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Canada – Day 2 of the drive to Alaska – Friday, July 19

I took Tula on a walk around the campground so we could both stretch our legs a bit before setting off for a long day in the car. As I left the campground, I saw a bear trap. They did mention bears last night and to use the usual bear precautions like keeping all food and everything with a scent in a hard-sided vehicle or a bear box. I wonder how often the bear trap is used – it was a cylindrical metal tube sort of thing.

Shortly after I left Jasper National Park, I came to Mt. Robson Provincial Park. This was one more example of how things can look so different driving coming from a different direction. The last time I drove through we approached Mt. Robson from the west, and it’s a spectacular mountain, kind of set off by itself, and from the west it was visible for miles and it looked like one would just drive into it. Coming from the east, like I was now, made me wonder if I was thinking of some different place because it didn’t look at all like I remembered. And then when I stopped at the little gas station and looked back – pow! – there it was! It’s much more spectacular from the west.

The weather today started out beautiful and sunny and a perfect temperature, but as the day wore on, rain showers began to appear here and there, and it ended up being a gray, rainy afternoon and evening. Out here in western Canada, the little towns become fewer and farther between, and there were often signs reminding motorists that it could be hundreds of kilometers before the next gas station. I often topped up the gas tank when I was in a town, just so I didn’t take any chances. I headed west to Prince George, then north to Chetwynd and Fort St. John, where I picked up the Alaska Highway. I also starting to look for places to get an oil change, and figured I better start looking sooner rather than later. I asked the lady in the gas station at Fort St. John if they do oil changes, but they were getting ready to close for the day. It made me happy I got gas when I did, because the only other gas pump didn’t look like it was working. But I had a full tank and was ready for a couple more hours of driving. I was going to see about getting something to go from the one little restaurant, but things were so expensive, I didn’t bother. I went in to the grocery store to look around, and again, prices were really really high. It makes me feel bad for the people who have no choice but to pay the high prices. But I had some good bread, and I figured it was going to be a peanut butter and jelly sort of dinner.

It was raining again, but I continued north. Fort Nelson was the next town, but it was 370 miles away, with only 2-3 little tiny villages along the way. If I hadn’t been able to get gas on Friday evening in Fort St. John, I would have had to camp there and get gas in the morning. I knew I wasn’t going to make it to Fort Nelson tonight, but was thinking I might run across a campground somewhere. This part of British Columbia had forests and some wide open land. There were lots and lots of big trucks – hauling timber and maybe oil. Things were kind of a muddy mess at the places where the trucks would pull onto the highways. I did see signs for camps, but they mostly looked like big mud puddles with lots of pick-ups and trailers. It turned out those places weren’t campgrounds for people like me; they were camps for the people working in the lumber and oilfields! I’m glad I didn’t actually pull into one!

British Columbia has lots of pull-offs along the road, and as it got later and later, I saw RVs and other vehicles just pulling into those for the night. When I started to notice some fog in addition to the heavy rain, I decided I would do likewise, and simply found a big pull-off and decided to camp right there. It was raining so hard, I didn’t set up my normal sleeping arrangements – a lot of stuff would have gotten soaked as I was rearranging things. So I figured I would try my back-up plan, and that was to recline my seat as far as it would go, and with pillows, quilt and sleeping bag, and a box to prop up my feet, I was surprisingly comfortable in the front seat. I think Tula was a little confused why I didn’t inflate the air mattress, but I had an extra pillow for her, and moved a couple things so she had plenty of room on her dog bed, and we spent the night in the pull-off, and I actually slept pretty well in the reclined seat. It’s nice to know that will work in a pinch!

Canada – Day 1 of the drive to Alaska – Thursday, July 18

I woke up this morning right on the edge of Glacier National Park with the pine trees and mountains for my morning view. I was able to get online for a few minutes at the campground and sent a few emails and a few texts before crossing into Canada, where I’ll be kind of out of touch for a few days without the use of my electronic gadgets! The campground also had a breakfast burrito booth, and I got the best breakfast burrito I’ve ever had (not that I’ve had that many!) – that’ll keep me going for the day!

And then I set off – deliciously excited to start the long drive through Alberta, British Columbia and Yukon Territories toward Alaska. My guess was that it would take me about 3 days to get to the Alaska border. I’ve driven to Alaska once before, and ever since then, I’ve been wanting to drive there again, but taking slightly different routes. I tried to compare costs between driving vs flying, and I think expenses would be similar. If I flew, there would be the cost of the airline ticket, baggage fees, airport parking, car rental in Alaska (not cheap in the summer) and kennel expenses for Tula, which I really didn’t want to do, especially with her back on antibiotics. By driving I have the gas costs for 2000+ miles, and I already knew gas is more expensive in Canada, and motel/campground fees. The other benefit to driving is having all my stuff with me so I can camp, and save money on the high summer motel rates in Alaska – and I already knew I’d be camping at least a few nights. So my final thoughts were it might actually be cheaper to drive depending how many nights I camp.

