Billings, MT_07

Highway guys

Summer Trip 2007

El Camino Real

The history of El Camino Real and its bells, is quite interesting. At the same time that the American colonies were rebelling against England, a handful of Spaniards and Mexicans established outposts up the California coast. The first was established in 1769 at San Diego, when they established a fortress and a Franciscan mission. A footpath, called The El Camino Real, or Kings Highway, was created to connect the outputs. Each outpost, called a Mission, was situated in areas where large populations of Indians lived and where the soil was fertile enough to sustain a settlement. As time progressed and more Missions were built, the footpath became a roadway wide enough to accommodate horses and wagons. It was not, however, until the last Mission in Sonoma was completed in 1823, that this little pathway became a real route. From that point, a series of small self-reliant religious missions were established. Each was a day's travel apart and linked by El Camino Real, Overall, El Camino Real ("The King's Highway") linked 21 missions, pueblos and four presidios from San Diego to Sonoma.

The El Camino Real was more than a road in California. It was a chain of Jesuit missions spaced far enough apart so that clergy and others travelers, could reach the next one before nightfall and therefore have a place to eat and rest in safety.

I believe this was the original blueprint for Wal-Mart Super Centers.

071005-Ashland

From Cape Blanco, we traveled down the coast to crescent city where we headed inland for Ashland, Oregon. Our friend Miki has an old friend that she wants us to visit, so that’s where we are going.
On a stretch of road from the coast to Grants Pass Oregon, I have named it God’s country because all of a sudden my GPS unit announce that it had lost satellite contact and I was on my own. I figure, when your GPS unit can’t tell you where you are, only God knows.
On the map, it was a healthy, straight road, but in truth it went thru thick forest land and had quite a few curves to contend with. Most of the time we needed to keep our dashboard lights on because the trees kept us in deep shadows.
As we approached Grants Pass, the GPS unit suddenly came to life and guided us to the local Wal-Mart.
After few phone calls, arrangements we made with Herm (Miki’s friend) to meet at a Safeway parking lot, where he picked us up and took us to lunch. Herm is a dynamic guy, loaded with personality and still retaining his New York roots and mannerism.
We had a terrific lunch at a local inn, got the 50 cent tour of the area and then for a treat, stopped at an off leash dog park for Peter to run around and make some new friends. It was really a perfect gift. Peter was very appreciative.
Later that afternoon, we bade our farewells and headed for a local RV park for the night.

070930-Peter's Habits

Peter has developed some new habits that I am not thrilled about and he doesn’t seem to be willing to change. Whenever he enters the Beast, he goes to check his food dish, drinks some water and then goes directly to my bed and makes himself comfortable. Also, as soon as I get out of bed in the morning, he gets on it. I think he got the idea from watching some World War 2 navy movies. Since there was shortage of space on small ships and especially submarines, sailors often had to share sleeping areas. With 3 shifts of duty every 24 hours, when one sailor would go off duty, he would wake up his relief and would then take over his bed. This process was called “Hot Bunking”, because the bed was always occupied and never got cold. Regarding Peter’s new habit - What I am wondering is:… who is keeping the bed warm for who ?.

Next – when we are traveling – Peter’s usual battle station has been on the floor of the passenger seat, looking out a small window at the floor level. He was supposed to looking out for police cars and dog food stores. Just when I thought he was trusting my driving skills (he no longer wears his crash helmet and flack vest), he has now decided he wants to be near the emergency door (the driver’s door).There are only 2 doors on the Beast ( the patio door and driver’s door). As soon as I set the beast in motion, he hurries beneath my legs and positions himself under my seat, nuzzled up against the door. When I try to stop him, he puts up such a fight that I decided it’s better than not knowing where he is or having him walking along the dashboard. Since I drive with my hand controls, I don’t have to worry about stepping on the pedals. Once in a while, I think he likes to scare me by stepping on the gas as he shifts his position, but I just throw it into neutral and wait for him to get comfortable.

070927-Cape Blanco

Thursday, September 27, 2007

One of the consequences of traveling free style, is that you can loose track of time. Sometimes if it wasn’t for my pill case, I wouldn’t know what day it is.

