Just a quick travel note....I left White Sulfur Springs at 3:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon. I spent Tuesday night at the Old West RV Park in Reed Point as planned. I got an early start (for me) and hit the road at 7:45 am.
Traffic was light, skies clear for most of the day, comfortable temperatures and I made good time. I ended up in Wheatland, WY for the night at Mountain View RV Park (after my GPS lied to me...LOL!).
This put me about 80 miles ahead of my planned stop for the night so I can sleep in a little tomorrow. I'll stop at Camping World in Longmont, CO to pick up tire cover for the rig. Then will meet with my daughter at the Park and Ride north of Denver and close to her house. We'll load up the car with refrig/pantry/cleaning goods and take them to her house. She'll take me back to the RV and I will head to Colorado Springs. She'll arrive later in the day after picking up my grandson from his 4H meeting.
Friday and Saturday will be FULL-FULL-FULL days so I doubt I will be posting again before Monday (at the earliest). I don't arrive in Baltimore until almost midnight on Saturday. In the meantime, just know that I'm having FUN-FUN-FUN!!!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Showing posts with label MT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MT. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Monday, September 01, 2008
Wild, Wacky, Wonderful, Weird Weather
The weather has decided to show its true Montana colors the last week or two. One day we have a high of 97, the next it's 65. Then back to averages in low 80s....nice. Followed by a dramatic change yesterday. Severe storm warnings....thunder, rain, hail....and we got it all. Made for an interesting sky.
The rain and hail didn't hit until the sun starting peeking out again.
Within 10 minutes the temperature dropped from 65 to 48. The low last night was forecast in the mid-30's. I have no idea what it finally was, my outside thermometer came in yesterday morning as I packed up all my outside gear in preparation for leaving tomorrow afternoon. It then rained most of the night and off & on early this morning.
The topper of the day, I thought, was discovering on a the Sunday before Labor Day that my propane tank read empty. Glad I have the electric space heater!
But the REAL topper was this morning as I ran last minute errands and enjoyed breakfast out. Snow....yup, you heard me, SNOW. For the last couple of hours it's been snowing off & on. Too warm to stick, still fun to watch....from inside.
I work this afternoon till 7 pm but don't expect to be very busy. Tomorrow is a morning shift but I hope to take the RV out for propane & gas before hitting work at 10 am. I get off at 2:30 and hope to be on the road by 3:30. Will spend the night in Reed Point, MT at the Old West RV Park where Stu & I stayed twice. Will be in Colorado Springs late afternoon, early evening on Thursday. Winterizing the rig on Friday as well as seeing family & friends. Flight out of the Springs on Saturday, headed to Baltimore and my sweetie...the start of a wonderful new adventure!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
The rain and hail didn't hit until the sun starting peeking out again.
Within 10 minutes the temperature dropped from 65 to 48. The low last night was forecast in the mid-30's. I have no idea what it finally was, my outside thermometer came in yesterday morning as I packed up all my outside gear in preparation for leaving tomorrow afternoon. It then rained most of the night and off & on early this morning.
The topper of the day, I thought, was discovering on a the Sunday before Labor Day that my propane tank read empty. Glad I have the electric space heater!
But the REAL topper was this morning as I ran last minute errands and enjoyed breakfast out. Snow....yup, you heard me, SNOW. For the last couple of hours it's been snowing off & on. Too warm to stick, still fun to watch....from inside.
I work this afternoon till 7 pm but don't expect to be very busy. Tomorrow is a morning shift but I hope to take the RV out for propane & gas before hitting work at 10 am. I get off at 2:30 and hope to be on the road by 3:30. Will spend the night in Reed Point, MT at the Old West RV Park where Stu & I stayed twice. Will be in Colorado Springs late afternoon, early evening on Thursday. Winterizing the rig on Friday as well as seeing family & friends. Flight out of the Springs on Saturday, headed to Baltimore and my sweetie...the start of a wonderful new adventure!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Sunday, August 31, 2008
70th National Folk Festival - Butte MT (7/12-13/2008)
When I hear the words "Folk Festival", I envision Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Kingston Trio and Peter Paul and Mary. Well, the 70th National Folk Festival completely changed my mind. Take a look at the list of performers and you'll see what I mean.
