April 20 – To Billings, Montana

Today started off with a bit of a disappointment. Lake O’Hara in Yoho National Park has some beautiful scenery and great hikes but they limit the number of people that can go by saying that you must reserve a bus trip up to the lake. There are two trips up every day and I am not sure how many are on each trip. The reservation window opened up today at 8 am. The bookings for the entire summer were gone in literally 30 seconds. Needless to say I didn’t get one. When things are this popular I think they should have a lottery system so it is not the person with the best computer or fastest fingers that gets the spot.

Last night there were actually some other RV’s in the lot with us. This hand crafted bus conversion.

And this old VW. I am not sure what they were working on but they left shortly afterwards so I guess it got fixed.

For today’s post I should just link to the post from 2 years ago.

Jennie and Stuart on the Road- April 19 –To Billings, Montana

The difference is that then the weather was rather gloomy and rainy. Today we had bright sunshine and even a bit of a tail wind.

As before the scenery started out flat.

Going the short distance through Theodore Roosevelt National Park we saw some more interesting formations.

We are definitely going to have to make a trip to this park in a summer to properly explore it.

A far off vista for our lunch stop.

And then the descent into the Yellowstone River Valley for the rest of the trip.

As I said in the other post, I wish this section of the highway actually ran down the valley floor. Instead it runs along the far wall with a lot of ups and downs as it follows the contours of the wall. Easy to drive in a car, not so much in an RV that has to downshift (and come out of cruise control) on even the slightest incline. I guess the valley floor is too valuable for its agricultural use.

It was a really long day. Google Maps said it should take 6 hours but that is with the 80 mph speed limit in Montana. Altogether it took us 9 hours, including a stop for a nap because I knew I could not last the entire way without being dangerously drowsy.

It quite warm here in Billings with evening temps in the high teens Celsius. Lots of people in shorts and T shirts. Everybody can’t wait for at least some spring weather.

There are already a couple of other RV’s in the lot with us. At least it is not supposed to go below 0 tonight.

We were going to go to the pizza restaurant that we tried when we were here last time but we forgot at lunch and each had big Subway subs. We are now too full for an all you can eat pizza buffet.