Riding around the Centennial Mountains

You might think that I get tired of driving around with Dad on his many trips. Well, I don’t. It’s always fun to jump into the Jeep and lean my head out the window to smell all the animals along the road. I also enjoy jumping out at every stop that Dad points his black box at the flowers or other animals. I guess it’s the freedom to explore that makes me happy. Laying around the RV Park all day is OK, but driving with Dad is great.

We stopped in front of the west Centennial mountains. It's a beautiful day in Montana state!

This time Dad said we were going to drive completely around a big mountain range. I wasn’t sure what that meant but it sounded fun the way he said it. I took my favorite toy and jumped into the back of the Jeep. It was at least 15 minutes later that Dad finally came out and we left. (I get a little nervous that he might change his mind about taking me, so I like to hop in early and wait.)

The mountain range that we were going to drive around is called the Centennial Range in the states of Idaho and Montana. Dad said our RV Park lies at the NorthEast end of the range so we get to see the Eastern part quite a lot. We are going to circle it so we will get to see some of the western and southern part too. We should see some animals and of course, lots of flowers for Dad to point his black box at. I’m ready.

Dad found this Wild Rose that smelled so sweet!

Dad always drives slow so he won’t scare away the birds and the animals. The first bird that we saw was a big Red Tailed Hawk. He was sitting on a rock in a meadow looking for breakfast. It would be really hard work if I had to look for my breakfast every morning in the forest or meadows. It’s nice to have Dad fix it for me and serve it to me in the motorhome.

We spotted this big Red Tailed Hawk looking for breakfast at Red Rock Lakes Nat'l Wildlife Refuge.

Soon I spotted one of my favorite animals, a ground squirrel. He wasn’t on the ground though, he was on a fence post looking around. (Maybe he’s called a fence squirrel?) I barked and he ran away. I was proud that I could protect Dad from such scary creatures.

Dad loves the Western Bluebirds. He says they are so blue. (Duh!)

Dad stopped when he saw a Western bluebird flying. Dad pointed his box at the bird and he flew away. I don’t think birds like to be pointed at. There are lots of bluebirds here. Dad loves the bluebirds. I guess he like the color blue?

Dad said this was a ground squirrel. I think it is a fence post squirrel!

We drove along the mountains and stopped from time to time to let me sniff and Dad pointed his box at flowers. There were lots of flowers. I could smell them and most of them smell really sweet. I guess I like the flowers for their smells and Dad likes them for their colors. I don’t do color well and Dad doesn’t do smells well, so it fits!

I met a new friendly human on his bike machine. His name was Michael. He was going a far way.

We reached the Upper Red Rock Lakes campground and Dad stopped for a rest. I met a new friend named Michael. He was riding his bike machine from outside our country in Canada to Mexico. A very long ride. He liked me and I sniffed his bike machine. He was from a country far away called Switzerland. Dad says they have lots of high mountain there too! Dad pointed his black box at a Western Tanager, we walked down to the lake and then we left.

We saw a big black vulture bird eating a calf. Dad said a bear killed it. I bet the vulture paid him to do it!

Once we stopped because Dad saw a big Vulture (this is a big black bird with a sharp beak) eating a small calf. I was scared of the Vulture until Dad explained that a big Grizzly Bear probably killed the calf. (Then I was scared of the bear.! I wondered if the Vulture hired the bear to kill the calf, because I didn’t see the bear. If a bear killed the calf, shouldn’t he be eating it?)

We took a side road into the mountains once. I saw a creek flowing with water and lots of trees and flowers. I smelled a bear but didn’t see one (darn!). We reached the end of the road and I peeked over the end to see another road, but we couldn’t get to it in the Jeep. I guess the humans that owned this land didn’t want us to go any further. We turned around and went back to the main road, but we did stop a couple times for me to sniff.

On the south side of the mountains we saw a few deer. He just stared at us until I barked, then he ran away.

On the south side of the mountains we saw a lot of deer. I wanted to run after them but Dad wouldn’t let me out of the car to run. I enjoyed sniffing for the deer and I let Dad know when I saw them.

Dad said the willow trees that grow by the creek along the road is a great place to see Moose. But.. he also said they usually can only be seen near dark. They are afraid of humans and only come out when the humans go in. I don’t blame them since I understand that humans are allowed to shoot them. I bet it would be different if Moose had guns! I would also hide from humans if they were allowed to hunt dogs with guns. I was sorry that I couldn’t see a Moose. They are big and scary, but awesome to see and smell. Maybe another time.

A white Retriever was protecting the sheep. I wish I could do that!

I got tired looking out the window, especially after about 8 hours of riding so I laid down and tried to sleep. Suddenly I smelled something familiar, jumped up and looked out. I saw a whole field of sheep. I like sheep. There’s something about their smell I like. Then I saw a fellow Golden Retriever out with the sheep. He was a white retriever. He was in charge of the sheep and ran towards us to keep us away from the sheep. Dad says he was a working dog. I want to be a working do too! I could have lots of fun running after the sheep and protecting them.

Some big mountains were on the south side of the range too!

The mountains were nice on this side of the mountain range too. Dad stopped several times to let me out (and to point his box). By this time I was pretty tired so I laid down and slept. Before I knew it I was home and was happy to see Mom. She was sewing in the motorhome and soon I was asleep outside. Life was back to normal again.

There were lots of Sunflowers along the road for Dad to look at. They did smell sweet to me.

If you want to drive all around the mountains and creeks and lakes and see a lot of wild animals and wild flowers, come see me at RedRock RV Park this summer. Ask for Reggie. Most humans know me.

Arf

Reggie