From the website: "Music and dance traditions from every part of the nation are represented, performed by the country’s very finest traditional artists. Audiences are treated to authentic blues, gospel, jazz, polka, cowboy, bluegrass, klezmer, old-time, Cajun, rhythm and blues, mariachi, western swing, zydeco and more. Continuous performances on seven stages celebrate Native American, Celtic, Acadian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, East Asian, Appalachian, Hispanic, Eastern European, African and Pacific Island cultures."
What a wonderful eclectic gathering of extremely talented and passionate musicians. With only one late afternoon/evening and one full day, we saw only a small smattering of the performers. But what we saw....oh my!
The main reason for out attending was so Stu could see his retiree friends, Bill (mentioned yesterday) and Freddie, who plays in the bluegrass band, The Seldom Scene. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, it was just in time to catch the band and meet up briefly with Freddie. When they were done we managed to meet up with Bill & Cindy (remember that proverbial needle in a haystack, thank goodness for cell phones) and headed off for drinks & something to eat. Here is a pic from Sunday after the festival ended. From left to right, Stu, Freddie & Bill.
Let me interject a little about the setting for the event. We were quite impressed with how well Butte had this set up. There were multiple stages but they were scattered throughout the closed downtown area. Rarely did the music from one stage impact that playing on another. There was a lot of walking and most of it up or down hill, but we just took our time. Parking was provided at community parking center with free shuttles to take you back & forth. The food tents were all in one location with drink tents scattered around. Another area contained souvenirs and other items to purchase.
There were people of all ages.....young and old, from babies to the elderly. Everyone was having a good time and often there was spontaneous dancing in front of the stages. At one point Cindy dragged Stu out to dance and I soon followed. First time I'd really danced in 10 years. LOL! What fun...well, except for trying to fast dance on an uneven rocky surface. We both felt it the next day.
The closing act for the night was Shemekia Copeland....she hosts Sirius Blues and I have listened to her for several years. Wonderful to see her perform in person!
From there Freddie invited us to the hotel (where all the performers were staying) to have a few drinks at the reception. We walked into the lobby and listened to a jam with folks from at least 4 different bands while we waited for Freddie. Once back in the reception area we saw the same thing repeated several more times. These people are truly passionate about their craft. Eventually we saddled up the trike and headed back to the campground, taking an interesting back road scenic route picked by the GPS.
We got a bit of a slow start on Sunday and missed the first couple of acts that we had hoped to catch. We did see The Seldom Scene performing again (different stage).
Then we wandered around, enjoyed the beautiful views as well as historic sites, ate a little and eventually caught my new favorite group, Le Vent du Nord. They were the closing act for Sunday and the crowd was very appreciative. Dancing galore....everyone getting into the act. (I have already downloaded some of their music from iTunes). We didn't understand a word they sang, but we sure enjoyed the entertainment!
So what was the cost for all this? Three days of professional music, morning - noon - night? Nothing...nada....zip...zilch...zero! Needless to say, we've already put the dates for the 71st National Folk Festival on our calendar, July 10-12 2009 in Butte. Hope to see you there!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
From the website: "Music and dance traditions from every part of the nation are represented, performed by the country’s very finest traditional artists. Audiences are treated to authentic blues, gospel, jazz, polka, cowboy, bluegrass, klezmer, old-time, Cajun, rhythm and blues, mariachi, western swing, zydeco and more. Continuous performances on seven stages celebrate Native American, Celtic, Acadian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean, East Asian, Appalachian, Hispanic, Eastern European, African and Pacific Island cultures."
