Bear Tooth Highway

Today we went on a 6 hour ride up and over Bear Tooth Highway in Montana & Wyoming. Lots of switchbacks, a fair amount of rain and some sleet, felt sorry for the bikers. Temperature was 37 around the peak. I've seen enough mountains but Judy likes them. I prefer various shades of green hills & blue sky. We saw one mule deer & a balk eagle. We also followed the path of the Nes Perce Indians as they evaded the cavalry, those folks were tuff. I don't have many pictures of the serious mountains with lots of snow due to the rain and lots of clouds.

Battle of Canton Creek

Today we were joined by Nancy & Vern, fellow HitchHiker friends. They pulled into the park also for the holiday weekend. We all went to lunch after they set up and then drove a short distance to the site of the Battle of Canyon Creek between the US Calvary and the Nez Perce Indians lead by Chief Joseph. There's a small fire pit inside the memorial containing feathers, burnt sage, & bead bracelets left as a memorial by native Americans. In the afternoon Jeff & Susan stopped by again & the six of us had a nice visit.

As the sun was setting Judy took the picture of the refinery across the Yellowstone River, good shot huh? We also learned that the several stone buildings here in the city park were built by German POWs during WWII and used as their barracks. They worked on local farms also until the war ended, interesting tidbit.

Laurel, MT

Today we had another long drive.....120 miles to Laurel, Montana. We wanted to find a place to "hole up" for the fourth of July holiday so we were off the road and in a campground. We are in the small Riverside City Park beside the Yellowstone River. Our neighbors are mosquitoes, and there are many. The front of the rig is headed east toward Michigan so here we come Devyn! Jeff & Susan Collingwood are also in Laurel visiting some friends and they all stopped over for cocktail hour.

Bozeman, MT

Today we were at the Ford dealer at 7:45 to have the "check engine" error light problem investigated. The intermittent problem was found to be the EGR valve so it was replaced under warranty......saving us $329! We then had an early lunch at Subway, stopped at Home Depot, fueled the truck & did some grocery shopping and were home by noon. Lazy afternoon, Judy did some house cleaning while I was on the PC and cleaned the truck inside. Temps were in the mid 80s before the afternoon thunder storm rolled in at 4pm breaking up our outside rummy game.

We have noticed that we have not seen a Michigan RV for 6 or 7 weeks. Where are the MI RVers?

If the rain backs off I should have the chance to wash the truck this evening.

Yellowstone & now Bozeman, MT

Sunday we sat by the park office in the morning bidding farewell to most of our HitchHiker friends as they pulled out. At noon we joined 8 other couples that stayed over for a Yellowstone bus tour looking for wildlife. We did the northern Yellowstone loop and several side roads. We returned at 8:30pm and had a chicken box lunch. In all that time we saw lots of bison, few hundred of them in the Lamar Valley. We saw one large bull elk and one coyote. Some claimed to have seen a wolf resting in downed trees at a rivers edge. We did see lots of nice scenery.

Monday morning we said good bye to a few more HitchHiker friends and started out of the mountains. We made the 120 mile trip north to Bozeman, MT and arrived a little before noon. We are planning on spending two nights here and have the trucks intermittent "check engine" error looked at Tuesday morning.

G&G Rally ends

Well, the G&G Rally has ended. We slept in this morning and went to a ride into Idaho and stopped for a nice lunch at a restaurant then on the way home we stopped and did the laundry. At 5pm we joined the gang for happy hour and took a double batch of beeritas. At 6 we had another pot luck followed by the rally closing. We had a good time. Most of our friends will be pulling out in the morning but we are staying another day to take a wildlife bus tour into Yellowstone in the afternoon and evening.

G&G Rally (Geezers & Gysers Rally)

When I started posting the pictures they were all together & organized, but not now!

Well, it's been a week since my last post & we have been busy. Saturday we moved to Lionshead CG 7 miles down the road for the G&G Rally. We are now in West Yellowstone, MT. Sunday we sat around the office and enjoyed the sunshine and watching all the HitchHikers pull in. Judy set up the book exchange. There are 42 rigs here from around the US & Canada....and one from England. Don't ask me how they towed over here. Sunday night was the welcoming burger cookout and I was 50% of the flipping & cooking team. Monday we went to the dutch oven demo and in the evening we attended the BFF (best forum forever) pot luck. I must have ate too much as Tuesday morning I wasn't feeling too well so missed the breakfast in a bag and darn it....the bloody mary taste off! I had the HOTTEST bloody mary, even Jeff (Mr hot pepper) couldn't drink it. We put a few items in the rummage sale....and brought them back. Tuesday afternoon we had the first Haulin' HitchHiker membership meeting (I'm the secretary/treasurer) and had the honor of NuWa's owner & CEO attend. In the evening we attended the big pizza party. Wednesday we chartered a bus & 9 couples spent the day exploring, we went to Virgina & Nevada City (tourist traps) and took a train ride from one city to the other. The best part was traveling the back gravel roads. We returned in time for another pot luck dinner & birthday party.....everyone brings a present (some serious & some not) for an exchange and you can either take a new present OR take one someone has already opened. That was fun. Thursday Judy & I did the lower Yellowstone loop after the morning cowboy breakfast. In the evening we all went to the rodeo, that was fun too! Then some of us went out for a late dinner. Today we had a pot luck Hors d'oeuvres then a really good prime time variety show by several of the attendees. We have also been doing a lot of visiting with old friends and meeting many new ones from the NuWa Owners Forum. Need time to rest!!