Day 15 - Bozeman - Bear Canyon Trail

Bozeman, 41 miles total and 23.4 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2777 miles, 23.4* mpg. Those are the stats.

Today turned into a maintenance kinda day. We didn’t exactly plan it that way, but that’s what happened.

I slept in until 9am, partially because I was up from 3-5 for whatever. I wrote the end of yesterdays blog, did some email and finally got back to sleep.

Breakfast was the first order of business, and we chose the Main Street Overeasy. The food and service was excellent. Go there! Someone there knows how to run a restaurant. I couldn’t bring myself to try their bread pudding – because I was already stuffed – but I hope to get back.

The first thing I did was accidentally reset the trip miles and mileage totals. So now I can’t just read them off the dashboard, I have to add 2736 to whatever it says. And the total mileage won’t be exact anymore. But hey, it’s close enough, eh?
After breakfast we headed over to CostCo to see about glasses repair. Which was fine, but somehow we didn’t have the broken glasses with us, so a quick (1 mile) trip back to the room was in order. On the way out of CostCo I just couldn’t resist a 1 TB external hard drive, so we got that along with the Yellow Tail Shiraz. The boys and I stayed in the room while S-H went back for glasses repair and some shopping. When she got back I was frustrated at the external drive, because it had a Trojan on it, and contacting customer service was becoming a problem. It’s always something.

In her travels she discovered, at PetSmart, that the boys could get washed today – and they really need a wash job – a week in the pet-a-tentiary and they smelled like kennel dogs. Bluck. Appointments were available today, so we decided to do it. What we didn’t know was how long it would take – over 2 hours. So that is pretty much shooting a hole in doing any hiking today.

However, it has given me a chance to upload pictures and reformat my new external hard drive. And that’s what I have been doing.

I called Doug Alexander and left messages at home and on his cell. We hope to get together for dinner or something – haven’t heard back yet. That pretty much catches things up to now. More later.


S-H and boys are back – boys smell much better! We are going on a short hike – it is already 5pm. So we picked Bear Canyon, a easy short hike not far from Bozeman. Off we go. The drive to the trailhead is quick and easy. The hike is essentially up one side of a drainage that has a small creek running – it’s a nice hike, with pretty flowers and scenery – trees, glens, etc. The most exciting thing is on the way down, when S-H and Jake are way in front of Woody and me – she saw an animal that initially she thought might be a fox. It approached, but she scared it off.

Then she waited for me. We traded dogs, then I went first with Jake. Soon we spotted the animal again. It is way to big to be a fox, bigger than Jake by a lot. I managed to get a picture, telephoto at over 60 yards, and I’m not sure what it is. It has a collar, so it could be a husky of some sort, but it could also be a collared gray wolf. I saw it a couple more times, but couldn’t get another picture. I vote for wolf.


We swatted mosquitoes down the trail, and drove back to the room. Still no message from Doug Alexander. We clean up and go to Santa Fe Red for a Mexican meal. We sat outside and had a great meal. Just a few mosquitoes. And it cooled down nicely while we were there.

That’s about it for Sunday – tomorrow we plan a fairly long hike – weather looks like it will be perfect.

Day 14 - Red Lodge to Bozeman

Red Lodge to Bozeman via Big Timber, 239 miles total and 25.5 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2736 miles, 27.1 mpg. Those are the stats.


It’s departure day. We’re all sorry to see it end. Chuck, Carolyn, Gary and Jane leave the house around 7 to fly back – they’ll be home by noon! Luigi and Kaui leave this afternoon for Billings, and fly very early tomorrow – they’ve got several stops between here and Molokai! We plan to be on the road, with the boys around 9. Things go pretty much according to plan. Lyle takes the crew to the plane, then picks Cindy up at the Condo. We take a little longer than expected, and meet Lyle and Cindy on the driveway as we are driving out. Goodbyes are said all around.

Oh, after the crew left for the plane, Luigi went back to bed. As we were packing the car, I got the sax out and played Happy Birthday and Yankee Doodle for him. It was fun, and I think he liked it.

