6 month anniversary and Missoula

It has been a full six months since we began this lifestyle. Is it what we had hoped it would be, yes and more. Would we do anything differently, probably not. What about fuel prices? Well, the news isn't good but it won't keep us from moving on. We will simply spend more time in an area to keep our fuel costs down. We will keep ourselves busy with geocaching, birding, kayaking, hiking etc. (notice these are all things that don't cost anything?). If we were still working, we would still have fuel costs we couldn't control and we wouldn't get the change of scenery.

We left West Yellowstone around 8 a.m. and got stopped on the highway about a half hour later. There was an accident and we had to wait until they got the trailer (loaded with tires) unloaded and up righted. We sat and waited for about a half hour before the ranger gave us the go ahead. At least the scenery was beautiful. The trip to Missoula went well. We stopped for fuel someplace that had a McDonald's next door. We went inside and got us a couple of cold drinks to get back on the road with. We have found that half way during our travel day that stopping for cold drinks really refreshes as the water we bring with us has warmed up by them.

We got to our RV park on the west side of Missoula, Jim & Mary's RV Park (http://www.jimandmarys.com/). What a nice park loaded with trees. Our site was a pull-through that was quite long and was in shade. It was hot and muggy so we turned on the AC's and went into town for fuel and a bite to eat. We stumbled upon another Famous Dave's BBQ which, of course, we had to partake. We paid $4.51 a gallon for diesel. Missoula is a good sized town and they have all the conveniences of home.

We got back to the rig and I tried to log on to the internet using the park's wifi. Well, it said poor reception and I couldn't get logged on. I guess that would be my only complaint with this park is that they need to improve their wifi connection. We were only five spaces from the office so distance shouldn't have been an issue. Oh, well.

We left the AC on as it was hot and muggy when we went to bed.

In search of moose

After a slow start, we decided to take another drive in to Yellowstone to see if we catch a glimpse of the elusive moose. No such luck but in the center of the picture below you can see the eagle's nest and an eglet standing up waiting for his/her meal. With John's good eye, I was able to see my first bald eagle in flight. They are truly majestic birds and I was thrilled.

While in search of moose, we did spot a bull elk alongside the river.
I was busy taking pictures of bison in a field of yellow flowers that I didn't see this coyote until we were driving by it. A guy was standing alongside the road shooting pictures from about five feet away from him when he looked up at the guy like he was surprised to see someone standing there. Neat.
Cow elk munching on beautiful wildflowers and grass.
We had a lovely drive but sad to say, no moose was spotted. Oh well, we gave it our best try.

Came home and just chilled; well, barbequed hamburgers. We also starting preping for our move tomorrow as we head to Missoula in route to Lewiston, ID where we will spend two weeks.

Another lovely day.

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

In West Yellowstone, there is the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. This is not-for-profit wildlife park and educational center that showcases grizzly bears and gray wolves in natural habitats. They have seven grizzlies which are not capable of living in the wild. They showcase two to three grizzly bears every 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

The Learning Center has 25 taxidermic specimens on display. These have come from private collections, confiscated specimens, and road kill. The displays are spectacular and very informative. We can now tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear. Good information to have if you are out hiking. There is some conflict has to how best to conduct yourself should you run across a bear in the wild. Black bears most likely will run and go up a tree; whereas, with the grizzly, there is a 50/50 chance that you will make the wrong decision on how to conduct yourself. I guess we better never run in to a grizzly in the wild!

The grizzlys have a very nice habitat. They have a pool and waterfall to play in along with interactive toys. They know when they come out of their pens that there is food hidden under rocks and such for them. They come running out and start searching. After a while, it is play time. When they hear a bell, they run for their enclosures. Us human's didn't hear the shift change bell but they sure did. They seem to be well conditioned.

This grizzly is their largest bear. He knows he is the boss!

There was a bit of an issue over food and guess who won? The big guy, himself.
Play time in the pool. Actually, the bear is playing with a piece of rawhide while staying cool in the water. We learned that the bears will dig out some dirt and lie in it to cool their bellies which have the least amount of fur.
The wolves are in a beautiful enclosure. They seem to just be pacing with one taking a break in the shade. They have a building dedicated to wolve information and is where we say a nice video on a wolf pack.
There were four wolves in the enclosure. The intent of the facility is to increase awareness and understanding of these animals.
If you would like more information, you can go to their website: http://www.grizzlydiscoverctr.org/. This facility is well worth visiting. The admission is good for two consecutive days.

