Days 4 and 5 in Montana

 It's Saturday evening as I write this. We are parked for the night in Billings, MT. 

Yesterday and today have had us mostly traveling through Montana. We love shopping in this no sales tax State. Heather shops for Operation Christmas Child shoebox gifts.

Last night did a jigsaw puzzle.

This evening we played Skip-Bo.

Tomorrow morning we will attend a local church here in Billings.

Day 3 of our journey

 We are near Wolf Creek, MT staying on a cattle ranch until tomorrow. We just finished a guided tour of the "maternity ward" where momma cows are waiting to deliver. It takes a lot of human intervention due to the very cold weather here in calving season.

We aslo toured a neighboring barn where the owner stores lots of old equipment. It is very old and very large inside.

Our host drove us by some painted rocks on the road (more like a path) to the where his wife was working with the cows. It's about a 20 minute ride over some pretty rough terrain.

 

We have been enjoying the fellowship with friends and the beauty of God's creation, but we leave here Friday morning and continue our journey East.

Day 2...A Travel Day

We left our friend's place in Ephrata, WA this morning, but last night we enjoyed a great meal and a hymnbook sing with them. Such great fellowship with old friends!

The roads through Idaho and Montana had light traffic and the weather was perfect for driving.

We turned off I-90 aat Rt. 200 and headed over Roger's Pass.

We are arrived this evening at the ranch where our friends live in Wolf Creek, Montana. They live on a huge cattle ranch and are winding up "calving season". Tomorrow we hope to visit the "calving cabin" where the wife and her mother spent several months in the spring. Pregnant cows sometimes need help in birthing.

The Lodge at two-bar-w ranch

Day 1 of our 2025 Spring trip

Traveled to Ephrata, WA, to visit with a couple who we've known since the mid-1990's. They moved here several years ago. Tonight we are under a clear sky. However, it rained much the way here and we even had snow on Snoqualmie Pass.

On Wednesday, we traveled through ID into MT. Lots of snow drifts and snow by the road, but the road was clear. We have never seen so many trucks with 3 trailers. Also, just a lot of trucks overall. One time we were the only car on the road surrounded by trucks. Generally, there's not much traffic - often we're the only ones visible on the road.

To SDC and back

On the 27^th we left SD and headed to MO, to Silver Dollar City, to see their fantastic Christmas program. The roads were clear and dry – a gift from our Father! Ellie was to come with us, but her flight was delayed and we couldn’t wait. SDC closes right after the Christmas season.

Christmas at SDC was all it proclaimed to be – we enjoyed several musical productions, as well as being amazed at all the lights. We stayed in the former “Deer Run” hotel – great room and service, and used the bus for transportation back and forth.

The trip back to Rapid City was uneventful. Josh had returned from his trip, so we had some time together before we left. Crystal’s flight was delayed, thanks to bad weather, so we had a little more time with her. (We flew Ellie to Rapid City and Alan flew Crystal.)