Late last night it began to rain intermittently. The temperatures were still in the 50s but due to the sometimes heavy rain we weren’t too optimistic about today’s drive. I don’t like driving on strange roads in crummy weather. Fortunately, in the morning we awoke to very surly-looking skies but almost no rain. We were out of the Conestoga RV Park in White Sulphur Springs by 10:00 AM and we left our beloved US-89 for US-12, westward toward Helena.
The road meanders up and down in elevation between 4500 and 5500 feet but after the town of Townsend, the road flattened out and stayed that way all the way to Helena. In Helena, we turned north on I-15 for a few miles before we exited at Lincoln Road. A short drive west and we pulled into the Lincoln Road RV Park, a name that required hours of serious cogitation before reaching a conclusion.
The park has full hookups, wi-fi and some restrooms I have not visited. We got a Good Sam Club discount but the bill came to about $38 per day, not a particularly good rate for a plain RV park. The office folks were very nice and the office has a great assortment of free maps, brochures and Chamber of Commerce publications touting the wonders of Helena. I don’t know if any of the material contained in those publications is true but, hopefully, we will find out in the next few days.

We had a few tasks to perform today. Peggy did the laundry at the park’s laundry facility and I did the dishes and ground up a load of coffee beans for use over the next few weeks. We also went to a place called the Track Stop Cafe for breakfast. The food was pretty good and reasonably priced but the Truck Stop Cafe seems to be missing an important component – there is no truck stop.
Fortunately for me, Peggy had decided to do a bit of clothes shopping at a little store on the town’s main drag called Red Ants Pants. They specialize in very sturdy cotton duck work pants for women. Right next door is 2 Basset, the brewery where we had good suds yesterday. I was quite content to malinger in 2 Basset while she was next door at Red Ants buying a pair of long work pants and a pair of work shorts. They ain’t cheap but they are very well made out of tough materials and cut for women. Apparently, men’s work pants do not work well on women but Peg says these pants are very comfy and should last for some longer period than department store pants which are made by overseas slaves who have no idea what pants are. Peg finished up at Red Ants and joined me for a stout at 2 Basset. We soon left because the skies were getting very nasty looking, sort of like the dark clouds sent by Sauron to shield orcs from the sun. Fortunately, we went to Costco a few days back and are amply supplied with tasty stuff for what appears to be some seclusion in our trailer for a while.
Peg did get a nice Montana sunset shot you can see if you click here

We had nothing on the agenda today and were available for aimless exploration of the surrounding countryside. I cooked breakfast and soon afterward we were on the way to a castle-looking structure right here in this simple little town. The actual name of the place was The Castle and Carriage House Museum. We could see it from almost anywhere in town because it is located on a little hill on the north side. We were soon pulling into their tiny parking lot.
We went into the carriage house and coughed up $5 a head to check out the carriages and the house. We had to wait a few minutes in the carriage house before the tour started but there is plenty of stuff to see there; old mining and blacksmithing implements, photos of original residents, carriages, models of farm and industrial implements, saddles and other tack and some old pump organs which must have been popular because there are four here. Soon the curator, Sheryl, showed up an took Peggy and me on a 45 minute exclusive meander through all three floors of the big stone castle. There is not too much original stuff from the house inside but the locals have been more than generous with donations of period antiques and they are strewn throughout this neat old building. The interior woodwork is pretty snazzy. This house also had indoor plumbing and was the first place in town with electrical power. Some folks named Sherman built an impoundment for water, laid in pipe at a good fall and ran two electrical turbines (back then they were called dynamos) so initially his house, then his barn, then the town had electrical power. The pond was small so they only had power for about 6 hours a day but when there was going to be a big event in town, they overfilled the pond so they could keep the lights on later into the evening.
After the museum we took off out of White Sulphur Springs on US-12. We passed through some rolling prairie for about 30 miles catching glimpses of some browsing deer and many birds doing bird stuff. Near a town called Martinsdale, we turned southwest on MT-294 for a drive through some almost completely uninhabited Montana countryside. I understand why old-time residents used to kill each other over land here. This is not the dramatic mountain ranges and interesting geography seen elsewhere but it appears to be terrific cattle and sheep country with almost endless opportunities for grazing. There is very little traffic on the roads. We saw maybe six cars or trucks all the way back to US-89, a distance of some 25 miles.
After completing our loop, we figured we needed a reward so we stopped in town at 2 Basset, a local brewery. They have about a dozen and a half varieties of beer on tap and we tried several of them. The brewer/proprietor/local snow shoveler was a very nice guy and his family all work at this place. They had no porter which was disappointing initially but we soon found they had some excellent alternative stouts and ales that kept us happy for some time.
Montana only allows brewery patrons to consume 3 pints on the premises before being shut out so we had our quota and departed. The weather looked like it was going to turn unpleasant so we drove back to the Barbarian Invader at Conestoga RV Park and settled in for some good food and fair TV.
We got some pix along the way today and you can see some of them if you click here

