Family Mellmann

Sun and Rain Every time we visit Montana we get to see at least one rainbow and almost always get to see a double rainbow.   I couldn't capture the double, but the colors of the single were so intense!

The gang is all here and our adventure party is now complete!   Our two working men flew in late Friday night and Saturday afternoon and vacation has officially started for them. We have an agenda, but there is absolutely nothing on it!   Maybe a motorcycle ride, maybe a day on the porch rocking, maybe some motorcycle tinkering. Ahhh, life on vacation.

We have enjoyed a couple of days of unwinding, visiting with Grandma and Grandpa,  and relaxing here in Livingston. I have managed to wash all the stinky camping laundry  and emptied the ice chest,  we have dried out and aired out tents and sleeping bags, and have taken in a few sites along the way.   We even got the motorcycles out to rinse off the road dust.  Today Patrick and I got our bikes out and checked out some local roads and enjoyed some fresh air and big bugs. 

We made it all the way to Livingston Montana.  And check out the welcome we received!

Last night we camped at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.  We unloaded the bikes and took an afternoon ride through the park and decided we had to go back for a sunset cruise. As we wrapped up our cruise and sunset pictures we came around a corner to find a small heard of bison on the road...OUR road, the only road back to camp.  We let some time pass by turning around and riding some more (I know, what a sacrifice) hoping they'd clear the road by the time we came back around. They didn't, but we returned with reinforcements in the form of a car.  We tailed this car through the herds and enjoyed observing the bison from a bit of a distance.  One guy (bison guy) ran along with us for a short time.  That's Patrick tailing the car as he paces a bison. It was such an awesome sunset ride!

Thanks to my bladder, I was able to take some North Dakota sunrise this morning.

Patrick makes breakfast in the morning.  After a storm last night we woke to a beautiful sunrise and sunny morning.

When the rain came last night we retreated to the relatively dry pavilion to relax until bedtime.

We're making great progress on our journey west. Last night Patrick found a remote campground that had good commentary and reviews.  After driving on dirt roads that finally got so small that we weren't willing to venture further with a 17 foot trailer loaded with motorcycles, we were afraid we would get in somewhere we couldn't drive out.  (It's an old mantra I taught my kids when they were learning to venture out, "never drive in where you can't back out".  It applies to climbing up something and then having to find a way back down, and it applies to driving a trailer down questionable dirt roads.) We turned back and looked for another place to camp.  Plan B was great; plenty of space for the trailer, a lovely space for the tents, picnic table, fire pit, toilets, and even an electrical pole. We set up camp then Patrick unloaded his bike to go shopping for firewood and eggs.  We roasted hotdogs for dinner but before we could settle in for an evening aroun...