Our time here at Riverfront RV Park is coming to an end.  We have met many people and made many friends!  The owner, Sharon, and her helpers are so, so, friendly, and we are thankful to have passed through here.  This is the first  place we've visited that we hope to return to next year, and stay for a month or so.  Simple, beautiful, friendly, and even has a Church on the grounds.  We've been here for 2 and 1/2 weeks and don't really want to leave, but feel called to move on to our next destination.  We have been very blessed!

We went out on a limb for my birthday, to see the "cribbage capital of the world" in Nelson, Montana!  There were two buildings, one with ten mailboxes in front of it and the other with none!  I'm not sure how this "town" acquired the distinction of being renowned for much of anything, but hey, the sign says differently.

We started up a gravel road that led to a trailhead we wanted to explore.  I'll tell you that we accumulated a pound or so, of dust and dirt, that took a good amount of time to remove from within the back of the truck. 13 miles in and 13 miles out!

I followed my tour guide through thick and thin, and she led me to many wonderful places!

We had to take a few breaks for water and rest.

Ponderosa pines are pretty cool!

All in all, it was the best birthday I could hope for!  We even met some fellow "Casitans" on their first trip out with their new trailer!  Cool beans!!!!  We were also able to get some solar equipment to prepare us for "off the grid" camping that we'll soon encounter.  Wish us luck!  :)

I have posted many pictures on today's post and, as usual, the pictures don't do justice to the experience.  We decided to take a trip over the mountain pass to Helena and climb Mt Helena.  We started from 4300 ft elevation, as measured at the parking lot, and climbed to 5360 ft.  By the time all was said and done we had a ton of fun and our legs were like rubber at the end of the day.  I am sure to pay dearly for the adventure tomorrow, lol!  We want to do it again, in a couple of days, if our bodies permit it.

We can't say we weren't warned!

The views were fantastic on the trek upward!

Looking towards our goal.

We came across a cave that was used by miners as a resting spot.  I probably need to fact check that!  Anyway, that's what I'm going with :)

I'll take the time here to tell you that we met many people up and down the trail, from toddlers carried on their father's back to those nearly my age, and all were as friendly as you could hope for!  Smiles from all!

Wendy appears to have lost her sheep!  Me.

We are close to our summit assault but we need time to rest.

We made it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to let it sink in.

Others who are enjoying their journey.

It's official when you see the spike indicating the peak, even though technically, I saw a few higher rocks.  But Wendy set foot on the highest around.

And now for the rest of the story!  Wendy led us up the ascent as she is a trailblazer at heart.  I decided to lead us down as I wanted to block her roll, so to speak, if she lost footing and went tumbling.  Well, after 10 or 15 minutes of descent, she calls out to me "this doesn't look like the way we came up".  I said that it looks different because we are going down.  "Are you sure?" she asks.  About that time a young woman was ascending the path and I asked her if we were on the "1906" trail?  And she says "no".  "Well can we get to the parking lot from here?"  "No worries, just take a left at the next marker and you'll be ok".  Well, we made it back just fine.  But I've lost my "homing pigeon" reputation!  Thus the title of this day's blog, (blush).

This is still hard to believe!  We ran into friends we met back at Short Stay in Moncks Corner, SC, more than 4 months ago.  We're in Garrison, Montana, for cryin' out loud.  A mere couple of thousand miles away from were we first met.  I said to Wendy, "that sure looks like Susan and Gary".  She said "it does".  And guess what, IT WAS!!!!!!!  We attempted to catch up over the next hour or so, and really enjoyed seeing them again.  They've seen and done a lot over the past 4 months, as have we.  It was good to tell each other our "war stories".  We get to stay connected through our blogs now :)

Here's a picture of nothing but big, beautiful, Montana sky.  We are really enjoying the cool mornings around here.  Usually in the mid forties when we wake up.

We started out the day from Riverfront RV Park  in Garrison, Montana and went a short distance to Deer Lodge, MT.  Civilization does exist there.  2916 people.  We visited Old Montana Prison Museums.  I did not post photos of the prison as they are depressing in the sense prisoners had to endure the most difficult of conditions.  Established in 1871 in an attempt to tame the wild west, it was an active prison until 1979.

As usual, we were distracted by another ice-cream stand :)

Some trains from days long past.

