May - Exploring Our New Area

On our days off in May, we tried to get out and explore the area.

The first week, we drove south on the old highway to Dayton, WY and then west on Hwy 14 into the Big Horn mountains. The highway climbs up and up to the top of the mountain ridge.  There were still mountain meadows covered with snow, we could see snowmobile tracks yet on some of them. Our plan that day was to drive further on Hwy 14A to Lovell, but when we came to Burgess Junction we found the 14A was still closed because of snow.  To get back home now, we either had to turn around or make a loop south and east. We continued on Hwy 14 south to see more new sights and our next stop was Shell Falls.  A beautiful area in the Bighorn National Forest, the water was running strong from all the snow melting from the mountains.  We drove on, turning south again at Greybull and then took a little short cut on Hwy 31 at Manderson.  This took us down to Ten Sleep, then turned east on Hwy 16 to go up across the Powder River Pass, 9655 feet elevation.  It became very cloudy and we even had periods of rain - we hoped it would not turn to snow.  Back to Buffalo, then north on I-90 to Sheridan.  We had an early supper at a very popular restaurant there, Sanfords. Historical pictures, license plates, and decor gave us plenty to look at and they had a large selection on their menu.  We stopped afterward at the Wyoming Cattle Company, a restaurant which also houses the Luminous Brewery.  Gary liked their Steamboat Oat Stout and I liked their Kolsch.

Shell Falls

Wyoming scenery

Sanford's decor - Sheridan

Montana sunset

Our next visit that week was to the Big Horn County Museum in Hardin.  This was very interesting, we spent over three hours there looking at all the exhibits.  They have about twenty restored buildings on the grounds from the area in the early 1900's.  A train depot, Will James's studio and cabins and a large barn building filled with farm and commercial vintage vehicles.  We found the Campbell Farming Corporation - Camp 4 buildings and information very interesting.  Thomas Campbell became the owner of the largest privately owned wheat farm, 95,000 acres, near Hardin to produce food for the war effort. He was a Brigadier General during WWII and invented the "fire bomb" used in that war.  The exhibit had the bathhouse, commissary, bunkhouse and cookhouse where the farming crews lived and were fed at one of four camps. www.nps/gov/bica/learn/historyculture/tom-campbell.htm  Everything at the museum was preserved very well and the information presented clearly, we enjoyed our visit there.

Lodge Grass Depot

Restored machinery

On my birthday, Gary did not find time to make a dessert, so we went to the Trading Post near the battlefield for supper.  As we were leaving the motorhome and getting in to the car, we heard bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace"!  Looking around, we saw the bagpiper standing at the top of the flagpole hill.  What a treat for my birthday!

One afternoon/evening we went up to Billings.  We stopped to see our friends Bill and Darla McLain, who worked for Bretz RV Center for the summer.  They were working that day, but we stopped and said hi (saw Bill wearing a tie :) - he is our foreman at the sugar beet harvest) and made plans to get together another time.  That evening for supper we picked up friends from Arizona, Marshall and Dianne Dennis, who were in town overnight as part of their western United States summer tour.  It was great to catch up with them, we will see them in Arizona over the winter.

May 16 - we went to the Wild Horse Bucking Sale and Rodeo in Miles City, MT.  Our co-workers Deb and Miles Tucker, went along for the day.  This sale is held the third weekend in May every year and is a major auction of rodeo stock.  We missed the parade, but walked around the park and looked at the exhibits and then had a great sandwich meal downtown put on by the Volunteer Fire Department.  In the afternoon, we went to the sale and rodeo.  The horses sold are not wild, but bred as bucking stock or riding horses that have been adept at bucking off their riders.  The wild horse race event is popular, teams of three cowboys had to subdue a wild horse, saddle it and then put a rider on for a lap around the racetrack.  No bridle or halter, they held on tight!  There was also bull riding and pari-mutuel horse racing.  On the way home, we just missed driving through a big storm - there was hail lying beside the road as we got closer to Hardin.

Wild horse race

Working cowboy :)

Late May, Memorial Day weekend, we had five days off, so we drove the car home. The first night we spent with my folks in Rapid City, then drove to Sioux Falls and stayed with Katie and her family. We had time to stop with flowers at the cemetery and run other errands.  I went with Katie and the boys to get their haircuts and we helped Katie prepare the garage for her rummage sale.  Saturday night we went to Gary's nephew's wedding.  It was a great time to see family at this joyous event. We enjoyed quick visits with friends and playing games with Riley and Sam.  We drove all the way back to Montana on Monday.

