July 23, 2012

We arrived in Anaconda, Mt on Saturday accompanied by Don and Sandy Courtney. We’re staying in the Fairmont RV Park which is right next door to the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort, a hotel with a giant swimming pool and mediocre golf course. (Rob and I played it last time we were here a couple of years ago.) The RV park is okay. It’s a big open lot with gravel roads and pads and some sparse grass around the edges; comfortable enough, but nothing to write home about.

Saturday afternoon Browns and Courtneys cruised by the Art Festival and decided to skip it based on the huge crowd and lack of close in parking. Rob and I went to it last time we were here. It was pretty nice with lots of artsy items for sale, but once was enough. We took a little drive around Anaconda and then decided to see what Butte had to offer about 20 miles east of Anaconda. Rob and I took a trolley tour last time we were here so figured we could fill in a little of the history for Don and Sandy. The open pit copper mine is the most evident tourist attraction. Mining began here in 1955 and ended in 1982. It is one mile long by ½ mile wide and 1780 feet deep. About 900 feet of it is filled with toxic water. This pit is one of the largest Superfund sites. We wanted to see if we could get high enough on the hill to see into the pit so we wound around the town of Butte and kept going higher and higher. Along the route were tiny houses in various stages of decay with some showing signs of reconstruction. Apparently, home to many of the miners. There are many old “headframes” dotting the landscape; evidence of hardrock (shaft) mining that has taken place in Butte since the early 1870’s. Butte began as a mining town with silver and gold also being mined, but copper is what put Butte on the map. When we finally got to a summit we discovered a monument to the 1917 Speculator Mine Disaster. This was a fire which occurred 2000 feet below the surface. 168 men died, most from lack of oxygen. Some survived by building bulkheads preventing the carbon monoxide from invading their safe space.

While Butte was where the ore was mined, Anaconda was where the smelter was. The smelters were closed along with the closing of the pit and the superfund cleanup continues to this day. One of the positive outcomes of the cleanup is a Jack Nicklaus championship golf course, The Old Works Golf Course, one we had played before. We had a 9:10 tee time today for three (Don, Rob and me) and decided to have breakfast at the course. By the time breakfast was over and we had hit a few practice balls the wind started to blow. A little wind (17 mph) wasn’t going to stop us from experiencing this beautiful course. The bunkers are filled with reclaimed slag from the smelting process and are pure black. They’re beautiful, but not any easier to get out of than regular sand. Once again the course won, but I think the wind was the major factor.

Tomorrow we’re on our way to Missoula. Sandy’s looking forward to dinner at the Outback…so are we!

July 20, 2012

Stayed at Southside RV Park in Dillon, next to Courtneys and Stan and Jerre. Very nice RV park with a stream running through the middle. The owners work very hard to maintain this park and they do a beautiful job. The sites we had were long enough for our coach and tow car with room to spare. Beside our coach was a large grassy area with a couple of large trees which provided shade. There’s also a museum of WWII memorabilia including several Nazi items put together by Derek Core, son of the owners. Several of the items are replicas made by Derek in high school metal shop.

Don, Rob and I decided to play golf and found one course in Dillon, Beaverhead Golf Course. Armed with Don’s Ipad we set off for the course given the Ipad’s directions. We ended up in the middle of farmland about ten miles from the RV Park with no course in site. I pulled up the course on my Iphone and got the same location. Then I put in the actual street address and we were taken to the course which was actually about 3 miles from the RV Park. Oh well, we got to play golf and once again the course won. Rob and Don had good games tho’.

Stan arranged for a guide to take him and Rob fishing on the Beaverhead River. Great success the first day. The second day was windy and it rained so fishing wasn’t as good.

So many fish and not one bite to eat. All catch and release.

We were supposed to get the new tires today, however, they were left on the loading dock in Prineville, Or. We’ll have them installed in Missoula onTuesday.

Courtneys and Browns will leave Stan and Jerre behind for Anaconda, Mt. tomorrow, about 100 miles away.

July 17, 2012

Sunday Rob, Kim, Jim and Joyce Posik decided to go fishing at the Nature Conservancy at Flatt Ranch just south of the RV Park. I went with them to observe and capture all their catches on film (or flash drive). It was afternoon by the time we got going. The river (outlet from Henry’s Lake) was at least ½-3/4 of a mile from the parking lot across a meadow with marshes that required a meandering path to the water. I was taking a chair to sit on since the banks of the river were tall grass and shrubs. Joyce immediately caught a fish. I thought she was just tangled so I wasn’t able to get a picture. After a short while everyone shifted to the right to avoid casting into the wind. Too windy for me. I dragged my chair back to the car where I waited and read my book.

