Special Agent Cooper Takes Montana

[CatskillsRunner]

Hello ExPo-ers! My name is Kristy. I am 7 days from taking a 24-day trip from the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York to Montana in my 2007 100 Series Land Cruiser. My traveling partner will be my German Shepherd, Special Agent Cooper (--for the David Lynch fans; the rest of you can just call him Coop). I will be camping the entire time.

My husband will fly into Great Falls, then together we will hit the Missouri River for a few days around Craig. Then we will head west to Glacier and raft the North Fork of the Flathead, camp, enjoy Glacier, and then head east again to do a multi-day raft trip in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. My brother and his wife will drive up from LA and camp and raft with us on the Flathead and then do the multi-day trip with us.

Then they will head to Yellowstone while we drive south. We will enjoy a few days on the Bighorn River, doing floats and fishing each day, then I will drop Tim off in Billings so he can fly home.

From there I will head into Wyoming, and hope to meet up with a buddy of mine, so we can hit some trails before I have to head home.

I had been driving a 2010 4Runner until December of this year and had planned on driving it to Montana, and I sold it on a whim because I yearned for a Land Cruiser. My husband bought a 2002 LC after a lot of prodding on my part and after I always seemed to be begging him to let me drive it, he gave me his blessing to get a 100 of my own.

A lot of work had to be done to my LC to make it ready for this trip.

First, I had to get the PM done. It is a 2007 w/ 116k miles when I bought it (has 125k now). It got a new muffler, we put in new sparkplugs, we rebooted the CVs, and it got all new fluids. It has been fun and rewarding doing much of the work ourselves.

Then I did what I wanted to it…Gobi Stealth roof rack and ladder, snorkel, lights, added remote start and Bluetooth, new General Grabbers in a 285. We are putting in Airlift Airbags this week.

This week it will go to Prestige Toyota in Kingston to have all the work done that we didn’t have time to do…new AHC fluid, fuel induction service, new rear bell cranks, new engine and cabin air filters, new heater T’s, and a last oil change and tire rotation before I head out. I am hoping to get some of this done ourselves but we are running out of time.

I will be towing a trailer, which will hold our rafts, frames, coolers, and other equipment. The trailer just returned from getting serviced and we have started packing.

I will post some pics. this evening of the LC, me & Coop.

Please follow along with me! I would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Here we are...

Having a heck of a time finding files that are small enough to include. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[chilliwak]

Wow looks like a cool trip. Tell me when agent coop will be going to northern Washington and visit twin peaks. I will be looking forward to seeing pics of your trip and seeing how Coop enjoys the scenery...:wings:

 

[Foy]

Cool trip! Looking forward to following along, especially on the Breaks and the Bighorn floats, two parts of Montana I've yet to have the pleasure of visiting.

Foy

 

[Scott H Murray]

Here we are...

Having a heck of a time finding files that are small enough to include. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I use flickr and link from there choosing the fiel size, otherwise photobucket would also work.
Image resizers are also available in editing software such as lightroom.

 

[CatskillsRunner]

I use flickr and link from there choosing the fiel size, otherwise photobucket would also work.
Image resizers are also available in editing software such as lightroom.

Thank you very much. I'll experiment with this to find a workable solution this week.

Cool trip! Looking forward to following along, especially on the Breaks and the Bighorn floats, two parts of Montana I've yet to have the pleasure of visiting.

Foy

We've never been to Montana. We usually stay in Colorado and Utah, and while canyon country feels like home to me, I'm really excited to see and experience Montana.

The Bighorn, from what I've read, is high prairie. The fishing is supposed to be splendid, with lots of access points. The Breaks looks Badlandsy. Otherworldly. But with cows!

Wow looks like a cool trip. Tell me when agent coop will be going to northern Washington and visit twin peaks. I will be looking forward to seeing pics of your trip and seeing how Coop enjoys the scenery...:wings:

I would love to come further than Montana. My folks will have my 5 year old daughter in Disney World for much of our trip (who would've guessed grizzly country might be safer than Disney World!), so I'm sure I'll be ready to head east in mid-July because I will miss her so much.

Thank you for following along!

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Here is a better pic. of me and the LC. For some reason I was able to upload these tonight.

Don't make fun of my little brown. I was very proud of that fish!

 

[Foy]

Yes, and..............

Thank you very much. I'll experiment with this to find a workable solution this week.



We've never been to Montana. We usually stay in Colorado and Utah, and while canyon country feels like home to me, I'm really excited to see and experience Montana.

The Bighorn, from what I've read, is high prairie. The fishing is supposed to be splendid, with lots of access points. The Breaks looks Badlandsy. Otherworldly. But with cows!



I would love to come further than Montana. My folks will have my 5 year old daughter in Disney World for much of our trip (who would've guessed grizzly country might be safer than Disney World!), so I'm sure I'll be ready to head east in mid-July because I will miss her so much.

Thank you for following along!

