The Rockies Again

Saturday we traveled again to Ennis, MT. We left I90 at Bozeman, MT and took US 191 through Bozeman and picked up MT 84. This road is exiting to drive, especially in a motor home. It is hilly and windy and narrow. We made it alright and overnighted in Ennis.

While there we drove over to Virginia City, Mt and saw a city stuck in the 1800's. There are wooden side walks and the town looks as it might have during that time, except for the paved instead of dirt street.The buildings were old and if the cars weren't on the street, you could imagine you were 110 years in the past. We got there a little late in the day, so a lot of things were already closed for the day.

We moved onto Island Park, ID on Sunday after attending church in Ennis. Valley view park was like we remembered except there seem to be more rules than before. We are on the first row next to the highway and road noise is something of a problem.
The Internet air card is dial-up speed, so I will update this post with pictures when we have faster speed.

Monday we went down to see Mesa upper and lower falls, about 40 miles south of the CG. The falls are on Henry's Fork of the Snake River. This fork also forms Henry's lake, which is up by the campground. The sight was spectacular it was well worth the drive. The vistas are awe inspiring. There was an old lodge. built around 1910 and has been restored and maintained by the US Forest Service. It was built for guests to see and enjoy the falls.There were animal pelts of many of the native fauna of this area and hooves and legs of different animals. There was an aquarium with fish from river and set up as a natural habitat. A really nice hands on display.
When we were here 2 years ago there was a wildfire just outside the East gate of the park and the East gate area was a staging area for the firefighters. It was closed to traffic then, so the Rogers missed that area of the park.
Yesterday we went to see that part of the lower loop. It had changed so much since we had seen it back in the early 90's. That area had been burned badly in the '88 wild fire. The Lodge Pole Pine pine cones need fire for the cones to open end expel the seeds. The new trees are getting quite large after 21 years and the change is very noticeable.
So now the Rogers have seen the entire park that can be seen from the road.
The traffic through the park is quite heavy this time of year. This is the most visited National Park in this country.

Ted and Donna have decided to cut there time here short and are leaving here on Sunday. We are staying until the 10th of August as we are heading further west to meet the kids.
We have been with the Rogers for almost 2 months, and this has been such a wonderful trip. We have seen and done so much since this trip has begun, but all good things must come to an end.
This was the breakup point anyway, but we will miss them.

Ta ta for now

Little Big Horn Batlefield

Wednesday was a travel day as we headed further west. It was one of the longest driving days, something over 300 miles.
We got to Rapid City and the Rogers were going to Walmart to pick up some meds for Ted. He has developed a cold and wanted some relief. As they were exit ting, our coach started handling funny. I was sure we had a flat in the rear as I had to completely fill the outside left rear tire that morning. It turned out to be the left front tire and it was @ 40#. It is supposed to be @85#. I watched it drop another 10# in just a few moments but then it stopped leaking after we stopped in this restaurant's parking lot..

Brenda tried to get AAA to come to our rescue, but they seemed confused and were unable to help us with our problem.

We have had lots of trouble with these tires since we put them on 2 years ago. It has always been the valve stem that was leaking. This episode was no exception. I filled the tire with the compressor that we carry, checked several times to see if any air was lost then proceeded to Flying J to see if there was help available. Brenda was given directions to a tire shop that was totally inaccurate. While she was getting directions I added more air to the tire. It did not lose any more air.

Due to the poor directions to the tire shop, we did not find it. I checked the tire one more time without any loss of air, so we decided to proceed on towards the flying J in Gillette, WY.
There we met up with Ted & Donna as they had gone ahead and waited for us in Gillette.
I checked the tire again there in Gillette with no more loss of air, so we proceeded onto Garryowen, Mt.

We arrived in 7th Ranch Campground which is just south of the Little Big Horn Battlefield.
The park was nice, no shade as it was in the high 90's. We had had heat on that morning as it was 39 degrees in Custer, SD.
It was in a great location on the Crow Indian Reservation, but this is deeded land, and the Crow have no claim to it.

Thursday we drove over to The Custer Battlefield and took the driving tour. The campground lent us a CD that narrates the tour, tells you when to stop and point out areas of interest. It also tells the story leading up to and to the conclusion of the demise of George Custer and his regiment.

It seems that Col. Custer was not only arrogant, but was stupid as well. The archaeological evidence of the battle proves that Custer was not a victim of this debacle, but was the aggressor. He under estimated his enemy, not only in their numbers, but also their determination not to change their way of life.
The battle took less than 2 hours, not the 2 or 3 days that has been told to us for so many years.
This is such an interesting place to visit. We have learned so much about our history during this trip.

After we left the battleground, we went to the Big Horn County Museum. It is a cluster of buildings and exhibits spread over several acres. We had a picnic lunch under a large tree. It was hot in the sun but cool under that tree. (Very little humidity).
There is a railway station with track and a caboose. There is couple of cabins from the 1940's or 50's. complete with old fridge, bed, old time stove. There is a barn with old cars, 2 stage coaches, old tractors and all kinds of old farm equipment. a very interesting time and a great price, FREE.

Today was another travel day. We stopped in Billings, MT for a Walmart run. We are going to be away from any appreciable size grocery store for the next 15 or 16 days, so we needed to stock up.
I have not had a haircut since leaving Memphis on June 10th, so Brenda, Donna and I got haircuts. We all look and feel a lot better.

We are in Reed Point, MT tonight and will head for Ennis, MT in the morning. It is about 80 miles from Valley View RV park where we will spend the next 2 weeks. There is a Catholic church in Ennis and we can go to mass there tomorrow night. As much traveling as we have done, we don't feel that we can skip mass because of distance.


Ta ta for now