We got the boys, gassed up and cleaned the very buggy windshield and very dusty rear window, and headed out. Back on the road. Our first planned stop is Big Timber for lunch. We thought we’d have lunch at the hotel, but as luck would have it, they don’t serve lunch on Saturday (!), so we went to a café down the street a couple of doors. The food was excellent, and we couldn’t have had a better lunch.

From Big Timber we headed north for a hike in the Crazy Mountains. It is about a 35 mile/one hour drive to the trailhead, over fairly good but rough farm roads. In places the road is almost cobblestone and very solid and bumpy, but in other places it’s the kind of road that makes you hope it doesn’t rain while you’re in there, because it will turn to mush, and the four wheel drive better really work. But it’s a good drive, and the flat of Big Timber not so slowly gives way to rolling countryside and then to 11K mountains.

As remote as it is, it is Saturday, and the trail is busy with hikes and horseback tours. The area is actually fairly commercialized, with a major dude ranch just before the trailhead. It’s all very beautiful, and it’s an interesting combination of seemingly private land and National Forest. As we arrive at around 1pm there are a few clouds in the sky, but it is not really threatening – the temperature is in the mid 70’s. Jake and Woody are ready, so off we go.

The trail, as many trails do, goes up a drainage to a group of lakes, and the water cascading down the drainage is pretty spectacular – lots of nice waterfalls and whitewater. We stop often, not only to catch our breath, but just to take in the wonderful scenery. The trail is not too strenuous, but with the 7K elevation it warrants an occasional breather. We hoped to get to the first lake, but after about an hour we thought the clouds were gathering, and we had had a pretty good hike, so we turned around at that point.

On the return we took a short side trail to a waterfall. Well worth the tiny effort – it was quite something. I’m always incredibly impressed by the power and beauty of falling water. After that it was back to the car and back to Big Timber. Oh, there was a little rain, but only enough to make an already dusty, dirty car look even worse.

In Big Timber we went back to the Café for a coffee and, for me, some bread pudding. Just a little snack to get us to Bozeman. Sat at the same table, this time with Jake and Woody, who as always drew comments and complements from all who passed by.
The drive to Bozeman was all Interstate, and fairly short, thank goodness. There were several long stretches of roadwork. But it went quickly enough, and it was scenic, even for an Interstate. We checked in to the MicroTel, where we will be for 5 nights, and went in search of the local CostCo (!) before we went to the room – it was around 6:30, and we didn’t know what time they closed. We found it with only a little difficulty – they hid it behind a Target – but closing time was 6, so S-H’s glasses will have to wait until tomorrow. That little trip did locate the Outback where we would later have dinner.

Back to the room, unload and get setup, sorta, then to Outback, where we had a good meal and very good service, although the only hint of Aussie is in the menu. No accent, no pretense – clean cut American youth, mainly males, but they did a nice job.

Back to the room – tired – it’s been a long day. But a great day, another in a long line of great days, and it comes to a close in grand fashion.

Day 13 - Red Lodge - 4th of July

Red Lodge MT, 99 miles total and 26.5 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2497 miles, 27.2 mpg. Those are the stats.


Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday Luigi!


Today is what it is all about – our birthday. It’s a celebration shared by all, and done in many different ways. In Red Lodge it is done the traditional way, with a parade down main street at noon. People come from all over (Hawaii, Arizona,…) to be a part of it. In small towns across the country the theme is repeated, with many similarities. I love it. The parade in Red Lodge is great.

The day starts for us with picking up the boys. We grab a fairly quick breakfast at the Red Lodge Café – always good food – and then drive up to the ski area. Red Lodge is well known for skiing – that’s really, I think, the ‘busy’ time of year, although the 4th of July is certainly packed with people. We have never, in all these years, been to the ski area, so today is the day. We are skipping a puppy breakfast for this, so I hope it’s good.

