On Geoff’s birthday, we drove into Montana, the last U.S. state in the lower 48 that we will visit before we get to Alaska. They call it “Big Sky Country” and we found out why. Most of the state is vast prairie land and you can see for miles in all directions. But unlike other western states with vast open areas, Montana also has mountains, hills, and valleys. It is really gorgeous.
On Tuesday we drove about 400 miles to Bozeman, all of it through country we saw just last July. It is the only part of the country we have driven more than once in our RV which is not on one of the coasts. We thought about stopping at Pompey’s Pillar again, but our traveling partners opted out, even though we promised them it was a historic site not to be missed.
When we got into Bozeman and got camp set up, we headed out to celebrate Geoff’s birthday at Famous Dave’s Pit BBQ. Geoff got his favorite, the full rack of baby back ribs. When the waitress found out it was his birthday, she offered us a hot fudge sundae. It came back with four scoops of ice cream and four spoons. It was delicious.
In the morning, we headed for Great Falls. This was our big turn to the north. In Helena, we split up. Ken and Martha had to do some stocking up at Wal-Mart and we headed to Costco. 
After Costco, we drove toward Great Falls and stopped off at the First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park. It was a very nice little visitor’s center which described the pains the Native Americans went through to get sustenance from the Buffalo. This site was used from about 900 to 1700 BC.
In Great Falls, we visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center. This was the site of their most challenging portage around several falls along the Missouri River. They had to move their boats and supplies 18 miles over land.
After this we had a 1.3 hour drive further to get to our campground at Shelby, MT. Our next leg will take us into Canada but it is only a 2 hour drive for tomorrow.