Joyce Posik, foreground, Kim in back. Joyce's hat must bring her good luck. She seems to always catch a fish.

Courtneys left Monday to join Stan and Jerre in Dillon, Montana. We said good-bye as we picked Kim up at about 8:30 to go fishing. First stop Trout Hunters, a local fly shop. Rob wanted to get some neoprene knee socks. He had admired those Joyce was wearing. Jim and Rob also found a few flies they couldn’t live without. Next stop was just down the road at “the log jam”, a spot recommended by the clerk at Trout Hunters. There were too many cars in the parking lot so we left to go down to Osbourne Bridge. No one was there. After suiting up the four of them trekked down to the water to wet their lines. Joyce again caught the first fish. No picture again. I was able to sit in the car and watch and read. After a couple of hours with little action it was time for lunch. Kim suggested a local place where one of her colleagues from Linx also works part time. While there it started to rain. Then it turned into a deluge. By the time we were through with lunch the rain had passed and we left to return to the rv park. Just after we turned off the main road on the way to the park we spied two bull moose grazing off the side of the road.

Tuesday Jim and Joyce left to head home and Rob and I headed for Dillon. Nice weather, beautiful drive. Driving along, minding our own business, enjoying the beautiful scenery when....

About 7 miles from Dillon an explosion rocked our coach. It sounded like a cannon went off in the coach. Rob pulled to the side of the road and stopped. Once again luck was with us. This section of road was a straightaway with clear vision in both directions. Just a few minutes before we were on a 7 degree curvy downgrade with no place to pull over.

A quick inspection revealed a blown left front tire. Rob went out to put out some orange triangle markers behind the coach. I couldn't find a truck tire dealer in Dillon so I called Stan and he told me there was a Les Schwab dealer in town. I was able to find their phone number and was dialing when Rob came back and said the Sheriff had stopped and given him three names. Funny tht Google couldn't find any. Les Schwab looked for the right size tire, found one and came out within 20 minutes. “Bob” was able to jack up the coach, remove the tire and replace it with a temporary and have us on our way within 1 ½ hours. We had already planned on replacing all the tires at Les Schwab in Junction City, Or, when we have the coach serviced in August. Bob told Rob to have them send the temporary tire back when we replace the tires and there would be no charge for the tire. He had to continue on to take care of a tractor so he said to go on to the RV park and get set up then go into the store and take care of the service charge. Rob did that and came back to the park after about an hour. He had them price the replacement of all the tires while he was there. Their price came in at $1000 under the price from Junction City. Friday the tires on the Yukon and the coach will all be replaced at the RV park. We don’t even have to take the coach into the store and no charge for the service call to replace the blown out tire.

Bob setting jacks, Rob supervising.

July 13, 2012

Got to Island Park, Id yesterday – Red Rock RV Park about 20 miles south of West Yellowstone. Our younger daughter, Kim, is here in her trailer with her black Lab, Loki, and her cat, Leo. Loki tried to break down the screen door to get in to see Dusty. We took both dogs to an adjacent field and let them run free. Such happy dogs to be free to run and play together unfettered. Loki is genetically Dusty’s uncle, but is a year younger.

Courtneys and Posiks are here also. This will be a laid back stop and, hopefully, Rob and Kim will get to do some fishing.

Tried to go to a concert last night at Harriman park, but when we got there a notice said it had been moved to Rexburg about 60 miles away. Since it was already the hour the concert was to have begun, we went home.

This morning we went to West Yellowstone to revisit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. Rob and I had been to it before when the wolf compound was still under construction. There were wolves there then, but we could barely see them. They spent their days lolling in the shade under the trees behind shrubs. The compound is completed now and has two sets of four wolves in different types of environments; one valley and one river. The valley wolves were back behind the trees and bushes, but the river wolves were right out in front. West Yellowstone embraces the bison and has many painted bison spread out around town.

Kim and I went into the center while Rob stayed in the car taking care of come business on his cell phone. There are nine Grizzlies housed here. They are all bears that cannot be released to the wild and they hail from Alaska to Yellowstone. The bears are kept behind closed doors and are released to a yard three times a day. The yard is designed to replicate a typical wild environment complete with waterfall, stream and pond. We watched as one of the keepers hid a mixture of fruits, vegetables and what looked like noodles in various places of the yard, under rocks or logs. Two bears, Kobuk and Nakina, were then released to play in the yard. Kobuk and Nakina are brother and sister that were orphaned as cubs in 1998 when a landowner killed their mother and brother. Each of them made a beeline to a particular clump of logs and chowed down on the food the keeper had hidden. Kobuk then walked into the pond and proceeded to bring a good sized trout up which he promptly consumed. Nakina saw this and decided to try fishing herself, but wasn’t as successful. After they had found all the hidden food they ambled back to the gate area and waited for the gates to their pens to be opened. I think they’ve done this before. After the bears we went over to check out the wolves which had been howling a few minutes before. We also visited a small aviary which has a female bald eagle, a rough legged hawk, a great horned owl, and two golden eagles. All have some sort of permanent damage which prevents them from being released to the wild. Before we left another pair of bears was being released. These two, Sam and Illie, are siblings that wandered into an Alaskan fishing village after their mother disappeared. They are much bigger than Kobuk and Nakina weighing 1000lbs and 750lbs respectively. Kobuk and Nakina weigh 550lbs and 400lbs respectively.

