FINALLY, THE KING IS ON THE THRONE !!!

The picture of the berries that you see are the result of Cindy and I picking Huckleberries. Out here in the west huckleberries are the big thing. To me they kind of taste like a blueberry but are smaller in size. The one thing I do know is this, to buy anything with huckleberries in it is very expensive. They say the going rate for a pound of berries is around 40 dollars, yes you read it right, $40. They only grow at altitudes of 6000 ft. so I guess this is why they cost so much. I will say they are very tasty in pancakes and oatmeal. The only thing you have to be careful about when picking them is that YOGI the bear is not close, bears do not appreciate you stealing their berries.

The past few weeks we have pretty much just hung around the campground. We did take a hike (5 miles total) to view Fairy Falls in the park. I suppose it was by chance that we picked one of the hottest days this summer to do this hike and needless to say the heat was no fun. The total hike was 5 miles and we kept asking people on the way back to the falls “ is it worth the walk” and everyone said yes. I guess after seeing Yosemite Falls in California and Multnomah Falls in Oregon, our expectations were too big. The falls was ok and it was refreshing sitting by it, but was it worth the 5 mile hike? Come out and try it and you tell me!

We have continued to catch some nice fish the past week although one has to really go out and find them. The fishing from the shore has slowed tremendously but people are still catching nice ones by trolling or fly-fishing. The picture of the man and myself in the boat was taken when we went out for an evening of fishing. This man is 85 years young and quite the storyteller. I have enjoyed spending numerous trips on the water with him and listening to stories he has to tell. He told me one day to start using his boat so Cindy and I could go fishing so we listened to him and have been doing such.

Now for the BIG NEWS !!!! I have knocked the Queen from the throne!!! Yes you read it right; I have finally caught one bigger than Cindy. I’m quite proud to say I landed one a couple of days ago that weighed in at 3.5 lbs.,(on a cheap Zebco scale. Maybe 4lbs on a digital scale) talk about someone having a s**t eating grin on his face, well I will be the first to tell you I did. Not only was this my biggest catch of the season, the color of the fish was absolutely beautiful. It was a male brown trout and his color was outstanding. Had the fish been 5 lbs. I would have had him mounted and hanging on our living room wall, but instead I chose to have him lying in our freezer. We still have about three more weeks so it is still possible for the KING to lose his seat, but until then I get to claim the biggest. I must also give credit where credit is due and if not for Cindy taking the rod and bringing it closer to the boat so I could net it, I’m not sure I could have done it alone. (No I’m positive I could not have done it by myself) so a big thanks for her in helping me ( TEAMWORK ) Till next time enjoy the pictures and feel free to leave a message.

Tuesday, August 4th, we decided to take a trip up to Red Lodge Montana. The drive up there is by way of “Beartooth Pass”, US Hwy.212 which runs between Red Lodge and Cooke City Montana, (the northeast entrance to the park). The Beartooth Pass is opened from Memorial Day through Labor Day (weather permitting). As one can tell by the pictures taken on this day , the snow was still in abundance up there. The hightest point of elevation on the Pass is just under 11,000 ft., 10,974 to be exact. The one picture taken by me, standing at the edge of the top of a large hole in the ground, with lakes in the bottom, is actually around 200 feet to the bottom. The crazy people that ride snowmobiles up there, actually start sking from a higher spot and go out over the edge and land somewhere between the rim and the bottom.

The highway consist of numerous twist, curves, steep drop offs on the side of the road, and “switchbacks” that seem to last forever. For those of you who are wondering what a “switchback” is, it is noting more than a road that allows you to travel the side of a mountain. You might travel 1 mile east, make a turn, head back west 1 mile, turn and head east 1mile, so on and so on, just to travel ½ mile down the side of the mountain. The entire road between Red Lodge and Cooke City is around 70 miles and one can figure on 2 hours to make the trip, providing you are not caught in a snow storm or high winds at the top of the pass. Yes, I said snow storms in the middle of the summer!! (not uncommon on the top of the Pass.



All in all the road is a “Must See & Do” if you ever get out this way. You will notice I have 2 sets of pictures on the page, Cindy uses her camera and I use mine. Sometimes I like to get the the “edge” of things and look at the scenery from a little different view point, ( which makes Cindy ask “can you get any closer without going over the edge”?. So before you stop looking at both sets because you think they are the same ones, please take the extra time and enjoy the views taken from a safe distance and one's taken from the “just a little closer dear, I’m not going to fall over the edge” view.

