Here is a couple of days worth of updates, due to our inability to maintain a connection over the last several hundred miles.
Yesterday, 10/4/07
The last posting had us leaving the Flying J Truck Stop in Glendive, Montana. What we didn't tell you was when we left the truck stop we approached the RV in horror, as we had left our headlights on. No problem though, as we heaved a sigh of relief when the motor started. Plenty of friendly truckers just like us around to help if necessary.
Left Glendive, MT after finally showering. Left a bit late, but we needed to attend to personal hygiene. We made it from Glendive to Bozeman, switching from I-94 to I-90 in Billings. Speaking of Billings, Pam wanted to go to the Perkins Restaurant, which according to the sign on the highway was not far. What the sign didn't tell us was you had to drive through downtown Billings to get to the restaurant. We've got a 28 foot motor home, towing a trailer with a car on it (45 feet total), and we're driving through the heart of a city. Pam was less than pleased with her choice. She was even more less than pleased with me when I suggested she not pick the street signs off the sidewalk poles with the rear view mirror on the passenger side of the car. Pam also swears she saw an antelope today. Does anyone know if there are antelope in Montana? Yesterdays travel was about 360 miles, giving us about 1,600 total. Weather was great, but very windy. Still lots of cows, only now they are showing up in people's fenced in back yards. Must be the owners have specific intentions for them. We also found out there are rattlesnakes in Montana.
Today-10/5/07
Left Bozeman this morning with good intentions. However, they were short lived. As it turns out, I miscalculated Sahara's insulin and eye drop needs, and were left racing to the next major city (Missoula) in search of dog doctors and pharmacies. We only traveled a couple hundred miles, and were racing to get there with time left to pursue this mission. We arrived in Missoula around 3:15pm with time to search. However, we got lost just outside Missoula. Not only did we need medicine, we needed to figure out how to run our furnace, for we've been freezing at night. We did stop at a large RV service company. Fancy showroom, high dollar RV's in the yard, and me standing at the counter looking for help with unkept hair, a t-shirt, and a worn out denim shirt on. They would not help me. There was a lot of well groomed RVers waiting for help, and all I wanted was for someone to tell me how to run the furnace. A very simple question. They refused to help me. This is where we got lost in Missoula, as we had to find a Mom and Pop RV service place that the fancy-dancy RV service place referred me to. When we finally did find it, the gentleman was very kind, helpful, and understanding. He came inside our RV, turned our furnace button to the 'on' position, and wished us a good day. WE DIDN'T TURN THE FURNACE ON. Give us a break folks, we're just getting used to this machine. Then, we were off to find the vet. We're running low on gas, time, and Pam has to pee. Then, we found ourselves right in the middle of a huge traffic jam, in downtown Missoula. I didn't even think there were enough people in Missoula to create a traffic jam. Before we arrived in Missoula we stopped at a gas station and found something very, very strange. On the wall inside the gas station was a WANTED sign. The sign warned of an individual who was wanted for attempted homicide. The poster explained what he did, how he attempted these murders, his weight, height, etc. It gets better. He attempted these homicides just outside of the area we were staying for the night. But here's where it gets weird. The crimes occured at a recent local event called The Testicle Festival. Yes, you heard me correctly. I had to read this sign three times to be certain I was reading it correctly. Sure enough, it was the Testicle Festival. Keep in mind, when you are travling in remote areas, very strange things happen, and the people get stranger and stranger the more remote the areas. Further down the road I just so happened to see a billboard. It was an advertisement about the local Testicle Festival. A picture is attached to prove what we saw is in fact true. We did hit our first snowstorm of the trip, occuring in high elevation just to the east of Butte, Montana. Had a very difficult time going down the pass of 6,400 feet. Turns at the bottom of the pass created a need for Bob to change his underwear before moving on. A few more bits of information. We are switching to 93 North now, which will take us across the Canadian boarder. We have a total of around 1,800 miles now, or about halfway. However, the travel will become much slower, and the internet connections more hit-or-miss. Updates may be sparse, but we will do our best.