Faster Than a Covered Wagon into Wyoming

Monday journey into Wyoming

Adding Wyoming to the RV Map

As we passed from Montana into Wyoming today, we are once again glad we travel in an air-conditioned coach making 250 miles a day comfortably and NOT traveling in wagon trains across the rolling hills making 20 miles a day, nor following General George Armstrong Custer, who was more concerned about personal fame than following orders! We thought of both as we passed through Crow Reservation and the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876.

Spent last night next to the Yellowstone River

We had a quiet and cool night on Sunday, camped south of Livingston, Montana on the Yellowstone River, which flows northeast. We are again in the land of rivers flowing east to join the great Mississippi, a fact that takes about two rivers to remember where you are. The sunset was vibrant, due to forest fires to west and the fish were biting for the several fishermen we saw along the banks. Best of all it was cool enough to just open the windows and not run the air conditioner, dropping into the low 50's that night.


We have seen deer along the side of road, one on hind legs reaching for just ripe apples from a tree with a fence not quite high enough. Last night after our nightly walk around the campground, we returned to find two bunnies eating the green grass and watching us carefully. We love to see bunnies and deer, even bison (which we hope to see in South Dakota), just not the critters on the sign below.


Rest Area sign in southern Montana

We pulled into the Sheridan, Wyoming KOA about 5 pm tonight after leaving Livingston at 1030 this morning for 260 miles. This is enough for us and allows for relaxing dinner, walk around the campground, showers and reading before bed -- oh yes -- and updating this blog. Hope your are enjoying it!

A Day of Montana Miscellaneous

Our Route Today from Missoula to Livingston near Yellowstone

We started the day in sunny and warm Missoula, with visits from Forest Service friends Connie and Alan and a RV tour for Jeff and Heather.  We pulled out later than normal at 1130 and drove up and out of the Missoula Valley on our way towards Butte and Bosman.  We passed a number of towns that we are glad are not our home towns, including Phosphate and Butte.

Continental Divide in the RAIN

Our Google Maps on iPad and Garmin GPS for Navigation

Some folks have asked what we do as we go down the road.  Pamela reads the newspaper and shares interesting items, and is always looking ahead with iExit apps and the Mountain Pass Directories and the Trucker Map Guide to make sure that we know what to expect ahead.

A Valuable Guide for Big Rigs (and Us Too)

 One of the challenges when you have a 30 foot RV with a Subaru Forester hooked on behind is that you cannot just pull into any gas station without planning ahead.    Today, we fueled up at a truck stop and parked between the big rigs while we went into the Subway for lunch.

Find the RV?

Not Your Average Gas Station

 Weather was a mixed bag as well with rain squalls, lightening, and pretty stiff winds.  As we are camped tonight along the Yellowstone River just south of Livingston and it is raining hard and blowing pretty good, and thunder and lightening to boot.  We probably won't do much exploring here due to the weather, but it would be a good place to come back to when we can spend some more time.

Yellowstone River Near our Campground 

We hope that this finds you all in good health and spirits.  We drive south into Wyoming and to Sheridan for an overnight there.  Happy Trails,

Neil and Pamela

Chillin' in Missoula

We have enjoyed a relaxing day in Missoula today.  We slept in, had a relaxing breakfast and then drove over to the National Forest Service Museum near the airport.  We were the only people there besides the one person staffing the small visitor center.

Neil at Outdoor Sign at National Forest Service Museum Site

Pamela, Smokey Bear, and Neil

National Forest Service Museum Site

They are in the middle of a fundraising campaign to build a new visitor center to house all the artifacts that have been collected from around the country.  It looks like a nice site, and it was good to visit and contribute to their efforts.

We then drove south to Fort Missoula to look over the area, and stopped at an Albertson's for some supplies.  When we got back to the RV park, Neil checked the RV oil, cleaned the windshield, sorted out the water connections, adjusted the BBQ grill, and finally took on step two of the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) install--screwing on the sensors.

Isn't it amazing how the simple tasks come back to bite you in the backside?  What should have been an easy task was complicated by the dual wheel valve stems on the INSIDE of the tires.  There are tire stem extensions for the inside wheels, but Neil could not reach the outside tire valve stems to install the sensors on the end of the valve stems. 

Long story short, he was able to install the sensors on eight of the ten tires (six on the RV and four on the Forester "Toad").  They are sending PSI and temperature information to the monitor as they should.  Neil will have to take off the wheel covers to get to the outside wheels, or we may add the 'J' valve stem extensions that make it easy to check and reach the outside dual wheel valve stems.  We had them on earlier RV's and they work great if properly installed.

We will see how well the Toad sensors transmit to the RV monitor on the dash when we are hooked up and going down the road.  We may have to invest in a signal booster if they don't show up on the monitor.