Cindy Cleans Her First Fish !

The past week or so things have slowed down a little bit. The campers are not coming in filling the campsites, the fishing has slowed down a bit, you just have to work a little harder to get them. The only thing that we have not seen a slow down in is the pesky little blood suckers. For some reason they still want to hang around. The temperature dropped to the high 30’s the other night and we were hoping it would slow things down, but no such luck. We still are catching some nice fish and after Cindy brought home a few the other night she said she was ready and try her luck at cleaning them. As you can tell by the pictures she done a very good job. I know all you real fishermen want to know what’s with the gloves she has on, well to be honest they sure help in holding on to the fish while cleaning (not because she didn’t want to get her hand smelling like fish.)

The pictures of the water falls were taken in Mesa Falls Park which is located close the “potato seed capital of the world” Ashton, Idaho. The past week we have been enjoying warm days and cool nights, plenty of sunshine, and lots of mosquitoes. Tuesday, the 4th, we are planning a trip with another couple and head up to Beartooth Pass and Red Lodge Montana. The weeks are flying by and we both are amazed at how fast the summer had passed. Until next time I hope all are enjoying the pictures we are posting on line and hope to be able to share some more with you.

Tetons, Connor Reeling Big One, Hoosiers Visit

I think that summer finally has arrived at Lonesomehurst !. Since the 4th of July the temperature has finally hit the 80’s. We’ve actually had some very nice days the past few weeks. The only problem with nice warm weather arriving is that the mosquitoes also have arrived here by the multitudes. I failed to include a few of the pictures that I’m sure you will enjoy. I’m not sure how I forgot to include the one of Connor reeling in his BIG Fish but I did so here they are.

Cindy and I spent of couple of day visiting Yellowstone Lake and some other beautiful places in the park. We also went over to Idaho and visited an area called Mesa Falls. One of the first couples we met here were Rodney and Dianna Gurell. They invited us to take a trip down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with them. The day turned out to be a perfect day, clear skies, warm temperatures. We spent some time in Jackson Hole and I have forgotten since our first time out there just how many people visit that place. We ate lunch then drove up into the Teton Mountains. I have to say that next to Glacier Park the Tetons are right up there in the top two of my favorite places. The size of the mountains is just unreal and the water in the lakes look like something that is in a swimming pool.

After leaving the Tetons we headed back through the park and visited some other places. I’m totally convinced after the drive through the park that Cindy and I chose the best time to come here back in April. The amount of cars going through the park is amazing. The month of June the park was visited by over 600,000 people, a record for that month. I must say when we finally returned home to our little campground of 27 sites, that I felt that I was “home”. For anyone who might be thinking of coming to Yellowstone I would highly recommend the month of May or early June. People have told us the past week that the line of cars waiting to get into the park extended forever.

We also had the pleasure of spending a day with Tim and Linda Buckley. Tim decided after a number of years of telling Linda that he came out west to hunt, maybe it was time to show her he actually did come out here to hunt. We showed them around the campground and went into town to get something to eat. We gave them a tour around Hebgen Lake and ended up taking them to Earthquake Lake and around Henry’s Lake sightseeing. It was a nice to see some Hoosiers after being here for the past 3 months. A big thank you to Tim and Linda for stopping by.

July 4th weekend

July 4th weekend was a weekend we were not expecting. Randy emailed me at the beginning of the week and asked what I thought about them coming up for the holiday. Needless to say I’m sure that you have already figured out what my answer was. They arrived Thursday evening and we pretty much stayed around the campground. Friday we decided to go into the park and visit Old Faithful. The way into the park we were able to see 3 nice size bull elk and a large group of buffalo. As one would expect Old Faithful was once again faithful and we got to see here erupt. On the way back out we stopped and ate a picnic lunch before coming back to the campground. Randy and the boys wanted to go fishing so we baited up the hooks and walked down to the lake in front of the camper. Grandpa explained to the boys that sometimes fishing is slow and we might only catch one but it is always a nice keeper. Randy and Dylan were fishing and I decided to come into the camper to get something when all of a sudden I heard this yelling outside. Dylan had got one on his pole and was bringing it in. The munchkin ended up bring in a rainbow trout that measured 19 ½ inches. Needless to say grandpa’s day was made when he got it in.

