Day 24, Saturday July 2, 2022, moving from Malta MT to Billings MT

 Day 26, Saturday July 2, 2022, moving from Malta MT to Billings MT

The trip to Billings down MT 191, 19 and US 87 is a 203 mile trip. I cut the speed down as the initial 1/2 of the highway is quite "rolling" and narrow with no shoulder to speak of. As we got to two counties north of Billings the road was better.

How vast the grassland of Montana is.

A few 'early in the day' riders heading out

The road stretches far and farther

 

The land is a complete combination grassland and range land. The crops here that we saw were wheat, alfalfa, and some beans. (Much of it is cattle range land)

 Again as far as the eye can see it was the same. There were some valleys between the ridges and long 1-2 mile downhill and the same up .Billings is 1,200 feet higher than Malta so there is an overall elevation rise. (see later in the blog). We stopped 4 times including one stop at "James Place"for gasoline. It was a "flip the handle" kind of pump, and had a sign on it saying "Use the other hose"  and another one saying, "Tell the store how many gallons you received". A do it yourself honesty system. It seemed to work.  James was cordial and his girls were merely observers.

The small gas station in the middle of the grassland and ranch land

 

At one point on the drive the traffic was piling up behind me and it was a difficult road to pass on with all the hills and curves. So I pulled over and let seven of them go by. In that 200 mile stretch there was only 25 cars that passed me total. I drove about 50-55 mph most of the way, as the rolling highway almost demanded that you do that.

 We did see three deer and one Pronghorn along side the of road but they did not run. There is such a vast openness to the land I am sure there are thousands more "out there". We did see more cattle on this route than before and the large tracts of alfalfa  prove that.

Getting into the foothills north of Billings

Can you see the road in the distance?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Within sight are three mountain ranges. The  "Little Rockies" are about 40 miles south of Malta where much gold fund in the 1920's, and the "Judith", "Little Snowys" and "Big Snowys" are not far away.  It is a wonderful contrast to the plains and grassland that we have been seeing for the last two weeks.

We arrived driving through town to get to the Billings RV located on the SW corner of town. Billings has 180,000 people so has a large infrastructure. It is the largest city (pop.) in Montana. 

We had trouble getting the WiFi set up but finally were able to manage that. Our campsite #15 is at the back of the campground  and we like that as it is away from the entering and exiting of the park. Usually there are more "resident" birds back there as well.

Our site #15 in Billings. Busy weekend (July 4th)

 

Supper was  eggs and some LO's (leftovers). It was sufficient.

With the temps in the 80's the A/C was turned on right away and now at 6:30 ( I can hear that it is no longer on, so the temps have equalized.)

Tomorrow we will examine a Conservation area that looks good and save the NWR for Monday. We are here just three days, and leave on July 5 for Douglas WY. There are 4 NWR within 1.5 hours of here.