For his entire adult life, my husband Andrew has kept one bucket list location in his heart. Montana. Known to him only by reputation, the state of Montana was his representation of peace, tranquility and escape from what troubled him. He always imagined himself, his dog Jake, a log cabin, a big stack of firewood and a long snowy winter with mountain views and purposeful isolation.
When we began “re-dating” in 2014, he shared his “big sky country” dreams with me. His dream evolved into our joint goal. As our dating life moved on to married life, and as our travel plans evolved into a traveling lifestyle, Montana became number one on our destination list.
So it was on July 21st, 2021 that we crossed the border from Wyoming into Montana in our big Ford dually, towing our Grand Design RV home on wheels! Quite literally, we got goosebumps and cheered while driving down the highway past the “Welcome to Montana” sign. Andy instantly called his mom to share the excitement, since she knew all too well how much arriving in this location meant to his soul.
With the caveat of a two week campground stay just over the border in Idaho (to visit Yellowstone National Park in Montana and Wyoming), we will be exploring Montana for 56 days before leaving on about September 15th on our way to South Dakota! Even in our Idaho campsite, we look out across our Northern “backyard” of public land and see vast mountains that are located in Montana.
Now nearly halfway through our Montana adventure, we are here to report that the state has not disappointed in the least!
As bucket list items go, one could argue that Andrew didn’t exactly get what he imagined for his Montana experience. Andrew didn’t make Montana a solitary experience as he has always dreamed it would be. He didn’t stay in a cabin with mountain views. There was no snow at our feet this summer in the “Treasure State”, and with warm summer temperatures, an endless fire in the fireplace with a big stack of wood didn’t happen either. And sadly, loyal and wonderful Jake did not live long enough to make the trip west by Andrew’s side.
But he would probably share that the real life version of his bucket list to “the last best place” has filled his soul in a bigger, deeper way than a check-mark on a list. Our “cabin in the woods” was our RV, set up next to wide open spaces on and near state and public lands. Our fireplace and stack of firewood was instead a rare evening campfire on a cool night, and the snow was only occasionally glimpsed on a far away mountain top. And while Jake was with us in spirit and thought, we had three other furry friends by our side the entire way; Bug, Calvin and Stencil have loved Montana as well!
The most important part for both of us, however, is that we did it together. Because all these years of imagining his solitary journey to Montana was really a beautiful way to escape what was unhappy in his life. His Montana dream was a way to safely frame for himself and others that he wanted peace and love in his life. As is always the case, God listened and led. Andrew listened and followed. He no longer wants to be alone with his dog and escape to a snowy wilderness. He (and I) wanted a loving partner with whom he could share the rest of his life. Whether that life led him to Montana or around the world mattered little anymore, because his life became the journey rather than the destination.
WHAT WE SAW AND WHERE WE SAW IT
Stop 1 – Billings, MT – We stayed at the first-ever KOA campground, and it was quite nice (I am not usually a fan of KOAs, but this one was one that we enjoyed). It sits right alongside the Yellowstone River, which is beautiful with its white shores and perfectly smooth and rounded stones of all sizes in the river bed.
Oddly, this is also the place where a camping neighbor and I witnessed a trailer being hauled through the campground a bit too fast…and with their awning still completely extended! Luckily, they noticed their lapse in “careful campsite take-down” and stopped up the road before they got on the highway (mental note to myself to be extra careful on travel days, ‘cause we don’t wanna be THAT guy!).
We adventured into downtown Billings and found a great locally owned non-profit fair trade store called Global Village where we bought some fabulous gifts for family members. We bought some books and goodies at non-profit This House Of Books, a unique co-op style bookstore aiming to keep small-town bookstores alive!
We also found our way to Billings’ downtown farmer’s market where we were sure to get some Flathead cherries, a Montana summer tradition. We came home with an armful of corn on the cob, chokecherry jelly, cheese balls, perfectly ripe peaches and handmade tortillas, all local products that make Farmer’s Market shopping a favorite pastime of ours.
The next visit in our travels is perhaps Andrew’s favorite so far. As the weeks of 100 plus degrees continued, we were able to use our America the Beautiful National Parks Pass for the first time with a visit to Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. The telling of our experience will be a story for a future post, as it is an important and special place that deserves more time and attention than I can provide here. To be sure, any trip to the state should include a visit to this historic site.
Stop 2 – Livingston, MT – Osen’s RV Park was conveniently located just a few minutes drive from Livingston. It is neat, quiet and has one of the nicest, cleanest and lushest dog parks we have seen out west so far (security cameras on the fence overlooking dog owners might be the key to getting certain folks to clean up after their dogs). The new campground owners were hospitable and we enjoyed the quiet and simplicity of the park and the small grassy plots at each site.
Livingston was a great little walkable town despite the continuing heat wave and limited vistas due to smoke from distant wildfires. We found fun little shops and restaurants and as has been the theme this summer, many friendly folks.
In a quirky coincidence, we happened to shop in and visit with the very nice owner of Dan Bailey’s Outdoor Company while visiting Livingston. We learned about his love of cycling and fly fishing. We met his dog (we have met several great dogs in local fly fishing stores) and shared a little of our travels with him as well. The very next day, that store owner was in the news with a follow-up story to an incident that occurred between Fox’s Tucker Carlson and a man named Dan Bailey in the same store in Livingston just days before our arrival! The incident was recorded and the posted video went viral. Given that this verbal altercation was initiated by a man with no connection to the store bearing his name, the store’s owner felt it important to clear up any confusion that followed and distance themselves from the incident. So up popped this story shortly after we visited, with the friendly owner speaking of the incident that had brought them national attention for unwanted reasons. Small world….or is it big brother Google that noticed that my phone had been at that store?
