Hi, I haven’t written for a while, I know. We find ourselves on Elk Lake in Kansas. Yes, Kansas!

We were hanging out in Montana visiting Glacier National Park and our Dad decided it was time for us to look into “workamping”. What is workamping? It’s a short term job for RVers and since that’s what we are, we decided to check it out. Of course, we cats aren’t going to be changing our life style at all but the humans are!

We considered a job on a cattle ranch in Montana - which sounded very cool, but it turned out to be 12 miles down an unpaved road. We don't like bumpy roads so the idea of traveling a long way on an unpaved road received two paws down from all of us felines. So our parents checked into Amazon and they had an opening because some people canceled. They will start working at the end of August for 17 weeks until just before Xmas. We do know all about Amazon because it brings our Halo Cat Treats every few months. We also LOVE their boxes to play in. The humans aren’t sure what they’ll be doing or what their hours will be yet but will find out soon.

So - we took off and drove back through Montana (stopping overnight in Billings) to Wyoming and into Colorado. We stopped again in Fort Collins for a few days because we all like it there. Then we left and drove south to Denver and then east through Colorado and into Kansas, a new state for us all. We overnighted at a rest area in Kansas and landed in the most southeastern part of the state yesterday. It was two long days and Cassie and Fred are very happy that we are at the campground. We actually checked out two other places to stay (in the bus yet) before we came to the Elk Lake State Park. It is very pretty here; there are lots of trees and we hear birds and there aren’t many other RVs at the moment. We like it here!

No pictures yet but Mom promises some in the next few days.

I think we are done with national parks for a while cause I heard Mom say she was tired of all the beautiful scenery. We have some nice peaks we can see from our windows but the humans have been driving around Glacier National Park here in northernmost Montana and saw (guess what?) glaciers, big horn sheep, mountain goats and lots of birds of prey (they sort of scare me). They like the name of the road through the park; it’s called the Going to the Sun road and was completed many, many years ago.

We can’t go any farther north or we’ll be in Canada so we are traveling south soon, I guess.


Heaven's Peak in Glacier National Park (8,897 feet high)


Jackson Glacier - the only glacier in the park visible from the road. The rest require back country hikes in order to view them.


The elusive big horn sheep. This male was on the hillside about 20 yards up from the edge of the Going to the Sun Road


A Mountain goat it its native habitat - a parking lot early in the morning near the crest of the Going to the Sun road. After hours spent scanning the peaks in parks in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, our only sighting turns out to be 5 yards from our Land Cruiser in a parking lot!

Hey, Barney here. Today I saw a cattle drive. Very cool! There were 100+ cattle and 7 “drovers” on horseback moving the cows along by the side of the road as we headed north out of Missoula for Glacier National Park.

We drove a bit longer today than the little rides we’ve had this week. A few days ago we went for the oil change and yesterday we went out again for new tires - all new tires on the bus and car trailer. It was really noisy when the men were putting on our new tires and each corner of our home went up and down. Dad said those were air jack lift things. Lucky for us he stayed in the bus with us most of the time so we knew all was okay.

Now Cassie (the delicate flower) says she can really tell the difference in the ride. Me, I sit or lounge in Mom’s chair a lot and it’s pretty cushy so I can’t really tell the difference.

So, anyway, today we went due north from Missoula and stopped just short of the western entrance to the Glacier National Park. It is very pretty here but we cats were due for a nap upon arrival. I imagine the humans will be trekking in the park the next few days while we relax at the bus and check out the bird situation.

We took off north and west yesterday and drove to Missoula through the gorgeous mountains of western Montana. What a lovely trip, my humans thought, while I was napping in the bedroom.

This is a real city and the humans went out shopping for goodies like cat food right away. We hung out in the bus - it was really hot out.

We have parked here for a week although I heard a rumor that we are going to get an oil change - that means the bus will be moving somewhere with me in it, doesn’t it?

We are here at the most famous (and first) National Park in the US of A. Yesterday we arrived before lunchtime. Mom saw a bald eagle on the way to our RV Resort, the very nice Yellowstone Grizzly in West Yellowstone, MT. Dad was driving and I was napping so we missed it. Anyway, the three of us Traveling Cats have been enjoying resting at the bus while the humans have been exploring.

Yellowstone is the largest active geyser field in the world; about half of the world’s geysers (300) are here. Old Faithful is the most famous geyser, of course, erupting approx. every 92 minutes and shooting water and steam into the air as high as 190 feet.  However, there is so much more to see in the Park. The Geyser Basins (the Upper, Midway and Lower) comprise the world’s largest single concentration of hot springs and geysers. A visit to each one of these areas is a must, per our Mom. They also saw elk and mule deer and bison on their treks - no bears though.


Steam rising from one of the geothermal fields in Yellowstone in the early (6AM) and cool (36F) morning.


A view of Old Faithful from the front row of observations benches before an eruption. Not a particularly impressive sight - but you can check out a live webcam (during daylight hours) at this link.


Old Faithful erupts - you can see the water column rising about two thirds of the way up this photo on the right. It was 7:30 AM and the very cool air meant that the steam tended to obscure the 204F water more than would be the case in warmer afternoon temperatures.


One of the many geothermal pools in the park. The sapphire and orange colors are produced by the minerals in the water.

I was going to call this entry “Home on the Range” because I’ve been singing that song to myself the last two days but it’s very hot here on the range. 90’s! Ugh!

We have been seeing lots of antelope playing as we’ve been driving through Wyoming and Montana. Today we left Gerryowen and traveled along to Bozeman for an overnight. Tomorrow we go to Yellowstone, I hear. Another National Park - oh boy!!

