Thursday  July 30
 

We sort of took the day off today. Terry wanted to soak his back in the the hop springs so late morning we took off for a mountain drive. When we go for a drive we take the FS roads and it worked for us today. We went up and over the Mt. range and came out the other side. 
 

Rough rock base but better than the (glad it dried) mud ruts we drive over a section of private land getting here. 

The splendor of the forest is overwhelming when you get immersed it it fro hours and this is all you see. 

 

We are now back at the RV park and Terry is off to the hot springs here in White Sulphur Springs, MT.  We are moving tomorrow up  HW 89 to see where we will land. Will spend the weekend in a primitive FS site we think we might like (or should I say fit into) that we saw on our day trip yesterday. This is our 38 foot house we are pulling behind us and it doesn't fit just in any old Forest Service campground. Then if it does fit, find one that you get a southern view for the satellite dishes. There are trees out there in the forests. Kind of hard to just go camping like many people do in vacation mode anymore. But we will do our best to stay out of RV parks when we can. Reasons why we have to explore ahead for places to stay. Makes for nice day trips. You just can't pull off on an unknown FS road and hope you will ever be able to get turned round again.  But after all, it is an adventure, me thinks. Got that me thinks thing in, Yea. 
 
 

Todays day trip was up HW 89 and the Kings Hill Scenic Byway, looking for our next move to find the perfect campsite. 
We are still in White Sulphur Springs at Conestoga Campground. 

The rain stopped from last night and today was sunny and cool. We are looking at Aspen campgropund in the NFS on the north side of the pass as our next stop. Since I got my Old Peoples pass it is only $5 a day in these campgrounds.

Or may spend another day right here if Terry wants to soak his aking back in the hot springs. 
Anyway not in a hurry as Norcold just shipped our fridge door part via truck from Ohio to Great Falls. MT. to a service center at Travel Time RV. 
So it will take a few days. Me thinks this is about the only way I would slow down and not be in vacation mode. 
Even after several years,  I get Hitch Itch after a day or two when we are traveling. So works well for us to force us to stay awhile and use Googel Earth to ... Find what is beyond the curve in the road ahead. 

Passing through the Lewis and Clark National Forest and Little Belt Mountains, the Kings Hill Scenic Byway allows travelers to leisurely savor the rugged beauty and invigorating fresh air that are part of the Montana experience. Stretching 71 miles along Highway 89, the Byway winds its way through pristine mountain lakes and streams and is home to an abundant variety of wildlife. The gravel roads criss-crossing the main highway lead to 450 miles of spectacular mountain scenery, high country lakes, trailheads, campgrounds, and old mines.(above from the www.byways.org  web site)

Neihart, MT    I think the sign above the building on the right sez Town Hall.  Not your tourest trap... I love this kind of town. We did stop down the street at the green roof, and got a diet Dr. Pepper and Doritos Nacho Cheese chips for the drive back to our RV park. 

See waht you can find on the FS roads.

We tried a few of the 450 miles of remote forest roads in this area. 
If the (FS) Forest Service road on our map looked like with it had a stream which might have fishing for Terry, we tried it. 

It was a great day of driving and getting back to nature. This is really the first time as we got to the middle of Montana that we have had the opportunity to get off the main routes, let alone the interstates and see the real back country.  Roads like above is where tha action is at. (And this road is one of the big wide back roads out there).  (Most are one lane jobs.)  Boondocking campsites abound on these FS roads. We lookded a serveral, but as we are pulling our home in a 38 foot version we have to search for a site that we can get into and again out of.  You just don't take a FS side road with a big 5er and hope you will be able to find a great campsite. You need to search these out, as day trips (without a 5er behind you) so you know if you can get in a site, but the big thing is to get out again. But that's the adventure... 
Love the campers we see tucked into that special site on a fishing stream, that we would kill to be able to fit into. More power to them. We are fullimers and have a little larger unit that we live in.
At least we try to find places outside the normal parking lot type RV parks to land in.  It's an adventure after all. 