We departed the Livingston area and continued north on US-89 to White Sulphur Springs, MT. The road took us through some rolling hills with sagebrush, purple flowers and cattle in the giant pastures. We also spotted some deer and antelope and a bunch of hawks.
It is about a 70 mile trip here from Livingston on 89 so we took it easy on the way here, rarely approaching the 70 mph speed limit. The road surface was pretty good. We encountered few vehicles along the way. It is almost serene.
We pulled into the Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs right after noon. The town is pretty plain with a small downtown area about 40 blocks but US-89, which is the main street through town, is currently being rejiggered so it is gravel. We will get some exploring of the town in tomorrow but today we loafed after setting up our home in the RV park. The campground has full hookups, wi-fi and adequate pull-thru spaces. It is located at the edge of town which is centered in a wide prairie with mountains on the east and west horizons. Based on my very small amount of knowldge about this place, I suspect it is quiet ranching community with few amenities but I can report more accurate stuff tomorrow.

Today our primary mission was to stock the trailer with food that will last a couple of weeks. We are going into some remote sections of Montana for the next fortnight and shopping outlets in Montana are scarce.
We piled into Charlotte and took off for Bozeman, 25 miles west and home to one of Montana’s Costcos. We found the store and wandered in to engage in some unfettered shopping. $350 later, we checked out but not before stopping at the Costco’s snack bar where they sell good polish dogs, chicken bakes and, most importantly, Caesar salads which are tip-top. Another $15 bit the dust here and then we departed.
Unfortunately, Costcos in Montana do not sell liquor like other states so we had to go to a liquor store in Bozeman before we left town because there doesn’t seem to be any liquor sales in Livingston. We found one of the three liquor stores in Bozeman. It was located in a gas station, which is a bit strange. On one side of the station, they sell only booze and wine. On the other side of the wall they sell gas, snacks and beer. You will be required to go into both outlets should you be interested in getting a bottle of whiskey and a six pack. Liquor laws seem weird in Montana.
We hauled our loot back to our spot in Osen’s RV Park in Livingston and actually found adequate places to store the pyramid-sized pile of groceries we had. We sat down for a bit afterwards but soon became restless and decided to take a spin up the Yellowstone River which runs alongside US-89, the road right next to our RV park.
US-89 south of Livingston is a good road and the scenery alongside is gorgeous. The road runs up the center of the river valley with mountains on both west and east horizons. The valley floor is dotted with ranches that are spread out such that even the most reclusive types can be satisfied. We traveled south on 89 for about 30 miles until we turned off slightly to the east on MT-540 and returned to Livingston on a skinny road that took us up the east side of the Yellowstone River Valley, passing through some tiny towns with names like Pray and Pine Creek. Not only was the terrain beautiful, we spotted some colorful birds, several deer and one animal that we could not identify. It must have either been a manbearpig or a muskbrahmacow.
We emerged from this bucolic beauty almost back in Livingston so we fueled up Charlotte and headed home to loaf. We leave here tomorrow and head over close to Helena, the state capitol.
We took some pictures today, including one of the muskbrahmacow, which you can see if you click here