The gentleman I have spoken of before named Wayne offered to let us use his boat so Randy, Connor, Dylan and I decided to go fishing later on in the evening. Now I failed to mentioned the boat we are using is about a 12ft fishing boat, not the bigger yachts that one can walk around on. The weather here can change in a heartbeat so after a small rain shower had passed the skies opened up and we had a fairly decent evening ahead of us( or so we thought). We head out in the boat and I was going to show everyone how we trolled with lures. The water was a little choppy but all in all not too bad. We headed to the larger part of the lake close to the shoreline and was not having much luck. Out of nowhere the skies started turning cloudy and the wind picked up a bit. We turned the boat around and started heading back to the campground when Randy “got one on”. By the time he reeled it in the wind had picked up considerably and the water started getting pretty rough. We pointed the boat to the shore line but needless to say the wind pretty much decided where our final destination was to be. We were greeted by some campers that looked at us like what in the world are we doing out here. I called back to the camper to let Cindy and April know that we were on land, not capsized out in the lake, and to come and pick up the boys. We were only about ½ mile from our campground ( by water) 2 miles by land. Randy and I being the macho men we are decided to wait it out and bring the boat back when the waves stopped looking like the Pacific Ocean. We finally got back on the water and headed to the campground, by then it was back to fishing and just enjoying an evening on the water with my son.





Saturday we took the boys into the Grizzly Center and enjoyed watching the bears and wolves there. We headed back to the camper and took up fishing some more but to have luck stay away from us in catching any. We then talked to Wayne and borrowed his boat once more. This time the water was fairly calm, clear skies, and little wind. The only thing missing on this trip out was Dylan, who decided that after the first adventure he would keep his feet anchored to solid ground. Out on the water Randy, Connor and Grandpa headed. We went to the part of the lake where Cindy and I had a successful trip before (well at least Cindy). I tried to explain to Connor that when trolling sometimes the going is pretty slow and then,” wham” you get a hit. Not too long into finding the hot spot did Connor get one on. The boy done a very fine job in bringing it in, Randy told him ”you hook it you bring it in”. Well he did and the result was a 18 ½ rainbow. There’s no greater joy then watching your grandson land a fish of this size. After putting the prize on the stringer Connor said he was ready for his 2nd one, and that’s just what he did. The next one he hauled in was a 17 ¼ rainbow. Now by this time I starting to feel kind of bad for Randy because Connor was kicking his butt in fishing ( gee,sounds kind of familiar with Cindy and I ). After the wind started picking up a little we decided we would turn around and make one more pass before calling it a day. Now there is nothing more a father wants than for his son to catch a nice size fish after driving 12 hours to get here. I began to think it wasn’t going to happen this time around. I had Randy let a little more line out and I sped the boat up a little to put the lure deeper into the water. Right after making these changes I look back and Randy has one on. The rod he was using was a small light weight so the fight was a little more than a stiffer rod. By the time he brings it in it's a nice rainbow 17inches. If there is anything that puts more of a smile on my face and a bigger tug on my heart than watching Cindy catch a nice one, it is watching my son and grandson bring one in on the same trip out. Way to go guys!!!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and Sunday morning was the end of another “Making Our Dreams Come True”. Randy and family packed it up and headed back toward Denver leaving Grandpa & Grandma more memories to enjoy in the coming years.

Making Friends

One of the most rewarding things we have experienced doing this workamping thing is the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life. We have a man named Wayne and his wife Rae here that have been with us the past 26 out of 31 days. They are from southern California and he is a WW2 vet. The gentleman will turn 88 years young on July 9th and he has been coming to this area the last 50 years. He has taken me out fishing several times in his fishing boat and I have had the pleasure not only of hearing his life experiences but also of catching some very nice fish with him. He had to leave the campground for 5 days due to his 16 day stay, here you can stay 16 days, leave 5 and come back 16 more. He offered me his boat to use while he went to another campground, so Cindy and I got to see the lake and campground from a different view. There is nothing more relaxing and peaceful than fishing in his boat and taking in the beauty of the eagles, the pelicans sweeping down and chasing the seagulls until they drop whatever reward they have in their mouth, or the snow covered mountains off in the distance. For this I would like to thank Rae for giving up her seat and giving me the opportunity to go with Wayne, and to let Wayne know how much I have enjoyed his company while fishing.

