Well, it struck again.
There are a couple missing spots in the flour, but no tracks leading away. , But half the dry food is missing. I told Rob that next time we need to take the rug away, just put the bowl of dry food down and put flour all around it so that it might leave tracks.
While sitting and drinking our coffee we heard scratching noises. Bella heard them too and alerted. Now Rob is thinking it might be a squirrel. The noice seemed to be coming out of the heating vent. It might be able to come up from under the refrigerator. Hmmm, not good.
Both our kitchen sinks are leaking badly. So badly in fact we have a pan under them to catch the water. We called ahead to LoLo to see if we might have someone come out and fix it. Rob made contact with a man and we are supposed to call him when we get there today so that he might come out tomorrow to fix it. I wonder if he might have any suggestions from our critter.
We started packing up to leave. I usually do the inside; stowing everything, pulling in slides, making sure things are turned off and secure. Well, when I pressed the button for the bedroom slide nothing happened. I could actually hear the motor, but no movement.
we hunted around for the manual cranks and the one we thought was it turned out to be the kitchen. We looked under the bed and there it was. The bed sits up on a pedestal. It has a hydraulic lift on it so you can get to the storage inside the pedestal (and in this case the mechanism to run the slide), but we have a residential grade mattress on it rather than the RV mattress so the hydraulic is no help. It requires both of us to lift and then put a rod under it to hold it up. long story short, with struggle (of course) we were able to lift it, prop it and then using the electric drill, l with attachment, run the slide in. Rob called Seth, the man who is supposed to come out to fix the sink, and told him about the slide. Seth asked for pictures and we obliged.
We hit the road and continued up hwy 93, up the Bitterroot Valley.
The byway continues through the fairly narrow valley and eventually widens to permit glimpses of the Bitterroot Range to the west. Bitterroot, the plant that gave these mountains their name, once was a staple food of Indians, who boiled or baked the roots to lessen the bitter taste. Today it is Montana's state flower, and locals cherish the lily's pinkish bloom as a sure sign that spring has come.
Other plant life includes towering ponderosa pines, cedars, firs and larches (also called Tamarack), all of which blanket the lower slopes of the Bitterroots. The mountain crests, however, remain bare, their granite crowns battered by he elements into knife-edged horns and aeries. South of Darby was Trapper Peak which rises some 10,157 feet.
The total drive was only about an hour and a half.
We found the Camp ground easily. It is called Square Dance Center Campground and is located in Lolo, Montana, off hwy 12. As the name implies, it is a square dance center. It is a place where folks come to learn to square dance, buy square dance clothing and apparel and year 'round dancing with clubs and special dances. Square Dance and Round Dance lessons autumn through spring and summer workshops. It apparently has one of the biggest and best stocked dance wear shops in the West.
Unfortunately, due to the Covidvirus restrooms, showers, laundry area and "honey wagon" are closed or the season. All dances are also closed through August.
There are a lot of "regulars" here who come every year for the dancing and fishing even though there is no dancing this year.
We were led to our spot and set up, including the drill situation to get the bedroom slide out. It's a nice forested area. It is still a bit chilly.
We walked around a bit. There are some trails that lead down to the Lochasa River. The rivers are raging after the recent rains.
We decided to drive into Missoula and check it out. We didn't really know where to go, so Rob suggested we walk along the river. We found a park with a trail and decided it would be a good place to start.
It was a pretty park. With some fun statuary in it.
There were people walking by us in wet suits carrying short surf boards. I thought hmm, I wonder what that is all about. Well as it turns out, we were at a spot in the river called "The Big Wave". It is a very popular spot with kayakers and surfers.
We continued to walk on a bit and then came upon a cool playground. Made me wish I were a little kid again just so I could be amazed by playing in it.
From the park we saw a Brewery and I told Rob I'd buy him a beer. It was the Tamarack Brewery. While there we looked up what Tamarack meant since we see it in the mountains all over the country. There is a Tamarack Lodge in California out of Fresno. It turns out it refers to the trees "Larches", hmmm.
Rob had a beer and I had a margarita. It was odd tasting. We also had nachos with their "house made guacamole. Talk about odd. It tasted different, not bad but different. It was a little stringy, was a darker, bolder green than we are used to, and its appearance was gritty, although it didn't taste gritty. Its texture in your mouth was smooth.
As we walked back to the car we came upon their Court house. I liked the looks of it.
On the way back I wanted to check out the Lolo Hot Springs. It is out past our camp ground on hwy 12 about 25 miles. It was another pretty drive along the river. We got to it and discovered that they have captured the hot spring and piped it into a building that you have to pay to go into and they also have it piped into a swimming pool. I am always disappointed when someone takes something from nature, and turns it into their own private for prophet event.
While we were out there we found a place that offers horse back rides. We stopped in and talked to them and picked up a brochure.
On the way back to our camp ground we passed Travelers Rest Historic Site. We did not stop, but will return to visit it while we are here. "Before heading west for the Bitterroot Mountains, and Lolo Pass, Lewis and Clark camped at this site just off Rte 93. Nine months later- their trail blazing journey nearing completion- they bivouacked here again, then returned to St Louis and the heroes' welcome they so richly deserved."
We went home, watched a couple more episodes of "Yellowstone" and went to bed.
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