I set off across the border into Alberta – the first, vivid thing that caught my eye were immense fields of something bright yellow. I have no idea what kind of crop it was, but with the sun so bright, and so many huge fields of all the yellow, it was almost too bright! I never did find out what it was. Alberta was rolling farmland and then I got to Calgary, and must have picked the slowest way possible through that city. I saw the Calgary Stampede grounds in the heart of town, and it seemed to take forever to get from one end of town to the other. Or perhaps I was just impatient to get to Banff National Park!

The last time I drove to Alaska, I came through Canada’s national parks from north to south as I drove back to Michigan. This time I wanted to drive through them from south to north. It was no accident I finished my Montana week where I did – I really wanted the excuse to drive through these parks again. And they did not disappoint. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular! Like I did in Glacier, I ended up making lots of stops and getting out to enjoy the views. They’re trying to reduce wildlife collisions and there were several “wild animal bridges” with lots of grass and trees (and some fencing to guide them onto the bridges instead of crossing the highway.) I’m curious how successful that is. There was lots of snow in the higher elevations and countless glaciers high up in the mountains. And then there were lakes here and there and the water was such a pretty icy blue-green color. Even after hours of driving in such splendor, it never gets old. Words and photos can’t do justice to the scenery. I felt lucky to be able to enjoy so much of it. As evening wore on, a bear crossed the road in front of me, and I slowed down and stopped as it climbed the hill next to the van, snacking on some grasses and shrub branches. Other cars then stopped and the bear ambled away into the hills.

I didn’t cover as many miles as I had expected to today because of all the glorious scenery, and it was getting late as I got to the north end of Jasper National Park. I saw a sign for a campground, and went to check it out, and once again I was lucky enough to get a campsite at a national park in the summer without a reservation. So Tula and I enjoyed another cozy night of camping. The mosquitoes were bad at the registration booth, but they weren’t as bad in the campground, and I can get things set up pretty fast. Nights get cool in the mountains, and I was happy for my heavy sweatshirt and sleeping bag and quilt – Tula even had a blanket tonight!

Montana – Wednesday, July 17

As I was getting loaded up, I got a phone call from the vet down in Three Forks. She told me Tula’s blood tests showed a lot of improvement (her Lyme disease numbers were down to 88 from 253) but that there was still room for progress to get the numbers below 40. She recommended another course of antibiotics for a month, at a little higher dose. She asked me to call around to the different pharmacies to find the best prices for her meds, and then she’d be happy to call in the prescription. The antibiotics are a bit pricey, and I was lucky enough to run into a special at CVS when I was in Ohio. This time I called numerous places, and finally found an OK price at Costco. So the vet called it in, and Tula and I took a short walk while I thought the prescription was being filled. Costco was miserably crowded, and I waited in a long line, only to find out that since Tula was a new “patient”, they had to get a bunch of info, and only then could her prescription get in the line to be filled. So, we lost a lot of time taking care of all of that, but, I’m happy that Tula’s numbers are improving, and now we’re set for a month of meds.

It was raining pretty hard by the time we left Kalispell. On my way to Glacier National Park I came to the town of Columbia Falls, where the Montana Veterans Home is located. I had talked with someone there yesterday, and they would be happy for a donation to their activities/special events fund, and I found the home tucked back into pretty grounds. I got to the right building and met Bonnie, the activities director. She told me more about the programs, and some of the things they like to do for the veterans. In fact, they had just been out on a day trip to one of the big parks in Kalispell that I had walked by last night. She said a special trip she would like to offer the veterans sometime would be a trip to Glacier with a ride in one of the red “jammers”. I told her I would love to support anything like that! Then Bonnie was kind enough to take me back to the offices, where they actually had some leftover sandwiches, chips and pop from the outing today, and she told me I would be more than welcome to have some. I didn’t want to take any of their food, but she assured me they were extra, so I ended up with some sandwiches and chips, little realizing how good they would taste much, much later for a very late dinner at a campground!