What a wonderful eclectic gathering of extremely talented and passionate musicians. With only one late afternoon/evening and one full day, we saw only a small smattering of the performers. But what we saw....oh my!
The main reason for out attending was so Stu could see his retiree friends, Bill (mentioned yesterday) and Freddie, who plays in the bluegrass band, The Seldom Scene. When we arrived on Saturday afternoon, it was just in time to catch the band and meet up briefly with Freddie. When they were done we managed to meet up with Bill & Cindy (remember that proverbial needle in a haystack, thank goodness for cell phones) and headed off for drinks & something to eat. Here is a pic from Sunday after the festival ended. From left to right, Stu, Freddie & Bill.
Let me interject a little about the setting for the event. We were quite impressed with how well Butte had this set up. There were multiple stages but they were scattered throughout the closed downtown area. Rarely did the music from one stage impact that playing on another. There was a lot of walking and most of it up or down hill, but we just took our time. Parking was provided at community parking center with free shuttles to take you back & forth. The food tents were all in one location with drink tents scattered around. Another area contained souvenirs and other items to purchase.
There were people of all ages.....young and old, from babies to the elderly. Everyone was having a good time and often there was spontaneous dancing in front of the stages. At one point Cindy dragged Stu out to dance and I soon followed. First time I'd really danced in 10 years. LOL! What fun...well, except for trying to fast dance on an uneven rocky surface. We both felt it the next day.
The closing act for the night was Shemekia Copeland....she hosts Sirius Blues and I have listened to her for several years. Wonderful to see her perform in person!
From there Freddie invited us to the hotel (where all the performers were staying) to have a few drinks at the reception. We walked into the lobby and listened to a jam with folks from at least 4 different bands while we waited for Freddie. Once back in the reception area we saw the same thing repeated several more times. These people are truly passionate about their craft. Eventually we saddled up the trike and headed back to the campground, taking an interesting back road scenic route picked by the GPS.
We got a bit of a slow start on Sunday and missed the first couple of acts that we had hoped to catch. We did see The Seldom Scene performing again (different stage).
Then we wandered around, enjoyed the beautiful views as well as historic sites, ate a little and eventually caught my new favorite group, Le Vent du Nord. They were the closing act for Sunday and the crowd was very appreciative. Dancing galore....everyone getting into the act. (I have already downloaded some of their music from iTunes). We didn't understand a word they sang, but we sure enjoyed the entertainment!
So what was the cost for all this? Three days of professional music, morning - noon - night? Nothing...nada....zip...zilch...zero! Needless to say, we've already put the dates for the 71st National Folk Festival on our calendar, July 10-12 2009 in Butte. Hope to see you there!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Traveling to Anaconda, MT (7/12/2008)
Our fearless heroine's travels continue..
Our time in Yellowstone done, we now headed northerly to attend the 70th Annual Folk Festival in Butte, MT. We had reservations at a park in Anaconda, not very far west of Butte. We headed north out of Cameron and stopped in the little town of Ennis for lunch. We found a great place on the NW side of town where we could easily park the rig and walked downtown. Ennis is one of those towns with character...famous for local fly fishing in the Madison River, the very western flavored town is fun to visit. We browsed through several stores before stopping to eat buffalo burgers at the Ennis Cafe....delicious!
Although the first part of our drive was a repeat, things always look different when driving the opposite direction. Eventually we headed more westerly on a new-to-us road. Spectacular views, lightly winding road, mountains, rivers, rocks...
We got into the campground in Anaconda, set up, talked to Stu's friend, Bill (another retired firefighter/paramedic who now lives in Helena) and headed out to catch a couple hours of the Music Festival...planned to meet Bill & his wife, Cindy, there....kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack. LOL! Music Festival blog coming next!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Our time in Yellowstone done, we now headed northerly to attend the 70th Annual Folk Festival in Butte, MT. We had reservations at a park in Anaconda, not very far west of Butte. We headed north out of Cameron and stopped in the little town of Ennis for lunch. We found a great place on the NW side of town where we could easily park the rig and walked downtown. Ennis is one of those towns with character...famous for local fly fishing in the Madison River, the very western flavored town is fun to visit. We browsed through several stores before stopping to eat buffalo burgers at the Ennis Cafe....delicious!