Historic "Camping" #1 Teepees at KOA Campground

Historic Camping #2 - Pamela and I Remember Wall Tents

Tonight, we had a wonderful visit and dinner with Jeff and Heather Miller  at their new place at 4000 feet above Missoula.  Jeff and Neil worked together in the Forest Service Regional Recreation Staff for many years, and he transferred down to Missoula over a year ago.  Tomorrow, we leave for Livingston, Montana on our way to Wyoming and South Dakota.

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Great to Be in the Trees! Spokane Valley to Missoula

The first thing we noticed today in leaving Spokane as we climbed up into Idaho was the TREES!  It is great to be back in the trees and green landscapes after the time in the hot Columbia River Basin.  We also noticed a lot of road construction and some very rough interstate highways that should be reconstructed.  It was a rough road even at our speed.  We have decided that 55 miles per hour is just fine, and we just let the trucks, motorcycles, and other traffic flow around us.  During the really steep grades, we are only going about 45 MPH, but our gas mileage is a lot better at 55 and we really don't notice the difference.

Spokane Valley to Missoula, Montana

We passed Lake Cour d'Alene and climbed up over the passes into Montana.  It cooled off to a wonderful low 70's and we had an uneventful drive over and down into Missoula.  Uneventful is just the way we like the days to go.

Lake Cour d'Alene from the Highway

Our Missoula KOA Site with Side Parking for Toad

One of our new rituals is to add states we haven't visited with this RV is to add them to the USA map we have on the side of the RV.  Tonight is was time to add Montana.

Montana is State Number Four of Twenty Something on This Trip

Once we were settled in, we were trying to decide what kind of leftovers to have for dinner, when we remembered that there was a Kobe Steakhouse and Grill a block away that we passed on the way into the campground.  We called them up and they take walk ins on Friday, so we walked in.  We had a wonderful dinner (fillet and scallops for Neil and shrimp and scallops for Pamela) with Sake and a Sapporo beer with two other couples from Missoula--one a chiropractor and one a university administrator.  They took our photos and we had a great dinner with them, sharing life stories from around the country and Canada. Picked up a few tips for 2019 RV trip into Alberta and B.C. Anyone interested in joining us?

Neil is Actually MUCH Happier than He Looks

Our Dinner Show at Kobe Steakhouse

We will be in Missoula for two nights while we visit the US Forest Service Smokejumper Visitor Center, the Forest Service History Museum, and see friends.  Temperature this weekend will be in the low 70's which is just about perfect for us.  Happy Trails,

Neil and Pamela

Rufus to Spokane...Following the Kardashian

We had a good second day drive from very rural Rufus, Oregon up the Columbia Gorge and then north through Spokane.  We are in a KOA in Spokane Valley, and are having another warm day, but it should be cooling off for at least a few days.  Timing is everything;  when we left home it was in the mid eighties, which is what is is today near Spokane, but it is 70 degrees back home.  We were reminded the Pamela's Uncle Pat never passed up a rest area, and we hit most of them on the way

Crossing the Columbia River

Vista RV at I-84 Rest Area -- Pat Would be Proud

From here, we drive north and west up to Missoula where we will stay for two nights.  We plan to visit friends and see some new sights.  On the road on the way here we followed a truck with a Kim Kardashian mural on it (see photo).  It is the most we have seen a Kardashian in any form, but we were not able to change the channel on the truck!

Our Kardashian Truck Mural

KOA Spokane with Water Tower

Here is the route we took today.  We improved on our first day performance, which should make Scott feel better.  He said a 9000 mile trip at 120 miles a day would take a while.  Please leave any comments on the blog page so we know that someone is actually reading these posts.  Best wishes to all--wish us safe travels.

Another Great Day on the Road

Around the United States in Eighty Days

We're off!  All of the planning and packing (and repacking) came to an end and we left home today on Day 1 of what we know will be an interesting and enjoyable 80 Days Around the Country -- US and Ontario, Canada.

Our First Gas Stop in Troutdale

Our first day only brought us into the Columbia River Gorge to windy and burn scarred Rufus, Oregon, east of The Dalles.  Along the way here, we saw a lot of burn scars beginning at Multnomah Falls from last year and continuing to this past years week.  We even saw the reddish stains on the hillsides where the aerial fire tanker dropped retardant, stopping one fire near I-84.

Day One from Home to Rufus. Oregon

Here in Rufus, we are in a space that is just about 100 yards from the burn scarred hillside just outside the RV park.  It was about 95 degrees and blowing about 15 mph when we arrived, but it has cooled down nicely.  We like it a whole lot cooler than 95!

Fire Retardant Stain on Hillside from I-84

Camped in Rufus, Oregon - No Fires Here Thankfully

We celebrated our first night with St. Germain champagne cocktails (which Skyler and Brittni got to try out last weekend) and shrimp, along with pizza from last night.  The frig and freezer are stuffed with goodies. This morning, Pamela's wonderful friends from Prayer Shawl group sent us on the road today with GF blueberry muffins and a lovely send-off. Thank You much!