After I was done talking with Bonnie, Tula and I set off for a little walk around the grounds before heading to the west entrance of Glacier. I love driving the Going to the Sun road – this would be my third time. I last drove it back in 2008 from east to west; I was happy to be going west to east this time. It is different from each direction – I think one could drive this road 100 times and still see different views, different light and shadows, and different angles. It’s truly breathtaking. The road is about 54 miles long – it took me over 6 hours to drive. I kept stopping and getting out, and taking short walks and getting pictures. It’s so beautiful. I think the biggest benefit to starting the drive later in the day is that the traffic and crowds are clearing out. By the time I got to Logan Pass, where the Continental Divide is, the parking lots were mostly empty and there were only handfuls of people around instead of crowds. I walked a little bit on one of the high trails, and a couple people told me there was a mountain goat up ahead a ways. I eventually came around a bend, and there it was, laying down majestically like it owned the meadow! And then I went back to Logan Pass and started on another upward trail when I looked down to the parking lot and saw a couple of bighorn sheep! I went back down for a closer look and they were a bit feisty – butting heads and rearing up a bit. It was probably mostly play, but it was really interesting to hear the sound of the horns ramming together – almost a bit of a hollow ringing sound. They butted heads and kind of danced and pushed each other around for a while, then went back to licking up salt or something from the asphalt in the parking lot. I imagine a few car owners were a little nervous about the sheep shoving each other into a car! But nothing was damaged. Being up at the top of the park in the evening hours when the colors were so pretty was really special. I wanted to stay longer and walk some more, but one of the rangers was up there to remind those of us who were eastbound that we better get back on the road, or the 9pm road closures were going to force us to turn around. So I headed back down from the heights of the mountains, still enjoying the twilight pinks and purples reflecting off their rocky faces. As I exited the park on the east side at St. Mary’s I was happy to have had an afternoon and evening in the park – certainly not enough time to do the park justice, but I’ll drive the Going to the Sun Road any chance I get! I saw the red park “jammers” all lined up neatly as they waited for all their trips across the park tomorrow – maybe one day I’ll take a ride through the park in one of those! Tula and I finished our Montana walking in St. Mary’s which is pretty much a little resort community, and then it was kind of late, but I thought I’d put on a few more miles. I hadn’t gone very far when I saw a sign for the Glacier KOA campground, and I thought I better stop if they had a campsite open. They did, and I was able to set up camp right in the view of the very mountains that I had just driven through. And with a nearly full moon rising, it was a wonderful evening to sit outside a bit and eat my sandwiches from the veterans home, and reflect on my Montana week – all 56 miles walked, and all 7 donations given – the Community Cafe, The Headwaters Food Pantry, the class trip to Washington DC, the Smokejumpers Welfare Fund, ROOTS – Missoula Food Pantry, Safe Harbor Shelter and the Montana Veteran’s Home.

I turned in and got a good night’s sleep to be ready for the start of the long drive through Canada toward Alaska!

Montana – Tuesday, July 16

I got all packed up, and started heading north. I’m on the west side of Glacier National Park, so I began to head in that direction. But before getting in the car, Tula and I walked another couple miles along the river trail in Missoula – I’ve enjoyed that one, and it’s clearly a popular river for floating and rafting, and some people on surfboards or kayaks hone their skills on the little bit of whitewater that’s near a viewing platform.

Then we headed north, and it was apparently cherry season in the area, and there were a number of little cherry stands around, so I stopped at one, and got some yummy cold, washed cherries – what a treat! I missed the cherry season back home. Then the land turned dry and hilly, and I drove through the Flathead Indian Reservation, which covers a good bit of land in that area. It was not a particularly good area to get out and walk because I saw several warning signs about rattlesnakes in the area, but there were hazy mountains in the distance so I knew the terrain would be changing soon.

I came to the little town of Ronan, and decided to stop to get out and do a little walking – this little town actually had sidewalks! But it was only a couple blocks long, so we didn’t get much walking in after all. But, as I was heading back to the car I saw a sign for Safe Harbor on a little building. I looked it up online when I got back to the van, and saw that it was a shelter for women and children, including the ones who lived on the big reservation. And I wanted to do something that would help them too. I called the number on the website, and the lady told me the little building I saw was the office – I don’t know where the actual safe house is. She said no one was in the office at the moment – they were kind of in and out, but they would really appreciate a donation and she gave me the address so I could mail it in. As with many of these shelters, federal funds cover a lot of the expenses, but they rely on individuals and businesses to cover the rest. They have a house that sounds like it’s set up for single women, and women with children. I was happy to find a place to support on a reservation.

