Inbound

Addey was off to work early in her new long-sleeved shirt she had bought at the D. I. store and Skyler off for his 5th day on his new job.  Skyler’s oldest sister, Whitney and her three kids were coming up from Salt Lake City to stay for a week.  After a few fits and starts, Whitney called to let us know she would be in around 6 pm.  Joyce, Millie and I had a late breakfast and we did some laundry.  Then Skyler came home early.  Sky and I goofed off with Rosie in the TV room and before we knew it. Whitney rolled in around 7.  The noise level immediately went up several db.  Whitney has a five year old girl, Pepper and a four year old boy named Kade and a beautiful little 6 month old girl, Emree.  To say Kade keeps things stirred up is to put it mildly.  He’s a handful.  His big sister is not big enough to keep him from doing his “deeds” on her.  Alone, he’s a sweet little boy.  Mix him in with Rosie and Pepper and his spots seem to change right before your eyes.  It’s going to be an interesting week.  We did some more catching up with Whitney and her kids (we had met with them in early September in New York when we visited her daddy, our oldest).

Home Alone

Skyler went off to work.  Addey took the day off  and the girls all went to the D. I. store (Desaret Industries, sort of a Goodwill type store) in Rexburg to see what bargains they could drum up.  I was left home alone.  It sure was quiet.  I managed to finish Skyler’s laptop (updated it to Windows 10) then went to the local visitors center and dumped the RV’s waste tanks.  Just as we arrived in Ashton on Tuesday, the DEF warning light had come on, so I stopped at an auto parts store and bought a 2.5 gal jugs of it.  When I got home, Skyler was there, home from work.  He helped me park on the leveling blocks again and I topped off the DEF and fresh water.  Empty waste tanks, full fresh water tanks and DEF topped off.  We were set for a few more days.  When the girls got home Skyler and Millie cooked up some delicious chicken fajitas and that about finished off the day.  Millie took Joyce to her salon to cut her hair and give her a pedicure.  Addey drove them and Rosie went along for the ride.  Skyler and I watch The Bourne Identity and babysat Pennie.  Dollie (the dog) helped by keeping watch on Pennie in the bedroom.  She would come in and jump on Sky’s lap for a few minutes, only to return to the bedroom to resume her baby watch.  Good little watchdog.

After the girls got back home, Grandma Joyce was put in the hospital.

Kickin' Back

A lazy day.  We were pretty road weary, so we just stayed home and enjoyed the young’uns and visited.  Addey didn’t have to work until 4 pm.  I started in on Skyler’s new laptop trying to solve a problem he had with it.  Skyler got home from his new job as a juvenile boys correctional center instructor.  I can just here the boys calling out, “Toilet break, Boss?”  Oh, not really, but Skyler’s new job should be interesting for him…not to mention he will be getting a welcome pay check after a few years of stuffing college down his craw.  Anyway, after Skyler got home, Addey went to work waiting tables at Jud’s, a local restaurant.  So, we all packed up and went to Jud’s for a burger…and to pester Addey.

On the way back home, Skyler took us to watch a seed potato storing operation going on just up the road from their home.  Trucks coming in from the field would back up to a big chunk of machinery and dump potatoes into it.  The machine would spread the spuds out on a wide conveyor in a single layer so workers further down the conveyor could sort and pick out the dirt, rocks and bad spuds.  The conveyor then continued on to a second conveyor that would pile the spuds in a huge pile in a huge Quonset hut style building.  The potatoes raised here in the Ashton area are mainly raised as seed potatoes.  They are sold to wholesale potato farms who cut them up and plant them to raise potatoes for the market.  Since these were seed potatoes that would not be planted until next spring, they are stored over the winter to be sold in the spring.

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.

Lunar Eclipse

First, I promised a few photos once I got them downloaded from my camera...if we had good Internet service tonight.  Well, we do, so here they are.

A shot of the road from Stanley down to Teddy Roosevelt NP.  It was heavy construction nearly all the way which is why we wound up staying at TRNP North instead of making it on down the the south park.

Then a shot of oil rigs pumping away.  There must have been hundreds of these things.  Actually, the road leaving Stanley had more than the area right around Stanley.

Taken in the North Teddy Roosevelt Park, the Little Missouri River and a CCC pavilion overlooking it.

A quickly fading sunset for the park.

The moon...just to prove there was one a few days before the eclipse.

Weird rock formation.  Could it be there was a graffiti artist there some time ago?

Someone knocked over the egg basket.

Teddy Roosevelt NP Badlands.

Park buffalo bison.  Before our visit was over we were surrounded by them after dark.  Kind of eerie watching dark hulking forms moving slowly in the moonlight.

Thousands of fat little prairie dogs put there just to make Ditto go crazy.

Another weird rock formation that caught Joyce's eye.

Today was a short travel day.  We drove maybe three hours.  Life is hard when retired.  We left Teddy Roosevelt NP South this morning just before noon.  As we headed out, we stopped to take on a load of fresh water and just beyond the watering hole was a herd of bison hanging out on and around the road.  A couple of campers on bicycles had stopped and eventually turned around.  The woman had noticed a couple of bison calves in the bunch and thought it might not be a good idea to get too close.  Joyce and I speculated the bison have been so close to so many humans in the park that a couple of cyclists would probably not be noticed.  But, better safe than sorry.

We have to eventually nose our way through the crowd to get out of the campground.  Then we headed for Medora, the little town just outside the park on I-94.  We had taken a quick look around when we had arrived yesterday, so we just drove on through the outskirts, stopping briefly at the site of a historical beef packing plant.  Oh joy.

