Day 4: Bye Bye Wyoming - Hello Montana

 Man...a good night's rest can really make a difference! We dry camped last night and were completely off grid. Our overnight camp area did have Papa Bear a bit skeptical as we were pulling in last night, but overall it was a nice location and didn't cost anything. We didn't run the generator last night because the temps dropped down into the low 50's. We just opened one window in the bedroom and then had the vent fan in the kitchen area open and running. The mix of white noise, cool temps and just being tired from the day really helped us both fall asleep quickly. 

I woke up to the alarm at 7:00 but stayed in bed for a little longer. Breakfast was a pretty quick affair and consisted of an English Muffin breakfast sandwich, juice and coffee. Always coffee. Papa Bear is not a big fan of it, but it is my morning companion for sure. After that, there was some quick maintenance (windshield scrubbing, dish washing, etc) before heading out. 

Casper was only a short 25 minute drive and we parked the RV in the Walmart parking lot and disconnected Bandette so we could do some sight seeing. We didn't have a lot of time to spare today, so we picked the nearby Tate Geological Museum.

It's really amazing to see the variety of prehistoric life that roamed this part of the United States. Wooly mammoths, sabre tooth possums, and all kinds of small furry mammals. Did you know that we had prehistoric era rhinos and lions larger than those currently in Africa? I didn't. From what I read, you pretty much can't dig a hole in Wyoming without finding a fossil.  They are also known for their gems (opals and jade especially) and more practical things like oil, natural gas, coal and industrial minerals. The museum was small, but the staff were very friendly and informative and made a nice half hour excursion.

Papa Bear was ready to get rolling again, so we left the museum and headed back to the RV. We popped in Walmart for a couple of odds and ins, and then began our journey north on I-25. Remember how I said Papa Bear wasn't really a coffee person? Well today he decided he needed coffee, but he is not a hot coffee fan, so we added a few bottles of the Starbucks brews, which he seems to enjoy. Maybe he's converting? We'll see. Our intended stop for the night is a rest station near Harlowton, MT. This is the last full day push toward Glacier. Tomorrow's leg is about 350 miles and will end at our several day campsite in Coram, MT.

The next few hours were spent traversing the northbound path across the rest of Wyoming and then into Montana. The terrain is pretty similar along this route, with continuous rolling hills, all steadily rising in elevation.  The major difference between Wyoming and Montana (so far) is that Montana has more trees. The weather was beautiful. Clear cornflower blue skies, temperatures in the low 70's and moderate traffic made it a very comfortable drive today. I will say though, Papa Bear did get Smokey rolling to just over 75 mph - which is utterly terrifying. You feel like you are going about 10 times that speed. But he has done a great job driving and always slows down when I start getting nervous. We nearly made it through the day without hearing Mr. Chirpy, but we quickly quieted him by slowing our roll (which was a little fast) on the steady climb out of  Billings.  Other than that, the other gremlins have been blessedly quiet.(Sorry about the "buggy" pictures - hazard of the trip.)

We stopped in Hardin, MT for our daily fuel fill up, leg stretch and a quick lunch.  Lunch was a pretty casual affair. Since running the microwave without the generator being on isn't really an option, I just decided to use the stop top and oven. I made Papa Bear a BBQ chicken sandwich and reheated the other half of my French Dip sandwich, along with the left over tater tots from last night's dinner.  Not too bad for a quick lunch, and I used up some left overs - always a good thing.

We arrived at the Harlowton Rest Area right around 6:15 which was pretty early for us on this trip. I decided to put a bit more effort into dinner, and surprised Papa Bear with a tamales covered with chili and cheese, refried beans and cilantro lime rice. Yum! The great thing is parts of tonight's dinner will become tomorrow's lunch of Frito pie, and rice bowls in a day or two. That's how you making camp cooking work for you - cook once and eat twice.

After that it was time for a nice hot shower, and a little unwinding with some television and then off to bed around 10 pm.   We have one last push tomorrow to get into our campsite and begin the first real site seeing in Glacier National Park. Stay tuned!