Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Journey Home – Part One

It was really hot and humid on the last day at the reunion, so Rosie asked me if the weather would be better where we were going next.  It should be, said I, since it is north and west of here.  As we approached Mobridge, SD, the thermometer on the truck kept creeping up; 98, 99, 100, up to 103; and the wind was fierce out of the south at over 35 mph.  So much for my “sensible” weather forecasting.  We set up the camper at Indian Creek State Recreation Area.  It blew hard all night long.  The pooches were restless and whiney all night.  By morning the wind started to die down.  We went for a fuel and grocery run in the morning.  Then Rosie spent an hour and a half at the Laundromat.  On Tuesday morning, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise

IMG_3684

and no wind.  So we had a leisurely breakfast and hitched up and headed for North Dakota.  Our destination there was Buffalo Gap Campground in the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands area west of Medora, ND on Interstate 94.  What a pleasant surprise.  A well arranged Federal Campground with nice trees, flat paved sites and only a couple of tent campers in our loop. 

IMG_3700IMG_3702

View through the camper window.                           Our site.  $3.00 a night for Golden Age folks.

IMG_3708 IMG_3715

A typical site set up.  Really nice.                          A great moonrise. 

The temperature was a balmy 75 when we arrived and it got cooler as the evening wore on.  I actually put on the heater when I got up at 5:00 am to take the pooches on potty call.

Wednesday , we hit the interstate at 7:00 am, headed west and south on 94 into eastern Montana.  Our destination was Roundup, a small town north of Billings.  I had found this on the internet under “Free and Low Cost Camping”.  Roundup has a city park along the river that has grassy sites and a lot of big shade trees.  Camping is “free”, but there are signs soliciting “donations” to help maintain the park.  We will cheerfully make a donation before we leave because this is really nice and not crowded.  I have an Insurance Company Inspection to do on a large farm about 40 miles from here, near Ryegate, MT.  Doing inspections along the way helps pay for these extended trips and I am grateful for the supplemental work.

Here are some pictures from the city park in Roundup.

IMG_3719IMG_3721

Our site.                                                           An overview of the park.

 IMG_3722 IMG_3725

The Sathe family in relaxed mode.                         Annie is ever on the alert.

We plan to be home on Saturday.  One more overnight at Henry’s Lake in Idaho on Friday night.  I will write the final blog for the trip early next week.  Thanks for following along.  Feel free to make comments on any of my posted blogs.  I welcome feedback (except critical writing advice from my author daughter :-))!

No comments: