...and then we thought...

where else would we rather be?

Religion, lunch & bath, and a musical

Jill spent the morning attending church with Larry and Carla, grocery shopping and wandering around the farm.  We had the treat of taking a real shower up at the house and being invited in for burgers with the family.  After the family dispersed Larry and Carla invited us to see the renowned Medora Musical, performed in a lovely outdoor amplitheater about 80 miles south of here. We toured the historic little town, got some ice cream and fudge, and enjoyed a warm, pleasant evening watching the show. You can see the beautiful setting of the musical, they even had to chase 2 bull elk out of the background before the show.  Part of the show was a stand up comedian from Hawaii who was very funny.  Poked a lot of fun at North Dakota and getting old. "40 may be the new 30, 9:30 may be the new midnight, but 240 is not the new 180!" It was a very enjoyable evening. Got home late.

Carla and Larry Sorenson 

Sorenson spread

 Medora, ND Musical Revue!

Rain

chit-chat w Ben about his arrest the night before after Ribfest.
We see the clouds coming and pull down the WiFi antenna and button the rig before the rain hits. We have a nice little pond in front of our door so we drag pallets over to step on. After the rain, we go for a walk down the lane accompanied by the three dogs (Jade, Red & Tootsie).

Ribfest

Larry and Carla invite us to join them for a trip into town to the 'Ribfest', a local eating and social event. We sample the ribs, corn on the cob, lemonade and buy a bag of candy corn to bring home with us.

Losing Our Bearing in the Dakotas

Visited Missouri R. and Yellowstone R. Confluence Center, Fort Union and Fort Buford.

Whenever we take an extended trip we can always count on some mechanical issue, no matter what we're driving. It's a tradition, almost something to look forward to and this evening it was a rear wheel bearing. 

Thayer managed to take the thing apart but could not repair it without a new part.  We spent the night there and then got towed to a garage outside of Watford City, home of Larry and Carla Sorenson.  Got the part ordered, bad news is that it would take 5 or 6 days.

Turned out to not be entirely bad news at all, as we got to spend those waiting days making new friends, traveling through the countryside, walking the fields, and learning about this rapidly changing community.  Natural gas companies are fracking the oil deposits wherever they can acquire the mineral rights to do so.  Crops are cleared from farmers' land within a matter of hours and wells drilled as quickly as possible. There has been a massive influx of people drawn to the area, all looking for the high paying oil field jobs. Farmers are torn between their traditional way of life of caring for and working the land, and large amounts of easy money being offered for drilling, mining gravel and sand, and sites for disposal of waste from the wells.  The natural beauty of the land is being stripped away at an astonishing rate.  We visited with one couple who bought land about 15 miles from town 5 years ago so they could have some solitude and peace and quiet.  In just a few years they now have natural gas drilling going on on two sides of their property and a 3rd is planned for a remaining side. They have LOUD flares (openly burning natural gas and waste fumes, sounding like a jet engine) less than 800 ft. from their home. Besides getting some money they have little else to say about it all, though they have fought it tooth and nail. In addition to the mining operations there is also rapid development of housing, shopping, hotels, and service industries, all stretching this little town to new horizons. I can only imagine how they are coping in the schools with the influx of families.

No matter where we stop there is always something to photograph.

Our First Shower (in the Rig)

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Rialta has a built in shower. Its four gallon water tank is heated either electrically or simply from the engine's heat after a short time of driving. We had tested the functionality of all the hardware before we left home, but it wasn't until tonight that we thought to put it to full use. After a few days on the road, it was time.

Jill went first and had no problems until after she was finished and flipped the switch to pump the standing water from the floor basin. The pump was pumping but no water was being drawn out. After digging into the rigs innards, I found the pump was dry, likely from when I had emptied the lines to replace the system drain valves, and also concluded that the pump was not self priming. We didn't have a hose or anything to force water into the line, so we improvised.

By removing the shower head, the shower hose just barely reached down to the drain hole in the floor. We made a gasket from a wet paper towel and forced the hose as far in as possible, then turned on the drain pump and then the pressurized water for the shower hose. After a few seconds the line and pump were primed and everything was working as it should be. Now it was my turn for a hot shower and man, was it nice!

Afterwards we got everything wiped down and stowed just in time to enjoy our first beautiful North Dakota sunset. You gotta love this "roughing it" lifestyle!

Sorry, no pictures available for this post, we don't want to lose readers!

Red Lodge/Beartooth Pass

After leaving Livingston we cruised to Red Lodge, MT, a cute little town in the foothills of the Beartooth/Absaroka mountain range northeast  of Yellowstone NP.  There is an amazing highway there that goes up and over the mountain range and drops down to Cooke City and Yellowstone.  It has many, many switchbacks and climbs from about 5,000 feet at Red Lodge to nearly 11,000 ft. at Beartooth Pass.  We started out to just drive up to the pass then retrace our steps to the nice campsite we had the night before. (Where, by the way, I saw a bear while out walking by myself!  The picture I took with my shaking hands is not convincing or worth posting! I also saw a moose the next day.)

As we drove up the mountains the scenery became more and more spectacular with towering peaks, glaciated valleys, hanging valleys, alpine meadows and bluebird blue skies.  Up at the top we hiked to several look outs and took lots of pictures.  We enjoyed a nice cup of tea and snuggled down in the rig.  By late afternoon the motorcycles and other vehicles had stopped coming into the parking lot so we decided to just stay and enjoy the sunset and spend the night.  It is so nice to have everything you need to just spend the night wherever the mood takes you!  After it got dark the stars were simple amazing! The Milky Way stretched across the enormous sky from horizon to horizon and there was not a single man made light to be seen. It was cold but we stayed toasty enough.  

How many pieces of the switchbacked road can you count in this picture? This is looking toward the SW and Yellowstone.

Early the next morning we started back down the mountain shortly after sunrise, rescued an overheated car on its way up with some water and good advice, and lucked into some yummy hot apple critters from the bakery in Red Lodge. 

Eastern Montana was not as bad as I expected, it was still quite green and pretty in its own way.  We followed my favorite river, the mighty Yellowstone past Miles City and I was surprised how much it changed as it went along, becoming very muddy and slow as it approaches the Missouri River. 

Tonight we are on a quiet road near the train tracks and tomorrow we will see some nearby historical sites. Then on to Theodore Roosevelt National Park!