The Last Of Our Adventure

July 12-13,  2018

The Beartooth Highway from Red Lodge, Montana to Cooke City, Montana is one of the most spectacular drives in the US.  Larry and Geri have traveled all over this country in their RV but had never been over the Beartooth Highway.  Thursday we took a tour.  First stop was the observation area–I have countless photos of friends and family taken at this very spot– The road climbs and climbs with switchbacks galore.  As you near the summit you cross into Wyoming–

and you see the “beartooth.”–that  pointed spire in the below photo.

That’s a lot of snow for July 12!  It’s tradition for the road crews to have the Beartooth Highway plowed by Memorial Day each year and it usually happens. Every year it seems a tourist or two will ignore the “road closed” signs and the signage on most maps which marks the Beartooth Highway as a “closed in winter” road.  So far tourists have been lucky enough to be rescued once they’ve buried their car in a snow drift and have little or no supplies.

There is a store near the summit named “Top Of The World.”  The store is open year round and accessed during winter via snow machines from the Wyoming side of the highway.  The highway intersects with the road to Cooke City and the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway–another gorgeous drive.  We were hungry and there are several spots in Cooke City with outdoor patios–we had Emmi along of course.  Our burgers were good as was the entertainment–a buffalo had decided to take a looong stroll out of Yellowstone Park to visit Cooke City.  How would you like to step outside in the morning to find a buffalo on your lawn???? After lunch we drove into Yellowstone Park and out into the Lamar Valley–it’s baby buffalo time in the park–

Time to head back over the Beartooth Pass to Red Lodge and our RVs.  Our biggest “WOW” came as we were over the pass and heading down toward Red Lodge–  We were total tourists, parked by the road, out of the truck on the opposite side of the highway snapping photos. WOW!

Friday the 13th it was ATV riding time and we had no idea there was such beautiful/spectacular/stupendous country around Red Lodge!!

 Geri said, “you ride and ride thinking you are out in the middle of nowhere at this elevation then you top and hill and find this–three pickup trucks and multiple ATVs!!    The Beartooth Highway on the other side of the river.

It was a wonderful ride!!  Back at the rigs the heat had found us again–not as drastic but still hot.  We joined Larry and Geri in their rig for dinner and watched a woman driving an SUV pulling an older travel trailer park very near our rig.  Out tumbled two kids and a puppy.  Visions of late night laughing and chasing plus a smokey campfire for roasting marshmallows had the Cowboy and me nervous! We had all planned to depart Saturday morning when Larry and Geri said, “isn’t it just two hours to your house from here, why don’t you go tonight?”  The heat and resulting noisy air conditioner plus our new neighbors made us say, “now why didn’t we think of that???”  It’s easy to ready a truck camper for departure, the CanAm was loaded and we were off–arriving home about 9pm.

It was a fabulous adventure, we survived the heat and enjoyed seeing Larry and Geri so much!  Thanks for following along with us!