Last night we were in the town of West Yellowstone and, since it was the 4th of July, they put on a fabulous fireworks show. To make it even better, the place where they launched the fireworks was very close to our RV park and the effect was terrific. Fireworks can be bought and discharged in Montana so the locals did all they could to augment the commercial show. They must be real patriots around there because the colors and racket ran on for some time. It was great.
This morning we pulled out of the Grizzly RV Park and headed north on US-191 which took us over a little pass and then descended alongside the Gallatin River to Bozeman. This is another spectacular drive through terrific scenery although the speeds along this twisty road with an RV are pretty low. There are little crosses along the highway indicating where highway fatalities occurred and there were a bunch of them on this leg of today’s trip.
We turned east near Bozeman. Unfortunately, the road through Bozeman goes right through the middle of town on narrow roads with lots of traffic signals. There are no left turn lanes in town so when somebody in front of you wants to turn left off the main drag, that means you will not make it through the signal since they can’t turn until the light goes yellow. The main street of Bozeman is quite pretty, however, with lots of gorgeous old buildings and many pedestrians who also contribute to the traffic chaos by crossing the streets everywhere, sometimes in the crosswalks. Plan on spending quite a bit of time on the road here if passing through.
From Bozeman we picked up I-90 east to Livingston where we pulled into Osen’s RV Park and Campground. It is down a short gravel road from US-89 but it is quite nice. They offer cable TV, wi-fi, hookups without sewer (but they do have a dump station), nice spaces and some shade. The desk staff is very sweet and seem to be only interested in helping the RV crowd to have a good time.
We spent the afternoon trying to make RV park reservations for our future travels but were pretty unsuccessful so we went out to eat at a pretty good burger joint called Mark’s In and Out. We love small operation places like Mark’s because the food is better than at chains and costs less, too. A regular burger, a triple bacon burger, fries, tater tots, a medium Pepsi and a large chocolate malt came to $14 and some change.
We took a few pictures coming down the Gallatin River and in Bozeman that you can see if you click here

We departed from Flagg Ranch where we have spent the last week and took off for West Yellowstone which is a town and not part of the park. We did drive through the southwest corner of the park, crossing the Continental Divide three times and passing by the neat geyser stuff near Old Faithful. We turned west at Madison Junction and drove about 20 miles on what seems to be US-20 until we pulled into West Yellowstone and the Grizzly RV Park on the edge of the tiny town.
The RV park ain’t cheap but we needed a place for the 4th and ended up here. We will only be in this park overnight. The park has wi-fi which mostly works some of the time, full hookups, a store, cable TV and is actually quite pretty. There is a big crowd here today. Tomorrow we will hook up our trailer again and head for Livingston, MT.
Peggy got a bit antsy in the early evening and took me on a spin around town. The spin was curtailed by a 4th of July parade which passed through the four blocks of downtown. There were many fire engines, kids on bikes, horses with artificial cowboys on their backs, some snow cats on trailers, a few noisy pickup trucks filled with more artificial cowboys and a guy towing a boat full of people. West Yellowstone has many tourist facilities so I think the actual population of residents is quite low and I believe all of them were in the parade.
This town has many nice cabins and hotels that are considerably nicer and more expensive than facilities in the adjacent park. Colter Bay in the Tetons has cabins built in 1957 and the cabins here appear to have been built within the last five years. Some here have spiffy decorations on the ridge of their roof structures and are pretty. There are also many hotels that have the log cabin look, at least on the exterior. Other than that, there are RV parks and the mobile homes of the locals. Maybe the next time we pass this way we will get an opportunity to remain longer.
Peg snapped a few pictures as we passed through Yellowstone and in West Yellowstone and they can be seen if you click here

