Fourth Annual Pleasure-Way Big Timber Campout
Fun Times at the Big Timber Campout. Local businesses, Van City, and Pleasure-Way have all been great supporters. Food, advice, trading stories and songs, plus open houses have all been great... and all this before the rodeo starts.
Coming from Lincoln, Montana we found our way to Big Timber and pulled into Spring Creek Campground about four o'clock.
After settling into our site, we walked over to check in with the Pleasure-Way group at the pavilion where all the group events were held.
Hanging on the wall, a big map had pushpins with yellow flags represented the home towns of all the people attending.
A few hours later, everyone gathered for a Meet and Greet with appetizers, wine and beer.
6/27/2019
Thursday began at 0830 with announcements by Joan McDaniel and a big breakfast.
Kudos to Joan (standing with mic) for making everyone feel welcome and at home.
Breakfast melded into extended door prize drawings. Local businesses, Pleasure-Way, and Van City all donated very nice door prizes.
No one left empty handed. Our prize was the autobiography Journey Through Life written by Sidonia Bovee. She and her husband built Spring Creek Campground and Trout Ranch after moving here from Germany. Donia was even kind enough to autograph her book for Beth.
After a short break, we returned at 1000 for a Q&A with Service Technician Ron Ruf and Sales Representative Jamie Hamann from the local Pleasure-Way dealer, Van City, in Kalispell.
After lunch on our own, people were invited back to the pavilion to share travel stories, tips, and advice. An XL model pulled up to make a perfect audio visual platform for a presentation about driving the Going to the Sun road at Glacier National Park. Timed perfectly, the cottonwoods filled the air around us with white just as the video showed snow falling in Glacier.
6/28/2019
The second day was open for visiting or exploring on your own until dinner time. Lots of folks had their vans open to share storage tips, accessories, and add-ons.
Sarah, Katie, and Mark were all friendly and have since started a video blog of their adventures called Dog Gone RV'n.
Bigger units had room to carry outdoor furniture and yard art.
Fiamma makes a ladder that fits Promaster based units without obstructing the license plate.
While some folks use sticker maps to share their travels, the Alberts hang a collection of pins.
For those that are listening for a better cell phone reception, Joel Albert demonstrated his extension pole for his weBoost Drive 4G-X cell phone booster.
Another simple add-on was this stainless steel screen for a furnace vent. It was held on by a simple piece of solid wire twisted through the vent and screen.
This over the door towel rack fit perfectly on a galley cabinet door. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the source.
A table was available for owners with items to sell or trade.
Walking back for the BBQ at 1700, we passed a nesting box with three baby birds chirping for their dinners. Dinner was good and we enjoyed getting to know other owners.
That was the first night of the Sweet Grass Rodeo. Folks that didn't go to that, relaxed after and a few even shared their musical talents.
6/29/2019
Saturday started with the Sweet Grass Festival in town. Big Timber has a classic western Main Street with a view of the Crazy Mountains in the distance.
The Timber Bar has a unique neon sign.
Local merchants were super welcoming. The chamber of commerce distributed signs welcoming Pleasure-Way campers. Merchants also donated very nice gifts for use as door prizes at our campout.
Big Timber had not one, but two, quilt shops. This one had sewing supplies for Beth and candy for me.
A parade started at two o'clock combining marching bands, fire trucks, horses and tractor drawn floats. Just like in small town NC, lots of candy was tossed to children along the route.
Cole Drug had a real soda fountain. We bought some of the last milk shakes before they closed up so employees could enjoy the parade.
After fun in town, we drove out past the campground to Natural Bridge and Falls. We weren't the only van owners with that idea.
Blue sky, granite outcroppings, and lots of conifers framed the trail to the falls.
The water here disappears into the rock and emerges in a canyon downstream.
After enjoying the walk along the falls, we drove further to find a spot in the national forest where one could boondock in peace. Noting the spot for future travels we headed back to town and found a parking spot at the fairgrounds before the crowds arrived for the second night of the Sweet Grass Rodeo. We made dinner while watching the participants prepare themselves and their horses.
This is our first rodeo! Opened by the Bozeman Saddle-ites precision riding team, it was a truly enjoyable evening.
I was impressed by the the two “clean-up riders” who fetched the bucking broncos and bulls after they discharged those who tried to ride them. They wore white button down shirts and really knew what they were doing. The same two guys worked all evening and never looked frazzled.
There were a constantly changing string of events. Trying to stay on the back of a bucking horse was one of the more challenging ones.
We learned that Bucking Horses are bred just to buck. They are not useful for anything but discharging riders. This young lad held on despite losing his helmet.
Cattle roping was fun to watch. The skills displayed wielding a rope while riding a horse were impressive.
Bull riding is not for the faint of heart.
I don't know if riders get style points, but this guy held on much longer than average and looked good doing it.
Steer roping not only involved lassoing a cow, but wrestling them to the ground and tying their feet together.
Barrel racing involved riders and their mounts speeding around the field weaving between barrels, making a very fast turn, and repeating the course in the opposite direction.
Reaching the final event, the announcer said “For those of you who are from out of town, this is what we like to do - get together on Saturday night and put our small children on farm animals.” Mutton busting was four year olds trying to ride sheep 🐑 out of the bronco busting gates.
And this young man was the winner!
We thoroughly enjoyed our first rodeo. I was particularly impressed with the crowd support. There was applause and cheering for every participant. People were refreshingly polite, even when leaving the overfilled parking lot. Everyone took turns merging and the only horns around were those attached to cattle.
6/30/2019
Our last full day in Big Timber started with the excitement of sighting eagles just across the Boulder River.
I traded my 200-500 zoom with Joel Albert’s fast 300mm lens and a 1.4 teleconverter so we could both experiment.
After capturing shots of the eagles we drove out to Prairie Dog Village State Park.
Even though the park abuts a major road, the Crazy Mountains dominate the scene.
Prairie dogs were alert and abundant.
From the park, we hurried back to the campground in time for all the ice cream we could eat (Huckleberry and Vanilla) served up by the local chamber of commerce.
Many thanks are due to Joan McDaniel, Laurie Randall, Marilyn Melstein and Andy Mirdik for organizing this wonderful campout.
To memorialize the event we set-up the camera and tripod for a group photo. One of the chamber ladies is not just an ice cream scooper, but a professional photographer, so she pressed the shutter.
A Cruise America rental RV came in and we all posed around it. One of the other campers wanted to send it to Pleasure-Way to make them chuckle.
After letting the ice cream settle, we shared dinner with Bob and Tracy. Just as we sat down to eat the wind really kicked up. Everyone gathered up their food and moved into our little Lexor and we all fit!
After dinner we all gathered for one last big campfire to say farewell and munch on s’mores.
Sunday morning the Pavilion was stocked with snacks for the road, just one more thoughtful touch to a magical time in Big Timber.
Joan's van had a custom tire cover sporting a perfect sentiment for traveling in small RV's.
BobK - Thanks for the comment. The drawer on our 2018 Lexor has been working fine. I opened it today and verified that there is a large circular magnet at the back that helps keep the drawer closed. We don't have lots of weight in there, just three pot lids, potholders and a cutting board.
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