Therefore, forgetting it was the weekend, we rolled into Newport Bay, Oregon, a charming, seaside town and harbor, not realizing it was Saturday, and quite full of tourists and traffic.
We then tried to get into a local state park, which of course was also filled up. Plan B was to find a nice RVP nearby and wait out the weekend, which we did.

The weather is changing, and from what I remember of my youth on the east coast, I think it is called Fall. Los Angeles seems to be immune to it, but here on the Oregon coast it is getting cool, crisp, and balmy. I think it’s telling me to head south.

Some of the charming areas we have made tourist stops at are Coos Bay and Bandon Bay.
If we could, we would love to stay at every one of them for a few day each at least, but for now, these brief visits and some candid photos to remind us where we’ve been will have to suffice.
Our plan was to stay a few nights at Cape Blanco State Park, which is a point jutting into the pacific. As often happens, we didn’t notice the sign pointing to the campsite so we kept going till we reached the Cape Blanco Lighthouse. We weren’t planning on visiting lighthouses since I can’t climb the many steps on a winding staircase, but this mistake was well worth it. The setting was breath taking and the ocean was beautiful. The park ranger took our picture and pointed us in the right direction for the campsites, and we picked out a nice one: paved, level, and plenty of grass for Peter to lie on. It was a good day.

070923-OREGON COAST 1

Sunday, September 23, 2007

As we bid farewell to the great state of Washington, we enter Oregon and head for the beautiful coastline.

At the most north west tip of the state, just outside of Astoria , is Fort Stevens State Park.
It is large, green, woodsy and handicap friendly. The sites are level and well planned and easy to hook up. Peter is already in explorer mode as he stands by the door waiting for it to open, much like a skydiver waiting for the green light, ready to jump.

Oregon, like many forestry states, is known for their state parks, over 200, and we plan to visit a few more along the coast. Their rates are reasonable and accommodations are comfortable.

After a couple of days at Ft. Stevens, we took a slow scenic drive and enjoyed the beautiful coastline. There were many areas of the coast highway (101) that were great for stopping and enjoying the view (Peter calls these message centers), but some of the small towns were not easy for us to park and stroll. One place in particular, Depoe Bay, “The Smallest Harbor In The World”, seemed like a great place to stop, but we couldn’t find a place for the beast.

The is an obvious absence of Wal-Mart Super centers along the coast but we found a replacement in the form of casinos. They are Vegas-like, but not as large and not about to give Nevada any cause for alarm, but they are RV friendly.

We stayed a couple of nights at the Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, and enjoyed some buffets and a little gambling. Peter was especially impressed with the buffet when he found out it was all you can eat, and he kept nudging me to go back for more of the beef ribs.

The Evergreen Air Museum was about 40 miles inland (McMinnville), but we were anxious to see its main attraction THE SPRUCE GOOSE. You might recall that it was originally displayed in Long Beach, California, next to the Queen Mary, for a few years, and then was gone. I did manage to see the Long Beach exhibit and it was very memorable, so I was happy to see that it had been resurrected to its former status of spectacular. Its new home is a massive and beautiful hanger with a glass wall to show of the plane in a majestic setting. The hanger is as long and wide as its main attraction, and still manages to display about 100 aircraft on the floor space below it. Pretty impressive.
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Peter met a new friend in the gift shop, Lucia, who has 5 dogs of her own. Peter insisted on a picture with her. What a babe magnet he is.

Halfway back to the coast, we stayed over night at the Spirit Lake Casino. After dinner, I thought I’d try to win some of my money back that I left at the Chinook Winds, but they must have seen me coming. Perhaps the next casino will be luckier.

Flash and Sasquatch

070915 Washington-NW

Saturday, September 15, 2007

In the past few weeks we have covered a lot of ground.

We stayed at a nice RVP in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Lovely setting, on the lake, with a small sandy beach that reminded me of Marina Del Rey, California.

Soap Lake, Washington

The town is about in the middle of the state and this Western Horizon RV Park is a couple of miles north. The setting is terrific. It is a small park, situated on an outcropping of land that juts into the lake so it seems like you’re on an island. There are lots of trees to provide shade and the roads are paved, a WIFI is set-up (although a little on the weak side) and the weather is comfortable with no rain in the forecast.

All of the staff was very kind and helpful and so we want to thank them for making our visit pleasant.
Linda, the park manager, Volunteer hosts – Robin and Blaine and Laura – activities.