Although the first part of our drive was a repeat, things always look different when driving the opposite direction. Eventually we headed more westerly on a new-to-us road. Spectacular views, lightly winding road, mountains, rivers, rocks...
We got into the campground in Anaconda, set up, talked to Stu's friend, Bill (another retired firefighter/paramedic who now lives in Helena) and headed out to catch a couple hours of the Music Festival...planned to meet Bill & his wife, Cindy, there....kind of like looking for a needle in a haystack. LOL! Music Festival blog coming next!
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Lots of miscellany....
First, thank you to everyone who had commented, 'shouted out' and sent emails with good wishes for Stu and I. It is really appreciated and I made sure Stu read them as well.Few miscellaneous ramblings & musings for today.....
Thought I'd pass along a great blog named "Tyler's RV Tips" - written by Mark Polk's son when he was six. It's fun reading and oh so true...out of the mouths of babes.
On Sunday some blog reading friends, Mike & Janna, rode over from their home about 70 miles away to meet me. They arrived on a gorgeous Honda Shadow (hope I'm remembering that right) and after introductions we sat and chatted for over an hour. It's always great to meet new friends, especially ones with so much in common. They hope one day to be able to travel with a toy hauler but settle for simpler travel now. Turns out we have mutual friends, Ellie & Jim and Doug & JoAnn, definitely a small world. They were all in the same park in Tucson last winter...Mike & Janna left before I arrived and visited though.
Speaking of small worlds, turns out the husband in the rig parked beside me was one of the folks that worked on my solar installation last February in Quartzite. In these photos, he's the one in the plaid jacket working on my battery installation. He thought I looked familiar as did my rig. When he came in to pay for an additional night, the campground owner mentioned that his was the rig parked next to mine. When he went back he looked up and noticed the solar and it all clicked. We both got a good laugh out of that one!
We've had several wildfires in the area recently, one to the north of us was put out fairly quickly. A new one started two days ago close to Townsend, MT, about 50 or so miles from here. We could see the huge plumes of smoke over the ridge and have been keeping up to date with the news since the wind comes from that direction. We had a severe thunderstorm alert yesterday but all we got was wind...not a good thing. The temperature has dropped from 90 to the 70's and we are due a rain tonight or tomorrow. Hoping it comes and helps the firefighters put out the wildfire.
Keeping busy in between work days by finishing up the boxes of stuff to be shipped to Maryland as well as what I will be giving to my daughter in Denver. I can't leave anything liquid inside so there are a lot of open items (cleaning, laundry, etc.) and well as the contents of the pantry, refrigerator, freezer that will get passed to her. Since she's setting up a new household post divorce, it will come in handy. She will also be the recipient of my car so I don't have to worry about putting it on consignment. One less thing to worry about.
Last major item is 4 totes full of paperwork - receipts, instruction books, etc that I have to go through. I'm way behind in entering things into Quicken so once I've sorted & tossed what I don't need, then will spend a couple of days getting Quicken caught up to date...just in time for a tax appointment. LOL! It never ends....
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Readers Ask....summer 2008
I know I promised that I'd blog about Yellowstone next but I still have to choose & edit photos from the over 400 we took during two days. I spent a little time catching up on reader email & blog comments so thought I would do a Readers Ask blog to reply to those I couldn't (no email address) or those that were of general interest (I think). LOL! So here goes!
Comment on "A full day....":
"In reading today's blog....I knew Escapees was a tremendous group, but how did they convince those deer to help with the parking......LOL It would be worth the trip to see that!"
