Wheatland, WY

Well we are on our way to Wheatland, WY and Mountain View Park, weather is good, sun is shining winds are calm should be a good trip. I finally remembered to put the camera in the truck and was sure glad I did, some interesting landscape along the route.

Such interesting formations, Iwent nuts taking pictures of the different formations, I find them fascinating.

A closer view.

The camera didn't catch the detail the eye can see but interesting just the same.

We did drive through areas with snow and were happy we waited in Sheridan.

Coming into Casper, WY. There was snow on the ground and on house roofs anywhere the sun had not had a chance to melt it yet and this was afternoon already. Casper's elevation is around 5000'. We thought it was interesting that the top of the mountains were snow free and the snow has collected at a lower level.

After we left the Casper area and headed further south we lost the snow

The changing landscape.

We arrived in Wheatland about 4:30 pm, and settled into Mountain View Park, the sites were level but rather small, not a place we would stay any length of time, we have a view of the Laramie Mountains. The Laramie Mountains are a range of the Rockies, encompassing the area from southeast Wyoming to north Colorado. Laramie Peak, the highest peak in the range, is 10,272 ft. The principal mineral of the range, coal, is found in the foothills. Wheatland’s elevation is just over 5000’ and sits in the centre of the mountain range. The owners of Mountain View Park are friendly and helpful, we had problems with the WiFi, they immediately checked for problems with their WiFi system, when they could not get it working, they called a service man, turns out that there was some parts that were burned out which needed to be ordered, so they transferred our site to use the office WiFi, you cannot ask for better service than that, especially when it is all after hours! There was an open area to walk the dogs, not huge but big enough and we could walk them around town also, fuel across the street, it was a good place for an overnight stop. Tomorrow we will be in Longmont, CO and stay for a few days, looking forward to visiting friends there.

One more day in Sheridan

We will be staying in Sheridan, WY tonight due to weather warnings south on I25, snow and high winds, tomorrow is supposed to be alright. We have good WiFi at this park on the edge of Sheridan, population around 16000. Will do a drive about this afternoon, a very western historic town, Buffalo Bill country. The weather here today is cloudy, cool with showers, going to get frost tonight but suppose to go up to 13c (55F) tomorrow. Dogs are doing great, Cookie travels very well, she sleeps until the truck stops unless she needs to potty and as long as we take them both out before trip they both can easily go 4 – 5 hours, no problem. There are 2 horses in a pasture right next door, they came running up to the fence when we walked the dogs this morning, Oreo barked at them and Cookie just stopped and looked then wanted to run right up to them, we didn’t let her of course. Some trees here are still green and some just starting to turn, grass is still green in the pasture and lawns still green, hills brown which I think is the case most of the year except for irrigation or in the spring, not sure though, just guessing. I had better get some much needed cleaning done and grab something to eat. Woody is shopping for needed groceries, as we did not bring much with us due to border crossing and for insulation for the ceiling vents which will cut down on heat loss. Woody returned and did not locate the insulation he wanted, not serious will find some at some time during our travels. We visited a small museum close to the park, very interesting Sheridan has quite an interesting history, they even had their own brewery, sugar beet refinery, and flourmill for many years, and I wish I had picked up some information. Sheridan has several museums and historic sites, we did try to visit a couple, but they were closed, ah well maybe next time! There are still operating coalmines in the area. We were not sorry that we had to spend an extra day in Sheridan, we both commented that it would a place we could live, beautiful area.

View from our campstite.

Note the TeePee set up in the backyard, thought it was neat. Sheridan is noted for being a very western town.

Looking at the town from the road that leads to our campground.

A view looking south from the campground.

In Wyoming

We made it to Sheridan, WY today; we drove through several small mountain ranges, grasslands, and wide-open country and drove through the battlefield area of Little Big Horn, Custer’s Last stand. We could not help thinking about that silly song “Please Mr. Custer, I don’t want to go”, cannot even remember the name of the song. We saw 3 horses silhouetted on the top of one hill, so cool but sure made us think of what it must have been like for settlers travelling along the valley and then see Indians pop up over the hill. The hills/mountains are so many different shapes and configurations, some totally bare except for grass and others covered with trees, some a variation of grass and trees, I left the camera in the fifth wheel again so didn’t get any pictures and no where to pull off the road, secondary 2 lane highway, not sure why we are not remembering the camera, I think we are anxious to hit warmer weather and have not got into the travel for fun mode yet. It surely was a nice drive except for one area where the winds were gusting, we had to slow down and take it easy for a few miles. Thinking it is one of those areas where the winds always blow due to the configuration of hills and valleys. We are staying at Peter D’s campground in Sheridan, a very nice campground, squeaky clean and the gentleman that runs it is very friendly and loves dogs, as Woody was getting the fifth set up and I was heading out to walk the dogs Peter came over with treats for our dogs and making sure we were happy or if we needed anything. He told us that he and his wife set this park up specifically for RVer’s heading south for the winter, it is a 55+ park, and there is an area that we can let Oreo run free which is rare to find in RV parks. This park is not big but very nice and well laid out for big rigs. We enjoyed our evening relaxing and chatting online with friends as usual.

