Tacoma-Tillamook

We arrived in Tacoma WA Monday, July 26 for a 4-night stay. Wil spent quality time with his son, Mike - pictured on his back porch.
From here we drove through Oregon on our way to Tillamook. In Portland we experienced more traffic than we've had since leaving home!
As we got closer to the ocean the fog became more and more apparent, but still a very pretty drive!!

Lolo MT to Tacoma WA

A long drive that took us across Idaho and Washington, a total of 500 miles!! Still another beautiful experience, but very tiring. Anyway, we're in Tacoma now, visiting with Wil's son. Our stay at the Elk's Lodge takes us to Friday, the 30th.

Butte to Lolo, MT

This drive was one of many scenic drives that we enjoyed throughout our trip.
In Lolo we stayed at the square dance RV camp, where Jerry Junck was calling. He was really surprised to see us! Most of the big name callers have left their signatures in the hall.
The camp itself was very nice with at least 200+ trees. What a good time we had!

Butte Mt

This city is a very busy place! We had a campsite about 5 miles out of town, staying 2 days. Part of the city was closed off due to Evel Knievel Days for the weekend we were there. (The tall bldg in the background is where the stunt man jumped from the roof.) Yes...we were part of the crowd. The wealth of Butte is due to copper mining. Berkley Pit was abandoned by ARCO in 1994, now filling with acidic water. There's quite a history to this and very interesting!!

Beartooth Highway

Charles Kuralt called this the "Most Scenic Drive in America" and he was right!! It was an all day trip, but well worth doing. (We have Jerry Hamilton to thank for recommending this.) We climbed as high as 11,780 feet and the view in every direction was incredible!!! Cooke City was our "turn around", where we ate lunch, then enjoyed repeating the entire drive again to return to Billings. WOW!!!

Pompey's Pillar

The only physical evidence remaining from the Lewis and Clark expedition is inscribed in this place called "Pompey's Pillar"
The climb up to view it was not one of Wil's favorites.

Billings Elks Lodge

From Hardin we drove to Billings where we dry camped at the Elks Lodge for 3 days. Our first day there, we went into the bar and SURPRISE....the bartender was Jerry Hamilton, a caller/cuer for 22 years in Hemet. Both of us knew him well and were totally in shock. We had a nice visit with him and his wife, Crete, that night.

Little Big Horn Battlefield

The battlefield was dotted with markers where the soldiers lay dead although they were buried in place, later they were exhumed and reburied military style at a cemetary on the grounds. The Indian grave is where the warrior was killed and buried. All 240 soldiers and General Custer perished.

Hardin Museum and Campground

The first picture is the results of an oncoming storm....a very, scary, red sky! Luckily, nothing happened. We were camped at Hardin for the night.
The next day we toured the County Museum, which was quite a treat! It included the lifestyles of early pioneers, with several dwellings, etc. that we walked through.

City of Medora/Medora Musical

Medora is a happening place on the western border of North Dakota. There is much history involved here, mainly that of Theodore Roosevelt. While here, we attended the nightly Medora Musical, which was a real producion, celebrating its 45th year.

Theodore Roosevelt Natl Park/Badlands

We camped in this beautiful park about 5 miles outside of the town of Medora. There was an abundance of wildlife and exotic scenery all around us.

Enchanted Highway

We took a tour of the Enchanted Highway and these are some of the sculptures. These are the worlds largest, giant, sculptures. The address on the internet is http://www.enchantedhighway.net/ . Take a look.

Lake Metigoshe

Roger and Gloria's home is a "piece of paradise", overlooking the lake. Roger is shown in the boat before they gave us a tour of the area.
Tommy Turtle that Judy is pictured with is symbolic of the Turtle Mountains.
We spent the last night together dining out at the Birchwood Restaurant. A great 3 day visit with them!

Mystical Horizons in Bottineau

"Stonehenge" of the prairie is designed to view the spring, summer, winter and fall solstices and the equinox. Very intriguing! Roger, Gloria, Judy and Wil.

Entering ND

We entered ND today, on our way to Bottineau where our friends, Roger and Gloria Schell, live - on Metigoshe Lake.

Watertown SD

This was a very pleasant, unexpected stop for us, and we spent 4 days here because the park we stayed in, Stokes-Thomas Lake City Park, was so beautiful! It is situated on Lake Kempeska, a gorgeous, and very active place.
This town is also home for the famous painter, Terry Redlin, and his art center (pictured) is located here as well. The weather has been very good for the most part, although we have gotten rained on a couple of times. The mosquitos have found us too........