And We're Off!

Barb, the ultimate planner, has our entire summer adventure planned out. Every day, every activity, how many miles we are driving, where we are staying. Her plan had us leaving Wednesday, May 22nd, so when I asked her if she wanted to leave a couple days early, her response was; "We can't, I have everything planned for us to leave on the 22nd". "How about if we go someplace really close for the first two days, then we will be on your schedule again?", I say. 

We talked it over a little bit and decided to head to Devil's Tower, Wyoming for a two-night stay. So, Sunday we packed everything up for a Monday morning departure. The girls knew something was up. Whenever we start packing up the truck, they get antsy, they just seem to know and do not want to be left behind. 

This is where they were for the last hour before we left. There was no way they were going to be left behind!

The weather called for rain both days, but away we went! It was drizzly and overcast the entire drive, but 176 miles later we pulled into the campground at the base of Devil's Tower. Did I say a campground? Why, yes I did! As many of you know, we take it as a challenge to travel and stay as cheaply as possible. This allows us more money for other things like breweries, distilleries, donuts and eating out. You know, the important things in life. 

Just before the park entrance we saw these longhorns and buffalo grazing in a pasture, it was too good of a picture to pass up, so I pulled over, jumped out, ran across the road and played tourist. 

That night I was chatting online with my BFF Dino, and he asked where we were. When I said Devil's Tower, he said "I did not know Devil's Tower had a Walmart". He thinks he is pretty funny, and it is comments like that that are going to change the middle "F" in BFF! But at $10 with the Senior Pass, I thought we could splurge a little. 

Our campsite

We were here in '21, just a couple weeks after we got Ms. Zoey. You may remember some of the pictures we took of her while we were here. Well, we decided to recreate two of them. The challenge was we had to invade someone else's campsite to take one of them. 

So we quietly snuck into their campsite early the next morning, I shoved Zoey into the hole in the tree, snapped a few pictures and got the heck out of there! 2021 on the left, 2024 on the right. 

Three years and 20lbs later, she still fit in the hole! I can only imagine what the people camping there thought if they happened to be looking out their window. We then took the girls to the prairie dog town. I swear, if Zoey was not on a leash, she would have crawled right down one of those holes. 

Last time we were here the weather was not the greatest either, so we did not do any hiking. This time we were determined to at least hike the base. It was chilly and drizzly, but worth it.

It is only a little over a mile around the base and it is all paved, so it is a pretty easy walk. If you look very carefully at the picture on the left below, you will see a tiny red speck about dead center. The picture on the right is a close up of that speck. 

Now, that would be fun! With heavier rain forecasted for the next day, we decided one night was enough and we hit the road and headed northwest to Sheridan, Wyoming. It rained the entire trip, so it was a good day to travel. 

It was still raining when we got there so we took refuge in one place we knew would welcome wet and wary travelers: The Blacktooth Brewing Company. Isn't that what travelers did in the Old Country? Traveled from tavern to tavern for a pint by the fire?

Once we were rested and hydrated, we headed off to our host for the evening. Walmart of course! There were about a dozen rigs there. It got down to a chilly 34 that night, but the heater kept us plenty warm. 

The rain finally broke the next morning as we carried on to Billings, Montana. We were a day ahead of schedule, so we stayed two nights in Billings to get back on Barb's schedule. 

Our first stop was Pictograph Cave State Park in Billings. I would not really call them caves, and the pictographs were very, very faded, but it was a nice place to take the girls for a walk and have lunch. 

A few miles away from there was Four Dances BLM area, which also has several trails. It was typical BLM area with grasses, sage and yucca, but it did overlook the Yellowstone River in spots. About a mile into our hike Zoey started getting overheated and would not take water, so we had to take turns carrying her on the way back. I personally think she was faking it, but it worked, and she got free rides all the way back to the camper. 

Of course, she was fine when we got back to the camper. By then we were overheated as well so we headed to one of the local watering holes. The Asylum Distillery, weird name, cool distillery. It was decorated with all things asylum. Lots of pictures of people getting lobotomies. I thought about leaving Barb there for a procedure, but she would probably end up looking like this... Or, should I say more like this....

Kinda macabre, but interesting. And the drinks were delicious! I got a smoked Old Fashion and Barb got a White Chocolate Huckleberry Espresso.

