Hello Everyone!
Greetings from the prairies of eastern Wyoming. I have officially turned my headlights east and I have begun my long journey home. It’s been a fascinating time here in the Rocky Mountain states and I would love to keep exploring for the rest of the year, but between the crazy heat of the last month and the issues I’ve had with my van this summer, I have decided it’s time for me to go home for a while. When I get there I’ll be able to sort some things out, regroup and get ready to get back to it again in 2027. It’s not been an easy decision, but I think it’s a good one and I’m starting to wrap my head around it at this point. Waking up super early so I can drive somewhere and then spend all day either inside or sitting under a tree is not a lot of fun and even though the summer is waning, it looks like another month of heat could be ahead. The work I needed to have done on Shadow Catcher this summer highlighted how old she is getting and how hard it will be to keep getting parts and also just how far away from home I am in a 30 year old vehicle. Even though she’s been running really well for the last few weeks, I think it’s time for her to find a new home with someone who needs and expects less from her than I do going forward. So I have slowly begun my eastward journey with no plans to speed across the country, but with every intention of getting there in the next few weeks. That said, I’ve had a really interesting week here in northern Wyoming and southern Montana exploring small western towns and some of the battlefields of the Plains Indian Wars. The heat broke on Monday and I have done my best to make the most of the last few days with cooler conditions to run in. I’ve certainly slept better, that’s for sure. So without further ado, let’s get into it.
After leaving you last week, I finished up a few things and then strolled down the road and checked into the historic Greybull Hotel for the night. The Greybull is a charming small-town hotel which was clean, comfortable, very reasonably priced and right in the middle of town. I plunked my stuff down and cooled off for a minute and then wandered down the street to the tiny Greybull Museum. The museum was really small, but had a lot of cool rocks and fossils from the area and some nice historic artifacts from the town as well. From there, I popped next door to CC’s pizza for dinner and then went for a beer at the Smokehouse Saloon. On Wednesdays they were charging 25¢ for a draft beer or $1.50 for a pitcher. I showed tremendous restraint by limiting myself to just one pitcher, but I had paid for a nice hotel room which I wanted to get back to enjoy it, which is exactly what I did. It was quite nice to relax on my couch, in the air conditioning, and watch some TV for a while. I know that is something many, many people do every night, but for me it was a luxury.
Hello Everyone,
I have had a wonderful week out here in the Rocky Mountains, having spent most of the week in Yellowstone National Park. I didn’t put a lot of miles on my van, but put in right around 50 miles on my hiking boots which has been exhausting but exhilarating as well. I’ve spent a decent chunk of my life in Yellowstone, having guided tours there for over 25 years, but it’s still nice to be there. I also know that I’ll be back in Yellowstone in the future on the company dime, so there really wasn’t much need to visit any of my favorite spots (which are also, not surprisingly, major highlights of the park). Instead I wanted to do some hikes that have been on my radar for a while and really get into the backcountry and explore some new corners of Yellowstone I’ve never been to before. The result was a fairly quiet and peaceful week in a spectacular setting, despite it being the highest of the high season out there. I’ve always told anyone who was interested that if you get tired of the crowds in Yellowstone, walk a half mile down a trail from any parking lot and you’ll find a much quieter place. Walk 10 miles down a trail and apparently you won’t see hardly anyone at all. Aside from the hundred or so mosquito bites covering my body and a few raw patches on my feet, I’m feeling great. My mind is clear, my body feels strong and healthy and I was able to declutter a lot of things in my head this week. So it’s been a pretty great week on the road and on the trails out there in Yellowstone.
After finishing up this post last week, I went out to have a couple of beers in Livingston while the sun headed towards the horizon and the day cooled off a bit. I went back to Katabatic Brewing Company for a beer and ended up chatting with a man about my age who was from Chicago. He was traveling through and we had a nice conversation about where he had been and where he was headed. After the brewery closed, we went next door to the Murray Bar and continued talking. There was another man at the end of the bar who joined the conversation and he turned out to be from Tacoma Park, Maryland, just outside of my hometown of Washington D.C. It was really nice to be able to connect with someone from home for a bit. He was a teacher on his summer break and was heading west to visit his dad in Santa Cruz. He had just bought a new car, a Hyundai Santa Cruz and I found it quite amusing that he was driving his Santa Cruz to Santa Cruz. He was on his way to Yellowstone the next day and I was happy to point him in some good directions so that he could make the most of his time there. It was a nice evening and very nice to make both of their acquaintances.
