Friday, April 29/2011

Our spot for the night

Musselshell River

Pheasant 

Deer

It is chilly in the bus this morning.  I turned the heater on and went back to bed.  This is becoming a habit!! I see that it is below zero again at night back at home so I should probably be prepared to use the heater a bit more than what I have been used to.
Eventually the sun came up and Hogan and I enjoyed our quiet time again this morning.  John eventually made it up and after a breakfast of ham and eggs, I was off to Walmart.  One can never pass up the opportunity to go to Walmart!!  There is always something to buy.  Today, it was a Thomas the Train for little Caelan.  I don't really know who Thomas is but there was a ton of stuff with his name on it so he must be popular.  I am sooo out of touch with kids toys these days!!  I text my sister and she said Caelan loves Thomas so I guess I did good!!
Before we left Billings, we stopped at the UPS store and picked up "Mack" the red semi from the Cars movie.  John had ordered it for Erin through Amazon here in the States and had it shipped to a location we were traveling through.  With that being done, we pointed the bus towards home and continued our travels.
We stopped for the night at a wonderful little campground in Roundup, Montana.  It comes with deer, pheasants and several other birds.  Also, it was situated right beside the Mussellshel River so we could sit in the lawnchairs and watch it flow by.  It has many many huge cottonwood trees scattered throughout the park some of which must be as old as the town itself.  It is really quite beautiful and it is FREE!!  There was a sign as we came in telling us to enjoy our stay and asking for a donation to keep the park operating which, we will be happy to do.  What a great place to spend the night.
John watched hockey tonight while I watched the Royal Wedding.  It was awesome.

Thursday, April 28/2011

Heading out

Our spot for the night

It is a bit windy this morning and the sun  seems to have a few issues today getting out from behind the clouds so it is chilly in the bus this morning.  Not enough that I have to get the heater going but certainly not as nice as yesterday.  It is a traveling day today so perhaps we can find the sun further down the road!!
We finally made it into Montana so Saskatchewan is now on the radar!!  As you can see by the pictures, we hit a bit of construction (13 miles of it) and had to stop a couple of times waiting for the pilot car.  Considering that this is only the second time we had to stop for construction, we really can't complain.  The flagman was impressed with Hogan riding up on the dash.  She thought it was cute and of course Hogan was lapping up all the attention.
There was a hockey game again tonight (big surprise there!) so we had to find a spot to park.  We decided to travel to the Chief Plenty Coups State Park.  It was off the highway but what the heck, we would go stay there.  After traveling 17 miles on gravel roads ( it was very scenic ) we arrived at the park only to find that it was day use only - no over night camping allowed!!  What the Hell!!
We decided to go into Billings and stay there for the night.  We entered the city right at the Cabelas store - now how handy is that??  We would have just stayed there but there were signs that said No Overnight parking - again!!
We eventually found a sweet little campground just outside the city at Laurel.  It was closed, but there were several campers already tucked in for the night.   Hogan got out and ran around like an idiot.  The dish went up and we settled in to watching the game.
Jace text us and wondered just when we were arriving home.  I don't think he is missing us, he just wanted the special arrow they had bought (and forgot to take with them) !!  We will see him next week with the damn arrow!!

Wednesday, April 27/2011

Shoshont River

They will probably beat us home!

Deer

Big Horn Mountains

Coon Creek

Shoshoni River

Coon Creek

Running into the Shoshoni

Robin

I awoke to the sunshine and the sounds of Canada Geese flying over the bus.  It was wonderful hearing them and I felt a twinge of home sickness.  It will be nice to get back home - only a few days to go now. Being that our health insurance was due to expire yesterday, I had to phone CAA for an extension.  This is not a difficult thing to do however, the phone service was quite spotty so I had to time it for the towns we were going through.  Eventually got the job done so I can now quit worry about that!!
Hogan and I went for a walk today along a road that followed beside the Shoshoni River and saw all sorts of wildlife.  There were numerous birds, Canada geese, robins, woodpeckers, a red winged blackbird, a blue heron, ducks and many others that I didn't know the names of.  There was no shortage of birds nests in the trees.  I also saw numerous cottontail bunnies and a herd of deer.  What a wonderful walk!!
Once back to the bus, it was time to tidy up then go sit in the sunshine.  This is going to be a "stop and smell the roses day" as we are not traveling today.
We watched the hockey game then sat around the campfire while supper cooked then it was off to bed.

