Montana - Homeward Bound

July 26 was a beautiful evening in Sheridan, Wyoming. We joined a couple of our campground neighbors for some friendly small talk while enjoying the cool evening air and watching the movements of black clouds and lightning in the eastern sky. For the first time in weeks, Bonnie was able to sit outside without being attacked by the biting insects that seemed to be following her everywhere.

The next day was cool and overcast as we headed north from Sheridan. A light shower greeted us as we entered Montana, passed the Little Bighorn battlefield where Custer had his “last stand”, and continued toward Billings.

We were enjoying the ride when Ron noticed an unusual “Auto Brake” message on the dash. Having never seen that one before, we consulted our manual. It advised having the automatic parking brake serviced. We checked with two RV service facilities in Billings but both were booked solid and couldn’t squeeze us in. The dash light stayed on but, since there seemed to be no serious problem, we continued on to Reed Point where we had campground reservations.

Bonnie got us checked into the campground and Ron began to move the RV toward our assigned site. That’s when the parking brake locked. We were like a boat on a reef and could go no farther. Bonnie noticed a trail of fluid behind us and we immediately concluded that it was not a good sign! Bonnie called our Good Sam Emergency Road Service and they sent a mobile service guy to check it out. Rick (service guy) and Ron crawled around under the RV for a while before coming up with the incorrect diagnosis of a blown brake booster and parking brake switch. Whatever the problem, Rick couldn’t fix it. He recommended having the RV towed back to Billings for repairs. We had no options. We were stuck in the middle of one of the RV park’s two driveways. Fortunately, the owners were true Montanans . . . very patient, understanding and helpful. They loaned us an extension cord so we’d have electricity for as long as we needed it.


Since we had some time to kill, we explored the small town of Reed Point, population 96 and “Sheep Drive Capital of the World.” This town had seen better days. The Hotel Montana was once a showplace with a first class restaurant but had been closed for the past three years and was deteriorating.

The owner of the local antique store was also giving up and planned to close his business in a couple weeks. He really didn’t have a chance since, in our opinion, his inventory consisted of very dusty worthless junk.

The Water Hole Saloon is the hot spot in Reed Point. The old building has character and is the only place in town to get a bite to eat. We had a couple buffalo burgers and learned a lot about the town’s recent history from the bartender.

The next morning we called for a tow and Big Bertha came to our rescue. We followed in the Honda as she towed the RV back to Billings.

Hanser’s repair facility gave us a free parking spot with electrical hook-up for the night. The next morning, one of Montana’s few “certified” Workhorse chassis technicians diagnosed the problem. The brake booster was fine, but he replaced the blown parking brake switch and we were on the road again in no time.


We stopped for two nights in Lewistown where the Central Montana Fair was underway. We went to the fair, inspected the livestock and played a little American Legion BINGO.

We also heard a phenomenal 20-year old singer/piano player named Brady Goss. What a terrific performer! He plays a variety of jazz, blues, rock-n-roll and honky-tonk and his idol is Jerry Lee Lewis. Brady lives in Wallowa, Oregon and performs throughout the Northwest. Go see him if you get a chance.


We stopped for a couple days in Great Falls to visit Ron’s Aunt Dolores and cousins Chris and Janet and their families. We don’t see them very often so it was a special occasion and a chance to get caught up with Montana family news.

The Montana State Fair was in full swing in Great Falls. Another storm was threatening and the wind was kicking up, but we decided to spend a few hours at the fair anyway. This time we skipped the animals and spent more time looking at arts and crafts and other exhibits.

The U.S. Marine Corp Band played an evening concert and, as usual, put on an excellent patriotic performance.

A parade of antique tractors made its way through the fair crowds.  We couldn't help noticing that the tractor driver was talking on his cell phone while driving.  No seat belt either.

The State Fair had lots of food booths. Bonnie tried a “Viking” at the Sons of Norway booth. It’s like a large ball of deep fried meatloaf. Very tasty and wildly popular in Great Falls!


On the 100th day of our adventure, we left Great Falls and drove north toward the Rocky Mountains and on to Glacier National Park.

Ron’s mother grew up in East Glacier (pop. 397) where her father was station agent for the Great Northern Railway for many years. Their family lived upstairs in the large depot.

The beautiful Glacier Park Lodge is within walking distance of the depot. The park is celebrating its 100th birthday this year.

Two Medicine Lake is one of our favorite places in Glacier Park. Although the weather was overcast, it was still a beautiful place to spend a little time gazing across the water at Mt. Sinopah.

Near the lake is Running Eagle Falls, formerly known as Trick Falls. During the spring it’s a full blown beautiful waterfall. But, by late summer, water flows only through the rocks and emerges near the bottom of the falls.

We stayed in a campground on Marias Pass, in a flat grassy valley surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. It was nice and quiet with cool clean fresh air. Very peaceful.

Our final stop in Montana was a small Forest Service campground at the confluence of the Kootenai and Yaak Rivers.

