We left Pocatello at 8:30. It was windy but nothing compared to yesterday and on the road…not an issue.

Gray clouds, but blue spots also..

Clear sailing!

Approaching Monida Pass.

Monida Pass is not a “scary pass” as in it is a wide open kind of pass…no tight curves or drop offs. It is known to be windy, but wind was not a problem as we approached today. And per the DOT reports, by the time we got there the road surface was wet and not icy.

It did get a bit foggy for a few miles at the summit.

But then…Montana!!!

And shortly all cleard.

And we “sailed” into Dillon where it was sunny and 52F and no wind and just beautiful.

Home in Montana.

…and the turkey in the oven…

I LOVE Montana.

Almost home.

***This trip! – this trip has been the BEST rv trip ever in my nine years of RV trips. I loved that I was able to do this trip long and slow. I loved spending TWO weeks at my folks. Srsly, this trip has been so good. I love that Bear and Auggie did so well and have been relaxed. This Thanksgiving, I am just so thankful that I was able to do this.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another day where I woke just before 5:00 a.m., looked at the weather…saw there was a high wind advisory for 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Ok.

It is 191 interstate miles to Dillon, i.e. 4 hours so I thought I would try to leave at 7:30 and ETA being 11:30 in Dillon, all should be well.

I use an online tool: www.thenextexit.com which shows information for interstate exits. I normally make a list of potential fuel stops, rest areas and optional rv park destinations so I can quickly see options as I go.

This morning, I made my normal list and also a side list of Emergency stops in case the weather deteriorated faster than forecast.

As I was doing that, the wind came up.

Bear and I went for a walk. It was VERY windy and it was not yet sunrise.

RATS.

I looked at Dillon weather which had an advisory for not only wind, but snow…blowing snow and low visibility.

Decision made…staying in Pocatello.

Dark.

Stormy.

Windy!… REALLY windy. It calmed mid-morning and then ramped up about 11:00 and continued.

Bear and I went out in the Jeep. I thought I’d hunt up a bit of Turkey. I had a wonderful Turkey dinner almost 2 weeks ago with my folks, Grandma Betty and my brother, but still…Thanksgiving!! – gotta have a little more turkey.

A little more turkey…a 3 pound breast. It is SO cute! The pineapple is there for proportion. The little breast is in a foil loaf pan.

I texted RV friend Sharon (Sharon and her husband, John, stayed at Summers RV park late summer and Sharon loves the convection oven whereas I love the gas oven, but in the interest of time…) inquiring about how to use the convection oven for the turkey. She texted right back with a recipe and instruction.

My “plan” – you know how that goes – is to do this turkey tomorrow afternoon …hopefully in Dillon, MT as the weather is to calm tomorrow – Wednesday.

Meanwhile.

Auggie.

Bear.

More Bear.

My venue for the day.

Another Auggie spot – the kitchen window.

A dark and stormy day.

***GOOD GRIEF!!! – Bear and I went for our “before supper” walk and were nearly blown away. The wind advisory was extended until midnight. Thankfully, our site is protected and/or at an angle where we feel the occasional gust but the slide toppers are not flapping and we are relatively quiet in the midst of what seems like a gale.

The weather was forecast to be wet and cold.

The morning started with some sun between the clouds. I knew that I wanted to get some things done early.

As early morning was nicer than I thought it would be, Bear and I headed toward Utah Lake. We are in Lakeside RV Campground. Utah Lake is a freshwater lake about 1/2 mile from the campground. According to some online sources, Utah Lake is slightly saline as it does get some feed from Great Salt Lake.

First evidence of a large lake was the marina storage area…

…with a LOT of large sailboats.

And an adjacent ranch with the Wasatch Mountains as a dramatic back drop.

We wound around the ranch and back to the road that headed toward PetSmart…Bear’s Greenie supply was running a little low.

Being a bit early for PetSmart, we continued on and…

…found a store named Sprout’s Farmers Market. It was a large natural food grocery …kind of a slightly smaller Whole Foods. It was wonderful and I had a great time browsing as well as buying. Friendly people, especially a young woman in the vitamin/supplement area who is planning a trip to Glacier National Park next September. She had great questions and had obviously done some research – fun to speak with her!

Headed back to the campground, I noticed that the lake was visible. There were wonderful views but none at a place that I could stop and take a photo…the stoplight with a peek-a-boo view was the best I could get.

A bit of the haul: greenies, some Bob’s Red Mill Artisan flour (I’ve not seen this at home and am excited to try it!), fresh rosemary and fresh mint – I really hope they survive the trip home – ginger for my ginger syrup, the rest is for a cranberry-jalapeno salsa which hopefully will be tomorrow’s football watching snack.

Shortly after returning with supplies, the wind blew, it started raining and things looked like the forecast.

Bear and I made one more Jeep trip into Provo…Old town Provo with the mountains obscured by the low clouds.

Back in Wild Thing, the dark, rainy day encouraged naptime for Auggie…

…and Bear.

But the fresh rosemary and mint made for a bit of “light” on a dark day.

A fun day in a city.

Right now, we are set to stay until Monday morning. Hopefully the wind and snow north of here will have subsided and we’ll make a dash for Montana.

We woke to snow.

I opened the door to take Bear out, noticed that the steps did not look right…Oh, snow!

It melted during the day and then late afternoon, the sky clouded and it started a rain/snow mix.

I had thought to start back toward home tomorrow (Saturday), but looking at weather, the new plan is to start on Monday. It looks to be warmer all along the route next week.

My alternate heating plan is working very well (see comment on “Boys will be boys) – in fact, it has been more comfortable and quieter overnight than with the furnace.

But, I’m tired. My folks are tired. In addition to being and having guests, there has just been a lot of little things and the time change and I don’t know…we are all dragging a bit.

Bear and Auggie are starting to get a bit of cabin fever.

It is time for all of us to get back to our “normal” routines.

But, meanwhile, we do what we can to have fun!

Friday!

We started early this Monday morning.

Auggie is more comfortable every day. For the first time, he slept with me as normal. Prior, he would come and snuggle briefly and then go out under the recliner and repeat. And the last 2 mornings, he’s napped in the recliner after getting up. I’m very happy with how he is doing on his way to being an RV cat!

Coffee!

After sunrise, a morning walk with Bear and then breakfast for all, before both Bear and Auggie took up watch from the dash.

The morning meeting, scheduled for 1 hour went 3 1/2 hours. Blech!

After, Bear and I took a Jeep ride to the absolute worst WalMart Super Center I’ve ever been to. Dirty, not well stocked – a mess! I got the few things I wanted and we came home. I’m not a fan of Billings which doesn’t seem to have much going for it “in town”. The surrounding rural countryside is beautiful, though.

Late afternoon, a fresh batch of ginger syrup for my ginger soda was made.

Bear and I went for a walk to the river on the park’s nature trail (see Instagram photos).

A bit more work and then as the sun started down…

…the low sun lit the gold hued trees.

Spectacular light!

We sit in a very pretty spot.

David Lebovitz’s Fresh Corn Soup for supper.

The plan for tomorrow is to roll by 8:00 a.m. latest for Casper, WY. I’ll try to get going a bit earlier as I need to stop for gas fairly soon and it has been very windy between Billings and Casper (typical), but it is supposed to be not too bad tomorrow. At any rate, the earlier we get going and get to Casper, the better. Hopefully arrival is 1:30-2:00 p.m. and I will work in the afternoon.