#7 - Great Falls

Our next destination was Great Falls to visit several of Ron's relatives, some of which he hadn't seen for 31 years. We decided to stop along the way to see Fort Benton, about 40 mi. northeast. This little town of 1500 people has a very important and colorful place in Montana history. It was a primary terminus for river trade on the Missouri where inland connections were made. It still has a lot of old buildings as well as a nice riverfront park, an impressive Missouri Breaks Interpretative Center and other things. To get there, we took lonely highway 223 from Chester to Fort Benton. This highway was off the beaten path but very well maintained and straight as an arrow for the most part. We had it all to ourselves and saw another car about every 10 minutes or so. No towns, no trees, no Wal-Marts or fast food outlets, just rolling fields and a few scattered farm houses. Beautiful.

Missouri Riverfront Park - Fort Benton --- Statue of faithful dog Shep

When we got to Fort Benton, we checked into our little campground, unrolled the awning, laid out our outdoor carpet and set up the lawn chairs. Then Ron noticed that the western sky had turned an ominous shade of black and it was moving in our direction. So, we folded up the lawn chairs, rolled up the carpet and pulled in the awning just as the wind started blowing. For the next several hours we were pummeled by strong wind, thunder, lightning and fairly heavy rain. (Didn't get any pictures.)

The portable braking system in our “toad” (towed Honda) wasn’t working properly, so we contacted the manufacturer in Portland. They were very helpful and immediately shipped a replacement to Great Falls. So, on Friday, Aug. 24, we drove into Great Falls and picked it up. Giant Springs was in the area so we stopped at the cool shady county park where spring water surfaces and spills into the Missouri River. Very pretty place.

Bonnie at Giant Springs County Park

We also took the opportunity to do the laundry, wash the car, and pick up some provisions at the local Wal-Mart before joining Ron's relatives for a big spaghetti dinner and some good conversation. We got caught up on family news and stories about grizzlies, storms and other Montana stuff. We were advised to drive carefully back to Fort Benton because deer like to graze along the highway. It was nearly dark as we drove back and, sure enough, we passed six or seven deer along the side of the highway. Fortunately, we didn’t run into any.

The next day (Sat.), we moved our camp to an RV park in Great Falls for a couple days. Western artist Charles M. Russell lived and did most of his work in Great Falls. Since the Russell Museum is the pride of the community, we made sure we didn't miss it. The museum is excellent. It includes Charlie’s log studio, his house and lots of his paintings, sketches and sculptures, as well as works of other western artists.
Charlie Russell and a view of Great Falls

On Sunday (Aug. 26), Bonnie did a load of laundry while Ron scrubbed the bugs off the front of the RV. He figured out that it's much easier to get the bugs off before they dry and glue themselves to the front of the RV. So, whenever we stop for the day, he tried to do the bug removal thing first. They come right off. We had lunch and dinner with relatives at local restaurants. After dinner, we all paid a visit to the city’s impressive veterans memorial, then went over to the home of Ron’s Aunt Dolores for a little more conversation. It was a very good day.

Around the dinner table in Great Falls:

Zoie, Molly, Dolores, Chris, Janet, Bob, Ron and Tracy

#6 - Cut Bank & Hingham

Monday, Aug. 20: It was finally starting to rain and clear the air of smoke as we rolled out of Whitefish. It was a welcome relief after weeks of hot dry weather. There was very little traffic over Marias Pass and we made good time. After stopping for lunch in East Glacier, we continued on to Cut Bank, which would be our base camp for three nights. We set up camp at a small RV park overlooking Cut Bank Creek. According to local history, Lewis and Clark camped at or very near this spot in 1804. It was very windy but we had a great view of the railroad trestle. We could watch trains and beautiful sunsets at the same time. On the down side, we had no internet access and marginal cell phone service. The computer age was slow to arrive in Cut Bank. However, we did find a Super 8 motel with Wi-Fi and were able to check our email in their parking lot.

Cut Bank Creek formations --- Riverview RV Park

Tuesday, Aug. 21: We took a day trip to the small town of Hingham, about 100 miles east of Cut Bank. Hingham is another significant place in Ron’s family history and he hadn’t been there in decades. The Kindschy family moved to Hingham from South Dakota around 1900, established a farm and raised 12 kids. One of the 6 daughters was Olivia, Ron’s grandmother on his mom’s side. All members of the Kindschy family eventually went their separate ways. The big old barn, pig pens, chicken coops, farm implements, windmill, and animals are all gone now and the driveway is knee high in dry prairie grass. But the old farmhouse still stands. It’s boarded up and probably beyond repair, but it’s still there and not yet eroded away by time and the elements. Ron was lucky to have experienced this house in the 1950s when it was full of activity, family life and good times. Now, it’s sad to see it standing alone and silent against the wind and amid the amber waves of Montana grain.