We are between Yellowstone and Glacier and not on the main routes between them. We have been there and done that many years ago, so seeing what is not on the busy routes is what we are looking for.  To that point we felt we were at many times the only people driving HW 89 today. 

Went on to the north end of HW 89 and stopped at the overlook of Sluice Boxes State Park.

Description: Elevation 4293 feet. Since the 1860`s, this area has been mined for gold, silver, and high-quality Yogo sapphires. All but the sapphire mines have been played out, and you can spend a quiet afternoon fishing for trout and contemplating busted (and fulfilled) dreams of glory. Old mines and ghost towns line the railroad grade through the limestone canyon carved by Belt Creek. Once upon a time, this area was lively with prospectors, miners, smelters, muleskinners, and railroad men. Nowadays, the only ruckus comes from the many birds who inhabit the riparian zone around the creek.
 

Stop back and see what we decide to do next. So many choices. 
 

It's been a while since I got to do an article,  I fear that I might be out of practice, but I will carry on.  Last night after the rains had passed to the East Ron and I went out to enjoy the sunset.  The wind had gone down and everything was peaceful and quiet.  The horses were happy in their pasture, and the trout were rising in the RV Park's, all in all a bucolic scene. 

This morning we took of for points west on a day trip over toward Helena, and Canyon Ferry Lake on the Missouri River.  We went to the town of Townsend then drove north along up the east side of the lake on HW 284.  The lake is massive,  a thirty five mile drive north up the east side to cross over on the dam.

And then back south on the west side until shortly we had to climb up and over a 10% grade to get more west toward the 
Helena Valley Reservoir in the map above.

 We were headed to the Spokane Sapphire Mine to check out their fee to dig operation which is near Helenaon the map above .  The Mine was featured in a Discovery channel program "Cash and Treasurers" a few years back and has made the place very popular.  I've got news for all of the would be sapphire seekers,  most of what you find is small, and when you cut the stone you loose at least half of the stone, making your finished stone even smaller.  But like the web site says you will have a keep sake to treasure in the years to come. 

Here are a few of the gem stone seekers screening and washing their buckets of gravel in search of the ever elusive sapphire.  There were many more people to the right of the photo, but I could not get them into the picture and still have a good photo. 

Getting there was half the fun,  we got slightly lost after we crossed the dam.  We were supposed to be on Canyon Ferry Road, but the road goes around a corner and becomes Spokane Creek Rd with out any singage,  the Canyon Ferry Road is unmarked and takes off at the curve,  needless to say we were a bit confused, and had to backtrack, eventually finding the right places to turn, then a few miles of gravel roads and we made it to the mine..  We only yelled a very little bit.

We thought the center pivot made for a very interesting picture, as it wound its way around and around in the wheat field.  Not a lot of dry land farming,  the hay field, bean fields wheat fields are all irrigated.  It makes for an interesting juxtaposition as we drive,  one side of the road is dry and brown and the other is green and lush.

After the Spokane Mine we drove the west side of the lake on Hwy 12 to Townsend for a few groceries and a late lunch.  Here we are crossing back into the Smith River drainage on our way back to White Sulpher Springs.  Ron wanted to stop at the Forest service office to get his Interagency Senior pass while we were in the area,  We had stopped yesterday but the individual who was authorized to handle money and issue the passes was not in the office to issue the pass.  When we stopped today the pass was available to be issued,  The dirty little secret was that the passes did not come in until this morning they had sold the last pass on Friday and had to wait until today for their replacement passes to come in.

With our new camping pass we will now get half price camping in the Forest service, Corp of Engineers, BLM and some parks.  Ron is excited about the possibilities. 

Currently we are waiting out the afternoon & PM rain shower waiting for supper.

