Early Father's Day.....

7:34 am - Sunday - June 21st - Corwin Springs, MT - 45° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM....AGAIN!  Heavy cloud cover once again today with a forecast high of 66° F.  The view this morning.......↴

Apparently, I took no pictures of anything, or anyone Saturday so you will have to use your imagination more than usual this morning.  Saturday began with clear, blue skies and it was so nice I was outside pretty early wiping a few weeks worth of grime off the riveted aircraft aluminum sides of the Newell.  Keeping a coat of wax on her sides makes it easy to wipe off dirt, grease and grime, and within 30 minutes the deed was done.....no water necessary to get her looking her best once again.

As I was finishing the last section TLE came outside to inform me that had purchased a 1 hour massage for me at the Chico Hot Springs day spa beginning at 11 am.....it was just before 10 am, and to get there in time I would need to be rolling the wheels of the Beetle by 10:20 am....what a surprise!  She said it was an early Father's Day gift for the most important father in her life.

Within 30 minutes I was in the car rolling south toward Pray, MT where Chico Hot Springs is located, and arrived at 9:50 am as had been requested by the receptionist who took the reservation.  Within minutes I was shown into a massage room and the one hour session was underway....a full body massage.  I think the last full body massage I had was here at the same day spa back on August 29, 2017.....our 46th wedding anniversary.  I'm sure at some point that I lost consciousness, and suddenly I heard the voice of practitioner saying 'That's it Clarke'......it doesn't get much better than that.

I was back home by 1:30 pm after stopping at a Sinclair fuel station in Emigrant, MT to add 12 gallons of premium unleaded to the VW's tank.  I spent the rest of the day napping and reading.  We'll be on the road Sunday morning heading for Billings, MT, and within a few days we will be in Keystone, SD for our two week sojourn over the 4th of July.  Around 7 pm I joined Claude and Gail for a campfire....our first here at LaDuke Springs Campground, and that wrapped up our fourth day here.  I was a good four day stint, and we spent a lot of time reconnecting with friends....time to move onto our next rendezvous.

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The Beaver revisited.....

8:00 am - Saturday - June 20th - Corwin Springs, MT - 39° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM!  Clear, blue, chilly skies today with a forecast high of 64° F.  The view this morning......↴

We haven't been this busy in a long time....nothing like social obligations to get you off your butt doing stuff, right?  We had another social engagement Friday....this one was of the hiking variety.  At dinner at Art's home Thursday night we agreed to meet at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store at 10:30 am to hike the Beaver Pond trail.  This was one of our favorite hikes when we were here in 2017....I wrote about it here.  This hike which began at our car, and ended at our car is 6.2 miles in length.  As usual I ran my STRAVA program, but neglected to start it until we were well over a mile into the hike, but at least you'll get an idea of the trail.....

.....when we were working at the Grand Canyon back in 2017 we did several hikes with Art, and always enjoyed our time on the trail together, and we pretty much talk the entire time.....

....when you hike this loop trail counter clockwise you begin with a rather steep climb, but it eventually levels out somewhat and the views are spectacular....

 
.....while the name implies a single beaver pond, there are actually 4, or 5 along the trail....this is the first one you come to going counter clockwise....

.....wild flowers were every where, and the views continually change for six miles from heavily forested to wide open views......

.....almost home.....at this point we have covered 4.3 miles of the actual trail, but have walked close to 5 miles....about 1.2 miles back to the car from here.....

 The Lovely Elaine is still smiling after 5 miles!

TLE at the end of our July 26, 2017 Beaver Pond hike...smiling as always

 When you see the hot springs you are very close to the end

.....the entire hike, end to end, took about 3 hours.....we saw no bears, or beavers, but did see elk, and deer several times.  Upon our return to the cars we bid adieu to Art who had an appointment to keep, and went inside the General Store to buy some Wilcoxson's  ice cream, and then back outside to sit at a picnic table in the sun to eat our spoils.....what a great way to end the hike.

Of course, every 6+ mile hike deserves two rewards, and our second reward was to soak for an hour in the Yellowstone Hot Springs hot pool, which seems to have remarkable healing powers.  By the time we exited the hot pool we felt like limp noodles....totally relaxed, and no more muscle ache.

