Crossing eastern Montana, you see a lot of hay. Some of it is just growing. Some of it is cut and raked, and some of it is rolled up in big Costco size rolls.
You also see lots of deer and pronghorn Antelope, always by the road or not so far off of it. Makes you wonder why with all of Montana to run around in why they would hang out by the road. My only answer is they are suicidal. Actually, there was less roadkill here than back around Lake Flathead. But then there are more trees there, and this is pretty open country.
I was heading to Miles City but around Jordan I was getting
tired so I pulled in, had a stretch, and though wouldn’t it be nice if there
was a RV park here. So rather than look at the sign a few feet away I googled
RV parks near me and sure enough there was one in less than .1 of a mile.
The old Dorm is pretty basic. Has full hookups and for only
$30.00 it is a bargain.
I didn’t bother with hook ups as I didn’t really want to lay in the gravel to connect the hose, and I had plenty of water and battery power. Only one other very large RV pulled in, so it was a peaceful night.
The van with no name came with a little sticker on the
window, with its last oil change information on it. As the mileage was approaching,
I called a couple of places in Miles City, and the fellow at Notbohm Motors
said if I could be there by 10, he could get me in. I was only 80 miles away so
that was totally doable
Being used to getting service on motor bikes specifically Harley Davidson motor bikes I blocked out the entire day for service and went to the bank to get a line of credit to pay for the thing.
Much to my surprise they had the van serviced in about 1 ½ hours.
Showed me samples of the vans vital fluids that they had put in little test
tubes. All the fluids were pristine, and I had new oil & filter, for a whopping price of
$89.00. I wanted to pay them more money as a service like this on a bike would
be at least $200. But all they wanted was the $89.00 They didn’t wash it
though. Bastards.
Since I had the rest of the day, and Trones had called to
tell me she got the new covid shot at Safeway from our friend the produce
fellow. Well, there is a Albertsons here and since I needed to do some shopping
anyway, I went over and inquired about the new covid vaccine. They had it, and
they also had the Tetanus vaccine that I was several years and a couple of
rusty nails late on. After filling out several forms, and a call to Joe Namath
for health care and zip code verification everything was set, all I had to do
was bear my arm and pay $50.00 for the co pay. The produce guy was busy slicing
open boxes of living lettuce, but a very nice woman who I think was connected
to the pharmacy came out, called my name, sat me down on a chair behind a
little screen, that really didn’t need to be there as I could see everyone in
the store, and they could see me. But she stuck me in both arms. Put little
bandages over the wounds she inflected and sent me on my way
I went and bought a slice of cake. I deserved it.
There isn’t much in Miles city. A nice park that I walked around in and took a photo of the water tower, because who can resist taking a photo of a water tower?
Into the KOA. Very clean showers. I’m liking these KOA’s. I purged my tanks and filled up on water as I was going to Teddy Roosevelt National park in the morning.
It wasn’t very far to the TR National park, and the nice
ranger let me in for free once I showed her my card. She said camp sights were
at a premium, so I better go to Cottonwood Camp first and secure a spot.
I stopped along the way though to watch
the wild horses come down the hill.
After the horses I skedaddled up the hill to the camp and was greeted by the host. A very nice fellow who has been to Alaska twice I think, and anyway we chatted, and he said the reason the camp was so full was that the Astronomy Club was here for some celestial investigation. I told him that I don’t think they will have much luck as for about 110 miles out the thick smoke that was obscuring the sky was now mixed with fog, and it wasn’t looking good for watching the night sky.
Now the National Parks are just about the best deal going.
Free admission if you have a senior pass, and camping is ½ off what ever the
price is for that park. Here it was $14.00 per night, so it cost me $7.00
There are no RV hookups, but you are in a pristine place,
and the van with no name is set up for dry camping.
Later in the day after walking around I went back to the van
to make dinner. I had some chicken Shake & Bake and a convection oven that I
watched a u tube video on, on how to operate.
It all worked and after about 25 minutes, the chicken was done. The potatoes were done. It was some darn good Camper Van Cooking. It was so good that I just put the dishes in the sink, to do in the morning, and started on some other chores.
It was later on while streaming Oregon PBS Oregon Experience
I noticed that the LSD lights were not as bright as usual. When I went over to the
control panel the batteries were down to about 25% and because of the overcast
there was only about .1 amp coming from the solar panels.
I unplugged everything. The only thing that remained running
was the refrigerator, but I thought everything would be okay.
When I got up at 2:00 am to look around everything was dark.
The batteries were at 0. There was no reading on the control panel, and the
other panel for lights and other things was completely dark too.
I tried to go back to sleep for a bit, but I was giving
myself panic attacks wondering if the van would start, what if it didn’t on and
on.
By 3:00 am by my phone I had to act. I needed koffee, and
the pot I needed to boil water in was in the sink dirty, and without power, the
pump ain’t gonna work.
After considering my options I implemented “Plan B” I stealthy
walked over to the camps faucet and filled up jet boil. Back at the van I made Koffee.
Strong Koffee.
I knew if the van would start, I could motor down to the
visitor center, use the generator, make breakfast, and maybe more strong
koffee, and then be on my way.
At 4:00 am by my phone I got in the driver’s seat inserted
the key and the van roared to life.
Now all I had to do was back out of this tight space and not
hit anything or wake anyone up. After backing
out of the camp site, I was now faced the wrong way on the road, but if I didn’t
wake anyone, then no one would notice. I crept out of the campground, and once
on the road I headed to the visitor center, where it dawned on me that the only
way to start the generator was from the control panel that was dark. Oh well no
worries.
At the visitor center I touched the control panel, and it
lit up. I started the generator it sounded very loud. I made breakfast, washed
All the dishes, and made the van ready for the road.
It was still very dark out, so I checked google for sunrise
at my location. Google said 6:30 by my phone that was in about 45 minutes, but
outside no sunrise was happening anytime soon. I think that is when I noticed
that the time on the laptop was one hour earlier than my phone. That’s when I discovered
that my phone wasn’t set up to change time zones. No wonder it was so dark out,
and so when I left the camp at 4:00 am it was really 3:00. I hope I didn’t wake
anyone up, or run over a tent.
I shut down the noisy generator, and watched the deer browse
around the visitor center, and when the sun did rise at 6:30 I was ready to
roll.
The reason I waited was because of deer on the highway in
the early morning, and sure enough a few miles down the road one, and then, another two seconds later another jumped out in front of me. Had I been doing the highway speed
limit of 70, I would have hit at least one, but because cruising at 55 I get 16 miles
per gallon, and I missed them both.
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