It’s just a short drive from downtown, and easy to find, unless you miss the tiny brown sign with the picture of a skier on the main road! I would expect better signage, I really would. We didn’t miss the sign, because we knew where we were going. Whew. But when we got close to the ski area, the gate was locked! “Open Mon-Thur” the sign said, and this is Friday, and it’s the 4th of July, so I guess it just wasn’t in the cards. Well, we wanted to do some hiking, so we parked – the gate is no match for people on foot, so we hiked up the road to the ski area, about one mile, I guess. It’s an easy hike – fairly gentle incline through nice forest. No bear in site.

At the ski area the place is totally shut down – nothing to do, just look around, observe the lifts, rest and hike back out. There are some people up there doing whatever – couldn’t really figure out what or why. Very few people. There really isn’t a notable view from the ski area itself, although it’s beautiful in its’ own way. We hiked out and drove back to town. It’s almost time for the parade!

We took the boys back to jail and headed downtown. Found a parking place between the condo and the Snow Creek where we were all meeting, and hooked up with the group just before the parade started. It was just as in years before – déjà vu – only perhaps a little bigger and perhaps a few more parade-watchers. It was great. The Drum and Bugle Corp was there – they don’t make it every year, but when they do it is very special. After the parade they usually go down main street again, stopping en mass at each bar along the way, playing a song and having a drink. It’s very cool. I don’t know if they did that this year, because we had to leave just a little early.

Sally-Heath was not feeling totally well all this time, and about now I was wondering a bit too. So we decided to return to the house and skip the Rodeo (and the between Parade and Rodeo festivities). Drat, but we weren’t feeling well at all. So we came back, took a long nap, and that’s where we are right now. We’re deciding whether we feel well enough to go in for the tailgate party and remaining activities for the evening. I’ll let you know….

We went in to town to catch up with the tailgate. When we got there the crowd had dissipated, and we had no problem driving in to the fairgrounds parking lot, or locating the tailgate party. The whole crew was there, and it was a good party. I took a lot of people pictures.



After maybe an hour we decided to move to the condo, which we did, and at the condo we decided, sort of, what was coming next. There were several agendas. Ours was to get ice cream at the Red Railroad Car and get on home.

That is what we did, and on the way through Red Lodge we stopped at the Bull and Bear to see if Gary and Jane needed a lift home. The end result was that Lyle, Gary and Jane headed out just behind us, headed for home. Cindy is still in town, for fireworks and drinking and stuff. I hope we see her in the morning before we leave.

As we get back home, we are treated to the Luther fireworks display! Who knew Luther had fireworks! And once we were home, there were fireworks displays in the hills/mountains! Who knew! It was great. And fortunately, there was enough rain recently that the fire danger was low.

Goodnights all around, and up early to bid adieu, pack and continue our trip.

Day 12 - Red Lodge - Italian Night!

Red Lodge MT, 148 miles total and 27.7 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2397 miles, 27.3 mpg. Those are the stats.

This morning was slow getting started. Slow for us, that is. There was a lot of cooking and preparation going on for the big Italian dinner this evening. Luigi is cooking, and that is something to look forward to. Cindy got no sleep at all, and is now out on the river rafting trip down the Stillwater. We opted out again this year, and so did Robinetts and Waits (and Lyle).

For our part, we somehow emailed, breakfasted (is that a word) and futzed and suddenly it was noon. Oh well. It was fun, and a beautiful morning again (boring – never!). Our plan for the day is to get the boys and drive to the Stillwater to hike – it’s a trail we have done many times, and it’s always great.

Finally we are on the road – I drive to pick up Jake and Woody, and they we head out to the Stillwater. On the way we stop at Roscoe, at the Grizzly Bar, where puppies are having lunch, so Kay can meet the boys. We talked at length last night with Kay about Brittanys, she has them too, and thought it would be good to let her have a Brittany fix. Mark was nowhere to be seen – seems trying to read the GPS in a moving car (HumVee) was a problem. Lyle wasn’t there yet either. We headed off for our hike.
We took the paved roads instead of the scenic route – the paved roads are pretty scenic in their own right – and got to the trailhead just after 1. The boys needed a manicure, so we did that first, and while doing that Doc and Sara popped up – talk about coincidences… We took a few pictures, caught up a little, and vowed to see each other at the parade and rodeo tomorrow.