Peggy and I are reluctantly leaving this area tomorrow due to scheduling issues regarding RV sites available on the 4th of July weekend. We will leave Flagg Ranch which is almost ideally located between Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. We will head for West Yellowstone, passing through the southwestern part of the Yellowstone loop road and crossing the Continental Divide three times on the way.
We really like the Tetons and the area around the Gros Ventre slide east of Jackson Hole. Today we took our final drive for this year through this magnificent country and were again rewarded with great views of deer, bison, little scurrying things crossing the road, Jenny Lake, the Grand Teton range, the enormous Gros Ventre slide and an area near the slide called the Red Hills. The lake behind the slide where it blocked the Gros Ventre River is beautiful and the surrounding countryside is gorgeous, as well. We took a side excursion to attempt to find the cabin at Colter Bay where we spent the second night of our honeymoon back when saber-toothed cats roamed the area but our memories are so lousy we are not sure if we found the right cabin or not.
We were rewarded with magnificent views of the Teton range from a nice, one-lane road that took us right down to the east edge of the lake. From this vantage point, we got some views and pictures of an azure blue lake in the foreground with the Teton range arising out of the opposite bank, rising some 5,000 feet to their lofty peaks. Above about 10,000 feet, there is almost no vegetation, just jagged rock. Water courses with multiple waterfalls cascade from glaciers down the sides Tetons for a couple thousand feet and are visible all the way.
Most of the roads in Jackson Hole are paved but once we headed for the town of Kelly and the Gros Ventre slide, the roads go from nice to narrower to lumpy to gravel to dirt and the surfaces degrade as you go further from the Hole. Nevertheless, the view of the giant, 50 million cubic yard slide is great and the Red Hills beyond, but visible from the Gros Ventre, is almost surreal.
We had spent about six hours fooling around in Jackson Hole when we started our last pass north through the Teton National Forest and Grand Teton National Park. This drive through glacial moraines, green forests, sage prairie, aspen groves and herds of bison always seems quite unique to me and today’s strange weather with clear spots and periodic thundershowers lent a constantly changing variety to today’s scenery. This place is gorgeous.
A word of caution: many distracted drivers are everywhere and they will veer into your lane despite having a closing speed around 90 miles per hour. They rarely find the way back into their lane before you will zip by them with upraised middle fingers and shrieks of terror filling the cab. These same drivers will also stop, without warning, if they see any form of wildlife, even deer. Sometimes, they mistake strangely shaped clumps of dirt or brush as real fauna and will slam on the brakes despite driving on US-89, a 1500 mile long federal highway. They do this in the travel lanes. I am surprised there are not more wrecks here. Be aware and cautious when discovering this area because you can never count on other drivers having been issued a brain.
We were not killed by any rotten drivers so we returned with some pictures which you can see if you click here

There was no agenda for today and we followed it closely.
We got up at our usual early bird 8:00 and set down for some serious fortified coffee drinking. For some strange reason, my coffee seems to be more fortified than Peggy’s. We had a nice breakfast, took leisurely showers and watched part of two movies; the end of one and the beginning of another.
However, we soon became so bored with the lousy movie selection and went outside for some overdue maintenance on our trailer. I checked our new battery since I can clearly recollect our untimely electrical failure recently in Monument Valley. The battery was fine but my paranoia still runs strong. Peggy scrubbed the awning and was pretty successful in getting a year’s worth of dust to vacate the premises. I was impressed.
Peggy also cleaned some of the exterior parts of the trailer in a vain attempt to remove the carcasses of numerous bugs that have died by blunt force trauma when they smacked into it while it was moving at 50 miles per hour. There are a lot of bugs in the west. I serviced our generators to make sure they still work in case we have more supply-side electrical issues in the future.
For this little bit of work, we rewarded ourselves with some cold porter followed by a nice barbecued steak dinner and salad. This retirement and traveling is rugged. Although the rigors of regular travel, visitations to fantastic places and admiring wonderful scenery are trivial, everyone should give this stuff a try. We sure like it.

