June 28-29, 2021 Bozeman, Montana to Cody, Wyoming

 High of 89 and sunny. We are only one day away from our cross coutry rush to get to my 50th high school reunion in Cody, Wyo.

We drove to Bozeman and waited at Les Schwab for the tire we ordered to come in. It is to replace one of the brand new tires on the back that got sidewall damage on the the dirt road drive out of the Salmon River trip. It came in at the end of the day and we were out of there by 530. We are parked at the Gallatin County Fair grounds for the night, with our new tire. 

The basket is getting bigger. I was going to on two more dolphins but after wrestling with these three for hours I decided they were enough. After our grueling day of waiting for a tire to be delivered we went out to dinner at Bridger Brewing company.  Pizza and beer. 

Sunset tonight. Beautiful country outside of Bozeman, Montana. 

The first sight of the back side of Heart Mountain. You can see the other side from all over Cody, where I went to high school.  Welcome to Wyoming. 

Shoshone River,  Rattlesnake and Cedar Mountain from Cody. We had dinner with our friends Jackie and Billie at the Silver Dollar. We went to high school together and are here for our 50th high school reunion.

Sue, Jackie and Billie. High school friends. The Buffalo Bill statue at the west end of Main street in Cody, Wyo.

The house my family lived in, in Cody, Wyo. /Our current home is parked at Absorka Bay RV park in Cody, Wyo for the week. 

June 27, 2021, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, Montana

 High of 89, sunny and hot.

Big Hole River near our campground in Wisdom, Montana. We are now parked at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, near Whitehall, Montana. Nice campground, but it was 90 degrees and no shade. Good thing the AC now works. 

The Jefferson River across the street from the campground. I went on the Caverns tour. This is the view from the cavern mouth of the campground below. 

Lewis and Clark Caverns. Lewis and Clark never saw or were in these caverns. But they did camp down on the river a ways back. Our tour guide Sam near the Fallen idol you can see behind him laying on the ground. 

A cave bacon formation.  Beautiful columns. 

The CCC hand carved 600 stairs out of the rock in the caverns. We went down most of them. Here we are on our way down. There was even a place where you had to slide down. This is the deepest lake in the caverns. It is 4 feet deep. 

We crossed the contenintal divide twice. It snakes around in western Montana. Where Lewis and Clark camped is now an RV Park and campground, A model of the caverns, A cross section of a stalagmite. The stiars that the CCC hand cut in the cavern are now polished marble from all the feet walking on them over the years. A cool formation. The red color comes from a red light on it. 

Progress on the masterpiece. John preparing dinner.  It says on the can of spray oil to not spray an open flame with it, but John says he can since he is a trained firefighter. . .

Sunset tonight. 

June 26, 2021 Wisdom, Montana

 High in the low 80's, sunny and enough breeze to make it comfortable. 

We are now in Wisdom, Montana, Land of 10,000 haystacks. Population 91. It is in the Big Hole Valley, which was named by trappers who called valleys 'holes'. It is a wide, flat, lush and green high mountain meadow surrounded by high mountains. It is the biggest valley in Montana. 

The view from Wisdom, Montana. A few signs around town. We are missing the flea market in August, darn I wanted to trade some of my ammo, Herbal Gerbil tea is for sale in the general store to support the school, No Name street, Wisdom Market Last chance to buy groceries and Bud Light for 50 miles, super punching in Wisdom and you can usually tell how cold it gets in the winter by the size of the wood piles, it must get really cold here.

We are camped at the American Legion Memorial park and campground.  It is free, but donations are accepted. It is a lovely quiet campground with a common room, a water pump- not potable- and a common room, plus free internet. And you can't leave out the great views.

Lots of wildflowers here at the campground. Stone Crop, cinquefoil, lupine, bladderpod and yarrow.  Asters, buckwheat, penstemons and I am not sure. 

Golden banner, camas and larkspur. A style goes over the fence to the river. But the closer to the river I got the worse the bugs were, so I retreated. 

Prairie dogs--wildlife in our front yard. Since this area is a wetlands and right by the river the bug are bad. It was a bit windy, so it kept most of them at bay, but we still stayed mostly indoors. We braved them for dinner outside. The wind was still chasing most of them off and it was beautiful out. 

A hay rack in the campground in the sunset. I am now working on this basket. 

Just finished this basket. The black needles really pop. It is made from natural and dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads and 4 African trade beads. The enter is a piece of dichroic glass that I fused. It is 8 x 7 x 1 3/4 inches. 

I added the finishing touch of the beads and bear on the rim of this one. It is made from pine needles, polyester cord, glass beads, a blue bear and the center is a piece of dichroic glass I fused. 

June 24-25, 2021 Challis, Idaho to Darby, Montana

 

The north fork of the Payette River just south of Cascade Idaho. It looks very tranquil at first, but drops into one of the longest runs of class V rapids all along the highway south.. Even John has only run a few of them. We drove up the south fork of the Payette in this lovely valley. 

The south fork of the Payette river is in this beautiful canyon. The Sawtooth mountains in the distance. 

The Salmon river just west of Stanley, Id runs through green meadows with a backdrop of the Sawtooth Mountains. The Salmon river canyon before Challis, Id has lots of cool volcanic formations. 

We parked at the Round Valley RV park in Challis, Id. There are beautiful mountains all around the valley. I am working on this basket now. It has a dichroic glass face I cast in the center. It looked a little like an African mask to me so I added African trade beads. Is made with natural and dyed black pine needles. 

Beautiful historic downtown Challis, Idaho. The evening light on the ridges south of town. 

Sunset was lovely. 

Beautiful, historic downtown Salmon, Id. Salmon is on the River of no return. We passed the ski area on the border of Idaho and Montana. Lost Trail Pass ski area. 

This little girl like our guard snake. She asked if she could show it to her friends. Soon we heard all these screeching girls. Pretty funny, John had to rescue the snake from them. We passed the 45th Parallel, halfway between the equator and the north pole., Welcome to Montana, if you need any skulls bleached Darby is your place, We are not following the Lewis and Clark trail. Transport f invasive species in Montana is illegal! We had to have our boats inspected twice for invasive species. 

Our first stop in town was at the Bandit Brewing company. John with his red ale and my porter is right behind him. For dinner we went to the Darby's Last Friday celebration in the city park. There was live music and food trucks. We got tacos and listened to great music. 

Beautiful historic downtown Darby, Montana. A barn next to the campground.

We are camped at Travelers Rest. Sunset over the RV park. 

We are missing the Twisted Nut Festival next weekend! A bronze statue of Sacajawea in Darby.