Toenails clipped, we headed out to hike. The Stillwater is anything but still here. It is cascading down (I’ll get videos posted when I get to a high speed internet connection) about 800 feet in half a mile or so (estimates), and the whitewater is incredible. The power is incredible. And this year there is more water than we have ever seen. It is awesome. We hiked about 2.5 miles in, to the highest point on the trail, relaxed there for a while, and hiked back. It’s a slow hike because you just have to stop and look and wonder at the raw energy and the beauty.










I began the drive back, because I forgot it was S-H’s turn, but by the time we got to Montana Hana’s (remember her?) I was seeing crosseyed, so I stopped and we switched. That was a good move. Woody came up in my lap, and we slept together all the way back to the pet-a-tentary. S-H drove us back to Dunham’s.

Where we found out that just 90 minutes ago 10 of the people who were coming to dinner had opted out! I like those folks, but I wonder at their lack of consideration in this case. A lot of preparation and effort had been put in, not to mention the large quantity of food that had been prepared. Oh well, they missed a great meal.


It was a great meal. The pasta, the salad, the meat, the wine, the garlic bread – all top drawer. Top Fucking Feed as we say in Sydney!

The party continued from there, but we were all a bit tired from the several days of party leading up to this point, and there is a BIG day tomorrow – the 4th itself! Breakfast, Parade, Rodeo, and occasional drink. It’s gonna be fun.

The music went off around 10:30, and everyone was getting ready for the 4th.

Day 11 - Red Lodge - Party!

Red Lodge MT, 71 miles total and 27.7 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2249 miles, 27.2 mpg. Those are the stats.

A laid back day to be sure! A nice 10 hour sleep – longest in a long, long time.
This morning S-H continued her Cribbage dominance, beating me badly for the third time. Drat and gosh-darn-it-all!

Carolyn fixed a wonderful casserole for breakfast. All ten of us, well, really 9, because Lyle was on the phone for all of breakfast, sat at the big table and enjoyed a great breaky.

S-H helped Cindy treat Bob’s leg. Seems Bob was kicked in the leg by a stablemate, accidently, I’m sure. Cindy and Sally-Heath got it cleaned, disinfected and bandaged. Hope it heals quickly – Go Bob!

The morning is cloudy, with a clear threat of rain, including occasional fine mist falling. We modify our hiking plans accordingly. Instead of hiking far away from the madding crowd, we’ll hike the driveway to Dunham’s. That’s over a mile one way, and very steep in places – a fair elevation change. And if the heavens open we won’t be too far from shelter. So we go pick up the boys, and come back to hike – parking at the end of the road and hiking to the house. After a quick half sandwich we hike back down, this time in a fine mist which happily never turns into real rain. We’re both prepared for rain, but the boys would just be a mess.

We got back to the car, and headed into town where everyone else is, for gas and ice cream, and to take the boys back to their playpen. Got the gas, went over to the rented condo to check it out – pretty nice place – then left town without a hint of ice cream. Darn. Dropped the boys off and headed back for the big party.

That’s right, tonight is the big party! It won’t be as big as in the past, and I’m really glad. Just like our August Party, the 4th of July Party at Dunham’s had gotten out of hand. Just too many people, a lot of strangers, and in general, out of control. It’s about to start, so I’m stopping now – thought I better get the day logged before the party, cause I might not remember it after the party!


The party’s over. It’s the next morning. It was a great party. I think. I had fun. How do you describe a party? There was music, food, dancing, talking, drinking, laughing – just a small (about 30 I think) group of good friends having a really good time. I’m not good at names, but LuLu and Bob (Speedo), Mark and Kay (Waits friends, now ours too), Lane and Sherry, Turk and Lynn, Ezra, Denise – and of course the puppies – there were more folks there, but the names have left me.

It was great, as I mentioned, and I hit the sack some reasonable time, I’m sure. Goodnight!