After we had a nice BBQ steak dinner at home, we decided to take the drive in to Yellowstone NP to Madison in hopes of seeing some moose. No luck with seeing any moose but we did get to watch a bison walk down the middle of the road holding up traffic, a coyote out hunting not very far from some fly fisherman, cow elk, and we were able to spot the baby eagle standing up in its nest.

Came home and finished up the dishes. Spent some time on the internet and went to bed late. John fell asleep but I just tossed and turned what seemed like hours. It didn't help any having our neighbor come home at 12:15 a.m. and finish his setting up of his pop-up. Not very considerate.

Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park has the distinction of being our country's first national park; est. in 1872. Thank goodness our politicians back then had the foresight to preserve this beautiful land for all generations to experience and enjoy.

It has been 18 years since our last visit (two years after the terrible fire of 1988). The forest is coming back very thick which was once burned. The land is still scared but the beauty is returning.

We drove the entire circumference of the park (10 1/2 hrs) that included a lot of stops to see waterfalls, wildlife, and just to take in the beauty of the park. We were tuckered out after such a long day but it was worth it. We saw elk (much like fleas around this park), bear (2), coyote, osprey, bison, whooping cranes, American Black Pelicans, Canadian Geese, and the list goes on. Following are just some of the sights we took in. We are limited to the number of pictures; otherwise, we could have inundated you with them.

Beautiful bull elk. Mostly, we saw cow elk by the numbers but the bulls were a little harder to come by.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, all rivers are running high, so the waterfalls are spectacular viewing.

There is still a lot of snow at the 8,300 foot elevation as well as the surrounding mountains as shown on the Tetons below.

We were lucky to have seen two black bear (one black and one brown) on the same day. One was across a small lake just doing his thing while this one was along side the road doing his thing. As you can guess, quite a traffic stop for everyone to take a peek/pictures.
As John and I are not big fans of the sulphur smell that the geyers put out, we were more than happy to view them from a distance. They are beautiful and it is amazing to drive around and see hot steam coming up from out of the grown all over the place.
So much beauty but boy are we tired. We were in and out of the truck so many times for this photo op and that photo op as well as hiking back to see some waterfalls. More of a challenge for me (broken toe) than for John but I wasn't going to miss out on any part of it.

We should sleep well tonight.

West Yellowstone, MT

Our drive from Billings to West Yellowstone was a very nice one. From Bozeman to West Yellowstone, you follow the Gallatin River. The drive is beautiful and like the Yellowstone River, it is flowing at more than full capacity. We saw some rafters on the river and as fast as the water is going, I don't think I would want to be in a rubber raft bouncing down the river. I know, some people would think it was great fun. That is why I like to kayak on flat water - no guts.

We stopped at a turn out along the Gallatin River to have lunch and a photo opportunity. Beautiful scenery!

We pulled into the Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park about 1:3o p.m. After getting settled in, we just kicked back to enjoy ourselves. The park is very nice with decent sized sites, patios, picnic tables, and friendly staff.

Below is a picture of the evening sky. We had a "bit" of rain/hail but neither lasted very long. It did provide us with a beautiful sky and cool temperatures. We had to pull the comforter out from under the bed because it was going to be a cool night.

Tomorrow, a tour of Yellowstone. We haven't been to the park since June of 1990.

Pompey's Pillar

After visiting Little Big Horn Battlefield, we drove back towards Billings and headed east for Pompey's Pillar National Monument. We had seen the signs and flag flying on our way into Billings. After reading about it, we decided to drive the 30 miles east of Billings to see the monument. We again "saved" some money with our National Parks and Monuments pass.

The following description comes from the website www.pompeyspillar.org if you would like more information: "Pompeys Pillar bears the only remaining physical evidence of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which appears on the trail today as it did 200 years ago. On the face of the 150-foot butte, Captain William Clark carved his name on July 25, 1806, during his return to the United States through the beautiful Yellowstone Valley. Captain Clark named the pillar "Pompeys Tower" in honor of Sacagawea's son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, whom he had nicknamed "Pomp." Nicholas Biddle, first editor of Lewis and Clark's journals, changed the name to "Pompeys Pillar."

