#11 - Devil's Tower

After three weeks of weaving our way through Montana, we finally left Hardin on Tuesday, Sept. 4. It was another hot day so we stopped for a couple hours to cool off in Buffalo, Wyoming. We looked around the historic downtown district and walked a short distance along the Clear Creek trail before coming to rest on a park bench under a shade tree. After an excellent lunch downtown and a quick tour of the local (air conditioned) museum, we were on the road again.

Our next destination was the Black Hills of South Dakota, but we stopped for the night in Gillette, Wyoming. We set up camp in the Wal-Mart parking lot, along with six or eight other RVs. Wal-Mart is friendly toward travelers and most of their stores welcome overnighters, so we thought we'd give it a try. The stay wasn’t as comfortable as an RV park. We were parked next to a landscaped island with a malfunctioning sprinkler that squirted straight up and another that just pumped water onto the asphalt, creating a small lake. Three guys with hot motorcycles entertained (annoyed) us for a while with their loud biker antics and trick riding. The parking lot lighting was so bright all night that we couldn’t tell if it was morning or not. But it was free and, as Bonnie says, “You get what you pay for.”

We left Gillette early the next morning and drove to Sundance where we parked the RV at a gas station, uncoupled the Honda and drove the 27 miles to Devil’s Tower Nat’l. Monument. It was a perfect day and the scenery was beautiful over the rolling hills with scattered ponderosa pine forests. The only obstacle we encountered was a house being moved down the narrow highway. The house was wider than the road and it took a while to find a spot wide enough to allow traffic to pass.

Devil’s Tower was more impressive and interesting than we thought it would be. We walked the trail around its base, shooting pictures from all sides and taking in the views of the Black Hills and valleys below. Very nice. After a few hours, we continued into South Dakota to our next campground in Black Hawk, just outside Rapid City.

Trail around the base of Devil's Tower.

#10 - Little Big Horn and Sheridan

The first day of September promised to be another hot one but it was time to visit the site of Custer’s last stand. We got an early start and were among the first cars to arrive at the visitor’s center of the Little Big Horn battlefield. We toured the exhibits and watched a 17 min. video that explained the background and events leading up to “Custer’s Last Stand.” We also spent a little time at the Custer National Cemetery.

Custer National Cemetery

Lt. Col. George Custer took on more than he could handle on June 25, 1876. The 200+ man cavalry unit that he led into battle was totally wiped out by a much larger band of Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe warriors. The hillsides are dotted with white markers where his men fell and red granite markers for about 18 of the Indians. Most Indian remains were picked up earlier by their families so only the few without families were left on the battlefield.

Markers of fallen soldiers on Last Stand Hill.

Other markers scattered over the hills.

A memorial to Custer's Seventh Cavalry was erected on Custer Hill in 1881 atop a mass grave. It records the names of the troops, Indian scouts and other attached personnel who fell on the battlefield.

For the bargain price of $5, we took a tour of the area on a small air-conditioned bus. A local Crow Indian woman narrated the tour. Her great grandfathers fought in the battle and she provided a very interesting and personal perspective of the encounter, as well as bits of information on Indian history, culture and customs. The Spirit Warriors sculpture is part of the Indian Memorial at the battlefield.

Major Reno and Captain Benteen commanded other companies of the Seventh Cavalry and were involved in a separate battle not far from Last Stand Hill. They couldn't get there in time to save Custer's company but many of them did survive. A Reno-Benteen Battlefield Memorial was placed near Reno Hill.

The next day we drove down to Sheridan, Wyoming (about 80 mi.). Nearly all businesses downtown were closed for the Labor Day weekend. So, with our walking tour map in hand, we walked up and down Main Street admiring the historic buildings, many of which were built in the 1800s.

We spent an hour or so at the Sheridan County Museum and couldn’t pass up a self-guided tour of “Trail End”, a restored 14,000 sq. ft. mansion. John Kendrick built this amazing house in 1913. It’s three stories plus basement, with a ballroom on the top floor. A unique feature was a central vacuum system, very unusual for that time. John was a successful cattle rancher. He assembled several ranches in Montana and Wyoming into a 210,000 acre spread. He eventually became Governor of Wyoming and a U.S. Senator. The mansion was eventually abandoned by the family and nearly torn down in 1968. Fortunately, the local historical society was able to dig up enough grant money to purchase the house and its several acre site for $35,000, restore it, furnish it and get it onto the National Register of Historic Places. Great job!

The Kendrick estate includes a preserve for bison, elk and other wildlife. Bonnie stopped to chat with a friendly elk. He appreciated her offer of greener grass from the other side of the fence.

