Day 15- Billings MT and Hardin, MT

Although the day started out with some dark clouds in the sky, here in Billings, MT, the day turned out to be a beautiful one. The highlights of the day were Kathy's Birthday, and the Reenactment of Custer's Last Stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn.            After Linda and I had our nails done at WalMart (the best job we have ever had done), we drove 46 miles then a couple of miles on dirt roads, to this field and hill in the middle of no-where, somewhere near Hardin, but not at the original site of the Battle. About a one hour reenactment of the history between the Indians and the Whites, the deterioration of their relationships and then the big battle. While we expected it to be either a bit amateurish or corney, it was neither and was well done, and obviously of great pride to the small town of Hardin. The horses and their riders were awesome. The little children (actors) behaved very well. Unfortunately, we never made it to the official site of the  Little Big Horn National Monument.

After it was over, we rushed back to Billings to finalize the birthday party for Kathy, only to find that the place we thought we had reserved, didn't have us down, and it really wasn't in  a part of town we wanted to be in at night with our Morgans. So I searched around for restaurants close to our hotel- C'mon In- and none could handle a party  of 27 at 7:30 PM. Ultimately, our hotel had a room we could use, I ordered Chinese takeout, ran to Costco for a birthday cake, and we had a wonderful party here. Although I wasn't able to take any pictures of Kathy, I will get one to use. Back to the room to do a bit of handwash, since we didn't seem to have time to get to the laundry today, Philip is asleep and I am trying to catch up on my blog before falling asleep myself.
And thankfully Linda's Dasy May ran perfectly today.

Day 14- Casper to Billings MT

We had high hopes today in leaving from Casper at a relatively decent time, since we had a 300 + mile drive to Billings, MT. Last night at the party, the local Ford Dealer had come to see the Morgans and asked if there was anything he could do to help us. In fact, their was. Dasy May needed new spark plugs and Ken hadn't been able to find the correct side,  and Linda's existing ones were very dirty. The owner has an MG and an excellent mechanic who could help us and would be delivering the spark plugs to us at the Ford Dealership, just bring the car over.

Naturally, Dasy May didn't want to run on more than 2 cylinders today so it ended up with Linda and I going to meet Mike, sans Dasy May and at least pick up the plugs which did. Somehow, Philip and George switched the spark plug wires to the correct plugs and they could get her to run on 3 cylinders. So as Linda and I traveled back to the hotel, clear across town, Philip and George hearded to the Ford Dealer. Eventaully we caught up with each other, and discovered Philip's spark plug wrench went wasn't long enough. Do off to by a new tool. The long spark plugs were the proper ones, and once inserted, we headed over Mike for a better check on the car. He advanced the timing for the elevation (and told us to retarded it in Vancouver), checked the compression- all okay, and also looked for the proper spark plug wires, which he didn't find. Now being 1 PM, we headed off for a 330 miles drive for the day going the scenic route. A stop for a root beer float, arrival at 8:15 PM, a few G&T's, no dinner and we retired exhausted for the day.

Day 13- Fort Collins to Casper, WY

I can hardly remember back to this day now...umm.. John and Gail from Fort Collins have joined us now and will be following us through Cambria. We slowly went through Fort Collins, an affluent community on the outskirts of Denver, with many traffic signals. Another day with beautiful blue skies.  We stopped in Laramie for breakfast with the Europeans, then went on to the old Wyoming Territorial prison. It was a fascinating stop, a AAA GEm. Unfortunately we had only an hour, so had to rush through itl There were other sites in Laramie, but we just didn't have time.  John had suggested we stop at a small town Medicine Bow between Laramie and Casper, so we did and visited the cute museum and wonderful old hotel

Once we arrived in Casper, we determined that Dasy May (and Linda) had another trying day, with Ken needing to drive her since Linda became very frustrated.  (Must go get ready now- will catch up someday.

(Pauls' Birthday party )

Day 12 -Leadville to Fort Collins

LOVELAND PASS PART WAY UP

It  was an another beautiful day to head up over the Rockies and onto Fort Collins. Soon after leaving, we headed up the Loveland Pass which reached almost 12,000 feet as well as being on the Continental Divide. Although instructions were given to not go through the Eisenhower tunnel, but to divert to the pass, most of the MOAers missed the diversion. However, once through the tunnel. they did come back up to the summit.

LOVELAND PASS SUMMIT

Once over the pass we entered the Rocky Mountain National Park and Construction delays Again we went up to over 12,000, only this time, it was straight down each side of the road, AND we had to sit at the summit for 20 minutes. It was quite scary,.

Members of the Fort Collins British Car Club were to meet us at the Estes Park Visitor Center, which they did, but we didn't make it in time, due to construction delays.