Happy Trails to You

Gary & Carol and their granddaughter, Elsa, treat us to a lovely dinner with a view of Lake Geneva.

Sunday, June 19

We left the Jackson, Minnesota KOA in a humid fog. The noise from the race track and the Karaoke finally died down in the night and we did get some sleep and I didn't have to tackle Bob.

We arrived in Walworth, Wisconsin at Gary and Carol's where we spent the night in their driveway. They treated us to a very nice dinner down on the shores of Lake Geneva where we had a chance to catch up a little and enjoy their granddaughter, Elsa.

This is where our adventure pretty much began and it just seemed right to end our story here. As I wrote this last post, I had teary eyes. We can't wait to see family, friends, Miss Minnie, and home, but endings are sad. We dreamed of this adventure for so long and it was surely a success. We are blessed and thankful.

Thank you for following along and sharing. It was a good feeling to know you were out there. For now, "Happy Trails to You" until we're "On the Road Again."

(Mike,...re-entry...please advise...)

Little House on the Prairie

One Last Picture of Badlands



Cute Prairie Dog

The Little Sod House on the Prairie

Saturday, June 18

We got on the road early for us with the goal of making it into Minnesota.

We drove back through some of the fascinating Badlands and couldn't help taking some more pictures. The bird songs were so pretty and we wondered if they might be Meadow Larks.

We stopped to take pictures and walk through an original sod house. It was so interesting and the house was much better furnished than I would have thought. There was a framed picture and letter in the visitor center from Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote Little House on the Prairie. What a hard life this must have been, but the house was cozy.

Then back on 90 east through the vast grasslands. We drove by a sign for "Dances with Wolves" movie props. Some of the movie was filmed right in this area.

We stopped at Murdo, a small frontier town whose roads turned to gravel at the village border. We called Blake to wish him Happy Birthday and hear the plans for the day. We sure hated to be missing his party.

The hills became dotted with pines as we crossed the wide Missouri River. Flooding was very visible as trees on both sides of the shore were close to under water. The land gradually changed with more creeks and rivers and familiar looking terrain as we moved east.

We passed a Cabela's at Mitchell and saw their sculpture of Pheasants taking flight as a coyote chased them. It was beautifully done.

We drove about an hour into Minnesota to a KOA in Jackson. We thought it would be fun to see what this Jackson looked like. Our camp was placed between a Super 8 Motel and a John Deere Tractor store, but it was in a grove of trees with farm fields at the back and turned out to be quite pretty. We were lucky to get their last spot. Kids were everywhere. They were swimming in the pool, playing games, and on a hayride with a guy pulling a wagon behind a tractor up and down the camp roads. Then the Karaoke started down at the pavilion which was not far enough from us. It was cute at first, but the later it got and the more beer they drank, and the braver they got, the worse it got. People were just belting out the tunes in keys I've never heard. Then we heard the race cars. Jackson has a speedway and they were practicing right near here. The cars were roaring by and could be heard between and sometimes on top of the singing. Is this in honor of us missing race weekend at home? Is this to help us settle back in to civilization? It certainly was a memorable last night in a campground. And then they announced, "Here at the Jackson KOA, we're gonna party all night or till someone makes us quit!" Yeehaa! It was too hot to shut the windows. I was so afraid I was going to have to tackle Bob if they didn't quit and he might start out the door in a blind rage! Where are the trains when you need them?

The Badlands & A Rest

Entering the Badlands.

Ben Enjoying Our Walk.

Doesn't it look like Indians should come riding up over that hill?

Relaxing!



Friday, June 17

We were tired! We woke up still blurry and realized how hard we'd been pushing it and how long the days had been in the truck. We laughed when we realized we were both thinking that we were almost home because we were on the east side of Wyoming. This is one big country. We decided to take the day off, not drive as far and relax a little.

We met our neighbors in the campground as we were packing up. They were from Switzerland, but spoke good English and would occasionally confer over a word or phrase. They had rented a motor home in Denver and were traveling to some of our National Parks. They were close to our age and so enjoyable to talk to. We swapped stories and they advised us on traveling in Europe. We wished we had had more time with them, but we were off in opposite directions.

We crossed the border into South Dakota and stopped in Spearfish for lunch. What a lovely area. This is another place where we'd like to come back and spend some time. It is close to the Black Hills, fishing, and hiking.

We had a lovely ride through "Dances with Wolves" country and near the famous Wall Drug Store, we took the exit south on 240 into the incredible Badlands. We drove through the park stopping to take pictures of some of the rock formations. We were here two years ago and yet, were still so impressed. We took 44 east to the Badlands/White River KOA.