Hello Everyone,
It’s been a hot week here in Montana. Two weeks ago it was snowing in Butte and two days ago we were hitting record high temperatures across the state. It’s been dangerously hot out, especially since I have no air conditioning in my van. I’ve been holed up here in Livingston for a few days and spent the last two nights in a nice, air conditioned hotel room. It was a nice break from the road and from the heat, but it’s frustrating to feel penned in and not be able to go exploring. It’s been a tough summer so far, and the heat is not making things any easier. I’m much better at dealing with the cold than dealing with the heat and my van is the same. That being said, I did get out and see some cool places this week and I’m very grateful to have some friends to hang out with this week, as that really makes a big difference in my morale. The heat should break in the next day or two, and then hopefully it will be a little easier going.
So after I finished up this post last week, I meandered down to the little local history museum there in Great Falls. It was a cute little museum with some interesting exhibits on the history of Great Falls, one called Spirits of Cascade County: Bootlegging, Bureaucracy, and Breweries, and one about feisty Montana women (their words, not mine). There were some cool bronze sculptures and some neat miniature building models as well. They also had a really interesting exhibit in what must have been some sort of event space on the historic Ozark Club, a black owned nightclub which had opened in Great Falls the day that prohibition ended and lasted until the owner’s death. After a nice visit to the museum, I did return to the Sip ‘n Dip Lounge to watch the mermaid in her pool behind the bar. Their tiki drinks were not very good, but the show was fun and I really enjoyed being there. Leaving the lounge, I wandered around downtown a bit and then called it a night.
Hello Everyone,
You’ll be very happy to hear that I am no longer in Missoula. I have left the mountains entirely for the moment and am writing to you this week from Great Falls, Montana on the edge of the Great Plains. It’s definitely different to see flat landscapes stretching out towards the horizon after so many months in the mountains. I do plan to loop back into the Rockies in a couple of weeks, but for now it’s just good to be on the road again and moving. It’s been a pleasant week even though I haven’t gotten too far from where I started. I spent much of the week split between Helena, Montana’s capital city, and Great Falls. Shadow Catcher is driving so much smoother than it was last week and I’m really glad I took it back in for another look. Great Falls is a great place to give it a good test, because the streets in town are absolutely terrible. I’m really hoping that the rest of the summer will be smooth sailing from here.
After I finished up this post last week, I heard from Kerry at Rocky Mountain Diesel who was taking care of my van. He told me that while they had rebuilt my drive shaft the week prior, there was still something wrong with it and it needed to go back to the shop that had rebuilt it. He told me that I could pick up my van for the night and that they would get on it first thing in the morning. It was pretty late at that point, so I picked it up and headed just down the road to Highlander Brewing Company. Highlander is a perfect example of something I’m surprised I don’t see more often in places. Highlander Beer is an historic Missoula brand first brewed in 1910 and named (with full permission) after the New York Highlanders baseball team (later renamed the Yankees). Highlander was brewed right there in Missoula until 1964 when the brewery was demolished during the construction of Interstate 90 and the beer went dormant. The branding was purchased in 2015 by a start-up Missoula Brewing Company. While they don’t brew the original Highlander beer, they sure capitalize on the name and the nostalgia with a brewery chock-full of old bottles, signs and memorabilia. The taproom is beautifully situated along Grant Creek, the beers they are brewing are pretty good and overall it’s a wonderful place to be. It’s also a quiet and easy place to park overnight which was an added bonus.
Hello Everyone!
Of all the places I was hoping to be writing this post from this week, Missoula was not one of them. I had a pleasant if rainy week out exploring some nice spots in southwest Montana and heading towards Yellowstone, but by the time I got to Bozeman I had come to the conclusion that the repairs done on my van weren’t quite right. My stupid air shock continues to leak – these really are the worst designed parts I’ve ever encountered. And while sometimes I felt like we were cruising along smoothly, other times the whole van would vibrate beyond anything which was “normal”. I really didn’t want to turn back to Missoula, but on the other hand I paid a small fortune to get this work done and I expect it to be done right. Three hours back versus the whole country between me and home became an easy decision. Kerry at the shop was perfectly calm when I called him and told me to go ahead and bring it back in and they would take care of it. So here we are, back in Missoula. I’m really hoping that whatever it is, it’s reasonably easy to fix and that we’ll be back on the road by this time tomorrow, almost exactly a month after I first pulled into town.