Native Americans called the pillar "the place where the mountain lion lies." Some observers suggest that a sandstone formation, that is a part of the pillar, which resembles a mountain lion's head, is the reason for the name. Another theory cites live mountain lions being spotted in the area."

The Visitor Center is very well done and has many different displays for viewing as well as a short film on Lewis and Clark. The Visitor Center was a long walk from the truck and the pillar was even farther with something like 100 steps to climb. With my bum foot, I told John I would pass on seeing Clark's signature but by all means he needed to go ahead. The following picture are courtesy of John's trip up to Pompeys Pillar.

"A boardwalk leads to Capt. Clark's signature and to the top of the pillar. Trails lead visitors past a replica of Captain Clark's canoes and to a view of the 670 mile-long Yellowstone River."
William Clark's original signature is protected under glass. Hopefully, you can read his signature and the date of July 25, 1806
Here is a view of the Yellowstone River. John said that you got a full 360 degree view from the top of the pillar.
After visiting Pompey's Pillar, we stopped at a RV dealership to pick up some Protect All for the next time we wash the rig and we refueled in anticipation of our move on to West Yellowstone tomorrow.

While in Custer, we had several severe thunderstorm warnings but tonight we had our first severe thunderstorm alert. The TV was going off every few minutes warning us to take cover, as sky to ground lightning was possible, large hail, strong winds, and heavy rain were coming. This, I must say, is a little disconcerting. We never had any strong winds, some small hail, a little bit of rain, and lightning either south or north of us. It seemed that the storm split as it came over Billings so we were spared any major event. Thank goodness.

Billings, MT and Little Big Horn Battlefield

Our route from Medora on I-90 pretty much followed the Yellowstone River all the way to Billings. The Yellowstone River is running very fast and almost to its full capacity. There are many ranchers/farmers who are very concerned about being flooded as the river is so full.

At our first rest stop in Montana, I clipped a concrete planter with my left foot. I either broke my baby toe or dislocated it. When I reached down to touch my toe, I heard a click, click sound. The baby toe is swollen and I have bruising across four toes. Walking was/is a little difficult and painful but I did manage to drive the truck and trailer for about 90 miles after it happened. I have whacked my baby toes before but have never done anything like this before. I tried taping my toes together but that lasted until I took my shower. No, I'm not going to the doctor as there is nothing that can be done so why bother.

We got settled in to our RV park called Yellowstone River Campground. It was pretty and the staff was very nice and helpful. The sites are side by side but have ample room to park the truck and trailer. When we came into town, we noticed a sign for Famous Dave's BBQ. We had eaten at the location in Lebanon, TN and thought the food was fabulous so we asked where the restaurant was located. The front desk woman agreed with us that the food was great and showed us on the map how to get there. There went our plans to eat in, out the window! Dinner was terrific and we had enough leftovers to have the next night. Two meals for the price of one!

On Wednesday (June 25), we headed for the Little Big Horn Battlefield. It was the 132nd anniversary to the day and there were special events commemorating the battle. We were all prepared to us our National Parks and Monuments Pass but because it was the anniversary, they weren't charging any fees. Darn!

We were able to witness a band of Indians riding up to the battlefield whooping and hollering. Pictures were not allowed of the Indians as it was a sacred ceremony.

Below is a picture of some of the headstones laid where Custer and some of his men fell.

Below is a picture of the monument honoring all who died as members of the 7th Calvary.
There is even a headstone honoring the horses who where killed to use a shields during the battle.

The monument to the Indians is in the shape of an open circle with three entrances. To better describe the monument, I will quote the winning entry design statement: "Selected texts, narratives, quotes, crafts, artifacts, offerings, petroglyphs and pictographs are all employed to immerse the visitor in the diverse culture of Indian men, women, and children and convey the "Peace Through Unity" message. Petroglyphs and pictographs, the traditional means of imparting a story, commemorating an epic event or elevating a place to a sacred plane serves as inspiration for the work to the north. Stone and animal hide are the usual backgrounds for such images. These large scale bronze ethereal tracings of three (Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe) warriors however are silhouetted against the constant yet ever changing Great Plains sky-the proverbial home of the Spirit." A picture of the bronze sculpture is below:

There is a visitors center that is well worth going through with clothing, saddles, personal affects of both Indians and soldiers with the emphasis on Lt. Col. Custer. The turnout of both Native Americans and all others on this day was quite impressive. John and I found it sobering to be standing on ground where 212 members of the 7th Calvary died as well as 40 to 100 Indians.