This KOA was new, in beautiful shape, in a grove of Cottonwood and on the banks of the White River. It was far enough in to be so quiet with the only sounds being those of the birds singing and the wind in the trees. This was the place to relax.

We realized that we went from winter coats packing up in the morning, to shorts and tank tops for our walk in the afternoon.

We walked along the river and up a gravel road across from camp. An occasional rancher drove by in their dusty trucks and cowboy hats. They waved at us and other than that, we had the road and the countryside to ourselves. Ben loved running in the grass, but got pretty hot. It was so beautiful and it just felt good to be out and walking.

We got back to the trailer and sat out under our awning until dinner. This KOA served Indian Bread Tacos. So we decided to try them which was an easy dinner. One more walk and we settled in for the night relaxed and refreshed.

Leaving Montana

Entering Wyoming






The Indian Memorial at the Little Bighorn Battlefield







Headstones Placed Where Soldiers Fell in the Battle. The Dark One Belongs to Custer.









Horses Grazing on the Prairie

Big Sky Country

Thursday, June 16

First of all, I loaded the pictures backwards, so they go from the bottom up. The bottom and through the Little Bighorn Battlefield are in Montana and then we enter Wyoming.

Anyway, we loved our site at Red Lodge KOA. It was on the end of the road with a fenced field and mountain view beyond. It was perfect for Ben with large trees and lots of grass.

I know I've mentioned lilacs, but once more, they were thick and everywhere in light, dark and white. They were just beautiful and added so much to even the shackiest little house.

Montana has had a lot of rain and all of their rivers are at the top and over flowing around trees and into fields. It was on the news that ranchers have not been able to plant and the deadline is fast approaching for it to be too late as the season is so short. In one small town we saw people with sandbags around their homes. They are worried that with the higher temperatures, snow melt in the mountains, and rain, the flooding will get much worse.

They have had lot of storms in the area and on the news, we heard about a bad hail storm they had the week before. A ranchers cattle stampeded and went over a cliff killing his herd. The area ranchers were raising money and donating cattle to help him out. It was so interesting hearing how they supported each other.

We stopped at a Cracker Barrel for lunch and picked up two more books on CD. Thank you to Pat and Vern for putting us onto taped books while traveling. We downloaded three to my ipod and had two on CD. Cracker Barrel let's you buy them and then turn them in at any other Cracker Barrel for much of your money back. It makes the long stretches of miles go much faster and keeps our eyes free for scenery...and, well, driving.

We drove through lots of big sky country with miles between towns and exits labeled "no service." We saw many Pronghorn Deer, but flew by too fast to get pictures.

We exited on 212 to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Memorial which is the site of Custer's Last Stand. We saw where the Little Bighorn River had overflown and left debris in the farm fences and muddy banks.

We listened to the Ranger tell the story to the days around the battle and we walked the path to see the sites where different events happened. It was all very somber, but very nicely done, with sadness as they honored both sides. Though there were many people there, it was very quiet and people talked in whispers. Black Elk's quote was on the wall of the visitor center; "Know the power that is peace." Can't we as humans ever learn?

The highway followed the Little Bighorn River for a while and we saw more flooding. Then we moved away from seeing any houses. There were just big grassy fields that grew into bigger and bigger hills with occasional cattle or horses grazing and then snowy mountain peaks off to the southwest near Sheridan, Wyoming.
We drove through miles of plains, but enjoyed watching, seeing Pronghorn and listening to our book on CD.

We got quite tired and finally made it into Sundance, Wyoming and the Mountain View Campground up on a hill with great views. The wind rocked us to sleep and then some time during the night, it darn near blew us off the hill.

Glad to be Alive

A Bison In LaMar Valley in Yellowstone National Park

Snow on the Beartooth Highway

A River Cutting Through the Snow


The Deep Snow Beside Our Truck & Trailer

The Tight Corners Through the Tunnel of Snow and the Beginnings of Wet Road

Wednesday, June 15

We enjoyed the trees, birds, and lilacs in our park-like campground as we packed up. It was a short drive to Bozeman, Montana, which was another beautiful college town (Montana State University). We took a wrong turn and ended up driving around a lot of the town and liked it better the more we saw of it. Actually, a lady gave us directions and Bob didn't believe her and she ended up being right.

