LEWISTOWN, MT TO ST. MARY'S AT GLACIER

9/15

We're on the road again, with Glacier really in reach! Our travels to this little camping spot have were uneventful, but pleasant. And, by gosh, this campground- dubbed a Rest Stop"- is also a free campground courtesy of the Kiwanis of Lewistown, Montana. Now, here is a town we could live in-- in my next life I will plan for it! After breakfast, we went in search of some auto items, and this took us into the town with its wide and endless Main Street, lined with interesting businesses- the first of it's kind we've seen in a long time. People driving by waved to us, people on the street wanted to chat, and we're always up for that! A sign for Big Spring Market took us to a food coop/bakery/ wine seller. For coffee, they directed us to the Rising Trout Cafe on Main St.owned by the same person, who turned out to be Leaf Star Arnotti, also an artist. Leaf's cafe is a small haven-- free WiFi, small bookstore, and CD collection, not to mention excellent coffee and baked goods from her Big Spring Market bakery. Leaf's mural of trout is stunning, and there is a wonderful ambiance in her cafe. So we lingered awhile, since we didn't have a huge drive to our destination.

We really love the openness of the country out here. Somehow it seems quite liberating to be able to see for miles and miles. At times it's been field after field of hay bales dotting the landscape; some are rolled and left to dry by themselves while some form sculptures with the stacked bales. Sometimes it's a barren field populated only by an abandoned building or two. Why were they abandoned and who lived here once upon a time?

    Coming to Glacier from the south, we began to have glimpses of what we will be seeing soon.

That little speck you can see on the left side of the road? That is a recumbent biker, and the hill she was about to maneuver was VERY steep!

Finally we arrived, late in the afternoon, to St Mary's where Johnson's ( world famous even!) campground / cafe/ motel and gave us a prime site with a view of St. Mary Lake from our doorway. We set up and then Johnson's Cafe welcomed us warmly with its log walls and checkered tablecloths, and friendly waiters. We were glad to eat the delicious family-style food, with a specialty beef noodle soup just like our moms would have made.

MILES CITY TO LEWISTOWN, MT

 9/14/

Spending time with friends is always enriching, and so it has been the last two days with our friends, Ruthie and Cliff Pollert in Miles City, Montana. We met these wonderful folks in New Mexico 4 years ago, and have been in touch ever since. On our aborted trip to Glacier in 2008, it was here that we took “shelter” for 4 days when it snowed at Glacier and impeded forward progress! We generally just hang out beside their house; drink a few beers, visit, share meals, laughs and stories. Cliff is a scroll saw craftsman par excellence and their home is filled with all sorts of intricate artwork that take the patience of a saint to create. We are also the recipients of some lovely gifts, the latest of which is a funky road runner who will grace our future camping spots as we go on our way! Watch his legs become a blur when the wind comes up!

It's been a quiet, relaxing time, and we really enjoy not having to rush down the road, hunched over the wheel! I'm getting caught up on the blog and making it TOO long; I've been reading HarlenCoben murder mysteries, and putting off cleaning the camper. I've done laundry in their super front-loading machine using a home-brewed detergent that won't hurt the environment or the septic.....and actually gets things clean. I have the recipe,and it makes GALLONS for just pennies. ( You had better watch out, Proctor and Gamble!!) Bill's been tinkering on the camper, taking naps, walking with Cliff and Trixie, the Pomeranian, and plotting our course further. Xian's been eating the cat's and dog's foods and chasing Pixie, the black cat .

Tomorrow we'll be on the road to Glacier, probably arriving there on Thursday. .

THE WALK WE NEVER INTENDED TO TAKE

9/10
Last night was wild. The campground was lit up with strobe lights, and the thunder rolled in a continuous game of bowls. The lightning angled sideways, the rain pounded the camper, and then came the hail. In the morning a woman told me that a month or so ago they had hail the size of bars of soap in the town below us! Gee, maybe that would have enhanced the character of the truck even further!

    Around noon today we decided to go for a walk. Both of us had had breakfast, and we weren't yet ready for lunch. We were going to walk for about an hour or so and then come back for lunch, but we took lots of water, as the day was sunny and hot. We followed the signs to the Black Hills Overlook, ( someone had told me it was a wonderful hike ) intending to go just until we got a bit tired and hungry. Our trail started just above the campground and led us through the cool Ponderosa forest, where Bill spotted a great horned owl-- his second and my first! Yellow eyes, blinkety blink. How beautiful!

