Author: livingthedreamwithsallyandvic

We are still here at Carbella (in Montana) and will probably stay another week. We had 3 hot days – highs in the high 90’s – but mostly we’ve enjoyed high 70’s low 80’s with cool nights. We’ve met many interesting people – sometimes it’s just a little morning chat while we are walking Zoe. Sometimes we get to know them better. Teresa and John “Hawk” were here for several days. Hawk is a retired Marine. Teresa is an artist. We had coffee/breakfast with them a couple of times and a campfire one night. They cooked burgers, I cooked a steak and Vic ate his plant based something. It was fun, their boxer (Chloe) got along with Zoe. When they went home we doused the fire and went inside. I went back out 10 minutes later to bring in something we forgot and found the fire had come back to life in a very big way. All I could figure is it’s very dry here and can be pretty windy. The water must have evaporated. Good grief. I had to pour a gallon plus of water to make it totally go out.

This morning we decided to check out another camping spot with good fishing called Dailey Lake. It’s at the end of a road called Six Mile Road. It’s more like 12 miles of gravel with muddy spots and pot holes! As tempting as it would be for the fishing the road was awful.

We met a young family of five with a dog, the parents run float trips and back packing trips for teens. Their summer schedule is over, they are here for one last float. They have a house in western Mass. Zoe tried to play with their dog.

We are camping a few miles from the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park in a gorgeous location, on the Y River, watching kayakers and rafters float by all day. This area is very popular with fishermen, lots of trout fishing. Across the river from our site is a waterfall that we are enjoying the heck out of.

I thought I left my heart in Wyoming but this is my new favorite place. It’s so relaxing and peaceful and then there’s the waterfall. 😊. It seems like all the properties are ranches, huge wide open spaces and beautiful scenery.

There are only about 15 campsites, spaced apart enough we can’t hear other people’s generators. Most people are roughing it. Not us. Since we got Starlink we have every convenience all the time just like we were in a house. Internet, wi-fi calling, the works. It’s $600 for the unit and also a monthly subscription fee (service can be paused) but totally worth it.

We’ve been into YNP a couple of times and seen mostly buffalo. We did see a couple of eagles and a partridge but in places on the approach to the wildlife viewing areas where there was no pull outs to stop and take a picture. We went to Lamar Valley know for wolves and bears, didn’t see any. The herds of buffalo were spectacular though.

There are a couple of construction zones in that area which put a damper on things. Next time into the park we have a different route planned.

This homemade camper is the only one we’ve seen with solar and a minisplit ( the white square thing you see on the bumper). We haven’t seen the people at all.

One day we drove up to Cooke City to scout the area for possibly camping. Loved the area and found a great place we could camp but the road up and back was way too “snaky” and steep to pull our camper up there. We stopped at a turn out and saw these guys.

The view from the pull out was amazing.

Typical views north of Yellowstone NP:

And my favorite shot of all …

Hope you enjoyed this post. Not sure how much longer we’ll stay here but we’ll enjoy every minute of it.

We don’t usually stay in campgrounds but those in a military base are always clean, well maintained and reasonably priced. They let us stay in a boondock space for $15 a night. Sweet! The reason for coming here was first cooler weather and second for Vic to get a rx that would otherwise be $500. It was zero $ here. Ridiculous.

There’s a large field they mowed a walking path around that many of the campers use to walk their dog. Zoe loves going there.

Here is last night’s sunset.

We are waiting for a predicted rainstorm to pass through and then we will head east.

There really was fishing access, lots of day boaters and trout fishermen. We are on the Yellowstone River. We made friends with 2 people (Chuck and Laurie) that had been on a several day 200 mile trail with their horses and a couple of other friends. Chuck had problems with his truck requiring leaving it with a garage for repair so Laurie stayed behind with him to wait for it. It was finally done late yesterday so he could return to Oklahoma, she went to her home in Butte, MT.

We saw Cedar Waxwings but unfortunately our shots did not come out well. ☹️ it’s a pretty bird. This morning we saw some wild turkeys but didn’t even have a phone with us to take a picture.

1:30 pm Tuesday Malmstrom AFB, Great Falls MT

We will be here 3-4 days while Vic gets a prescription filled, we catch up on laundry, etc. The campground is very nice and they gave us a boondocking spot.

This place we are headed to next is in Big Timber, Montana on Yellowstone River. Next stop will be Malmstrom AFB in Montana.

We decided it’s time to move on from Cody because it’s been getting hot even here and we don’t like the heat. Because of Vic’s Marine Corps career we can stay at any military base. What a blessing that is! He has spent many hours on the computer looking at possible places and options so we can be more comfortable. He’s been checking weather and destinations and came up with this plan. We might still continue on to Glacier NP, we’ll see. The weather all over the country has been extreme – heat, floods, tornadoes – we are trying to miss bad weather yet still visit interesting places. It’s a lot of planing and he is very very good at it. There is lots more I could say to brag on him but it’s moving day and I’ve gotta run! Love to all!

Lovely spot, just 4 pull outs on a side road with a stream running past and a few houses scattered around with horses on fenced in properties. We stayed a few days appreciating the cooler days. We intended to continue on to Glacier National Park. Glacier was 3 travel days away. Vic just wasn’t up for all the driving to get there plus all the driving while there. Instead we came back to Cody, to our first camping spot 8 miles from town. The kestrel shot was taken in Red Lodge, at our campsite.

Our first day back in Cody we located a herd of wild horses. They live in a protected area called McCullough Peaks.

Wild Mustangs of Greybull (next town over)

Vic took the horses, I got the pronghorn and the birds.

Tomorrow (Monday) we pack up and move to Red Lodge, Montana for a few days. We looked at the weather and saw it will be high 90’s here but 10 degrees cooler there. Also Red Lodge is on the way to Glacier National Park, our next destination. We decided to get Starlink, a satellite based internet service that includes wi-fi calling. This gives us the ability to explore more remote areas and still have internet and cell phone service.

You remember the story about Snow and her two cubs from my last post. They felt threatened by two black bears and ran up the hill towards the group of photographers. Here are Snow’s cubs.

Just a few straggler pictures to show you. We sure do love Cody and the surrounding area and hope to come back to Wyoming next year. Rain, tornadoes, hail, fires, flooding etc over most of the country makes us glad we are here. I hope all of you are safe.

One last photo is for the people wondering how sweet Zoe is. She has on her Bark Ranger neck scarf that she wears when we go into Yellowstone.

We’ve seen several grizzly bears and Vic has talked to some of the group of about 20 people that are obsessed with taking pictures of them. They hang out in the park every day, all day and have been doing this for years. We started going into the park about 3:30, usually with Mark and Elizabeth, and staying until sundown around 9 or 9:30. We bounced back and forth from the good eagle spot to the 2 places most likely to see a bear.

From the “clique” we learned each bear’s name, their relationship, and how old they are.

We’ve been enjoying Homestead campground and being just outside of Yellowstone for a few weeks now. The weather is perfect – low to mid seventies daytime and low sixties or high fifties at night. It has rained a little each day but never all day and not enough to interfere with our plans. We’ve met several people who live in Cody and all of them have been friendly and forthcoming with information and advice. The winters here are harsh. If not for that we would seriously consider living here. We call our camper the Magic House. It feels magical the way we can live the way we do.

We spent several hours in Yellowstone yesterday with our friends Mark and Elizabeth and their dog Mazee. we started out at 3:30 and got home at 10 pm.

They call it a bear jam when someone spots a bear, pulls over, and people stop their cars to look too. You wouldn’t believe the traffic jams!

This eagle was a hundred yards out as was the black bear. Vic got the eagle, I got the bear.