We started our trek east (and north for now) this morning at 10:30AM MDT. We spent the entire trip today on US-191 in Montana. Although the road is very rural, we saw more signs of humanity than we have seen on other Montana roads (like US-89 and US-287 heading up to Glacier National Park). We started in cattle ranching territory and eventually passed through some very green areas which seemed to have more sheep ranching than cattle ranching. Once we passed through Lewistown, MT we got back into drier land (most of the creeks and ponds we passed were dry) and we saw very few ranch houses. We stopped for lunch at a Historic Marker just northeast of Lewistown, MT. This Historic Marker pointed out a turnoff for the gold mining ghost town of Maiden in the Judith Mountains that operated from 1880 – 1905. The Judith Mountains name is derived from Capt. William Clark’s (a.k.a Lewis & Clark) fiancée, Julia (Judith) Hancock.
After lunch we continued north on US-191. The area is so remote that when we dropped down the major grade to cross the Missouri River the bridge was actually fairly narrow. We then had to climb back up a short 7.5% grade in 95 degree heat on the other side of the river. We had to drop down to 3rd gear to keep our RPMs high enough to maintain a decent engine temperature, but we made it just fine. This should be the last major grade of this year’s trip.
We arrived at Antelope Creek Campground within the American Prairie Reserve at approximately 2:15PM MDT. This campground is only about 2 years old and so remote that it does not show up on the Google Maps satellite view. It only recently appeared (within the last month) as a way point. In order to see the satellite view you have to look at Mapquest (apparently still in business). It’s Independence Day and there are only 3 RV’s here and possibly 4 tent sites in use. We are not receiving any AT&T signal for our hotspot, but surprisingly, if we put our phones in the right places we are getting good Verizon signals (via Beth’s Visible account or my Tracfone account). Even more surprisingly, the campground has Wi-Fi and we are achieving 5Mbps/1Mbps upload/download speeds. With no trees in sight for miles (we are on the prairie), we easily connected to all three of DISH’s Western satellites.
Antelope Creek – Site #8 
Antelope Creek – Kitty Time 
Antelope Creek – Independence Day Meal 
Antelope Creek – Sunset on the Praire