The old farm house --- Grain elevator along the Hi-line

#5 - Glacier Nat'l. Park

Sunday, Aug. 19: The Flathead Valley was still full of forest fire smoke, but rain was finally threatening and temperatures were dropping. We grabbed the opportunity to spend a day in Glacier National Park. It was only a half hour drive to West Glacier. We snooped around the Apgar campground and village at the south end of Lake McDonald, then parked in the new transit lot to await the shuttle bus to the summit of Logan Pass.

The famous Going to the Sun Road was battered by avalanches and flooding last winter. Crews were patching it up in places and, to minimize traffic, a shuttle bus program was being offered. It’s convenient, free and does reduce auto traffic. However, it didn’t lessen the white-knuckle experience and extreme terror that Bonnie experienced as we wound our way along the narrow twisty bumpy ledge thousands of feet above the valley below. We made it up and back but Bonnie may never go that way again.

Logan Pass -- Hidden Lake in background

From the Logan Pass visitor’s center we hiked the 3 miles (round trip) to the Hidden Lake overlook. It’s a good uphill climb but we managed to get there in good shape, although the altitude and smoke didn’t help. Even through the smoky haze, the scenery was beautiful. We saw a marmott, a family of ptarmigans, aother small critters nd six or eight mountain goats, some just a few feet away. The humans were generally respectful and didn’t bother the goats at all.

Later in the afternoon, as we were listening to a ranger explain the link between global warming and loss of glaciers, a frisky year-old grizzly cub came romping into the area. He was having a good time and minding his own business. Momma bear wasn't in sight so the rangers chased the little fella out of the area as quickly as possible, with a herd of tourists following closely behind with cameras clicking.

The trail back --- The young grizzly

We visited the East Glacier side of the park on Wednesday, Aug. 22. Ron’s grandfather worked for the Great Northern RR, was the station agent at East Glacier for many years and lived above the station. We visited the RR station, the Glacier Park lodge and took a side trip to Two Medicine Lake and Trick Falls. We also stopped at the studio/museum of famous Montana wood carver John Clark and spent a few minutes with his daughter Joyce, a long-time family friend. East Glacier has always been a favorite place and has a lot of family history and memories. Time to move on . . .

Trick Falls --- Bonnie relaxes at Two Medicine Lake

#4 - Whitefish & Kalispell

After seeing all there was to see in Eureka, we drove south 49 miles to Whitefish and set up camp at the Whitefish RV Park for four nights. This campground was in a perfect location about one mile (walking distance) of downtown, on the highway to Kalispell and near the turn-off to Glacier Park. The campground is very neat and clean and tucked away behind the Cheap Sleep Motel (no kidding). It's also buffered from the highway noise by a small strip center that includes a Chinese restaurant, a Subway sandwich shop, Radio Shack, a day care center and a small casino. It's very convenient mix of uses for folks who want to drop the kids off at the day care and grab a sandwich before a stop at the casino.

Downtown Whitefish --- Whitefish RV Park

The official population of Whitefish is about 7,000 but there’s lots of sprawl development that pushes the “greater Whitefish” population to at least 15,000. We took a long walk uptown one afternoon. There’s lots of touristy stuff, restaurants and other interesting things to do and see. Ron, the train buff, went to the historic railway station one evening to meet the westbound Empire Builder. Montana is burning and the sky is full of smoke so the evening sky has some very unusual coloring.

Westbound Amtrak Empire Builder at Whitefish

The day we arrived, we took a drive down to Kalispell and toured the 13,000 sq. ft. Conrad Mansion. Charles Conrad was a business tycoon and one of the founders of Kalispell. He and his family did a lot of good things for Montana, including some serious conservation efforts and the preservation of an important buffalo herd before it was wiped out. His house was designed by architect Kirtland Cutter and built in 1895. It's now a museum, with most of the original furnishings. Beautiful house and an interesting tour.

After the tour we stopped at the local Chamber of Commerce office for information, just as they were setting up for a pig feed in the adjacent downtown park. They invited us to join in, so we did. They had the grand champion pigs and beef from the fair on display (but not to eat). A big buffet was laid out in the gazebo that included a full barbecued pig and lots of side dishes, including cookies and soft drinks – all free. Good pig!!! and very nice people!!!

