An Experience We Won't Forget

We are moving tomorrow to Livingston, Montana, which is about 40 miles east of Bozeman and about 176 miles south of where we are. A day early which is fine with us.  Then spend one night, not unhook the RV and truck there, then head out Tuesday morning for Gardiner, Montana which is 5 miles from the border of Wyoming and 1 mile from the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park.  We plan to be there for 2 weeks, then head south towards 'home'.  Yellowstone will be closing their roads by September 30th due to winter coming, and we wanted to wait until now to go, hoping that families will be at home with school starting and less crowded at the park.  Well, maybe other people where thinking the same - when I called around to find a campground near Yellowstone, I think we got the last spot in full hookup, the lady who I spoke with said that this begins their busy time with big rigs coming in.  We think this means that other folks are doing the same as us, waiting.  And also we have noticed a start of the winter snowbirds beginning to float down from parts north, heading towards Arizona or Texas for the winter.

Now - about the title above.  This campground is something else!  We have never felt in danger, as a matter of fact most people don't lock their RV when they go.  To best explain it - we are in a city or urban campground.  Right in the heart of Great Falls. Traffic, trains, jets, cars, trucks, motorcycles, dogs barking, people yelling - it's all here.  Gone are our quiet peaceful get aways. People leave out expensive toys such as ATVs with keys in them, mopeds, expensive bikes, boats, antique cars, some have landscaped around their unit with lots of flowers, etc. and go away for awhile.  We still have the mentality of things have to be locked up.  Strange for us to see this.

  And - this campground is open all year.  With winters here in the minus 20's to minus 40's at times, we just can't imagine living like that.  You see RVs that have begun to skirt their units - placing some kind of barrier against the lower portion to block out the wind going under - hoping to keep the 'basements' warmer this way.  And big huge multiple propane tanks sitting alongside the unit.  Dave was putting stuff away this afternoon and the gentleman from across the way came over to make conversation.  He said he's been living here 14 years - even in winter!  Didn't have alot between his ears, if you know what I mean.  And the class of RVs - amazing!  Old, old units, right next to it a brand new spanking out-of-the-showroom Class A, units that have seen better days but someone is living inside it, some RVs have multiple cars or bikes or both along side or hanging off the back end.  Sheds beside a unit, lots and lots of bicycles, kind of redneck and then 2 down - brand new unit. A true hodge-podge.  Amazing.  A lot of transients through here.  Mornings you see mass exodus then by 1pm another huge amount coming in.  We don't know if they were going to stay longer and the noise got to them, or was this the plan all along.

We are at the cross roads of Interstate 90 and Interstate 15.  Very very very noisy.  Just when you think that traffic has died down and we can get some sleep, some ya-whoo goes by revving his engine.  Kinda reminds me of high school guys revving their engine to impress girls.  With the Air Force base near by, Great Falls International airport not far, gets even more noisier.  About 8:05am the fighter jets take off and the RV trembles from the vibrations.  Sometimes they do fly-bys and that is extremely noisy.
Then we have neighbors who have dogs, sometimes lots of dogs.  Our neighbor that came in yesterday is in a tiny OLD box, about 40 years old, with 2 young adults and 1 Jack Russell dog and 1 HUGE dog - it is bigger than a Great Dane.  Someone goes by - bark, bark, bark.  Dave thought that there was an animal last night near by - he heard some funny noises.  What it is - this old little unit squeaks anytime someone or one of the dogs moves - the floor must be giving out - squeak, squeak.  I hear it all night long.  We go to bed tired, get up even more tired, and are grumpy with each other due to lack of sleep.  Sad that this place and one other RV park are the only 2 in town.  The other one was double the price - now I understand why - supply and demand!!!  Glad we are moving tomorrow - I need to sleep!