We stopped in Livingston, a little farther southeast, for gas and there we were on Highway 89, just 58 miles from the northwest entrance to Yellowstone National Park. We looked at a map and saw that there was a loop we could do down 89, across the northern border of the park and back up the Beartooth Highway (that had been closed because of snow when we were there two years ago) to Billings, Montana and back on to 90 east. The whole loop was just over 200 miles and would be beautiful and we were ahead of schedule and so close and the next thing we knew, away we went. We called Ron and Thelma as we knew they'd encourage us, and they did.

We drove by more ranches with green fields, pines and bigger hills with more and more rock.

A word about ranchers: As romantic as these beautiful ranches looked, we saw dusty cowboys out mending fences in the wild winds and we pictured the work in the winter with blowing snow and sub zero temperatures and it all looked like a lot of work. Also, we saw many modern ranchers on the range driving cattle on 4 wheelers instead of traditional horses. Maybe I don't want to be a cowboy when I grow up.

The Yellowstone River ran along he road and was just raging. We stopped to take pictures and saw some white water rafters fly by. It looked pretty scary, but they were screaming with laughter or blind fear.

We stopped in Gardiner and got ice cream and coffee before we drove into the park. We asked a ranger if the Beartooth Highway was open and it was. We were good to go.

We wound through beautiful country to Mammoth Hotsprings. When we were there before, elk were walking around right in town. We didn't see any elk this time. We saw many deer, rapids, falls, and bison. We drove into LeMar Valley and at one stop, met a couple from San Diego who came here every June. They had high powered field glasses on stands. They let us watch a huge grizzly that was half way up in the hills from the valley. It was very cool and they were so nice to share with us.

Then at the other end of the valley, a whole group of people had gathered and were watching another, smaller grizzly. They too were all freely sharing their glasses. One young man even offered to adjust the height of his stand for me. They were a fun group.

We left the valley and began to climb. We went through Cooke City where we had stayed two years ago and on to where the highway split into Chief Joseph and Beartooth. We were thrilled that the Beartooth was opened and up we went and up and up. We stopped to take pictures, having no idea just how high we would get as we went from one switch back to another with increasing snow. We climbed to an elevation of 10,947 feet which was higher than we have ever been and, we were pulling a trailer! We couldn't believe the snow on the side of the road. At first, we laughed and I jumped out to show how high the snow was. Then we stopped and both got out and posed with Ben and let him romp about with his nose digging in the snow. And then, we were above the tree line and the snow was higher than our trailer and the wind was wild. It was hard to stand up in it if we tried to get out for a picture. Chunks of ice and snow hit our car and blew across the road. As we hit the barren summit, the road had slush covered patches. We are talking about steep switchbacks with narrow blind curves that have a 20 mph speed limit on good roads, with a shear cliff drop off on the side. I could not look over the edge. We got quiet, no longer laughing and at one point went into a slide. We both held our breath and I know the meaning of "time stood still." Thank God, and I mean, thank God,that Bob is a confident, experienced driver. What if he had been like the young couple we met driving a big rented motor home from Florida with no winter driving experience?! Anyway, he knew not to hit his breaks, and he steered through it and we hit traction again. We crawled down that mountain until we were out of the snow. What an experience! It was all so beautiful and we are of thankful heart that we are here to tell the story.

We got down the mountain and into the pines and had a lovely drive into Red Lodge where we stayed at a KOA. We set up with winter coats on and weren't sure if the shivering was from the cold or our wild experience. Bed never felt so good.

More Montana & Lost Pictures

Coming Out of Flat Grasslands to Pine Dotted Hills

Tuesday, June 14

We had a good nights sleep, but both of us woke a few times as the strong winds just shook our trailer. It felt like we were moving at times.

We were impressed with this KOA as it was very clean, well set up, and conveniently located. They even had pet sitters. We'd like to go back and spend some time another year. There is just so much to do around there.

We went to the St. Mary's Lodge for breakfast and for memories as we had stayed there on the last trip we took with Chad and Sean. It was as beautiful as we remembered and we relaxed with a wonderful breakfast, Frank Sinatra songs playing in the background, and gorgeous views out the windows.

We went into the gift shop and met the manager who had designed the mugs we used in the restaurant. she advised us to go back up to Babb, just north of us, and take the park road into Many Glacier. There had been lots of bear sighted there. They let us leave the trailer in the parking lot and away we went.

It was a beautiful drive up the other side of the St. Marys River. We climbed into the mountains and into the rain. Mist and fog blew in and out with the clouds the higher we went. We saw one moose and several sheep, but no grizzly. Time to push on.

We took 89 south and drove through acres of sad forest fire damage. Under all of the littered, blackened, bare sticks of trees, there was brave green grass and dandelions.