July 11, 2012

We’ve been in Lander since Saturday, July 7^th.  It was only 70 miles from DuBois so it was a quick trip, but we left a little later in the morning than usual to take advantage of the breakfast brunch of Lonnie’s Breakfast Burritos.

As soon as we got set up we went over to our daughter Kris’ house. We were met by our exuberant 3 ½ year old grandson, Rowan. We normally Skype with Rowan once a week, but haven’t been able to due to slow internet in most of the parks we’ve stayed at. How much he has changed in two months.

We also got to spend some time with Eric’s mom, Kae, who has been in Lander for a couple of months. She has a little house she bought when Kris and Eric first moved to Lander. Later, we all had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Asian Cuisine.  

Sunday, Kae treated us to brunch at a new restaurant, Middle Fork. Afterwards we waddled back to Kris’ and Eric’s house to recover. Rob put a couple of coats of varnish on his bbq table. We had brought Dusty over to be able to spend some time not so cooped up as he was in the motorhome, but it was so hot, he just stayed on the front deck in the shade. Later in the afternoon Rob and I went back to the motorhome for dinner of leftovers but we were still so stuffed from brunch we had a glass of wine and went to bed.

Monday, Kae left for her home in Washington and Rob and I hung out with Kris in the morning while Rowan was at his play group. The afternoon was spent watching Rowan at his swimming lesson and more hanging out.

The rest of our time we just hung out with Kris and Rowan, while Eric worked, and caught up on some things we needed to get done.

July 5, 2012

Well, I was right. Our friends (Glasgow/Wright, Helsings, Courtneys, Posiks and Harris) joined us on Sunday and we had a party. Brenda and Lonnie Jenkins joined us on Monday with their yellow Labrador, Dillon. Dillon and Dusty are best friends.

The river is calm enough for Dusty and Dillon to play in the water. They’ve been in several times chasing sticks. Dusty has been thoroughly exhausted. He’s not used to so much exercise.

Yesterday was the parade in DuBois. We sent our chairs down ahead of time so we could be assured of a spot, 14 of them. Lonnie drove them down in his truck with Jim Posik placing them on the shady side of the street in the shade of a tree. The main street through town was closed off about 1:00 for a 2:00 start time. Most of the businesses closed down, except, of course, the bars. Drinking was allowed on the street for the duration of the parade. It started with a single flag bearer and when he got to the end of the parade the parade halted for the Pledge of Allegiance, something I’ve never seen done at a parade. A soloist then sang the National Anthem. We could barely hear either, but we remained standing because everyone else was and the parade wasn’t moving. Just about ever service business had an entry…septic cleaner, cement mixer (spraying the crowd with water), backhoe on a trailer (swinging his arm around over the heads of children scurrying to gather up the candy that was being thrown-could never do that in CA). There was an outhouse being pulled along, Smokey the Bear, the Shriners, one group of horses (all beautiful Buckskins from a local ranch), EMS, and all the town’s fire engines. The firemen delighted in spraying everyone along the route with their hoses. Fortunately, they were at the end of the parade. Unfortunately, so were we and the parade stalled towards the end. The firemen kept spraying and we were all soaked. All except Bobbi Helsing who thought to bring an umbrella. There were also other assorted cars, wagons, groups participating.

Rob’s been fishing a couple of times in the river right in front of the coach, but hasn’t caught anything yet. Some kids in the park have done better.

Some of our group went to a local spot today with a guide. We’ll see if they did any better when they return.

Our bird count has increased. There is usually a hatch of insects in the morning and again in the afternoon. A flock of 20-30 Nighthawks entertained us along with the Red-Naped Sapsucker, Tree and Violet Green Swallows, Gray Catbirds, and even Robins soaring over the river snatching bugs out of the air.  Bobbi spotted a Nighthawk resting on a branch in the tree right in front of the Courtney’s coach. It looks just like part of the tree and was very hard to spot even with binoculars. The eagle has been back several times. It seems to have a favorite perch just on the other side of the river.