Russ&Kappy's Summer Vacation

Here's what we woke up to this morning Yes, it was a bit of a surprise but I guess it rained last night.  I had my earplugs in so didn't hear it. This morning though, for the first time in 4-5 days, when I breathed the morning air, it smelled like something other than smoke.  Kinda like flowers or something.   Yesterday was slow.  I got in a good little run at 6090 feet, feel pretty good about that.  After resting up a bit, Pat and I went to town to see if we could find a place to "shop."  Seeing none, we were drawn into this little bar by this sign. Here at this bar, they serve only things that come in a can.  All kinds of beer -- I get it -- but also lots of flavored stuff with lots of alcohol in them.  (Neither of the proprietors could tell me what exactly the alcohol was and I couldn't read the writing on the can).   I chose one that was called "berry crush."  Well, I am here to tell you that it is NOT something I will do a...

We left our little RV park in Moore, ID this morning at 9 am to meet up with pals Pat and Steve Grover.  They were just 10 miles further on in Mackay, ID, where they had also spent the night at a different RV park.  Both of us had full hookups and both of us had RV/Trailers side to side with about 10 feet in between.  Both of us had paid about $35.   Pat and Steve were ahead of us so they scouted out the campsites.  Last night the whole place here was full but this morning we got a call from Steve telling us that people were pulling out.  We were already ready to book it on down so we pushed a bit faster and this is what we ended up finding.  Here is our view -- no one in front of us, no one alongside of us . . . .  you get the picture.  And the coup d' gras -- these places have both power and water!  All of this for just $9 a night (senior pass price).  So we signed up for 3 nights.   The wind blew and blew all day t...

Yes, who would have believed it?  I heard that the fires and smoke have driven campers east.  I totally get it.  I wouldn't want to spend my vacation in the smoke if I could help it.  It does, however, make it a bit more sketchy finding a place to put our trailer for the night.  The fact that it is hunting season in Montana and Idaho also account for full campgrounds.   This morning I got a run in despite the poor air quality (nothing like Reno) and the altitude 6000'.  As I ran past them, these two beauties ran up to the fence looking to race or maybe get a snack.  Hard to tell. Before I even started my run I had to traverse this cattle guard to get to the road -- I have never seen one quite this scary.  I was very careful crossing it.  Just to put it into perspective, I wear a size 10.5 running shoe. Today was "learn everything you can about Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark" day.  Apparently Sacagawea, the Indian woman that was ...

We left our little "Wisdom" behind this morning and headed south along some river (really, I am so confused, you will have to ask Russ).  Pretty sure we were on Highway 93 when we stopped for lunch and (now he says it was the Salmon River at Redrock) and this was the most interesting thing I saw.  In the pit toilet: This is just one of the masterpieces, all 4 walls were decorated as such.  Someone has a lot of time and talent!   Here is the aforementioned Red Rock that was the namesake of this place along the Salmon River So we had planned to camp and see some beautiful country here but the smoke and Elk hunting have become a problem.  First of all the views are nice but none too spectacular and secondly finding a camping site is difficult because we hadn't counted on the hunting season.  We went through 4 campgrounds before we found this one which we will hang onto for 2 nights.  $2.50 per night on BLM land for seniors with the pass.   ...

Yes, well yesterday I was able to kayak twice.  Once in the morning and once at night.  And look at how clear it was. Today, the smoke settled into Montana like this I fear it is going to be like this for the rest of our journey which, of course, makes me less sad to have it end. The last two days have been full.  Saturday we visited Philipsburg, MT which is the site of another ghost town called Granite.  This one has not been tended to as carefully as Garnet as you can see from the pictures but it has a lot more stuff in it including the stamping mill.  Most of the photos show what is left of each building and most of that is masonry and granite.  The boards that formed the homes or offices on top of the rock foundations have either just collapsed and  been left to lay where they fell or are gone altogether. Here is a picture of the only bank in Granite.  I assume that this is just the vault because it was only big enough for money -- not people....

This morning we hit the highway early to pick up a kayak for me to use for a half day.  We brought it back to our campsite at Georgetown Lake and Russ dropped me off at the boat launch and I headed out. Saw some wildlife today I got up pretty close but when he sensed I was too near, he shrieked and managed to lift that huge body into the air and fly away from me.   I also witnessed an interesting interplay between 3 mergansers while I was out there.  At first there was one and I noticed that he/she had a little dead fish in its beak.  He was swimming around like he didn't know what to do with his prize when all of a sudden from behind me (but in front of him) came another bird and just plucked that fish right out of the original guy's mouth.  Then low and behold, a third guy came around and decided to get into the contest.  In the end, they lost the fish to the depths.  No one won.  Kinda reminded me of humans.    About an hour into...

