Cut Bank, MT

Yesterday we decided to head a bit further north and drove 130 miles to Cut Bank, MT.  We are staying at the Riverview RV Park.  It's a first-rate park, free Wi-Fi, cable with over 60 channels, freshly painted picnic tables, access to the Cut Bank River and blue ribbon views.  The park is very well maintained place owned by a man named Mike who is originally from Traverse City, MI.

On our way here, we stopped at a rest area where once again we were reminded that we are in the wild, wild, west.

The next time you use the expression "whoop it up" you'll know where it came from!

The view at the RV park is amazing!

Around 6:30 we decided to try fly fishing again.  To get down to the Cut Bank Creek, you take a path that was once old U.S. 2.  Very easy going down and not too hard going back up.

We got skunked once again, but we sure had fun trying.  And besides, the view is so beautiful.

When we got back to the RV, someone had pulled in beside us.  They are towing a car and did not take it off so we hope that they are not staying.  It was nice having an empty space between us and the people next to us.  We had a great view then and hope to have it back after these folks leave.

This will be the first time this trip that we have stayed more than one night in a place.  We have so many things on our list to see while we are out here, the miles are many between places and there's always that pressure to move on.  But today, we will sit, enjoy the scenery, the warm sunshine, read a bit and of course enjoy the ever present cup of coffee.

Fly Fishing Montana

On Sunday, we drove from Spearfish, SD to Hardin, MT taking U.S. Highways instead of driving boring old Interstate 90.  We did 237 miles.  The day was sunny and cool.  It was a good decision to travel the back roads.  We saw a lot of small towns and stopped at the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument.  AKA Custer's Last Stand.

Basically, the U.S. government had finally signed a treaty with the Native Americans and part of the reservation land was the Black Hills of SD.  Some of the bands of the tribes had refused to go to the reservation.  Then gold was discovered in the Black Hills and the white man kept illegally entering the reservation.  The tribes even went to Washington, D.C. to persuade President Grant to honor the treaty and keep out the miners and settlers.  The government offered to modify the treaty by way of buying the land and resettling the Native Americans in Oklahoma.  This was not acceptable to the Sioux, Lakota and Cheyenne because Oklahoma was not their homeland.  Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were 2 famous warriors who continued to fight for their land and refused to go to the reservations.  In time, around 7,000 Native Americans joined them in a camp at the Little Bighorn.

The government told the Native Americans to return to the reservation by January 31 or face military action.  Of course it was winter and the tribes decided to stay put and return in the spring.  Not being good enough for the government, they attacked the tribes with about 270 soldiers suffering a defeat with all the soldiers killed.  It was a major victory for the Native Americans.  Custer had been arrogant, did not understand the pride of the great warriors and way underestimated their abilities.

When we left Hardin, Doug decided that what he really wanted to do was to fish so instead of heading to Glacier National Park,  we drove to Belt, MT.  It was sunny all day.  The morning started out very cool, but it warmed up to around 80.  We drove 254 miles, again using mostly U.S. Highways instead of the Interstate.  We even traveled part of U.S. 12 which goes through our hometown in Michigan.

We are at the Ft. Ponderosa RV Park right on the Belt Creek.  Very small park, free Wi-Fi, but no cable.  We can't even pick up a signal off of our antenna.  There's only one other campsite occupied so the space is fantastic.  We tried our hand at fly fishing and had some bites, but didn't catch any fish.

The RV park even has 2 Texaco gas pumps!  What a bonus for a Texaco collector, like my husband.

It's another cool morning here and I turned on the furnace.  We haven't decided yet if we will stay another night here or continue north.  It's only 8:30 and Doug and the dogs are still sleeping.   Staying here another night would be just fine with me.  I could read all day, listen to music and walk the dogs.  The coffee pot is empty so I guess it's time to fix a pot.

The Badlands and the Black Hills

Last night, we had a storm blow through.  I had the window open on my side of the bed and the wind was so strong it woke me up.  I tried to wake up my captain, but he rolled over and kept on snoozing.  Thunder, lightning, high winds and then the hail.  It was a fast moving storm and only a lot of leaves and small limbs came down.

This morning we headed out early and drove the loop through the Badlands.  Beautiful scenery.

After leaving the Badlands, we drove to Mt. Rushmore.  We were glad to get a parking spot.  Being Saturday and Labor Day weekend, we figured we might not get a spot.  Our third time there but it never fails to amaze me.  It's such a beautiful carving.

We then drove through Custer State Park and saw a lot of wildlife including buffalo, deer and prairie dogs.

South of Custer State Park is Wind Cave National Park.  We had never been there.  We took the tour and it was very interesting.  The only other cave I have been in is Mammoth Cave.  The Wind Cave has the world's largest display of a rare formation called boxwork.

We drove north to Deadwood.  Wild Bill Hickcok was killed there in 1876 and is buried there next to Calamity Jane.  We had planned on camping at Deadwood, but the town was loaded with people and we headed north to Spearfish.  We're at a KOA on a very large site with free Wi-Fi and cable.  Tomorrow we head to Montana.

We only drove 253 miles today but it sure seemed longer because we were on the road all day.  We have really got to find a spot to stay for a few days so that we can just sit.  The dogs are already quiet, I'm hungry and have drank far too much coffee today.