I continued on my way. After a while, I came around a bend in the road, and saw the Flathead Lake in the distance, and it was quite a sight to come across so suddenly. It’s the largest natural, freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. When I got down by the water I found a mile long trail along the beach – there were a lot of people out enjoying the sunny late afternoon by the water. Then I came to the town of Polson, and did another mile or so of walking. And farther around I pulled into the Big Arm State Park, where the ranger said I could stay for a half hour as their guest and not pay the entry fee. It was a peaceful half hour walk, but a sad one – Tara had just called to say one of their dogs had a tumor in his head and had to unexpectedly be put down – he hadn’t been eating for a few days and seemed to be very sore around his mouth, and it was all kind of a sudden surprise. He was the younger of their 2 dogs, and they were shocked and very saddened to unexpectedly lose him. So my quiet walk by the lake was in remembrance of Rusty, and a hurting heart for my daughter and family to be losing a beloved pet.

From the state park I continued north along the lake and turned into the town of Somer where I found the beginning of a rail trail and Tula and I did 2 more miles of walking. And then we went on to Kalispell, which was going to be my jumping-off point for Glacier National Park tomorrow. It was a pretty evening and I walked nearly 2 more miles in town – there were lots of people out enjoying the evening. I walked an extra mile and a half for today, so I only have 6 1/2 to do tomorrow. I saw a Chinese take-out place, and picked up a late dinner to take to my Kalispell motel.

Montana – Monday, July 15

There was another bike trail on the other side of the river from where I was last night, and it was longer, so I headed over there this morning, and got 4 miles of walking done. The trail started out as a paved, well-traveled trail that went by the University of Montana (strange for me to see a different U-M – seems like University of Michigan should be the only U-M!), then the farther I went into the mountains it became a dirt trail, and I enjoyed seeing the different houses and things along the river.

Then it was time to do my donation today. I had read about the Missoula Food Bank ROOTS program, which provides boxes of food to homebound, low-income seniors, and this was the group I wanted to help today (part of my decision was very uncharitable – with all the young “hippie-type” people hanging around Missoula – and they were near the food pantry – I didn’t particularly want to support them because they all looked like able-bodied young men who could work!). I wanted to be sure my donation would go toward the senior citizens. I tried calling a couple times to see what food they might need, but didn’t get an answer. They had been open this morning, and they also had evening hours on Mondays, but I decided to drive by in the afternoon since I was nearby from my trail walk. I could see someone stocking shelves in there, even though they weren’t officially open, so I walked in to see how best to make my donation to the seniors. The volunteer told me that a financial donation would be wonderful, and if I specified the senior citizens in the memo line, it would definitely go to them. She asked if I wanted to talk to anyone – it sounded like there was a board meeting going on (which is probably why no one could answer the phone) – but I didn’t want to interrupt the meeting, although someone there could possibly have answered my question about the high numbers of young people hanging around! The ROOTS program currently helps 415 seniors in the area, and I left my note and donation.

Then I had to figure out where a battery store was – my pedometer has apparently been used so much that the battery wore out, and I was just getting flashing numbers. Luckily there was a Battery Store across the river, and they were able to replace the battery, although all my setting were lost. So I’ll have to work on that later, but at least it keeps tracks of the number of steps I take on a walk (and it’s very accurate!) and I know how many steps I walk in a mile. I set off for another mile and a half in a neighborhood near the battery store. I was really happy the battery died when I was in a city where I could replace it!

Then I wanted to finish off my walking for the day in Fort Missoula – thinking it was some historic place, according to the signs on the road. I drove quite a ways, but never saw any historic part of town, or a fort, and I think I misunderstood the sign. But I found another place to walk in the area since I was there – not the most scenic, but it was there, and I finished my walking.

And then I headed back to the motel. I’m very aware I’m leaving for Alaska in a couple days, and will have a long drive through Canada, and a busy time in Alaska, and I really needed to finish getting caught up with some donations that needed to get mailed out, and I had to get my checkbook balanced and all that sort of stuff. And I finally got it all done! Some of those things had been hanging over my head for a while, and I’m very happy to get all that paperwork done, and am feeling good about leaving the “lower 48” in a couple days. My days are often so full that it’s hard to squeeze in some of the routine things that need to be done – especially when I’m away from home for so long!