#9 - Hardin MT

We targeted the small town of Hardin (pop. 3,000) for a little “down time” to relax and digest the many tours, museums, points of interest and Lewis & Clark history that we had been exposed to during the past three weeks in Montana. We also wanted to stay in one place through the Labor Day weekend before continuing into South Dakota, just in case there was a lot of holiday traffic. There was none.

Hardin is about 50 miles east of Billings, Montana’s largest city and 15 miles from the Little Big Horn battlefield. We arrived around noon on August 30 and settled into the Grandview Campground. It was formerly a mobile home park so the spaces were generous and uncrowded. It was on the edge of town but within convenient walking distance of a couple truck stops and several mini-casinos. It was already hot when we arrived and the temperature would continue to rise to 103, which is not very comfortable for doing things. The humidity was only 8%, not that it mattered a whole lot.

We started early the next day to avoid the heat. Our first stop was the Big Horn County Historical Museum and visitors center. It had a very nice collection of old restored buildings, farm equipment and other artifacts from around the county. The buildings were well preserved and maintained in a grassy historical village setting with boardwalk connections.

Later we went downtown and stopped at the old railroad depot which had been restored and converted to offices for the Chamber of Commerce and a variety of other organizations. A nice lady at the Chamber office told us much more than we needed to know about the area, but it was all interesting. Train loads of coal rumble through town all day and night and the city is proud of its new coal-fired power plant, although it's taking some heat from the local air quality folks about high emission levels. Hardin is a nice friendly town that time passed by and it remains a couple decades behind the rest of the world. It’s motto is “The City with a Purpose” although we’re not sure what the purpose was. In any case, it’s celebrating its centennial this year and is alive and well.

We walked around the downtown area, admired the old brick buildings and tried to figure out what warranted the solitary traffic signal in the center of town, since there’s no traffic at all. The Fort Custer General Store was packed full of everything imaginable. We had to walk sideways to get down some of the aisles. Great store! We found a nice little restored theater that was showing the Simpson’s movie. We passed on the movie but got a personal tour of the theater. Next door was the Three Brothers’ Pizza and Pub. We were hot and hungry and welcomed their air conditioning as we dined on pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw,chips and a couple bottles of cold Moose Drool.

#8 - Helena & Bozeman

On Monday, Aug. 27, after a hearty breakfast of bratwurst, eggs and toast, we pulled out of Great Falls and onto I-15 for the 90 mile drive up the Missouri River to "the Queen City" of Helena, Montana’s capital. This was one of the prettiest drives we’ve experienced so far. The freeway followed the river through small scenic valleys as it wound its way from the prairie into the rugged rocky foothills. Dave and Lois Hudson invited us to stay at their home for a couple days. Ron knew Dave from his "working days" in Lynnwood where Dave served on the planning commission for many years. They were terrific hosts and insisted that we relax in the luxury of the guest room of their beautiful home, rather than roughing it in our RV. They showed us around the city and we all relaxed in the evening and watched the Mariners lose.

The Montana state capitol was built about 1902 and still looks great. We took the tour, saw the Mike Mansfield statue, the huge Charlie Russell mural in the Legislature and had lunch in the basement cafeteria. We also spent a couple hours in the Montana Museum and had a nice Mexican dinner with the Hudsons on the outdoor balcony of a restaurant in the historic Last Chance Gulch section of town.

Montana State Capitol - Helena

Another Helena hi-lite was a boat cruise on the Missouri River through the “Gates of the Mountains.” It was a beautiful day to be on the water in such a scenic area and, again, lots of Lewis & Clark history was involved.

The following photos are from the "Gates of the Mountains" boat tour on the Missouri River

Following a quick breakfast with the Hudsons, we departed Helena on Wednesday, Aug. 29. Everyone told us not to miss the Museum of the Rockies if we were in the Bozeman area. So, we stopped in and found that it lived up to its reputation. It specializes in Montana dinosaurs and had all kinds of history, photos, information and displays of actual skeletons and recreations and castings of various types of dinosaurs that were found mostly in eastern Montana. Very interesting and educational. The museum also had a large display of King Tutankhamon artifacts and/or replicas of the actual artifacts, most of which are in a museum in Cairo. Outside the museum was a display of a pioneer farm house and related buildings, with people in period dress playing music on hammer dulcimers, baking bread in the oven of the old cast iron wood stove and discussing life in the olden days with the tourists.

