First thing this morning we looked out the window and saw some really different looking birds...good sized black birds with bright yellow heads and breasts. Not having a clue what we were looking at, we asked our next door neighbor what in the heck they were, and he said they are yellow headed black birds! Who knew (Marian H. of course, but who else?)! They were really striking looking birds and fun to watch...they almost seemed to waddle as they walked. Our neighbor told us that they like marshy places and there was a small stream right behind us.

By the way, today is Miss Susan C's 40th birthday! Happy Birthday Susan! We understand that she wasn't having a birthday without travel included, so she and her family are off on a short jaunt . Good for Susan!

We pulled out of camp at 9:30 into a cool and cloudy morning checking in at 63 degrees. Before we headed north once again we did a quick drive through the little town of Dillon...it is a darling little town with several large bronze statues placed strategically around the area. I took one picture which may give an idea of how things loon there. By the way, John checked the odometer before we left town and so far we had at that point driven nearly 2,500 miles on this journey!

Montana is certainly well advertised as "Big Sky Country" but we were somewhat disappointed in our drive today because there was still so much haze in the air. After asking several people today as we traveled what the problem is, we found out that the haze is caused by six forest fires that are raging in the area right now. The haze made it hard to take good pictures, but we were able to see well enough that we could see the large mountains in the background; however, the camera didn't do such a great job showing them . Sorry about that. We continued to pass large green, well irrigated fields along with huge golden fields of wheat with snow tipped mountain peaks in the back ground. This is truly a state with spectacular views almost every direction you look in.

We were amazed at how very light the traffic was on I-15 on the way to Butte, Montana. Sometimes we couldn't see a vehicle in any direction! The road continued to wend its way past farms...many more than we would have expected. The topography was once again the rolling, smooth looking mountains with jagged peaks in the background. Many times today the mountains in the background looked to me like Chinese woodcuts because of the smoke. Their outlines were stacked on top of each other as they blended into the horizon. Beautiful

We stopped for fuel in the Butte, MT area paying $3.68/gal and getting a little less than 10 mpg on this tank. By the way, after what we went through today, we are doubting that we will get numbers on the next tank that are that good! More later on that ... By the way, this time it really was NOT my fault...Mr. John decided that HE needed a chocolate chip frappe! Of course I helped him out with it but I really didn't need one. Really. I promise. Truly.

Closer to Missoula the trees became much larger. Some of the big hills we passed showed evidence of past forest fires. They looked so barren...it was sad to see. On the slopes that were not affected by the fires, the trees were quite large and made for a very nice scenic drive for us. It was amazing how many RV's were on the road today (the traffic got heavier after we left the Butte area). Sometimes it seemed that they were very close to 50%25 of the vehicles on the road. We also started to see large numbers of motorcycle groups...again we think that many of them must be heading to Sturgis since the bike rally starts this coming Friday. Most of the drive today we followed the Clark Fork River, bringing back memories of our Lewis and Clark Expedition Trail that we followed all the way from St . Louis, MO to Astoria, Washington in 2001 with Rhonda and Larry H. Fantastic trip, and every time we are close to an area that we were in on that trip, we test our memories of what we re
member.

By the way Betty and Ed (and Susan) C.--we did indeed stop as per your recommendation at Wheat Montana in Missoula. You were correct, the food was really good and the folks that waited on us were so very nice...especially since they possibly lied and said that we didn't look old enough to have been married 50 years! Made our day! Betty, in your honor, we were once again forced to buy one of their (actually the last one of the day) huge cinnamon buns to have for breakfast in the morning. It is all your fault. Just saying.

After lunch, things became a little more exciting (read frustrating) for the rest of our afternoon. Chickie apparently decided that we had not been noticing her enough the last few days and she lead us on quite a merry chase several times this afternoon . First of all, Missoula is a VERY hard town to find your way around in...or at least it was for us and Chickie. John wanted to get Muf's oil changed and the route Miss Chickie decided on was a big loop that took us back basically to within a block from where we started! The guys at Valvoline were very nice and apparently did a very good job with the oil change, but then we needed to make a Wally World stop to pick up some groceries.

Once again, we made a big loop (or big woop as Judy M says) before being deposited in what appeared to be Campground USA in the parking lot of Walmart. We were amazed at the number of folks in RVs who were seemingly already set up for the night! In 88 degree weather! With no hook ups! Wow! Give me a campground any day of the week rather than that. We did get our shopping done (with the generator running to keep the coach cool) and after that tried to find a nail place for me. After several tours around all the back streets in Missoula compliments of Chickie, we were both over it and headed for our home for tonight, Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park!

We haven't stayed at one of these for years...probably the last time was when our girls were young. It is a very attractive park and well maintained. We are on a partial hook up lot which all of you RVers know means that we may or may not get a level lot...we didn't but John used leveling blocks and we are OK on that. The electricity is OK...we have had better...but we are fine with that too. The WIFI is nonexistent at our point in the park, but the good news is that I THINK my hot spot will work just fine. If not, you won't get this until tomorrow! Nonetheless, we are content with our day. We have seen some beautiful sights and have been able to at least recognize that we need more help with our "fruits of the spirit"!!
We drove 203 miles today.