Driving back to Tin Can Creek

It’s nice being in Montana again, even though the weather is “sub zero”!  It’s now my home base as I start my full time RV adventure.  I have a few tasks I need to accomplish here before flying back to my mess, packing in Southern California.

Today we set out for a visit to the local National Park Ranger office.  There we will get my “Senior Pass” for the National Parks and buy a “Christmas tree tag”.

This is where we will find our tree this year

The tag will be used when we go into the National Forest and select a Christmas tree for my Sister and Brother-in-law’s home today.  Finding and cutting their tree has become a tradition since they moved here ten years ago.  After acquiring both items, we leave the office and head up to a designated area in the mountains above Darby, the Tin Cup Creek area.

Finding the perfect tree

On arriving we begin looking for the perfect tree.  There are probably thousands to choose from, but there are criteria to follow for cutting  the tree which include finding one in a group of crowded trees.  Harvesting our tree will improve the likelihood of the stronger trees around it surviving, disease free.

After the selection is made, Bob gets the task/honor of harvesting our prize.  The the tree is tagged and loaded in the truck and off we go back to the house and eventually decoration time.

With that accomplished we stay around the fire the remaining part of the day.  It’s just to cold to venture out much right now.  Tomorrow I need to get my new Montana Drivers License.  Safe Travels … Gary