Montana – Sunday, July 14

I was heading for Missoula today, but wanted to get Tula out for a little walk first. We went back to the shady avenue with all the pretty homes and walked for a mile and a half before the drive to Missoula. Montana is a big state, and distances between towns can be pretty long. But it’s such a pretty state that that doesn’t bother me! I was in some wide open country and there weren’t many exits or services. When I saw a sign for a rest area, at first I thought I would pass it by, but then figured both Tula and I should get out since who knew when the next place would come up, and that stop unexpectedly led to a donation opportunity! At a rest area of all places! It turned out there was a fund raiser going on there for the Powell County High School’s trip to Washington DC. Only one of the students was at at the rest area this particular day (and his mom was there too) and they had plates full of homemade cookies and brownies and hot coffee and cold water, and were simply collecting donations for whatever snack one might want. And on a beautiful Sunday afternoon during the busy summer tourist season, and no other facilities or services around for about a hundred miles, they appeared to be having a very successful fundraiser! And this was a new location for a donation for me – I never thought I would make a donation at a rest area! I talked to Will – either an incoming junior or senior – and he told me a bit about the upcoming trip to Washington DC. He seemed to really be looking forward to it, and although many schools in the east have school trips to DC, it’s a bit more of an expensive project from rural western Montana. Will (and most of his classmates) are in one of the sprawling western Montana school districts – with a 30 mile commute each way – that gets to be some pretty long school days, especially when you add in sports or other extracurricular activities. Will has never been on a plane, and hasn’t been farther east than South Dakota, so a trip to Washington DC (and then a few days in Manhattan) is going to be quite the adventure! Another young lady was supposed to be selling cookies that day, but she couldn’t be there, so I gave Will the whole donation – I was happy to support a class trip that will be such an amazing experience for all these kids! I’m really glad I pulled off at that exit! And it sure seemed to be an unexpectedly good idea for a fundraising venture – it wouldn’t work in an area where there are lots of exits and other services, but in remote Montana with lots of travelers passing through, it’s a wonderfully creative idea!

Once I walked Tula, we continued on for another hour or so to Missoula. My first destination there was to visit the Smokejumpers Base – I knew they had tours on Sunday, and I arrived just as the 3:00 tour was starting. I have been on this tour once before and it’s fascinating. Becoming a smokejumper is a demanding and competitive quest. Women can go through the training, but they are held to the exact same standards as the men, as it should be for everyone’s safety. Smokejumpers have to weigh between 120-200# (200# is the maximum weight the parachute can carry on its descent) and they go through a grueling training regimen. All of them have to have several years of firefighting experience, and some of the applicants are former military paratroopers. They have to be able to carry 80-85# packs, and all of them have to learn how to sew, since they make and repair a lot of their own gear. There are really long tables in the chute packing room, and only certified packers can pack the chutes. All of the parachutes are hung up and inspected for rips and tears after every jump, but there are not as many repairs needed as one might think. When a call comes in, they only have a matter of minutes to get fully suited up and head out to the smokejumper plane, which is always full of provisions and is ready to go. The smokejumper base is located right by the Missoula airport, and the smokejumping plane (which looks different from other planes – a different tail and wings attached at the top of the plane for faster takeoff) gets top priority for takeoff – other takeoffs and landings are temporarily delayed until the smokejumper plane is in the air. The spotter (also a smokejumper but not jumping on the current mission) selects the “safe zone” and it’s his/her responsibility to tap each of the jumpers on the shoulder at the exact moment they need to go. The jumpers go out in pairs, and their food, tools and gear is all packaged in pairs, and is dropped on the next pass around. The jumpers land (and if they accidentally land in a tree, they have to know how to climb down), then gather up their gear, establish their safe zone and get to work. They never know how long they’ll be out on a job, and if more food or provisions are needed in a couple days, a plane will come by again and drop more supplies. Once a fire is successfully out, they have to pack up all their gear (the 80# or so) and hike out to some road where they can be picked up – it might be a 2 mile hike, or it might be a 30 mile hike – hence the long training hikes in full gear. There were only 4 smokejumpers on base today – the rest of them were out on other missions. There is a dormitory at the base, and everyone has assigned lockers for their gear, and they use a buddy system to make sure all the gear is put on and fastened correctly. They are not particularly well paid – starting at $14/15 dollars and hour – they do it because they love what they do, and also partly for the thrill of it – it is said they might all be just a little bit crazy! I made a donation here to the Smokejumpers Wellfare Fund – there was one fund for them, and another for maintenance of the visitor center, but I wanted mine to go toward injured smokejumpers and their families. They’re brave and courageous people!