   Out of the forest we came onto meadow areas and continued to the sign leading us to the overlook. Up and up we went. Xian found a stick and teased us to play. Up and up we went-- it felt pretty good! We could see what we thought was the overlook, and it looked miles away. Bill said "Why not?" I said "You're kidding!"

But off we went until  a sign further on told us that the overlook would be a mile ahead, not the short distance we had originally thought. At this point Bill was ambivalent, while I said "Let's go- it's only a mile! You got me into this!"  ( We had gone probably two miles at that point, from our campground.) Through the meadows and into the cool forest of Ponderosa we hiked up and on, until we came to an area we thought was the overlook. No sign so marking it, but the scene below was breathtaking. Even Xian thought so!

 By now we were hiking on rock, and below us were more Ponderosas and rock formations. We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in Nebraska, because this was more like Utah or New Mexico. Still, we had not come to the advertised overlook. On we went, coming to all sorts of places that would have made wondrous overlooks, but the trail still stretched  our endlessly. It seemed as if we had gone at least two miles ( always seems longer when you're going up) before we finally came to THE OVERLOOK, which was NOT marked. Compared to all that we had seen coming up,  THE OVERLOOK  was not impressive at all, and we so eschewed taking any photos. 

   At that point it was time to go back, The decision was made to return  a different way, the dirt road leading back down to the campground, instead of the steep hills we had come up. Made sense, no? 

   Did we have the campground map? YES! Had we looked at it? Of course NOT! What did we need the map for?? By this time it was about 3:15 PM, and we were doing OK for not having had lunch. Anyway, we pondered, how far could the campground really be-- maybe a mile or two?  So as the road snaked around and around, with no end in sight, I finally asked to see the map. From the map, it would appear that the road back to the campground was some 5-6 miles!  GREAT!! We would have been better off going back down the way we had come. At this point, our pace had slowed a bit, and we were getting tired. The wind had picked up and it was getting cooler. I envisioned us crawling back into camp after dark, worn to the bone; and I admit to having become somewhat anxious. By and by, as we were assessing a well- mown path that we had come to, across a meadow to the woods, ( A shortcut? ) what do we spy but a white Chadron truck, driven by Arnie the Angel. Bless his big heart, Arnie offered to take us back to the entrance to our camping area!! Immediately, Xian did a GIANT leap into the cab, leaving us in his dust—no dummy he-- and the four of us in the cab rode back to camp along the circuitous paved road. As we rode, we became more and more aware  of the distance we would have yet to travel; indeed, if it were not for Arnie, it would have been well after nine PM when we had "lunch".
Maybe we should look at the map before setting out the next time?!

Did they even bother to ask me?

And they certainly didn't bother to ask ME!!!

(Photo by my honey)

SHELBY TO VICTORIA SPRINGS -- ANSELMO, NEBRASKA

9/8
 After leaving our parking lot campground, the first order of the day was to find the Camping World and peruse its aisles. Camping World is like an department store for campers and their owners, and a VERY seductive place. Everything for your camping vehicles and then some. Toilet paper? You got it! Lawn chairs with fancy prints? Yup! Darkening film for your windows? Of course! Carpeting, strings of lights, flags, and on and on. Lots of things you also think you need, but you really don't. In Council Bluffs, Iowa ( don't you love the name?) we found the place and left with our pockets a little lighter.

       Next on the list was to find some Nature's Variety dog food for Xian.By now we're in Nebraska.  As we were on our way into Lincoln to a pet store we had researched, Bill spied a building with a sign on it announcing. NATURE'S VARIETY, so he made a quick turn into the driveway off of Cornhusker Highway.( Bill is very talented at making sharp turns and U-ies  when you least expect it.).As it turned out, this building was a distribution place for Nature's Variety, not a place to buy the food. However, the office staff is a wonderful bunch of people, and Linda Miners, the account manager, very gladly gave us a 40# bag of Xian's favorite flavor, along with a box of biscuits which are a new product. Nature's Variety is a grain-free food for both cats and dogs, and one that was recommended by Xian's veterinarian. Of course, after those gifts, Bill had to put Xian through his paces: "down-and-unders", "leave it, take it", etc. They all loved it, and Xian left a happy dog.
   After our good luck stop, we drove for many hours today. The day was gray, gloomy and windy, some rain spitting on our windshield. Because we had lingered so long in the AM, we couldn't make our original destination, but we did find our first really lovely state park-- Victoria Springs at Amselmo, where the cottonwoods arched protectively over our camper and we were the only ones in the park. Nice, but somewhat eerie.
( Och! Posted this a day late and am afraid of losing it if I delete it in the editing section.....oh well! I'm sure you'll understand! )

ANSELMO TO CHADRON

9/9/10
This is our first time in Nebraska, and we have found it quite surprising and fascinating. A large portion of our drive took place in the Sand Hills.  Did you know there are sand dunes in Nebraska? Nebraska actually has the largest area of sand dunes, albeit covered with grass, in the US, At the southwest end of what was probably an ancient inland sea.  And trains! We saw trains enough to last a lifetime-- all hauling coal-- and all consisting of more than a hundred cars. Usually an engine in front and one in back. They ran parallel with the road in front of the dunes.