There is another gentleman here who is Wayne’s friend named Bob. He has taken Cindy and I out fishing in his boat. Bob is a catch and release person who enjoys hunting for the “big ones”. The pictures I have on the blog are some of the “big ones” we found. Cindy and Bob both hooked one at the same time and brought them in at the same time. The picture is a little hard to tell, but both of the fish were around 23-25 inches and both were rainbow trout. Now I know that some of you are wondering where my fish is. Well I must confess that I got my butt kicked again by my loving wife when it came to the big one(or anything at all that day). But I will say that watching her catch one and trying to reel it in was every bit as rewarding as if I had caught it myself ( well almost). Some of the other pictures here are from our time spent fishing with another couple named Bill & Cathy Allen. The picture with the fish on the table was taken after we had an excellent evening out with them. All of the fish we caught were 17-20 inches in length. Thanks Bill for sharing your boat with us and allowing us the chance to catch some real nice fish!



The opportunity to meet the people above, and have them share some of their life experiences with us, have been some of the most rewarding things about this job. My hope for them is they will continue to have more experiences to share with other people such as Cindy and I.

The other pictures here are of Virginia City which was at one time a very prosperous mining town.

There is a quote I read that said, “life is not about how many breaths you take, but about the moments that take your breath away. Well I must say that Cindy and I are enjoying the “moments that take our breath away”.

Winter in June ??

For any of you that read this blog and would like to view more pictures, sometimes I do not put everything here, let me know by email and I would be happy to share all of the photos we have taken. For those of you who are still wondering, no we are not ready to come back to Indiana,(although we do miss family and friends) and yes we are having the time of our life.

Today, Friday the 5th we took a drive up to Horse Butte overlook. The drive up to the top is now something we have learned to expect, rocky, bumpy, dirty, hole infested, narrow, you get the picture. The rewards of going to the top was nothing short of what we expected. As you can tell by the signs up there, elevation is 7077 ft, but the views were breath taking. We were even able, using the binoculars, to located our camper clear across the lake. I remember my sister MaryAnn had a favorite saying in her year book ( I believe it was the yearbook, if not I apologize to her ) which read something like this, “anything worth having, is worth working for”. Well if one wants to see the beauty that the good lord has created, sometimes you have to put forth a little work or extra effort to accomplish it. Today we did that and the rewards were great!





Sunday morning we woke to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. Vickie said she told Todd not to answer the phone because she was afraid her workampers were calling in to quit. After all the snow we have seen since leaving Indiana we figured 2 inches was nothing, even though it was in June.

Tuesday, June 8th, we took a drive over to Idaho to a place called Big Springs. The name of the town is called Island Park and it prides itself of having the longest “Main Street” in America, about 33 miles long. The owners of the many lodges and resorts there incorporated the town in 1947. The town is only 500 ft wide in most places and 33 miles long. The reason for incorporating the town was to get around Idaho’s laws that said alcohol could not be sold outside the city limits. Pretty smart huh? Big Springs has a log cabin that is listed on the National Historical Registry. The cabin was built by a German immigrant who stood a whooping 4”11 inches. Unfortunately the cabin is closed until July 4th, but to see the craftsmanship that went into it is something else. To give the cabin a finished look, he left the bark on the logs and used this as a decorative finish. The place is really remarkable to see and we only regret it was not open at the time, but we’ll go back in July and see the interior. The drive there was less than 30 miles from the campsite and well worth the trip.



This past week, June 15th through today, we learned some new meaning to the words “cow bells” and “wedding rings”. A couple from Michigan is camping here this week and invited us to go fishing on their boat. They do a lot of trolling and rigged us up some rods with cow bells and wedding rings. It was an experience we have never encountered before, sitting back on a nice soft seat, shooting the breeze and waiting for the fish to hit. We’re happy to say the cow bells, which is a collection of different colored blades from 2-5 inches , attached to a line, a wedding ring, which is some smaller beads and a wedding ring located in the middle of the beads, and a hook with a night crawler, done very well for us. We ended up bring back 8 trout, all between 16 and 19 inches. The rest of the week pretty much was routine, fishing, driving around looking at some new places, and just good of relaxing.