After visiting the Smokejumper Base, it was time to get some walking in, and there were lots of places to go. I started out in the unfortunately-named Rattlesnake Wilderness Rec Area, on a trail that followed a creek – Tula and I covered nearly 3 miles there. And there were no rattlesnakes to be seen (although I wonder if I would have ventured out if I didn’t see families with young children in the area!). Then I went downtown and covered another mile and a half. There seemed to be an unusual number of long-haired, shaggy-bearded, guitar-carrying young men, and some women, hanging around. They all seemed to head over to one of the riverbanks, and it sort of seemed like a hippie sort of gathering. They weren’t menacing or threatening, but from some of the old vehicles I saw, and the packs some of them were carrying, it sort of seemed like a young homeless, but musical(!) crowd that were just hanging out together. I wanted to ask someone about it, because there was definitely a presence, but I never found anyone to ask. And I saw more of it when I walked a couple more miles along the river trail. There was certainly a gathering of some kind going on!

By then it was pretty late, and I stayed in Missoula for the night.

Montana – Saturday, July 13

Sometimes my destination for the day is subject to where I can stay for a reasonable price, and although I haven’t run into too many limitations even though I’m in the peak of summer travel season, today was one of those days. Most campgrounds and motels in the direction I wanted to go were either entirely booked up, or ridiculously expensive for tonight since it was a weekend night. I had used a free night last night (I have nearly 2 weeks of free nights stashed up at various motels to use as a result of earning points) and didn’t want to use another free one somewhere else tonight. The front desk people offered me a good deal to stay a second night here in Helena (for some reason they gave me the “trucker” rate when I was waffling back and forth!) so I decided to stay in Helena a second night, and hoped to get back early enough to start getting caught up on my blog.

So Tula and I headed out for some walking, and we got the first mile and a quarter done in a local neighborhood. Then I headed over to the state capital area, which are usually fun places to walk, and covered almost 3 more miles. It was getting to be a pretty warm day in the 90s and I began to be happy I wasn’t going to be camping! I found a big park in town and Tula and I walked another mile and a quarter, but there was no shade and that was enough for Tula for the time being. I headed over to the historic Main Street and walked a mile and a half. Several blocks of shops were “pedestrian mall” areas which were blocked off to vehicle traffic, and there were lots of fun little shops to walk past, but a surprising lack of people for a sunny Saturday afternoon – the ice cream shop was the only one that seemed to be attracting anyone!

From there I headed to a long pretty avenue full of some historic old churches, homes and mansions, including the original governor’s mansion. That was a shady way to finish off my walking for the day.

I know what I’m doing for a donation tomorrow, and will have to double up in the next couple of days. Nothing really popped up today as far as a good donation opportunity, and I didn’t run across any possibilities on my walks all over the place. So I’ll take that to mean I’ll run across some good ones in the next couple of days!

I was gone all afternoon doing my walking in different parts of town, and I simply picked up a salad to take back, and enjoyed a relatively quiet evening working on my blog, financial records and writing some postcards. It’s nice to have a little catch-up time now and then!

Montana – Friday, July 12

Tula and I started our day off with a 1.7 mile walk around some of the campground and state park area, and ran across the remnants of an old frontier hotel. Three Forks is the area where 3 rivers – the Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin Rivers (named by Meriwether Lewis for President Jefferson, Secretary of State Madison and Treasury Secretary Gallatin) – combine to form the headwaters of the Missouri River, which is the longest single river in the US. Lewis and Clark and their party spent 3 days camping in this area, along with Sacajawea, who was the wife of one of their guides. It was fun for me to camp in a place near where they had camped! I packed up and the state park ranger told me about some more good walking places. We walked down by the area where I could see the 3 rivers combine into the Missouri, and it really makes one want to throw a big innertube in the water and begin a floating journey that would lead to the Mississippi River and ultimately to the Gulf of Mexico! I am not the only one with that sort of thought – there was a sign that said it would take 2 1/2 months to float all the way down to the gulf in an innertube (never mind all the locks and dams along the way – which does make me wonder if the people who operate the locks have ever had anyone go through on a raft or an innertube or something besides a boat!)

I then took a 2 1/2 mile walk along the bluffs overlooking the rivers – I was never quite sure which river I was looking at because there were so many in that area! And then we took a short walk to see an old Indian pictograph (many have been damaged by graffiti or weather.) And there were a few old pioneer children gravesites in a fenced in area – a reminder of the tough conditions endured by all the settlers.