From there we walked to The Montana Brewing Company for supper. Very good food and a really cool atmosphere in what looked like old town Billings.  We spent the night in the Cabela's parking lot, waking up to rain about midnight. It then proceeded to rain for about 18 hours straight. We spent most of the day in the camper reading and just chilling. 

Our overnight the next night was a Harvest Host at Canyon Creek Brewing. If you are ever in Billings, this is a "must stop". Beers were reasonable and there were several varieties that looked very good. 

The next morning, we were supposed to meet up with some blogger friends (Mike and Janna) that we have yet to meet in person, they live between Billing and Great Falls. But the precipitation we got in the form of rain, they got in snow. The snow not only made the driving a mess, but it also knocked out power in the area as well. We are going to try and meet up with them on the way back home. Hopefully it works out!

So off we went to Great Falls. We took back roads through a long valley and over a mountain pass. We even became part of a cattle drive! These are all bulls, probably being moved to their summer range.

The north side of the Kings Hill Summit was a mess. They must have gotten a wet and heavy snow. Thousands of trees down everywhere. They had cleared the roads, (just cutting and pushing them to the side) but the National Forest had trees down the entire way down and residents were out in their yards cleaning up the trees in their yards. 

We are now in Great Falls, Barb is doing laundry, I am working on the blog. Exciting times I know. But tomorrow will start the excitement again as we cross over into Alberta. That is if they will accept us!

So Much to do, So Little Time

 For those of you who live in the country and have owned cattle, you know that there are not many things that will meet the sereneness of watching your cattle in a lush green pasture. Well, we discovered something even more serene. Watching someone else's cattle in your pasture!

No expense, no stress of watering, vaccinating or caring for them at all. Just sit back and enjoy the view.  This was our view this week as the gate was opened allowing the cattle on our property. Well, half the cattle, about 20 cow/calf pairs.

Excitement/activities this week included packing and preparing the truck for our Great Alaskan Adventure. Many of you have probably heard of the fires in Canada. We have a little smoke here, reportedly from Canada, but the fire we are watching is in Fort Nelson British Columbia. We have friends who were in that area earlier this week and were forced to hunker down for a few days due to road closures. Then they had to turn around, take an 8-hour detour taking a different route when Fort Nelson was evacuated all together. As of today (Saturday 5/18) they say the roads could be closed for a couple weeks more!

We got out on an ATV ride on Sunday during a rainstorm filled with hail and lightening. Why would we do that? 

Picture if you will, Barb and I sitting on the couch listening to the pitter patter of rain on the roof while watching TV on a lazy Mother's Day afternoon. What a peaceful scene. That is until the phone rings, and it is the neighbor lady. That's weird, she never calls me. She probably wants to complain about her husband, and to be honest I do not blame her. I debate answering, nothing good can become of me answering... But I do anyways to find out it is not the neighbor lady, but the neighbor lady's husband. "Are you home?" he says. At least that is what I think I heard through the thunder and large cracks of lightening on his end. 

Again, debating answering truthfully, I say "Yes". "We are on an ATV ride and got a flat tire out in the National Forest, can you go to our house and grab our spare and bring it to us?". "No problem" I say. A few minutes later we received the texts below showing us exactly where they were. 

Each of these gray and orange lines are ATV trails. The stranded pair in peril are the blue dot. After donning our rain jackets, we set out to find the stranded couple. 

So off we went on a search and rescue mission! Wouldn't you know it, as soon as we hit the trails, the rain, wind and hail started to pound us. We both had to hold onto our hats as we got pounded. The worst of the rain was short-lived, but the resulting puddles were not. Since we were out, and already soaked, why not have fun? We hit those puddles with speed creating showers all around us. Some were a little deeper than expected, but none caused us any trouble. 

Barb mapped out our route "Turn right here", "Turn right here". As a matter of fact, I think every turn was a right. 

We eventually found them sitting alongside the trail. 5 minutes later, they were back on the road and headed back home. 

Later that afternoon we were back at their house for happy hour, or happy 3 hours where Neighbor Jim practiced his bartending skills with Moscow Mules and Manhattans. I practiced my culinary skills by preparing 4 ducks from last fall. 

Speaking of getting stuck. I got the John Deere stuck in the back 40 this week. In a precarious spot on a rocky hill in the forest. Day 1 found me getting it only more stuck, so I let it sit there overnight. Barb and I went back out the next morning and I finagled the Jeep back there between the trees and used it to pull it out. I was on the tractor, Barb in the Jeep with a strap between us. Even that was a little dicey as the jeep started to slip downhill while she tried to pull me out. After repositioning a few times, we finally got it out. I was so pissed off at the time, I did not take pictures. Now, days later, I wished I had. No more tractors on hillsides in the woods. 

