Livingston to Bozeman to Missoula

We spent Sunday and Monday nights in Livingston, Montana; Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Bozeman; and arrived in Missoula today.

Livingston:  Livingston is a pretty little town.  It was founded as a railroad stop when the Northern Pacific Railroad ran a line from Minnesota to the Pacific coast. Livingston became the gateway to Yellowstone National Park.  Before that, Captain William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame passed present-day Livingston in 1806 on his way to meet Lewis as both men made their way back east. (The two split up for their return trips through present-day Montana, with Clark taking a southern route and Lewis a northern one.)

About 7,000 people live there today.  Jim and I drove around town and also spent some time near one of the city parks on a dog walking trail. 

Bozeman:  It was a short drive on to Bozeman, just 28 miles west of our Livingston RV park.  In Bozeman we went to the Bridger Brewery and the Montana Ale House.  We also walked all over town and did a short hike on a steep trail.  Cooper -- who turns 15 in a couple of weeks -- did the hike with us.  We also checked out the former home of our SLC good friends John and Deb, who lived in Bozeman for several years and who Bev and son Paul visited twice.

Last night Jim and I had the pleasure of having drinks and fun conversation with fellow Sunrise RV Park campers and fellow Lazy Daze owners Ed and Jeanne.  They are from Alabama by way of Pennsylvania and Ohio and have lived and traveled in many places.  Hope to see you again Ed and Jeanne! Their travel blog is at http://edandjeanne.blogspot.com/

Missoula: This morning we left for Missoula and hope to explore the town. About all we did today, however, was get settled in our camping spot at a private RV park called "Jim and Mary's" and then deal with a mix up for a prescription Jim had called in to the Missoula Target Pharmacy.  

This particular med costs about $130 for three month's worth. Target told Jim it would be $590. Jim figured he'd buy the meds and settle up with his insurance company later, but Target declined Jim's MasterCard.  He got out his American Express card and that was declined, too.  As Jim was walking away from the pharmacy but still in Target, he got a call from AmEx's fraud department.  After assuring them the $590 charge was OK, Jim then called his insurance company; they said they'd approved the prescription and the cost was $132. Jim went back to the pharmacy department; they ran the paperwork again and said no, it costs $590.  Bev later got a call from MasterCard, who said the pharmacy charge to them was declined because Target had not entered all the needed information. We figure we'll deal with the medication issue tomorrow, after Target gets its act together.  If they don't get their act together, we'll transfer the prescription to another pharmacy and see if we have better luck.

And then we went to Flathead Lake Brewery. It's a good day after all.

View of the Yellowstone River, a quaint bridge, and the mountains as seen at Livingston, MT's Sacajawea Park.

We ate lunch at a cafe just across the street from the Livingston Depot, the third incarnation of the local train depot.  In the days before automobile travel, just about all visitors to Yellowstone were delivered to this depot, as Livingston is just 40 miles due south of the park. This particular building was built in 1902; it's now a museum, a restaurant and a wine store.  Amtrak used to stop here, but discontinued the line that ran through Livingston in 1979.

Closeup of architectural details on the Livingston Depot. The red and blue mark is a yin/yang symbol and was the corporate logo of the Northern Pacific Railroad. President Lincoln chartered the Northern Pacific as the first northern transcontinental railroad.

A photo I like of of birch trees near Yellowstone River in Livingston.

This is the Bozeman Hotel and Annex, in Bozeman, MT.  It was built in 1890 as part of the city's unsuccessful bid to become the state capitol and named for John Bozeman, who led people on nearby prospecting trips and help found the city. When John Bozeman was just 30 years old, he was murdered while traveling on the Yellowstone River.

Bozeman is home to many lovely sculptures like the one above.  There was a similarly inspired one of a bear at the Sunrise RV park where we stayed.

Cooper on an attempted getaway to a stream on Bozeman's Leverich Canyon Trail. We wanted to hike a highly rated trail on Sourdough Canyon, but it was closed for some repair work.  This trail was great but the road leading to it was narrow and bumpy.

While hiking in Leverich Canyon, Jim tested our bear spray.  They both work.

We had this type of view on our way to Missoula this morning. It later cleared up, then rained again this evening.  It's supposed to rain for the next few days.

A first for us was seeing plane fuselages being hauled via train alongside I-90. They are apparently going to a Boeing facility in Renton, Washington from a plant in Wichita, Kansas. In early July, a train carrying several of the fuselages derailed and three of the green machines slid down an embankment and into the Clark Fork River.  There is an interesting story about the derailment and a great photo you can see if you click  here. In 1966, Jim worked on the construction crew in Renton that built the hangars where various airlines paint their planes.

Jim relaxing after the Target medication fiasco.  He had a Flathead Lake Imperial IPA.  Bev had a Bufflehead Brown Ale.