Bozeman to Kallispell - Catching up

Another great driving day - weather was perfect for most of the trip.  We encountered more high passes with steep grades, so I got used to pushing the gas pedal to the floor just to keep moving and watching the gas gauge go down, down, down.  When you reach a point in the climb where maximum gas pedal is required, the cruise control turns itself off. Then, of course, when you get to the top, you have to go down.  A 6% grade is pretty steep, so I took the cruise control off so I could control the descent.  Some of the turns were pretty scary, even at 55 mph!  

We took some time to stop and rest for lunch on the side of the road before gassing up for the northern portion of today's drive.  Skooter likes to see everything from the front seat when we are parked and lets me know that he needs to check out all of the available grass and trees. You can almost hear him thinking, "where are all the trees, mom?" at this stop.

We got to Lakeside, MT where we will park the RV for the next 10 days around 4:00 in the afternoon.  We're parked across the street from Flathead Lake, the largest lake in Montana. This weekend is a boat show. Our host at the campground had texted me in the morning to see what time we would be coming through and was relieved to find out it would be later in the afternoon as they were having a parade in the morning. This is a REALLY small town on the lake. We needed to go to the grocery store to get some needed supplies and wound up driving into Kalispell, clear to the north side of town, to find one.  We're not familiar with the local grocery stores and realized on the way back to the RV that we had passed one much closer to Lakeside.  Oh, well.

Dinner was at a casino and grill here in Lakeside.  Great hamburgers but very slow service. Apparently the cook can only handle one order at a time and we were behind a large family group and another couple that were there. Dad and the kids were playing pool in the restaurant area. This place, like many here, was divided into three areas - casino, bar, and restaurant.  Restaurant is being kind as the room was only large enough for about ten tables.  

My project today is to get the RV ready for John to spend the next week alone here and to make sure that I have all of my quilting tools and projects ready to take to the retreat tomorrow.  I can hardly wait. 

Days 6-7 – Cheyenne to Bozeman, MT

We left Cheyenne on a bright sun shiny day, heading out for Sheridan, Wyoming. For once, we didn’t have to deal with road construction that made for major delays. YEAH!  It’s not easy maneuvering this motorhome through some of the narrow lanes they have devised to torture us drivers. 

One thing we noticed as we wended our way north was a huge number of motorcycles on the road. One gas station that we stopped at had to have had at least 50 motorcycles parked there in lines to get gas. John asked one of the men standing around if they were going to something in particular and the response was that they were just out for a ride.  I think they thought John was joking when he asked the question because we found out later that this is the week for the gathering at Sturgis. There were a number of women riding solo and lots of 3-wheel bikes. I told John that I might be able to ride one of them by myself as I wouldn't have to remember to put my foot down when we stopped - a problem I had years ago when we were riding bikes. He had to stop and help me pick my bike up more than once!  Interestingly enough, there are road signs all over the state of Wyoming trying to make drivers conscious of motorcycles and their rights to be on the road, too. 

Our night in Sheridan was good, except for the rain. It seems the rain clouds gather in the late afternoon and continue until early in the morning, so no awning out, no outside sitting to enjoy the nice, cool weather, and no outdoor cooking.  We are usually tired by this time and it’s “let’s go get something to eat and then go to bed” time.

Just into Montana north of Sheridan, we encountered the Custer Battlefield Museum, “Where the Battle of the Little Big Horn began,” in Garryowen, Montana. (Here’s the link if you want to see some of what we saw: http://www.custermuseum.org). We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the museum – only outside.  We did sit through a video that provides lots of information on what led up to the battle. 

Next stop is Bozeman, MT.  We're getting closer and closer to retreat!

Day 5 - Still in Cheyenne, Wyoming

The weather this morning was beautiful - cool and crisp and clear!  Temperature was about 60 degrees when we went outside with a stiff wind - enough that I shouldn't have bothered brushing my hair as it was blown wildly about all day.

My plan today is to find the quilt shop in Cheyenne.  The Quilted Corner is in the older part of downtown and is absolutely lovely.  The two ladies running it were friendly and helpful. We talked about my going to the Judy Niemeyer retreat and they mentioned that they had been involved in bringing her to Cheyenne some years ago to do workshops for several of the quilt shops in the surrounding towns. They asked to be remembered to her.  I bought some more fabric for my border quilt (imagine that!) and a couple of fat quarters - one for the bee challenge of a holiday themed fabric (shh - don't tell anyone in the bee) and another fat quarter that is a Wyoming design with the same cowboy that appears on their license plates. I'm not sure that I'll ever do anything with it, but it is a good souvenir for me. This picture doesn't do the colors justice.