#7 - Great Falls

Our next destination was Great Falls to visit several of Ron's relatives, some of which he hadn't seen for 31 years. We decided to stop along the way to see Fort Benton, about 40 mi. northeast. This little town of 1500 people has a very important and colorful place in Montana history. It was a primary terminus for river trade on the Missouri where inland connections were made. It still has a lot of old buildings as well as a nice riverfront park, an impressive Missouri Breaks Interpretative Center and other things. To get there, we took lonely highway 223 from Chester to Fort Benton. This highway was off the beaten path but very well maintained and straight as an arrow for the most part. We had it all to ourselves and saw another car about every 10 minutes or so. No towns, no trees, no Wal-Marts or fast food outlets, just rolling fields and a few scattered farm houses. Beautiful.

Missouri Riverfront Park - Fort Benton --- Statue of faithful dog Shep

When we got to Fort Benton, we checked into our little campground, unrolled the awning, laid out our outdoor carpet and set up the lawn chairs. Then Ron noticed that the western sky had turned an ominous shade of black and it was moving in our direction. So, we folded up the lawn chairs, rolled up the carpet and pulled in the awning just as the wind started blowing. For the next several hours we were pummeled by strong wind, thunder, lightning and fairly heavy rain. (Didn't get any pictures.)

The portable braking system in our “toad” (towed Honda) wasn’t working properly, so we contacted the manufacturer in Portland. They were very helpful and immediately shipped a replacement to Great Falls. So, on Friday, Aug. 24, we drove into Great Falls and picked it up. Giant Springs was in the area so we stopped at the cool shady county park where spring water surfaces and spills into the Missouri River. Very pretty place.

Bonnie at Giant Springs County Park

We also took the opportunity to do the laundry, wash the car, and pick up some provisions at the local Wal-Mart before joining Ron's relatives for a big spaghetti dinner and some good conversation. We got caught up on family news and stories about grizzlies, storms and other Montana stuff. We were advised to drive carefully back to Fort Benton because deer like to graze along the highway. It was nearly dark as we drove back and, sure enough, we passed six or seven deer along the side of the highway. Fortunately, we didn’t run into any.

The next day (Sat.), we moved our camp to an RV park in Great Falls for a couple days. Western artist Charles M. Russell lived and did most of his work in Great Falls. Since the Russell Museum is the pride of the community, we made sure we didn't miss it. The museum is excellent. It includes Charlie’s log studio, his house and lots of his paintings, sketches and sculptures, as well as works of other western artists.
Charlie Russell and a view of Great Falls

On Sunday (Aug. 26), Bonnie did a load of laundry while Ron scrubbed the bugs off the front of the RV. He figured out that it's much easier to get the bugs off before they dry and glue themselves to the front of the RV. So, whenever we stop for the day, he tried to do the bug removal thing first. They come right off. We had lunch and dinner with relatives at local restaurants. After dinner, we all paid a visit to the city’s impressive veterans memorial, then went over to the home of Ron’s Aunt Dolores for a little more conversation. It was a very good day.

Around the dinner table in Great Falls:

Zoie, Molly, Dolores, Chris, Janet, Bob, Ron and Tracy

#6 - Cut Bank & Hingham

Monday, Aug. 20: It was finally starting to rain and clear the air of smoke as we rolled out of Whitefish. It was a welcome relief after weeks of hot dry weather. There was very little traffic over Marias Pass and we made good time. After stopping for lunch in East Glacier, we continued on to Cut Bank, which would be our base camp for three nights. We set up camp at a small RV park overlooking Cut Bank Creek. According to local history, Lewis and Clark camped at or very near this spot in 1804. It was very windy but we had a great view of the railroad trestle. We could watch trains and beautiful sunsets at the same time. On the down side, we had no internet access and marginal cell phone service. The computer age was slow to arrive in Cut Bank. However, we did find a Super 8 motel with Wi-Fi and were able to check our email in their parking lot.

Cut Bank Creek formations --- Riverview RV Park

Tuesday, Aug. 21: We took a day trip to the small town of Hingham, about 100 miles east of Cut Bank. Hingham is another significant place in Ron’s family history and he hadn’t been there in decades. The Kindschy family moved to Hingham from South Dakota around 1900, established a farm and raised 12 kids. One of the 6 daughters was Olivia, Ron’s grandmother on his mom’s side. All members of the Kindschy family eventually went their separate ways. The big old barn, pig pens, chicken coops, farm implements, windmill, and animals are all gone now and the driveway is knee high in dry prairie grass. But the old farmhouse still stands. It’s boarded up and probably beyond repair, but it’s still there and not yet eroded away by time and the elements. Ron was lucky to have experienced this house in the 1950s when it was full of activity, family life and good times. Now, it’s sad to see it standing alone and silent against the wind and amid the amber waves of Montana grain.

