We had a great drive from Casper to Sheridan and parked at the greatest campground we have been to yet. Peter D's Campground in Sheridan Wyoming is one of the few that we are already planning a return trip to. Some of the nicest people and the cleanest facilities we have seen to date.
Sheridan and northern Wyoming were great places to be. We both wish that we had a week to spend as there is so much to do and see. We made the most of what time we had and managed to squeeze in a nice little local museum, great restaurant, and attend a Vaudeville show at the famous Wyo Theatre. We decided to skip the rodeo even though it was their big event. A great time and we were sorry to leave but leave we must.
From Sheridan we drove on to Billings, MT to our second KOA of the trip. Not much to write home about from this one, other than it was our first back-in site of which we have had little practice. We did manage a trip to a huge Cabela's sporting goods store. Quite a place with just about anything you can imagine for hunting, fishing or anything else outdoors. We once again had some very serious thunderstorms in the afternoon and the roads in the RV park became little lakes and rivers.
So, there we were, surrounded by Indians! No, that was Gen. George Custer that was in that predicament. We were just taking a leisurly drive around the Little Big Horn Battlefield because it was so busy we couldn't find a parking place for the rig. What a change has happened over the last 30 years since I was here with my young (at the time) daughters. The last time I was here there was no driving loop around the battlefield. This time we could stop, make a cel phone call and listen to the story of what happened at a specific spot. The museum is still fantastic and really tells the story (both sides, Native American and Cavalry) of what happened during the battle. If you haven't been here then put it on your bucket list.
From Billings it was on to Livingston, MT and our second favorite RV park, the Rock Canyon RV park. We were right on the Yellowstone River and got to see White Pelican floating along, and a Peregrine Falcon on the cliffs. It is located about 50 miles from the northern entrance into Yellowstone National Park but we were just too strapped for time to make the trip there. We did manage however to get into town and make a small birthday purchase for my 62'nd birthday. They had a closeout sale at Dan Bailey's Fly shop and I managed to snag a super nice graphite fly rod there. This shop has been around since 1938 and they really know their business. So, after several years away from fishing, and Lydia bugging me to take her, I am ready to get back into it once again.
Livingston also has a great railroad museum that we enjoyed visiting. I even got to send some code on an ancient Vibroplex bug/sounder combination. It definitely sounded like morse code but very different on a sounder.
From Livingstone to Butte, MT is where the fun begins. Lydia started off driving what was to be a rather short 110 mile day. With about 40 miles to go we switched seats and off we went. Headed up and over the Continental Divide and 20 miles short of our destination we heard a loud bang and quickly got over to the shoulder of I-90. To our surprise, no flats so I looked under the hood and saw nothing amiss and tried starting the engine. It started right up so we thought we would try and continue up and over the Divide ... that didn't happen. As soon as I took off I saw 0 psi on the turbo gauge and the truck would barely move forward. Still on the shoulder we parked again, chocked the trailer tires and called AAA for a tow. Anaconda was the closest tow that could take both truck and trailer so we waited almost 2 hours for them to arrive. We called the local Ford dealer to make sure they had a turbo in stock (which they did) and waited for the tow truck.
The ride up and over the Divide was pretty hair-raising with all of our posessions careening down the mountain with one of the good old boys from Deliverance at the wheel. We were happy to see the Ford dealer when we got there. No mechanics on Saturday off course so the driver pulled our trailer out to our next scheduled RV stop. Unfortunately this is not one of our favorite places to spend the night. What a great birthday!
Oh well, we are looking forward to getting our truck back tomorrow and heading towards home again. So, we have been delayed by only a day and a half so far. Doing housekeeping today and resting, reading and playing some banjo. Home is sounding better all the time..
Phil & Lydia
No comments:
Post a Comment