We did some other shopping, including a stop at the Verizon store to see what we could do for a hotspot. The internet connections at most campgrounds are HORRIBLE, so I was interested in seeing what was available that would make us independent of their service. We got a whole new plan including the hotspot to travel with for the same amount that we now pay.  Woohoo.  I'm going to be a much happier camper going forward.

Mid-afternoon was rest time for us.  John took a nap and I worked on an appliqué project. Dinner was grilled outside while we sat and enjoyed the 70 degree weather - the wind had died down and the weather was absolutely perfect. This is what we go camping to enjoy. 

Tomorrow it's north again to Sheridan, Wyoming. 

Day 4 - Cheyenne, Wyoming

We're still getting used to time time change! You wouldn't think that one hour would make any difference when you are retired, but it seems to be the case. I got smart, though, and changed my watch so I'm in sinc with the rest of the world in this time zone.  Of course, you have to push the pin back in all of the way, or it doesn't make any difference to what time you set your watch.

As we say goodbye to Raton, we're happy to see that the sun is shining today. We have a bit of dried mud inside from the rains the past few days, but I'm going to deal with it tonight as we don't want to wait until those household chores are done to leave. Today should be a fairly easy day. Our next stop is in Cheyenne, Wyoming and we'll spend two nights there. Hopefully that extra day will allow these old bones (times two) to rest up.  I find that the tops of my legs at the knees are sore from getting up and down out of the cab and up and down the stairs of the motorhome. We've been stopping about every two hours and moving around outside (weather permitting) and letting Skooter leave messages for the dogs coming behind us, so there are lots of opportunities to flex those muscles. 

Wouldn't you know that we'd be just about out of Colorado on the downhill slide, so to speak, into Wyoming when we're waved off of Hwy. 25 as there was a major wreck that completely closed the highway on the northbound side.  Lots of us were routed through back country roads, then found our way back to the Hwy. 25 feeder road only to be routed onto the southbound feeder road to wind up right where we started when they took us off of the highway to begin with. This took over an hour!  We checked our map and found a county road that would take us east to Hwy. 85 which would take us into Cheyenne a few miles east of where Hwy. 25 comes in. Unfortunately, a lot of other drivers had the same thought and we got in line with them. Once we got to Hwy 85, the line was just as long and NOT MOVING AT ALL. It seems that Hwy. 85 is a two-lane highway, one lane in each direction, and they are repaving one lane of it. I'm beginning to sense a pattern with this trip!

We finally reached our destination, three hours after we thought we'd be here. The campground is nice as most KOAs are, and we're happy with where they put us.  John is quite happy as it is near the rail line and he gets to watch the trains go by.  We had the manager direct us to Walmart as we couldn't find the power cord for the DirectTV box - so no TV tonight.  John had a plan to make a cable, but that didn't work out.  Then I remembered storing some items from the overhead under the seat in the dinette area.  Guess what I found!  We have TV!  

We thought we'd left the storms behind us, but no such luck. It is nice, though, to hear the patter of the rain drops on the roof as you are falling asleep.  Luckily, we enjoy that as it has been a theme for us since San Antonio.

Day 3 - Destination Raton, New Mexico

We left the campground around 9:30 and got to Littlefield, TX around 10:30. We needed gas but no stations were visible on the route the GPS picked for us, so we backtracked through town to the intersection of Hwy 385 and Hwy 84. We filled up at the Valero station, turned the RV around to park it out of the way, and walked across the parking lot for some breakfast at the Golden Arches. 

When we came out, John noticed we had a flat tire. Well, crap! First the battery in the Kia goes out, and now we have to get a brand new tire fixed. In. a. small. town. on. a. Sunday! 

While I'm on the phone making arrangements for a new tire to be delivered and mounted, John and a friendly small-town resident used his (the resident's) air compressor to fill the tire to see if it would hold air. When I heard the loud pop and felt the RV list further to the side, I knew they had over inflated the tire and it blew out. In closer discussion with them, I learned that they had over inflated the good tire and now we needed two new tires.  So, now I'm back on the phone to add another tire to the order.  Sigh.

Three hours and two tires later, we're back on the road. The nice young man who was sent to install the tires made short work of it and it was obvious he had a lot of experience. Notice the really large tires in the back of his truck - he changes tires on the big 18-wheeler rigs, too.

