Thursday, July 23, 2026 & Friday July 24 Through Colorado, NM, Texas and home

 Thursday, July 23

A little bit of rain and 66 degrees this morning as we find a local McDonalds for breakfast. We pass lots of cattle, goats, ranches and farms with irrigation.  Past exits for Wyoming's capital Cheyenne, Warren Air  Force Base and cross I-80.  The day remains overcast, traffic light.

Gas is back under $4 again as we enter Colorado around 9:00am and traffic ticks upward. At Fort Collins we are back to full "civilization" with Bucky's, a huge Amazon facility, malls, every fast food you can think of, the University, etc.  

Heading into Denver there is some construction which makes the heavy traffic nightmarish.  We never actually stop, though, just creeping along.  Past the stadium and then things lighten up a bit.  We reach New Mexico at Raton Pass around 2:00 and head down the Texas panhandle for Country Inn & Suites in Amarillo. 

 It is 102 degrees as we reach the hotel!  Welcome back to Texas!

Friday, July 24

80 degrees at 7:30 this morning.  We enjoy the typical hotel free breakfast and head for home - almost another 600 miles.  Long day with the usual Texas sights.  Heavy traffic through Fort Worth and a bit of Dallas, and then again as we approach Houston.   Home at 5:45PM and it is a mere 97 degrees.  We offload essentials, plug in and leave the rest till tomorrow.  Everything at home seems fine, thanks to great neighbors.  

Nice to be home.

Wed , July 22 Montana, Wyoming Bighorns, Douglas

 Wed., July 22

66 degrees this morning, the warmest in a while.

  Sunrise over the reservoir 

where this lone loon floated contentedly,

while the seagulls that had slept on this empty parking area stirred.

We made some breakfast and then headed out several miles of dirt (gravel) road to civilization, passing a couple of deer and unfortunately catching up to a truck which stirred up a lot of dust.  

We continue south into Wyoming, and stop at the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center.  Their 39,994-acre range straddles the Montana-Wyoming border.  These horses can be traced back to the horses brought by early Spanish explorers and have some unique coloring and markings.  They have a few horses here, but we have seen them roaming free in the the nearby Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area - a detour we opt not to take today.

Dandelions in July

It is a long,  steep climb into the Bighorn Mountains, which are a big hazy today.  We stop for a few views and stretch our legs a bit at 9,430'.   We have seen many animals here in the past but not today and there are some cool canyons and campgrounds here.   There are a lot of grasslands and pastures between heavily wooded areas. 

 But someone has caught the scent of home, and we are definitely headed that way.

Now THIS would be a heck of a jigsaw puzzle!

As we descend out of the mountains on the east, we pass through an area recently decimated by fire. And then we head south.

 This part of Wyoming features a dense concentration of historical oil fields and major coal-producing areas (Wyoming is the top US coal producing state.)  The Dave Johnston Coal Plant dominates the horizon near Glen Rock.  A writeup talks about it undergoing regulatory updates and compliance issues.... the government is pouring lots of money into carbon capture and other new coal technology.

We continue south and pass signs for Teapot Dome - a rock formation.  Which prompts us to read about the infamous Teapot Dome political scandal back in the 1920's when Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall secretly leased naval federal oil reserves near Teapot Dome to private oil tycoons in exchange for huge  bribes. 

Lots of pastureland with occasional rocky outcroppings.

   And lots of snow fences.  More and more we are seeing "Living" snow fences.  This part of the country is usually very windy and snowy and road closures are a real issue.

Mid-afternoon, we stop in the town of Douglas, Wyoming.  This is where the State Fair will take place in another month.  But the fairgrounds rents camping spots even when the Fair isn't in session.  Mostly just a large parking area with bathhouse and full hookups (water, sewer and electric) and it is maybe 1/3 full, mostly with very large rigs.  (We park on the other side which is mostly empty.)  Since there is a dump station at each site, we empty our tanks.  Showers feel good.

We have a mediocre packaged chinese stir fry for dinner. Cross that off the list for repeats!    A last game of cribbage and I can't even remember who won.