The old farm house --- Grain elevator along the Hi-line

#5 - Glacier Nat'l. Park

Sunday, Aug. 19: The Flathead Valley was still full of forest fire smoke, but rain was finally threatening and temperatures were dropping. We grabbed the opportunity to spend a day in Glacier National Park. It was only a half hour drive to West Glacier. We snooped around the Apgar campground and village at the south end of Lake McDonald, then parked in the new transit lot to await the shuttle bus to the summit of Logan Pass.

The famous Going to the Sun Road was battered by avalanches and flooding last winter. Crews were patching it up in places and, to minimize traffic, a shuttle bus program was being offered. It’s convenient, free and does reduce auto traffic. However, it didn’t lessen the white-knuckle experience and extreme terror that Bonnie experienced as we wound our way along the narrow twisty bumpy ledge thousands of feet above the valley below. We made it up and back but Bonnie may never go that way again.

Logan Pass -- Hidden Lake in background

From the Logan Pass visitor’s center we hiked the 3 miles (round trip) to the Hidden Lake overlook. It’s a good uphill climb but we managed to get there in good shape, although the altitude and smoke didn’t help. Even through the smoky haze, the scenery was beautiful. We saw a marmott, a family of ptarmigans, aother small critters nd six or eight mountain goats, some just a few feet away. The humans were generally respectful and didn’t bother the goats at all.

Later in the afternoon, as we were listening to a ranger explain the link between global warming and loss of glaciers, a frisky year-old grizzly cub came romping into the area. He was having a good time and minding his own business. Momma bear wasn't in sight so the rangers chased the little fella out of the area as quickly as possible, with a herd of tourists following closely behind with cameras clicking.

The trail back --- The young grizzly

We visited the East Glacier side of the park on Wednesday, Aug. 22. Ron’s grandfather worked for the Great Northern RR, was the station agent at East Glacier for many years and lived above the station. We visited the RR station, the Glacier Park lodge and took a side trip to Two Medicine Lake and Trick Falls. We also stopped at the studio/museum of famous Montana wood carver John Clark and spent a few minutes with his daughter Joyce, a long-time family friend. East Glacier has always been a favorite place and has a lot of family history and memories. Time to move on . . .

Trick Falls --- Bonnie relaxes at Two Medicine Lake

#4 - Whitefish & Kalispell

After seeing all there was to see in Eureka, we drove south 49 miles to Whitefish and set up camp at the Whitefish RV Park for four nights. This campground was in a perfect location about one mile (walking distance) of downtown, on the highway to Kalispell and near the turn-off to Glacier Park. The campground is very neat and clean and tucked away behind the Cheap Sleep Motel (no kidding). It's also buffered from the highway noise by a small strip center that includes a Chinese restaurant, a Subway sandwich shop, Radio Shack, a day care center and a small casino. It's very convenient mix of uses for folks who want to drop the kids off at the day care and grab a sandwich before a stop at the casino.

Downtown Whitefish --- Whitefish RV Park

The official population of Whitefish is about 7,000 but there’s lots of sprawl development that pushes the “greater Whitefish” population to at least 15,000. We took a long walk uptown one afternoon. There’s lots of touristy stuff, restaurants and other interesting things to do and see. Ron, the train buff, went to the historic railway station one evening to meet the westbound Empire Builder. Montana is burning and the sky is full of smoke so the evening sky has some very unusual coloring.

Westbound Amtrak Empire Builder at Whitefish

The day we arrived, we took a drive down to Kalispell and toured the 13,000 sq. ft. Conrad Mansion. Charles Conrad was a business tycoon and one of the founders of Kalispell. He and his family did a lot of good things for Montana, including some serious conservation efforts and the preservation of an important buffalo herd before it was wiped out. His house was designed by architect Kirtland Cutter and built in 1895. It's now a museum, with most of the original furnishings. Beautiful house and an interesting tour.

After the tour we stopped at the local Chamber of Commerce office for information, just as they were setting up for a pig feed in the adjacent downtown park. They invited us to join in, so we did. They had the grand champion pigs and beef from the fair on display (but not to eat). A big buffet was laid out in the gazebo that included a full barbecued pig and lots of side dishes, including cookies and soft drinks – all free. Good pig!!! and very nice people!!!

Carving the pig in the park. Free pig for everyone.

We spent the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 17, at the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell. It was dusty, dirty and smelly . . . just what a down home fair should be. We wandered through all the exhibits, including the livestock and topped off the day with huckleberry milk shakes (yum). Wild huckleberries are selling for $42/gallon this year.

Smoky skies at the Kalispell Fairgrounds --- Young lady with her grand champion (1,230 lb.)