Livingston, MT

Saturday, September 7

We woke up this morning in Big Timber, Montana to a muddy mess outside our RV. It rained all night and we were parked in a field by the Yellowstone River. At 6:30am, Andi flew the drone over the river between breaks in the rain while I caught up on blogging. It was too wet and muddy to workout outside. The kids woke up around 7:30am.

Andi made pancakes and sausage for breakfast, and then we packed up our campsite to move on to a new location. Before we left Big Timber, we threw a load of laundry in at the Lariat Laundromat and decided to walk around the sleepy small town. Andi has stayed in Big Timber many times for work, but one spot he’s never been to is Cole Drug — known for their famous old-fashioned milkshakes. We decided to treat the kids to ice cream, even though it was 10:00am! We already had breakfast, right?

The inside of Cole Drug was like a step back in time. The apothecary sold medicine, a few souvenirs and home goods, and had an old-fashioned service counter with spinning bar stools. Tory ordered a strawberry milkshake with hot fudge and caramel and Aden ordered a vanilla milkshake with whipped cream and a cherry on top. Andi decided to try the Green River — soda water with lime syrup. I figured I could steal sips of everyone else’s drinks.

The gal working the counter commended us for feeding our children ice cream before Noon. She had quite a laugh about that. It’s not the worst thing in the world, right? Just look at those faces!

After milkshakes, we returned to Lariat Laundromat to switch our load of wash to the dryer, and then we went to a nearby park to kill time until our laundry was finished. Andi suggested I workout in the park while he ran to the meat store across town. So, the kids bundled up and hit the playground while I found a dry spot underneath a park shelter to crank out my workout. Twenty minutes into exercising, I jumped into a power squat and threw out my back! I instantly fell to the ground. I can’t remember the last time I felt pain that intense. My back had been sore all week — I’m not sure if if it was from workouts, traveling in a vehicle for long hours, sleeping in a different bed, or all of the above — I triggered something and my back completely seized up. After a few minutes, I was able to pull myself up to a standing position and hobble back to the RV. Ugh! It was awful.

Now, we had a decision to make because my injury threw a wrench in our plans for the day. We were planning to go to the Natural Bridge State Park near Big Timber for the afternoon and camp there overnight, but there was no way I could hike now. Instead, we decided to go to Livingston, Montana. Andi heard about a place called Chico Hot Springs in Pray, Montana and thought that might be a good, low-key, activity for the day.

First— we were hungry, so when we arrived in Livingston, Andi drove straight to Gil’s Goods for lunch. Gil’s Goods is Andi’s favorite restaurant in the area and he didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to eat there. The restaurant was packed on a Saturday afternoon, so Andi took charge of ordering for us while the kids and I found a table. Andi ordered a burger and spinach artichoke pizza for us to split and a cheese pizza for the kids to share. The food was delicious!

After lunch, we went to the grocery store to get Motrin and IcyHot pads for my back, and to Follow Yer Nose BBQ to pickup pulled pork for tomorrow’s lunch. After that, we drove to Chico Hot Springs.

We’ve been to different hot springs around the world and some are literally a stream by the side of the highway. Others, like the one we went to in Costa Rica this past winter, are upscale resorts with several pools and spas. Chico Hot Springs proved to be an experience of its own. I’d call it a mix between a bowling alley and a city pool. There were two pools of natural hot springs, one larger than the other. One thing I noticed about this place is that everyone was welcomed. There were babies as young as 4 weeks old and elderly people approaching their 80’s. Families. Partiers. Everyone was welcome and there weren’t many rules. The water inside the bigger pool was a warm 95 degrees and felt great on my back. Aden instantly found a group of little boys to pal around with and happily played with them for the rest of the afternoon.

Eventually, Andi and I moved into the hotter hot springs pool which was closer to 105 degrees. A young couple sitting near us in that pool introduced themselves. They were from Bemidji, MN and on their honeymoon. We swapped travel stories and shared some camping tips with them.

We ended up staying in the Chico Hot Springs for 3 hours. It ended up being a really chill afternoon. Around 5:30pm, Andi suggested we pack up and move along since we still needed to find a campsite for the night. I’d hoped to get a free hot shower in the locker room, but no such luck. Surprisingly, the showers at the hot spring were ice cold!

Now back in the RV, we left Chico and drove to a nearby fishing access point called Paradise (also known as Dan Bailey). Unfortunately, all four camping sites were already taken for the night. Andi and I were kicking ourselves for not reserving a spot earlier in the day when we drove by. We should have realized we’re in Paradise Valley, Montana on a weekend night — it was bound to be busier.

We drove along to the next fishing access point on the Yellowstone River and that was also full. Bummer! Andi and I decided to drive inland to another campground called Pine Creek which had 35 camping spots. Hopefully, we’d get lucky and find one there.

The drive up the mountain into Pine Creek was a steep and narrow one, but fortunately paved blacktop the entire way. When we arrived, there were only two sites left for the night and we were able to snag one. Lucky #13. Phew! Just as the sun began to set.

My back was feeling a little better after Ibuprofen and a soak in the hot springs, to the point where I could at least stand up to cook dinner. While I did that, Andi added additional lights to the back of our RV for increased visibility around the e-bikes.

It was dark outside by the time dinner was ready, so we ate inside the RV. It was almost 9:00pm by the time we finished eating, so we cleaned up and hit the hay. I was in rough shape and ready for bed! The kids were tired, too. Fortunately, our campground at Pine Creek was nice and quiet.

Tomorrow, we planned to visit with a few work friends of Andi’s who live between Livingston and Big Timber.