Tuesday, May 11, 2010
May 11
As we left eastern Montana we saw lots of pickups with large metal guards on the front. We assume those are so the elk, deer and antelope don't play on the front or hood of those pickups!
Suddenly in eastern Montana and western No Dak the farm roads were all red clay. That same red appears in some of the hills.
We began driving through the N.D. Badlands, not to be confused with the S. D. Badlands. Tom studied geology and loves seeing the various colors, layers and formations of areas such as this. His interest has sparked mine over the years.
We drove into the rustic town of Medora, which is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Very few businesses were open yet. It appears traveling through Montana and N.D. before Memorial Day is unwise if you want to shop or see museums, etc. Teddy owned a ranch in the area around 1883 - 84 and was dismayed that the huge buffalo herds had disappeared and that the grasslands were being over grazed. He encouraged Congress to establish the U.S. Forest Service, 18 national monuments, 5 national parks and 51 national forests.
The Badlands were formed from sediment being brought by creeks - all the way from the young Rockies - 60 million years ago. We saw a buffalo herd, elk herd, 3 deer, a wild horse and several prairie dog towns on our scenic loop through the park today.
It reached 55 degrees today and it appears the next few days will be cooler and probably rainy. We brought jackets and umbrellas for just such days, but that doesn't mean we have to like it!
Suddenly in eastern Montana and western No Dak the farm roads were all red clay. That same red appears in some of the hills.
We began driving through the N.D. Badlands, not to be confused with the S. D. Badlands. Tom studied geology and loves seeing the various colors, layers and formations of areas such as this. His interest has sparked mine over the years.
We drove into the rustic town of Medora, which is the gateway to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Very few businesses were open yet. It appears traveling through Montana and N.D. before Memorial Day is unwise if you want to shop or see museums, etc. Teddy owned a ranch in the area around 1883 - 84 and was dismayed that the huge buffalo herds had disappeared and that the grasslands were being over grazed. He encouraged Congress to establish the U.S. Forest Service, 18 national monuments, 5 national parks and 51 national forests.
The Badlands were formed from sediment being brought by creeks - all the way from the young Rockies - 60 million years ago. We saw a buffalo herd, elk herd, 3 deer, a wild horse and several prairie dog towns on our scenic loop through the park today.
It reached 55 degrees today and it appears the next few days will be cooler and probably rainy. We brought jackets and umbrellas for just such days, but that doesn't mean we have to like it!
Monday, May 10, 2010
More Helena, Mt. pictures
Whole neighborhood of restored Victorian homes.
Capitol building with copper dome.
Pictures from Helena, Montana
May 10th - Catching you up with what's been happening
The staph infection really hit me. Affected my white count, oxygen levels, speeded up my heart rate and dropped my blood pressure as low as 79/35. I was in Wed-Fri with antibiotic infusions and heparin shots (to avoid clots) every 8 hours. Sat, Sun and Mon went to outpatient for 1 daily antibiotic infusion. After today's infusion, went to Doctor's office where he prescribed 5 days of antibiotic pills and released me to travel on! We are very thankful it happened in his mom's town. Her pastor visited 2 days and we had a relaxing weekend and Tom sang one song during service Sunday. We only drove 4 hrs today and tomorrow will drive around here (Miles City, MT) for a bit before heading to the border of No Dak., which will only take about 2 hours. We will take it real easy the next 3 days as I am still worn out!
We woke up to snow Thurs am and it has been windy and chilly. Eastern Mont. and ND. have had temps 15-20 degrees below normal, but this week is to be nicer and it is 61 here now.
Luckily the Campbell "campground" had a huge L shaped driveway. Mr. T certainly knows how to back this monster in! I was zonked in the bed after the morphine and infusion and didn't even help guide him, as planned. The mountain picture is taken from her deck! Is this a million dollar view or what? Mountains in both directions for as far as you can see. Downtown, Interstate 90 in the distance and then the mountains.
Seen on a church bulletin board in Livingston: Remember the banana. When he left the bunch he got skinned!
Seen on a church bulletin board in Livingston: Remember the banana. When he left the bunch he got skinned!
