Sunday, Sept. 7
Started the long drive to Helengone, MT, to spend a few days with Doc and Sherrill. Passed by Big Southern Butte, 70 miles away (small "hump", just to the right of the pole in the center of the photo.) Some years ago wheeled to the top of the Butte. That was a kick. Hope to get back and do it again. That was fun and great memories!
Doesn't take much to entertain folks up here (or me either for that matter!)
Driving through Missoula I couldn't believe the amount of smoke from the forest fires. Drove past a lot of fire camps. I sure have to hand it to the fire fighters, they've done a marvelous job under less than ideal conditions. I'm glad they, at least, have common sense. According to my impeccable sources, there are fires in wilderness areas and the stoopid Forest Service, bowing to the pressure from the damned "eastern environmentalists," won't let the fire fighters come in and build roads and use heavy equipment to fight the fires. They want them to parachute in and fight it by hand. Again, according to my impeccable sources, the firefighters told them where to shove it and to let it burn. It's just too dangerous to risk the lives of men and women when they could very easily use heavy equipment. Thank you, so called "environmentalists," for once again placing trees and principles above human life and for contributing to the well being of our country!
Despite the fires, I was in Paradise.
Monday, Sept. 8
Cloudy & rainy, just what you'd expect from the Pacific Northwest. Drove around a neat lake and did some hiking with Doc as my expert guide.
One can't go to NorthWest Montana and not stop at the Spragpole bar and museum. Again, details upon request.
And how many people even know what a sprag pole is?
Tuesday, Sept. 9
Sunny, great day. Drove around in the mountains. Doc had a J20 (Jeep pickup) with electrical problems. He had been working on it for sometime to fix the problem of the blower motor and taillights staying on continuously. They also had a problem with their YJ, dying periodically. In my infinite wisdom, I reached up under the dash of the J20, wiggled some wires to see what would happen. There was a helluva spark and then everything started working - at least for now. Damn, I'm good!
The YJ. Well, I suspected the computer so I took this heretofore assumed, delicate device and proceeded beat the hell out of it. That also succumbed to my superior diagnostic and repair skills and started working - at least for now. Damn, I'm good! Doc was duly impressed!
Wednesday, Sept. 10
A cloudy, relaxing day. After wearing myself out repairing the Jeeps and verifying the YJ still worked (by taking a short trip up the mountains for a ways and freezing my arse off), celebrated the momentous occasion by heading into town for a gourmet supper. I was leaving tomorrow and just had to have more "local flavour."
Here are some observations on Montana and some quotes from native Montanans that I gathered over the past few days.
Apparently there was a pipeline that went through the Flathead Indian Reservation and when the Native Americans found out the pipeline company was cheating them by pumping more product through the line than they said, the Native Americans shut down the pipeline. The pipeline company must now load railcars on one side of the reservation, transport them to the other side of the reservation (no the tracks don't go through the reservation) and put the product back in the pipeline. Love it!
Montana is - well.....Montana is full of Montanans. Love it!
Thursday, Sept. 11
After a wonderful laundry experience, had a nice breakfast and went shooting again (the national past-time of Montana and Idaho). Had a great picnic down by the river and reluctantly picked up and left. The goal was to reach Idaho, or at least get south of Missoula, but the weather turned to crap (again) and decided to stay at Missoula for the night. Got to admit, the storm clouds were impressive!
It was dark and nasty, looked like it could snow. Clouds covered the tops of the mountains, but every now and then the sun would peek through and the hills would come alive with color. Vibrant greens replaced the dark greens and black, incredible gold was everywhere from the grass and hay when the sun hit it. Wow!
Also found my next RV.........
Spent the night at a very nice Super Wal-Mart in Missoula. There must have been 20 campers here. This is what I'd call a Montanan stand-off: Signs all over the parking lot say that the city of Missoula prohibits overnight camping but when I asked the manager what was up she said, "Don't worry about it, you can stay as long as you like as long as you don't build a camp fire in the parking lot!" I've noticed that a lot of folks in Montana, especially the natives, thumb their nose, big-time, at the rules. Kewl!
This parking lot is nicer than a helluva a lot of campgrounds - too bad they don't allow camp fires. So during the night it rained like the dickens and stormed. Thunder, wind and rain. Spent about 3 hours this morning (Friday) writing the Pocatello chapter while waiting for the sky to clear. Should do the Montana chapter but will try that later today. Getting that itchy twitchy feeling and gotta move on (about 11 AM.) Hello Idaho (again.)