This map is clickable at www.byways.org 

We have landed in White Sulphur Springs (center bottom). Staying at Conestoga Campground for $14 a day plus tax at the PassportAmerica rate. (good for four days) We signed for 3 days to explore the area before heading north on US 89.  I'm sure before we pull north we'll do a day trip up there to check out the campgrounds in the Lewis and Clark forest. Lots of gravel side trips in the forest. We may take another day trip over to Helena just because we can. Kings Hill Scenic Byway runs up from here to Belt. Read its overview at www. byways.org

Also have hot springs here in town and a ghost town to the south. We landed in the rain which continued most of the day and is just now sort of trying to clear up a bit at 6 PM.  The grounds are kind of wet as you can see from the campground picture. There is a forest service office here in town so since I turned 62 today we had to stop so I could get my Interagency Senior pass for reduced rates at parks etc. Well the young person behind the counter sez the person who can do that is not in today. They wont allow her to do this task, handle money or some such thing. It costs $10 for a lifetime permit.  I told her that we were in the RV park for a few days and would come back.

I also have to remember to call Norcold and make sure they are sending my fridge door flapper part to the service center in Great Falls.  Oh, life on the road coordinating the small stuff can be so stressful. 

Terry is making chicken soup with home made noodles. I'll remember to say Yummy. 

White Sulphur Springs is another old railroad town and Terry found this left behind. 
 

We left Miles City with waves from Jim who came out of the park office to wish us well on our journey. How nice.  On down I- 94 and US HW 12 combined, we had on and off heavy rain with huge drops.  Conserned about hail, we pulled over at a rast area that had a great view of the Yellowstone River (see the picnic shelter on the far right) as we checked the weather radio for condidtions ahead. Much lighting but no alerts so we continued.

After leaving  I-94 at Forsyth HW 12 takes an out of the way route through the back country along the old Milwaukee route.  We saw less cars than we could count on our hands. 
(see below for maps)  The highlight was stopping at Ingomar and got a little history as we traveled. 

Above Ingomar

We have landed at Harlowton, MT at their city park. How cool, well not so cool if you like again 95 temps outside.

The sign sez... This park was so named for Chief Joseph. Leader fo the Nez Perce Indains. (learn more about them) History states that he passed through to escape the"while man." He was traveling to Canada and freedom. He surrendered just south of  the Canadian border near Chinock, Montana. 

Now this campsite is $11 for 30 amp service... in this heat... we have our A/C single unit, fridge and hot water heater on. 
We are staying cool and having a cool one, as for me a gin and tonic as I do the blog. Now you will not believe this but we got here about 2:30 PM. I came off the road and landed in good time for a change.

Howard Hollaway Arena made possible by the Charles M Bair Family Trust the sign sez. How cool a family providing this facility for the area. Nice stands and many out buildings for livestock. Very fancy facility me thinks. 

Terry went for a walk and we need to add his adventures about what he found on the railroad that made this town and area. 

This is right on main street. You can see this town was a big railraod town and prowd of it, rightfully so. 

 See much more about this very cool city.

Off to White Sulphur Springs, MT on Monday. Only about 60 miles down the road. I will stop and not keep on going as in my normal mode of operation.  Terry is excited about the hot springs and emailed them for rates etc. And the best part there is a full service PassportAmerica RV park right in town for $16. We plan on boondocking for weeks on end but for right now, till we get to those places where we can, and in this heat, we are content to find RV parks that offer GREAT rates. That's what it's all about, blending the best of both. 

As an incitement to hurry along our journey, Tad sent us a picture of the spot he has mowed for us to land, at while visiting him in Roslyn, Washington. 
Think that must be him weed wacking on the far left. 

Hold on Tad, we are on our way, we'll get there.  Site looks nice, thanks... 

If I don't screw up, I will be 62 tomorrow on 07/27/09. The first order of business is to get my Interangency Senior Pass so we can get reduced entrance and camping fees.  Not to mention SS payments will start soon. 

See the 6 PM Updates below... 
Our Big Sky camp hosts Jim and Amy stopped by to set the record straight about what I had posted after they read my blog. I had left my card with them.  A little more about this park. See the main write up about this RV park in my Friday post. They have a fantastic supply of tourist reading materials. This is a tourist info center all in its own. If you are the area this is the place to stay. This park has it all. Clean and neat. Well done. Tell them HitchItch sent Ya... They have a great web site  Big Sky Camp & RV park  It is also listed in Streets and Trips 2009
Now the rest of the story of what we had observed... and the Updates: (as in corrections).

