I Can’t Pay the Bill(ings)

 Late last night, a brief storm blew through Terry, on a night with a full moon. Here’s the photo:

After a good night’s sleep in a quiet rv park, we hit the road again this morning, with a destination of Billings, Montana. Interstate 94 continues to unravel at 80 miles an hour until it joins Interstate 90 near midstate. Our journey today in a nutshell:

There are stories about the huge farms in the Midwest, but when you see a field so large that you can’t get even a hint of it in a photo….that’s big!

Every once in awhile we came across a community or collection of farm buildings tucked into the fields.

I94 follows the Yellowstone River, and after a few leisurely hours we found our home for the next few days, the Yellowstone River RV Resort in Billings. 

It’s a nice park, shaded just enough but not claustrophobic. Easy to navigate and lots of rocks, posts, and grass for Sasha to sniff!

Billings Day 2:

A half hour out of town, on the south bank of the Yellowstone River, lies Pompey’s Pillar. Lewis and Clark had split up, with Clark traveling south along the Yellowstone and Lewis continuing along their original route following the Missouri River. This was on their return trip from the Pacific Northwest in 1806, before they rejoined for the final trip into St. Louis in August. 

William Clark stopped near Pompeys Pillar to rest and recuperate in July, 1806. This remnant of an ancient sea floor is a recognizable landmark in the area and a natural meeting point.

So, Clark climbed the soft sandstone rock and scratched his name! The graffiti is still there, securely protected from vandals and weather.

In the visitors center, an accurate reproduction is on display.

The visitors center is designed as a tribute to the importance of the journey that the Corps of Discovery made, with special interest added for the Yellowstone River area. The long structure is a nod to the Native American dwellings that protected the expedition during winters and the floor allows the Yellowstone River to lead the visitor toward Pompeys Pillar.

Clark used the time spent here to good use making dugout canoes from cedar trees, an arduous task. Park volunteers recreated the dugouts using modern tools, chain saws, axes and power tools and declared the job almost impossible! Clark, of course, only had hand tools and necessity.

and Bullboats from Buffalo hide. 

Bullboats on the river were a routine mode of travel among the Indians, as were the twenty six horses stolen from Clark, but the relationship that developed between Indians and the Corps proved indispensable to the explorers survival. Central to this was Sacajawea, her husband Pierre Charbonneu, and their son, nicknamed Pompy. Clark honored Sacajawea by naming this landmark for her son.

It was very windy when we visited the Pillar, so we didn’t climb to the top. A paved path around the base provided all the exercise we wanted!

An interesting point of interest in the middle of Montana,

Our third and last day in Billings has been spent on errands, fuel for the truck, groceries, another grocery store because the first one didn’t have all that we needed, and of course, a stop for a Carmel Ribbon Crunch Frappuccino!

It’s been very windy hereabouts!

We’ll gather our courage and hit the road west again tomorrow, leaving a task undone. We wanted to take a daytrip to the Beartooth Highway, one of the most spectacularly beautiful roads in the state, if not the country.

Maybe next time!