Crossing the Border

6/3/13

We departed Great Falls in moderate to heavy rain that continued all the way to Calgary today.  Gusty winds made driving interesting in spots.  Stopped in Shelby, MT for final fuel at Flying J on east side of Shelby exit.  We passed through Canadian Customs at Coutts, Alberta without fanfare in about 10 minutes and continued north.

Arrived in rush hour traffic here in Calgary parking at Calaway RV Park on Canadian Route 1 about 8 miles west of the city.  We will do some touring in Calgary tomorrow.

RV Travel Report:

Divided highway all the way to Calgary generally smooth with some minor road construction underway just north of Great Falls for about 25 miles.  Highway signage is good on major highways.

Wide lanes at US/Canadian Customs crossing made RV travel through easy.

Average fuel costs today:             $4.48 Gallon (USD) / $117.9 Liter for diesel

                                                $3.85 Gallon (USD) / $ 1.03 Liter for gasoline

Finally, back on wifi

Sorry for not posting for a few days.  We hope to now finally have those issues worked out and will post again almost daily.

6/2/13

The morning started out quite sunny as we traveled north of Great Falls to visit the Great Falls.  Lewis & Clark faced one of their toughest challenges here as they had to build wagons for their three boats, pull them up the bluffs surrounding the Missouri River here and portage them about 18 miles overland before being able to return to the river in June, 1805.  Today the falls remain just below a modern dam and power station supply much of the electrical needs of northern Montana.

In the afternoon we visited the Charles M. Russell Museum.  If are an Old West aficionado you will recognize him as painter, photographer and sculptor of numerous famous art works detailing life in those times of westward expansion.  His expansive museum, home and studio are well worth the visit located in a quiet residential neighborhood on 5^th Street.

Great Falls, Montana

We traveled today from Livingston, MT about 175 miles to Great Falls, MT.  Weather was finally clear and cool today.  We met us with our friends Bob and Sharon who departed Dallas last week to meet up with us for the trip to Alaska.

We will be here tomorrow doing some last minute shopping and maintenance in preparation for moving farther north into Canada.  Still trying to decide whether a side trip to Glacier National Park will happen as the forecast is for snow and temps in the 30's.  Right now, we plan to cross the border in the next day or so.

We will be providing current info for our motorhome friends when we cross the border.  Just a couple pictures today as we approached Bozeman, MT and a shot of the Missouri River here in Montana.  We passed the Missouri Headwaters Park today where the Jefferson and Gallatin join their flow headed to the Missouri, eventually the Mississippi and the Gulf.  Many fishermen observed to on the river both wading and boating.

Yellowstone National Park

What a day we had at Yellowstone National Park today.  Rain, sleet, snow showers, and ice pellets separated by sunshine at times.

We saw Elk, three Bears, Antelope, Deer, a Gray Wolf, Bison, and an Osprey and her chick in a nest.  This was our third visit to the park but our first one into the far northern sections.  Enjoy the view:

Livingston, MT

The morning dawned in cold rain as we left Hardin, MT traveling west along I-90 toward Billings and Livingston, MT.  We joined the Yellowstone River and remained with it the rest of today.

Passing through Billings I remember the many times I have flown over Billings observing the airport high above the city on top of Rimrock Bluffs appearing like it was poised on an aircraft carrier.  The city itself contains three oil refineries as they enjoy increasing employment from the shale oil projects underway in Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota.

After parking the bus today right on the Yellowstone River (see out picture below) we completed a trip to the local Laundromat and caught up on some housekeeping items.  As the rain let up, we took a drive up into the Gallatin National Forest south of Livingston.  More rain in the forecast but we are headed down to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow.  We have learned to take the weather as we find it traveling about the country.

Little Big Horn Battlefield, Montana

Departed the Black Hills this morning under beautiful skies and headed into Wyoming and eventually north into Montana on I-90.  Stopped for lunch along the highway looking over the snow-covered mountains to the west now with us.

We stopped again at Little Big Horn National Monument last visited in 1987.  Way back in 1874 President Grant gave the Lakota, Sioux, and Cheyenne tribes most of the Black Hills and a part of eastern Wyoming by Treaty.  When gold was discovered miners arrived by the thousands pushing the Indian tribes out.  Feeling cheated they moved west into Wyoming and southeastern Montana.

When the Bureau of Indian Affairs reported to Washington that Indians had left the reservation, not wanting to be embarrassed politically by the press, reported that only about 700 had headed west.  Along comes Colonel George Armstrong Custer under command of General Terry in the 7^th U.S. Cavalry.  They depart Fort Abraham Lincoln in Dakota Territory to round up the Indians.  On the morning of June 25, 1976 he finds this little group camped along the Little Big Horn River valley covered with thick Cottonwood trees (see the trees at the bottom of the cemetery picture looking east) and the battle was on.

Imagine his surprise to discover that the combined Lakota, Sioux, and Cheyenne nations numbered here approximately 13,000.  It is estimated that 221 US soldiers and less than 100 indians died here.  Of course, had the commissioner of Indian Affairs publically told the truth the War Department would have send a larger force or tried to negotiate with the Indians.  Kind of sounds like our government hasn’t changed much today when confronted with an embarrassing event, does it?

We are in Hayden, MT tonight on a brief stop-over as we will arrive at Yellowstone National Park tomorrow.  We did hear from our friend’s, the Relyea’s, who are in Colorado tonight coming out of Dallas to join us here in Montana.

Devil's Tower National Monument

We started out early this morning in fog and drizzle.  As we drove North to Belle Fourche, SD then West to the Devil’s Tower National Monument in Eastern Wyoming the sun soon came out.

Towering 867 feet above the valley floor the monolith is visible for many miles along the Belle Fourche River.  It has been a landmark and navigational fix for General Custer’s Cavalry, and wagon trains headed west.  Richard Dreyfus in Close Encounters of the Third Kind memorialized this place in the 70’s as the place where we (Earth people) met aliens.  We watched several climbers headed up the south face this morning.  Not to be outdone, Joy wanted to head up also but only got about 10 feet up the wall.  See the proof below.  One of the things we have loved to do is find a special place for a picnic lunch and today was no exception.  A baby prairie dog came near to see what might be for lunch.

After leaving the Park we headed back down toward Sundance, WY – picturesque little town that it is.  Joy was disappointed not to see Robert Redford living there.  It does share a bit of history though with the Sundance Kid.

After his release from the Sundance Jail in 1888, Harry Longabaugh acquired the moniker the Sundance Kid, which entered the popular imagination in the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, which won several Academy Awards including Best Original Screenplay. Robert Redford, who portrayed Longabaugh in the movie, later named the Sundance Ski Resort, near Provo, Utah, and the Sundance Film Festival after this character. A sign visible from I-90 proclaims that Sundance is "where the kid got his name."

Well, we headed home early today for a little housecleaning and other details before our departure in the morning westward to Hardin, MT to visit the Little Big Horn Battlefield where George Armstrong Custer met his untimely end.