Weathering the Storm

We arrived in Great Falls with dampened gear and spirits.  While we holed up in a hotel for three nights, it rained pretty much the entire time.  We were scouring the internet for anything and everything related to RV campers, and second guessing our plans for the remainder of the trip.  If we were experiencing this kind of weather in Montana, what would Canada and Alaska bring us?  Although this weather isn’t normal for this time of year, anything is possible.  We are not properly equipped to deal with snow or persistent freezing wet conditions.  Should we head back south and cut the trip short by a month or two, or should we try to purchase a camper to tow behind the Jeep?  Should we go back to Arizona or Texas where we knew it would be warm and dry for the rest of the time and skip Alaska until we had a camper?  Then it hit us both at the same time:  Don’t wimp out!!!  We will press on and take our chances as planned, and deal with whatever comes our way when it happens.  It’s all part of the adventure.

Finally on the third afternoon the weather broke enough for us to spread out most of our smaller gear in the parking lot to dry out.  The sun even poked through a little, and it was amazing to feel the difference it made in our outlook on everything!  We discovered that all the snow that got packed with our canvass tent had melted and dripped down onto the toolboxes under it, as well as the carpet lining in the back of the Jeep.  We needed to get somewhere to dry out quickly, and after looking at the forecast, Ken chose a spot where we’d likely have the best weather.

The next day we were on our way to the Coal Banks Landing Campground, named for the dark layer of lignite coal in the hillsides, and located within the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument.  Just before we got there, we passed this little prairie dog town, which always makes us smile.  

As a bonus, I spotted a burrowing owl!  They make their home in abandoned burrows left by prairie dogs and other ground-dwelling critters.

The weather was warm, windy and sunny, and everything dried out super fast – even the canvass tent.

In the process, we managed to park right next to an ant hill that I swear the Devil himself created.  One of these little red bastards bit me, and took the time to weasel his way under the edge of my sock to do his work covertly.  

Even after I crushed him, he was still alive and trying to kill me!  Within a few minutes, the bite felt like someone put out a lit cigarette on me.  Before long, my whole ankle hurt to the point that I started to limp a little, but that subsided within a couple of hours.  They are one of the more evil insects I’ve ever encountered.

The campground host was very friendly and informative, and the campground was not very busy – just the way we like it.  Once our work was done we could relax, and there was an endless supply of birds and other critters to take pictures of.  

There was a beaver patrolling the area, but you can only ever see their little heads sticking up.

Supposedly there are a lot of rattlesnakes in the area, but we didn’t see a single one.  I think the red ants were filling in for them.

Around dusk, a thunderstorm started rolling in, and of course with our luck it just had to rain on us for about an hour.

Everything did dry out by the time we wanted to leave in the morning, so we packed up and were on the road again, heading into Canada.

Don't forget to look at the rest of the photos for this post!