Since we finished our onerous and horrible grocery shopping in Jackson yesterday, we were free to engage in unfettered exploration fun today. We got up around 7:00, loafed in bed until 8:00 and were out the door of the Barbarian Invader by 9:00 AM. We headed back into Yellowstone National Park for a trip around the northern, outside loop of the park roads.
We set Grand Prismatic Spring as our first destination. We drove from our RV park at Flagg Ranch two miles north to the Yellowstone south entrance where, again, we were waved through due to our access pass. If you intend to visit national parks on a schedule compressed into one calendar year, this $80 pass available at any national park or forest district office allows free access into all national parks, national forests, Bureau of Reclamation and BLM sites for free with camping fees cut to 50% of the posted rate. We bought our renewal pass last year in South Dakota’s Black Hills and have passed through gates free at Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion, Colorado National Monument, Tuzigoot, Wupatki, Capitol Reef, Redwoods, Jedidiah Smith, Yosemite and about a dozen other parks without paying the $25-$30 charge to enter each site. We even camp for half price on the Rogue River in Oregon because the campground is on Forest Service land.
Unfortunately, cars were not only blocking access to the parking lot at Grand Prismatic, they were liberally parked illegally alongside the road that runs past this attraction. We gave this attraction the FO and continued up the road to a place called Roaring Mountain which is a big sidehill with a variety of steam- and stench-emitting fumaroles visible from the parking lot. When vehicles are not going by on the adjacent roads, you can hear the gurgling, hissing and belching noises emanating therefrom. It is quite unique although you may want to find a way upwind if the odor of hydrogen sulfide (rotten eggs) is not counted among your favorites.
We continued north until we got to the Mammoth Hot Springs area where the weird forces of the earth put on some of their most fantastic shows. Here we spotted massive terraces of calcite deposits bordering ponds of boiling water being forced to the surface of the earth by the hellish conditions just below the narrow crust in this remarkable place. We spotted a big bull elk who elected to go into an area forbidden to clumsy tourists but okay for elk wandering. He decided to lay down in the sulphurous water and look elegant. I think he was really trying to kill the ticks embedded in his hide.
From Mammoth we turned east toward the Tower-Roosevelt area of the park for about 10 miles before exiting the loop highway for a dirt and gravel road called Blacktail Plateau Drive which is a magnificent Yellowstone byway with abundant wildflowers in bloom that even impressed an old jaded grump like me.
From Tower-Roosevelt we turned south on the loop road back toward our place at Flagg Ranch although we made some quick stops on both sides of Yellowstone Falls and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River near the park’s Canyon Village complex. The Yellowstone River comes from Yellowstone Lake in the south part of the park and flows north to Yellowstone Falls where it cascades over this double falls of some 400′ of combined height before turning northeast and ultimately joining the Missouri River, the Mississippi and finally flowing out into the Gulf of Mexico at New Orleans. We were in New Orleans last year on our loop of the eastern U.S. and it seems a long way from Yellowstone with it’s 8,000′ elevations, low humidity and abundant flora and fauna.
On the way back home today, we passed many bison grazing and lounging within sight of the loop road. They are big, brutish creatures but they are also magnificent animals smart enough not to tolerate meddling by stupid tourists who attempt to take their pictures from inside their comfort zone. There are many signs within the park cautioning tourists to give these animals some room. On the internet there are many film clips of the stupid folks who ventured too close to these creatures only to be gored and boosted into the treetops by these large ungulates. They have scant concern for idiot actions by humans and show little remorse after killing one of the dweebs. There are also wolves and grizzlies and mountain lions and wolverines here that dull-witted tourists have approached with tragic results, if you consider the stupid being killed tragic.
We shot some nice photos during today’s excursion. If you want to see some of them, click here