Terry Montana – Small town, stunning scenery

One of our goals as we travel, is to take our time and actually spend at least a few days wherever we stop. There are so many small towns and areas of the country that are “unknown” just because they aren’t on some tourist list of top sites. Terry, Montana is definitely one of those stops. We had no idea when we got there, we would literally be in the middle of the badlands and have such an unique opportunity to experience them first hand.

The RV park is small in town, with just a few spots and because I was driving, we learned a couple new lessons;

1. Walkie talkies are the way to go when you are in two vehicles
2. Always have a spotter when you pull into a parking spot
3. Always carry a fire extinguisher in your vehicle in case you start a small, grass fire
4. When your husband says you are “on fire”, he doesn’t necessarily mean you are looking especially good that day.

No real damage was done, the fire was extinguished quickly and Homer has a few new battle scars, so we have something funny to tell around campfires. (Going for the positive on this one!)

There are two ways you can get into the badlands around Terry. The first is North of town, which includes a dirt road, lots of cattle guards to cross, prairie dogs hiding out in the grasses, a few antelopes (which of course I could not capture fast enough with the camera – Shoot!), and at no point is there any kind of road sign to let you know where you actually are or what’s coming up on the road ahead. We also did not see even one other person as we wound our way through the track that takes you up, up, up. As we stood at the top of the “hills”, we could see all of Terry and the surrounding ranches spread out before us. It really did feel as if we were the only two people in the world at that moment and could only imagine what it must of felt like to be a settler or part of a tribe surveying all that is part of our creation. We both cannot get over the beauty that exists in these amazing pieces of “rocks”.

The second way to get into the badlands, is about a mile east of town and involves driving across a very old, very rickety railroad bridge filled with some type of wood supports for cars, that crosses the Yellowstone river. The people of Terry assure us it is safe, and how could we not try it????????? (That was Dave’s attitude anyways)

The funniest part of the whole adventure, is as we were looking at the bridge, gathering our nerves, we see a truck coming at us from the other side. This is a one lane bridge, so we wait for it to cross, and wouldn’t you know it, it is a Fedex truck. I kid you not! Fedex can deliver to a ranch in the middle of the badlands and could not find us in Nashwauk, Mn. Since this seemed like a sign, we headed across and it actually was kind of fun. LOUD, but fun.

There is access on this “trail” that leads down to the Yellowstone, so we poked our feet in the water and of course, I found a couple beautiful rocks, that were fairly yellow in color which seemed appropriate for our location.

This “access road” was slightly different from the one the previous day. As we were winding our way through the badlands, there were times where it looked like the road just ends in front of you. Of course there are no signs to tell you when there is a curve or big hill you are approaching. We just took our time and were so glad we had the explorer which can handle these types of roads. At one point we stopped and it looked so good, I had to take a photo of it. Of course when we got back in the car and noticed all the silt that had piled up on the back window, we just laughed as that probably isn’t what a car commercial would actually show.

We stayed fewer days in Terry than planned as the weather was headed to over 100 degrees and we decided we would rather be in Great Falls prior to the 4th of July. The great thing about this new lifestyle is the ability to be flexible with our dates and locations. As much as we are missing our family, we are just plain having so much fun and seeing so many new areas, everyday is truly a new adventure.

We’ve gotten lots of questions about how the pups are handling all this change. They know when we say the word “home”, that means the camper and they have learned to be great, little travelers. In addition to all that, I have found some new “toys” that make noise and they have more fun just tearing through them and playing with them, than any they had before. They seem to have settled into this new lifestyle quite easily. Dave and Max go for their morning walk together while Rocky and I stay in bed and snuggle, a little longer. So far, so good.

Great Falls, Montana is next on the list and we are looking forward to seeing some of the Rocky mountains, Glacier National park and of course our buddy “Cogs” from our Navy Days.

See you on the road,

Dave and Theresa