Medora, ND

6/22/08 - 6/23/08

Preparing to move

Saturday was spent preparing to move. Kayaks got washed and loaded on the truck. Bicycles were loaded into the truck. Laundry got washed and clothes put away. Kitchen counter items got packed away. Ah, all we need to do is pull in slides, unhook the utilities, hook-up, and we will be ready to head out.

John and I played some ladder golf. John won three games to my two. It was fun and there were some spectacular bounce scores.

Evening was spent quietly in the trailer. We are looking forward to moving on, yet, we are also a bit sad about leaving this beautiful place.

Geocaching success!

We set off for Ciscero Peak to try our hand at locating our first geocache. We got to the top of Ciscero Peak and set off. After about 10 minutes we knew we were in the right area from the readings from the gps and the help of the decrypted hint. Soon, John called out "I found it!" Sure enough, here is what the find looked like:

Uncovered, you can see the geocache box.
Inside the geocache box, there were little trinkets and a log book. You are encouraged to take something and leave something as well as sign the log book. As this was our first find, we decided to take nothing, leave nothing, and sign the log book as you can see I am doing below:
That was fun! We got to take a drive up a beautiful mountain, smell the wonderful pine smell, and take a short hike in the mountains. This is a view from the top of Ciscero Peak:
We sure enjoyed ourselves and were very happy that our first geocaching attempt was a success.
When we returned to our campground, we headed off to find the cache that Geri, our campground host, had hidden on National Forest land. We were off and after a short while we located the most likely location of the cache but our gps compass said we off the mark. Soon we were headed down the hillside which didn't make sense because Geri had said it was located up on the hill. We ignored the compass and paid attention to the map and distance coordinates instead. Soon we were headed back in the right direction. John went around the front of the rock formation and I went around the back. Soon, I was the one yelling, "I found it!". What a sense of accomplishment. With these two experiences under our belts, we think we have found something that could combine fun outside activities with a sense of purpose.

We did learn something from our experience looking for Geri's cache: always bring water, wear a hat, bring a rain poncho because it might rain on you (it did), get a good compass, bring the hiking sticks, and carrying all the above in a backpack. We shared our experiences with Geri upon our return to the campground. Everyone got a good laugh out of the fact that we were a little wet upon our return. It was beautiful when we left but we forgot it was South Dakota and that weather changes quickly!

What a fun day.

Easy couple of days

6/18/08 to 6/19/08

John was still recuperating from his cold so we were taking it easy. We got all the windows washed (inside and outside) by doing a team effort. I worked on the inside and John got the outside. It worked well and now we can see outside again.

It has been thunderstorm after thunderstorm lately. We have been on severe thunderstorm watches on and off for days. The days start out beautiful and then here comes the storms usually accompanied by rain and hail. Thankfully, no hail bigger than 3/4 of an inch. I still don't like thunderstorms but I am getting more use to them. We have decided that we are going to purchase a weather alarm for areas that may be subject to severe weather.

It's a little difficult to see but all those white specks are hail.

We also have been reading up on geocaching and how to operate the GPS as we want to try our hand at it. There is a site up on Ciscero Peak that we want to see if we can find the cache tomorrow. Before we leave on Sunday, we also want to find the cache that Geri has hidden back on the National Forest land not too far from the campground. It should be interesting!

Slow and easy day

John is in the full grip of a cold. I guess my allergy attack wasn't allergies after all. Sorry honey. We had a slow start to the day and went to the drug store to get John some decongestant and to the grocery store. When we left the campground, it was a glorious day, bright sunshine and nice and warm. When we got out of the drug store, it was overcast and starting to rain. A woman in the grocery store said "just wait five minutes and the weather will change as it is South Dakota after all." We have certainly seen the truth to that statement.

We headed home where John took a nap and I putzed around. After John got up, we sat outside for a while as once again the sun was shining. It was dark and ominious towards the mountains. Soon we were watching the lightning and heard the thunder approach our little corner of the world. We picked everything up and headed inside. It wasn't long before the lightning and thunder were over us. It hailed with some hail being as large as 3/4" in diameter; most were pea sized. The storm lasted maybe 45 minutes. We did have one lightning bolt strike in a meadow just north of us and boy was the thunder clap loud. Soon it was all over and once again the sun was out shining and we had us a beautiful rainbow as shown below.