After I finished this post last week, I was in a similar position to where I am today. I headed over to the mechanic shop with the hopes that my van would be ready. They were still working on it, and would finally hand over the keys around 8pm. I felt bad that they had stayed so late to get it done, and told them that one more day wasn’t going to kill me at that point, but they were ready to get it done and out of the shop. It sure was nice to be back behind the wheel, to start to put my things back where they belong and to sleep in my own bed. I went out and had a few beers to celebrate at the Draught Works brewery which is brewing up some great beers including one called Shadow Caster which made me smile. I had one last burger at the Missoula Club and then crawled into my van and slept and slept and slept…
Dillon, Montana is such a cool little town. Founded in 1880, it was originally called Terminus because it was, at least temporarily, the end of the line for the Utah and Northern Railway. The following year the town was renamed Dillon in honor of Sydney Dillon, the president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Located in the Beaverhead Valley, Dillon was a nice, central location to bring the train through to supply the nearby mining towns of Bannack, Virginia City, Nevada City and others. While the railroad was the impetus for Dillon’s founding, soon cattle and sheep ranches began to sprout up around town, shoring up the economy. As it grew, Dillon would become the county seat of Beaverhead County and build a gorgeous courthouse in the middle of town. In 1892, the Montana Normal College was founded in Dillon, which operates today as the University of Montana Western. Perhaps my favorite fact about Dillon is that it is the final resting place of Pit the Elephant which was struck and killed by lightning in 1943 at the fairgrounds. Too big to move, she was buried where she fell and the town continues to maintain her grave today. Dillon is a lovely little town with some great museums and plenty of bars and restaurants to explore and I really enjoyed my time there. I hope you enjoy these photos of Dillon, Beaverhead County’s classic rail town.
Gold was discovered on Grasshopper Creek in 1862 and the town of Bannack would quickly sprout up nearby, eventually growing to a population of over 10,000 people. Named after the local Bannock Indians, Bannack would serve as Montana’s territorial capital for 2 years before Virginia City took over the role. During its heyday, Bannack boasted three hotels, three bakeries, three blacksmith shops, two stables, two meat markets, a grocery store, a restaurant, a brewery, a billiard hall, and four saloons. In 1864, Bannack elected Henry Plummer as their sheriff. Plummer was the leader of a gang of outlaws known, ironically, as The Innocents, which prayed on supply wagons making their way between Bannack and Virginia and Nevada Cities. Eventually, a posse was raised in Virginia City known as the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch or, more simply, The Montana Vigilantes. They tracked down Plummer and his gang and lynched him in the middle of Bannack without a trial in 1864. Bannack’s population would fluctuate over the next hundred years with the price of gold, but the last resident left town in the 1970s. Thankfully a group of local residents stepped in to preserve Bannack and today it is a Montana State Park. I also thought it was cool that the Masonic Temple is still in regular use. I really enjoyed my time wandering the streets of town and I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Bannack, a classic Montana ghost town.
Hello Everyone!
Well, as of this writing my Shadow Catcher is still in the shop, but it should be ready by the end of the day, three weeks to the day after we rolled into Missoula. I certainly never expected it to take this long and can only say that I really wish Dodge hadn’t used some strange axle when they built this van. Usually Dodge parts are pretty easy to come by, but we finally ran out of luck with this one. I’m really hoping that everything is truly set to go and that we can cruise through the rest of the summer with no problems. That said, it’s been a pretty good week out here all things considered. I spent the beginning of the week out exploring in my loaner truck, came back to Missoula for the Zootown Music Festival over the weekend and then headed back south to my friend’s house in Corvallis for the rest of the week. I just pulled back into Missoula this morning and hopefully we’ll be back on the road by this time tomorrow.
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After I finished up this post last week, I went out and had a nice long walk around Butte. Butte is truly one of the most photogenic cities I’ve ever been to and there always seems to be something new to see every time I’m there. The sun was on its way down so the light was good and my camera was very happy to be clicking away. I wandered down to the warehouse district for dinner at Casagranda’s Steakhouse, a cozy little spot tucked into the old Bertoglio building with an awesome Highlander Beer mural on the front. I have really been looking forward to eating a local steak and this was an awesome place to get one. The prices were incredibly reasonable, especially considering that the steaks came with soup AND salad, fresh baked bread, a side dish and even a scoop of ice cream at the end. It was a truly satisfying meal in a lovely setting. After dinner I wandered back up the hill into Uptown to take some more photos. I popped into Maloney’s bar for a beer and then had one more at the Copper King Saloon before calling it a night. The Copper King was located across the street from the old Milwaukee Road train station and had a lot of cool history which the ladies there were happy to discuss.