Day 10 - Red Lodge

Red Lodge MT, 85 miles total and 25.4 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2178 miles, 27.2 mpg. Those are the stats.

Happy July!

Sleeping in is a good thing. A habit I can live with. We got up, cleaned up last nights mess, and got on with the day. Once again, the morning is bright and clear and cool. Waking to snow covered mountains, long green fields, forests, deer – it’s just perfect. I’m sure many would have this image of their heaven.

Today is an ‘open’ day – actually they all are open, but there are some planned events. Breakfast is cereal for me, brats for some – find you own! Our ‘plan’ for the day is to go hiking with the boys.

As most plans go, this one got started a bit late. We intended to hike in the morning, largely because the afternoon weather can often include showers. But this lead to that, and we spend the morning chatting and just mulling around. I got a tour of the ‘apartment’ where Kaui and Luigi are staying when they get here this afternoon. We finally got ourselves together and out around noon.

The boys were glad to see us. I noticed their blanket was missing from their cell – turns out there had been some diarrhea last night. Poor boys! But they seemed fine now, and off we go!

Our first stop is for a snack/lunch at the Railroad Car. This is sort of a practice run – the Railroad Car is where we sometimes go for the fireworks. We get some form of ice cream, curly fries, or something and have a great view of the show. Not many do this, and I’m not sure why. It’s great. The Railroad Car is a throwback to a past era – if they ever allow a McDonalds in town (NO!), the Railroad Car is doomed. It is exactly the kind of business that McDonalds destroyed. They do great ice cream, fair burgers, and the service is fairly fast. Ordering, however, is slow, and there is often a long line waiting to order. The Railroad Car looks like a caboose (remember those?) (I miss them), and they have an incredible amount of business. Best of luck to them.

After the Railroad Car we head back up the mountain, past the cabin turnoff, to the first of two turnoffs to camping/hiking areas. The sky is very threatening, and when we get to the trailhead drops begin to fall. After a brief walk, read the signs, etc., we decide that starting a hike in the rain is not a good idea. So we pile back in the CR-V and head further up the hill to the next turnoff, where incredibly it looks to be clear. Weather in the mountains is variable and unpredictable. The drive to this trailhead is very long, about 45 minutes of rough rocky road. As we moved along the sky became less and less threatening – not clear, but it didn’t look like a downpour was imminent.

When we got to the trailhead there was a volley of rather deafening proportions. There were four young men with rifles doing their thing. I don’t know if they were shooting at something or just shooting, but I’m happy to say that they got in their truck and left just after we got there. We heard one move volley while we were hiking, and that was it.


The hike was great. A little more difficult because, we think, of the increased altitude. We are probably around 10K feet. We’ve done this hike before, several times, and it is a nice hike up to a lake, very picturesque. Today though the lake eludes us – we got up past the new wooden bridge to some fairly deep snowdrifts. I tried crossing one, and punched through up to my hip. So we turned around and came back. It turned out to be a short hike, but very enjoyable. There was a ton of water pouring down the mountain. The boys had fun cooling off belly down in the very cold water, and drinking. They really seemed to enjoy the hike – all the new smells!

We drove back, dropped the boys off at the play pen, and headed back to Luther and the puppies. Looked like a storm was brewing on the horizon, but we had been nicely spared. It was an hour and 45 minutes from the trailhead back to Dunham’s.

The news when we got back was 1) Waits’ friends Mark and Kay would not arrive today – fuel pump issue, and 2) Kaui and Luigi were already later than expected. It was around 5pm, I think. So naturally we got started drinking and other things –snacking, of course – get your mind outta there! And then the storm hit.

I can only try to describe the storm. From Dunham’s you can see forever, and we were able to watch the whole storm as it approached – the cells of lightning and the heavy rain cells, watching the whole thing unfold is just incredible. It wasn’t a bad storm – we didn’t get any hail, and the winds weren’t too bad. But there was a strong wind, a lot of rain and lightning. It lasted for at least 45 minutes, and then again, watching it recede over the mountains was great too. Another thing that I can’t capture on film very well, the clouds that the mountains hang on to, that get trapped in drainages, and form misty magical looking fingers on the mountainside – it’s just beautiful.

