Finally Reached the Lower-48

On our way out of Lethbridge, we went to a local truck wash and gave our motorhome a bath. The bays were very large, with high pressure hoses, and Julie and I were able to wash the rig together in about 30-minutes.

We crossed the border into the “Lower-48” on Saturday, August 8^th at Coutts, Alberta with no problems.

 

We stopped in Shelby, Montana for breakfast at The Griddle café, right downtown in this small community. We had stopped there four years ago on our way to Alaska and it was just as good as we had remembered.

We arrived in Great Falls around 1PM and headed to Malmstrom Air Force Base, where we got the very last available camp site in their main campground. Vince & Lisa had arrived about an hour before us. We caught up with Vince & Lisa and talked about their travel through British Columbia and Alberta. We went out to dinner at Borrie’s with them and another couple, old friends of theirs from Great Falls. The Montana beef steak was very good.

On Sunday, we went out for breakfast with Vince & Lisa to the Missouri River Café (a local diner) and it was very good. After breakfast we visited the nearby Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center. It was very interesting, and described in detail the Lewis & Clark expedition in 1805 to explore the Louisiana Purchase area of the northwest. I learned that the exploration party had to portage their boats about 18-miles, around five separate waterfalls on the Missouri river, near today’s Great Falls. They built crude trailers to portage the boats by pushing and pulling them by hand.

The first water falls Lewis encountered were 80-feet high and he named them the Great Falls. Other falls he encountered further upstream were Crooked Falls, Colter Falls, Rainbow Falls, and Black Eagle Falls.

Black Eagle Falls

On Monday we ran some errands during the day. That evening we went out to dinner with Vince & Lisa and their friends at 3D International Restaurant. The menu was quite extensive but we all ended up having their Mongolian BBQ.

 

We left Great Falls on Tuesday, August 11^th, and headed south to Billings. We had reservations at the Billings KOA, the world’s first KOA, established in 1962. Billings is a small city of about 30,000 and home to Montana State University. We enjoyed lunch at The Burger Dive, in downtown Billings. I had the garlic burger with cloves of roasted garlic cooked in the meat. Julie enjoyed the black and blue burger. They were some of the best burgers we’ve ever had.

 

We departed Billings on Wednesday morning and headed south on I-90. About an hour out of Billings, we stopped at the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument for about an hour and a half. It is near I-90 and well worth a visit. It was especially interesting for Julie as she had read a book a few years ago about Custer and the 1876 battle. 

 

We crossed the state line into Wyoming on I-90 and finally connected with I-25 in Buffalo, WY. It was our first time on the northern end of I-25, so now we’ve traveled I-25 in its entirety. We overnighted at Glendo Lakeside RV Park, a nice campground well off the Interstate and traffic noise.

 

Thursday, August 13^th, we drove down I-25 through Cheyenne, all the Denver traffic congestion, and finally reached Colorado Springs where we’re staying at the USAF Academy FamCamp. We’ll spend 10-days here to get our motorhome serviced, take care of some appointments, get our bicycles tuned up, and visit our daughters, granddaughters, and friends.

Ironically, we arrived back in Colorado Springs on August 13^th from our 2011 trip to Alaska. This 10,000-mile road trip to Alaska and back was just as incredible as our first trip, but was more special this time because we shared the adventure with our good friends Vince & Lisa. 

 

Steve & Julie Cornelius