Our best meal was at the joint venture of Gil’s Goods (the food) and The Murray Bar (where we ate the food). Filled on a busy weeknight with authentic cowboy hat-laden locals, outdoorsmen and visitors, we sat at a high-top table and enjoyed a delicious meal. My Greek salad an Falafel (yes, in MT) was among the best I have had for quite a while, Andy’s brick-oven pizza was a good treat and our drinks of choice were extremely affordable. Andrew’s go-to of Crown Royal on the rocks was a generous double pour and my jalapeno margarita was very well crafted, with jalapeno flavor infused into the tequila onsite.
We then wandered across the street to Uncorked, a wine bar and store set in an old train depot that was relegated to the outdoors due to Covid. It turned out to be a great evening on a covered patio, sitting by the train tracks and bustling with a few other busy tables. We shared a bottle of wine, enjoyed talking with a table of local senior citizens out for an evening of wine and charcuterie plates, and watched the rhythmic coming and going of the trains.
We spent our 6th wedding anniversary (August 1st for those kiddos that missed it) taking a beautiful Sunday drive with the dogs through nearby Paradise Valley and the Custer Gallatin National Forest. With scenery that wanders along the Yellowstone River, this valley is a place that we could find ourselves building that cabin of our dreams (if not for the price tag of land in this state!).
We took an impromptu detour into the forest and found ourselves on a tiny dirt road, passing bible camps, beautiful ranches, private getaway cabins and backcountry camping in tents and trailers of varying sizes. As we rounded a turn in the low mountain terrain, we came upon what we later found to be the location of a devastating wildfire in 2013. It was incredible to see how the fire jumped over valleys and took turns on certain mountainsides, only to decimate what ultimately was hundreds of acres.
Now more than eight years later, the green underbrush and wildflowers are growing among the blackened sticks of the mature trees that once stood over them. It will take quite some time for full restoration to occur, but it was both a sad and beautiful way to see Mother Nature work her magic. What began as a lightning strike, raged into a wildfire that cleared an area of forest that will eventually fully rejuvenate as part of a natural and needed process. At a time when we struggle as a world where wildfires are too frequent and too large due to the manmade harm from global warming, it was a moment of balance to be reminded that great good can still come from great devastation.
Stop #3 – Whitehall, MT – Whitehall, Montana is about 50 minutes from Bozeman, but we ended up with less time to explore than we had anticipated because shortly before arriving, we discovered a cracked rim on a truck tire which needed replacement sooner than later. We pre-ordered the rim to be shipped to Bozeman ahead of our arrival and then lucked out on getting it replaced when we arrived because someone else with an appointment was a “no-show”, opening up a fortuitous slot for us as we stood before the employee explaining our plight (we drove nearly an hour to get here, we are only going to be in the area for a week, and this is our only vehicle – “so can you help us?”).
Back in Whitehall, we were excited to see the absolutely stunning and open layout of the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. We were conversely disappointed to see that we had NO cell service throughout most of the campground. This situation made the perfect opportunity to install and test out our WeBoost cell signal booster. Once installed, we were happy to at least get one or two bars for the rest of our weeklong stay (we had read that a booster can improve low service, but cannot provide service where none exists, so even the slight improvement helped us conduct required vacation rental business during our stay).
The highlight of our stay was a two-hour Classic Tour of the Lewis and Clark Caverns. It was about a ¾ mile hike to the entrance of the cave, complete with dramatic vistas of the valley and Jefferson River Canyon (a tributary of the Missouri River).
The tour itself had an interesting start where we had to remain silent and wear masks to protect the bats that lived just inside the entrance, so as to keep them calm, safe and healthy. Once we walked deeper into the cavern, we crouched, shimmied and even slid on our bottoms at times through the many-leveled caverns. With a quick refresher course in minerals, geology, stalagmites (from the floor) and stalactites (from the ceiling), we looked on in wonder at the physical beauty and the great history.
Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark never actually discovered the caverns, but they camped below on the Jefferson River and explored the surrounding area, so they were credited for their work by naming the park and the caverns after them.
One nice feature about this tour as compared to the ghost cave tour we took in Colorado in June, is that it was well lit and had many railings installed along the way. Stairs were carved into the limestone which helped me maneuver more comfortably in the shadows and uneven flooring. Also, the tour began at one end of the cave and ended many feet lower on the mountainside, where a long tunnel had been blown through the stone for easier egress.
While in the area, the heat wave finally broke free when several days of periodic storms brought cooler temperature and some much needed rain. Much of the wildfire smoke that we had been seeing since arrival in Colorado in June was finally clearing out on some days, and we were much more comfortable and able to enjoy the outdoors even more.
The next stop upon which we will report is actually a two-week period of time when we will LEAVE Montana for camping, so that we can have cloe access to the West entrance of Yellowstone National Park! But there is much more Montana ahead for us this summer, so stay tuned!
Safe travels, and may your bucket list journey be filled with joy and discovery!