By then I had pretty well explored the whole state park and I had to get going anyway, since I had an appointment at the local vet clinic for Tula – it was time to re-check her blood levels. The vet clinic was the biggest one in the area, and it was farther outside of town than I thought. It turned out this was the first time the GPS in my iPad led me astray. It took me to an address about 20 miles north of down, when in reality they are south of town. At least my phone still worked, so I called and they said it was okay if I was late – even on a Friday afternoon. I got there, and Tula started to shake – after the experience of drawing blood in Ohio, and the exam table that elevated, and numerous needle pokes, she was a nervous wreck and tried to shrink behind me. But the vet was great – she got down on the floor with Tula and won her over (until the lab technician came in, then she got all nervous again!) But in the end, the vet said Tula looked younger than her 7 years, and physically she appears to be in great shape, and her heart and lungs sounded good – once she could listen normally when Tula calmed down! They drew the blood, but it will be a couple days before I hear the results. They don’t really deal much with Lyme disease here – instead, the vet has treated hundreds of dogs who are victims of snakebites. The first thing I saw when I walked into the vet office, here on the prairies of Montana, was a rattlesnake in a jar, and a bunch of information about a rattlesnake poison vaccine. I have of course, thought about all of this, and am doing my best to stay away from their terrain, and am happy they’re shy creatures. I did ask her about the vaccine – which has a 50/50 sort of benefit, but she didn’t want to give it to Tula since she’s recovering from Lyme disease. So I felt better after I left, that at least Tula is in good shape physically, and she simply said it can take a long time to completely recover as far as energy levels. The vet told me she’d call early next week with the results from her blood test.

So I finally left Three Forks. I didn’t do a donation today since I had done 2 yesterday – one of which was the Three Forks food pantry. I headed for Helena, but stopped in the city of Butte along the way. Butte was a great city to visit – a big city built on the side of a big hill, and oozing old west frontier charm. It was a wealthy town back in its mining days, and still seems to have a prosperous air, with most of the old buildings and shops still in business. One of the old brick hotels boasted that it was fireproof – no doubt reassuring when so many wooden buildings burned down. It was a lively place and there were lots of people out and about – there was an outdoor music festival going on near the top of the hill, and other stuff going on near the edge of town by the old copper mines. Tula and I walked 2 1/2 miles up and down a lot of the streets and hills. Gold and silver mining first drew people to the area, and then copper was discovered, and that’s where all the wealth came from in the late 1800s – Butte was known then as “the richest hill on Earth”, presided over by the “copper kings” and the copper mines eventually produced 20 billion pounds of copper. Amazing. Again, I wish I could be transported back in time for just a couple days to experience life in that era! They continued mining high grade copper until 1955, and then that mine closed, but another enormous open pit copper mine opened, and that was being mined up until around 5-6 years ago. There was a visitor center by the old open pit mine, which had a tunnel that led out to a balcony overlooking the pit. I got there right before it closed. The pit is now slowly filling with water, which had been pumped out during mining days – maybe it will turn into a large artificial lake once it’s full, but I doubt anything would survive in it with all the traces of metals. And there are old mining rigs and towers and stuff scattered throughout town and the neighborhoods as a reminder of the town’s history. I drove up and down some incredibly steep streets, and got to thinking some of those must not be navigable in the winter. Butte is also home to Montana Tech, part of the University of Montana, and needless to say their course studies focus on mining and geology and their mascot is the digger.

From Butte, I drove through pretty green mountains and valleys to Helena, where we got in kind of late, and called it a day.

There’s been a delay in new posts because I’m on my way to Alaska – a long beautiful journey. I don’t typically have access to either computer or phone since I’m in Canada, and I have no service anyway! I’ve been camping the whole way so no free wi-fi til I hit this campground in Yukon Territories. But I can’t take too much time – miles to go! I will cross into Alaska today and my phone and computers should work normally – where there’s service! Then I can add some more posts. So all is well – I’m just in very remote country 🙂 More later….

Montana – Thursday, July 11

I woke up this morning refreshed and ready to tackle State #41 – Montana! I was glad I stopped last night – I was near a river in a valley between a couple mountain ranges. I was just a couple miles away from the town of Big Sky, and once I was packed up (I was a little slow this morning!) I found a really pretty bike trail winding through the woods on the side of a mountain. So I got over 3 miles of walking done before leaving Big Sky. We then continued north to Bozeman, and the drive was very scenic – I’m glad I didn’t do it in the dark. Once there, I stopped to sort out some donation opportunities and to get a plan for the next day or 2, and 2 things jumped out at me. The first was the Bozeman Food Pantry and their Community Cafe, which is a soup kitchen, but it’s run like a restaurant. The second was over in Three Forks Montana which is where I was planning to stay tonight, and the Headwaters Food Pantry just so happened to be open late on Thursday nights, one of only 2 days they’re open during the week, so I thought it was meant to be.