We are traveling cats again today. We left Spearfish, South Dakota early in the morning and cruised west on I-90 into the state of Wyoming. We continued on past the Big Horn Mountains (there was snow on their tops) and entered Montana. Dad says these are the grasslands we are going through. There are very few trees, I’ll give you that. We didn’t drive for too long and I sat on Mom’s lap part of the time because that’s where the sun was.

After we stopped at the 7th Ranch RV Camp, in tiny Garryowen, MT, the humans left us and took off in the SUV for the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. This is where some guy named Custer apparently overestimated his military skills and had his “Last Stand”, I hear. My Mom is always interested in the Old West stuff so we were glad she could enjoy herself while we all took a nap back at the bus. The temperature says 95 outside. We are in air conditioned comfort, thank goodness.

When Mom and Dad got home later in the afternoon they filled our heads with all sorts of information about the battle. They were fascinated to learn the whole story as they took the 10 mile loop through the Park which is located on the Crow Indian Reservation. The battle was really several battles spread over some five miles. Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer’s 7th Cavalry numbered about 600 men. Custer himself took about 225 men and divided the remaining regiment between two of his officers probably because he underestimated the strength of the several Indian tribes that had assembled at Little Bighorn. Custer and his companies were the last to engage the estimated 1500 to 2000 Indian warriors and they all died on “Last Stand Hill”. The other officers and their cavalry were also defeated but managed to retreat with some survivors. The Indians won this major battle but lost the war to keep their way of life and ended up surrendering and undergoing forced relocation to the reservations.


Last Stand Hill where markers placed years after the June 25, 1876 battle show the approximate locations of where Custer and his troops fell. The granite monument caps a mass grave for the troops. The officers' remains were later buried in other military cemeteries.


The marker for where Custer fell. His remains were later moved to West Point.

Monday, 7/13 we went for a short ride north and west from Custer to Spearfish, South Dakota. I have to say, although I'm a traveling cat, my belief is the shorter the trip, the better, so I was pleased with this trip. We were all set up at our new RV Resort, the very beautiful Elkhorn Ridge, within 2 hours of leaving Custer.



These last couple days have been relaxing for us cats in the bus because the humans have been sightseeing all around this area. When they come home they fill our ears with their travels.

They loved going to Devils Tower, a large rock formation revered by several Indian Nations and sticking out of the earth all by itself in northeastern Wyoming. There are several theories as to how the rock formed but all the theories conclude that once the Tower was formed the earth around it eroded away over millions of years, leaving it jutting up from the surrounding prairie. Our parents walked the nearly 2 miles around the tower and even saw mountain climbers on the back face of the monument.


Devils Tower as seen from just outside the entrance to the park.

We’re still in Custer, SD and yesterday the humans left us to see some wildlife in Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park. There were hundreds of bison (technically not buffalo) in the park. They even held up traffic, including our Mom and Dad, while they crossed the road. Although there were signs on all of the roads in the area that said "Buffalo are dangerous!" (Dad says he thought they said "Buffalo are delicious"), they often saw people getting out of their cars to photograph them at close range - 10 or 15 feet away!  We're glad that we didn't just stay the suggested 100 yards away, we stayed in the bus! Our humans said some old (at least by our standards) movie called "Dances with Wolves" was filmed in this area due to the abundance of bison (Tatanka).


I don't think I have enough sabre-tooth tiger in my genes to want to mess with this guy!


Bison herd - including some calves in the foreground, roaming free on the range.

Also on this trip, they stopped at a prairie dog "town" in Wind Cave National Park. Unfortunately, they didn't bring one of these little guys home for us to "play" with. My brother, sister and I much prefer a more level playing field when it comes to the size of our potential prey. No Tatanka for us, thanks.


A black tailed prairie dog (a type of ground squirrel) looking out of his burrow. Squirrel?! - we hate squirrels!


Today they went to a cave - the Jewel Cave National Monument. They said this was the second longest cave in the world at 146 miles long. The tour loop goes up and down more than 700 steps, but is only about 1/2 mile long, so they certainly didn't see much of the cave, just some of the most interesting formations and colors. It was only 49 degrees in the cave, so I'm glad I didn't have to go.


Tiny stalactites (the ones that hang from the ceiling - stalagmites rise up from the floor) forming in Jewel Cave


Some of the colors on the walls of Jewel Cave.

Well, my Mom got to see “the Heads”!! I don’t really know what all the fuss is about but ever since we hit the road in our bus late last November our Mom has been wanting to go to Mt. Rushmore. Thankfully they left us at the bus (as usual) and visited both Mt. Rushmore and that partially done Crazy Horse Memorial that are both close to our campground here in Custer, South Dakota.


The unfinished Crazy Horse Memorial as seen from the main highway.


We found this very interesting: Mt. Rushmore’s presidents were selected to commemorate the founding, growth, preservation and development of the US. George Washington was selected because of the struggle for independence that he was so involved in, Thomas Jefferson for his role in the territorial expansion of the country, Abe Lincoln for the permanent union of the states and equality for all and Teddy Roosevelt for his 20th century role in world affairs. They all symbolize the principles of liberty and freedom on which our country was founded.

(Mount Rushmore is somehow both more and less impressive in person. The "heads" are only about six stories tall so they are somewhat underwhelming in person, yet the 14 years required to complete the project combined with the physical difficulty of sculpting the cliffs is evident when you visit the site and can't be conveyed by photos.)

Also nearby our campground (okay, about an hour’s drive) is the Badlands National Park. The humans thought this landscape was extremely unusual and very interesting, rising up out of the relatively green prairie that surrounds it. They think it’s pretty obvious why the Lakota Indians named it mako sica (bad lands). As for me, all of this geography is making me tired, so I think I'll take a short nap.


Badlands National Park