Snoqualmie Falls had a nice OLD RAILROAD museum and across the street from there we stopped in an old fashion barbershop for a haircut for $10 . The best I can say about it is ,,, my hat fits looser and it will grow back.

On the way to Bellingham, we had set our sights on what sounded like a great place to visit:
The Wings of History Museum” in Bellevue.

This we will file under: We will not be fooled again !

We had the place pinpointed on our Microsoft Map Program and confirmed on our GPS unit. As we neared our designation, we became a bit suspicious that we were in middle of a remote residential area. Sure enough`, we had been skunked again.

From now on, I promise to call in advance to confirm addresses, directions and hours.

We stopped in Everett to drop off the Batmobile for an estimate on repairs, but the mechanic was not around so we left it, knowing we had to return south later on and could pick it up.

We arrived in Bellingham on Sept 1 and parked the Beast in an RV park and stayed at Joe’s house in his guest bedroom for the week. What a strange and delightful change to sleep in queen size bed. and Peter did not even share it with me. For some reason, he preferred the floor.

We spent most of the time catching up on each other’s life since last we met and had some good meals and did a little sightseeing.

While running through my address book, I remembered that an old classmate of mine from medical school lived in Seattle. Howard (Flash) Roth, a Canadian, was one of guys I hung out with and without getting graphic (to protect the innocent and the marriages of many) we did manage to have an active social life in Cleveland which was partially obscured by the introduction of alcohol at various times.

We were fortunate to catch him, since he and his wife Kathy were flying to Toronto in a couple of days.
WE arrived at his house, on the fairway of a golf course, had a few beers and went out to dinner as Kathy sat by quietly while we reminisced about our school days and then took turns bringing each other up to date on our past 30 years. It was great. Howard is one of those people who remain distinguishable and recognizable throughout life. You know what I am talking about. You hear their voice on the phone and you know who it is, and when you meet them in person, they look like they did before. He was and always will be “Flash”, a nickname he acquired as an antithesis of his manner.

Since they both had to be at the airport the next morning by 7 AM, we called it an early night, and Peter and I retired to the Beast which was parked in front of their house. When we awoke, they had already departed by taxi and we fired up the Beast as well and headed south.

By the way, we did remember to stop and pick up the Batmobile. I decided not to fix it there, and so we just packed it away in its Batcave compartment.

070809 Clinton, Montana

Thursday, August 09, 2007
Clinton, Montana

I believe that the town was named long before William Jefferson Clinton even thought of becoming President, but some might say that there is still some commonality.

Each year, for the past 25, at the Rock Creek Lodge, a grand celebration takes place on a small patch of land off the interstate that is dormant most of the rest of the year. Unfortunately, we were too late to participate in the festivities but we did get to take some photos to give you a taste of the party.

We are talking about the Testyfesty http://testyfesty.com/
or as it is commonly known as – The Testicle Festival.
I don’t know much about how or why it got started, but apparently it’s quite popular and it has encouraged many other places to copy it.

Peter was a bit confused about the whole concept, and I didn’t have the heart to tell him what it was all about without having to explain what happened to his.

070809 - Urban Camping

When We first started RVing, we followed the classical pattern of driving all day, pulling into a RV park at end of day, hooking up our lifelines (water, electric and sewer) and leaving the next day or two. We have come along way in both technique and philosophy.
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At first we were afraid to leave the interstate or park in places that were not official or designated proper. We relied too much on our lifelines and not enough on our self sufficiency potential.

Now we finally understand the real value and the feeling of being free to roam and wander off the beaten track and away from the safety of conformity. No, we don’t park in the middle of fields or on the side of a desolate and lonely highway (well, once we did), but we don’t feel compelled to make reservations or commitments or deadlines unless absolutely necessary.

Some travelers call it boondocking. They usually seek a flat patch of land away from civilization, and rely on being self-sufficient for as long as their water, food and patience holds out. These travelers frequently find the desert of the southwest appealing and they congregate in large numbers to create a sort of mobile community.

Others call it dry-camping, finding a park, lake or forest – usually state or national – and chose spots that are quiet and devoid of people where they can fish, hike, climb rocks, or just commune with nature, and basically be on their own.