Travel to Lewistown, MT

Another nice day today, warm and sunny, we have not heard back from the message left last night regarding our planned stop tonight. After completing our usual morning routine and still no word from the campground, I decide to check out other campgrounds in Lewistown, MT. The WiFi is not working, so waited a bit and tried again, nope no luck. Woody decided to have a shower using the campground showers while I kept trying the WiFi, he returned shortly to check the access code, he could not open the showers, he was using the correct access code, so seems the showers are locked. The owner has left for church, we still have not had any answer from the campground in Lewistown, I tried again and got the answering machine and we cannot access the WiFi, so now what to do. We do not want to stay another night here; the weather is good for travel so we decide to look for a motel via Microsoft Streets and Tips. I call a few numbers keep getting the same message that the phone has been disconnected, something is not right; I could see a couple of motels closing down but not several of them. Luckily Streets and Tips also has grocery stores and gas stations listed so I call the IGA in Lewistown, MT, they answer, I tell them I am trying to find a hotel/motel and keep getting a disconnect message, they are very helpful and pleasant explaining the area code has been changed and give me the new area code, I thank them very much and hang up. I call a motel again and get a reservation for the night, and start preparing to leave. We are just about ready to pull out when the campground owner comes over and wants to know if we are having trouble or are planning to stay another night. Woody tells him we are leaving the trouble he had with the showers and the WiFi, well he turns the WiFi off when he leaves and locks the showers and restrooms! His reasoning is someone might use the showers/restrooms or WiFi and damage them while he is not there. Well guess we will not stay here again, and will make an appropriate review on the Campground review site as well. I checked the reviews on the Campground Review website before I chose this campground and there was no mention of this issue so maybe no one stayed there on Sunday or had not tried the showers/restroom/WiFi on Sunday morning. The owner is a little quirky this is another new experience!
We head out a little later than we wanted to due to the snag but only travelling 3 1/1 hours today so not a big deal and now that we are staying in a Motel, no set up time. The travel was great, at Great Falls we left I15 and head down 87 towards Lewistown, the drive is relaxing, the scenery pretty, the road is a good 2 lane highway with extra passing lanes on hills, the grades are reasonable no long steep grades we make good time.
We chose this route because it is more a more direct route to Colorado and to avoid driving through Butte, then navigating the Homestake and Bozeman passes, we drove them once and do not care to repeat the experience, especially the Homestake pass it has steep grades that go for miles, it gets a little scary when pulling the fifth, difficult to control the speed on long steep downhill grades with that monster behind you pushing. Steep grades are not bad if they are only a short distance but 13 miles is too long. This pass has huge warning signs at the top and a place to stop, we were reading the large sign when a trucker wandered over and told us to be very cautious, go as slow as we need to, put on our flashers like the trucks do and pay strict attention to the speed signs. He said you can go down this pass many times too slow but only once too fast and we listened to him, we started out below the posted speed limit, by the time we hit the bottom we were happy and relieved. This was during our first long trip with our fifth in 2006 we always drive carefully, knowing that we cannot stop quickly, change lanes quickly, we allow lots of space before pulling back into the driving lane when passing and watch all drivers around us. Going up long steep grades is not an issue; the Dodge pulls the fifth with no problems.
Okay I regress, back to our trip to Lewistown, we arrived at the motel to find that we could not park in the big rig spot due to a trailer being there already, luckily we were given permission to park at the front of the parking lot taking up many spaces but is sure was convenient for us. The motel was quite nice, very friendly staff, good size room (important when you have 2 dogs) with a table, two chairs, desk, and fridge close to restaurants, we are happy. We brought in Oreo’s bed, Cookie’s kennel plus food and dishes, plus our paraphernalia. Woody went out to fuel up the truck and get us some dinner, while I fed the dogs, gave them some time to settle down in this new environment, organized our “stuff” and set up our laptops. Upon Woody’s return, we settled down eating while watching TV. There were many workers booked staying at this motel and the fellow next to us had a small barbeque set up on the tailgate of his truck cooking up a storm, it smelled so good! Woody chatted with him during the course of the evening and their crew are working all over the states for two years setting up wireless communications. The other neat thing was we saw whitetail deer across the road grazing in an open area. The young fellow said the deer graze there all the time and had even seen bear in that area while there, this motel is in the middle of town, but the animals seem to know they will not be bothered. Lewistown population is around 6100, so not huge, but a pretty little town. We spent the rest of the evening in our usual routine of walking dogs, chatting online and relaxing.

