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.
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!!!
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 ---
We enjoyed our ride with you Ron and Bonnie. "Welcome home" Ron and Rena
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