Tuesday, April 26/2011

Although we kept the smaller heater on in the back of the bus during the night, it was quite chilly in here this morning!!  Hogan was curled in his chair in a tight little ball with his nose buried.  I got up and (seeing my breath), started the big front heater and crawled back into the warm haven of the bed until the chill was out of the air.
When I finally did get up, I found Hogan sleeping directly in front of the heater (he is no fool) and the sun is shining through the windows.  All, is once again fine, in my world.  Again, I can't help but think that this is just getting my self acclimated to the cooler weather back home!!
With the coffee on (I love the smell of my percolated coffee in the morning), I settle into my routine of email/facebook/blog and wait for John to get up.
Once back on the road again we continue our journey home.  These Wyoming back roads hold such treasures.  It is truly a beautiful state and hold some incredible scenery.  We travelled from Shoshoni to Thermopolis through the Wind River Canyon.
This 34 mile canyon was carved by the wind river and is full of natural structures, one being Chimney Rock (which I failed to get a pic of!!) . So, what else is new!!!  The canyon is as much as 2500 feet deep and the road at times is level with the canyon floor.  These rocks are some of the oldest in the world dating back to the Precambrian Age (more than 2.9 billion years ago).  The geology of this area is marked with signs along the route to tell of the various ages of the formations.  Not only did we see some spectacular scenery, we got a geology lesson as well!!  Totally Awesome!!

Heading into Wind River Canyon

Our spot for a couple days along Coon Creek

The canyon also has the Burlington National Railroad tracks running along the other side of the river occasionally traveling through rock tunnels (as does the highway). On May 12/2010 a Burlington Northern Santa Fe trail derailed after hitting a rock slide.  The train hit a boulder the size of a pick up truck sending two engines and a rail car down a 50 foot embankment and into the Wind River.  No fatalities were recorded as the engineers were able to crawl out of the engineer's window in both locomotives.  Head off ice apparently was informed of the rock slide however did not have enough time to inform the train before the crash!!   Hmmm.
Once through the canyon, it was time to start looking for a place to park for the night.  We found a quiet little spot beside Coon Creek and settled in to watch the hockey games.  Since we had been traveling in the wind most of the day (I now know why it is called the wind river!), it was nice to stop in an area with absolutely no wind and a quiet peaceful creek flowing by.

Monday, Apil 25/2011

Headed Out

Leaving the Forest

redneck exhaust (white truck)

Going over that

Utah US 28 

Along Wy 728

Our spot for the night

It rained off and on throughout the night and this morning there are puddles on the road.  It should be a good day to travel - not too hot, a bit chilly but, it is clear.
As I was sitting here having my coffee ( Hogan had assumed his "lookout" position on the dash) I heard  this rather menacing growl from him.  It was one of those growls that say "come a little closer and there is going to be trouble"!!  I look out the window and see 5 mountain goats coming straight down the hill in front of the bus.  They were all in a single line and traveling at a speed that had total disregard for the steepness.  They were amazing to watch!!  I guess they were coming down to the creek to drink or perhaps the sweet green Spring grass was the lure.  For whatever reason, they were a nice treat to watch - if only for a short time.
Once the bus was ready, with all doors and drawers closed and locked down, we were off.  Who knows where we will end up tonight.
We finally ended up in Wyoming.  We had a good day today, traveling through the rest of Utah and into Wyoming.  It was mostly interstate roads today and we were able to eat up the miles.  We did not stop at Cabela's because we discovered one in Billings, Montana so will stop there instead.
The scenery we traveled through was incredible and we had all sorts of weather.  From rain, to snow, to wind - even had a little ground drifting snow!!  I almost felt as if we were "home".  I tried taking pics of all the phases we went through today so hopefully some of them are good enough to post.
Once we hit Wyoming, it was off the interstate highways and onto the smaller back roads.  This is were a lot of the interesting sights to be seen are.
Our final road of the day was highway 28.  It was the most interesting piece of road today.  A two lane highway which crossed over the tail end of the Rocky Mountains and the Shoshone National Forest.  We hit elevations of 8000 feet and saw tons of snow.  Again, I hope some of these pics turned out.
In the lower elevations, we saw hundreds of antelope and three totally awesome signs warning us of the wildlife.  They were the best signs I have ever seen in my life.  Simple, colorful and certainly get the message across.
Since it was getting late and time to pull this rig over, we opted for a pullout parking lot for skiers.  It was off the highway a bit and the ground was solid (probably still frozen!!).  There was lots of patches of snow around us and since we were still somewhere in the 7900 foot elevation range, we knew it would   be chilly tonight.
Lasagna for supper,  hockey on the TV and both heaters going - what a life!!  I could not wait to get to bed because the heat from the motor keeps the bed warm for hours.  Although most travel nights I do not appreciate this little bonus from the engine but, tonight is a whole different story!!