Helena, MT

July 9, 2012

We drove west out of the Black Hills on I-90 to the town of Sundance, WY. Sundance is the town that gave an outlaw and an actor the famous name. It all started when Harry Longabaugh broke out of the local jail. We stayed at a nice owner-operated park for 2 nights. The owner recommended that we take the loop through some beautiful country instead of just the out and back trip to the Devil’s Tower.

The legend of Devil’s Tower is that some Indian girls were playing when a bear surprised and chased them up a large, flat-topped rock. The gods heard their prayers to save them so the rock grew up to the heavens as the bear scratched and clawed at the sides of the mountain-sized rock. The girls went directly to heaven; the bear was just out of luck. The eroded columns of the tower lend credibility to the legend. Once scientist thought it was a volcano core, but it is now considered an igneous intrusion. The columns are in a continuous, if slow, state of deterioration as evidenced by the boulder debris at the base of the tower. Kids veer off the mile-long hiking path that encircles the tower to climb and play in the boulders. More experienced kids scale the sides to ascend straight up the face. On the loop back to Sundance we stopped at the town of Alpine, population 15; but passed on the sink hole at Vore. The pre-horse Indians would stampede a herd of buffalo off the cliff into the sinkhole.

 I-90 heads west and north out of Sundance towards Billings, MT. We are into our 4^th trip to Montana. It is really a beautiful state. Our first stop was to revisit Little Big Horn. We happened on an archeological documentary of the battle on the evening prior to our visit. With that info and a CD that we purchased to guide our tour, we really did enjoy the stop. Custer is proof that arrogance just can’t be cured.

 The drive from there to Helena is 300 miles of beauty. We crossed over and followed along the Yellowstone, Jefferson, and Missouri rivers numerous times. What Lewis and Clark would have given for our ride!

A truck stop parking lot was a pretty good place for lunch, views of snow-capped mountains from each window. We had plenty of Weight Watcher (too many steaks and desserts!) frozen dinners to choose from due to a stock-up the previous day. So we went in the c-store to buy drinks and ask about the off-freeway road just ahead. The nice lady verified a good, easy road so off we went.

Ammonia. It is a very distinctive smell; not bad, clean, fresh, and totally out of place in an RV. So I began searching for the source. Russell suggested the refrigerator workings might be involved. A Google search confirmed his fears. A hole rusted through spewing ammonia gas from deep in the guts of the ‘fridge.

 The road was not the gem promised. Assorted sections of construction, at one point a gravel road, had been sprinkled along the way. So we were bouncing along trying to figure out how to take care of the refrigerator problem, how bad is it, and how much will it cost. We called ahead to the RV park in Helena and the owners offered to let us put all of our frozen food in their upright in their garage. When they take a trip on Wednesday, they will leave the back door open for us to have access. The office carries block ice for us to fill the cooler we have been totin’ around in the car. Today we found a service shop that can take us on Thursday and it will cost less than expected. Not a bad outcome! It is amazing that every time we encounter problems, nice people are there to help, where ever "there" happens to be.

 We have hopes of seeing some of the town in the intervening days and leave Friday for Kalispell. At least that is the current plan.