On our way back home we stopped at the Gardiner Market so TLE could buy a pizza for dinner that night.  She adds a lot to a basic store bought pizza to make it her own....in this case onions, black olives, mushrooms, and anchovies.....when it comes out of the oven you would swear it was homemade.

And that my friends was our Friday....we returned to the coach to find our batteries at 100% once again with all the sun we had.  Friday was the first day in a long time we have had so much sun, no wind, and no rain.....wonderful!

The end of day 3 on the Yellowstone River

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Then and now......

7:01 am - Friday - June 19th - Corwin Springs, MT - 31° F, 100% humidity, wind - CALM....mostly clear, very cold, blue skies today.....so far.....with a forecast high of 63° F.

Thursday began with heavy overcast, there was some rain in the middle, and ended with clearing skies making for a very cold evening.  In between all of that we headed into Yellowstone NP with Claude and Gail in tow to see some sites.  We got sprinkled upon a few times, but never for long.  After entering the North Gate our first stop was the sign marking the 45th parallel....why is that significant?  Well, the 45th parallel is exactly 1/2 way between the equator and the north pole......just in case you might care.....

 June 18, 2020 - COLD

June 26, 2017 - HOT!

....we made a quick stop at the top of the hill just as you enter Mammoth Hot Springs from the North Gate to catch the never boring view back down the Gardiner River gorge....

.....next up was Mammoth Hot Springs themselves....the namesake of the little enclave......

....we were saddened to find that over the last three years about 2/3's of the bubbling springs which provide the rich mineral colors, and the beauty have stopped flowing....the pictures you see in today's blog show all that is available to see in the summer of 2020.....most of the viewpoints look like desolate moonscape....the area in the picture below was covered in mineral water, and full of color three years ago......

 Compared to 3 years ago about 2/3's of the water features at Mammoth Hot Springs are no longer flowing

.....everywhere else we went, including Undine Falls, looked the same as 3 years ago, but perhaps a bit greener....all of the rivers we passed  by (Lava Creek, Gardiner River, Yellowstone River) were all flowing at pretty much their maximums just like three years ago....

 Undine Falls - June 18, 2020

Undine Falls (different angle) - July 19 2017

.....we continued our drive out to Tower Junction stopping to take pictures here and there....

.....we even stumbled upon a bison bull grazing all by his lonesome, and there weren't 100 people and cars stopped blocking the road......just us, and we were in a 'pullout' to take this shot, not blocking the road....

....unfortunately, when we reached Tower Junction we found the road to Tower Falls closed to traffic due to a summer long construction project (road work), so you cannot get to Canyon, or even Dunraven Pass from Tower Junction.  At this point it was after 4:30 pm, so we turned around and headed for home arriving there around 5:20 pm.  The traffic in the park was surprisingly light, but understandable in light of the COVID-19 world in which we live.

At 6:20 pm TLE and I headed back into Gardiner to the home of good friend Art Young, whom we first met while working at the Fernley, NV Amazon Fulfillment Center back in 2015.  We subsequently worked with him at TVC in 2017, then Yellowstone the same year, then the Grand Canyon from November 2017 to March 2018.  We met his significant other, Heather, for the first time, and had a lovely street taco dinner accompanied by good Bourbon, good brews, and most of all great conversation until after 9 pm when it was time to head for the barn once again.....as we passed by the Yellowstone National Park Post Office TLE got this picture of the two sculpted bears wearing face masks.....lol......

....and she got one more great picture of our 'picture postcard' sunset over Yellowstone Hot Springs.  Thursday was full of nostalgia, and time spent with good nomadic friends.....'my cup runneth over'!

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Hot, hot, hot!

7:34 am - Thursday - June 18th - Gardiner, MT - 40° F, 100% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the south....feels CALM to me.  Still heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 57° F, and a 63% chance of rain later today. The view this morning......↴

 LaDuke Springs Campground

Wednesday morning was dreary, rainy and cold.....a day that we normally would have stayed put, but we had committed to moving south on US-89 closer to Yellowstone National Park to a campground called LaDuke Springs Campground whose proximity to the Yellowstone River, and Yellowstone Hot Springs is just yards in either direction.  We love soaking in the mineral waters of hot springs whether they be formal, or in the wild.  Over the years we have visited hot springs whenever we are near them (Warner Hot Springs, CA; Keough Hot Springs, CA; Fairmont Hot Springs, MT; Hot Creek.....near Mammoth Lakes, CA; Chico Hot Springs, MT; Tecopa Hot Springs, CA; Downata Hot Springs, ID).  Yellowstone Hot Springs was just about to have their grand opening when we left our job in Yellowstone back in October of 2017, so we never got to try them out, but this time around they are open....so there you go.