Another unexpected low point on the week was when I somewhere, somehow came in contact with poison ivy or the like. Whatever it was, caused a nasty rash on my hand which proceeded to spread. I won't gore you with the pictures, but it looks about as fun as it sounds. I tried something that I had never done before, when I used VirtualMD through our healthcare provider. I went online, answered a series of questions and uploaded some pictures. An hour or so later, I had a diagnosis and a prescription into the local pharmacy. It cost $89 (which might be covered) and saved me a trip into town and I am sure a few dollars. 

Since I am confessing things gone wrong, I have to admit that I broke the top of one of Barb's vintage blue mason jars last week as well. I did not think it was really newsworthy until I received a package in the mail with a replacement lid from none other than Granny Sue! For those of you who do not know her, she is a fellow blogger from out West Virginia way. We have been following each other's blogs for a year or better. She is an antique dealer with a couple of booths where she sells her wares. She had blogged about restocking her booth and I mentioned being in hot water with Barb (again) for breaking the lid. What should come in the mail later in the week? A replacement lid! Bloggers are the greatest!

In addition to her booths, she has an on-line store you could check out here.

From lid-less                                                         to happy once again!

Another unexpected purchase this week was some slabs of wood from an on-line auction. We went down to Hot Springs to look at some 6"x8"x20' beams that Kevin might have been able to use on one of his jobs. They did not pan out, but when Barb saw some of the slab wood they were auctioning off, she just had to have some! She bid on probably 10 items, winning 5. A couple of redwood slabs, a couple of sugar pine slabs and a cedar slab. Each are about 8' long and 1 1/2"-2" thick. She has no idea what she is going to do with them, but at $1-$2 a board foot they were too good to pass up. 

They looked good when we picked them up, but when we hit a rainstorm on the way home, it really brought the color out!

We had one last hurrah with the gang when we all got together for burgers and beverages at our place. 

Oh, what a good time we had. Cheryl and Kevin gifted us an LED sign for the gazebo. An awesome addition!

After supper we played our dice games; Shake a Day and Sh#tbox. Barb was first up on Shake a Day and won when she rolled 6 of a kind taking home $9.25 for her troubles. On the Sh#tbox front we added a twist to the game. The winner, in addition to taking home the pot, got to choose a shot that the person with the highest score had to take. Barb, Bonnie, Vicki and I were all winners at one point and Barb, Kevin Vicki and I were all losers at one point. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Kevn's face as he took down that shot of whiskey. Priceless! We must have been a little loud as the neighbor to the east (1/4 mile away) texted the next day wondering why they were not invited over. 

It was one of the first nice nights we have had so far, making for the perfect setting. We finished the evening watching the Oilers and Canuks play game 5 of their series while I texted with my Canadian friends, Steve and Dave who are on the opposite sides of that battle. 

If you look closely, at the picture below you can see Dakota using the new raised patio bed for the first time. 

Friday night found us heading into Custer to attend a graduation party for the son (Sam) of a friend of ours. We have known Sam since he was 11 and it has been a pleasure watching him grow up into the fine young man he is today. We did not take any pictures at the party itself, but I did see his ugly mug on a banner in town. Gotta love towns where the graduating class is so small that each graduate gets their own banner on Main Street!

Saturday was the grand finale of our socialization for the week when our niece Alana and Ryan came to visit. Of course, they brought little Sophie and ever wild Loki. We spent the afternoon out in the gazebo watching golf, watching the dogs and catching up.

Dakota has become comfortable with her bed. Loki still has a cast after several surgeries to save her back leg. They are hoping this one will be the final fix. 

Zoey and Sophie played and played and played. It was not until a couple hours later that they finally settled down enough for pictures. 

And of course, a few libations were served!

I also captured a little more of nature when I was out and about. These first two are flowers, a bluebell (I think) and an I do not know what. It is pretty small, about the size of a quarter. These are the only two flowers blooming so far. 

Messing around taking pictures at the birdfeeder, I got this beautiful goldfinch and a pretty cool shot of a blackbird about to land. 

Last, but not least, this is for you Harry. How could you not love two pups playing?

That wraps up a busy week here on the homestead, let the Great Alaskan Adventure begin!