Ashton Arrival

Stayed at a KOA just outside Red Lodge, MT.  It was an okay campground, but typical KOA over pricing, especially for a one night stand with electricity and water only.   It did have a nice doggy playground where dogs can be let off their leash for a while.  Of course, Ditto had to stop and crap right in front of the office before we got to the dog park.  I took her anyway and let her loose to read all the newspapers.  She walked nearly the entire perimeter of the park before a guy came with his huge dog.  The guy said his dog was still a pup and would not bother me or Ditto as he turned it loose, too.  Then a woman came up and turned loose her collie.  At first Ditto seem to think, “Oh boy!”, then as she approached the other dogs and saw their size, she had a change of heart and wanted to go home.

We got a fairly early start (for us) the next morning and headed on through Red Lodge and down the Bear Tooth Highway, U.S. Hwy 212.  We had come this way last summer, but from the opposite direction.  It was just as the big annual Bear Tooth motorcycle crush was going on and the highway was jammed with motorcycles from  Cody, WY up the Chief Joseph Highway and on up the Bear Tooth Highway into Red Lodge.  Red Lodge was spilling over with them (check the July 2014 timeframe on this blog).  It was different this time, though.  Red Lodge was nearly deserted and those that were there were mostly prepping for winter.  We took Hwy 212 on into Yellowstone Park via the northeast entrance.  This is a good time to visit Yellowstone as the summer vacation crowd is gone yet it is still not cold.  But, we were in a bit of a hurry to see Skyler and his little family, so we just cut through the park and exited at the West Yellowstone gate.  There we picked up Hwy 20 which took us the 70 miles or so on to Ashton, ID.  We pulled into their drive about 6 pm.

We parked up by the dog pen like we did the summer of 2014.  Skyler had upgraded his outbuildings by adding electrical power out there.  He plugged in a long heavy extension cord and we were set.  Our parking spot was even right next to his outdoor water faucet, to boot.  As we were setting up, out came little Rosie.  I don’t remember what she was wearing, but I don’t think it included shoes.  What a cutie she is.  We all went in and settled down for a pizza dinner and lots of catching up.  Besides Skyler, Millie, Rosie and the new to us baby Pennie, Skyler’s little sister Addey was there to contribute to the “catching up”.

I'm trying to catch up this blog after the hub-bub of visiting Skyler and gang.  There was too much going on for me to keep up the blog.  I have many photos I'd like to share, but still haven't downloaded from our cameras.  So, you might want to go back to this date (and the following days) on occasion to see if photos have been posted.  I'll try to remember to tell you when I've caught up.