We rolled out of the Park County Fairgrounds just before 9 am, and met Claude and Gail at the local propane station to take on 30 gallons of propane.  We haven't added propane since we left the Anza Borrego back on March 2nd, so it's been 3.5 months.....the analog gauges which tell us how much propane we have used are not very accurate when they get below 1/2.....I thought we were down about 40 gallons.....nice to be wrong.  Once that task was done we were on our way south through the Paradise Valley.  

The distance was only 43 miles, but it began to rain just south of Livingston, and pretty much rained all the way to Yellowstone Hot Springs.  This is the first time in 18 months we have purposefully driven in rain....we really try avoid it, for obvious reasons.  The last time was in late December as we headed south from Nashville to Cedar Key, FL....it rained all the way from Chattanooga, TN, through Atlanta, GA all the way to Valdosta, GA.....no fun at all!

We arrived at LaDuke Springs Campground just before 10:30 am quickly sliding into our respective sites....#15 for TLE and I....a long 70' pull through, and #8 for Claude and Gail.....a backin side, but they pulled in front first to have a view of the mighty Yellowstone River, which is just feet from the front of their coach.....

.....I really love dry camping as there is nothing to hookup.....no city water, no sewer, no electric......you just park, level, and you are done....in a motorhome you don't even have to go outside, which is nice if it is raining, which it was when we arrived.  When I went to turn on the inverter so I could turn on my Winegard Slimline dish, and let it find the three satellites it needs to provide a signal to our DVR it did not come on.....that is really rare!  When I went outside....see, there you go....to check on the inverter which is located in a compartment just below the drivers seat I found the red 'OVERLOAD' light on....I don't think that has happened for 3 years.  I wasn't able to reset it, so I went to turn on the Kohler generator, and it would not start....it would kind of sputter, but not run....doh!  So, it fell to me to pull out our third power option, the Honda EU2000i portable generator.....it started first pull as it always does.  So, one issue solved, but two others awaited my attention....why wouldn't the inverter reset?  It turns out that during the rain storm water infiltrated the bay where the inverter is mounted, and must have affected the inverter, so I left the bay door open to let the moisture dissipate......next I opened the hatch which provides access to the Kohler generator, and found it soaked also.....I left the hatch open to let things dry out there, too.

Around 2:30 TLE and I decided to get the car out of the trailer, and as she was backing out the VW the wheels spun on the wet surface of the ramp ripping a piece of angle aluminum up, and then as she transitioned from the ramp to the grass the front air dam caught and was pulled out from the front of the car.....geeze....when it rains it pours....two more things to fix!  I had TLE park the VW right where it was and went to work reattaching the front air dam....that took about 15 minutes, but I got it back together.  Next up I removed the angle aluminum piece, straightened it out, and then reattached it with self tapping Phillips head screws....another problem fixed.  

By this time it was 3 pm and time for us to change into our bathing suits and head over to Yellowstone Hot Springs for a late afternoon soak.  The normal daily cost is $18/person, but since we are staying at LaDuke Springs Campground we get $2 off per person.....so $32.....

......Yellowstone Hot Springs is less than three years old, and, therefore, has a more modern, up to date feel than Chico Hot Springs....there is a large lagoon style pool which is kept at 101° F, a hot pool, which is kept at 106° F (where we spent our entire time), and a cold plunge where we spent NO time.....lol......

 

....the setting is spectacular, and the ambiance is as well.  The one draw back is there is no food service, or alcoholic beverages like there are at Chico Hot Springs....nevertheless, we had a wonderful time.  Around 4:40 pm it began to rain again, so we retreated to the changing rooms to dry off, and head for home.  We'll be here 4 days so there will definitely be a couple more soaks before our departure on Sunday.

It rained for another couple of hours while we sat reading, and enjoying the warm, dry comfort of our Newell Classic.....by the by....I checked the inverter when we got back and was able to reset it, and was able to start and run the Kohler successfully, so all the issues we faced upon arrival have been dealt with and resolved.....whew!