That's what the forest service man suggested when I stopped at the same gas station as he.  Ha ha ha -- Russ didn't think it was funny but I did.  Of course he was kidding but I enjoyed a chuckle.   We left our RV camp spot in  Bearmouth after I got a shower -- never know when you will get another so have to take advantage every one you see.   Again, I was struck by how teeny, tiny the shower stalls are in these RV parks.  I swear they couldn't give us 2 more inches?  I don't consider myself large so I have no idea how a large person would fit into one of these.  Here in Montana, I guess a handicapped shower just means that there is a bar on the outside of the stall.  Can you picture that?  You are falling and you reach outside of the stall to grab the bar to save yourself from What?  They weren't any larger (I checked), and there were no stools to sit on.   The other thing is there is this little tiny shelf to p...

This morning was cool but not as bad as yesterday.  I waited until 8 to put on my sneakers and run a few miles.  I turned around when I saw real honest to goodness bear skat.  So a bear does shit in the road.   We are leaving tomorrow for parts relatively unknown so we headed into Missoula to stock up on important things like boxed wine, coke and popsicles.  Traffic there was as bad as Reno, probably worse.  I think that they will have to install a few roundabouts.  Not sure if Montanans believe in those things though.  These folks are pretty proud and pretty conservative.  Everywhere we go we see Trump 2020 flags.  We have not even seen one Biden sign. So after a run and shopping you would think a couple of old farts would be ready to take a nap.  Not so, we decided.  We headed out to an old mining ghost town called Garnet.  It was situated way back out a dirt road and was located right next to another ghost town cal...

After a cloudy, blustery and rainy day yesterday, this morning dawned beautiful and bright but 34 degrees!!  Wow, Reno is sizzling and suddenly Montana is freezing.  I took a little walk to get a photo of the newest snow up in the Bob Marshall Wilderness.  Russ talked to a packer again this morning and he said that they call it going up into the "Bob." Not too bad huh? And I found Owl Creek We packed it in after breakfast and after it warmed up a bit and headed south east to a town called Clinton.  We are here at a kinda half ass RV park which is located right on highway 90 -- kinda noisy and no cell service.  The wifi is too weak to make it to the trailer and I had to sign a piece of paper acknowledging that I knew this and that I would not get a refund based on the situation.  What a difference.  It is like night and day between yesterday and today.  Not only the weather but the camping spot.   Of course I had to do laundry and wouldn'...

Well camp cleared out this morning.  We are pretty much the last ones except for the stock.   We awoke this morning to rain and it is now afternoon and nothing has changed.  How refreshing it is to see a steady rain.  We came to town to pick up ice and get our e-mail, send off a bill and post this.  We are waiting til tomorrow to move on and head south to a real RV park.   Amazingly the temperature right now is 42 degrees F -- this time yesterday it was 84!  Talk about a cool down.  The prediction is that tonight will be 24 degrees.  Looks like we will have to leave the propane heater going all night.  Tomorrow seems like it will be cooler too (in fact a frost alert) so we won't pull out until mid day to avoid any ice on the road.    Not much to share today but here's a picture of my hiking partners from yesterday.  Wow, what a difference a day makes weather wise.   Okay, that's about it.  Let you ...

  This morning I got in a 3 mile run with Ceilidh. While I was gone Russ was able to witness a process folks rarely see.   He watched as “packers” packed their pack mules.   He said it was so fascinating and when he asked one of the men who performed this job what they called themselves, he said “packers.”   Russ also asked where the fella learned to pack like that – tie all those knots and set the mules up in perfect balance.   The guy said that he learned it at a school.   Amazing, isn’t it?   There is a school and certification for just about everything it seems.   After I got back from my run Russ cooked us a big breakfast on the outside griddle.  Lots of bacon, eggs and hashbrowns.  Then it was time for the hike to the  Owl Creek Falls.    Russ had scoped it out on the map and it looked like the distance would be about 1.5 miles one way.  Well, I now know he was a bit off.  It was 2.2 miles each way and...