9-16 to 9-17- 19 - (Day 54 & 55 - Lovell/Billings)

Monday, Lauren cooked breakfast outside on the Coleman Stove before we departed this morning.  Breakfast is always better when it's cooked outside with beautiful views.  We relocated to Lovell for the night.  We needed internet to figure out where we want to head next.  We also were in need of a good, long, hot, shower.  Which we got shortly after arriving.

We had internet, but Lauren's lap top was not working today.  We will go to Billings tomorrow and buy him a new one.

We grilled a pork loin and sat around outside most of the day.

Tuesday, Lauren's lap top started working again this morning.  But it was too late.  We were done with the dang thing.  We traveled to Billings to buy another lap top.

We had a nice, enjoyable ride to Billings.  We are parked at Cabela's parking lot that is right off I 90.  We are on the end site of their RV/Truck parking area.  We have a horse corral next to us.  There is a dog kennel at the other end.  Sam's Club is within walking distance of our camper.

It was raining and cold with the temperature in the 60's when we got here.  We unhooked the truck and went shopping for lap tops.  After shopping at Best Buy and Walmart, we came back to Sam's and got a lap top.  It is pretty cool not to pay sales tax.

Lauren said yesterday that he was ready for some Popeye's Fried Chicken.  I jokingly said that maybe we would find some in Billings.  Guess what, we did.  It was dang good too.

We came back to camp, ran the generator for a couple of hours, then checked out Cabela's.  We enjoyed all the animal mounts that were on display.  We finally found Daddy Bighorn, we just wished he would have been in the wild. 

As we were leaving the store, the clouds were clearing, and we had a beautiful reflections in the sky.  We got back and found Ferny Kat waiting by the door to come outside.  She is again, out of luck on this cold night.

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9-15-19 - (Day 53 - Another Day of Bighorn Sheep)

It was another beautiful morning, but that dang wind was howling.  The sheep were walking around in the parking lot again this morning. 

We spent the day riding on Amber and hiking.  We hiked the Canyon Mouth Trail, Stateline Trail, and Ranger’s Delight Trail.  They were all pretty trails.  We saw a few critters and a lot of Bighorn Sheep.  We hiked 4.66 miles today. 

We came back to camp, got the spotting scope out, and sat around enjoying the warm, 90 degree weather sitting under the shade of the awning.  It is a lot warmer than the 48 degree temperature we had when we got here on Wednesday. 

Lauren decided we could use the trail that the sheep travel to get to the water’s edge.   I chickened out about half way down.  It was quite challenging for Lauren, but he made it!

We built a campfire and cooked burgers and smores over the fire while sitting around in tee shirts and shorts.  We have thoroughly enjoyed camping here.  Tomorrow we relocate.

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9-14-19 (Day 52 - Another Day at Bighorn Canyon NRA)

The parking lot for the boat ramp had lots of trucks, boat trailers, and people when we got up this morning.  The weekend is amongst us.

After breakfast, we hiked the Hillsboro Trail.  This is considered the ghost town of ranches here at the park.  It is a very enjoyable, 1 mile hike, looking at the old post office and other buildings.  We found an apple tree loaded with apples and picked a few.  They were very tasty.  Obviously, the bears have not found this tree.  We walked past two herds of sheep on our way in and out of the trail.

After the hike, we rode the 4 1/2 mile red dirt road to the end of the park looking for critters.  We found a couple of American Kestrels and a Pronghorn.

We loaded up on Amber and cruised around awhile this afternoon.  We stopped and looked around at the Ewing-Snell Ranch, then to the overlook.  We saw plenty of Bighorn Sheep on our ride.

We sat around and watched the boats go by this afternoon.  The 3 Bighorn Sheep stayed around camp for most of the evening.  We had another nice fire that we cooked our supper on.   About dark, another herd of sheep were in the parking lot.

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9-13-19 (Day 51 - Bighorn Mountain Snow)

We had 3 Bighorn Sheep in the parking lot when we got up this morning.  When Lauren went out to take their pictures, they walked toward him.  They are very photogenic!

Our plans to ride Amber changed when the wind was blowing this morning.  We took off in the truck to check out the snow on the Bighorn Mountains.  We saw bunches and bunches of Bighorn Sheep before we got out of the park.  We also saw Deer, Wild Horses, and Sandhill Cranes along the way.

The mountain snow had begun to melt on this 48 degree, sunny day.  A section of the road to the Medicine Wheel Trailhead was impassable due to 2 foot of snow across it.  We could have walked up to the deeper snow, but decided it was too far to walk in the cold wind.

We made a picnic stop at Horseshoe Bend Lake and then hiked Sullivan’s Knob Trail.  We were told by the ranger that this is a very beautiful hike and it is.  A big herd of Bighorn Sheep were headed up the hill when we were coming off the trail.

We walked the Two Eagles Interpretive Trail then headed back to camp, seeing more Bighorn Sheep along the way.  We just haven’t found Daddy Bighorn yet.

The 3 Bighorn Sheep that were at camp this morning came back by for a visit this afternoon. 

Our nice, quiet campground ended this afternoon when the last campsite was taken.  We heard their music before they drove up the hill.  They played their music loud until bedtime.  Good thing, we have the same taste in music.  They have a remote airplane that was fun to watch.  Even Ferny Kat enjoyed watching it fly.

We built our campfire, ate leftovers, and called it a night.


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