Part of the visit was at this same prison location.  The Montana Auto Museum has over 160 cars from the 1880's through the 1970's.  I posted many pictures that some may enjoy.  Norm, I hope you are watching :)  My apologies for not including descriptions.

Here's one for you Dad!  I believe yours was red as well.

And another for Dad.  A 454 like you had.  This is a '65 and I think you had a '64.  The only time I've driven around a racetrack!  On a Monday late afternoon and no one within miles at the Summerville Race Track.  Back in the day it was a 1/4 mile dirt track and I couldn't get above 30mph because of ruts/washboard conditions.  So, around the turns I felt as if it would turn over because of the banked turns and my slow speed:)  Seems like yesterday!

Finally we have come across wonderful, cool, weather with beautiful views.  With temps getting down to 42, and tonight the mid 30's,  and our daytime temps in the low to mid 70's,  we're in hog heaven, lol.  We've extended for a week and may do so again. 

This is not the view from our camper, but it is from the campground.

  We were out exploring this morning until we came to these tracks.  There are mountain lions in the area and we did not want to come up to one unexpectedly, so we headed back to camp!  AMENDMENT....our dear friend Lisa informed me the tracks were not likely feline, so that's a relief :)

We are at Old West RV Park in Reed Point, Montana, population not very many :)  Maybe 96.  Things are pretty much closed up due to Covid.  This has been a 2 night stay.  Yesterday we went to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Park.  We fought cold and rain early on but it turned out to be a beautiful day.  On the way back we stopped for an oil change and tire rotation.  It's hard to believe we've put over 12000 miles on the truck since March. 

Here's where some of the Indians assembled before their charge up the hill.  They refer to this as Battle of the Greasy Grass.

A couple pictures of close by the campsite.

And finally, our campsite.  Nothing spectacular but the hosts were so very friendly!  And we met the nicest couple, Judy and Ron, who were camped next to us.  They left before the picture was taken.  Judy gave me some valuable advice on photography!  We most certainly hope to see them again someday :) 

I've been behind on my posts lately so I'll catch up with this one.  We were trying to get out of the hot weather and finally made it.  Yay!  It's now Thursday am.  Sunday we stayed at Cedar Bluff State Park in Kansas (pictures in previous post).  Monday night we were in Enders State Recreational Area, Nebraska, Tuesday night at Guernsey State Park, Wyoming and last night at Tongue River Reservoir State Park in Decker, Montana.  This was a busy week but we made it to cooler weather.  Yesterday it was 105, ambient, driving through Scott's Bluff, Wyoming and we woke up to 52 degrees, nice indeed.  It was probably a little cooler during the night as I didn't get up until 6 am and the sun was already climbing.

As usual, we are easily lured by a sign with an ice-cream cone displayed :)  We were not disappointed!

In 1998 we were here with Wendy's parents.  We had endured a long travel day and got there 30 minutes or so before it closed for the day.  It was very hot and the visitor center said we could not walk out to Chimney Rock.  We would have had to take a donkey ride there, which was about 1/4 mile away for way too much money and the donkeys would have to suffer in the heat.  Boo!  We hopped back into the car, drove by the rock and took pictures.  Although the adventure was a bust, we recalled it with fond memories over the years.  The visitor center is closed now for renovations and the rock appears unchanged.  The temp was again hot, 22 years later, and thankfully there were no donkeys on duty.

Here are a couple pictures of Guernsey State Park in Wyoming.  Plenty of deer and turkeys here.

Here is Tongue River Reservoir State Park in Decker, Montana.

We made our move westward today after spending the last week at McConnell AFB, Kansas.  We enjoyed our stay but were ready to move on to cooler territory.  The Red Path of Pain is in our rear view mirror....yay!  As we left our campsite we traveled a short distance to the dump station to "take care of business," so to speak.  The water pressure was unbelievably high and Wendy had the bathroom duties.  She directs the water into the black tank to help flush it (TMI I know) and was distracted.  The hose came out and danced all around the very small bathroom, uncontrolled.  Poor Wen and everything got soaked.  Only clean water was involved so all was ok after we had a good laugh about it. We had only to endure the 3 or 4 minutes that led up to the laughing.  Even if I had pictures I think it very wise to withhold them from the public.  We are now in Cedar Bluff State Park near Ellis, Kansas.  It's nice here but we'll be leaving in the morning.

I could make up a pretty good fish story here!