June 18, 2013 Travel to Great Falls, Montana

We left our nice little place this morning.  Thanks to Marty and Mary Jo, campground owners, for a wonderful time.  We will be back.
We made our way to Great Falls, Montana and the scenery - WOW.  Enjoy:

I just love those mountains!

Rolling hills with lots of green:

Almost looks like snow:

Oh my, flowers everywhere:

Cool designs:

Logging trucks:

Here we are

Farms, Ranches and Irrigation:

The Missouri:

We arrived at the Moose in Black Eagle (a suburb of Great Falls) and met Jeff, who I talked to yesterday about staying here.  They have 5 sites here with water and electric and also a dump station at the lodge - nice!
And the best thing is that the motorhome performed GREAT!!!!
Once we set up, we headed over to Sears for a battery for our Tracker.  The old battery was put in the Tracker in Tok, Alaska in 2007: http://thehitzels.blogspot.com/2007/08/august-26-2007-tok.html.  It has been doing good but every so often it is dead and needs to be charged. 
Once that was done, we did a few other errands and headed back home.  We stopped in the Moose and had a great time learning about the area.  We will also be back here again - there is so much to see and do.
So tomorrow we head to Shelby and then into Alberta Canada.  Stay tuned for our next adventure.

Stats for today:
Miles Traveled: 190 Miles
Routes Traveled:
Montana: Frontage Road; I-90; US-287; I-15; Central Avenue W; 3rd Avenue NW; Smelter Avenue; 21st Street

June 17, 2013 Downtown Bozeman

One of the many things that has impressed me about the small towns in Wyoming and Montana is that their downtowns are maintained and vibrant.  And Bozeman is no different.
After running a few errands, Andy and I parked the car and toured a few of the blocks.
The streets were full of people - many restaurants, murals, small shops:

We had lunch here at the Mackenzie River Pizza Company - YUM!!  Andy on the phone outside the restaurant:

And of course we had to go to the Chocolate Moose:

The inside of the Chocolate Moose - Andy had a chocolate ice cream soda and I bought dark chocolate covered raspberry jellies - YUM and more YUM!

Back home we talked with our neighbors from Florida, Sam and Lynn, about their upcoming trip to Alaska.  Our other neighbors, Sharon and Jay,  stopped by - there are from PA - about 20 miles from our home.  We all had a great time.
We have decided to move to Great Falls tomorrow.  If all goes well with our motorhome, we will continue our travels. 
Stay tuned and enjoy today!

June 12-16, 2013 Nesting in Bozeman, Montana

Nesting in Bozeman...
Wednesday and Thursday we did the normal - cleaning, laundry, bills, etc..
On Friday morning, I woke up sick .  Seems like I get some little virus every month. Sheesh!!!  But today we had to take the motorhome to the garage.  So we packed up, locked the kitties in the bedroom (poor things) and off we went.  By noon it was done and the price was a lot less than we expected.  (M&W Trucking Repair).  That afternoon, it rained and rained so it was a good day to just “nest” on the couch with the kitties.
Saturday I felt much better but we continued to putsy around the motorhome.  Plus it was still a little rainy.
Sunday we woke to a beautiful blue sky so Andy decided to wash the motorhome.  In the afternoon, we took a ride to Missouri Headwaters State Park.
On our way this building was huge:

It was an old granary.
We arrived at the Missouri Headwaters State Park. 
One of the major goals of the Corps of Discovery (or the Lewis and Clark Expedition) was to follow the Missouri to its source (hoping that the Missouri would lead to the Pacific Ocean).

This is the Jefferson:

This is the Madison:

Float trip down the Madison - check out the clouds and mountains in the background:

The joining of the Madison and the Jefferson:

The Gallatin - the last river to join the other two to become the Missouri.  All three rivers are huge and really moving.  Combining them all, makes the Missouri a very large and flowing river:





One of the pioneer cemeteries.  This one holds three young children who died of black diphtheria in the 1870’s.

Scenes around the park:

Beyond the state park was the town of Trident:

The streets, sidewalks, and driveways were still there.

The cement plant - still operational:

What a view on our way home:





It was great to get out and about. 
The past few days we have met many people who are on their way to Alaska - so excited for them and wish we were going along - .
We have fallen in love with this part of Montana - we will be back!
Stay tuned for our next adventure and enjoy today.

June 11, 2013 - An Interesting Day

We woke this morning and after a long discussion, we decided to travel about 100 miles and see how the motorhome performed. 

So off we went thru the Gallatin National Forest - another WOW day for scenery:

Storm’s a-brewing !

And a storm was a-brewing with us.  About 20 miles into our trip, same thing happened going up an incline. OH-OH.  So we made our way slowly to Bozeman, Montana.  Thank God the rest of the trip was in the canyon.

Yesterday, the mechanics in Grants Village gave us the name of place to go if we had issues so that is where we headed - “Billions GMC”.  Well, the service manager took one look at the motorhome and told us he did not have the equipment to handle us.  OH-OH!  But he did direct us to M&W Trucking Repair.  M&W feel it is a fuel pump issue but the part will not be in until Friday.  Sooooo, we are now at Sunrise Campground in Bozeman for the next few days or more. 

Mary Jo and Marty are the campground owners and are absolutely wonderful.   They have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. 

Another day in this life on the road.

Enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled:  88 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Montana: US-191; Frontage Road