Summertime, Summertime, Sum, Sum, Summertime!

We are mid-way through June. The weather in West Yellowstone, MT has been rainy but the skies appear to be clearing and we are seeing much more sun and absolutely gorgeous Montana Blue Skies.

We left Florida at the end of March, and worked selling ads for guest guides for Chester State Park located in Chester, SC –   and Oconee State Park located in Mountain Rest, SC  and a private park, Crooked Creek, located on Lake Keowee. http://www.crookedcreekrvpark.org/ – we were in SC for most of April.  We did go to Brevard, NC for a week to visit friends and help out at our Rotary Club’s annual Assault on the Carolinas Cycling Event – http://www.assaultonthecarolinas.com/. Lots of money was raised for local and some international projects. Check out the website – if you are a cyclist, get registered as soon as you can because it will be sold out early.

We had a wonderful time visiting our friends. We chatted with Woody Platt of the Steep Canyon Rangers http://www.steepcanyon.com/, at Quotations Coffee House in Brevard during our visit. Tom sold Woody and the Steep Canyon Rangers their very first touring van. Woody and the boys are mostly from NC having met while in college at Chapel Hill. Check out their website – they are really awesome and it is very nice that Woody took the time to visit with us and asked about my cousin Joni who became friends with him while she lived with us while going to Brevard College.

After our stay in SC selling those darn ads, we headed westward.  I had never visited to St. Louis, MO and was very anxious to go to the top of the Arch.  We stayed over night  in an RV park right downtown.  In the morning took the trolley over to the Arch.  Boy is it big!  We were very early so the wait was very short.  We got into that itsy, bitsy, teeny, weey  cramped, elevator car for the very interesting ride to the top.   It was worth the ride.  The views were spectacular.  They sky was a very pretty blue and clear.  We got back to the RV Park and took off.  We did comment that we would like to come back and spend a few days sight seeing – lots of historical sites we want to visit.

We had planned on going up to Superior to visit Todd and Thad but we were experiencing problems with Black Beauty and decided to just head to South Dakota and get some major work done. We were getting poor gas mileage and were loosing power – not a good thing – We found out we needed to have all 8 fuel injectors replaced – we decided to get 4 of them replaced with the plan to have the balance replaced once we got to Montana.

Our friends Dan and Jonell Anderson (friends from Amazon.com) were headed out to West Yellowstone to work with us this summer.  We met up in Rapid City, SD at a neat KOA.   Due to the fact we  had to have work done on Black Beauty it was great they had a vehicle we could use.  We went out to dinner in Rapid City at and had a very nice dinner and absolutely the best beer Jonell and I have ever had.  Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.  Golly Jeepers, awesome beer.

Dan and Jonell worked at Crazy Horse last summer and invited us to dine with them in Custer with some of the friends they met while working there.  Custer is a little over 40 miles from Rapid City.   As we were driving, we all noticed a strange sound coming from “someplace” near the engine.  Nothing to worry about.  We arrived in Custer, had a very nice dinner.  After dinner we headed back to Rapid City and their truck was making a lot more noise and we were smelling a exhaust.  Of, course, to top it off, it was raining!   We were all happy to get back to Rapid City with out breaking down.  Dan took the truck into the Ford Dealer the next day and it was a somewhat simple fix but they did not have the part and had to stay several extra days until the park came in.  We headed out and left them to a very nice snow storm!

We left the next morning and arrived in Sheridan, WY late in the afternoon.  We had dinner at the … then back to 3M for a good nights rest.  (oh, I did get my nails done too).

Bozeman is only away.  We planned on staying overnight in Bozeman after grocery shopping but decided to head straight to West Yellowstone.   We got somewhat situated in the same spot as last year and took a walk a block into town.  We were really feeling right at home.

Season End – Moving On

Just finished our 5^th season at The Homeroom at Madison Crossing in West Yellowstone, MT. http://www.yellowstoneshop.com/.   Saying good bye is always hard but iutys t is doubly hard because we are treated like family. During or final week, many of our customers and friends stopped by to give us a hug and say good bye.

We packed up and started to close in the slides on the morning of October 8^th and ran into a problem.  One of our bedroom slides decided to take a powder and would not close.  Tom called on our friend, Kenny and asked him if he could come over and help us.  He came right over.  Kenny is a man handy fellow to call a friend.   It was decided that the slide would have to be pushed in.  So that’s what we did.  The slide will have to remain in until we can get to an rv repair shop.

We got off about 1:15.  Our destination, Columbus, MT, where we stayed at the Itch Kep Pe City Park on the Yellowstone River.   http://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/recreation-area-campground/itch-kep-pe-park.html.   This is a great location.  The sites are large and most of the sites have a fire ring.  There is also a pile of wood available.  No hook up facilities but there is a bath house.  (If you are looking for free or almost free camping sites in your travels, check out http://freecampsites.net/.  Very helpful and we have used it and found it some neat places to stay off the beaten path.  Give it a try.)

Tom and Finn went fishing but Finn was more interested in playing ball and running and splashing in the river — that’s probably why no fish were caught but we had a swell time watching Finn cavort and be happy.  The sunset was pretty too.

