Montana Adventure Day 13

Today was check out Dillon day!  Some driving around and then it was time for a quilt shop! Where I bought these--

 For Ethan's I spy quilt--finally some "Chows" (cows)!

And for my stash.

Also visited a really nice yarn store but didn't buy anything there or at the bookstore I visited.

Spent the rest of the time re-arranging the trailer, cleaning and reading.  Quinn and I take lots of walks around the campground and we got her long lead out and played soccer ball in one of the big grassy areas.

A restful day.

Montana Adventure Day 12

Hit the road this morning!  Only had to get out of the truck 3 times to get the ball under the hitch-Whoo-hoo! Go Me!  And the truck start so off we went.  South through the Bitterroot valley into the mountains and trees.  Past Darby, dang I wished I'd stopped there it looked interesting.  Nearly missed the turn east and crossed over the border into Idaho, luckily lots of folks had done so before and there was a nice large turn out!  Turning my little camper around is not easy can only imagine how the big rigs must feel.  Drove through some of the prettiest forests and glens I've yet seen on this trip-national forest I think so no one really lives along there and there aren't any towns.  Really lovely!

A bit further on we stopped at the Big Hole National Battlefield one of the last battles of the Nez Perce  first nations with US Troops.  For a while they were winning but in the end the members of the tribe who did not make it to Canada were taken to Oklahoma and placed on a reservation.  A place of atrocities, a time to regret.  I did not go down on the actual battlefield, after my experience at the Battle of Little Bighorn-eerie hair standing on end, unable to breathe- I am leery of visiting such sites and this one could be seen from afar.  So Photos

Also saw a beaver slide in the distance!

Leaving the battlefield we drove into the Big Hole valley, which is just as it sounds a big bowl shaped basin of ranches.  Everywhere in Montana (well through out the west really) ranchers are making hay.  Usually the big round bales that weight 1000lbs+ /-, sometimes the big rectangular bales, sometimes the little bales you can buy at the Nursery and in some very few places they use beaver slides to make truly LARGE piles!

These piles were made with a beaver slide the cow gives you some perspective on their size

The beaver slides here seem to be made of metal and there are many.  Mostly around the tiny town of Jackson, MT. (Blink and you've missed it!)

Back to hay, I started thinking about WHY they made so much hay, did they need it, did they sell it, what.  So Google to the rescue-each cow eats about 24lbs of hay a day, they might need to feed 200 days each year so for every cow that's 480lbs some of these ranches have hundreds (Or maybe 1000's) of cows so for a hundred cows they need about 5000lbs per winter or maybe more if it's really cold. They probably sell some as well but mostly it's stacked up in great piles of round bales like this

I don't think I saw any of these piles of last years hay, like you do at home, so they must use it.  Still it's a LOT of hay!

Still musing on the amount of hay out here were clear the last little pass and are into the beaver head valley and Dillon, MT. Our home for the next 6 days.

Montana Adventure Day 11

Today, Quinn and I went out and about.  We ended up at Ft. Owen State Park, MT.  Have to say it was not what I expected!  Just a small area fenced off from someone's ranch but it was interesting, and Quinn could go all around.  Some of these photos are of the actual fort or parts of it, some are just beautiful Bitterroot Valley, MT taken FROM Fort Owen!

Support beam, you know how I LOVE architectural details!

This another one of those brilliant solutions someone came up with!  Use some old piece of iron as a gate closer!  Push the gate open the iron goes up, let go and the iron falls and closes the gate!  BRILLIANT!

After we looked around we drove through the valley.  It was pretty but not breath-taking, I wasn't too impressed.

Tomorrow is moving day!

Montana Adventure Day 10

Here we are all settled in!

Stashed between two big buses!  We always look so tiny (until you see a popup or the cute little tent trailers that a Harley pulls.)

This morning started with a trip to O'Reilly's Auto Parts for a new battery, as planned, they also had white lithium grease!  They were good enough to install the new battery and now I don't have to worry about the truck not starting on some backroad miles from anywhere and without cell service!  All that's possible in Montana!

Then I hit the Quilt shop!  I bought these:

The horses for Ethan's quilt and the other two for my stash.  Not buying much fabric am I?  That's mostly because my crafting of quilts is going to take a back stage to other endeavors.  I'm getting much better than I was but I am still not passionate about it and I think I'd like to find my passion and spend my time at that.

I also hit a yarn shop, I used to knit a lot.  It fell beside the way when I couldn't afford the yarn or the time.  Now I can.  Like quilting though I only buy yarn for specific projects.  So I didn't buy any here.

