Fancy roping! One over the horns and one on the hind legs.

Heading for the finish line for all she is worth!

Oooops!

Tight turn!

Giving it all she's got!

Our clown went into the barrel looking like this ...

And this is what he looked like when he climbed out!

Now that is a bull trying to dump a cowboy!

All four hooves off the ground!

One big bull!

9:28 pm Monday, September 3, 2007

Tomorrow is a travel day. Our wonderful Penny the Pace will carry us south for a few days before we turn east again. We have been hunkered down here in White Sulphur Springs Montana for the past 12 days, deliberately waiting out the holiday weekend knowing we might run into some difficulty finding space in RV parks along our route. Since this is a Coast to Coast park, and also our home park, our cost was only $3.00 per night. It was a good decision because not only did Phil get in some good fishing, I managed to complete some genealogy tasks I had put off until we landed someplace quiet for awhile.

We spent some time here in 2005 and knew we would enjoy our stay. However, I had forgotten about the eternal wind that blows across this valley at sometime (either day or night—or both) in every single 24 hour period, but we learned to live with it. The good side of the wind is that it cools the air down (it has warmed up to the high 80s and low 90s ever day) and it blew the smoke away but the same wind blew the smoke in every day. The fires burning in Idaho and western Montana gave up their smoke in an easterly direction and here, we are in the direct line of fire (no pun intended). The surrounding hills have been shrouded with a bluish haze all but a half day here and there since we arrived.

These hazy sunsets tell the story of our time in White Sulphur Springs. .

The sun going down behind the barely visible hill west of our site.

Phil got this shot through the smoke.

6:48 pm Friday August 24, 2007

Yesterday our wonderful Penny the Pace delivered us safely across 6,375' Homestake Pass on I-90 then north on US 87 and US 12 to White Sulphur Springs, Montana. I white knuckled it all the way across but the 25 mph speed limit on the down side helped considerably. The “Home Park” for our Coast to Coast camping club membership is here at Conestoga RV Park. We only pay $3.00 per day for full hookups and can stay for two weeks if we choose. WSS is a typical small town that has not changed at all since we were here two years ago. No sign of any growth to speak of. Built on a high plateau, the area abounds with wheat and hay fields and lots of pasture for cattle and horses. I hope to get some writing done and Phil will do some fishing while we are here.

We were in Missoula for three nights and two days, arriving just a few days after the firefighters contained a major fire that burned right down to the edge and temporarily closed US 93, the road to Glacier National Park. The staging areas for the firefighters were just down the road from our RV Park as they continued the efforts to increase the area under containment. When we left Thursday morning, the 23rd, they were still at 35% but some rain and cooler weather with higher humidity and no wind was helping a lot. Here are some pictures of just part of the thousands of acres that were burnt around where we were parked.

Here is Penny the Pace and the Lone Ranger at Jim and Mary's RV park in Missoula, Montana. Again, we had shade trees but our datastorm internet satellite receiver found our bird and locked on through the trees!

The firefighters saved every home and we heard they only lost one small outbuilding. Amazing!

The black hills were on fire just a few days before we arrived.

At this fire fighting camp, the accommodations were primitive--just small one man tents. They had large air conditioned tents farther down the road at the next camp.

We spotted this datastorm satellite internet receiver at the staging area across the highway from us.

These pictures do not show how big the staging area really is. Probably covers 20 acres easily. This was one of two just a few miles apart.