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Déjà Vu.........

7:25 am - Wednesday - June 17th - Livingston, MT - 46° F, 86% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south by southwest.....heavy cloud cover today with a forecast high of 56° F, and some more rain......the view this morning.....↴

Ever since we knew we would be passing through Livingston, MT we had dreamed about returning to Gardiner, MT and Mammoth Hot Springs, YNP to see familiar places and faces from our summer sojourn there back in the summer of 2017.  The drive south through Paradise Valley was just stunning, as it always is.....

......we arrived in Gardiner around 12 pm and drove slowly through town to the northern gate of Yellowstone National Park where we showed our National Parks pass, and were promptly waived through for the 5 mile drive up the Gardiner River gorge to Mammoth Hot Springs.  It was kind of eerie to see how UNcrowded Mammoth Hot Springs was.....there were parking spots available everywhere.  In fact, we could have parked right in front of the General Store if we had wanted.

Of course, being a National Park with national companies acting as concessionaires all employees were wearing masks in the store, and other facilities, but not us.  We found J.R. Davenport and his wife Tammy busy at work and spent a few minutes exchanging hugs and talking excitedly about life, and being able to see each other in the flesh once again.  Within minutes our good friend Art Young came into the store, and another round of hugs ensued.....it was like 'old home week'.....even a little like Déjà Vu.  Of course, I got so involved in talking with our friends I neglected the obligatory 'usies'.  Our time spent working with these people in the General Store back in 2017, on and off work was one of the best summer gigs we have ever had.....no drama, just hard work, and good friends.

Soon everyone had to go back to work, and we promised to meet up again with them in the days to come as we said our 'until next times'.  Soon we were plunging down the Gardiner River gorge back to Gardiner to see another good friend, Kristen Dodge......she goes by, and we call her 'Dodge'.....

Didn't forget this 'usie'.....lovin' it up with Dodge

.....'Dodge' was one of our managers at the General Store in 2017, but now lives and works in Gardiner.....she is the bartender at a local dive bar called 'Two Bit Saloon', which has a very nice selection of craft brews on tap, and a killer Rueben sandwich.  We hugged each other for several minutes hardly believing we were seeing each other again after 3 years.  Of course Dodge had to go back to work, so we made ourselves at home at the bar ordering a couple of brews, and a Rueben to share.....in between customers we talked non-stopped, and made plans to get together again in the next few days.  This is one of the joys of this life style....reconnecting with good friends at random times......life is good!

On our way back north on US-89 to Livingston we spied a campground right down on the Yellowstone River about 8 miles out of Gardiner.....we decided to drive down and check it out.  There are 20 dry camping sites right on the river going at $20/night.....killer deal, and they are right next store to Yellowstone Hot Springs....double killer deal!  We decided on the spot to leave Livingston on Wednesday morning and drive the 43 miles there to spend the next four days....... 

.......we were home around 3:30 pm, and making plans to meet Claude and Gail for dinner initially at Neputune's Taphouse & Eatery (Yelp gives the 4.5 stars) at 6:30 pm, which ended up being a mistake....when we arrived they were packed (on a Tuesday night?) with an hour wait.  We then checked with several other options and found all the best restaurants in town were packed with waiting times up to 2 hours....doh! Ultimately, we headed to Katabatic Brewing Company which serves brews only, but you can order in from Fiesta en Jalisco (where we ate Monday night).  We found a couple of tables open there, and settled in after ordering some brews and some food from Jalisco's.....the Katabatic Burger for TLE & I (we split it again).....Claude and Gail got their Quesadilla with chicken.....the food, brews and fellowship was exceptional.

We discussed our plans for the next four days.....drive south to Yellowstone Hot Springs and dry camp in the aforementioned LaDuke Springs campground.  Around 8 pm we bid our adieus and headed for home.  It was a very good day spent renewing acquaintances, drinking good brews, and eating good food.....I'm still full this morning.....lol!

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Plugged in once again......

8:20 am - Tuesday - June 16th - Livingston, MT - 52° F, 66% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the west by northwest......heavy cloud cover with light rain today with a forecast high of 60° F, and a 77% chance that the rain will continue all day, and into Wednesday, which is why we are at the Park County Fairgrounds in Livingston plugged into a 50 amp outlet for two days......the view this morning......↴

......the weather we have had lately reminds me more of April in this north country than June.....when is summer coming?

