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

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

Gillette WY to Reed Point MT

When you last left our heroine, she was at the Escapade in Gillette, WY and was having TOO MUCH FUN riding around on the back of a gorgeous Harley-Davidson trike, driven but a very handsome gentleman. story continues....

Well, after much discussion about itineraries Stu and I decided to head to Reed Point, MT. There was a Passport America campground there and it was close to Billings where I needed to get some service work done but also close to Stu's next stop which was Yellowstone.

The drive there was breathtaking....starting out with rolling hills covered in wildflowers and then on to mountain vistas you dream about and then back to softer hills with even more wildflowers. All the photos were snapped through my windshield while driving so forgive the quality.



Reed Point, MT is one of those little beside the highway towns that is interesting as well as fun. We enjoyed out time there, relaxing and enjoying a visit to a local watering hole. You know it's country when you ask for a white wine spritzer and get told, "We got pink sh!t in a box and white sh!t in a box." LOL!! Here are a few pics of the town including the inside of the bar we visited (and enjoyed).



And here are a few pics of the Old West RV Park campground & our rigs (mine looks miniature next to Stu's). We really enjoyed the little park, the owners were fabulous and helped us out with logistics with a late stay. We plan to visit them again.



While taking a break at the park and waiting for my service appointment to arrive, we discussed the trip to Yellowstone. Stu got the bright idea that I should just leave me rig a couple of extra days (store at the RV place) and we'd go together in his rig. Sounded like a plan to me...

So the morning of my appointment Stu followed me on his trike to the dealer in Billings, MT and we came back, picked up his rig and headed south towards Yellowstone.

Stay tuned, more story to come...

Till next time - keep on rollin',
Froggi/Donna