We tend toward the middle ground of the two and refer to it as Urban Camping. As we drift from place to place, we have found little use for the traditional RV park on a regular basis. We do make reservations at a few parks in our membership plan and stay as long as 2 weeks at a time and enjoy their facilities and hospitality, but when we are just cruising without any definite plan or destination more than a day in advance, we enjoy the feeling of freedom, knowing we can always stop someplace anytime of the day or night to eat out or prepare a meal, and find a safe place to park overnight to sleep. Places like Wal-Mart Super Centers, Flying J Trucks Stops and Interstate Rest stops offer security and safety. Some cities allow the use of their local parks and parade grounds and some restaurants and museums even allow overnight parking.
I recall one night in a strange town, we became lost while looking for a park, and then it started to rain heavily to make matters worse. We noticed a large church ahead … pulled into its parking lot (which was empty) and stayed the night, weathered the storm, and traveled on the next morning.

We carry about 30 gallons of fresh water plus a built in water filter for safety, as well as enough liquid propane to power our refrigerator and water heater for many weeks. Our generator is strong enough to run our rooftop air conditioner as well as our microwave oven, plus power our interior lights, television, radio, computer and DVD player. Of course we keep a well stocked pantry of canned food and a refrigerator and freezer with more food. Peter makes sure our onboard supply of Kibble is always plentiful. Shopping for groceries, clothing or supplies is as easy as parking and unloading our cart into the Beast. Going to a movie is as easy as pulling into their parking lot and buying a ticket, and with the internet (when it’s working) I can find the movie and time schedule.

The fact that we can save $25 to $35 a night is a good thing, but everything has its price. With the price of gas over $3 a gallon, it could cost us $10 a day to run our generator.

About once a week, we may select an RV park for a night or two to fill our water tank, dump our dirty tanks and enjoy some cable TV and free WIFI Internet service. Sometimes we may even do some vacuuming or laundry.

We enjoy finding museums, ghost towns, oddities and tourist attractions in our path, and sometimes we even go “out of our way” (like we really have a “way”) to satisfy our curiosity.
There are lots of places we have to pass up, like caves, mining tunnels, underground walking tours and places that require the climbing of many stairs or ladders, but we manage to find enough places to keep us entertained.

We’ve crossed rivers and streams on ferries large and small … traversed rivers and canyons over bridges of all sizes and shapes, … ridden trams over mountains and trains through them.

We’ve been in spaceships, battleships, steam boats, motor boats, locomotives and trolleys.

We’ve seen our country from the inside out. From the birth of its origin to the final frontier, from Hollywood, California to Hollywood, Florida, from Portland Oregon to Portland Maine …we’ve traveled the East Coast, West Coast, Mid-West and North-West, and every place we’ve been to we’ve met people with stories about who they were, where they came from, what they’ve done …
And all of them, regardless of they’re current status seemed happy and satisfied with the life they lived.

We have discovered that our country isn’t a place, but a living organism comprised of millions of individuals guided by their dreams and goals who have carved out a civilization from a wilderness that has no rival in the modern world.

We feel privileged to be able to see it from the ground level and want you to see it thru our eyes.
We hope you enjoy sharing our experiences.

070808 Bozeman, Montana

Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Bozeman, Montana

When one wishes to learn all there is to know about the history of computers, you might think to visit the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or IBM, or Apple or Microsoft, but we chose to go to the main source

THE AMERICAN COMPUTER MUSEUM in Bozeman, Montana.

A small but complete facility, fully stocked with memorabilia, equipment and historical artifacts to make this museum educational and entertaining. Barbara, the curator, was pleasant, well informed and excellent at giving her presentation.

She also was kind to Peter.

070807 An important day for Peter

Today was an important day for Peter.
We conducted the ceremony with great care and respect –
The Opening Of A Fresh New Bag Of Kibble.

I cut off a corner of the top of the bag just big enough to let the aroma out but too small for him to get his nose in. Then, with a forceful surge, I sliced open the remaining top while shielding the bag with my body. He always thinks that he’s going to get the eat out of the bag, and gets disappointed when I pour the contents into Peter-proof plastic containers.Nevertheless, the ceremony has become a tradition and we look forward to it each time.

