Montana - Days 19 & 20 - in the Sidney campground

America First RV Park, Sidney

Friday, 19 and Saturday, 20 August 2022

I got quite a bit done in the 2 days we were here, though it didn't feel like nearly enough because I didn't make much progress on my blog.  I did manage to finish Idaho, but being 3 weeks late, it didn't seem like much of an accomplishment.

I cleaned the windows, which was no small task.  Take a look at my front end.

Those are locust bodies smeared all over the front.  I had to chip off their remains from the windshield and headlights with my fingernails.  And that was after I cleared whole carcasses out of the places they'd landed.  Frankly, I think it'd be a better evolutionary adaptation if they'd stayed on the ground like grasshoppers instead of flying around, which pits them against motor vehicles where they'll always lose.

I located and wrote down driving routes for the 4 days of travel after we leave here.  And I located someone who could try to fix the problem causing my "check engine" light.  I found a grocery store, pet store and Chase bank in Billings - the next big city we come to.

I did some cleaning chores - cleaned the AC filters, did the laundry, took a shower - like that.

Dexter and I found some places to walk, including a short sort of nature trail above the campground.  Pleasant, though I worried about ticks.  Dext is protected, but I'm not.

Once when we were out, I was idly watching a Robin, except I came to decide it wasn't a Robin.  Female Robins tend to have colors more washed out than the males, but I finally decided that wasn't what made this bird look wrong.  It was because it wasn't a Robin.  And once I'd finally gotten that idea clear, for some reason the name "Phoebe" popped into my mind.  Which was lucky because that's indeed what this bird was - a Say's Phoebe.

Say's Phoebe

It's described as being a "drab" bird, but I think it's sophisticated to be so underplayed in your coloring.  My bird book said Montana is in its breeding range.  I'd've said mid-August was outside the breeding period, but at least I know it's supposed to be here.  I have no idea how I knew that's what this bird I was looking at was, but I was patting myself on the back for a while after I'd checked the bird book.

The campground was completely gravel, except for a few areas of weeds and stickers.  Okay for me, because I wear shoes, but Dext wasn't happy about the situation.  Plus locusts continued to be thick when we walked - especially in the nature area.

But it was quiet here.  A Pizza Hut was immediately next door to the campground, so of course I had to order one on our last night.  It gave me something to look forward to - a night of no cooking.

And I was lucky on something else, too.  The whole time I was here I didn't see or hear anything particularly political, or even religious.  That was a relief because I'd've hated to be in a position of having to deal with it.