So Much For Advice from Cowboys
We pulled into a campground in Miles City, Montana. The folks who run it, Kevin and Lisa McRae, have done pretty much what I am doing. They were from Kansas City, their kids were grown and out of the house, and they needed an adventure. Never having spent time here, they bought a campground at the beginning of the last season, and haven’t looked back. They love Montana life, and have enjoyed the campground business. Better than the B and B business, these folks aren’t actually in your home and your space, but they get to spend time with interesting people from all over.
Lisa helped me find a garage in Miles City, no small feat. The auto dealership had sent all their guys to a clinic. Three garages couldn’t see me til Friday. At last Bill Kelly agreed to take a look, checked my cooling system, and said he saw absolutely nothing wrong. Time to continue the trek west.
Bubba and I were a little cowed by the signs in all the rest stops cautioning travelers to stay on the path and watch out for rattlesnakes. Another place where myopia and colorblindness will not serve me well. We trod cautiously, but I think it’s too damn cold for any self-respecting rattlesnake to be out there anyway.
We stopped at Pompey’s Pillar, almost on the 200th anniversary, Lewis and Clark were here in July, 1806. Apparently the site is a favored location for school field trips from Billings at this time of year, so they were busy. There is a ranger on-site, but the Lewis and Clark commemorative group in the area provides volunteer docents to guide the kids around. There is a wooden staircase leading to the top of the rock. Awww, I shouldn’t have written that, better to have you think I scaled it. They have barriers to prevent people carving more graffiti on the soft sandstone; there are signatures dating forward from Wm. Clark’s, as well as petroglyphs predating his.
The Yellowstone River flows by about 100 yards from the rock. It was a cold and windy morning, but the sky was beginning to clear, and there’s a taste, just a taste of spring here.
There were cliff swallows darting in and out of the holes in the rock, as well as in the bluff across the river, and meadowlarks were singing on the edge of the adjacent meadow.
After stretching our legs and enjoying our respective lunches, Bubba and I piled back in for the trip to Bozeman. Lest you be concerned about whether my air conditioning is working, we’re still in winter here. There were snow piles on the side of the road east of Miles City and sporadically since. Here’s the view of the Crazy Mountains as we drove west of Billings.
I’m settled into a few days at Andra and Dan Spurr’s little cabin behind their house. An actual bathroom, no frozen midnight run out of the van! Bubba is playing with their border collies, Boulder and Tibo. We went out to dinner last night with Dan’s daughter and son-in-law and their little ones, Oliver and Isabelle. Everyone on the streets and in the restaurant looks young, healthy. Perhaps I will too!
