On Saturday, Sept 2, it wasn’t too long until we got to Montana. We were headed to Billings for an overnight.
View of the Yellowstone River from the highway. At over 690 miles, the Yellowstone is the longest un-dammed river in the lower 48 states, and drains a watershed greater in area than all of New England.When we stopped for our lunch in a rest area, we spotted these lark? sparrows in the tree nearby.Saw this interesting sculpture when we pulled off to get some gas.
Miles and miles of open land as we drove along I94 to Billings.
We often stay at KOA’s when we are on the road. They do a decent job of managing their franchisees so you know what you will get. When I made the reservation here, I did not know that Billings was the place where they were founded. I wouldn’t say that they are any better than any other KOA. In fact, being over 60 years old, the sites are rather narrow as it was before there were slide-outs on RVs.
But it is right on the Yellowstone River, so we took a walk there. I think we were walking on what would be the river bed at a different time of the year.
And these folks were enjoying a float down the river on a relatively warm evening.
And this osprey was enjoying the evening too. We didn’t see him catch anything.
On Sunday, September 3 we took a quick drive through Billings. It was pretty quiet, and the Moss Mansion didn’t open until noon, so no tour for us this time.
And then we began to see the mountains.
It was then time for golf in Livingston, MT. The course was in great shape, with great views of the mountains and it was along the Yellowstone River. Trish skunked me – she had two pars and my best holes were two bogeys.
But there was some great wildlife viewing, including this Flicker and these immature Robins.
And there was this doe and her two fawns that followed us around – or maybe we followed them. That lower left picture of them looking at me was captured as I walked up to the green to putt.
Then there was more driving until we got to Bozeman, MT.
We drove the RV into downtown Bozeman and snagged a great parking spot right on the street. We were headed to Backcountry Burger on the recommendation of my brother and his wife, who had been through the area a few weeks earlier and said that they had “the best burgers ever.” We agree that they were very tasty, with some great flavor combos and the buns were wonderfully soft. Trish had the Backcountry and I had the Wildfire. Yum!
We took a quick walk down the block and checked out a couple of stores, then it was on to our campsite.
We had planned to spend the next day with some friends of ours who have a summer place in Bozeman – maybe go kayaking or on a short hike. Those plans were squashed by the weather, but Holly and Scott picked us up at the RV and we spent the day together anyway. After having some lunch at their place, they showed us around Bozeman.
We drive through town and then some of the hillsides. Scott insisted that there were mountains beyond those hills, but we could not see them with the rain and the low hanging clouds. I remember him saying the Gallatins and the Madisons were out there, and I know there was another range that I don’t remember. Sorry Scott – I should have written it down.
Then, since it was a rainy day and we were tired and our skin was dry, we agreed that we would go for a soak in the local hot springs. We spent almost two hours in the indoor pools – which ranged in temperature from low 60’s to 106. We spent most of the time relaxing in the 96 degree pool, but I tried them all. In both the hottest and the coolest, all I did was get in, sit down and immediately get out, but the others were very relaxing. Then it was back to Holly and Scott’s, where Holly made us a great dinner.On the way back to the RV we stopped for Genuine Ice Cream – yes that was the name of the ice cream shop – it was creamy and good. I got this photo of our wonderful hosts enjoying their ice cream. We had a great day despite the weather – maybe next time we’ll get to take that hike.Driving out of town on Tuesday, Sept 5, I captured a couple more shots of Bozeman. Yes, Lewis and Clark went through this area, but I don’t think they stayed in this motel.And although it was still a little cloudy, there wasn’t any rain and we could see the mountains!Some views driving on US 191 to West Yellowstone – quite a bit of the way along the Gallatin River.That’s out turn into Yellowstone!
This was our first stop in Yellowstone – just over the Montana/Wyoming border. We took a short little walk along the boardwalk at the area called Two Ribbons – right along the Gallatin River.
We spotted these ducks and a heron – not the wildlife Yellowstone is famous for, but a start.
And had to get this first selfie to prove we had made it to Yellowstone – four years from when I made the first reservation. Then we had some lunch in the RV and started our real Yellowstone adventures.
Catching up on your adventures now that I am back from my golf trip. I love the photos of the golf course you played and the hot springs sound wonderful (Pat looks so cute in the photo.
Trish & Anne RV Adventures 
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