Over the last 5 years, during our trips to and from Montana, we have passed the exit for Pompeys Pillar and remarked “wonder what it is” but never stopped.  So, we took the exit this time.  If you get the chance, stop and visit this National Monument.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeys_Pillar_National_Monument .   The park is small but well maintained and they have a lovely Visitor Center.  It was closed when we arrived but we talked to the manager of the Park and he was very informative.  There are short hiking trails and it is pet friendly.

Pompeys Pillar

At some point in the journey of Lewis and Clark, they separated  planning to rendezvous later up river.  Clark noted the Monument and decided to investigate.  He discovered many Indian symbols etched into the rock.  He then carved his name and the date he and his men stopped on their travels. He named it Pompys Tower after the son of Sacagawea.  The Monument is right on the banks of the Yellowstone River so it is easy to see how it peaked William Clark’s curiosity.

I knew we were going to Theodore Roosevelt National Park but Tom had a surprise in store for me before we got there.  He said I would say, “what the heck” or “wow”.  I was “Wowed”.    Terry MT is about 100 miles from TRNP and is three miles from the Terry Badlands Wilderness Study Area.   http://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/b-l-m-recreation-area/terry-badlands-wilderness-study-area.html.   We stayed at the Small Towne RV Park.   After getting set up, Mel, the owner of the RV Park was chock full of information and gave  us directions to Cherry Creek where he said we would find Montana Agate in the river bed.  We headed out to hunt for Montanan Agate.  We had absolutely no idea what an agate looked like nor wht a Montata Agate looked like.  We picked up lots of pretty stones and rocks hoping one or two were the real McCoy.  We would not know until the morning if any of our cache contained Montana Agate.

Mel also told us the best spot to see the sunset – a place called Scenic View located in the Montana Badlands Wildlife Study Area.    The drive to Scenic View is not for the faint of heart and should not be done on a full stomach.  It is a one lane dirt and rutted “road” shared with free range cows.  It was a beautiful ride and many of the formations were various shades of pink.  When we got the “Scenic View” it was almost sunset.  Boy was it pretty.  We took a lot of pictures.  Remember to look out the back window – some of the best pictures are not in front of you.

On our way through town, we passed the Roy Rogers Tavern which was  beckoning us to stop in for a beer after our wild ride – so we had a beer and then went home to 3M for dinner.

You will remember upon returning home from our Montana Agate hunt we did not know if we were successful.  Well, we dumped our haul on the picnic table to be sorted through by Mrs. Mel.  She identified quite a few of our cache as being Montana Agate – Hurrah!  We also found some green jasper, petrified wood and sugar quartz.  We can’t wait to get to Superior, WI, because Todd, Tom’s son, offered  to polish them in his tumbler.

Next stop on our adventure —   Medora, ND.  Theodore Roosevelt National Park located in Medora, ND  http://www.nps.gov/thro/index.htm.  Medorahttp://www.medorand.com/. Several years ago, we took a family trip with the kids to the Bad Lands, Custer, Crazy Horse and Theodore Roosevelt NP so we knew what to expect.  It is really lovely but I do have to say there are not many places to pull over to take pictures. We did stop at several of turnouts and took pictures.  The vistas are amazing.    Saw a couple of bison and a bit further on, got held up in a bison jam. Stopped to look and take pictures of a prairie dog “town” and saw 4-5 deer on the hillside and a coyote who was eying a large marmot.  The marmot scampered off but the coyote must have thought he would still have a chance so he hunkered down when all of a sudden the deer came running at him and chased him away.  Quite interesting.   We stayed in the park to take sunset pictures but it was a cloudless evening so we didn’t get great ones.  It got dark pretty quickly and on our way out, a deer darted in front of us – thank goodness Tom has good reflects.   We got back to 3M and had a delicious steak dinner.

Tom fell while attempting to climb out of the Madison River when fishing about 4 weeks ago.  The bank he was attempting to climb gave way and he lurched forward jamming his right hand into the ground to stop his fall.  Of course, it swelled up and hurt but being the “typical” male,  decided to just live with it despite the fact it remained swollen and hurt.  He decided to have it looked at when we got to Rapid City so on Monday, Tom visited the Black Hills Orthopedic Center on Monday and learned he has several hairline fractures in his hand and is now sporting a splint that he has to wear for about 4 weeks.

My follow up visit to the surgeon who did my skin cancer removal in August was fine.  Dr. Wittenberg (who is cute as a button) gave me a clean bill of health.  He’s very happy, as am, I with the incision and the resulting scar.  Said he may want to do a little laser work on it in the spring but still looking good.

If anyone who reads this blog is in need of medical care in the Rapid City area, Rapid City Medical Center and Black Hills Orthopedic Center will treat you like gold.

We are now headed to Superior, WI to see the boys for about a week.  Despite the fact that we (Tom) had to drive in very windy conditions for two days (wind gusts of 40-60 mps), we got to see some beautiful country.   It it so hard to describe how simply beautiful the rolling hills are,  how many shades of blue the sky can be, the pictures made by the clouds, colors of the leaves on the trees.  The vibrant reds of sunset and sunrise.  We are so blessed to have the freedom to live the way we do.

We  hope you enjoy this blog.  More to Come

Thought for the day:  When you speak, put a smile on your face–