One of Ron's favorite things to do is to sit next to a stream or river, watch the water rush over the rocks, and listen to its music.  The Yaak River is perfect.

Bonnie enjoyed the forest campground and took a little time to relax and catch up on some reading. We gathered some dry wood and had a little campfire before retiring for the evening.

It was a nice quiet night until a loud clap of thunder woke us up and the pitter-patter of rain on the roof had us scrambling to close windows and hatches. As soon as we got back to sleep, a freight train went roaring past and woke Bonnie up again. By morning it was all we could do to drag ourselves over the Idaho border to Bonners Ferry for a nice breakfast and lots of coffee.


It had been three months since our last visit to Yakima. Since we were in the neighborhood, we parked the motor home in an Ellensburg campground and drove down to Yakima in the Honda to visit Ron’s mom, sister Carol and nephew Glenn. We picked up a lot of fresh fruit and had a good Mexican dinner before returning to Ellensburg.


On Sunday, August 8, we completed the final 120 miles of our 106 day vacation and arrived home around noon. It was a cool, cloudy day with a little drizzle coming down . . . a perfect Northwest day . . . and it felt really good to be home!!!

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To those who have been following our blog . . .

We hope you have enjoyed riding along with us, seeing the photos and sharing our experiences. We drove more than 9,000 miles through parts of 22 states and consumed 837 gallons of gas. We experienced a blizzard in Oregon, a dust storm in Colorado, high winds in Kansas, tornado warnings in Nebraska, and many thunder storms and hot humid weather from the mid-west to New Jersey. Although the weather was a bit uncomfortable (and downright frightening at times), it was not bad all the time. There were many nice days too. In fact, the trip was a very enjoyable experience overall and will keep us rich with memories for many years to come. Thanks for taking the ride with us.

--- Ron & Bonnie ---

Cowboy Stuff in Wyoming

We finished our whirlwind tour of Nebraska on July 24 and continued westward to Casper, Wyoming. We stopped in Casper in 2008 and still can’t shake the taste of the worst buffet we’ve ever had. Other than that minor incident, Casper seems to be a pretty nice town. We got the Honda washed, replaced the motor home’s broken screen door latch and Bonnie did a load of laundry.

The next day we continued north on I-25 and checked into Pete’s RV Park on the edge of Sheridan, Wyoming. It was a very nice clean campground and these signs were cute and self-explanatory . . . don't you think?

In 2006, True West magazine rated Sheridan America’s #1 western town. It’s definitely a cowboy town with several outfitters, saloons, frequent rodeos and old time museums. One shop keeper clarified that Wyoming’s “tourist town” is Cody and Sheridan is for the working cowboy.

It’s true that Main Street has many outfitter type stores full of cowboy attire, boots, hats, leather goods, saddles, ranch tools, etc., but there are also many interesting tourist-oriented businesses that clearly cater to visitors.

Don King was world famous for his leather work and saddles. Much of his work survives in his Main Street shop and museum. The museum contains hundreds of western saddles, from the mid-1800s to brand new ones. It’s one of the largest saddle collections in the world. It also contains ropes, belts and all kinds of western ranch tools, equipment, old photos and memorabilia. We’ve never seen so much leather in one place. Very interesting place.

Remember Buffalo Bill from our North Platte report? Well, he showed up again in Sheridan. Bill traveled a lot and left his mark in many places. During his years in the entertainment business, he stayed at the Sheridan Inn and auditioned performers for his wild west shows while sitting on the wide covered porch.

The Inn was built by the Burlington & Missouri Railroad in 1893. It’s unusual design was based on a hunting lodge that the architect had visited in Scotland. The building was nearly razed in 1967 but was saved and recently restored. It’s now a classy restaurant, saloon and conference facility.

The Inn was considered one of the finest hotels of its time between Chicago and San Francisco. Many celebrities stayed there, including Will Rogers, Charlie Russell, Ernest Hemingway, Bob Hope and others. The Inn’s original Buffalo Bill Bar was built in England of oak and mahogany.

Another famous watering hole is Sheridan’s 1907 Mint Bar. It’s considered to be the ultimate cowboy bar. Outside, a multicolored neon sign shows a wrangler on a bucking bronc. Inside, the Mint is decorated in dark cedar and gnarled pine burls. Booths are made of rough-hewn logs and the shingled walls are covered with old brands from local ranches and photographs of ranch life, mostly in the 1940s, as well as portraits of rodeo stars, trick riders, and Western celebrities.

The Mint serves mostly beer and whiskey. Local cowboys order a “ditch” which is whiskey and water. We were told the place comes alive in the evening. Since our “coming alive” time is morning, we gave up The Mint to watch an evening thunderstorm and prepare for the next day’s drive into Montana.  We haven't seen every town in the West, so we're not sure that Sheridan is the #1 western town.  But we do agree that it's a very nice town indeed.