It seems like day 10 is always the day I hit a wall on my travels!  I was looking at the maps trying to decide how to go home.  There are four ways, two I do not want to travel-I-80 I did coming out, no more Nebraska for me! I-90 goes through So Dakota, I've been that way a couple of times don't want to go again.  That leaves North through Helena and out onto the plains of eastern Montana and No Dakota.  I've never been out there and there are a couple of things I'd like to see but I'm afraid there would be DAYS of driving across empty plains, on back roads.  Pretty boring.  That leaves a sort of jagged route-I-15 So , through Wyoming on back roads to I-80, then across to Laramie, Wy and go south to Denver where I'd get I-70 (the one that's a few blocks from my house) and go home.  That's the way I'm going to go but today if Scottie had come along and offered to Beam me home I'd have gone!

Montana Adventure Day 9

So today was moving day.  Inside the trailer that means securing every little loose thing or they fly around!  (Never know what I will find when I open the door!  Drawers open, mostly the table in the aisle! Must find some anti-skid rubber stops for the feet!)

Then outside I have to dump all the holding tanks, black water first then gray, then move the hose to work the black water tank flush system.  This is my first time and I am amazed at everything that comes out through the flush system! And glad that it isn't still in there!  Then I unhook the electricity, store cords, hoses and drain pipes.  Then raise the stabilizers.  Then comes hooking up.  Keep in mind that I have only done this once before. I have to put the hitch back on the truck, it's really heavy!  I have some handy poles with very strong magnets in the base to use to line up the hitch with the receiver.  I managed to get things lined up on the first try!  The only bad thing it that the pole on the ball of the hitch gets knocked off by the trailer tongue before I have the ball in the right place so I pop in and out of the truck until that happens.  I think it only took 3 tries!  Shut down the truck and hook up the stabilizer bars (not easy on this new hitch, very stiff.  Looked for the white lithium grease I thought was in the truck-not found!  Must buy some) then there are chains etc to hook up and raise the tongue post on the trailer so it doesn't drag on the ground and break off!  Walk around the whole shebang looking for open doors and covers, get in the truck, turn the key and NOTHING.  The battery is dead.  Roadside assistance is again called.  Because it's a Sunday it will take 40 minutes for them to get there.  He arrives, jumps me and I'm finally on the road!  First business -buy a new battery! Tried to do that in Missoula but the Walmart folks didn't have a clue so I went on the my next camping place at Hamilton, MT.

Undid everything I'd done in the morning to set up camp.  There's an O'Reilly's auto parts across the highway-my first stop tomorrow!  This is a really nice campground with a big green space for Quinn to walk in and we can even walk over to the river.  We settle in for the next three nights here!

Montana Adventure Day 8-Grant-Kohrs National Historic Site

Today I went to Grant-Kobhrs National Historic Site.  You can read all about it here!  But I have Pictures!

 

 Yes, that's me in front of the original house!  Here's the back-

 Only two things in the the entire house were not original to the home.  I like those kinds of house tours as you can really tell how people lived.  These folks had money and were into technology, like electricity, hot and cold running water, indoor toilets, and coal furnaces!

All of the buildings are original to the ranch and one contains all the various buggies, wagons and sleds used by the family.  There is a blacksmith shop as well and someone working the iron all the time.  You can also get a cup of "Cowboy" coffee--I was spitting out grounds for quite a while!

These three are of the Beaverslide.  An old way of stacking Hay!  If you look at the middle photo you can (barely) see some post sticking up on the left end of the slide, hay was cut and placed there and when full the slide would be tipped up so that the hay fell inside the "cage" by way of that big hole!  There would be two men inside moving and packing the hay down to make a solid mass.  You can see the already piled hay to the right.  The first photo gives you an idea of how big the slide is.  (Not to mention pretty Montana scenery!)

Traditionally and here at Grant-Kohrs hay was worked using teams of horses-like these Belgians.

Oh look, a funny tourist!

The family that owned the ranch bred Belgians and used them-boy are they big!

Lastly some photos from around the ranch.

I love old steps!

Montana Adventure Day 7--Deer Lodge Day 2

Moving days are always a great deal of work so I just chill out after I'm done setting up.  Today, I journeyed into the small, very small, town of Deer Lodge to have a look see.  It isn't so small as to not have a quilt shop though--I bought these fat quarters

The blue and white one can barely see is for my stash the others are for an "I Spy" quilt for Ethan.
Then I sauntered through a couple of other shops and when I returned to my car it was to find myself locked out!  I could see the keys just lying there on the seat, ugh! Thank goodness I have roadside assistance and within 15 minutes the truck was open and I was on my way!  At least this time I didn't lose them on the beach!

Back to the campground after a stop at the hardware store to buy measuring cups (how on earth did I forget those?) and the grocers for some food type stuff!

This campground is directly next to I-90 and it is really noisy all night long, which doesn't make for great sleep!  It does have really nice, clean shower houses though!