I checked the GPS and it told me that we'd be in Raton by 6:30, so I thought that wasn't too bad what with our late start.  What I forgot was that New Mexico is on Mountain Standard Time (MST), so we would actually arrive at 7:30 Houston time.  Still not too bad as it would still be daylight and much easier to see to get everything hooked up.

We didn't count on the return of the late afternoon storms.  We watched the clouds build up across the horizon as we traveled north, hoping that we'd beat the storm.  Luckily, we didn't get hit with the rain until after we crossed the border into New Mexico.  It rained all the way to the campground, not enough to make driving overly hazardous, but certainly enough to make it uncomfortable to have to drive in it.

The Raton KOA was all set for us and for the other ten rigs lined up to check in!  Not only that, but this is the first one where I've been able to post to my blog and download from my e-mail.  Plus, they have normal water hook-ups, so now we can fill the tanks.

We got set up and connected - in the mud, I might add.  Then it was time for dinner.  I was too tired to cook, so we went to K-Bob's Steakhouse for something to eat.  Imagine my surprise to learn that they were all out of the two steaks I wanted, so I had to settle for chicken fried chicken. Not too shabby a third choice as it included the salad bar. You know how some chicken fried (fill in the blank here) where the meat inside the breading is all shrunk and you get a lot of breading with little else? The cooks at K-Bob's know how to do these right - light and crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside with very little shrinkage. 

Now it's back to the RV to update the blog and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another driving day to Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Day 2 - Destination Lubbock, Texas

The stay at the San Antonio KOA was nice. It was obvious why they won Best KOA Campground for 2015 - beautiful facilities, friendly and helpful staff, and lots of amenities.

My TSAP board meeting went well, and I was back at the RV by 1:15. We were hooked up and on the road to Lubbock by 1:30. I really didn't plan this leg of the trip well. Lubbock is 382 miles from San Antonio. What was I thinking! And, I didn't print out the directions for this leg or Lubbock to Raton, New Mexico. Arghhh! If I had, I'd have realized what I had done and made adjustments to reservations accordingly.  

The trip started out fine. The weather was hot and clear. We got to see a lot of West Texas we had never seen before, including major wind farms between San Angelo and Lubbock. 

About 7:30, the weather changed and by 9:00, we were going through heavy thunder and lightening storms. In two places, the highway was flooded. At the first section, there was an accident and several vehicles were off the road in the ditch. Picture, if you can, hilly terrain where the only illumination is the flash of lightening and the red lights on top of the wind turbines off in the distance - not even a farm house in sight. The road was very lightly traveled for miles on end, so we didn't see many headlights for miles at a time.  It made for a white knuckle drive!

Finally, around 10:30, we found the campground. We were too tired to do anything other than plug the RV into the power station, turn the generator off, and fall into bed. I think we went to the second tier of RV parks for KOA as this one hadn't left us space and parking instructions with our name on them - not good service at all. Just wait until I get hold of someone in the office tomorrow.

Day 1 - Destination San Antonio

We got off to a good start today. Got everything packed that wasn’t already in the motorhome and left Houston at 12:30 – right between the times I said we’d be gone.  The drive to San Antonio was fairly uneventful. The rains came just west of Luling – wetting the service road enough for the cars to splash through puddles but nothing on the freeway.  We did get a shower just before the SA city limits, but it lasted all of a half mile. 

In case I haven't mentioned him, Skooter is ready, willing, and an able traveler. He puts on his happy face and likes to check out every tree and blade of grass he is allowed to on the way. That would make for a lot of stops along the way if we'd let him.

John and I were supposed to go to a barbecue for the TSAP board of directors at Arbor House, Ron Stinson’s Bed and Breakfast in downtown San Antonio this evening. I say supposed to because when we got in the Kia to start that way, the battery was dead. So, our evening of the first day was spent in search of a new battery. We lucked out and found a NAPA warehouse that had a storefront attached and got everything he needed plus a few goodies I found. Auto parts stores are almost as much fun as quilt shops – almost.

Luckily our grandson Steve is working in San Antonio and volunteered to come to the campground and help John install the battery.  Yeah, Steve.  By the time that was done, we were all hungry so went out to a Mexican restaurant Steve had been wanting to try – Picante Grill in San Antonio. Yummy.  I got to enjoy sitting and visiting with two of my favorite men.  Aren’t they good looking!