Heading north out of Gillette, it is coal mining country. We had seen the long trains full of coal that run the rails along the highway south of Gillette, and it was interesting to pass by some of the facilities that fill the rail cars.
Here is Sherman, at the Gillette Airport...
Just a parking lot.
Looks like it could have been a Walmart, but it most certainly was not. Totally quiet overnight because most of the cars you see belong to people who have flown out. And, no street sweepers cleaning the parking lot at 3:00am.
Pronghorn across the street from the airport.
The coal train getting loaded up.
Almost no traffic on highway 59 north out of Gillette, Wyoming.
Scenery along the way.
A lone pronghorn by the side of the road.
Entering Montana.
We took a little five minute rest break at the Montana border and while we were stopped there not a single vehicle went by in either direction.
Never seen so many pronghorn and deer.
Nice rolling hills.
More scenery.
About 10 miles south of Miles City, I had used the Ultimate Campgrounds App to find a State Fishing area that has free campsites. It was still early, about 1:45pm and we could have done some more driving if the place wasn't suitable.
But it was great, and it was free. So with the beautiful weather we set up camp!
Sherman, at GPS 46.248072, -105.75042
Kind of a pretty spot.
Sherman, all by himself.
There are only about five or six sites there, but we were the only ones.
Only problem was that there wasn't really any place to go for a walk.
Ruth at the entrance.
You can see Sherman in the background.
The 12 Mile Dam.
Sorry for the back end view. This fellow was making pretty songs.
Great weather for grilling some kabobs.
Almost a full moon.
Yesterday's drive, 155 miles (248 kms).
Slept well, and today we are off to our last stop before Canada. Again, another beautiful day.
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32 pack of Peet's K-Cup Coffee Pods are on deal of the day... time to stock up!
And in Canada...
The kabobs look yummy, have a safe travel day.
ReplyDeleteThey were delicious and cooked to perfection! :-)
DeleteMost of Montana's fishing access have nice camping spots. And they are usually empty except on week-ends.
ReplyDeleteIt is wonderful that they have these places. I bet in the summer some of them are very busy on the weekends.
DeleteYour almost back home enjoy your drive. Supper looks yummy.
ReplyDeleteYep, almost home. :-)
DeleteAll right---you convinced me to try my hand at airport parking. I too despise those Walmart 3am street sweepers!
ReplyDeleteThe smaller airports are the best! This one was a bit of a bigger airport but we still didn't have any problems and it was very quite.
DeleteA nice spot you have and the Kabobs look tasty.
ReplyDeleteIt was a great spot! :-)
DeleteKevin, is 12-mile dam an earthen dam? I looked really close on your photo but couldn't tell for sure. Not many of those around anymore in my neck of the woods; floods keep taking them out. The bobs look yummy on the grill.
ReplyDeleteI would say that it is a concrete dam. They also had an irrigation diversion structure off of it.
DeleteI always say, when you enter Wyoming, you enter God's country! Of course, you wouldn't know we live here ourselves, right? Traffic jam in Wyoming - the pronghorn !
ReplyDeleteWyoming definitely has some beautiful scenery. We certainly need to see more of it some day in the future.
DeleteWe couldn't get over the amount of pronghorn that we saw during our drive through Wyoming!
When you park at these small airports for the night, do you usually ask permission from anyone? Or treat it like a public parking lot and just park away from the cars? I'm just wondering what the etiquette is for something like that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMost of the time yes, if someone is around we will ask if it is ok to park there for the night. We did not do that at this airport though just because there were a number of cars already parked there long term and we didn't really see an issue with us being there and out of the way and there wasn't. Plus we left early in the morning.
DeleteThe sweet-singing bird is a Western Meadowlark! They do have a beautiful song, as do the Eastern. They look pretty much identical, so you have to identify them as Western or Eastern by where you are. I think in some places their range overlaps, though.
ReplyDeleteThank you Emily, I did check that out but I wasn't positive now I am. :-) They do have a beautiful song.
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