Put in some windshield time

Friday April 26, 2013

Scooted out of Moab yesterday a day early because of the clear skies and warm temps forecast.  

After about an 8-hour day of driving we spent the night in a Flying J parking lot outside of Rawlins, Wyoming tucked in beside a few other RV’s and dozens and likely over a hundred “real” big rigs.  Rolled out of bed, threw back a few cups of coffee, wolfed down a Costco muffin and hit the road again this morning.  

After 5 ½ hours of driving under sunny blue skies we arrived at a campground named “7^th Ranch RV Camp” (check out their website at www.historicwest.com) just east of Garryowen, Montana, a privately owned “town” with a population of 2, located on what was the southern edge of Sitting Bull’s encampment on the banks of the Little Big Horn and a short distance from the battle site with the same name where General George Armstrong Custer met his maker. 

Dave had called to make a reservation yesterday and was informed they weren’t open “officially” until May 1^st but they were more than happy to accommodate us if we didn’t need to use the bathrooms/showers/laundry facilities and were OK with them filling up our fresh water tank since the camp site water faucets haven’t been turned on yet…and we said HECK YES!   

It’s a beautiful campground on the side of a hill, the trees are just beginning to bud, the grass is thick and green and other than a lone 5^th wheel below us it’s EMPTY!  Score!!  The owner is a true rancher who was fixing fence when we arrived, took a “time out” to help fill our fresh water tank and take us to our primo site and then only charged us $15 because he didn’t have the water turned on.  Double Score!  I think we’ll stay a second night and leave this place a 5-star review for customer service.  

By the time we had eaten lunch at a local trading post/restaurant recommended by the campground owner (he also recommended the Indian Tacos which we both indulged in and again it paid off to follow his advice) the Little Bighorn park had closed for the day but we’ll take that all in tomorrow and I can’t wait to wander through this historic site.  Temps are supposed to be in the upper 70’s so once again the weather gods are with us and I am grateful.