 We awoke to 32° F temps Monday morning, but NO wind for a change.  The skies were mostly clear with some high, wispy clouds, but it appeared warmer weather was in the offing.  Our Jello plan was to roll our wheels by 9 am.....we were on our way by 8:47 am....I love it when a plan comes together!

As we rolled north on US-87 toward Ennis the road was smooth, and there was somewhat of a shoulder.....

.....which became a little wider as the miles passed into our rear view mirrors.....

......and the terrain was mostly flat, and downhill, but there were a few brief ups and downs along the way....

......we took a brief break in Ennis after an hour of driving, and then continued our drive northward to I-90.  As we neared the Interstate the road became narrower, and the shoulder disappeared for the last 10 miles......

.....eventually we made it to I-90, and began the last 27 miles into Bozeman, MT where we left the Interstate at exit 305 to park in the Rest Area, which just so happened to be 1.5 blocks from COSTCO where my next blood pressure prescription awaited me.  As we exited the Newell we were greeted with temps in the mid 70's....quite a pleasant change from the last three days.  Within 15 minutes we had changed into our 'Sunday go to meeting' clothes, and had extracted the VW from the trailer......

......COSTCO's national policy is that everyone who works there, and all customers must wear face masks, so we gladly complied for the 15 minutes, or so we were in the store.  For those who may have forgotten, Gallatin County, where Bozeman is located, has had 188 confirmed cases of the Wuhan Flu in four months with one single death.....the entire state of Montana has had 573 confirmed cases with just 18 deaths, and yet COSTCO treats Montana as if it were New York.  Outside COSTCO you barely saw anyone wearing a mask, except for employees of national stores like COSTCO, Starbucks, Walmart, etc.  

After our brief mask wearing foray into COSTCO I drove TLE over to a local Urgent care facility so she could have a spider bite she received a couple of weeks ago checked, and treated.....it just wasn't healing.  While she was there I drove over to a local Jeweler to have the batteries in my Seiko dress watch, and Casio Quartz divers watch changed......

.....I've had the Casio divers watch since 1991, and the Seiko since 2000.....I don't wear the Seiko often, but when I need a dress watch I'm glad I have it.  On the other hand, I wore the Casio pretty much every day for the 9 months we spent working at Ramona Oaks RV 'Resort', so I'm glad to have them keeping time once again.

On my way back to the Urgent care I called TLE to see if she was ready for pickup, but she was not so I stopped in at the local Starbucks to get a......you know what's coming.....Mocha Frappuccino.  At this Starbucks the employees all had face masks on....most of the time....and they had also opened up their alfresco dining area.....the inside seating was still off limits, but being able to sit outside for 20 minutes at a Starbucks was just one more sign that things are becoming somewhat more normal here in Montana in the middle of June.  Just as I was finishing the last sip TLE called to say she was done, and ready to be retrieved.  I was less than 30 seconds away, so was there quickly, and we were back at the Newell within 15 minutes.  By 2 pm we were back on I-90 after a 2.5 hour layover.

We arrived in Livingston, MT around 2:30 pm, and the Park County Fairgrounds shortly thereafter.  Before we parked for our two day stay we used the dump station to discharge 6 days of effluent, and then the fresh water station to take on 60 gallons of water.  Once that was done we moved our rig over to RV-8, our 50 amp electrical only site......

 Our site at Park County Fairgrounds....right next to the rodeo arena......

.....and just across the fence from the local golf course.....

 .....and in very close proximity to the fresh water station, and dump station

.....Claude and Gail left Bill Frome County Park shortly after we did, but took a slightly different route to Livingston.  They opted for full hookups at Osen's RV Park closer to the Interstate where they had a readily available laundry.  Around 3 pm Claude called to make a dinner date for 5:30 pm at Fiesta en Jalisco, which also happens to be our favorite Mexican restaurant in Livingston.....they get four stars from Yelp, and TripAdvisor.....I always say you can judge how good the food going to be at a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their salsa and chips.....

Photo courtesy TripAdvisor

.....and they were both excellent, so you know the food was definitely 4 star quality.  By 7 pm we were bidding each other adieu and heading for our respective domiciles for the evening.  

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