Tail Wind to Jordan (Montana)

Headed out of Choteau yesterday under clearing skies and a strong West wind.  The wind picked up all day - by the end of the day it was blowing 25 mph.  I got 27 miles to the gallon! Woo hoo!

I took highway 200, the Big Sky Back Country byway.  It was.  The drive was quite enjoyable, hardly any traffic, with an interesting variety of scenery.  Here's what I saw leaving Choteau:

Cowboy with lasso sculpture

It clouded up later in the day, but you can see the area is appropriately named:

Big Sky country

I had looked online the day before for places to camp, and it was slim pickin's on the eastern side of Montana.  There's a state park called Hell Creek, but it was up a 25-mile gravel road (my maps program said it would take an hour).  Didn't appeal to me.  Then I found a free campground run by the Kiwanis Club in Lewistown.  We decided we'd head there and check it out.  The reviews said it was basic but clean…They were right.

I liked it.  But we got there about 12:30 and though I sometimes like to just hang out with Theo in Mac for an afternoon, I had just done that in the rain the day before, and there wasn't much to do here, plus did I mention that it was very windy?  So we rested and had lunch and got online to see what we could find further down the highway.  Besides, I was getting such great gas mileage with that wind, I figured I should take advantage.

lunching at the Kiwanis rest stop

I decided I'd have to go with a private RV park again.  I called one that I found and a teen-age girl answered the phone with a "hullo?"  I asked if this was the Hilltop Campground.  "Yes."  Me:  "Are you open?" Her:  "umm, I think so.  Hold on, let me get my dad for you…"  (then I hear a bunch of noise - probably wind!) - then she came back to the phone and said she couldn't find him, could she take my number and have him call back…OK.

Hmmm…not an auspicious start!  So I called the other one in Mosby.  Also got a young girl "hullo."  But upon my request this one got dad right away.  I asked if they were open.  Yes.  How much?  $25 for full hook-up.  "Sounds good - might see you in a bit."  Hung up.  OK, so we headed to Mosby, another 75 miles or so.  More beautiful scenery along the way.

Well, Mosby consisted of just a few houses and I almost missed the RV park, but when I saw it I saw a hand-painted sign on a piece of old plywood that said "RV Park" and a bunch of run down buildings and one camper…  I continued up the hill to a brand new rest stop to consider my options.  Then I found there was zero phone reception.  Hmmm.. 

Let's just say I wasn't "feeling the love" for the Mosby spot…Then a UPS guy came in and I asked him if he knew if the next town,  Jordan, had diesel and had camping?  He said yes to the first question and didn't know to the second one.  OK, I decided to continue on, I was enjoying the drive, we were both rested and besides, there's that gas mileage : )

Jordan was another 60 miles or so.   The hills became like long gentle roller coasters… then we came upon a beautiful sage brush prairie.  The sage brush looked more blue than the photo shows it.

Got into Jordan about 4:30 pm.  Filled up with diesel and asked the lady in the station if she knew of a place to camp.  She said "Yes, just down that street" and pointed.  "Its just a plug-in."  I told her that was just what I was looking for.   Have to admit I was pretty happy to be able to stop for the day.

So I drove a block to the K & K RV park.

The office, which looked like it was in the mobile home of the family that owned the park, had a little neon sign saying it was Open.  I drove up and a nice man came out and I asked if he had a spot for the night.  Yes, $25 for full hook-ups.  Great!  I paid up.   He pointed out the shower house to me:

Hmmm, I think I'll be sticking with the shower in Mac…

It turned out to be just fine.  There were a couple other campers there, I have great internet reception, and there's a cute little park across the street with cottonwood trees, and a new hospital next door…but I did lock my doors just to be sure.

Theo likes the Cottonwoods

Incidentally, just after I arrived I was walking Theo across the street to the park and my phone rang.  I answered it and it was a lady with the Mosby campground.  She asked when they should expect me, I said since I didn't get a all back I decided to continue on to Jordan… She replied "No call back?  My husband was expecting you."  I apologized and explained that I thought she was the other campground… She seemed rather put out and said "Well, thanks for letting us know."

Gee!  I didn't realize I had committed myself!  : )  It was rather strange…and I never got a call back from the other place, of course.

So today we continue eastward.  Looks like the west wind is picking up : )