As we’ve been driving around different places, Bill keeps saying that he wants a house on top of a mountain - with a view - and he imagines us having cocktails on a deck looking out over the valley or the lake. This has been a recurring theme - along with, which road will take us up to look…

Last weekend as we drove back from checking out the rv park where we stayed last night after watching the boat races, we spotted the house on top of the mountain overlooking Flathead Lake. There was not enough time for me to get my camera. Returning home today we were prepared….

The location is incredible and I imagine the view is stunning. I would hate to have forgotten to pick up milk on the way home and I bet the drive is interesting in the winter AND it is big enough to house several families, still - fun to dream of cocktails on that deck!

We are home, and all is unloaded, unhooked and resituated - a fun little trip that got two homebodies out and about.

Ready to roll…

Karl was going to make sure nothing rolled without him! - It didn’t..

However the trip started with a couple of glitches…we had left a message with the rv park asking how early we could check in and hadn’t heard so planned an early start with a grocery stop thinking to arrive close to noon. I woke Bill at 8:30 and we hooked up the truck, loaded the 4 wheeler and were having a last cup of coffee when the phone rang…2:00 for check in. We decided to roll anyway and hopefully a spot would be ready early or we would find somewhere to park and have lunch before check in.

10 miles down the road I remembered that Bob had no water. I left him 2 days worth of food, but he and Karl share a water bowl and I brought it for Karl. Fortunately, there was a good place to park the bus, we unhooked the truck and I went back and took care of the water situation.

We rolled into the area west of Polson past the entrance to the park shortly before noon - plenty of time to drive through town and get the groceries we wanted….a few seconds later, it seemed like not the best move as we weren’t the only people coming to see the races… Also it was Polson’s Flathead Cherry Festival.

In the end, it wasn’t as bad as it looked and we were still 1/2 an hour early for check in but we were accomodated. We were parked, plugged in, had the 4 wheeler unloaded, the grill set up, routisserie chicken for dinner started and were watching the boats by 2:00.

It turned out to be more interesting to me than I anticipated. I’m not a fan of large noisy things running in circles - but the putting in and taking out, people, pretty spot and the fact that although warm and sunny, it was not hot, hot - it was a nice afternoon and fun to see what we saw.

This morning, Karl and I walked down to the river about 6 a.m. - cool, beautiful, rosy sky as the moon prepared to set and the sun to rise.

The boats at rest - waiting for today’s final heats.

North of the park a quiet road ran up to the west - Karl and I meandered along after our visit to the river. We turned back just as the sun was rising over the mountains to the east. Beautiful start to a quiet Sunday.

The plan for yesterday, which actually happened as planned!! - was to drive around the lake - Flathead Lake. It is slightly over 100 miles around and is a favorite local motorcycle ride as well as drive. We did it in the Winnebago…full kitchen, our own bathroom, room for Karl and best of all that big windshield to see the view. Winnebago instead of the bus as the much smaller motorhome would fit in the state park day lots and my “plan” was to park in one for lunch and take a walk by the lake.

I bought the Winnebago 3 years ago in July and had never had any type of motorhome or rv prior. It was the largest thing I’d ever driven, parked or backed up. I did some practice driving early mornings to Walmart and used the big empty parking lot as my training ground. The drive along the west shore of the lake as a day trip was my first “outing” and introduced me to the view - being up high and the large windshield means even the driver can see some of the sights. I remember laughing with pleasure at how much fun it was - a nice reaction as I was coming off a bit of “what did I do???” after buying the darn thing.

Yesterday’s trip around the lake and particularly the lunch stop at the park where I got my rv feet wet was a fun re-living of those first little trips. And it WAS nice to fix lunch and eat it comfortably … I was never all that fond of the picnic thing, but sitting in the comfort of the motorhome, pointed towards the lake - that I can enjoy. It was warm at nearly 80 and the walk with Karl was pretty short before he got too hot - but enough to walk in the lake, get a drink and sniff along the shore. We continued on and around the lake in the Winnebago. I drove so Bill could really look around - so he was the photographer for this post.

Yeah…on to Plan B - what Plan B is we don’t know yet… Fortunately Bill called a stop to the fun before 47000 pounds of bus dug in too deep and also fortunately he has tow service on his insurance and I had to leave for an appointment but reportedly the tow guy was very nice, very competent and when I returned the bus was back where we started and we are exploring a number of options and getting estimates for things… but for the moment, the bus lives on the nice solid driveway.

This morning is a new morning and it was a beauty. Pressed for time, all of this morning’s photos, including the stuck bus above are straight out of the camera - no software fun today…

Still adjusting to a different routine which is my excuse for a late morning post… that and playing musical motorhomes and riding around on the 4wheeler discussing possible options…this last at 6 p.m. last night fortified by a strong scotch each…it was a day - on to Plan B!

Bill took these photos - in Montana - they are before, in and just after Homestake Pass just east of Butte. He was limping along with blown out topper awnings at this point, but there was a bit of a break in the weather and he got his first glimpse of this part of Montana.

Homestake Pass has 2 summits 2 miles apart and between them is a valley with a huge rest area. Going west, it is a long pull up and very beautiful as there are rocky spires and cliffs to the north. And I guess because there is not as much stress going up, it has always seemed to me to be the “scenic” direction….going east an rv’r is pretty busy controlling speed… The eastbound rest area has many signs before it strongly suggesting that trucks and rvs pull into the rest area to check brakes before the descent. At the eastbound rest area is a large billboard that details how many truck drivers have been killed on the descent and instructions for speed. The descent is not horrible - my guess is that the road seems so good - 4 lane divided interstate, no hairpin turns …normal graded turns - that many large vehicles just took a long steep descent too fast. The current approach is to scare the bejesus out of everyone with the many dire signs and speed warnings - it has worked as there have been “a significant decrease in truck accidents” according to Montana Highway Patrol since they added all of the signage.

At any rate, going westbound is easier and the descent is spread out over many miles. Butte is only 1000 feet lower than the pass summit and the entire descent to about 3000 feet (from the 6375 foot summit) stretches the 100 miles to Missoula with some minor ups and downs.

Bill’s photos…