The rest of the evening was spent indoors and John went to bed early. I had a good chat with Melissa and soon went off to join John.

About 4 a.m. we were awaken by a lightning and thunder display that last about a half hour. Jeez, enough already!

Chuckwagon cookout

The day was overcast but was a decent temperature. Spent the day doing laundry, reading, and even took a nap (very rare for me). We watched the chuckwagon being set up in preparation of dinner being served at 6 p.m.

Items to be served: sirloin steak, fried potatoes, cowboy beans, and peach cobbler. Everything was prepared on site and cooked either on the grill or in dutch ovens. Almost everyone from the campground participated; something like 55 of us. The steak was very good, the fried potatoes were very good, and the cowboy beans were excellent. Everyone raved about how good they were. The peach cobbler was good but I prefer a dough type of topping. John and I chatted with Barbara, one Larry and Geri's neighbors, who was a delight to talk with. The weather cooperated and it was lovely sitting outside, eating dinner, and watching the sun set over the mountains.

A little past 8:30, we returned to our rig and John decided to take our aluminum cans over to the recycle bin. A half-hour to 45 minutes later, he returned. Yep, he got to talking to another rver/horseperson. Happens all the time! Another ending to a beautiful day here in Custer.

Happy Father's Day

Oh, what a beautiful day. Two days in a row; now, that's what I am talking about! The allergies are doing better so I told John that since it was his day, it was up to him to decide what he wanted to do for the day. After breakfast, we headed out to take the Iron Mountain Road drive because John wanted to feed the wild burros. We had purchased a large bag of carrots just for that purpose. We decided to head towards Mt. Rushmore and pick up the road near the town of Keystone. As we approached Mt. Rushmore, we were lucky enough to see a Mountain Goat with her baby right near the road. Pictures are below. So cute.

The drive on Iron Mountain Road is so lovely. You drive through three tunnels and go over three pigtail bridges (they corkscrew like a pig's tail) that are all made of wood. From California, this is unusual because our bridges are all made out of iron, steel, or concrete. Usually you can see a lot of deer. Once we got in to the northern part of Custer State Park, there were the burros. They have it all figured out. Stop traffic in the middle of the road and they will feed us. John no more got his window down when he had a burro's head stuck in the window. John had a big smile on face! Soon I also had a big smile on my face because I, too, had visiting burros. It was surprising at how gentle they took the carrots. Once the food is gone though, so are they. We didn't get any up close pictures because we had the wrong lens on the camera and well, we were too busy feeding them to take pictures. Priorities, you know. We did one shot of the burro’s with a couple of babies.

Melissa had tried calling us on our cell phones several times but her calls kept going to voicemail. After we got home, I saw that we had an email from her. The phone coverage around here is spotty once you get out of town. For some reason, my phone was not getting coverage but John's was (go figure). We called Melissa and had a terrific chat with her. The bridal shower she was hosting for her friend, Kelly, was a success. Melissa's cat, Hayden, seems to very happy not having Blackie around. Good news all the way around.

I finally broke down and worked on setting up the Garmin I bought John for Christmas for geocaching and so that he could always find his way home when he rode his bike. Well, computer things intimidate him and it has been six months! So, I broke down and set the darn thing up. I must say I feel intimidated myself. Boy, have we got a lot of reading to do to figure this thing out.

We had a nice bbq'd steak dinner with corn on the cob at home. Pretty good, I must say. We then went up to the office where we engaged in conversations with some horse people and the campground owners/host, Larry and Geri.

I woke up around 1 p.m. to the sound of thunder and the night sky being lit up though the action was many miles away. I got up and stowed the MotoSat. It pretty much kept up the remainder of the night with some heavy rain come the morning. So much for the beautiful weather!

Beautiful day

Oh what a beautiful day. Warm with no wind (at least the early part of the day). We took the short hike around Legion Lake. Drove over to State Lodge which was the summer White House for President Calvin Coolidge and President Eisenhower used it in 1953. Pictures follow.

