Day 21-Rolling With the Herd through Montana
October 9th, 2025
In the morning, we leave the idyllic small-town campground in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains and set out for Livingston, MT — 230 miles to the northeast. We drive past sprawling cattle ranches, leaving the mountains behind for the open plains. Hundreds of cows graze in the fields, and stacks of hay bales are cut and stored, ready for winter feed.
Reading a local paper, I learn some fun statistics: Montana has approximately 2.4 million cows — that’s 1.99 cows per person. Wyoming has 2.2 million, or 2.2 cows per person. That’s a lot of cows! Cattle ranching is clearly big business in the Wild West. Along I-90, we also pass loaded cattle trucks heading to market.
We stop for souvenirs at the Crow Reservation — and that’s another story (I’ll buy you a beer if you want to hear about the fleecing of TK). Soon, we’re rolling through Billings and onward to Livingston, with the north entrance to Yellowstone National Park just ahead.
Livingston is bustling — traffic, people, trains — and the economy seems healthy. At the town campground where we’re staying, we meet Linda in the office. She and her husband moved here from Toledo four years ago. “We never looked back,” she says. “I have two daughters back there and we visit once a year. My husband still has a house, but I told him to sell it — we’re not moving back. We love living in Livingston.”
After finding our camp spot, we head downtown for an early dinner at The Fainting Goat, an Irish pub housed in a cool old western brick building full of history and good vibes. We meet Nick, the bartender, another transplant from Buffalo, NY — and, surprise, an avid Bills fan! We have fun swapping Bills/Patriots “lies” over a delicious dinner and then head back to the campground for the night.
Tomorrow is a big day: the queen is getting her hair done, and the king is getting the RV serviced — oil, fluids, tire pressure — to prep for the mountains of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Hard to believe we’ve driven 5,000 miles since buying the rig last spring!
We decide to spend two nights in Livingston, partly for laundry, partly to recharge. Van life is settling in, and we’re loving the thrill of not knowing what’s around the next corner. Corny as it sounds, we’re really feeling like “King of the Road!” 👑🍀
