18MAY2011 @ Helena, MT (Me) and Ft. Yates, ND (Canoe) - While packing the gear I noticed no tent poles ... apparently some recycler found the aluminum poles and now I have none. So-o-o a PVC pipe purchase and in several hours the tent looks good in the front yard. Adding that to my day of bill paying, packing, lunch and even planting potatoes meant I was highly entertained. Then I got a call from dad - I had made a mistake last December by selling a stock gift ... which complicates a mistake made by dad's stockbroker, that being that the wrong stock had been gifted. And today, 5 months later, is the day it all gets understood ... wouldn't you know it? Even so, at 1630 I was on my way to Butte, then on to Billings, having not received a followup call from dad. By midnight a 6-hour layover at the Billings bus station was beginning. It is good to be underway again, though heavy rain is forecast for Friday at Ft. Yates. The bus station benches make a mediocre bed.