BIG sigh of relief!! Welcome to Deer Lodge.

Following a rainy night, we looked outside to see the full moon over mountains to the west and the rising sun in the east. There was a lot of ice on our parking lot, but no snow. I decided to start the generator so we could catch the weather forecast. It started weakly...and stopped. Larry tried...same result. Okay, this means NO COFFEE for Mary. (Those who know me best understand the problem here.) But I rose to the occasion and suggested getting things stowed away and driving down the road to McDonald's. I actually owed that to Larry after my mini, panic attack the night before concerning going over the mountain passes if there was snow...brakes failing, sliding off the edge into space, etc., etc.. Enter problem #2. A couple of the tires have been losing air (corrosion on the wheels) and Larry has been using the electric, air compressor to refill the tires and, hmm, no generator...no electricity. We went to McD's, crossed the street to visit a new TSC store. While there, I bought two wheel chucks in the event that we had to stop somewhere on the pass (review previous comments about sliding off the mountain). We then visited two different truck stops looking in vain for a working air compressor station. No luck. I remembered that there was a rest stop in about three miles and suggested that we might find an outlet there for the compressor.
We did stop and I was glad that warm weather had not yet arrived when I saw this sign.




The local weather person called what fell in the night a word I had never heard before, gropple. I guess that means everything was coated in frozen slush. It was pretty cool.






Okay, I got to take pictures while Larry traveled up and down the hill six or so times to the potty area to charge and recharge the air compressor.



We finally were ready to continue the trip.
Here are shots taken from the passenger side along the way. They really show the many faces of Montana.




A nice feature of the "big sky" is seeing the storm, knowing where it is and if it's coming for you, and all in advance.


It's bad enough to drive over passes at 6,500'. It's even worse when huge pieces of "something" are being moved over the same road, taking up both lanes, at 20 mph.



A trestle on an abandoned railway.


This huge statue stands above the city of Butte, MT. I thought it was a statue of Christ, but my friend, Elaine, sent me some info about "Our Lady of the Rockies." (Thanks, Elaine!)
http://goldwest.visitmt.com/listings/11122.htm


The snow finally found us after we had descended the final pass.


Finally...a sign!




Our next report will be from the TOP sign!

Another Boondock

Nothing like a rainy, cold night in a Walmart parking lot to give you warm, fuzzy feelings. We are in Laurel, Montana. We left South Dakota and a very pleasant. morning temperature in the low 60's. There was a light wind that increased in velocity as we moved westward. By 11 AM, it became such a strong head wind that the motor home struggled to go more than 50 mph. When I-90 turned north, we were in the high plains and Larry had about an hour of struggling to maintain a lane with 40-50 mph side winds. We finally got into the more mountainous terrain and it was a lot better. Around 3 PM, mountain time, the rain started. It was fairly light, but now at 9 PM, it's heavier. There is a WW advisory out until tomorrow 10 AM. Things look fine here in the valley. The problem will be two mountain passes that we need to go over. The snow has been falling there since this afternoon. We will be checking on-line for road conditions. Fortunately, the MDOT does the decision making for the drivers on I-90. If conditions are not good, they close gates at the exits and you have to get off and wait in whatever town it is until the roads open again. If you go around a gate, you get arrested. Good idea!

It's a campground!

Spent the night in Belle Fourche, SD. One night away from the lights of a parking lot! We found Wyatt's Hideaway campground in the Escapees guide book. Although it indicated that the campground is open year round, the owners said they just opened on Sunday and had been in Florida all winter. The shower and laundry facilities were still in winter mode, but at least we had water, sewer and electric hook-up. We definitely also had privacy since there were no other campers.
Yesterday, Larry had fun panning for gold in the river that flows out of the Black Hills and this morning, he has been roaming the grounds with his metal detector. At this rate, we may be staying another night (not!).
The weather is warm and windy again today. We hope to miss the snow and cold they are predicting by Thursday for South Dakota.

3/26-27

I never thought I would be spending my nights "camping" in such great places as Walmart, K-Mart and truck stop parking lots! The fact is, not too many campgrounds are open for business at this time of year. The weather has been great since we left Ohio. (Hmmm, got to think about that. ) It's been windy, but the days have been sunny and getting warmer as we go. The temps today were in the high 70's and could be warmer tomorrow. I had to dig out a T with short sleeves and my sandals. The forecast for later in the week does show a drop in temps. I hope we have arrived in Deer lodge and have everything set up before that happens.

3/25/10- Okay...now what?

The rain/snow began before dark on Thursday. We attempted to put the car on the dolly, but it just slid around and wouldn't go up the ramps. Maybe waiting until morning would work? The rain might be gone by then. It was! Now we had not just snow, but at least a half inch of ice coating everything. Needless to say, we did not get the early start we had hoped for. We left Wadsworth at 2:30 PM and traveled as far as Logansport, IN. We had intended to boondock at least part of the time and found a cozy spot in the corner of the parking lot at the local Walmart.

Our Last Patrol Until September

What a beautiful day it was! We patroled a section of the Buckeye Trail from the Com center south. We had intended to go as far as Blue Hen and Buttermilk Falls, hoping to get some pics of both. Our plans were foiled by high water in the creek just north of the first falls. We looked around for an alternate crossing but, as you can see, there was still quite a bit of snow in the stream gully. We hope to get in one more patrol before we leave.

Our screen room came yesterday. It will attach to the awning on the motor home to enclose that space. We probably won't put it on until a few weeks after we are in Montana. We will definitely need it by May since our campground is on the Clark Fork River and Montana mosquitoes are big and hungry. (I hope the horseflies don't show up until after we have moved on.)

The Snow is Finally Melting

A little less than three weeks now until D day. Larry found out that a mouse (or some other rodent) chewed through the ABS sensor on the Honda. Cost for one little wire "thingy"...$300.00!
We picked up the tow-dolly in Deerfield on Friday and took it to the storage lot. Larry had to plow through the snow banks with the motor home out so we could put the dolly behind it.
"So little time, so much to accomplish."

The Final Countdown Has Begun!

Monday, March 1, 2010

The Final Countdown Has Begun!

Wow, only 25 days. I wish the weather would start thinking "spring." There are so many tasks to attend to that just don't work well in snow. For one, I am really concerned about the flower beds and veggie garden. The landscape guys here are terrible and come into our patio areas only if there is grass to mow. They don't remove weeds and my neighbor has canada thistles that seed into my patio. (Last year, I went over and pulled them out.) My plan now is to put black plastic and bark mulch over everything that doesn't have perennials growing and hope for the best. First, the 2 feet of snow has to melt!
I've been trying to get visits to the dentist, doc, and eye doc. One down, two to go on that. Decided that my car shouldn't be sitting in the driveway for 5 months and hoping there is an available unit at my same, local place. More cash going there...sigh.
Trying to get in patrols at CVNP once a week to get hours in on our commitment there. It's been interesting to see parts of the park from a winter perspective. Last week, we saw the bald eagle pair that are preparing to nest. Our job is to keep people away from the restricted area so the eagles will stay. We heard that the rangers had to remove some uncooperative people last week who just "wanted to get closer to get a good picture." Yes, we get to deal with those self-serving types all the time. Fortunately, if they become confrontational, we just remove ourselves from the area and radio dispatch to send a law enforcement ranger .