Marathon Road Trip 2024, States #8 & 9

                                    

Cutting across the northeastern corner of Wyoming, we entered Montana. After a long and boring 4-hour drive on State Highway 212 through Big Sky Country, we arrive at the KOA campground on The Yellowstone River in Billings. This is our second stay in the country’s first KOA, est.1962.

As we approached Billings we saw, smelled and breathed smoke from the wildfires.

We later learned there were currently over 60 fires in Montana.

We had a delightful visit with Captain’s cousin Chuck and wife, Terri.

We were pleased their daughter, Lindsey stopped by to see us. (Was it us or maybe she heard her mom had baked a delicious huckleberry pie.)

Chuck took Captain on a Sunday afternoon drive to Pompey’s Pillar, the only remaining on-site physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. There he found an authentic signature of William Clark.

 

Look closely and you, too, may see it.

 

 

A change of travel plans gave us an opportunity to revisit Yellowstone National Park. 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

As many of you have no doubt visited this huge, popular national park, we will spare you and share only a few of our favorite photos.

 

Mammoth Hot Springs

Mammoth Hot Springs

Fortunately the air cleared while we were in the park and the weather was perfect for exploring.

 

After a roughly 2-mile walk, with a 300 ft. elevation gain at 6735 ft. altitude, we passed an unofficial cardiac stress test.

 

Visibility was clear as we left the park on Tuesday morning. However when we reached I-90, we found ourselves in a wind tunnel with wind speed around 50 miles an hour. Fortunately we were through it in a short period of time.

 

The air remained clear and we enjoyed the scenic drive for a couple of hours. 

And then. once again, we started to see and smell smoke. The closer we got to Missoula, the thicker the smoke.

 

Our home for the night was in the parking lot of Big Sky Brewery in Missoula. Our neighbors were a fun couple, Doug and Lisa, from British Columbia, Canada. After sharing a couple of beers and quite a few stories, we retired to our rigs and fell asleep to the most welcomed sound of rain.

After an intense day of driving on Thursday,

we finally reached our home for the night in Couer ‘d Alene, Idaho. By pure coincidence, our new friends, Doug and Lisa, had also reserved a site in the campground at the Kootenai County Fairground. Another fun evening with stories continued as did our discussion about the differences between our two countries. Exchanging contact information, we hope to see them again, maybe in Kentucky or perhaps British Columbia. These interactions are what make our travels and our lives rich.

 

Anticipating tasting some very good wine, we move on down the road.

Marathon Roadtrip 2024, State #7

Leaving the state of South Dakota, we found ourselves in Wyoming. Our home for two nights was  Belle Fourche River Campground.

You can see we are near the Devils Tower National Monument. And that is why we are here. You may remember it from the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The 2-mile hike (can it be called a hike if it is paved and has benches for breaks?)

provided lots of information about the rock formation and Native American Spiritual practices.

Located near our campground was the Circle Wind Sculpture.

 Like the other tourists, (of which there were many) we were fascinated with the climbers.

The campground is ‘first come, first served.’ Knowing this, the planner (aka Captain) had us arriving shortly after the check-in time. When we checked in there were only about 1/2 dozen rigs, by sundown the 45 sites were full. Good planning, Captain! Although the  campground was full it was remarkably quiet, and due do to the lack of electricity, very dark. Yes, we slept very well.

Our evening entertainment consisted of walking around the campground conversing with other travelers and looking at the various configurations of camping styles and rigs.

                     

Although we didn’t have an opportunity to meet the occupants of these RVs, our camp hosts said they were from Europe and Australia. He explained Europeans and Australians often ship their rigs to the continent, usually starting in Canada or Alaska and traveling 5-6 months throughout the states, Mexico and beyond. These appeared to be young families traveling together.

If we became bored, we could drive up the road a bit and watch the prairie dogs.

With four straight nights of boondocking we were pleased to have an abundance of sun to power our solar panels, providing electricity for lights, refrigeration and other modern necessities. 

We are now headed to a campground with full hook-ups!

Marathon Roadtrip 2024, State #6

For us, South Dakota was a state we had to drive through to get to our destination. However,  I-90 from Sioux Falls to Rapid City did not lack for tempting road side attractions. A Corn Palace, an  original 1880 Pioneer Town, Sioux Museum and Culture Center, a tractor museum, a Safari Reptile Museum, a Dinosaur Park, a sculpture park and, of course, Wall Drug Store to name a few. 

With the exception of a tiny church on the Prairie,

      

Located near a rest area on I-90, the church conducts

services on Sunday Morning.

we opted to stop at a couple that allowed us to park overnight.

Our Harvest Host on Tuesday night was Porter Sculpture Park, just off I-90 and about a mile down a gravel road near Montrose. 

There were over 60 sculptures, as well as poetry distributed throughout the rustic park. Here are a few of our favorites.

    

     

Note Captain, is in the photo

More interesting than the attractions are the people we meet. Sculptor Wayne Porter was a welder by trade and for several years a sheep farmer. He has a degree in political science and history, but never took an art class. As his art around the welding shop drew cars and buses from the highway, he decided to focus his welding on what he loved. He bought farmland near I-90 and moved his sculptures. The park is surrounded by cows. 

Meet Inspector 122. He refuses to stay fenced in, but grazes along the fence.

He told us this was a lot better than sheep farming.

After a peaceful night we woke to a beautiful sunrise.

Spending the morning relaxing, we then moved on down the road.

Our host for Wednesday night was the famous Wall Drug Store. We didn’t know what to expect but were surprised to find it a large, city block size souvenir shop with a restaurant. 

We did not buy the 5-cent coffee but did take advantage of the free overnight parking.

As we continue westward we are looking forward to calmer winds.