Around dusk, a wicked storm rolls in with lots of wind and heavy rain.  At least it will wash off some of the dust we're carrying!  And we're snug and dry.

Tuesday, July 21 Montana, Wyoming on the road back to Texas

 Tuesday, July 21

59 degrees this morning as we head around 8:00.   Another pretty, sunny day

We stop at another mining-related site, the Anaconda Smelter.  Built in the early 1900's,  it is a 585-foot tall freestanding stack atop a hill.  It was used to disperse exhaust gases created by smelting copper.  Significant to the town of Anaconda and the many people who were employed there till its closure in 1980.

Today will be mostly a driving day on major roads, and we go from green to drier, rolling hills kind of scenery.  Scattered ranches, hay fields and irrigation.

We stop at Cooney State Park which is about 40 miles south of Billings, MT.  It is on huge Cooney Reservoir which is over 300 acres.  There are several campgrounds on the reservoir and we head to the one with electric sites.  Fishing for walleye and rainbow trout is popular and we see several people swimming and boating as well.   Mostly families here.

 When we stop, we discover water (clean) on the floor and determine it is coming from the toilet, which we have hardly used.  Fortunately there is a drain in the floor, so it's pretty easy to clean up.  We suspect a faulty valve because after flushing it ever so slowly fills with water.  Sent some queries to our Facebook Roadtrek sites, always a good source of information.  In the meantime we decide to just empty the fresh water tank and deal with it when we get home. 

flowers find a way!

Found a few interesting rocks on the shore and will take some to the Grandkids, who each have their own rock collection boxes.    Several birds around, including red-winged blackbirds and sea gulls!

Nice sunset!  (Those are people in front lower right.)

 And probably close to a hundred birds came to roost in the few surrounding trees.

Ham, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob for dinner. Did the corn in the microwave like our friend Anne showed us...not bad!   Cribbage goes Greg's way tonight and we go to bed shortly after sunset.

Monday, July 20, 2026 Across Idaho into Montana

Monday, July 20

First hint of smoke smell in the air when going outside this morning, but only for a minute.  A pleasant 57 degrees.  We have breakfast and then break camp about 8:15.  Greg spots a pretty deer as we leave the campground, but it is in thick underbrush so no pic.  

Continue to travel through lots of forest, lakes and valleys and cross into Idaho in just over an hour.  This is the thinnest part of Idaho and in two hours we'll enter Montana.

Odd road for many miles - it has paths, as though telling you where your vehicle's tires should go.

Back to roads that wind through valleys, so it is often the three R's - roads, railroads and rivers together. Pretty scenery.  

We have seen railroads carrying coal or Amazon and FedX  boxes , and now we are seeing lots of lumber. Some trains just have the plain cars and we wonder what else is being transported by train these days... 

We see bee boxes here and there.  Ran into a man who worked for a company that provided and serviced bee boxes once.   Interesting traveling job!   

Wallowing deters biting insects and soothes itchy skin.

 During summer mating season the dominant makes also urinate and roll in these areas to mark territory.

Gotta wonder what's going through his mind....

We decide to check out the Bison Range in Moiese, Montana.  It is an 18,766 acre reserve that supports bison, antelope and other wildlife.  It is on the Flathead Indian Reservation.  Used to be National Bison Range, but is now operated by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT).    $20 per car entry.  We take the shorter low trail which is totally bison.

Before the 1800's there were 30-60 million bison in North America, today there are about 15,000 wild, free range animals. 

As we've learned from news stories about interactions with thoughtless tourists, despite weighing 2,000 lbs and standing over 6' tall, bulls can run 35mph and jump 4-6'. They can live 20 years in the wild. Many are close to the road and while we do wind down windows for pics, we wouldn't dream of getting out of the vehicle.

 We find a campground not too far from the Bison Range called Jocko Hollow.  It is a small private campground that has 8 sites, water and electric.  Greg thinks several of the people are long term campers. The lady that runs it is pleasant and  has lots of pretty flowers.  She shows us around a bit  and opens the laundry room for us, so Beth runs a couple of loads.

A nice stream runs behind our site.  The highway is fairly close and a bit noisy until darkness falls and traffic dwindles.