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6/4
Leaving our beautiful spot at Chris’ Campground, we begin to approach the Wyoming border. I-90 weaves its way from South Dakota to Wyoming & then into Montana. Pretty countryside. It is primarily hills, a little prairie and, towards the end of the day, our first look at the Big Mountains With Snow. Several mountain ranges are within view at different times of the day. We continue to fight the head winds. Towards the afternoon, here came the big clouds, heading right at us. As we pulled into our haven for the night, Mountain Range RV Park at Columbus, MT., the rain threatened. Just as Gary got us hooked up, here it came. Mostly light rain throughout the night, stopping as we got up. Sitting right next to the freeway, the big surprise was we didn’t hear the freeway noise. Slept well.
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Riding the Wyoming range with dog. A perfect movie shot, eh? Right down to the boots & cowboy hats.
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Caught sight of ‘Thelma & Louise’ in Wyoming. They & their broken Corvette attracted the attention of a handsome good Samaritan who called for the tow truck. The attendant was mesmerized & quickly hooked up the car & put the two gals w/dog in the cab. Where are they now? Hmmm.
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We saw all these coal railroad cars, then we saw the coal plant above. Just across the freeway was, what we assume to be, the mine. Appears to be a strip mine.
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Aaah, those snowy mountain peaks. The grandeur of them just takes my breath away.
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The white trailer in the middle is empty. The other 3 vehicles have one saddled horse each. They’re on their way to round up a few angus to fill the white trailer. Cowboys are getting harder to find, but they’re out there!
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The sky is so big & so filled with threatening storm clouds. They didn’t just threaten, they dumped on us. The windshield wipers are pushing buckets of water away.
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Our night’s rest will be at Mountain Range RV Park. The picture below, taken from the park, explains the name. Freeway noise didn’t come into the park for some reason.
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Spring is arriving late. Flowers are just being seen. They are commercially grown. Way too early for the ones you grow in the ground. It has been a cold winter & a lot of rain in the spring has made the ground too muddy to plant..
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6/5
Today, Missoula. Our Kalispell destination is ½ day beyond. We’re traveling in familiar territory now. We’ve been this way before. Some wind, some clouds, no rain. Temps are cool. It’s a pretty drive with changing landscapes. I-90 is an excellent road. We arrive at Jim & Mary’s Campground at the west end of Missoula, where the I-90 meets the SR-93. We’ve stayed here several times. It is nice to be remembered by the owners. This is the campground with the beautiful flowerbeds created all around the property. Too early for many flowers as it has been so cold here & raining a lot. But, you can see the prep work is being done. We ran some errands in town & then settled in for the night.
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Sometimes the road is steep. The view here includes a mountainside devastated by fire a few years ago. The river is running high and the pastures are being irrigated. Not sure why the irrigation with all the rain, but I’m no rancher.
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This river is gnawing at its boundaries. So full. A huge dead tree has washed down, now stuck in the middle of the river.
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Planted long ago, these trees help keep the ranch house & yard cool in the warm summer months. A working ranch for many, many years.
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The next few pictures are just some pretty views from the Roadhouse windows as we head west on I-90 headed for Missoula. Please enjoy!
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I was just half-awake when this sign popped up. Where are we, I wondered. Belgrade? Amsterdam? Lots of towns in this state have been named for an immigrant’s home town. Once assured we were on track for Missoula, I went back to sleep.
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Irrigation. The life blood of the rancher’s ability to succeed. Whether growing wheat or hay or maintaining healthy pastureland, these huge irrigation systems make it happen.
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Just some more shots of Montana as we approach Missoula.
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6/6
Leaving for Kalispell this fine Sunday morning. Traveling through Blackfoot Reservation land, we noticed the ‘makeover 2009’ that was in progress on the SR-93 is about complete. This was a total mess last year. Temporary detours, road completely torn up, & rough temporary roads, doubled the travel time. Less than a year later, the only sign of road construction on this stretch is some chip sealing on a short stretch of the new road. Very nice surprise. We took the western route around Flathead Lake. The eastern route takes you through cherry orchard & forest country to Bigfork at the north end of the Lake. It’s beautiful, but the western route is a bit faster & not too shabby in the scenic department. Arriving at Kalispell, we located the Spruce Park RV Park. We are in a space with almost a 180* view of the Flathead River. Wow, is it pretty! It is an old park, so the restrooms are old. They’re clean, but no updating. Satellite doesn’t work here, but the cell phone & Verizon broadband (computer) signals are strong. Cable tv is provided, so we’re denied none of the ‘extras’. Even though this park is located next to a bridge crossing the Flathead River, we hear very little traffic noise. The river is very high so fishing is impossible. But the views! Mesmerizing. We’re looking at snow-topped mountains, the river and, through the trees, the busy Montana sky. Lots of activity in that sky! We settled in and began to plan for tomorrow’s visit to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center and to see about that slow-leaking tire I mentioned a few days ago. It’s getting dark at 10 pm. So, we crashed about then.
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Driving through Blackfoot reservation land, SR-93 has been completely renovated for quite a few miles. A new addition to the new road is this bridge. Named the ‘Animals’ Bridge’ by the Native population, they are hoping the animals will use this grass-topped bridge to do their wandering instead of the road. Hope they’re right.
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Just cannot resist snow-capped mountains. So pretty.
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This is about our 4th trip to Kalispell. Every time we travel this road I try to capture this home in a picture. There are many large trees between it & the highway. Never have had much luck. Got it this time! Note the train tracks in the foreground.
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Once again, snowy peaks. In the foreground are homes. These are really tall snowy peaks!
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Everywhere we go, biscuits & gravy and/or chicken-fried steak & gravy are favorites on the menu. Why this was posted on a Subway Sandwich shop in a small town will remain a mystery to me. I really wanted to stop & ask, but Kalispell calls.
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We pulled into Spruce Park RV & stopped to register. This little lady & I were eyeball to eyeball. Building her nest on an electric meter under the roof of a porch probably seemed like a good idea. Ms. Robin keeps a sharp watch while she awaits her babes hatching.
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