We said a fond farewell to Montana and Dome Mountain (oh yeah Lennae and Jim too). After the Birthday dinner for Jim senior we made milkshakes at Len’s. They have an old school milkshake maker! They were delicious!

Yesterday, I was starting to feel a little under the weather so we relaxed around the ranch for the first part of the day and went into the park (Yellowstone National Park) for the afternoon where we went swimming in the Boiling River. The Boiling River is a natural hot springs that runs off of Mammoth and into Gardner River. The water is warm (sometimes HOT!!) and very relaxing.

Unfortunately, our camera is wacked out! So photographs from Montana on are limited at best.

Kevin drove through the night to get us to Mt. Rushmore early this morning. By which point I was feeling very ill! So after an “anti-climatic” (per Kevin) experience at the Mount we headed back to I-90 in search of food! We are now eating dinner and will post again later!

We got my brakes fixed today. When I took my car to Steve Shannon in PA before we left for the trip, they told me that my brake pads would last me well beyond the 15,000 miles it would be until I had my car in again. Looks like they were wrong, because 5,000 miles later, the brake pads were worn down so much that they were grinding against the rotors. Fantabular.

We went gallivanting around today shopping, going to the bookstore, getting gas, touring Chico Hot Springs Resort, and running other errands. We had a wonderful dinner tonight at Lennae and Jim’s for Jim’s dad’s birthday — steak, crab legs, baked potato, sushi, green beans, and salad. It was all very delicious.

I updated my profile on the homepage finally. I really actually do more than just work for Netstar-1. We are processing the new photos now — there are over 200 and it will take a while to get them all up. Sushi last night went over very well, and I have a picture of the sushi spread that I will be posting when time permits.

We’re heading out of Montana tomorrow for Mount Rushmore and the Corn Palace, then on to Chicago to meet up with Kelsey’s friend Jon, then back to DC!

— Kevin, 11:30 PM MST, Emigrant, MT

We made it to Dome Mountain Ranch, it’s been a blast! Last night we had burgers and such by the fire, very enjoyable. Of course we were quite exhausted and retired early to cabin number 2. This morning we had a good breakfast at The Old Saloon. Later we took East River Road up to Livingston were we attempted to get the brakes on the car fixed. We were able to get an appointment for tomorrow. Then we went down the block to the Thrift Store we found a great selection of records. Afterwards we got delicious calzones and stocked up on new camping gear!

Back at the Ranch we got ambitious and went for a bike ride on the Mountain… well we started out like that… we had a fun ride seeing the Elk, deer and lakes.

Then it was time for a nap before we wandered over to Lennae and Jim’s for sushi making!

Einstein’s bagels taste just as delicious in Utah as they do in Washington, D.C.

We had a wonderful time at Carol and Ben’s, they were such great hosts! We are hoping to get into Lennae’s mid afternoon. On the way there we may drive up through Yellowstone National Park and fight the mobs of tourists!

Right now I am going to try to work on posting some more photos for you all to enjoy! We are taking a ton which is cumbersome for processing, but in the process we’ve gotten some amazing shots. Keep dropping us notes on the guestbook! We’ll post again later today!

We just got a speeding ticket in Utah 🙁 Oh well, it was probably bound to happen sooner or later.

Our last activity with Carol and Ben was going to a casino and out to dinner. We went to the Riverside Casino in Laughlin, Nevada and gambled away ten dollars in one dollar bills. We got ten dollars in quarters, but I won it all back plus some extra! I used the extra ($3.50) to buy an ice cream cone that Kelsey and I shared.

We went to a Mexican restaurant called Iguana’s for dinner on our way out of town. We had a great meal and took photos down at the river. We said our goodbyes and headed off for Vegas. Thanks for putting us up and showing us around, Carol and Ben!

We drove the hour and a half up to Vegas and rolled in at about midnight PST. We poked around and saw the sights and took photos for about an hour. We gambled away each at the Bellagio (didn’t win anything). We waited for the water show thing out in front of the Bellagio, but I guess they turn it off after midnight. Oh well. We rolled out of Vegas around 1:30 AM PST for Emigrant, MT by way of Salt Lake City, UT.

We got our speeding ticket at 7:45 MST by a very nice police officer. He reduced the fine a bit probably because we were extra nice to him. We had a conversation about DC — it had been about 13 years since he was there last. He sent us on our way, and now we are less than 200 miles from Salt Lake City. Still working on photos … sorry we’re so behind!

— Kevin, 06/26/2007, 8:20 AM MST, Somewhere on I-15 in Utah