Travels With Mabel

[YellowSnow]

You won't get into the shitty shit of the Great Plains and Eastern Montana until you get to Billings. Then it is fuckery up through Miles City and into North Dakota.

If you're dropping down into Wyoming on I-90, it stays pretty nice until you get near Gillette. Then improves beautifully in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I disagree. I thought east of Billings and into ND had some of the absolute best landscape scenes I saw on my trips through there in 2017.

I’ve stayed in Billings twice.

1st time (2015) was because I didn’t know it’s kind of a shitty town. Booked a downtown hotel, saw the meth addicts all over and promptly walked into the lobby to cancel my reservation. Went towards a Home Depot area and stayed in a hotel there.

2nd time (2017) was because a check engine light came on in our brand VW Atlas 90 minutes past Bozeman. Had to choose between backtracking to Bozeman or going to Billings. Ended up staying about 36 hours for the issue to get solved - a good chunk of that time was for the car to shut down and the engine to cool off so the techs could get into it. Found a small hotel and actually some decent parts of Billings that weren’t full of @Swaye’s meth addicted Rez Life relatives.

View attachment 51691

One of my bucket list/death wish items is to spend St. Patrick's Day in Butte.

There was a time when Irish was commonly heard in the mines beneath and around Butte, Montana. Built largely by Famine emigrants, Butte had a higher percentage of Irish than any other city in the U.S. at the dawn of the 20th century. As the mines became less profitable, the Irish came in fewer numbers, but most who were there stayed and the city is steeped in Irish pride. Naturally, St. Patrick’s Day is a huge affair, and with no open container laws until 2013, arguably one of the country’s rowdiest. (Source: butteamerica.com)[/i]

Eastern Montana/North Dakota is fine - it just reminds me too much of the scablands of Eastern Washington.

Stuff adjacent to the Missouri River is cool.

Green Beer in the pit @PurpleThrobber ?

More like catch cancer in the pit. The mother of all superfund sites.

I have a business acquaintance from Butte and would attend with him. His nickname is "One Punch".

IFL Montana but damn what robber baron mining did to parts of that state is pretty nasty.

hindsight on the founding and development of the U$ofA is always 20 20 vision.

George Hearst. San Francisco Cocksucker.

 

[RaceBannon]

Out sourced to Africa

 

[YellowSnow]

Out sourced to Africa

View attachment 51706

So the Montana mines in question were mostly in the copper bidness. Chile is the leading producer these days but Peru, China Congo and US are all pretty close in spots 2- 5. @89ute is still digging a big god damned hole. Cool fucking mine tour BTW.

 

[MikeDamone]

You won't get into the shitty shit of the Great Plains and Eastern Montana until you get to Billings. Then it is fuckery up through Miles City and into North Dakota.

If you're dropping down into Wyoming on I-90, it stays pretty nice until you get near Gillette. Then improves beautifully in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

If going though Wyoming I recommend going through the Big Horn MTs. Spectacular

 

[MikeDamone]

Deer Lodge museum day today. Hanging around doing nothing, staying in Garrison Jct and that is all it is. Been to Hell-ena and back - actually quite nice up there. Getting into rolling hill of Montana and it appears the beginning of the Great Plains.
View attachment 51660
In one of the museums they were playing piano music. I recognized 5/8 songs so asked about the music. This is the most excited the hostess lady got all day I think. She brought a collection of old west piano players recorded on CD. They were pretty good actually so I present one of the CDs here for your listening enjoyment.

=OLAK5uy_kkRXEPp55UKaBL8Gtrjk5pY67VZyYntDQ

Damn should have put this on album of the day

Have you ever been to the Bucket of Blood saloon in Virginia City, Nevada?

My dad lives in Carson City. Insists that we go to Virginia City every time I visit. Not my cuppa. Rather go west to Tahoe than east into the 110-degree wasteland.

But have you been to the Steam Punk store in Virginia City? That's what I thought

 

[LebamDawg]

You won't get into the shitty shit of the Great Plains and Eastern Montana until you get to Billings. Then it is fuckery up through Miles City and into North Dakota.