Not to far from State Lodge there is a large open field area. There were five bison just lounging and sunning themselves. Always a thrill to see. Speaking of bison, as we were so close to the Wildlife Loop of Custer State Park, we couldn't resist the drive. We were able to spot some baby Pronghorn antelope. Of course, seeing the large herds of bison with babies just never gets old.

While John was bbqing, Geri (our camp host/owner) invited us to a cookout that some of the horse people had initiated for Monday. The cost would be $12 per person and would be held in the Pavilion which is just to the right of our trailer. Geri said that the person doing the cookout was very good. We've never been to a cookout so we told Geri to count us in.

Quiet Day

Day started out slow what me feeling poorly due to allergies. We went out to get one of our propane tanks filled. While John got the tank filled, I watched a marmit play around in the field. Spent the rest of the day just hanging out at home reading.

Deadwood, Sturgis, and Rapid City

Weather has been so yucky that a hike was out of the question. Also, I woke up with a major allergy attack because of all the darn wind. I am getting really sick and tired of the gusting wind (25 to 45 mph). Rather than just stay indoors, we decided to take the drive to Deadwood, Sturgis, and Rapid City to return the router that I didn't need.

Deadwood was another one of those interesting little towns. Our first stop was the Mt. Moriah Cemetery that is the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, and Potato Creek Johnny. While the three famous residents were the draw, it was fascinating to walk the cemetery and see how short life spans were in the late 1800's. Most who died were barely in their 40's. There were several family plots where multiple children died in the same year; most likely due to disease. The Mt Moriah Cemetery provides you with a walking tour guide with your $1 admission. The history of the cemetery is interesting all on its own when you read the walking tour guide.

The shot below was taken on the main street in Deadwood. There are several buildings that are still standing that were around during Wild Bill and Calamity Jane's time. Most of their restaurants/bars are combined with gambling opportunities which did not entice us especially when you walk in and get hit with the smell of stale cigarette smoke.

After lunch in Deadwood, it was off to see Sturgis. The town actually was larger than we expected. We were amazed at how many and how large the bar/entertainment centers are in town. The town truly lives for that one week each year for the motorcycle rally. This year it is being held August 6 - 10. Some of the acts who will appear are KISS, Kenny Chesney, Big and Rich, and Sammy Hagar. Can you imagine the sights and sounds of 500,000+ motorcycles? Everyone in Custer says it is some thing to see.

How many times have you driven someplace to see the familiar McDonald's sign. Look closely because no where does it say McDonalds. We thought it was very interesting.

On our way home, we were gifted with a sighting of the ever elusive elk. They are truly beautiful; especially with the buck's horns all in velvet. We were thrilled to see them.

That pretty much ended our day on a good note.

Interesting museum

After a slow start, we decided to go to the National Museum of Woodcarving. This museum is basically a showcase of Dr. Harley Niblack's work. Dr. Niblack was one Disneyland's first original animators. Over 70,000 hours of his life were spent carving miniature and life-size figures, miniature steam engines, paintings, furniture, etc. For more information, check out www.blackhills.com/woodcarving.

They also have Today's Woodcarvers but unfortunately, no one was working when we went through. They also have a beautiful gallery where 70 woodcarvers and artists offer "one of a kind" creations for sale. There were so many beautiful pieces. Thank goodness, we don't have the room or we might have purchased something.

Below are a few pictures showcasing Dr. Niblack's work. A number of his carvings include animation, that for the time, is quite impressive. The pictures just can't show the detail that went into each piece.

The picture below is of the Red Dog Saloon that depicts a shoot-out in the wild west.

The picture below depicts an early-day dentist office.

This picture depicts an 1880 ranch. This is Dr. Niblack's largest and most complex of the animated carvings. There is so much going on that it takes a while to take it all in.

Here is an illustration of some of his "simpler" woodcarvings. The pictures just don't do them justice.

The cost of the museum was $7.50 per person and is well worth seeing if you are ever in the Custer area.

We then took a drive to Legion Lake and ran in to Art and Connie. Since they moved to another campground, they have no phone service and had to get to a area where they had phone service as they had to make a couple of calls. Connie also said that she was going through Internet withdrawals. They use a phone card to connect but with no phone service, no Internet. We told them that Larry and Geri still had their space open.

Once we left there, we took a drive down highway 87 but the wildlife was scarce on the drive so we headed back to home.