Tiny Wisdom, Montana takes its name from explorers Merriweather Lewis and William Clark’s name for the river which runs through town. Today we call it the Big Hole River, but who would change a town called Wisdom? It would seem unwise to me. Resting in the Big Hole Valley between the Pioneer, Anaconda and Beaverhead Mountains, Wisdom is also surrounded by Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest. The Big Hole Valley is also known as the “Valley of 10,000 Haystacks” due to the ranching in the area which uses the beaverslide hay stacking technique developed nearby. There isn’t much to Wisdom, but I found it a pleasant place nonetheless. I stayed at the immaculate American Legion campground just outside of town and enjoyed a visit to the Antlers Saloon. My friend, Crystal, grew up in Wisdom and remembers it as a fun place when she was a child. Her grandmother owned several businesses in town and her brother still lives nearby. Today, Wisdom’s big draw is fly fishing, but it’s also along quite a popular cycling route. I hope you enjoy these photos from tiny Wisdom, Montana - a cute little town in the Big Hole Valley.
Hello Everyone,
I’ve got good news and bad news to start off this week. The bad news is that Shadow Catcher is still in the shop in Missoula, waiting on parts. My new axle housing has made its way all the way from Florida to Indiana where it is currently being rebuilt. They should be putting it on the road to Montana by Friday with it arriving early next week. Once it’s here, it should only take a day or so to get it on and to put everything back together again. I will likely be writing this post from Missoula again next week, making it three weeks since we pulled into town, but I will hopefully be on my way soon thereafter. The good news is that the shop has loaned me a truck in the interim, so I have packed up my camping gear and hit the road in it. I’m very grateful to them for the loaner as it has allowed me to get out and do some exploring this week. It’s not the easiest way to travel, but it sure beats sitting around on my hands in Missoula. I think if I had three weeks to sit there and stew, it would be hard to bounce back from. This week has taken me south through the Bitterroot Valley, across the Big Hole and the Bozeman Trail and is winding up here in Butte, where I am writing to you from today. The weather has been great and I’ve definitely been enjoying myself despite the difficulties of being out here without my van and the stresses involved with that.
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After finishing up this post last week, I went out and enjoyed a wonderful night of music with a songwriters’ round at the Zootown Arts Community Center there in Missoula. This event brought together four unique songwriters from around Montana who took turns sharing their songs and the stories behind them. It was the first event of the newly formed Montana Songwriters Collective and it was really enjoyable. After the show, I went down and had a burger at the Missoula Club and then headed back across the river for the night.
Hello Everyone!
Well it has definitely been a tough week out here in Montana. The bad news is that I’m stuck in Missoula waiting for parts for a major and expensive repair to Shadow Catcher’s rear end. The good news is that at least I’m in Missoula which is a lovely city with a lot to keep me occupied.
When I wrote last week I was on my way into Missoula with an appointment to have someone look at one of my air shocks which still wasn’t working properly. On the way into town, I started feeling some vibrations coming from the rear end. When they looked into that issue, what they found was that the bearing which had been replaced in Idaho a few weeks back had failed completely causing major damage to my axle which now needs to be replaced. Finding the parts has been challenging and time consuming and so even though they are ready to move ahead with the repairs there’s not much else to do but wait.
Hello Everyone,
Greetings from Big Sky Country. It is wonderful to be back in the Rocky Mountains. I have just gotten to Montana and am really looking forward to my pending exploration of this fascinating and beautiful part of the country. This last week brought me north through the Idaho panhandle, where I explore some beautiful lakes and cute little towns along the way. I got a couple of short hikes in and have had some time to relax and catch up with a friend as well. It’s been overcast and drizzly for most of the week, but it has cooled off significantly, so I’m not going to complain. I would have loved to have taken my photos of some of these towns under blue skies, but I’ve been enjoying them nonetheless. Before I tell you what’s to come here in Montana, let me tell you what I got into with my last few days in Idaho.
After finishing up this post last week, I went out and took a walk around downtown Pullman, Washington. There was a cool old train depot, some nice bridges and a fabulous used bookstore which is one of my weaknesses. I also went up to see an old pioneer cemetery in town which had graves from the 1890s and was hidden away in a residential neighborhood. I crossed back into Idaho and took a stroll around Moscow as well before hitting the road north.
I dropped into a little town called Potlatch to see their historic train depot and then continued north to Saint Maries, a cute little town sitting at the confluence of the Saint Joe River and the Saint Maries River. The town was named by the locally famous Jesuit missionary Father Pierre DeSmet during the 1840s.
