8/28/23

Man, things been happening since last I wrote!

As you may know, we have an Airbnb on our ranch and some people come for a night and others for longer stays. July proved to be real busy and then things looked like they were going to slack off in August. Gramma told we should take a trip. Sounded good to me. Now, where to go? She and I have always wanted to take a rubber boat down some rapid moving water in a river. Her grandmother had done it years ago and she was on crutches, so we figured we could handle it. I had ordered some leather from Montana Leather in billings and it wasn’t quite what the customer wanted, so we decided to just take it back and find what we did want and so left for Billings. We had just had the had White Lightning (Grammas little Ranger) reshod in the back and they warned us the tires were bigger and the speedometer might not be quite right. (Keep this in mind as it plays into this tale, further along.)

We got to Billings by way of Sheridan and of course had to stop at Kings. I don’t think it is possible to go to Sheridan and not stop at Kings Ropes. Spent some money and headed out and spent the night in. Billings. Stayed in what Gramma considered a sketchy motel and ate a very unsatisfactory supper at a chain restaurant. Ask me some time and I will tell you in person!

Got up the next morning and went to Montana Leather and spent way too much! Headed west and were trying to find  somewhere to white water raft, which we were told you can do all over Montana. Got to Columbus and Gramma wanted to go to the Montana Silversmith store, so we did and left with more money out of our pockets! But she did get some nice stuff and seeing as her birthday is pretty soon. I got her a nice bracelet.

Headed west, with thoughts of stopping near BozeAngeles, but man, there are way too many people and it was hot and smokey so just fueled up and headed for Three Forks. Got there ad traffic was backed up a mile on the interstate so taking that as a bad sign we kept going. Took the next road south west of there, that lead us by Harrison and on to West Yellowstone. I had found out we could raft at Cody Wyoming and we have friends there so went thru’ the northwestern part of the Park and spent the night at Gardiner, Nice motel and good food.

Next morning we drove back on a trail we had taken the evening before as far as Mammoth and then headed east and eventually south to Cody. Found a rafting place and got geared up and had a blast! Met with our friends for supper and had a great timerand had a nice motel. The next morning  I visited with a couple young ladies from Germany who were spending time in the States. Wouldn’t surprise me to see them show up here some time in the future. Sunday morning we headed east and got across the Bighorns via Tensleep and when we got across the state line and almost to Spearfish, I saw a Hiway Patrol car alongside the hi way. I knew the speed limit changed somewhere close to there so dropped down 5 mph to follow the laws, which I had done pretty much the whole trip. Trooper followed me, turned on his lights and when I stopped he walked up and informed me he had me clocked at 87 mph! Wow!

I informed him I had been running with traffic this whole trip and always just set my cruise control at the speed limit the whole way. Well, he said, it ain’t right, or words to that effect. I was really puzzled as I knew it had been set at 80 mph, which was the legal limit, but then he explained that it had changed at the state line. With all the construction I hadn’t seen the sign, but even so, would have been going too fast. He was nice enough to give me a warning and we drove slower the rest of the way home. And have ever since!

Anyway, we had a nice trip and sure enjoyed it and if you ever want some fun, go white water rafting! Heck, you get a little wet, but neither of us melted or even shrunk!