If you're dropping down into Wyoming on I-90, it stays pretty nice until you get near Gillette. Then improves beautifully in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

If going though Wyoming I recommend going through the Big Horn MTs. Spectacular

driving to of [/s] out of Sheridan headed to Shell canyon, I moose calf was 15 foot off the road, I moved left to give room and Mama Moose came charging out onto the road - luckily I was in the wrong lane - she turned and continued after me. Last I saw in the rear view mirror was still in the middle of the road watching me fade away. Close call. CSB I know. I plan on taking the mrs on a drive all around that area

 

[YellowSnow]

Deer Lodge museum day today. Hanging around doing nothing, staying in Garrison Jct and that is all it is. Been to Hell-ena and back - actually quite nice up there. Getting into rolling hill of Montana and it appears the beginning of the Great Plains.
View attachment 51660
In one of the museums they were playing piano music. I recognized 5/8 songs so asked about the music. This is the most excited the hostess lady got all day I think. She brought a collection of old west piano players recorded on CD. They were pretty good actually so I present one of the CDs here for your listening enjoyment.

=OLAK5uy_kkRXEPp55UKaBL8Gtrjk5pY67VZyYntDQ

Damn should have put this on album of the day

Have you ever been to the Bucket of Blood saloon in Virginia City, Nevada?

My dad lives in Carson City. Insists that we go to Virginia City every time I visit. Not my cuppa. Rather go west to Tahoe than east into the 110-degree wasteland.

But have you been to the Steam Punk store in Virginia City? That's what I thought

You’re a steam punk Damone? Freaky.

 

[CFetters_Nacho_Lover]

You won't get into the shitty shit of the Great Plains and Eastern Montana until you get to Billings. Then it is fuckery up through Miles City and into North Dakota.

If you're dropping down into Wyoming on I-90, it stays pretty nice until you get near Gillette. Then improves beautifully in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

I disagree. I thought east of Billings and into ND had some of the absolute best landscape scenes I saw on my trips through there in 2017.

I’ve stayed in Billings twice.

1st time (2015) was because I didn’t know it’s kind of a shitty town. Booked a downtown hotel, saw the meth addicts all over and promptly walked into the lobby to cancel my reservation. Went towards a Home Depot area and stayed in a hotel there.

2nd time (2017) was because a check engine light came on in our brand VW Atlas 90 minutes past Bozeman. Had to choose between backtracking to Bozeman or going to Billings. Ended up staying about 36 hours for the issue to get solved - a good chunk of that time was for the car to shut down and the engine to cool off so the techs could get into it. Found a small hotel and actually some decent parts of Billings that weren’t full of @Swaye’s meth addicted Rez Life relatives.

View attachment 51691

One of my bucket list/death wish items is to spend St. Patrick's Day in Butte.

There was a time when Irish was commonly heard in the mines beneath and around Butte, Montana. Built largely by Famine emigrants, Butte had a higher percentage of Irish than any other city in the U.S. at the dawn of the 20th century. As the mines became less profitable, the Irish came in fewer numbers, but most who were there stayed and the city is steeped in Irish pride. Naturally, St. Patrick’s Day is a huge affair, and with no open container laws until 2013, arguably one of the country’s rowdiest. (Source: butteamerica.com)[/i]

Eastern Montana/North Dakota is fine - it just reminds me too much of the scablands of Eastern Washington.

Stuff adjacent to the Missouri River is cool.

Savannah also has a huge St Patrick’s day party. I don’t if there’s a significant Irish population/history there but it’s a huge party.

 

[MikeDamone]

You won't get into the shitty shit of the Great Plains and Eastern Montana until you get to Billings. Then it is fuckery up through Miles City and into North Dakota.

If you're dropping down into Wyoming on I-90, it stays pretty nice until you get near Gillette. Then improves beautifully in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

If going though Wyoming I recommend going through the Big Horn MTs. Spectacular

driving to of [/s] out of Sheridan headed to Shell canyon, I moose calf was 15 foot off the road, I moved left to give room and Mama Moose came charging out onto the road - luckily I was in the wrong lane - she turned and continued after me. Last I saw in the rear view mirror was still in the middle of the road watching me fade away. Close call. CSB I know. I plan on taking the mrs on a drive all around that area

I’ve spend tons of time over the last 7-8 years in the Shell Canyon and bighorns. People forget there are moose there. They forget that.

