More Montana!
- Sharine Borslien
- Jul 25, 2021
- 3 min read
We had a relatively short drive from West Yellowstone to Billings, where we stayed at a Harvest Host, Yellowstone Cellars. The day was hot, and things were challenging from the get-go.
We stopped at our junction off of the extremely bumpy road out of Madison Arm Resort and checked inside the trailer to see what kind of damage may have occurred. No: The pots & pans drawer stayed locked this time! Also, only the Double Dark Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream lid had popped off, but the other variety, Mint Galactica, was lid-on!
But here's the wild thing I found when looking into the refrigerator (focus your attention on the center of the image):
The lid on the fancy truffle mustard jar had come un-screwed! It took me about 3 minutes of digging around in the fridge to find it, lodged in the back behind a zip-bag of red cabbage. Crazy things happen when you venture out of your comfort zone. But wait, there's more! (I titled this "More Montana" for a good reason!)
When we arrived at the winery, we had a unique parking situation, so backing in and leveling were, well, let's say not the most fun part of our day, bumpy roads notwithstanding! The leveling chocks kept skidding across the pavement. Eventually, Ron used a 2x4 (the one we use at home), which worked perfectly. Ron almost always has a great solution to problems.
Since we were dry camping, we pulled out the companion generators that we had never used before. (We recommend testing them before going on a roadtrip!) Ron got them all hooked up and started. Yay! Ope nope. They kept shutting down. After reading the manual several times and trying just about everything under the sun (literally, it was blazing hot), I called our good friend and life mentor Richard from San Miguel Olive Farm to get his advice. While he was brilliant as always, he he'd had no experience with generators, so we were left to our own devices.
Ron said that he thought it was cool enough in the trailer for Nilla to be safe, so we walked over to the winery & tasting room.
While I sampled some of their many delicious wines, we ordered a bite to eat. Ron went to check on the generators and Nilla. No changes, except that the outside temperature was going down.
Inside the winery, live music started, with Geoff George playing acoustic covers on his Taylor guitar. He started with "Wild Flowers" by Tom Petty; very nice.
The owner/winemaker Clint was in the house, so I introduced myself and chatted with him briefly. I bought some wine and told our server that I would tip her extra if she could get a photo with Clint, and she made that happen:
Ron and I thanked Clint. He asked how everything was going at our site, and we told him about the generator issue. He said he didn't have any experience with them, and wished us well. We left to assess the situation at our RV site.
I went inside the RV and fanned our Miss Precious Perfect until she seemed somewhat consoled. Outside, after a few more tries with standard generator operation, Ron open the gas cover and we realized that both units — which the shop owner we bought them from said they contained at least a gallon of gas each — were virtually empty. Ron filled them, restarted them, and the power was ON!
Lesson of the day: Always make sure that you AND your devices have plenty of FUEL!
We stopped at this rest area on our way to Miles City. The geological wonders change radically while driving through Montana.
Perhaps we have each the opportunity to change with the landscapes as we view them to be equally unique, beautiful, and quite mystical!
Ron and I wish you all to be well and living fully, because there's always MORE to explore, not just in the "outer world," but in how you respond to it. Some things must be done, sometimes things must be ignored; sometimes the choices are more like a smorgasbord. Anyway you look at it, life is a swinging game on the path of truth, love, and freedom.
How do YOU handle the swinging game?!
See you, friends & family, on the next phase of our journey.
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