September 4, 2016 Sunday. Off We Go

We got up and left about 9:30 AM - pretty good for us. We had completed our leaving preparations the night before and didn't have a lot to do before take-off. It was cloudy and cool and we enjoyed our drive, first to Belt then Monarch, then Neihart.

It was 38 degrees at the top of King's Hill Pass.

When we arrived at White Sulphur Springs - we discovered they were having a parade!  Guess what?  We brought up the rear and we just waved at the bystanders and had fun with it!

Yellowstone River

We continued on our drive and stopped at Big Timber.  Here we picked up some souvenirs, walked the dogs, and stretched our legs.

Tall Tiny House at Big Timber !

Steve had quite a bit of energy and so he kept driving until we got to Hardin, MT.  We stopped for the night at Grandview Camp & RV Park. The place was not as bad as the reviews, but the office definitely had a bad smell of cats. Since we were only staying one night - no problem for us.  They were friendly and we got a pull-through site - so we were able to leave easily the next morning.  In fact we only hooked up the electricity and cable for faster departure.

September 3, 2016. Saturday Taking it easy and preparing to leave

My sister, Pam called this morning and told me a bad earthquake had hit around Pawnee, OK.  Since I know people over there - I was worried.  I texted my friend Kellie and found out that her parents' house had sustained a lot of damage - it was very near the epicenter. And to top it off their 50th wedding anniversary is coming up on the 9th of September.  She had hauled off a load of glass in her pickup and they were using a front end loader to scoop up rocks and put them in a grain truck.  She said the tile flooring was broken into pieces also.  I sure feel sorry for them - but they are strong and will overcome it. 

Steve and I went to Walmart to stock up on supplies. When we left we saw a tent in the parking lot - not just RV's.  Crazee. 

We just hung out at the RV and took it easy.  The dogs really enjoyed this place because they got to dig for varmits.  We never saw any creatures - just holes and once in a while a squeak.  It sure did make the dogs go wild though.

We had a beautiful sunset and will depart in the morning.

September 6, 2016 Tuesday Heading further South

Well, we left Doughlas, WY even later this morning.  It as about 11:00 AM before we got out of the RV Park.  Then we had to get gas before driving on. Neither one of us wanted to get up this morning, but we finally did.  We keep changing plans also.  We went through Glendo, Wheatland and Chugwater, WY.  

We stopped at Chugwater, WY to have lunch.  The place we stopped, had just hung up the closed shingle when we drove up.  Lunch was not to be had. Back in the RV and snacks were eaten. There was another couple that drove up about the same time as us -but no deal - the place was not opening for 4 customers.  

Steve just kept driving south. 

He got to thinking and thought we should just head on down to the Air Force Academy and stay at Peregrine Pines FamCamp.  I had tried to call and make reservations -but no one answered the phone. Luckily they had plenty of room - so we are staying for 2 nights.  This will help us catch up on our rest and we will not be so road weary.  

We had chili and took it easy.

September 5, 2016 Monday Moving on Down the Road

We haven't been getting up very early.  Consequently, we did not leave til about 10:30 AM. Sometimes this time includes our finagling around to try to get into a place to get gas.

 I know lots of people don't like interstates. But I love the drive through Wyoming on I-25. I always get to see my favorite animals - Pronghorns. There is very little traffic, and this summer we did not have wind - when we headed north or on our return trip south. Great weather actually. Most of the time we did not even run the air conditioner. 

We went through Lodge Grass, Wyola, Sheridan, WY, Buffalo, WY and Casper, WY.

At Casper - we took a look at our right blinker light in front- you have to take out the whole headlight to get to the blinker bulb. What we found out was that it was not the bulb - but the thing that holds the light bulb (blinker light socket).  OK - well we moved on down the road - since it is Labor Day - not many places open.  

We got to Douglas, WY and stayed overnight at KOA.  This is the best KOA around - maybe the best in the country. 

  The price was reasonable and the office girl was so nice, plus she escorted us to our site. Very helpful when you are road weary!

September 2, 2016 - Friday Drive to Ulm; Car Races

Before we started on our little excursion today - I decided to call the VA and check on Steve's shots. Long Story Short - they had been sent UPS - instead of US Post Office and had arrived here in Great Falls and been returned. I guess UPS tried to call us, but we did not receive the call and were not expecting it - so had no idea there was any problem. What a mess. Oh well, - we will just have them ship them to home. We are headed that way soon anyhow! 

We went to the visitor's center to get a trail map, because there is supposed to be a statue of a Grizzly bear not the River Trail and of course I want to try to find it. I got a map and we tried to figure out where the statue was - but no luck. We will try again another time I guess. With the way the Missouri River goes through and the streets are laid out - it can be confusing as to where things are. Next we took a short drive to Ulm, MT. We wanted to see the Smith River. It is a river that some people float several miles on and we wanted to try to find the put in point. I think we missed that - but had a nice short drive and the dogs loved playing in the water. 

 Steve skipped some rocks - and I drowned some. Nice and relaxing! It is so interesting to feel how smooth the rocks get. Very relaxing. We returned and did a little more exploring. 

 When we got back to the RV Steve remembered that the car races were on- so we decide to go! The races were good and there was a large crowd! 

They didn't finish until about 11:15 PM. So of course we stayed overnight and decided to do the Walmart run on Saturday morning and head out for home on Sunday.

September 1, 2016 Thursday R & R Day plus Laundry

Today we checked to see if Steve's shots arrived - no luck. I mailed some other items. Then we were going to do Laundry - it never goes away! We had to get quarters and also an Oreo shake. We couldn't use the laundry at the Famcamp - because they had too high a level of chlorine in it. They had been by the RV earlier and told us not to drink, bathe or wash clothes in the water until they said all was OK. This meant we had to go downtown to do the laundry. We got to the laundromat and found out we forgot our hangers - so Steve went back and got them. When he got back - the laundry was going pretty good. We just had to finish drying the clothes. Finally - they all got dry and we hung them up or folded them and were on our way back to the RV. Just a little bit before we left the laundromat - the wind came up really strong. We found some downed branches on our way back to the RV. Also there must have been down power line because we got routed around a few blocks. Shortly after we got back to the RV - a guy came by and told us the water was OK to use. I think we just had an easy day, since we had a long sightseeing day Wednesday.