 

[LebamDawg]

Stopped in Reed Point, MT for the Labor Day weekend. Meet the folks in the trailer next to us and they ask if we are there for the Running of the Sheep. Caps used as it is a VIP event to fund to town for the year. I feel like I parked for the weekend in the Lebam of Montana. Population comparison RP: 193 LB: 170[/s]168 RP one store, new post office, store sells fuel. LB post office open part time, limited hours. and RP has more sheep, cattle, and I assume goats. I miss my[/s]someone else's goats.

The town center during the big celebration

The opening events for the afternoon - truck parade



Late in the afternoon the big event - the sheep (did not see one person wearing hip boots)
the beginning of the infamous run

This is where the lead sheep sees me standing on the side of the road and it does a u-turn

the sheep run into town and the shepherds turn them around and they run back to the pen. Here is a few photos of the sheep going anywhere they want to - like right thru the RV park

 

[Fishpo31]

Any youse guysm ever go to the mouse races at the Palace in Whitefish back in the day?

**Drunk post warning…

 

[LebamDawg]

Well here I be in the loverly place called Rush-no-More Campground. Timed it well as there was a car show here on Saturday, place was packed and today - nothing. No pictures from me today I wanted to post to get the two travel logs at the top of the page.

Actually, here is some edited comment by MrsIamnotinLebam's blog - no I will not link the blog!!!

Her thoughts on Mt. Rushmore


Her thoughts on Crazy Horse



@swaye to enter CH the guy did not give me a discount for being an honorary member of the Makah Indian Nation but I will forgive him. This is the 4th Indian, or should I say indigenous peoples?, area we have been to and the best. Kaibab Paiutes twice was great, the only one I would stay away from is anything Navajo.

Any misspelled words in the Mrs' excerpt were more than likely the words she asked me how to spell
That is all

 

[MikeDamone]

Well here I be in the loverly place called Rush-no-More Campground. Timed it well as there was a car show here on Saturday, place was packed and today - nothing. No pictures from me today I wanted to post to get the two travel logs at the top of the page.

Actually, here is some edited comment by MrsIamnotinLebam's blog - no I will not link the blog!!!

Her thoughts on Mt. Rushmore
View attachment 51910

Her thoughts on Crazy Horse
View attachment 51911
View attachment 51912

@swaye to enter CH the guy did not give me a discount for being an honorary member of the Makah Indian Nation but I will forgive him. This is the 4th Indian, or should I say indigenous peoples?, area we have been to and the best. Kaibab Paiutes twice was great, the only one I would stay away from is anything Navajo.

Any misspelled words in the Mrs' excerpt were more than likely the words she asked me how to spell
That is all

That thing hasn't changed since I was there in 1981.

 

[LebamDawg]

Chilling on the banks of the Missouri in Oacoma, SD

 

[LebamDawg]

another fine porter -South Dakota brewed

I use these in lieu of eating a meal

 

[YellowSnow]

Chilling on the banks of the Missouri in Oacoma, SD
View attachment 51983

You taking Mabel down by the river ?

 

[LebamDawg]

PBR has gone fancy

 

[PurpleThrobber]

PBR has gone fancy

View attachment 52036

 

[LebamDawg]

my latest stop along the road

 

[LebamDawg]

Getting ready to leave Waterloo, IA and have been battling it out with the manufacturer of this rig (Tiffin Motorhomes) ran across another F'ed up situation where their QA guys overlooked a missing set screw. Which in turn screwed up the slide drive, which in turn screwed up the tracks, which in turn screwed up the channel alignment

The good news is they have the parts needed but the bad news I change my travel plans and head due south to - I love pronouncing and even typing this one - Tishomingo, MS. So the big wigs at Tiffin suck but their workers are great. Guy says he is waiting for me to get there to get the work done.

So my route to North Carolina jogs to Mississippi then to Durham, NC - assholes.
leaving here with a song