Day Seven
I woke up excited to get on the road. My goal today was to reach Billings, Montana and I was really hoping to leave all the corn, hay and sunflower fields far behind as I climbed up into the foothills of the Rocky mountains.
The sun was shining and it was going to be another scorcher with temps. in the mid-nineties.
The posted speed limit runs between 70 and 75 mph but I just set my cruise control on 60 in a feeble attempt to save fuel. Everybody was passing me all day but nobody gave me the finger or even honked at me. I think most people recognise that RV's are not meant to go 70 or 80 mph so they cut me a bit of slack.
After about an hour of driving, I noticed a rest stop coming up that had a scenic overlook so I stopped to check it out. There were two panels that described the historical significance of this area. I'm not sure if you can read them but they provide a lot of information about events in the mid to late 1800's.
I know I look a bit too serious in this video and because it was rather impromptu I was struggling a bit to describe the history. Also, I'd just eaten an apple and was still digesting it. Next video should be a little more refined.
I believe that somewhere around the Montana border the time changed and I gained another hour which was great because I didn't get underway until nearly 10 am.
This is Montana, sometimes referred to as Big Sky Country for obvious reasons.
I had called ahead to the Billings, Montana KOA and found that they had two sites left with full hookups (water, 30 amp. service and sewer) but when I asked about their rates I just about had heart failure. One site was $85 and the other was $105. Come on people, how much water and electricity can one person use in about 15 hours? I told the woman that I could get a hotel for that kind of money, thanked her and decided to bypass Billings and take a different route.
As it turned out this was a very wise decision because leaving the interstate highway and going off on secondary roads exposed me to some beautiful rolling hills and almost no traffic. The downside was that the roads were not in the best condition and there were almost no facilities like gas stations or rest stops.
It was late in the afternoon. I was getting tired. I'd driven nearly 400 miles and was watching for signs for independent campgrounds when I decided to turn off at a little village called Winnett, Montana (pop. 150). I stopped a couple for directions and they suggested I go over to the local hotel where they also had a few RV spots.
I pulled up to this cute little motel and got out of the truck. An elderly bearded man holding a beer in one hand apparently owned the Northern Motel which had four RV camp spots right across the street. Nobody was camped there so I had the place all to myself. He said, "Give me $30 bucks and pick any site you like". I couldn't believe my good fortune. Full hookups, no highway or railway noise and he gave me his personal house wifi code.
It turned out that he was trying to sell the motel and RV park because business was very poor and he was just getting too old. I told him he needed to at least put a sign out on the road because it was pure luck that I even found his place. He agreed but said that there were fees for signage and he just didn't want to deal with it. The town was really out in the pucker brush and his little place was the only nice spot in town. I told him that perhaps someone would see my blog and come by for a stay. You just never know.
The sun was shining and it was going to be another scorcher with temps. in the mid-nineties.
The posted speed limit runs between 70 and 75 mph but I just set my cruise control on 60 in a feeble attempt to save fuel. Everybody was passing me all day but nobody gave me the finger or even honked at me. I think most people recognise that RV's are not meant to go 70 or 80 mph so they cut me a bit of slack.
After about an hour of driving, I noticed a rest stop coming up that had a scenic overlook so I stopped to check it out. There were two panels that described the historical significance of this area. I'm not sure if you can read them but they provide a lot of information about events in the mid to late 1800's.
I know I look a bit too serious in this video and because it was rather impromptu I was struggling a bit to describe the history. Also, I'd just eaten an apple and was still digesting it. Next video should be a little more refined.
I believe that somewhere around the Montana border the time changed and I gained another hour which was great because I didn't get underway until nearly 10 am.
This is Montana, sometimes referred to as Big Sky Country for obvious reasons.
I had called ahead to the Billings, Montana KOA and found that they had two sites left with full hookups (water, 30 amp. service and sewer) but when I asked about their rates I just about had heart failure. One site was $85 and the other was $105. Come on people, how much water and electricity can one person use in about 15 hours? I told the woman that I could get a hotel for that kind of money, thanked her and decided to bypass Billings and take a different route.
As it turned out this was a very wise decision because leaving the interstate highway and going off on secondary roads exposed me to some beautiful rolling hills and almost no traffic. The downside was that the roads were not in the best condition and there were almost no facilities like gas stations or rest stops.
It was late in the afternoon. I was getting tired. I'd driven nearly 400 miles and was watching for signs for independent campgrounds when I decided to turn off at a little village called Winnett, Montana (pop. 150). I stopped a couple for directions and they suggested I go over to the local hotel where they also had a few RV spots.
I pulled up to this cute little motel and got out of the truck. An elderly bearded man holding a beer in one hand apparently owned the Northern Motel which had four RV camp spots right across the street. Nobody was camped there so I had the place all to myself. He said, "Give me $30 bucks and pick any site you like". I couldn't believe my good fortune. Full hookups, no highway or railway noise and he gave me his personal house wifi code.
It turned out that he was trying to sell the motel and RV park because business was very poor and he was just getting too old. I told him he needed to at least put a sign out on the road because it was pure luck that I even found his place. He agreed but said that there were fees for signage and he just didn't want to deal with it. The town was really out in the pucker brush and his little place was the only nice spot in town. I told him that perhaps someone would see my blog and come by for a stay. You just never know.
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