   Outside of Alliance we came upon Carhenge, not one of the wonders of the world. However, a circle the size Stonehenge was marked by cars partially buried on end, with other cars and trucks positioned on top, the entire sculpture coated in a gray material. We lingered long enough to take a photo and then carried on without going in. (Photo by Bill)
    Late in the day we rather abruptly left the sand dunes ( or they left us!)and entered country that looked more like Utah than Nebraska, some areas reminiscent of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Eventually we pulled into our destination of the night, Chadron State Park, another gem. We have a lovely spot on a hill surrounded by trees, which give glimpses rock formations that we're eager to explore.
   Which reminds me, I would just absolutely love to show you the pictures I took of the dunes, the trains, and the dog food folks However, I somehow lost them all when transferring to the external hard drive. Yes, I'm disappointed, too, but Bill has a few. In addition, I have refrained from taking a photo of the smashed -in rear panel of the truck that occurred when Bill backed into our campsite and hit a post. The panel sports a nice band aid covering of black Gorilla tape!! Aren't we a pair?!

ROCK ISLAND TO SHELBY, IOWA

 9/7
For spacious skies, for fruited plains and amber waves of corn, corn, and more corn. IOWA!! You might think that driving along with cornfields on either side as far as you can see, for mile after mile after mile might be boring, but far from it. Forget genetically altered for a moment and envision our highway as it rises and falls with the rolling hills. ( Iowa is NOT flat!) On both sides of the road lie undulating rows of corn, glinting antique gold in the sun. Sometime they march in straight rows, sometimes they roll with the hills. Sometimes they're interrupted by a serpentine swath of emerald, a path cut by the mowers and then grown green. Sometimes they lie with dark bands of terracing stepping up to the horizon, a way to keep erosion away .Occasionally a stream will snake its way across the field, lush cottonwoods clinging to the banks. Oh, and sometimes the fields will be broken by other fields of bright gold , which we think is soybean. The side of the road is lit with thick patches of goldenrod and a heliopsis of some sort. Absolutely glorious!

   The other sight that delighted us-- maybe not others- was the many wind farms we saw along the way. We don't find them an eyesore, we find them graceful and elegant. I saw a pair of windmills that I could swear from my perspective was dancing-- arms spread and wheeling in joyful play with each other. ( Photo from Bill.)
  It's been windy in Iowa, and driving is always challenging. We were glad to finally decide to stop at a small not-too-attractive RV park /combination motel. Just a parking lot, really, with hookups. Hot, dusty, and right off the highway. Sometimes you just can't be choosers!!

SEE YA LATER

9/7/10
    I thought I would let you all know that we're not just disembodied voices; we are actually along on this trip, and here's proof.
    Enough relaxing, we have to get along the way, and so we say good bye to our friends, old and new and pack up the rig, heading for Omaha and then Chadron State Park.
   Friends are what keep us going, at home and while traveling, and we're very lucky to have such treasures. Meeting people along the way is just as exciting to us as seeing the country, and so here are a few pics of our "finds". 

You've seen them before, but you've not seen their tiny camper. Everything you could hope for an more crammed into a cramped 40 feet of space. We love ours, but we sure do love to get together in theirs!!

Our friends, Doug and Jen, with Ziba ( left) and Kody. What fun we've all had! Kody and Xian have had a great time playing ball-- it's also Kody's favorite thing to do. But, she gives way to Xian and then races alongside barking and nipping at his mouth. She overflows with energy and boundless joy, leaping like a little deer to get the ball and Xian. Sadly, she has a severe heart murmur and is on two meds a day. She's two years old and they cherish every day of her life.  Jennie has a sewing machine in their camper and whips out incredible work with the neatest prints. Dog beds, table runners, welding caps, welding duffles, sweat pants, you name it. We're  going to be trading some wine cups for pillows some time in the near future.

Last but not least, is little Ava, Jennie's grand daughter, who made friends with Xian immediately. Xian loves kids and seems to know not to grab the ball and not to jump up. Kids come out of the woodwork when he's around.
  And so, goodbye to Rock Island and onto the road.