August 26, 2012

Rocky Mountain RV Resort, Gardiner Montana

We slept ok at our first Walmart camping site.  The street lights were bright causing us to put pillows and towels in the windows to darken the room.  It wasn’t as cold as the night before.  We got ready to leave quickly.  It was a little difficult to breathe outside because of the smoke from nearby fires.  The ash was falling like snow.  I missed having my coffee.  I kept looking for some place to stop along the way but there was NOTHING for mile after mile.  Luckily we only had to travel around 170 miles.

  We arrived in Gardiner around noon and found an RV place (a little more than we wanted to spend).  But since we plan on dry camping (Camping without any hookups) for a few days we needed to fill up on water, dump our sewer tank, do laundry, take showers and buy some staples.  Monte got to experience driving up a steep road leading to the RV resort.  FUN.  We quickly set up and did laundry.  Monte did some outdoor chores and I did some indoor chores before taking a ride into town. 

When we drove into town we noticed a sign that indicated Yellowstone Park was only half mile away. 

 We decided to take a ride in to see what the campsites look like.  Since Monte has the America the Beautiful Senior Pass he will get in for free but because I have my car also I would have to pay $25.  I decided to purchase a year pass for $80 instead that will allow me to enter all the National Parks with my car.

It was less than 5 miles to the campsite.  As we entered the camp, Monte noticed a Cambridge RV that had a jeep in the site.  It turned out to be Howard and Linda Payne.  They have been full-timing for seven years.  Howard posts a journal that I have been following and although I had never met them I already felt like I knew them well.  In fact it is their rally that we are planning on attending in Oregon next month.  Monte had met them back in January at the Tampa RV Show.  I was in AZ at the time and didn’t get a chance to meet them then.  They graciously invited us to stay for dinner-Homemade Chile.  YUM! 

They plan on being at the campground for a week or so and I will definitely invite them for dinner one night.

After chatting with Linda and Howard for a while we bid them goodnight and made our way back to town.  We parked and walked around for a while.  Then Monte spotted an ice cream store and of course we had to get a couple of cones.

 

Back home we took hot showers and settled in for the night.  We plan on getting up very early to get in line at the campground as it is a first come first served type of situation.  There are no guarantees that we will get a site.  If we do get a site I may not be able to post for a few days.  I have no idea if we will be able to get a signal in the park.