Carving the pig in the park. Free pig for everyone.

We spent the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 17, at the Northwest Montana Fair in Kalispell. It was dusty, dirty and smelly . . . just what a down home fair should be. We wandered through all the exhibits, including the livestock and topped off the day with huckleberry milk shakes (yum). Wild huckleberries are selling for $42/gallon this year.

Smoky skies at the Kalispell Fairgrounds --- Young lady with her grand champion (1,230 lb.)

#3 - Eureka

The small town of Eureka is tucked away in the northwest corner of Montana, about nine miles south of Canada. Ron lived here in 1955-57 and thought it would be fun to stop by for a 50-year visit to see how things had changed . . . or not changed.

We set up camp for two nights in a small campground seven miles west of town, along the steep banks of Lake Koocanusa, a long lake that formed in the 1970s behind Libby Dam. The campground had a small marina and gravelly beach on the lake, which made it very popular with water-oriented yahoos, including many Canadians. Our neighbors parked their trailer there for the entire summer and commuted back and forth from Calgary. There were lots of boats, off-road vehicles, kids, bicycles, golf carts and other dust-churners during the day. But they were all considerate and it was very quiet at night.

Lake Koocanusa


Bonnie is getting good at RV cooking, especially using the foil technique. She wraps up all kinds of good stuff and we put it on the barbecue. Delicious and with virtually no clean-up.

We spent most of a day in Eureka, visiting the historic village, the old dilapidated Great Northern Railway station where Ron’s grandfather worked until about 1960, and took a walk on the Eureka River Walk, a very pleasant paved pathway along the Tobacco River. We ran into long-time resident Ann Baney at the historic village. Ron’s mom taught school in Eureka the mid-1950s and Ann remembered substituting for her. We had a nice chat about old times and changes over the past 50 years. Ron’s best friend in Eureka was Dennis Dierman. We learned that his mother, Marge Dierman was living in a local nursing home, so we paid her a visit. She was pleasantly surprised to have someone from the distant past drop in. She was very alert, remembered Ron and we had a nice chat.

Eureka River Walk and first house in Eureka

#2 - Little Diamond

Starting Off: We began our vacation on Bonnie's birthday (Aug. 6). We were fully loaded and towing our Honda and weren't sure we'd make it over Snoqualmie Pass. We had to slow down a bit but made it over okay. Our first stop was Yakima where we spent a couple days relaxing with Ron's family before continuing to Spokane via the Tri-cities.

Little Diamond: This is one of the Thousand Trails/NACO campgrounds. It's about 40 mi. north of Spokane near Diamond Lake. The campground (or "preserve" as they call it) is near Diamond Lake but has its own Little Diamond Lake for fishing, boating and hiking. Very pretty. We'll be here six nights before heading to Montana. This preserve has 300 spaces but fewer than 50 campers, so it's not at all crowded. There's a very nice lodge, pool and hot tub, a smaller TV lounge where folks take their computers to tap into the Wi-Fi, and lots of other outdoor activities. Saturday was the big day of the week. There was a nice breakfast at the lodge, a chat with the park ranger, BINGO and kids activities in the afternoon and a steak barbecue dinner in the evening.

Sandpoint: Yesterday (Sunday) we followed the beautiful Priest River down to Sandpoint and spent several hours at the 35th Annual Arts and Crafts Festival. It was held in the big waterfront park on Lake Pend Oreille and was packed with people. Fortunately, we found a convenient place to park and did a lot of looking around, listening to live music and snacking. Later we placed our folding lawn chairs under a nice shade tree near the beach and watched the boats on the lake with the mountains in the background. Very relaxing. We also did a little downtown shopping for hats and T-shirts before heading back to camp.

#1 - Down the Highway . . . with Ron and Bonnie

Greetings family and friends . . .

With Ron's retirement this past June, we finally reached a point in life where we could take a less structured vacation without a specific "back to work" date.

We bought a motor home in 2006, took a few shakedown cruises to Birch Bay and the Long Beach peninsula, and we're now ready to strike out on a more extensive vacation. Our plans are sketchy and tentative, but the general concept is to wander eastward through Idaho and Montana as far as South Dakota. After exploring the Black Hills and viewing Mt. Rushmore, we plan to return via Wyoming and Oregon with a possible stop in Boise.

As we roll down the highway, we'll be posting some of our interesting experiences and photos. We invite you to visit this site and follow our journey.

Long Beach sunset - July 2007