May 17, 2013 - Hello Great Falls

Thurs & Fri 5/16-17 We had a long but scenic drive over red roads (Routes 200, 87, 89) to Great Falls on Wednesday. The scenery around the Lewistown area near the Belt Mountains in the Judith Basin was particularly nice. We had to take a 30 mile detour off the road in the vicinity of Sluice Boxes State Park. The detour took us to about 5400 feet in the mountains and the scenery was quintessential Montana. Grassy hillsides with large groups of pines, snow-capped mountains in the background. We arrived at our campground (Dick’s RV Park) in...

May 15, 2013 - Log glitch? ... and Day 1

Just typed a bit here and the site promptly glitched and deleted it. A few mins wasted there - hope that doesn't happen again or this will be ditched before it even starts. A day of just getting there ... we had to get down in to US today ahead of the holiday weekend onslaught. US customs actually very good - a not unpleasant experience, and not too long a wait - about an hour including the vehicle lines and all the form filling (for Mum who is still on a UK passport). Not specially inspiring scenery en route to Great Falls, but good clear...

Aug 27, 2012 - Great Falls Mt

Today was just another travel day. We moved 200 miles to Dick's Rv Park. Nice big park with good level pull though sites. Talked to a man that had a truck just like ours. He said he had put three radiators in his truck but thought they had come up with a fix which I hope they have already done to ours.

Aug 20, 2012 - Crazy Horse then Northwest

We toured the Crazy Horse monument near Rapid City, SD. It is massive! Way bigger than Mt. Rushmore and it won't be finished in our lifetime. So far just the head is almost done. Then we had a long day of travel to try to reach Great Falls, Montana. Again we made time on the freeways at 80 mph but were slowed by construction on the two-lane roads between Billings and Great Falls. Needed a good nights sleep before leaving for Glacier.

Aug 19, 2012 - Malstrom Air Force Base

Nothing really to say. We pulled into the FamCamp at Malstrom Air Force Base and barely set up. We were tired from the last couple of weeks. So all we did was rest, read and renew our energies. I was so tired, I didn't even take a picture. Can you believe it? ha, ha, ha!

Aug 18, 2012 - Sacagawea Springs

Today we had several objectives. The first was to visit Great Falls, the largest of the falls and first encountered by Lewis as he scouted ahead of the Corps. We were prepared for seeing a dam and this one sits right on top of the uppermost section of the Falls. Even with that it is still an impressive sight. Next on the agenda was the hike (about 2 miles each way) to Sacagawea Springs. When the Corps caught up to Lewis Sacagawea was very ill and the Captains feared for her life. Lewis having noted the sulphur springs earlier sent back for...

Aug 17, 2012 - Lewis and Clark center

We visited the museum at Malmstrom AFB and learned this is a missile defense base. There are multiple ICBM's in montana and this base maintains them. We have heard helicopters on the base. We visited the lewis and clark interpretive center that shows 2 movies about their route and the portage at great falls. This is a wonderful exhibit as one walks through a timeline of what they encountered and has a full scale replica of the canoes they portaged. After going to the Lewis and Clark center, we drove to Ryan dam to see the first great falls...

Aug 17, 2012 - The Great Falls of the Missouri

We got on the road early and had a decision to make – take our planned scenic route through the Little Belt Mtns or take the faster interstate route to Great Falls where there is much Lewis and Clark history. We are in a sense taking the 1806 return route back down the Missouri after our detour to the Little Big Horn. We were very glad we decided to take the faster route because we were treated to the best scenery of the trip – through the “Gates of the Mountains” as Lewis named it… a narrow tree lined canyon with spectacular rock...

Aug 16, 2012 - Fort benton

We spent the day in fort Benton, the birthplace of Montana. This is a great place as Lewis and Clark stopped here after going through the Missouri river breaks. We visited the fort reconstruction and learned about fur trading. We also saw the original blockhouse that is the oldest building in Montana. We saw paintings of the Indians and the west that we're painted in the early 1800's when the west was untamed. The agricultural museum had interesting info on the wild days of the town, the riverboat traffic and the various provisions of the...

Aug 16, 2012 - Day 87 Great Falls

Day 87: We have decided to spend another day in Great Falls. Today we headed for the Malstrom Air Force base. No one told us to go to the visitor center before trying to enter the base. So, when we got to the gate by weaving around steel barriers, we were told to turn around! Not an easy task with traffic coming in and going out all the time! We finally got turned around and got to the visitor center. Then they did a background check on our passports and we were finally issued a pass! The museum was quite interesting. They had an entire...

Aug 15, 2012 - Great falls

We drove to great falls yesterday. What an experience. First, the weather was perfect: blue skies, few clouds, light wind, the temp went up to 86 degrees by the afternoon. The road on hwy 200 was rough, hilly and scenic from circle to Jordan, including badlands and buttes, rolling ranchland. Ray stopped in Jordan to see if anything had shaken off. Then we came upon highway construction and were led by the pilot car on freshly laid gravel for at least 10 miles. We have gravel in the tandem tow on every flat surface. We had lunch at an...

Aug 15, 2012 - Day 85 & 86 Great Falls, MT

Day 85: KOA campground in Great Falls Montana. Today we relaxed and enjoyed this lovely campground. They have a water park with two hot tubs, free firewood and free homemade cookies! At night, they have two country/blues singers play in one of their pavilions. I went to listen to them last night and they were pretty good. They could play almost any song requested. After the performance, they showed a slide show on local attractions. We decided to go to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive center tomorrow. I forgot to mention on our drive to get...