Wind, Packages, Missouri River Headwaters, & Bozeman, Montana

We headed on I-90 West for this Travel Day from Garryowen, MT to Manhattan, MT, near Bozeman. The landscape was very dry; we don’t know if it is always that way or just the end of summer. Even the grazing grass was dry. In Hartley, MT we started getting into much bigger ups and downs and hills. It reminded us of Park City, Utah. And then we saw mountains – what WE define as mountains! 😃 The tallest point in Montana we could see is 12,000 ft elevation. The highest we got on the road was just above 5000 ft elevation. Straight up, rocky, few trees, views = magnificent. It reminded us of where we used to live. 

We stopped at a rest area at Greycliff. There a sign said, “Rattlesnakes have been observed please stay on sidewalks.” Eck! I said maybe that was a good way to keep people off the grass? Nope. We saw the turn off to go south to West Yellowstone. We discussed if we were disappointed we had changed plans to not go to Yellowstone at this time. We have been there years ago. Neither of us were disappointed in our change of plans; we were both so glad we went to Devils Tower and Little Bighorn Battlefield. Thrilled seeing those new-to-us places. 

People ask how we get our packages. It is tricky! Still on our Travel Day, we drove through downtown Bozeman on the way to the UPS store to pick up Kevin’s 2nd work computer that was overnighted to here. I had read that the downtown was a great place with shops, restaurants, and galleries and it sure looks like it. There were cars everywhere along Main Street and sides. Anyway, the other day we had looked on maps and saw the UPS was part of a huge parking lot for HOWE (footnote 1). We walked into the UPS store and had quite a wait but that was fine. When it was our turn, Kevin told the lady his name and pick up and she said it wasn’t in her computer system. Oh no!!! Thankfully, he had a picture of the receipt and he had the tracking. He showed her on his phone and verified it was this address. She walked around the place (not a clean or organized place) and looked and looked and looked. Finally she found it. What a relief! Kevin said she pushed back at him when she first told him it wasn’t in her system. Then relented when he showed her the tracking info. We are so very thankful it was there. 

We continued on down I-90 West to Manhattan. The campground, Gallatin River RV, is just outside of this small town, with pastures and houses around. We were told to text the owners at arrival and I did. Let me write about this place (some of the info we learned the next day). A couple owned 300 acres and had a house here. They built a large “generational house” a duplex, across the driveway. It is now down to 17 acres with no animals or farming. They do rent out the pasture and that is the cattle and horse that we see. There is also a herd of over 200 wild elk that comes through here. What to do with the concrete pad and area where the house was? Let’s have a campground! There are 4 sites here complete with 50 amp, water, and sewer. They have the concrete set up with a fire pit and picnic table. When I look up the name, Gallatin River RV, it doesn’t come up anywhere. I only found this place while looking at Campendium app for a place around Bozeman. So, when I texted we had arrived, a guy walked over. I thought it was him but turns out he is camping in the site next to us. He was friendly and offered us to join in their activities. He and his family live 9 miles away; they were here to help their stroke-victim friend from California who was here with his motorhome and needed some work done. So nice!

Kevin heard elk calling throughout the night; very enjoyable. Our Exploring Cards have places that are closed on Sundays so I had asked Kevin to find something he would like to do. He came up with the idea to walk around downtown Bozeman and l liked the idea very much. We decided to take a side road to Bozeman and boy did that have us laughing…it literally goes just a few feet from the freeway! Kevin and I joked and said he we were seeing so many new things from yesterday. LOL Even this early on a Sunday, Main Street had no parking spots open. We turned on a side road and found a parking lot. All around here, even on Main Street, there are no parking meters but every sign says 2 hour parking. We don’t normal just walk up and down the streets but this place was a real delight! We saw only 1 store front that was empty. The walking district is 6 blocks long. It is a happening place. Bozeman is a stop on the way to Yellowstone and gets a lot of tourists. We also saw a place that makes cowboy hats right there in the store; we saw several workers working on them. Trinkets and souvenir shops were fun. Galleries of paintings and photographs. Some paintings cost $40,000 each! Not a typo! Quite a few places to eat and tons of coffee shops. Even a tea place with a sign in the front saying “tea seeping.” Cute. On the way home (footnote 2) we stopped at Walmart for filters for the water softener. Hunting season is starting and the camping area was fully stocked. In fact, Scott’s RV toilet paper was on pallets in the center aisle. Never saw that before. HAHA 

Sunday evening we were watching TV and all of a sudden we got slammed with a wall of wind. There had been no wind before, not even a breeze. This gust was so strong that we both thought instantly we were in a tornado. My mind then wondered if it was an earthquake. It was so strong and 60 mph. We quickly found out it was the wind and it was shaking us like crazy. The wind then was steady at 25+ but it felt like a breeze to us after that gust. Thankfully HOWE was pointed into the wind. I looked out and Kevin’s chair was flat but my chair and our table were gone. (We found them the next morning.) We quickly saw red flashing lights across the way and it was there, down a road, for over an hour. Must have been utilities because we also saw a utility truck later go on past us. The wind was so strong that I got out of my jammies and into clothes and then I packed up my computers and cords in my backpack. Soon, and for the very first time due to weather, Kevin packed up his work computers. Just in case we had to leave. Thankfully it was over after about an hour and we were fine. I saw the new people in site 4 had a side door in the basement open. Kevin went over and told them. They said they had had their front door open when that gust hit it blow it closed so hard and was scary. So thankful we are all fine and no damage that we can tell.

Several people came out of the houses here and started picking up branches that fell during the windstorm yesterday. There are some pretty big ones; so lucky they didn’t fall on the RVs. Kevin went out and talked with the property owner. She said that wind isn’t normal and they were very scared. On the wind side of the house is a glass patio door and it was shaking like crazy. They thought it would break but thankfully, it didn’t.

Missouri River Headwaters! Even A Boat. Three Forks, MT 09/25

Another morning was pretty foggy but thankfully we didn’t have anywhere to go and it burned off later in the day. When Kevin was done with work we drove to Missouri River Headwaters, seriously, the start of the Missouri River! That was so neat to think about the water here and the long way it will go to the ocean past New Orleans. There are three small rivers here that met together and form the Missouri River. They are Jefferson, named after the president, Madison, named for the secretary of state, and Gallatin, who we learned more of him later. He was Madison’s secretary of treasure.

Kevin Thinks He Is Lewis & Clark! Missouri River Headwaters, Three Forks, MT 09/25

We walked the hike a little longer than a mile. It went up a mound and we had great views. Of course I had to get the picture of Kevin “being” Lewis & Clark. HAHA So neat to see where the Lewis & Clark Expedition camped and to look around and see what they saw.

This hill is called Lewis Hill and it where he climbed and took in lots of descriptions and calculations of area.

Ever Had An Invitation To A Hanging? Gallatin County Museum, Bozeman, MT 09/25

Gallatin County Museum is in the old jail. It didn’t give the history of the start of the town, except for a brief paper about Mr. Bozeman. The jail was quite large and had good stories throughout. We even saw where people were hung inside the building on the second floor. There was even an invitation to a hanging! I really liked how they had over 50 different groups of pictures past and present. What changes have been made. Excellent photos and display. 

Cute Shop Of Olive Oils & Vinegars, Bozeman, MT 09/25

I like to cook with great quality olive oil. I had used up all the olive oil from Queen’s Creek, in Arizona, so we stopped at Bozeman Oil & Vinegar. Here the olive oil isn’t grown or made here but the bottle is cute. I got one with mushroom and sage flavor.

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country.

2. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.