Billings, MT by default

Monday, July 16th

Started the day at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.  Very well done and with 2 movies and 1 talk and views of the Missouri River out the window.  The center focused on their experience in what is now Great Falls, MT due to the 5 falls they had to portage around.  

Showing the grade the men
had to get their heavy boats
up to portage around the falls

I never cease to be amazed at this Corp of Discovery and what they endured and what courage they had.  They were for the most part only in their early 30s - maybe that's why they had so much gumption. 

I had intended going to the C.M. Russell museum but the speaker at the Interpretive Center started out by asking how many were planning on going there today and I raised my hand and he said "sorry, they're closed on Monday:)"  He showed some slides of his work that he did of the Lewis & Clark expedition so that'll have to do for now I guess.

So left town by route:

Which follows the railroad tracks instead of a river.  As I drove along, following the tracks, I noticed several of the old kind of grain elevators that they use to use to load grain right into the railway cars - in the good ole days (way before my time!! but I've heard tell. . .).

And once again in the wide open, flat landscape with no trees, lots of telephone poles and they're very noticeable because everything else is so flat.  The only time you see trees is when there's a house and there aren't too many of those either.  Wonder if the house came first and the owners planted the trees for a wind-break or if the trees came first because there was water there and so that's where the house was built figuring they'd be more likely to get water when a well was dug (because, believe me, there's no city water in most of MT I'm guessing).

Someone had a sense of humor at a rest stop:

Wonder if they thought it was like running the water when you're trying to get a toddler to learn to use the potty.

Saw several signs for Access to National Forest - really - I can't see any trees all the way to the horizon.  Does the National Forest control land that isn't a forest?

Pictures will show the vastness of MT but it's not boring since the landscape changes from flat and barren to golden wheat fields to green wheat fields to rolling cattle-grazing acres and acres, to rocky out-croppings, to scattered ranches and miles and miles of blue skies, white clouds and the highway straight ahead of you for as far as you can see and the speed limit of 70 mph.  I love seeing the small round bales of hay just left where they fell in the field like sentinels guarding their crops.

It was quite warm all day but started pouring rain, thunder and lightening about 1/2 hr. after I pulled into my campground in Billings, MT.  

What does this look like to you?

An alligator to greet me at the

campground?

This is what my back view is - can't
see but the Yellowstone River
is just below those bluffs

As I mentioned yesterday, very few campgrounds in the catalog and I realized about 3 o'clock that if I didn't want to spend the night under the stars, I needed to alter my route and head straight south to Billings.  I fear I wouldn't have found a campground until tomorrow noon had I continued my country-side tour.  So, I don't know about MT?  And everyone says it takes a week to cross TX.  I think you could say almost the same about MT.

So, for the end of the story - I made my grilled veggie & couscous dinner tonight and here's the results (I know you were dying to see)

Grilled - even can see grill marks

(can you tell I'm impressed)

In the pan ready for grilling

in the microwave

On the plate with the couscous

Just look at all those yummy veggies

Dessert - raspberries and a slice of
Panettone from Jeff & Katie

DATA:

mileage:  244                                gas: $64  @ $3.33                      Interpretive Center:  $0 (senior!)

campground:  $48

Two counties that I wonder about:  Petroleum County & I didn't see a single oil rig

                                                         Mussel Shell County and I haven't seen any water since I left the 

                                                                      Missouri River back in Great Falls.  

I Don't Know About MT

Post for Sunday, July 15th

Two nights in Great Falls, MT.

Two nights with storms.

Two nights without power.

Two nights without refrigeration. . .  because now my propane won't work:(  What next!!

So, the first night (Sat) the storm hit about midnight but I didn't know the power had gone out until 1:30 when I awoke to click, click, click - the refrigerator looking for gas but I wasn't going to go out at that time and turn the propane on so shut refrigerator off.   Power came back on about 4:30.

Yesterday (Sunday) I decided to stay put, clean inside Rhoda, pay bills, look at maps, get reorganized again.  At about 3 sky got dark, wind came up and I scurried to get rugs, computer, paperwork, chair, snacks, etc.  put back inside just in time for huge drops and then pounding rain, thunder to start.  And the power went out and again.   In a couple of hours, click, click, click.  This time I went out (rain had stopped) and turned propane on but nothing happened when I tried to light stove and therefore gas wasn't flowing.  So stuff got warm in refrigerator as power didn't come back on until about 2:30 a.m.

So, now I'm without running water, no propane and generator only runs for 1/2 hr.  BUT, I can use the toilet and I'm guaranteed a bed.  I'm good when I can plug in but heading out to the hinterland today so I don't know what I'll find.  For a state as large as MT, the campground section in the Woodalls book is very small.

This KOA campground has a small garden that I was told anyone can pick from so before the rain yesterday I went in search of it and this is what I found:

Baby onions, radishes, baby zucchini and about 1 C raspberries

 I was going to fix a fancy dinner in my new microwave grilling dish (which really does grill) of grilled veggies (adding carrots and baby bok choy which I already had) on couscous BUT no power so I had a tuna fish sandwich.

New Micro Hearth Grilling Pan

Oh well, maybe tonight.  One can always hope.

Off to Lewis & Clark interpretive center and C.M. Russell (cowboy artist) museum and maybe a buffalo jump place if I can find it then heading east to Lewistown where there's suppose to be a community of Hutterites (?) and lots of fresh produce and crafts.  One can always hope.

DATA:

None

Eastern Glacier in the Rain

Saturday, July 14th

I awoke to pitter patters on the roof so knew my day's plans were about to change.

