livingthedreamwithsallyandvic/wp-admin

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.

We got these bald eagle shots over the last three days. You can see by the coloration the different stages of maturity. First shot is fully mature, second is about two years old. Hard to choose a favorite isn’t it?

We really liked it at Rex Hale but three days without phones or internet turned out to be our limit. Today we moved about 10 miles closer to Cody to a campground with the necessary but it’s very new and they haven’t started advertising so it’s us and one other camper. Perfect. There’s even a little stream. From here we can ride into Yellowstone early, spend a few hours and leave when it starts getting crowded. We got a military rate of $35/night if we paid for a week. We paid for a week.

These photos are from a couple of days ago.

We left our spot outside Cody his morning and now are camped just outside Yellowstone. Drawback is no cell service or internet at Rex Hale campground.

It’s a campground without power (only 6 spaces have power) surrounded by mountains. Tomorrow we’ll go into Yellowstone looking for animals. A fee days ago we saw bison, elk and bears.

The only way I’m able to do this post is we drove 15 min towards Cody and I got a couple of bars. There are lots more photos – when I get back into wifi I will post the rest. XO

Pictures from our day in the Park.