I believe the Bighorn River below the dam is on par with the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah--thousands and thousands of fish per mile. Missouri Breaks are very much Badlands-like. Expect very little shade and possibly very high temps. Not far out of the way headed from Glacier to the Upper Breaks is Rock Creek, just east of Missoula. For 41 miles south of I-90, Rock Creek Rd follows the canyon all the way to MT 348 just outside of Philipsburg. Blue Ribbon trout stream with a half-dozen NF campgrounds and lots of disbursed camping. An overnight at the Dalles CG and fishing your way up the creek to MT 348 is a great day.

Foy

 

[galvyork]

Hey Kristy, I had a similar problem with my pictures. I just used paint and clicked on the resize button and then took them down to 75%. Some I cropped and didn't have to resize them. The limit is 4 MB I think so anything under you should be good. Good luck safe travels. Don

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Pre game

So I am packed and ready. I had a wheel out of balance so had to spend some time in town but it seems fine now.

I hope to reach Ohio tomorrow and drive about 9 hours. Coop saw his leash get packed and he's been trying to get into the Cruiser ever since.

The air bags have lifted the end of the truck up and during a brief test drive I barely knew the trailer was back there. It's a lot of gear to outfit four folks to raft and two to raft, fly fish, and camp. What a difference having the airbags makes!

So excited to be heading west in a vehicle I am obsessed with.

I'll check in tomorrow night!

 

[Titanpat57]

Safe travels Kid....keep the pictures coming...love the new truck!

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Be where you are

Last year I was teaching one of my junior classes and we were discussing being present and how difficult that is. We are always stuck in the past or pondering the future. I myself pine for the smell of sagebrush, which I know is still two days away. Or I keep thinking about a conversation I had yesterday.

I attended those same kids' graduation on Friday night and one of my students performed a song she wrote, accompanied by her ukelele. And the chorus of the song was "be where you are," which was one of the things I repeated to them, over and over, last year. So, of course, it made the evening even more emotional than usual for me.

It was a reminder that I needed.

I basked in the sunshine on my bare shoulders all day as I drove. The wind knotted my hair. I found childlike thrill in chasing the waning moon west. I still returned to the conversation from yesterday, and the desire to be out West already. But I tried to focus on being where I was.

It took all day to get into the rhythm of driving cross country. By the time I did, it was only the semis and me. And it was my exit.

I am at Harrison Lake State Park in OH. We got some good rain but just as I pulled into camp, the sun, and a rainbow, came out. And the trailer lights that have been plaguing me all day I think I have fixed. I'm going to have to drive close to Chicago tomorrow, which does not thrill me, but it should be smooth sailing after that.

Sagebrush...

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Safe travels Kid....keep the pictures coming...love the new truck!

I remember you!

Saw a silver 10-13 Trail 4R towing a trailer today. Don't know what state I was in. Gobi, lifted, black wheels. Love my Hundy, but damn, that is one sexy truck.

 

[CatskillsRunner]

Iowa

I thought I was not at all being ambitious by planning to get to MT in 4 days. But when we had driven west in years past we ate fast food, as we drove, and drove from 6 am to 9 pm. We could get to Burlington, CO, by the second day, and were floating the Colorado by the third. Camping takes more work in the morning than tying my hair in a ponytail, and I wish now that I had allotted more time to get there. I think the trip would have been more enjoyable.

But, alas, here I am in Iowa and what a gorgeous day. I managed to get to camp about 7. Iowa is hillier than I remember. Hard to use the cruise control without ramping up the rpms too much. Ryan, are you there? My TPM system has lost its mind. Trying to ignore it, but it has been flashing intermittently all day. I actually raised the steering wheel so I couldn't see it anymore.

At one point in Indiana I was reminded of that Sal Paradise line in On the Road about the arrow shooting out all the way. I need to read it again.

Tomorrow's goal is the Black Hills. They are calling for the possibility of 1" hail out there tomorrow. Not on me Hundy!! I originally wanted to stay in the Badlands and I'm really glad I'm not with the forecast the way it looks.

Speaking of bad weather, I have a no-hotels rule for myself this trip. I am also trying to buy as little as necessary. All I've bought so far has been ice and gas. Have I mentioned, incidentally, how economical my trusty LC is? I am currently getting 9.6 mpg. Ouch! But I smile inexplicably when I drive it. Seriously. What's that worth?

I made up a lot of food beforehand and am eating avocados for lunch and salads for dinner with chicken, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, and broccoli. No junk food, just beer after dinner! Enjoying Sam's Summer Ale right now.

I will have to stock up on groceries once I pick my husband up in Great Falls but have plenty to get me through the next few days.

I had to retreat into my tent to finish posting this and read The Journals of Lewis & Clark. The bugs would have carried me away.

I'm not sure if I'll have service in the Black Hills tomorrow. I will try to post some pics. tomorrow evening.

 

[unkamonkey]

Thanks for the post. I sort of know that area and half of my relations came from Iowa.
Nice pup. I had to go over and scratch the four at my neighbors yesterday. I wore the wrong color shirt.