~ Paul Weaver (long time reader)
and
" I agree with weaverworks that the deer might be helpful on the parking crew. Just have them lead the RVs to their proper place."
~ Dick
Have to admit it took me reading & re-reading what I wrote that figure out where these comments came from. As many of you have noticed, I don't proof edit my blogs. LOL! I spent too many years doing professional writing that required that as well as proofing others work. Well, in this case I should have.....see if you can find the problem.
More from the same blog:
"As I was driving north toward Gillette this morning (Wednesday) I saw a the RV in your picture being towed south toward Cheyenne. Apparently it wasn't driveable, and the whole front was criss crossed with tape. Maybe to keep the front windows in one piece. I feel for the owner of that rig, hope I'm never in that position."
~ Brenda
I never heard anything more on that accident or what caused it. It was not a pretty sight. But did hear about another VERY bad accident in Buffalo that killed a man and seriously injured his wife. Seems they lost their brakes coming through the mountains, couldn't stop when they hit town and ran into a building at a T intersection. A strong reminder to not overtax your brakes in the mountains....AND if towing a trailer or fifth wheel, be sure your truck is equipped to handle stopping the combined weight of your rig and all your stuff.
"What king of gas miles are you getting while towing your toad??"
~Whitey
That's an easy one....I get between 7 & 8 mpg regardless of what I'm towing or how much my rig weighs. Just seems to be the set point for it....unless I put my foot in it. LOL!
Comment on "Summer in Montana":
"We think you will like White Sulphur Springs--we live about 70 miles from there--we will have to take a motorcycle ride one day and come visit you."
~Mike & Janna
Love to meet you...I'm off on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays!
"We'd be *most* interested in hearing all about your workamping experiences. Anything you are willing to share about it would be appreciated. We are still thinking about doing some workamping, but being stuck in one place for a season doesn't sound that appealing. Tell us all about it!"
~jc&bev
and
"OK, Donna, you owe me one. I want to hear about your workcamping. Do you have Internet there? What are your tasks? Is it too hot to do them?"
~Linda
I hadn't seriously looked at Workamping even though I had subscribed to Workamper News for almost 2 years (if anyone joins, please use me as your reference - #48536). I had gone as far as making my application on their website and there had been a few "look-sees" by employers. Since many employers are looking for couples (one inside, one outside), I knew my chances were slim.
Since I didn't want a 5-6 month committment, I figured my best chance was a late season replacement opening and planned to look for one after the Escapade. Before I could do that, I was contacted by the owners of the Conestoga Campground and offered a position for two months (till after Labor Day). We agreed that I would only work inside (not into doing yard work and not capable of mechanical/repair work). This was a first solo experience for them as well as for me. Turns out there were two other workamp couples - one a replacement for a couple leaving and the other here for the season.
It's been wonderful....I would come back here in a heartbeat. I work four half days a week - Monday & Friday I work from 2:30-7pm and Tuesday and Saturday I work from 10am-2:30. The two morning shifts include cleaning the bathrooms but so far that has never been bad.
I answer the phone, enter reservations, check campers in and out, ring up items from the store and if there is an ice cream social on my late day, then I stay to ring up those sales. The owners are great...while there are a few things to do to fill time (vacuuming, dusting, checking stock), for the most part if I'm not busy I can read, work on the computer, play games, do puzzles, etc.
The weather here is wonderful....most days are in the upper 70's to upper 80's. There have been very few in the 90's. The nights range from 40's-50's with a few up into the 60's. Nice sleeping weather. There are winds....haven't put my big awning out at all. Many afternoons there is a big wind followed by a little rain. Nothing overly severe.
The town is cute, enough supplies to take care of basic needs but within 1.5-2 hrs there are several major cities for sightseeing and big shopping. The sunsets are glorious....here are a few more samples of post storm & sunset pics.