Nebraska - Our 50th State

We left St. Joseph on July 20, drove through the southwest corner of Iowa and into Nebraska. This was a milestone day for us. Over the past decade, we managed to visit every state with the exception of Nebraska. Thus, Nebraska became “our” 50th state. Touring all the states was not our objective, but things fell into place, the circuit was completed and we feel good about the rather unique accomplishment. We are also humbled that there’s so much to see and do in the U.S. and we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Ron hadn’t had a haircut since April. He was looking like a caveman and getting some strange looks from people. So, after setting up camp, we drove into York, Nebraska, stopped at the first barber shop we saw and had him properly sheared.  Our campground in nearby Waco was adjacent to a pond and golf course.  Can't complain about those neighbors.

One thing we noticed through many of the central states was the abundance of grass.  Acres and acres of beautiful lush green grass everywhere and homes with huge lawns.  Riding lawn mowers are buzzing around everywhere, even along the roads and freeways, trimming the shoulders and medians.  Never again will Ron complain about mowing our tiny lawn.
 Our next stop was North Platte, home of William Frederick Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill.  He was born in 1846, died in 1917 and is buried on Lookout Mountain near Denver. He lived a colorful life.  He was a Pony Express rider, Union Army scout, stage coach driver and wild west show personality. He was also a renowned buffalo hunter. Rumor has it that he killed 4,280 buffalo in just 8 months in 1867, thus earning the name Buffalo Bill.

His 1886 home and ranch have been restored and made a state historical park. The site of Buffalo Bill’s first rodeos and wild west shows is now Cody Park. Near the freeway is Fort Cody, a cheap tourist trap for those in a hurry or just too lazy to visit the historical park. The fort consists of a large gift shop and a “free museum” with an assortment of old wagons and a couple early log buildings. It happened to be near Applebee’s, so we had dinner and a quick look at the fort.

A small railroad museum adjacent to Cody park attracted Ron's attention.  The museum features a restored depot from Hershey, Nebraska, several train cars and one of the largest locomotives ever built.

Union Pacific’s Challenger (locomotive #3977) was built in 1943 and is the only one of its class on display in the world. It’s enormous! It weighs more than a million pounds. Its tender holds nearly 6,000 gallons of oil and 25,000 gallons of water. That’s as much water as 416 average size motor homes carry. This engine was built to pull passenger and freight trains at speeds up to 80 mph. When diesel engines took over, the old steam engines were phased out and old #3977 was retired in 1961. It’s good that one of these great steam engines has been saved. It’s a sight to see.

This is what a typical Challenger engineer might have looked like.  Or, maybe not.

We learned that North Platte is one of the most important railroad cities in America. It’s central location is perfect for servicing locomotives and assembling trains to be dispatched in all directions. Today, Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard is the largest rail yard in the world. It stretches for eight miles and covers 2,850 acres. About 10,000 freight cars are handled every day and about 80 fully loaded coal trains pass through every day.

Adjacent to Bailey Yard is the Golden Spike Tower. This 8-story lookout provides panoramic views of the entire rail yard, all the train operations, and much of the countryside around North Platte. From the observation deck, we watched as trains were being assembled and cars moved around. Very interesting to watch.

The Bailey Yard includes a huge Union Pacific maintenance facility that services and repairs an average of 750 engines every month. Another area called the East Run Through is like a gas station for trains. In an average day, 300 locomotives are serviced and sent on their way. The yard pumps 14 million gallons of diesel fuel every month. It’s quite a facility.

Our final stop in Nebraska was Scottsbluff. We took a scenic route to avoid highway construction. It added 30 miles to the trip, but we had the road nearly to ourselves. It was a relaxing drive through the rolling hills and farms of western Nebraska and past Pilot Rock, an important Oregon Trail landmark.

Scotts Bluff (the landform) was also a pioneer landmark.  (The photo below was taken in the morning from our campground.)  After learning its history at the visitors center, we drove to the top of the bluff for a panoramic view of the city and surrounding areas.

There are only three tunnels in the state of Nebraska and all three are on this road to the top of Scotts Bluff.

Bonnie was a little apprehensive about going up since the sky was black, the wind was starting to blow and a severe storm watch was in effect. The storm held off and the views were worth the drive.

Pioneers and wagon trains passed by Scotts Bluff and through Mitchell Pass.

This trip taught us that Great Plains weather is unpredictable and frequently severe, especially this summer.  We watched this storm from a distance as it bombed a nearby area with heavy rain and hail.

People rely heavily on weather radios these days. Bonnie is a weather watcher and not a fan of severe weather, especially tornadoes. She heard about weather radios and made sure we had one.  Now, wherever we go, we set the radio to the local frequency and it’s sure to wake us up three or four times in the middle of the night to warn us that something severe is approaching, is overhead, or is somewhere in the vicinity. Weather Radio . . . we love it and won’t leave home without it.

Our final night in Nebraska was calm.  We got a good night's sleep before moving west into Wyoming the next day.