For those who may be interested, here is a video showing what has happened to our hitch.  One of the outstanding features of a Hensley hitch is its tight turning radius of 82 degrees, almost a jackknife.

If I turn tighter than that the Hensley is designed to save itself by allowing a bracket to slide on the frame rail.  The bracket didn't slide as it should so I bent my strut.  Hensley has a lifetime warranty on all parts of their hitches so they replaced it free of charge.  Watch the video to understand just what happened.

The weather here in Red Lodge is very predictable each day.  The mountains behind us produce their own weather.  It is sunny and bright every morning but by about 1:30pm  big black clouds begin to form over the mountain tops.  Soon it is blowing and raining.  Sometimes there is hail thrown in.  Within a few hours the sun is back out again.  The soil is so sandy here nothing stays wet for long.
The weather reminds me of our summer thunderstorms back in Florida.  You can count on them about the same time everyday.

We finally received our replacement strut for the hitch.  It is now 2:00pm.  Too late to start out so we will stay another night here and get an early start tomorrow.  The people who own this campground have been very helpful and gracious.  They made sure we had a spot tonight if our part didn't arrive on time.  They book solid on weekends so that was real nice of them.

When we stopped these goats started running towards the truck.  Do you suppose people feed them?

If it hadn't started raining, I would take Darlie down to a dude ranch for a horseback ride.  She has wanted to do that.  I guess that will have to wait until next trip.  She is in taking a nap now anyhow so I doubt she would want to interrupt that.

Darlie wanted you to see the baby goat.

Last night we went to the Carbon County Steakhouse.  Darlie wanted some good western beef.
The restaurant was very nice and the food was tasty however, I think I get a better steak at Texas Longhorn Steakhouse in Ft. Myers.  I had a ribeye that was pretty chewy for the cut.  Darlie had a NY strip.  The steaks were flavorful but chewy.  They last longer that way though and you burn calories while you eat.  You know, with all the chewing.

Mountain Lake

The night before we went to the recommended Red Lodge Cafe for some home cooking.  Be both got the daily special, chicken fried steak.......why haven't I learned after all these years?  The steaks were burnt on one side.  I think the cook forgot to flip them.  They smothered the burnt side with dark gravy as though that would hide it.  We should have sent it back.  We choked it down and regretted it later.  So much for home cooking.

There is a steady stream of motorcycles going by the campground headed for the twists and turns of Beartooth Pass.  I would love to ride mine up over there.  Darlie said she would go with me.  It is too scary.  There is a motorcycle shop in town called Bone Daddy's custom motorcycles.  I wonder if he rents them?

I will put a few more photos of our ride up the Beartooth just to add some color.  We have spent the day here waiting for our part.  Now it's raining so I doubt we will do much else today.......unless of course we head to town for more home cooking.