Sunrise painted the sky pink the morning we left for our
camping trip. Well, actually, the sky
was blue, the clouds were pink. –What a
beautiful start to the day.
We finished packing, loaded the dogs and headed out about 8:30
a.m. As usual, the scenery was
beautiful. We drove past the Canyon
Ferry Lake, shimmering out on a barren, flat area. It’s a very popular fishing destination – but
with no trees? Nope, not for me. We cruised between distant mountain
ranges. At one point I was reminded of
the movie – “These Thousand Hills” a
1959 movie based on the book written by A.B. Guthrie, Jr, Montana Author. Of course it was set in Montana – and this
area looked like it surely was where it was meant to take place.
We drove through vast lands of grain – looking like it was
ready to harvest. Barb told me about a
rancher in the area who started “Wheat Montana”
it’s a brand of Montana bread grains.
They have a huge “truckstop” store by the same name which sells sandwiches
and bakery items, as well as flour and prepared grains for home baking. The sandwiches and rolls were huge – we
bought a cinnamon roll which we cut into 4 pieces, each about the size of a
glazed donut! I plan to stop on the way
back for a closer look! These stores now
dot the landscape all over Montana. I’ll
have to check to see if there is a shop
in Great Falls – near my home base while in Montana
On our way again, Barb said she would like to stop at the
“Pickle Barrel” in Bozeman for a sandwich.
When we arrived in Belgrade – suburb of Bozeman – to meet with a cousin,
we exited, and pulled into a convenient parking lot, and I called Dee. Barb piped up with “Look at that! I don’t believe it!” We were 2 doors down from the Pickle
Barrel. So we went in to get lunch and
waited for Dee. These were supersized
subs. An entire loaf of bread for each
sandwich – not a small – foot-long, either – a big loaf! While I was visiting with Dee about the
family, Barb went into the casino next door and won $20, which paid for her
sandwich!
Following Dee, we checked out some locations in the area for
possible family reunion activities next year, then we were off on the road
again, but not without a stop at the K-Mart for a little lantern I’d had my eye
on, and Barb got a camp chair with a shade on it. She is now set to be
comfortable wherever she might be.
The total distance to our campground was 200 miles. We drove steadily until we got to Big Timber
where we left the highway to find #298 out of town. We were talking about finding a grocery store
– had to have horseradish to go with my sandwich. Did I tell you those sandwiches were
huge? They were – enough for 4 meals. Anyway, I rounded a corner, and spotted a
sign! Quilts and Candy – my two favorite
things. I slid into a parking lot and to
Barb’s inquiring look, replied – “Well, we need to ask directions to the store,
don’t we?”
It was a lovely quilt store.
I was pretty good, though! I
only spent $8.00 – on quilt block which was a reproduction of an antique
Montana postcard. I thought to myself –
this just may be the beginning of a Montana quilt for me! The postcard quilt square was the theme for
this year’s “shop hop” Instead of
including just quilt stores in nearby areas – this shop hop included every
store in Montana that wanted to participate – 46 shops in all! The Virginia shop hop usually has a dozen
or less stores. Next year, I will
definitely be in Montana for the shop hop!
Wonder what the theme will be then?
We found the IGA and got the horseradish as well as a bottle
of wine - It was an orange citrusy wine
– it turned out later to be very refreshing.
I kept the bottle to tell you exactly what kind it was – but I can’t
find it right now! Sorry!
We drove 25 miles out of Big Timber, into the Beartooth
Mountains. Our wilderness and tracking
skills were on over-drive, and we realized we were entering Bear Country –
course the signs along the road saying so might have had a smidgen to do with
our figuring that out. We then travelled 8 miles on a bumpy, gravel road, and
finally found the campground, as well as the LoW’s group. (Loners on
Wheels)
By the time we got
our tent up and camp arranged it was around 6 p.m. We wandered over and introduced ourselves to
the others and enjoyed visiting for awhile, and then, much too soon, it was
time for bed. We were told coffee would
be ready at 8 at Carl’s camp.
Our particular campsite was very near the Boulder River, but
had no direct access. However, we were close enough for the river music to lull
us to sleep.
8:00 a.m. sharp we were at Carl’s site for coffee. While having breakfast, an errant couple of
LoW’s arrived – they had stayed at the wrong campground the night before. The new comers were two sisters-in-law who
had travelled extensively together, and had been members of the group for
around 20 years. Our party now consisted
of 7 people. Barb and myself – first
comers to a LoW’s campout, Janine – a
veteran of many campouts and secretary of the group, Charlie and Gloria – the
sisters-in-law, and President and Treasurer of the club, Margo, a woman from Florida, just travelling,
and Carl – the lone “Rooster”
Jenine’s travel companion is a Schnauzer named Bailey. Jenine has been camping and travelling for
years – as has all the other LoW’s. She
has driven her own RV for years.
Charlie and Gloria lived on ranches in the Conrad, MT area
before moving into town. Charlie is full
of stories! She kept us entertained the
whole weekend!
Margo? Well, Margo is
a woman after my own heart! She lives
in Florida, has a small SUV and a small pull along trailer and travels around
the US all summer, and returns to Florida in the winter. She was talking about heading back to
Vermont after leaving Montana – but we told her about lots of neat places to
visit out west, which would allow her to time her visit to Vermont to coincide
with the fall foliage extravaganza.
Margo planned to visit Glacier Park after leaving us – She
planned to enter from the east side of the park. We told her about the beauty of the
Going-to-the-Sun Road, and the salt lick near Logan’s pass where she could see
up close the mountain goats. BUT……… She
drove up to Logan’s pass from the east side of the park, which is not all that
exciting and got there the day mud slides closed the Going to the Sun
road. When I talked to her later, she
was planning to stay another night, and was complaining that after all our
warnings that she couldn’t take her rig through the park, it was no big deal –
she had driven up higher hills in Georgia -
I certainly hope she was able to stay long enough to take the “Sun”
road, otherwise her memories of Glacier Park will be very dull indeed. Not that Logan Pass is not beautiful – it is,
but the approach from the East leaves much to be desired.
Carl, being the only man present, could hardly get a word in
edgewise. He plans to make sure he
rousts out another fellow to join us in September at the Chokecherry Festival.
Among the group, we gathered food for breakfast – pancakes,
eggs, kielbasa – and of course having it around the “campfire” and sharing
among new found friends, it was the best breakfast I’d had in years! We finally drifted to our own sites for an
afternoon siesta! At least we tried to
nap – but a bright, hot afternoon sun shining on that new tent soon chased us
out to find shade.
About 4 pm we started gathering at Carl’s again – the
prelude to dinner. We were very
interested in Margo’s story - She has a
small SUV and about a 19’ trailer, she
travels all over the country – with just paper maps – no GPS! I would not want to be without my GPS. Anyway, she does not plan ahead – just goes
where the wind blows her .
Once again for dinner, we all brought our food to Carl’s site
and prepared a wonderful meal.
Carl manned the grill,
Barb brought 2 steaks, which we cut into strips and shared, Janine
brought salad, Charlie and Gloria
brought jello and fresh made rolls, and Margo brought watermelon!
There were 3 dogs present at the campout – ours, Della and
Tucker, and Janine’s Bailey. They were
all so well behaved……… well, mostly. At
dinner time, we put Della in the tent on her bed, and put Tucker in his
playpen. I returned to Carl’s site, and
before I even got settled, there was Tucker.
Back to the campsite – Oh, that’s the problem, the one corner of the
playpen was on a rock, creating an escape tunnel. Back he went, and once again, he almost beat
me to Carl’s. So, we let him stay. Back at our site, later, I put Tucker in
his playpen and sat down to watch. He
immediately went to one side, put his nose in the corner and pushed as hard as
he could – once it moved a couple inches, he moved to the other corner and
pushed again, until he had it back on the rock with an escape tunnel!
Saturday morning began once again with coffee at Carl’s
camp, then we said goodbye to Janine who headed home about noon. Barb and I walked around the other loop of
the campground and visited with some of the other campers. If you liked to fish, this was a fantastic
location.
jumped up on the table, so he had to spend the next hour
tied to a tree.
Saturday night a storm blew in – the tent was buffeted by
the wind and billowed noisily, but no major problem. It sounded like a down pour, but in the
morning, a pan left out didn’t have enough water in it to cover the
bottom. We survived the night without a
drop of water inside the tent.
It was time to
leave. I had decided during the night,
that it would be easier to load the truck if I folded back the topper, which we
did. But, when it came time to pull it
back up, I couldn’t seem to get it right – it just sort of lay down on top of
the gear. Finally I just zipped up the
back window and secured it on the Velcro, and we headed out.
Once on the road “Luci” (Barb – reference is to Lucille Ball
movie The Long, Long, trailer) decided she wanted to pick up a rock to take
home for her garden. After several stops
to inspect possibilities, she picked up one that was about a foot square –
after that point, my gas mileage dropped appreciably.!!
Once we were on pavement again, we stopped at the Natural
Bridge of Montana. As we stood looking
at the area maps, it looked like it would be quite a hike, but I caught sight
of a scale which showed the walk was only about 500’. What a relief. There was no longer a natural bridge – it
collapsed in 1988, but…… the river is busy building another. It disappears underground just past the
location of the old natural bridge.
It comes out again a little way down river. The river flows from the valley into it’s
own little “grand” canyon –The water is a beautiful teal color – I wonder if
that is from ice melt.
At that point we parted company with Margo and headed back
to Big Timber. Once on the highway, I
saw the back of the topper flapping in the wind. I watched it for a bit, but decided I had to
do something, so we pulled off the road, pulled out the step stool and I
climbed up to see what I could figure out.
We must have been there 10 minutes pondering the problem, when Barb said: “Hey, you need to snap that canvas to the
bar” So we did – Problem solved – not
something that I will soon forget!!!!
All is well.
We made it back to Belgrade, met up with my cousin to
retrieve my photos. I waited with the
dogs while Barb went into the Casino.
All of a sudden, the wind picked up, and with about 90 miles to go, I didn’t
want to be caught in a major storm. (the
wind and rain of the night before caused havoc all across central Montana –
flooding, mudslides, power outages) I
went in and pulled Barb, kicking and screaming…… no that’s a lie – she came
quietly. And… we were on the road again.
A few miles down the road was Three Forks and the headwaters
of the Missouri – we stopped to look around.
We saw where the Gallatin and Madison rivers meet to form the
Missouri. We got back in the truck to
head down the road about ½ mile to see where the Jefferson river joins in – but
by the time we got nearly there, the storm caught up with us, and we decided it was time to hit the road again!
We got back to Helena about 6 p.m., tired and hungry, but
happy. We finished the sandwiches from
the Pickle Barrel and got a good night’s sleep.
And so ended our adventure to the Beartooth Mountains.
Until next time
Bear Hugs
Luv ‘n Boots and Tucker too,
And of course, always, Little Bear
She believed she could do it, and so she did!
