Big Sky Country

It is crunch time.  We are at the point now where we need to head east towards Yellowstone or north to Montana.  The weather has improved in Yellowstone and most of the roads are now open.  However, the forecast shows overnight temperatures in the mid to upper 20's and 30-40% precipitation for the next few days.  It was doable, but would probably not be much fun.  We decided to skip Yellowstone and turn north.

Camp at Sturgis.  Where are the bikers???

Yeah.  Right.

We departed our camp in Sturgis after a night of light rain and a low temperature of 37 degrees.  We left I-90 and headed north on US 85 and US 212 headed towards Billings MT.  We soon cut through the northwest corner of Wyoming and then crossed into Montana.

Montana is very scenic

The drive across southeastern Montana was very scenic and uneventful.  We saw a number of Pronghorns along the road side.  During our drive we crossed a number of historically significant rivers:  the Yellowstone, Little Missouri, Missouri and Little Bighorn.

We arrived in Billings about 4:00.  Sam's Club had a very good price for diesel, so we topped off with about 82 gallons.  Since we were not going to Yellowstone, we found that we had more time in our schedule to cross Canada.  Consequently, we decided to spend the night at the Billings Cabela's store next door to Sam's, rather than continuing to Great Falls.

Camp Cabela's in Billings MT

More dead animals at Cabela's

Neat aquarium!

We visited the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, which was directly on our route.  The Monument honors the combatants on both sides who died in the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25 and 26, 1876.

They had excellent RV parking next to the Custer National Cemetery, a part of the Memorial

The Memorial on Last Stand Hill

Markers on Last Stand Hill, where many soldiers fell, including General Custer

There are also markers for fallen Native Americans

The Indian Memorial

At Great Falls MT we visited the Lewis & Clark National Historical Interpretive Center, a part of the Lewis & Clark National Forest.  The center has exhibits on much of the explorers travels through Montana, but particularly describes the ordeal of portage the five great falls of the Missouri, where the river drops 500 feet.

The Missouri River at Great Falls

Black Eagle Falls at Great Falls

Your intrepid reporter

The Lewis & Clark party traveled with a Newfoundland dog named Seaman.  A Newfoundland named Buddy was a greeter at the the center.  Buddy was really friendly.  His owner carried a huge slobber cloth.

Buddy the Greeter

Exhibit depicting the portage at Great Falls

Overlooking the Missouri River.  I love coach pictures!

We are camped at Trails West RV Park in Shelby MT, on I-15, just 36 miles from the Canadian border.    This is a very nice park and is actually a part of the Best Western Inn.  We have been on the road for 8 days now and have traveled over 2300 miles.  It's time for a break.  We have decided to lay over a day here in Shelby and cross the border on Monday.   We have a number of chores to perform.  We never really got organized from our hasty departure a week ago.  There is good internet here, and we will plan our itinerary across Alberta and British Columbia, and make reservations for our ferry passage.

Our camp at Trails West RV Park/Best Western Inn

They offer a great buffet breakfast here.  You can even cook your own waffle.

On Monday we will cross the Canadian border and head towards Calgary AB.