Bozeman – Gateway to Yellowstone

We were on our way to Bozeman by seven thirty and by ten we came into a little lumber town called Drummond. It had an elevation of 3,948 and Population of 333. We looked for the golden arches and this town was not on their list. So we settled for The Wagon Wheel hotel and restaurant we entered and seated ourselves in the nearest booth. Out in the center of the room was a large round table with eight of the 333 people of Drummond. It was only 8:30 but they got together to wish happy birthday to one of their revered seniors on her 75^th birthday. People here get up early and put in a full day so this early festivity was not unusual.
We put in our order and waited watching the center group as they gossiped about things they had in common. On our table were small pamphlets left for sale by the author. Their titles were unusual and they caught our eye: How to Share a Bad Attitude, Understanding Women, Geezer hood. I opened up the Geezer hood book and read inside .There it had a certificate for being a part of the Geezer hood fraternity. It read:
Certificate of Official Gezzerhood
Given this day_____________ to______________ for living past the age of bodily function and well
Into the age of collapse. Bestowed by the age land arthritic, BG
These books were written by Ben Goode of Nephi, Utah, and published by Apricot Press
The waitress informed us that Mr. Goode was a rather strange fellow with a dry side of humor. He would come by with a new set of books every year or so and collect any money from the sale of his books. I thought I would like to meet this dude and see for myself what he was made of.
Our order arrived and it was a hearty helping of eggs, roasted potatoes, and bacon with toast. We ate until we were full and make our way to Bozeman. We noticed that the road and the railroad tracks followed the river. We could tell where the rivers were from far away as a row of trees and foliage grew next to the river. As we drove, it was fun to see the river alongside and how it moved on one side of the road and then the other but we always had a view.

Nearing our campsite we placed the address to our Garmin Girl and she led us to the Koa Campground that was right next to a fitness center. How great is that! We selected out campsite in a quiet section of the campground under a shady poplar tree. We set up our tent and then we decided to go for a work out and a swim. We went into the Fitness Center the back way through the side fence. There was an outside pool and also an indoor pool. As we entered the pool area we noticed that it was very unusual in that there were several pools in the front with waterfalls and the large pool in the middle and separate small pools in the back. The indoor room felt like a sauna and it was very humid. We continued our walk to the front and found a beautiful workout room with rows and rows of cardio equipment: treadmills, stair climbers, stationary bikes, and elliptical machines. There was another room for aerobic dance. This was the slow time of the year so the only dance program they had was ZUMBA. The price for the use of the facility was $35 and $5 more for Zumba . The pool however was free since they had a deal with the KOA. Furthermore, the pool was a natural hot spring and very popular with tourist. We got a chance to speak with Chad, the personal trainer. He was interested in our adventure and we told him that we were going to North Dakota after Yellowstone. He said a much more interesting trip would be to go through South Dakota and see Deadwood and go on to Mt. Rushmore and it would not take us out of our way if we were traveling east. We stopped to consider this and thought it might just be a good idea. We left then to get our swim suits and try out the natural hot spring.
I remember as a little girl in Bolivia our family used to go to an enclosed room where there were hot springs. This experience brought back some of those feelings, like the sulfur smell. Certain things you never forget.

We walked into the pool area and we were amazed at the large Japanese community that John and I wanted to do was swim our laps. Everyone could see we were serious when we put on our goggles, and me my bathing cap and ear plugs. So we picked ourselves lanes that went the length of the pool and hoped everyone got out of our way. John said he only bumped into one girl who wiggled and giggled out of the way. I chose to go the width of the pool which was about 25 yards and I could see that I could navigate around people at the end of the pool. Now, I only had to watch out for John the Shark who would cross my path. Afterwards, we followed the routine of the Japanese bathers and jumped from one pool to the others. By this time our fingers looked like prunes and we knew it was time to get out. We walked into the Fitness Center locker rooms and had great showers and fresh towels. The afternoon was a real treat!

We got dressed and went into town to see if we could pick out a dinner to bring home to the camp site. We were quite impressed with the town. It was quaint with several Western Gear stores that were full of beautiful boots and clothes for the rich and famous. There were also several hunting stores with stuffed trophies of local animals and beast from Africa and Asia. Hunting was a sport that was on the top of the list here as we noticed the number of hunting materials for sale. I had an eye for hunting a good book and noticed a second hand book store and dove in. I was actually looking for On the Road by Jack Kerouac as I left my half read copy back in a hotel somewhere. We got to taking with the owner and he started telling us about the wonders of Yellowstone. I ended up buying a book on Yellowstone that he recommended. We thanked him for his advice on how to get the most out of two days in the park, and left to get out food and an evening of planning our second half of our adventure.