The first thing I did was call the Bozeman Food Pantry to ask about making either a food or financial donation to the Community Cafe. She told me if I could wait about an hour and a half, the volunteers for tonight’s dinner at the Community Cafe would be showing up, and I would be able to go inside and see how things are run, and then I could just give my donation to the volunteer coordinator. I said I could definitely wait – I had walking to do anyway!

I had some other phone calls to make – I reserved a campsite at Three Forks State Park, and talked to someone at the Headwaters Food Pantry to see what they needed, and made a vet appointment for tomorrow for a blood test to check Tula’s Lyme disease levels. Then I found the Community Cafe, and Tula and I got out for a mile of walking in that neighborhood before I went inside to see what that was all about. I arrived right when Megan, the volunteer coordinator, was going to talk to a relatively new crew of volunteers (different churches in the area send over volunteers to help with the dinner) and most of my questions were answered when she was telling them how things worked. One would never, ever guess that this is a soup kitchen, and that’s how they want it to be! The Community Cafe has only been open for a little over a year (although the food bank has been around for many years), and they acquired an old restaurant/shop that used to be called the Frontier Pie Company, which sat empty for 7-8 years. So there’s a frontier motif with a lot of wood in the dining area and it’s just charming. They get homeless people in for dinner, but they also get senior citizens on fixed incomes, and families with children who occasionally can use a free meal. Megan had 7 volunteers tonight, which was plenty – one would be the hostess to greet and seat the guests, 3 would be servers (taking their orders – some want a full meal and some only want part of it, and getting either milk or water for them), and 3 would be “scoopers” – putting together the requested plates of food. The food is all prepared over at the Food Bank and brought over, but there’s a huge kitchen area in the restaurant which they are working on. They’re really excited to have a kitchen on the premises, because then they’ll also be able to offer things like cooking classes. An electrician was busy at work in there when I peeked in. Tonight they were serving a turkey dinner – kind of like Christmas in July! It’s difficult to predict how many people they will feed, but they always plan for at least 100, and they were starting off with 130 turkey slices and accompaniments today. If they begin to run short of food, Megan gets creative and if they have an especially large crowd and have to resort to sandwiches, that’s what they do. People are allowed to have seconds if they want, but they do try to keep track of the numbers of meals served. I expect their guests all enjoy visiting – it’s definitely a pleasant restaurant-like experience.

Then Tula and I got another mile of walking in on the Montana State University campus, but then we had to head to Three Forks, so I could take care of that donation before they closed. It was still a bit of a drive. Three Forks was smaller than I expected, and I had trouble finding a grocery store. But I finally found it on the outskirts of town. The volunteer there had said they could use whatever basic staples I could bring, but they could also use some milk, and maybe even some cookies! Usually they try to stick to the healthy food, like all food pantries, but sometimes cookies are a treat, so I shopped for the basics, and milk and cookies! This was a small-town grocery store, and prices were kind of high, so I couldn’t get as much as I normally could. It sort of made me wish I had shopped at a bigger store in Bozeman, but it’s good to remember that many people don’t have access to larger stores, and their food costs are higher. It certainly affects their food budget and that’s good to remember now and then. I got the food delivered just before they closed. The volunteer working there tonight was a substitute for the usual person, so she couldn’t tell me too much about the numbers of people they help, and she’d had a number of people in tonight, but it hadn’t been too terribly busy. This particular food pantry was started by a retired couple nearly 30 years ago – it grew out of the desire to provide a Thanksgiving dinner to people in need all those years ago, and now they have a tidy little food bank in its own building, and they still spend a lot of their time shopping for food, even though they’ve gotten much older!

Then we found our campground at the state park, and I chose out a pretty site – they had quite a few people, but weren’t full yet since it wasn’t the weekend. Tula and I took a long walk around the place, and down to the Madison River – I was startled to look down the bank to see a beaver swimming by! I think that’s the first beaver I’ve seen in the wild. Tula was very, very intrigued by this swimming rodent, and she hopped down the bank, and I had to literally haul her back up – I don’t think that would have been a good encounter. But she sat and just gazed at it while it swam away – it made me wonder what was going through her mind! We got back to our campsite, and a couple people stopped by who had also been out for a walk. They were Jeannie and Al, and we chatted for a bit, and discovered we’re all national park fans (they have a son who is a park ranger) and they’re on an extended trip, and they were intrigued with my journey, and they even invited me to stop by their home in Washington, although I think I’ll be in Washington before they return from their travels. It was fun to talk with them and hear about some other national park places. A good end to a good day!