Ev
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
May 5, Livingston, MT. We decided to leave on Saturday evening, May 1, as we had completed (we thought) loading the camper and truck. Departed Tri-Cities @ 4:50pm. As we approached Ritzville Ev asked about her box of travel books. Neither of us remembered loading them. I volunteered to unhook the camper and go back and get them as she had worked so hard on them for 6 months. She opted to travel on. We drove to the 50,000 dollar bar in Haugen, MT, arriving there about 11pm MT time. Spent the night in the parking lot, had breakfast and headed for Missoula. We "side-tripped" at a small town on the way to stop in an old book store and look at a quilting retreat hotel for Brenda, Ev's sister. Arrived in Missoula and shopped around a bit before heading south to Florence, MT to spend the night with our friends Rick and Leslie Bachman. We had a great visit with them. We headed out for Helena, MT around 9am, driving there on US 12 over McDonald Pass instead of taking the interstate. It was a very scenic drive. We stopped just over McDonald Pass and made lunch. After driving through Helena we headed out of town to find the campsite. It was 20 miles from Helena back on a lake formed by a dam on the Missouri River. It isn't someplace I'd go out of my way to stay at again.
Ev complained a little about her foot while we were walking around Helena in the afternoon looking at the state capital, beautiful old homes, and a Gothic-style cathedral. By Monday evening her 3rd toe on the right foot looked pretty bad. (That's the middle toe no matter which end you start counting from) Tuesday morning it was causing her a lot of pain. We left the campsite and drove to Bozeman - about a 2-hour drive - and checked into the emergency room there. They started her on IV antibiotics and wanted to have her come back there every 8 hours for more. We got them to pass that mission onto the ER at Livingston Memorial. Finally got her out of the hospital in Bozemen and arrived in Livingston at my mom's house around 3pm.
It was a real joy (right!) backing the camper into mom's driveway but finally got it in there. Got Ev to the ER at 7pm for check-in. They finally got the IV started around 8:30. The best of luck is that the doctor who was on-duty is a friend of ours from mom's church there so I trust what he's doing. He actually pricked the swelling on the toe and took fluid and tissue samples. Results won't be back until Thursday. Had her back for another dose this morning at 6am. It's 11:20am now and they're going to keep her overnight this time (at least) because her blood pressure is so low. My sister Kathy is arriving on Saturday for a visit over Mother's Day. We weren't going to be here for that but looks like we will be now. At least its on this end of the trip when our schedule is loose and we're not in the middle of North Dakota.
It was only 35 degrees this morning, maybe 45 now with 1 - 2 inches of snow expected this afternoon. Probably a good thing we'll be here awhile.
Tom
Ev complained a little about her foot while we were walking around Helena in the afternoon looking at the state capital, beautiful old homes, and a Gothic-style cathedral. By Monday evening her 3rd toe on the right foot looked pretty bad. (That's the middle toe no matter which end you start counting from) Tuesday morning it was causing her a lot of pain. We left the campsite and drove to Bozeman - about a 2-hour drive - and checked into the emergency room there. They started her on IV antibiotics and wanted to have her come back there every 8 hours for more. We got them to pass that mission onto the ER at Livingston Memorial. Finally got her out of the hospital in Bozemen and arrived in Livingston at my mom's house around 3pm.
It was a real joy (right!) backing the camper into mom's driveway but finally got it in there. Got Ev to the ER at 7pm for check-in. They finally got the IV started around 8:30. The best of luck is that the doctor who was on-duty is a friend of ours from mom's church there so I trust what he's doing. He actually pricked the swelling on the toe and took fluid and tissue samples. Results won't be back until Thursday. Had her back for another dose this morning at 6am. It's 11:20am now and they're going to keep her overnight this time (at least) because her blood pressure is so low. My sister Kathy is arriving on Saturday for a visit over Mother's Day. We weren't going to be here for that but looks like we will be now. At least its on this end of the trip when our schedule is loose and we're not in the middle of North Dakota.
It was only 35 degrees this morning, maybe 45 now with 1 - 2 inches of snow expected this afternoon. Probably a good thing we'll be here awhile.
Tom
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Retirement
Had a great retirement party Friday 4/30 and today, 5/1, we're loading up. We leave for Florence, MT tomorrow morning and will stay with our friends the Bachman's there overnight. Tomorrow's drive will be the longest one we make in a day - we hope.
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