Kaui and Luigi got in! Yippee! After that event settled in we had a great dinner – Jane and Gary put together a wonderful Mexican meal – I went back for seconds (again). After dinner it was drinks, talk and other stuff – there you go again – and for some reason I crashed before 10! All in all, it was a wonderful day.

Day 9 - Red Lodge

Red Lodge MT, 56 miles total and 26.4 mpg. Totals for the trip, 2093 miles, 27.3 mpg. Those are the stats.

This was a great day right up to the end. We had weather today. It was a laid back day - no events. Here’s the way it turned out for me.

Slept in, and the first order of business was to check on the satellite internet service. Performance has been slow for over a week, and I am finding the upload and download speeds to be terrible, not to mention I can’t send email from my client, Mozilla Thunderbird. Receive yes, send no. First time for this problem. Anyway, I struggled with this issue and the Starband support line for several hours. I really don’t know if anything we did improved anything, but at least we tried. It seems that the bottom line is to upgrade modems for a more broadband like service, for a cost of about $20 more per month than currently paying. It’s about $100/mo for decent satellite internet service.

While I was being a geek, there was a wonderful breakfast prepared, fish, fruit, potatoes and peppers. Yummy. And the rough plans for the day were revised and delayed several times. What began as a day mainly at the cabin got started very late, interrupted by a storm and finally having maybe 2 hours actually at/in the cabin. Maybe another day – for the cabin. However, once we finally got moving, the four girls went shopping for the next several meals and such, and Lyle and Gary went to get a trailer for the snowmobile. Chuck and I had a few details to attend to, and we were last to leave the house – all were to meet at the cabin.

For Chuck and I it was quite a trip. A storm was approaching, and as we left the house the first drops were falling. We hadn’t been a mile before there was serious hail, ¼ to ½ inch, falling in droves. Chuck was driving the CR-V – sorta a test drive – and boy did he get a test drive. We eventually pulled under a tree for some protection. When the storm finally eased up we continued on to pick up the boys, then to the cabin.

It wasn’t too long before the girls got there. I took the boys for a couple of short walks – the rain had subsided, but there was still a real threat. The guys got the snowmobile up on the trailer, ready for transport. It wouldn’t start, but that is surely a minor repair job. There’s a story about the snowmobile and the Forest Service, but I’ll leave that for another time.


Sally-Heath and I took the boys for a walk down to the highway and back, about 3 miles total. All downhill, followed by all uphill. Not strenuous, but the altitude makes it interesting, especially when you have first arrived. Since we have been at high altitude for a while, we both felt the hike was pretty easy this time. The boys loved it. I had each one off lead for quite a while, and luckily no animal attracted them, and I was able to control them verbally fairly well. They are really getting better, but I know if a squirrel, rabbit, or something got their attention I would have no chance to stop them. But this short hike was uneventful – beautiful, but uneventful. We didn’t even get rained on!

The others left as we were hiking back, and we tagged along as soon as we got back to the cabin. Stopped to put the boys back in the kennel, and joined back up at the ranch. Sally-Heath was cooking dinner this evening, so we wouldn’t be late for dinner! Once we got back I realized I was exhausted. I passed out in a chair until just before dinner. Dinner was great – chicken with leeks, cheese toast and a nice salad. After dinner we sort of split up. Several went to the ‘mound’ to watch the sun set, although it was cloudy and there really wasn’t a sunset. Sally-Heath and I spent some quality time together, and opted for the spa, which was great. Others were on the porch, or in bed.

We had a nice long spa, and finally the porch group started moving. Gary joined us in the spa. Initially I had removed the spa cover just as I always have, but I found out that there was another way. So I undid what I did, and opened the spa properly. There could be a story here, but I hope not.

That’s about it. A very laid back day, very enjoyable. There’s a hitch at the end that we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Tomorrow, Chuck and Caroline’s friends Mark and Kay arrive. I hope they’re ready for us!