Grandpa and pajama boys

        

           Memorial Day at St Ann's Cemetery

May 2015 - Working at 7th Ranch, Montana

We arrived the last week of April at the 7th Ranch RV Camp, Garryowen, Montana.
We spent the week helping the owners, Chip and Sandy, with the ranch and park work. Gary helped with the construction of a new shop building and I had a training session in the park office.  Sandy taught me how to enter reservations on the Campmaster program and the other office procedures I would be responsible for.  Wednesday we drove north and stopped at Pompey's Pillar National Monument. This is a landmark rock where William Clark visited on his return trip on their expedition in July, 1806. There he carved his name into the rock, next to drawings the natives had carved in the years before. Then on to Billings to stock up on groceries at Sam's Club and the grocery store.  We had lunch at the Montana Brewing Company, one of six breweries in Billings.  Thursday, we did laundry and finished setting up the motor home for our summer stay.

Pompey's Pillar

William Clark was here

We were parked on a site in the lower right corner of the RV park.  We had a great view to the southwest, we could see the tops of the Big Horn mountains from our front door. The ranch pasture was just over the fence and each morning and evening thirty cows passed by on their way to and from the ranch buildings.  They would be calving in the time we were there.  The owners also had four horses they ride and use to help round up the cattle that come by our home too.  The other treat we had for the summer was a mountain bluebird nesting in the birdhouse just across the road from our spot.

Our site at 7th Ranch RV Camp

The view from above the park

The park cross at sunset

Miles, Billy and Neon

Birdhouse across from our site

Mountain Bluebird male

May 1 - we started our first four day shift at the park.  We were assigned to work the 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM shift for the summer.  Another workamper couple took over for us in the afternoon, they worked from 2:00 to 9:00 PM.  My responsibilities were to open the office, water the flower gardens and lawn (in May we were busy planting the flowers and vegetables in the garden areas), keep the office and office bathrooms clean and answer the phone, taking reservations, entering the reservations on the computer, checking out campers as they leave and checking in campers if they arrived during our shift.  Gary took me to the office every morning in the park golf cart and then checked the campground, making sure the bathrooms/shower house were clean and stocked for the morning, checked to see if a camper had left from their site before we had started and looked for any problems in the park that needed to be worked on that day.  Then he reported in to the owners and found out what tasks they wanted him to work on that day.  Some of the ongoing jobs were to spray weeds, fix sprinkler system heads, and working on the new shop building.  His daily assignment was to totally clean both bathrooms and the laundry room every day beginning at 11:00 AM.  He also cleaned the cabins if they had been used the previous night.

7th Ranch Office

Spring flower garden at the office

Vegetable plots

After we went to the 5:45 Mass in Hardin that first Saturday night, Chip and Sandy had us over for a potluck supper with the other workampers.  Our work day partners are Miles and Deb, they were from the Mobile, Alabama area. (We loved their distinct southern accent!).  This was their first workamping experience.  The morning couple on our off days were Maurice and Kathy, from Washington state.  They had workamped other jobs, spending the last four summers in Alaska.  The afternoon couple for their days; Gail and George, were from Texas.  They had been fulltiming just a couple years like us, working in California and Wisconsin during the last year.  Great people, we enjoyed spending time with all of them.

Chip and Sandy Watts have owned the ranch for 25 years and built and opened the RV park 14 years ago. They have had workampers for most of those years, so they have perfected the process of training all of us in the jobs they needed us to do.  They both grew up in southeast Montana and were a great resource for us as we learned about the area and explored Montana and Wyoming.  One day when we were off, they took us up to a high point on their land and Chip gave us a great tour/history lesson about the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

High point on the ranch looking toward the battlefield

We were just seven miles by car from the battlefield, but only about a mile as the crow flies, from the place where Gen. Reno & Benteen's troops were pinned down after the demise of Gen. Custer on Greasy Grass Ridge.  We went to visit and enjoyed the displays in the visitor center/museum, walked up the hill to the memorial where Custer and his men were killed and then drove the five mile loop through the park, reading and seeing the places where it all happened.   

Markers where the soldiers died during the battle.

Monument for the Native Americans at the battlefield

Driving up to Weir Point on the battlefield

Custer died here, the visitor center and Nat'l Cemetery are below

During May, we had quite a few days of rain, which was good for the area.  Sandy told us the summers can get hot and dry, they then have to worry about prairie fires.  It seemed like every time we went to Billings in May, we drove in rain to, from or while we were there!  Billings was 55 miles northeast of us and Sheridan was about the same distance to the south.  Garryowen, which was our address there and the nearest exit off I-90 consisted of a post office, museum and gas station with a Subway shop.  The next exit north was for Hwy 212 and the battlefield park entrance.  Just across from there is a locally owned restaurant and souvenir shop, "The Trading Post".  They have great food, known for their Indian fry bread, Indian tacos and desserts.  The next closest town was Crow Agency, just eight miles north.  The Crow tribe had a mercantile store with groceries and a few other necessities. There was a gas station, post office and several churches (a small Catholic parish) and a community of homes. Our best option for the area was Hardin, twenty miles to the north.  A town of about 5,000, they had most of the businesses we would need to use.  An IGA grocery store, Shopko, Family Dollar, Ace Hardware store and several good restaurants.

All God's glory in the sky

Hiked up to the cross

Prairie wild flowers

May sunset colors