Miles City, MT our home for today since we signed up for another night atBig Sky RV Park. 
The picture is of main street downtown. 

They have a river pond downtown and have made a swimming area out of it.  It is getting to be about 95 out and the swim area is not being used. Must to be too hot for these kids. 
Update: Seems the kids tend to break out with chiggers or something and they are trying to raise funds to build a new regular swimming pool. This pond is drained in the winer and filled in the spring. 

On another front, not all is well in this fine city as you can see as the Chevy dealer has no inventory. Must have been one of the lucky ones to get the ax. 
Update:The Chevy dealer has only moved his inventory for a summer sale across the street to the Ace Hardware lot. So all is well with his business.  We are also told this city is busy during the week and slows down on the weekends. 

After shopping at Wal*Mart and Albersons (they had some great sale prices on meat and a much more pleasurable experience that what we found at Wal*Mart.) we are back at the 5er staying cool. Will see if I venture out to the RV park pool later. 

Had a surprise email this morning... A guy who sez he has been following our blog for 2 1/2 years  and wanted to say he thought he might be the reader from the furthest point. He has been a contractor in Afghanistan for that time and is due back later this year to go fulltiming. WOW. Thanks Rick, for the email.

On Sunday we are off west on HW 12 fom Miles City on up to Melstone and beyond to Roundup as shown below. 

There are seven little towns between Forsyth and Melstone and another 4 more before we hit Roundup. What will we find, active thriving communities or ghost towns. We shall find out.  At our night stop at Roundup we will have to decided our next move. Either stay on HW 12 or go up US 87. 

Slowly heading to Great Falls, MT through Lewis and Clark National Forest. 

Maps from www.publiclands.org

Getting out of town this AM from Herreid, SD again we go a rocking side to side in the soft ruts all through the main town street.

We headed west on HW 12 and followed it all the way through northern SD and southwest ND and on into Montana. 

A nice drive as it was through many small, to tiny, to what's left, of these old towns, now for many not much more than signs that say there name as nothing much is left. . All interesting to see most of them were settled right about 1900 to 1909 and are now 100 years old and most not now in their best years by a long shot. Look at how many towns were settled along this road. 

HW 12 is the route from Mobridge to Bowam and on to Miles City, MT. Many are trying to grow wheat and corn. You go from barren badlands to  whole area of crops again. As we see this year the whole area is very wet as in standing water, even stunting crop growth where grown.  The glacer lakes are full. The vast area to the most part is green and lush. Me thinks, this year at least, (not sure if this has been a trend)  is a great place to call home for these homesteaders, unlike in Iowa where normal rain is taken for granted. Knock on wood, as they say.
We didn't stop in ND at Bowman to camp as we had planned. As we crossed the the Missouri River we changed to Mountian time so just keep on going (It was only then about noon) (I can't stop that early now can I) and at 3:30 landed in Miles City, MT after checking Streets and Trips for RV parks. 

 A Montana drive by picture.

These bikers were heading east and not west toward Sturgis. Must be lost. 

Now this one was heading in the right direction with a group but me thinks it's set up backwards. 

Now in Miles City, MT.

Above the Big Sky RV Park in Miles City.  The woman camp host was very friendly. This park has a pool, WiFi, Cable TV, and showers etc. Full Service.  We took a W/E site for $16 total price. Cool deal. We like it here and since we are way ahead of where we had planned to stop we plan to stay Saturday night and explore the area. And Yes a Wal*Mart super center in the area. I may have to do another float in this pool like I did in the Mitchell RV park pool. Terry sez he will sit this one out as he thinks he get an ear infection from the last outing. We are the 5er on the far right. Only three rigs here in the overnight section. We shall see if it fills up. They have long term in the back right.
Update: Several more units pulled in later. 

This park is right off Bus I-95 and HW 12 at exit 141. 
You all have a great weekend out there. 
 
 

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