No hike before I headed to the east side of Glacier NP.

Did eat breakfast at the campground:  waffle with real raspberry sauce.

Rain wasn't hard but low clouds so you couldn't see the tops of the mountains or else you could see the tops but not the mid section but it was ok, it made you focus on the immediate.

Stopped at Goat Lick Overlook and sure enough there were mountain goats on the other side of the gorge (seen through binoculars) licking the rock wall (there's salt in them thar hills).  Fun little break in the cool mist.

Stopped at Marias Pass (discovered for the railroad, on Patrick's birthday a few years earlier - in 1889) in the Lewis and Clark National Forest which is on the continental divide.

The obelisk at Marias Pass is to T. Roosevelt for
his dedication to preserving the
National Forests & sits on the
Continental Divide

Then on to East Glacier.  I went inside the Glacier Park Lodge (built by the railroad to aid in the westward expansion) which had a marvelous lobby and front garden.

Inside the Glacier Park Lodge

Garden in front of Glacier Park Lodge

Two Medicine Lake

I went on to a very pretty Two Medicine Lake.  The rain stopped just about this time so I could walk the lake shore a bit and took these pictures.  The water is so clear and smooth - thus the great reflection.

Look how clear the water is
at Two Medicine Lake

Reflection at Two Medicine Lake

Had planned to stop at the Blackfeet Pow Wow outside the park but by the time I got back on the road, it was again raining pretty hard so drove on with Great Falls, MT as my destination.  

Almost as soon as you leave Glacier, the land flattens out and you're in prairie.  It's like those colliding plates that formed the Rockies got tired of pushing against each other and just stopped.

"After" Glacier in MT

Lots of grain, checker board fields, rolling hills, bumps and humps.  Pretty country side with few trees so you can see to the horizon.

(Town of Cut Bank - on Rt. 2 east of the park - neat murals and enlarged old photos on the sides of their buildings)

Staying in a KOA in Great Falls with 1000 kids, splash pools, family parties with all the cousins, bunnies and raspberries everywhere.  Rain had stopped by the time I got here and was actually quite warm.

DATA:

Gas:  $53  @ $3.40                   camp (for 2 nights)  $106

Trees to Traffic

Monday, June 25th

     I left Jane and McKenzie Bridge this morning and drove through the lush Cascades on my way back to civilization. 

 Said good-bye to the Three Sisters with their snow-capped peaks and their lava-feet thinking about what lay beneath all that seemingly inert material - hot, bubbly lava?  waiting for the next time???  Gives pause to think of all the natural, potential disasters no matter what part of the country/world we live in - hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods.  

Snow-covered Mt. Jefferson

     The McKenzie River followed me all the way to about Detroit - Detroit, OR where I found the Willamette Lake which I'm guessing was the damed up river and so it must be where the McKenzie flows into the Willamette.  Beautiful, large lake with beautiful homes around it, camping, a marina and still that gorgeous blue/aqua water and tall every green trees en masse.

I tried to move these pictures

next to each other to make 1

but couldn't figure it out??

    

 I love the road sign that's posted just before a little town - "Congestion".  That says a lot doesn't it and you know you should slow down and look around.

    Also of note are the numerous opportunities for coffee or espresso - every little town, every country road, every cross road, every market has a little kiosk or sign on the building for coffee or usually it says espresso and even one such kiosk said "Pony Expresso".  You know you're in coffee country now - unlike OK or TX.

     Today the roadside colors were bright golden yellow with a small bush, purple low-growing flowers, the white daisies, and lighter purply-pink foxgloves.

     As I got closer to Salem and the trees got left behind there were acres and acres of - NOT grapevines but baby pines or larger orchard trees in a funny shape - branches almost to the ground, pyramidal in shape but with the tops cut square and a decent size dark purply-red fruit being picked - maybe plums??

     Fireworks must be legal in both OR and WA as every large parking lot of shopping centers, Wal-Marts, Lowes, etc. had huge tents set up with all kinds of signs and flags flying advertising Fire Works for sale.

     I learned something new today - well probably I knew it at some time but hadn't had use for the knowledge so it got buried - the capital of OR is not Portland, it's Salem and do you know the capital of WA??  I now do.

     Another questions - even though no one ever answers my questions - what's the 45th parallel 1/2 way between?  It was on a road sign but I didn't see it in time to finish reading it and I've been wondering what was so notable about it.

     Wouldn't you like to sleep at a SnoozInn?

     In the state of WA, I-5 is called the Lewis and Clark Trail.  I'm loving the names of all the highways I travel as well as the names of other things, in case you hadn't noticed.  Like Toledo, WA.  Do you think that by the time the pioneers got out west they were getting really homesick so named their new home after their old ones?

     Another name that caught my attention - Going St.  Do you think there's a Coming St.?

    In case you're wondering - yes, it has rained today but only briefly.  Basically it was rather nice - bright even though heavily clouded with white thick clouds but still a little on the cool side - probably didn't hit much above 68-70.

     So, most of the day I've traveled in traffic after leaving the beautiful pine-cover Cascade area - a rude comeuppance but I made it all the way to Tacoma - only about 10 mins. from the airport so I'll hang out here tomorrow and pack for my week in Seattle and Vancouver with my family.  I've made my first list of things to do since I've left home so I'll be busy crossing things off - never fear - I won't be bored.

DATA:

Now I've been corner to corner - almost

mileage:  323                          gas:  $71  @ $3.56                  camp:  $115  (for 2 nights)