We went into beautiful range land that looked like I think Montana should look as my head played, "Happy Trails to You." A small herd of horses were grazing right beside the road and we stopped and got out to click pictures of them. As we watched, a cowboy on a Buckskin horse came from a field on the other side of the road and herded the horses away from the highway and back down into their field. It was so cool to watch! I want to be a cowboy when I grow up.

We came into the scrub town of Browning and stopped to buy kettle corn from a Native American. It was just the snack we needed. After that there wer miles and miles of range land and you could see our ribbon of a highway far ahead as in looped up and down and wound through the hills.

Choteau was a nice clean little town with an organic market and expresso shop. There were lilacs in bloom everywhere. We continued on across the vast land until the hills began to get bigger and there were occasional rock formations that looked like the canyon country of cowboy movies.

As we neared Helena, Montana, the grassy hills became dotted with pines and there were more and more cattle grazing. We picked up 15 south into Helena and back to super highways. Helena was a nice, clean, college town built into the hills with views of mountains in the distance.

We picked up speed and enjoyed the convenience of the highway, but we sure enjoyed the interesting scenery, small towns, and the wildlife we saw on the back roads.

Just when we thought we were winding down, we headed into some mountains again. They were pine covered and reminded me of Tennessee. We meant to stop at a campground there, but as we got on 90 east, the campground was the other way and we didn't notice until too late. We were getting pretty tired when we found a camp in our guide in the tiny town of Three Forks, Montana. It was a little scary as we turned off and we were afraid it would be a dusty parking lot behind a gas station or something. It turned out to be absolutely beautiful. It was spotless, friendly and just like a park with piles of trees and birds singing everywhere. We took a nice walk and enjoyed the views and watched the full moon. This was a lovely park. Saved again.

Note: The next morning, getting organized for the day, I accidentally deleted all of my pictures that would go with this post. I lost pictures of St. Marys Lodge, our last moose, some mountain scenes, the cowboy herding the horses, the forest fire damage, and the ribbon of road through the vast range land. We were sick, but the pictures are in our heads. Bob had one picture and was very glad he hadn't been the one to do the deleting.

Back in the USA

Flat Range Land with Mountains in the Background

Fields of Dandelions

Native American Statues in Montana

Going into Glacier National Park

A Bear Crosses in Front of us in the Park




Monday, June 13

We had a beautiful, crisp morning as we had our oatmeal, packed up and headed to the RV Wash in Canmore. Later, after we got on the highway towards Calgary, we hit a heavy downpour and were glad we hadn't spent more time fussing at the RV Wash. At least the top layer of mud, dust, and bugs were off.

The mountains were now behind us with flat, forever land ahead. We missed the turn off for the Cowboy Highway south and decided it was a good time of day for traffic and we wanted to see Calgary anyway, so using our little map book of Canada that we had purchased at Northgate by our cabin, we successfully navigated around the border of the city. The land surrounding Calgary was flat and treeless with sprawling new subdivisions. Then as we approached the city center, we could see the tall buildings of the city center down in a hollow. The land was shaped like a bowl and we were up on a rim. There were six lanes of traffic and a lot of construction. It seemed to be very clean and progressive and we heard later from a fellow traveler that Calgary is Canada's most livable city. It would have been nice to see some of the Olympic areas and the sight of the Calgary Stampede, but not hauling a trailer.

We went on south to Fort MacLeod and past the lovely little hospital that had helped me on the way up. Then we took Highway 2 south through more beautiful range land with increasing mountains to our southwest.

The wind was wild and we saw that Canada was using it with some massive fields of windmills.

We drove through the nice little town of Cardston and on until we crossed the quaint, small customs stop at the border into the USA. It was just a good feeling and Montana truly seemed to welcome us. We stopped to take pictures of metal sculptures of Native Americans on horseback and hurried on to get to Glacier National Park.

We got a camp site in St. Marys at the KOA situated on high, grassy, very windy fields with mountains bordering us. We set up and went into tiny St. Marys to the cafe and had delicious big salads and homemade pie. The restaurant was manned by college kids that looked like hikers and environmentalists. They were having fun joking with each other. Their t-shirts had a slice of pie on end like a pyramid and said, "Pie for Strength."

After dinner, we drove into the Park and twelve miles up the Road to the Sun. That was as far as it was open as there was still a lot of snow and danger of avalanche.

We went from sun to cold and rain the higher we went. We saw one black bear, an avalanche area with broken trees and piles of snow, and a rock slide area. The views were pretty, but the weather made it hard to see well.

We went back to our trailer, took a walk, turned on the heater, watched out our window as the clouds boiled over the mountains, and listened to the howling wind...cozy and content.