We jumped on the Interstate and headed for Miles City where I had planned to stop for the night.  It was a short hop, but I wanted to get settled in early so I could get set up to photo the lunar eclipse this evening.

We nabbed a campsite at a clean little park called Big Sky RV Park.  After all, here we were in big sky country, so why not?  Of course, the fact that is was about the only thing around had something to do with it, too.

We got settled in and I took a nap.  No hurry, as it was early.  We ate supper and I watched a little TV (they have cable hookups here).  Watched the Pope leave...and watched the Pope leave...and watched the Pope leave.

I got a little nervous when I saw dark clouds beginning to drift in about dusk.  The eclipse was to start at 8:11 pm Mountain time.  Things were looking critical about 7 pm, but the clouds were moving quickly so maybe...

Maybe didn't happen.  I finally got my photo just as it began to sprinkle.

Regardless of the eclipse disappointment, if you have never visited Teddy Roosevelt National Park, I recommend it be added to your bucket list.  Joyce and I liked it about as much as The Grand Canyon.  It was nowhere near as crowded and the sights were beautiful, the critters great.  Of course, visiting in late September made a big difference in the visitor population, no doubt.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Woke up this morning to the sun sneaking through the gaps around the edges of the window blinds.  Pow!  Good morning (smiley face goes here).  It's like a puppy trying to wake you up in the morning by playing licky face.

We're still in the Teddy Roosevelt National Park (southern area).  It has a 20 miles or so loop road around the park which we took yesterday...twice, once one way then once the other way.  Things often look different when viewed from a different perspective.  This is a beautiful park, but the wildlife is the big attention getter.  I've never seen so many buffalo (okay, okay, bison) roaming free as I have seen here.  There may be more at Custer State Park in South Dakota, but I been there several times and haven't seen this many before.  Then there are the white tail and mule deer and, holy cow!, the biggest prairie dog town I've seen and with the biggest fattest prairie dogs.  They look more like groundhogs they are so fat.  Guess they're about ready for winter.

On our second go round, it was dark by the time we got back.  So, it was dusk for a portion of the trip and the critters were out in force.  We even saw a herd of feral horses that thrive here.  It was getting pretty dark by now and as we were putting along about 20 mph, we picked out a dark form in the middle of the road.  As is came into view in the headlights, we could see it was a big old (I mean old) buffalo bull strolling right in the middle of our lane.  When I got too close, he grudgingly yielded the road and headed for the shoulder.  It was then we noted he was limping.  His right rear leg was in some kind of trouble.  Joyce made a comment about him gripping about having to leave the smooth road and walk in the rough roadside...with him bum leg.

As we approached the end of the loop the speed limit went from 25 mph to 35 mph, so I picked it up a bit.  Mistake.  Buffalo are very difficult to see in the dark and before I knew it, I was in the middle of a herd of 'em.  No, I didn't hit any, but they did surprize us.

Joyce and I both have a boat load of photos that I haven't yet downloaded from the cameras.  I'll try to do that and maybe make a special post of park photos IF we have decent Internet service next stop.

Boom Town

Interesting day today.  After seeing the monster coal drag lines and Mr. Peabody's coal trains hauling coal to wherever, we left the coal mining country and headed up to Minot and on to Stanley, ND.  This is the location of the Bakken shale oil fields.  A Cedarcreek friend has a friend who worked up here for a few years and the stories he carried back piqued our curiosity.  But, first, on the way there, we drove passed a large wind turbine farm with scores of huge wind turbines churning out electrical power.  A day or so ago, we passed a large group of buildings with their roofs covered with solar panels.  Last night we camped near a hydro-electric power dam.  And, now we were heading into the oil boom town of Stanley.  The range of different kinds of power sources in such a relatively small geographical area was impressive.

Actually, Stanley did not appear too much the wear for being the center of a boom.  I saw no saloons with girls dancing on the balconies, no bath houses offering a clean shave and a bath.  There was no shootouts in the street (at least while we were there).  Instead, we found a city park with some kids celebrating a birthday with a couple of little furry pups running around loose.  So, we stopped there for lunch and a rest.

We continued our tour of Stanley and as we became more sensitive to the sights that implied "boom" we began to see a larger affect on the community than first realized.  Especially, since the boom is on its way to bust now.  There were several multiple apartment dwellings under construction and several obviously on hold as the economy slows.  There were other things that showed, as well, that a boom had occurred, like five sets of siding rails, an over abundance of building material retailers, a seeming lack of churches in the numbers one typically encounters in a community this size.

Then there was the fringes of town.  It was here that the oil industry was still at work.  There were many oil pumps tilting slowly up and down with several large collecting tanks nearby.  Big pumps new pumps, not little old rusty ones like we commonly see in Oklahoma, for example.  Then there were the huge water trucks parked all around that carried water to the fields for fracking of the shale.  And, maybe that's the sign the boom is slowing.  The pumps were pumping and trucks were parked which meant the shale had already been fracked and the major employment processes were slowing down.  All that seemed to be left was the sparkling new pumps merrily humping away unattended.  Oh well, easy come easy go.

We headed on back down to Lake Sakakawea for the night.  We're now camped at a large but empty COE campground on the upper end of the lake.  Most campsites are out in the open, as is the one we're in, but this time of the year the sun is welcome as temps are running a bit cooler than summer time.  And, out in the open is good for satellite TV reception, too.  So, I'm listening to the incessant news coverage of the Pope's visit.

Tomorrow we head for Teddy Roosevelt National Park.