Across North Dakota and into Montana

We passed huge fields of sunflowers and listened to the free Sirius radio all the way across North Dakota (very boring state) and ended up on the Yellowstone River in a great KOA near Billings, Montana.  Turns out this was the very first KOA in the country.  When you are in Montana, it really is big sky country with BIG raindrops and even bigger clouds.  What a great state!  Last night we had a great walk along the banks of the Yellowstone River at sunset.

We've not really had the 'perfect' trip as we've battled the fridge not working with the gas on and the toilet springing a pin hole leak....grrr!  But fortunately, the mechanic on board was able to fix the fridge and this morning we were up early and at Home Depot at 8 a.m. to buy plumbers tape and gel instant  glue.  So far, it's holding but a  RV repair is probably in our future.

We decided to drop down to the South and swing through Yellowstone Park rather than heading North to Spokane.  Seniors get a FREE pass into all the national parks so it's a great benefit!  We passed through Cody, WY and toured the Buffalo Bill Dam.  These dams 'on the grid' for Montana and Wyoming are 'remotely' controlled from a center in Helena so no one really works on site.

It's been a good 25 years since we've been to Yellowstone with the kids.  We were at Old Faithful when the geyser wasn't going off and toured the new educational center.  The summer rush is over, the traffic and tourists at a minimum, except of course, when a big buffalo is on the road blocking a lane of traffic.  This thing was huge and I missed getting his whole body in the picture...but good news, there was another one just ahead.

The devastating fires of 1998 that burned over 800,000 acres all summer long in Yellowstone were clearly apparent as the barren countryside displayed huge amounts of charred and burned trees along the road from the East entrance to the West entrance.  The forest is starting to re-generate but it's slow.

We found our way to our KOA park in West Yellowstone around 5:30.  It's still peak season with a deluxe site price of $75 a night.  We got  hooked up and decided to spend two days so we could head back to the park again tomorrow and not have another full day of driving.  Thanks for traveling with us.