000 climbers ascend the tower each year.

It's very difficult to understand the massive size of this tower, so it may be hard to imagine how far away these climbers really are as they reach the top:

This view from the base may give some idea. The climbers in the above picture were just topping the rock as I caught the photo:

Around on the south side, these climbers were on the way down:

No climbing from these guys, stopping for a short break on the walk:

After our walk, we stopped at the trading post across the street from the campground, where Mark and Jim got refreshed with ice cream cones, while Dortha and I wandered around the store, looking for treasures, Then we came back to the campground and looked around their gift shop before coming back to the rigs, where we settled in for the evening.

On to the next adventure tomorrow!

Twenty-Four Years Ago Today....

Jim and I made it official - we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Happy Anniversary, sweetheart! I'm so glad we found each other, and I love you even more today than that hot July day in 1985 when we started off on our new lives together.

We have always loved spending time on the road. Our dates most often consisted of a drive around town, or around the area, just spending time looking at the sights and talking. As a matter of fact, our very first date wasn't really a "date" at all. Jim had been calling me for a few months, ostensibly to ask questions about some issue or another related to the Wage and Benefit Committee at work, of which we were both members. Finally, he asked me out. I said yes, and we set a date about 3 weeks out (we were both working shift work on different schedules at the time, and that was the soonest we could find a time we were both off).

About 9:00 p.m. the night after that phone call, I was settling in, getting ready to go to bed when the doorbell rang. Yes, there was Jim! He was working graveyard that night and was out for a drive before work and thought he'd just stop by to see if I wanted to go out for a cup of coffee! That started a habit with us, and we'd go for drives often after that. A road trip was a grand adventure to us then, as it still is today. I wouldn't trade a minute of our time together over the last 24 years, and sure hope we have at least that many more!

Something else that we both love to do is take pictures. We've always had at least 2 cameras, and somewhere in boxes stored at our childrens' homes are hundreds of pictures we've both taken over the years. Thank goodness for digital photography now, it makes our lives a lot easier. I'm sometimes asked which one of us takes the pictures for this journal. We both do! I don't always know who took which pictures that are published, as I download them all and just pick the best:

I took this one as we arrived in the Black Hills this year:

Jim took this one of an old farm near the campground:

And I took this one of an old building near Hill City:

On to our recent adventures! On Sunday, we took it easy and enjoyed the quiet day. We took a quick drive into Custer to walk around the local street fair and do a little shopping. Then we went to Hill City and strolled through a few of the shops there before heading home to share a dinner with the Hall family. Once again, we built a campfire and enjoyed a wonderful evening just visiting.

Yesterday morning, Pat & Mike and Lee Ann & Larry all arrived promptly at 9:00 for a geocaching adventure. Lee Ann and Larry have not been geocaching before, but wanted to learn about it. There is a private geocache that has been placed by the campground owners which Pat & Mike and I wanted to find. I'd gotten the coordinates from Geri and we'd scheduled a time to go last week, but with the wet weather, we'd postponed it. The cache is located about a mile from the campground with some fairly easy (according to Geri) hiking involved.


With a last minute consult to make sure we had the right directions to find the trail and get close to the cache, the 5 of us set off up the hill behind the campground. Fairly easy hiking, well, maybe for horses, but on foot, this was a pretty challenging hike! But we all managed to get to the top of the ridge and started down. Wow, that was even steeper. Going nearly straight down a horse trail - we were all thinking about the climb back up. Finally, we got to the bottom of the hill where the trail met a larger, much better trail. We eventually found the cache!






Yes, the return trip was just as challenging as we thought it would be, but everyone made it back in one piece.


Larry has recently had knee replacement surgery, plus they just arrived at this altitude (around 5,000 ft), a few days ago, so they were really feeling the effects of this hike! I hope that doesn't deter them from further exploring the fun of geocaching, but what troopers they were!


As soon as we got back, it was time to head to Rapid City with Jim, Dortha and Mark. We are preparing for our departure tomorrow, and needed to get some supplies, as we will be in small towns for quite a while, without much opportunity for finding some items. Our first stop was a Mexican grill for a quick lunch and then on to Cabela's, Walmart, Sam's, TJ Maxx, and finally back home.

Our time in Custer is nearly gone - how quickly it's passed. But as much as we love it here, we are ready to put the Castle in gear and continue our awesome road trip!

Black Hills Adventures

After a very rainy spring, once we arrived in Custer a few short weeks ago, the sun started shining and the skies turned blue. However... the past few days have been much stormier, with frequent rain showers, and even a little hail. But in spite of the rainy patch we've had, we are still enjoying our adventures.

Thursday was Rapid City day, and this time, Dortha and I went together and left the guys at home. We timed our drive perfectly and arrived at the Weight Watchers center just in time for our weigh in. After the meeting, we stopped for a quick lunch at Wendy's and, armed with our lists, braved the Walmart and Sam's stores.

We got all of our errands accomplished without any major meltdowns, and finally got home late in the afternoon. After our dinner, we decided we would go out on a pleasure drive, again in search of the elusive wildlife. This time we took the road to Sylvan Lake. We've been by there many times as we've explored the hills, but it has always been packed to the gills with no place to even pull over to park along side the road, much less a spot in a parking lot. But this evening, most of the visitors had already left, or were on their way out, and we had no problem parking.

We decided to walk the path that goes around this beautiful gem, and away we went.

There are many, many beautiful spots in these Black Hills, but this lake is really one of the most lovely we've seen yet.

Caden was anxious for Moppah and Miss Ellie to hurry and take those pictures so he could continue his walk:

There were two of these bucks enjoying their evening meal right next to the path along the lake. They did not seem to be bothered by our presence at all:

Where's Mom?

After our walk, Poppa and Caden enjoyed a little break at the general store by the lake:

Friday was a day we've been anticipating for a year - we had reservations for a tour van to take us to Mt. Rushmore for the July 3rd fireworks! We arrived in Custer last year on the 2nd of July, too late to plan to attend this special display. So, this year, we anticipated the event and had our reservations made months ago. Wouldn't you know it - rain! All afternoon it poured. But finally, the rain let up and the sun even came out for a little while. Dortha and Mark's son, Greg and his wife, Kate, along with their son, Zachary, had flown in for the event as well. We hopefully gathered our gear and went up to the office to wait for our ride. First glitch, the tour company van had broken down, so the ride was actually a car and a rental van. No big deal, we still got to Mt. Rushmore with no problem.

We got our seats and set up where we had a good view. Uh-Oh - more clouds! A fog bank rolled in, and obscured the whole mountain. It looked like it was going to pour again, so we grabbed our chairs and headed for the parking garage, where we spent most of the rest of the evening. Even though the mountian was enshrouded in fog, the fireworks were still shot off. We heard the bangs, but all we could see were colored clouds. Near the end of the show, we did see a few sparkles through the now-thinning fog. Of course, 30 minutes or so after the show was over, the clouds and fog cleared. Too late. Oh well, maybe next year...

Saturday, the 4th of July! A potluck dinner at the campground was the planned activity for the evening. Jim's newest batch of salsa was the featured appetizer for Happy Hour:

Mike and Pat McFall came early for the happy hour and got recruited by Geri to help with the decorations, as I did. Here we are, all full of hot air, with the job of blowing up the balloons:

It was great to reconnect with Larry and Lee Ann, whom we met here in Custer last year. We've been following each other's blogs since that time, and it was wonderful to see them again. They just arrived in Custer a few days ago, and are staying at their usual spot down the road from here. We're planning a geocache adventure with the McFalls tomorrow morning (as long as the weather cooperates, that is).

Larry, standing outside the pavillion, with myself, Pat and Lee Ann (seated) visiting:

Larry (the other Larry who is the campground owner), seen leaving the pavillion, barely had time to grab a bite to eat as he hurried off to help a customer:

After dinner, we went back to the rigs and built a campfire and made s'mores while we waited for the Custer fireworks display. We were told we could see them from the campground, so no need to drive anywhere tonight.

Greg (Dortha and Mark's son), Mark, and I roast our marshmallows while Dortha helps Caden with his bite of a s'more:

Caden and Mr. BoJangles enjoy a moment. They've taken a liking to each other, and Caden watches for BoBo to go out on walks. BoBo, of course, loves the attention!

No rain tonight - finally the sun set and we waited for it to get really dark:

So we could enjoy the fireworks:

Happy Birthday, America!