Made it to Shelby, MT

Woke up this morning to snow, it has lightly covered the ground, snowing enough to restrict visibility and create more mud, what a mess but we need take the puppies out after which we check weather out on the internet, the snow is suppose to stop by noon, okay we sure hope it does. We proceed with our usual morning routines, the snow is slowing down and we prepare to leave when the snow quits, we do not have much preparation as we did not set up like we intended to stay but taking down the dish in this mess is not fun. While Woody is hooking up the rig, I walk the dogs in an open area trying to stay out of mud as much as possible. I wipe the dogs feet as best I can we all climb in the truck and wonder if we will need 4 x 4 to pull the fifth out of this site there are some pretty good ruts and bumps so we must proceed slowly, well the truck pulled the fifth easily through the mess, but by the time we left the park the fifth was muddy as was the truck, inside and out. The highway was wet but as we headed south, it dried up with all the traffic running on it. We had no trouble at the border at all, the easiest crossing we have ever made a few questions after checking our passports, we were wished a good trip and waived on, it is always a relief to be across the border, we never know what to expect. We arrived at the Lewis & Clark Campground in Shelby, MT late afternoon, after putting some water in our holding tanks as the campground has turned off the water for the season, we set up, the WiFi is not good, loosing the connection regularly, I do manage to stay connected long enough to check weather and I call ahead for reservations at our next stop, get the answering machine so leave a message to call us back. All the sites in this campground are curb side sites and as usual the hook-ups are on the wrong side, so our door faces the road, but the campground is clean, and easy off and on access to I15. We were happy we had stayed at Whispering Spruce Campground an extra day, we saw snow in many areas from the storm. We settle in have some dinner, walk the dogs, and spend some time chatting online with friends. We headed to bed early, looking forward to our continued journey tomorrow.

Heading south, Day 2

Got up this morning and tuned in the news/weather first thing, bad news, high winds gusting to 100 km/h (62 mph) in southern Alberta all the way through to Wyoming with snow expected south of border in Montana along route we plan to drive. I take the laptop, head to the campground office and check further on the weather to see if we could maybe drive to Lethbridge or maybe a little further, we really don’t want to stay here another day, well the winds are bad even there, so we book another night here. Woody puts up our Hughes Dish so we can access the internet at our leisure and settle in for the day. It is a very nice here today, temps in up 20c (68F), some wind here but not bad, we spend the day walking the dogs, watching TV, doing a little cleaning and browsing the internet and hope we can leave tomorrow. This is the day we were supposed to arrive at our winter home in Tombstone, AZ, ah well so we will be a little later arriving. We left Imrie Park later than we originally planned (our own choice) then we were held up a few more days due to a snow storm in Montana, we decided to stay put in Alberta rather than drive a short distance, then sit and wait out the storm, we expect weather delays when travelling in the fall and will be the same when we return in the spring.

Heading south, Day 1

Left today driving to Whispering Pines Campground at Balzac, AB just north of Calgary, it was a good drive, sunny and nice, the campground is a huge disappointment, dirt roads with mud holes, narrow uneven mostly dirt sites, we will not stop here again, this is a Good Sam Campground, and Good Sam gives it 3 stars, think they should make a visit to this campground and re evaluate. The owners and staff are very friendly and we can see they are trying to improve the campground but it will take a long time. It is a large campground with many permanent rigs here, oh well we only plan on spending the night here, we settle in, spending our time walking the dogs, then cleaning their feet as best we can, watching a DVD movie and a little TV. No chatting online tonight, no WiFi except at the campground office, we turn in early looking forward to crossing the border tomorrow.