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Comment on "A full day....":"In reading today's blog....I knew Escapees was a tremendous group, but how did they convince those deer to help with the parking......LOL It would be worth the trip to see that!"
~ Paul Weaver (long time reader)
and
" I agree with weaverworks that the deer might be helpful on the parking crew. Just have them lead the RVs to their proper place."
~ Dick
Have to admit it took me reading & re-reading what I wrote that figure out where these comments came from. As many of you have noticed, I don't proof edit my blogs. LOL! I spent too many years doing professional writing that required that as well as proofing others work. Well, in this case I should have.....see if you can find the problem. More from the same blog:"As I was driving north toward Gillette this morning (Wednesday) I saw a the RV in your picture being towed south toward Cheyenne. Apparently it wasn't driveable, and the whole front was criss crossed with tape. Maybe to keep the front windows in one piece. I feel for the owner of that rig, hope I'm never in that position."
~ Brenda
I never heard anything more on that accident or what caused it. It was not a pretty sight. But did hear about another VERY bad accident in Buffalo that killed a man and seriously injured his wife. Seems they lost their brakes coming through the mountains, couldn't stop when they hit town and ran into a building at a T intersection. A strong reminder to not overtax your brakes in the mountains....AND if towing a trailer or fifth wheel, be sure your truck is equipped to handle stopping the combined weight of your rig and all your stuff."What king of gas miles are you getting while towing your toad??"~Whitey
That's an easy one....I get between 7 & 8 mpg regardless of what I'm towing or how much my rig weighs. Just seems to be the set point for it....unless I put my foot in it. LOL!Comment on "Summer in Montana":"We think you will like White Sulphur Springs--we live about 70 miles from there--we will have to take a motorcycle ride one day and come visit you."
~Mike & Janna
Love to meet you...I'm off on Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays!"We'd be *most* interested in hearing all about your workamping experiences. Anything you are willing to share about it would be appreciated. We are still thinking about doing some workamping, but being stuck in one place for a season doesn't sound that appealing. Tell us all about it!"~jc&bev
and
"OK, Donna, you owe me one. I want to hear about your workcamping. Do you have Internet there? What are your tasks? Is it too hot to do them?"
~Linda
I hadn't seriously looked at Workamping even though I had subscribed to Workamper News for almost 2 years (if anyone joins, please use me as your reference - #48536). I had gone as far as making my application on their website and there had been a few "look-sees" by employers. Since many employers are looking for couples (one inside, one outside), I knew my chances were slim.Since I didn't want a 5-6 month committment, I figured my best chance was a late season replacement opening and planned to look for one after the Escapade. Before I could do that, I was contacted by the owners of the Conestoga Campground and offered a position for two months (till after Labor Day). We agreed that I would only work inside (not into doing yard work and not capable of mechanical/repair work). This was a first solo experience for them as well as for me. Turns out there were two other workamp couples - one a replacement for a couple leaving and the other here for the season.
It's been wonderful....I would come back here in a heartbeat. I work four half days a week - Monday & Friday I work from 2:30-7pm and Tuesday and Saturday I work from 10am-2:30. The two morning shifts include cleaning the bathrooms but so far that has never been bad.
I answer the phone, enter reservations, check campers in and out, ring up items from the store and if there is an ice cream social on my late day, then I stay to ring up those sales. The owners are great...while there are a few things to do to fill time (vacuuming, dusting, checking stock), for the most part if I'm not busy I can read, work on the computer, play games, do puzzles, etc.
The weather here is wonderful....most days are in the upper 70's to upper 80's. There have been very few in the 90's. The nights range from 40's-50's with a few up into the 60's. Nice sleeping weather. There are winds....haven't put my big awning out at all. Many afternoons there is a big wind followed by a little rain. Nothing overly severe.
The town is cute, enough supplies to take care of basic needs but within 1.5-2 hrs there are several major cities for sightseeing and big shopping. The sunsets are glorious....here are a few more samples of post storm & sunset pics.
Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)