Time to "head'em up, and move'em out" for us. As usual we have thoroughly enjoyed the beauty and serenity of the Black Hills, truly a beautiful part of 'God's Country'. We always enjoy the slower pace, the lack of heavy traffic, lack of traffic congestion, and the warm smiling faces of the South Dakotan's where ever we have been. We could easily stay here for another two or three months, but it is time for us to head on over to Montana. That we will be doing tomorrow morning.
We had dinner, just down the road at the Elk Creek Steakhouse, and we were not disappointed. This is the same steakhouse that we stopped in at, back in August 2008 during Bike Week. At the time we first ordered a couple of cocktails, and lo and behold, they were served in a Pepsi paper cup. Not exactly what we were looking for in ambiance for a nice dinner. So we decided on the spot that dinner was not an option there that evening.But tonight, we had an excellent steak and prime rib dinner served with the more standard glass/crystal for our pre-dinner cocktails. It seems that many of these finer places will switch over on their glass/crystal to paper during Bike Week since there are so many and the breakage increases significantly during this time. So to help with this type of dilemma, it becomes paper over glass temporally for a number of like places.
Tomorrow we will head north to Williston, North Dakota and then on to Westby, Montana, where we will drop anchor for the evening.
Saturday, June 19th
The drive north from Spearfish, South Dakota was very pleasant and the landscape just a very pretty emerald green everywhere.
We had lunch in Belfield, North Dakota, which we went through in the summer of 2007 after leaving a two-day visit to Medora and of course the great presentation, The Medora Musical which is held in an outdoors amphitheater. We elected to not return this time since we were just there only about three years ago. But, it will merit a return visit at some point in the future I am sure.
Continuing north from Belfield, we made a stop in Williston, North Dakota, one of the largest towns/cities in western North Dakota. Williston sits along the north bank of the Missouri River and is a major ag and finance center for northwestern North Dakota. Williston was one of the "big city's" that Marilyn visited on special occasions back during her childhood days growing up in Westby, Montana. The other "big city" to visit was Minot, North Dakota, which lies a little further east from Williston.
Here we are this evening in Westby, Montana. Westby is located just over the state border from North Dakota. This is the small town in which Marilyn was raised and lived for the first couple decades of her life. We were busy going through the town and the adjacent neighborhoods to 'spot out' the homes of old prior classmates, friends and where family had lived many years ago.
It is a neat town with that slow, down-home folks with smiling faces and almost all give a hearty wave of the hand to you as you go by. Some things just seem to not change in so many of these small 'all-American' towns that are off of the beaten path.
We had a relaxing cocktail at "Charlie's Place" and talked story with the bartender which was almost like a pseudo reunion of friends and family in the area.
And another interesting bit, is that the Town of Westby has it's own small RV camping area located out of the way and offers six sites with full hookups and the price is right...free! Well actually it is free for the first two days, and then it is only $5.00 per day. Of course, as Marilyn says, two days in Westby is about 1-1/2 days more than you need since there is not a whole lot to do here, other than watch the grain elevators work, or hold a bar-stool down at Charlie's place. But nevertheless, that was a rather unusual find with a free campground.
And as usual, many changes were noted by Marilyn that has occurred over the years. So much has not changed, and yet a number of notable changes are seen on a tour of the area.A number of newer homes; a much newer school; a few buildings on Main Street are gone, and a couple are somewhat newer.
With the green rolling hills and the multitude of numerous lakes, ponds and sloughs, it is a very scenic area in its own right.
After a breakfast at the local café' tomorrow morning, we will pull up stakes and continue westward on MT-5 to Plentywood, the county seat of Sheridan County, and then on to Scobey, Montana where we will turn south in order to pick up US-2 through Glasgow and the Fort Peck area.
I have thrown in a number of pictures here to let you travel along visually with us.
And oh yes, the weather has been absolutely great for the past six days or so now, with the exception of some high winds from Spearfish to Belfield, and then diminished quite rapidly as we continued north.
Our temps have continued to range from about 72F to 76F with lows at night of about 52F to 57F, all quite pleasant and enjoyable.
Sunday, June 20th - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE FATHERS OUT THERE!!
Just finished a great country breakfast at the "Prairie Kitchen" in 'downtown' Westby. It was even more enjoyable since Marilyn met several folks in there that she knew or knew of their local families. Some even got word that she was there, and they came in to say 'hello' and sit for a while and talk about the preceding years in Westby. It was very enjoyable for Marilyn and I, to hear more about her family, friends and classmates from Westby School.
It looks to be another beautiful day here in northeastern Montana. We hope that your Father's Day is also one of sunshine, fun and laughter!
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