And the Adventures Begin

We left home on Wednesday morning at 7:00.  It was cloudy and rainy all day.  We drove 288 miles, 6 - 1/2 hours.  We went to the Straits State Park, just over the Mackinac Bridge at St. Ignace.  No Wi-Fi-, no cable, but we did get quite a few stations off the antenna.  We had a nice spot near the water.

Doug made a pot of coffee, we had a cup and I called for the casino shuttle.  I managed to make a small donation.  When I got back, Doug had a campfire going, so we sat outside with the dogs.

Mr. Jesse

Me with Jackie (after she got into BIG trouble for barking at a man walking down the road...see the shame on her face?)

Thursday was mostly sunny and 65.  We drove on Highway 2 all the way to Wisconsin, where we picked up U.S. 8 and drove all the way across the state of Wisconsin.  445 miles - 10 hours.  We stayed just over the border in Minnesota at Taylor's Falls.  No Wi-Fi and no cable, but Doug washed the motor home to get all the bugs off of it.


We left this morning around 7:00 and drove 586 miles - 11 hours.  This is a longer day than we like, but it got us all the way to the Badlands, SD.  On the way, we stopped at IBEW Local 292 in Minneapolis so that Doug could buy a shirt.  Later in the day, we stopped at "The World's Only Corn Palace" in Mitchell, SD.  I always wanted to see it, but it was kind of a bust.  The original Corn Palace, called "The Corn Belt Exposition" was established in 1892. Early settlers displayed the fruits of their harvest on the building exterior in order to prove the fertility of South Dakota soil.  The third and present building was completed for its first festival at the present location in 1921.  While we didn't go inside, Doug did stop so I could take this photo.

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About 20 miles before our exit, we stopped at a rest area and see this guy setting up his satellite dish there.  He was also running his generator.

We had a good laugh about this wondering what was so important that you would go to all that trouble to set it up at a rest area.  Was he planning on spending the night?  Is he obsessive/compulsive and has to watch the ABC Evening News every night?  As we we left, Doug said "Maybe he knows something we don't.  Maybe we should turn on the radio."  I thought about it for a bit and decided that if something tragic had happened, I didn't want to know about it just yet.  Of course, that wasn't the case.  Guess the guy just has OCD.

We are at a KOA in the heart of the Badlands.  Free Wi-Fi and about 15 cable stations.  Tomorrow we will drive through the Badlands and make our way to the Black Hills of SD.  For now, I'm ready for a fresh cup of coffee.

Hitting the Road Again!

We're getting ready to hit the road again.  We're outa here on Wednesday for a 6,746 mile (or so the AAA Trip-Tik says) trip out west.  Fly fishing, mountain gazing, slot pulling, reading, relaxing, buffalo spotting, bird watching, dog walking and coffee drinking.  The MH is in the driveway and mostly packed.  I had a haircut last Friday, the dogs got groomed today and Doug gets his haircut tomorrow.  Nothing better than fresh haircuts all around to start a trip.

Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana, Alberta, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and back to Michigan.  Probably will end up well over 7,000 miles.  4-1/2 weeks of glorious road riding and tourist stops.  Feels like Christmas!

Pirolli Park - Petersburg, MI

We decided to have a weekend get away before the camping season starts and the RV parks fill up with people, so we headed about 30 miles south to the Perolli RV Park at Petersburg.  We stayed here the last weekend of July last year.  We had just taken delivery of our motor home and needed a weekend close to home to learn all of the in's and out's of the equipment.  Dog friendly and free Wi-Fi.  No cable, but the antenna picks up about 20 Toledo stations.

There's a nice size pond where you can swim in the summer.

There's hardly anyone here, including the seasonal folks.  It's nice and quiet!

We got here around 2:00 yesterday, got set up and relaxed.  It rained a good part of the late afternoon and night.  Today we drove north to Cabela's.  Doug wants to learn to fly-fish so that when we head out west this September, he can wet a line in a trout stream in Wyoming.  We bought an instructional DVD and we both signed up for a free lesson this Thursday!  I can't see myself standing in a stream, but I can see myself watching Doug in the stream while I fish from the bank.

We took the dogs on a walk and sat in the Edith Anne chair.

No camping trip would be complete without a campfire and the Texaco TV trays.

We just finished a great dinner of steak, potato salad and Carolina cole slaw.  Now for a fresh cup of coffee and my book.

It Ain't Over Until the Fat Lady Sings

We left Florida on Wednesday morning.  It was 74 degrees at 8:00 a.m.  By the time we got off the road, it was 42 degrees.  We headed north and decided to see if we could make it to the Georgia/Tennessee border.  I found an RV park in the Woodall's directory that was at the first exit in Tennessee.

With 8 miles to our destination, the traffic on I-75 came to a stop.  I turned on the CB to listen to the truckers to see if we could find out what was going on.  Turns out that a truck with an over-sized load had rolled-over on 24 and it was backing up traffic on 75.  It took us an hour to go those last 8 miles.  Snail's pace.  But we made it safe and sound and got a site for the night.

We took off Thursday morning at 7:15 and continued heading north.  In the middle of Tennessee, we were in rock slide zone with snow, rain, limited visibility, rough road conditions and somewhat steep grades.  Who could ask for anything more?

We had some slow going at a couple of construction areas and one accident.  11 hours on the road on Wednesday and 12 hours on Thursday.  I thought I would go to the office on Friday to at least review my messages and organize things for Monday, but I was so burnt out that I didn't go in.  It will all wait until Monday.   As for now, the fire is burning in the fireplace and the coffee just finished brewing.

As for the fat lady...