070806 - Billings, MT

Monday, August 06, 2007
Billings, Montana


Billings is a small town that is all grown up. With a population of only about 87,000, you wouldn’t know it when you drive down West King Ave .
Every known franchise of restaurant, electronics, fast food and merchandise establishment is here like an outdoor mall that extends for miles.

We arranged for a tour from a local company and even though we were the only passengers, they took us on a great guided tour of the historical city and its surroundings. Peter and I are grateful to Rene and Lee of Fun Adventures Tours.

The Rim Rock is a large, flat, low mountain that extends for about 40 miles and protects the city as well as make a great place for an airport.

From the top of the Rim Rock, one gets a panoramic view of the city and it is quite impressive.
Beside the railroad and oil refineries, the main employer is the Medial Center, The Billings Clinic, which is striving to achieve the status of the Mayo Clinic or Scripps Institute.

After our tour, we chose to have a lovely late lunch on the patio of the Rex Hotel, It was delicious and the ambiance and surroundings were lovely.

070805 - Billings, MT

Billings, Montana

Peter’s Veterinarian – Dr. John Winter comes from Billings, so Peter wanted to stop here so he would have something to talk to Dr. John about on his next visit

We decided to go to the movies today … The Bourne Ultimatum. While sitting in the lobby, a young girl sat nearby and started to talk to us. She was candid about her recent brain surgery which stopped her from having seizures and she was wearing a T-shirt from the Special Olympics.
Her facial expressions were asymmetrical and one hand showed signs of slightly deformed fingers. She spoke well and had a kind and friendly manner. She mentioned that she had recently been bitten in the leg by a neighborhood dog and had become fearful of all dogs. When Peter heard that, he was determined to repair the good name of dogs. I allowed her to pet him, and then gave her a cookie to offer to him. In a matter of moments, Peter had a new friend.

Oh yes, I did enjoy the movie.

070803 - Little Big Horn, MT

Little Bighorn, Montana

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, popularly known as Custer’s Last Stand, was one of the last battles in the conflict between the Northern Plains Indians and whites. Fought on June 25, 1876, the Indian forces, led by Sitting Bull and Gall of the Hunkpapa Sioux, Crazy Horse of the Oglala Sioux and Two Moons of the Northern Cheyenne wiped out the entire battalion of the 7th Cavalry led by General George Armstrong Custer. Although the Sioux and Cheyenne were the overwhelming victors in this battle, it marked the beginning of the end for the Indians; their confederation soon dispersed, and they were forced to move to reservations

We all know the short version of the battle at Little Big Horn where General Custer got whacked. We visited the museum and battleground and there seems to be much more to the story than we have been told.
Apparently General Custer was a very ambitious as well as courageous soldier and had great plans to be all that he could be (i.e. wealthy and possibly the President of the United States). In fact he became a general at the age of 23.
It seems that besides making a few enemies among his lesser officers, he also got on the wrong side of the President when he threaten to expose a scheme the President’s brother was using to steal supplies from the Indians. The President’s brother had been placed in charge of Indian Affairs.

When Custer went into battle with his patrol, he realized he underestimated the size of the Indian tribe and sent a courier back for reinforcements. One of his Majors decided not to send reinforcement, even though he was in earshot of the battle and knew Custer was outnumbered. Major Benteen later claimed that he was unaware of the gravity of the situation and chose not to commit any more troops to the battle.
In 1997 a court of inquiry was held and Major Benteen was actually found guilty of dereliction of duty and refusing to obey a direct order of his commanding general.

Now you know the rest of the story.

070731 - Cheyenne, Wyoming

Cheyenne, Wyoming

What a lovely little town. Who would suspect that besides being the Capitol of Wyoming, it is also home to the largest active air force missile base in the country.

We found a trolley tour that circles the city and hits the main attractions, and once aboard, Val, our driver/guide gave us non-stop descriptions of everything there was to talk about.

There are these large boot sculptures around town (26 in total) that were donated to the city. They started out white, ready for painting and get painted they did. Many professional artists were hired to bring these boots to life, and one or two were reserved for school children to decorate. They are distributed throughout the city, at the Train Depot Museum, … some at municipal buildings and parks and others in key areas of this historic city. We were glad we stopped to visit.

Peter

In response to a large number of requests from Peter’s Fan Club, he has finally consented to pose for pictures, but he does refuse to sign them because he can never wash off all of the ink stains from his paw.