ICE CREAM, ICE CREAM, WE ALL DON’T SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM

Judy, I knew you and I would be good friends. Give me a big bowl of buttered popcorn and I’m the happiest camper ever. But I do think we are in the minority.

Just kind of an explanation: I stated that I don’t care for ice cream and I know some of you can’t understand how anyone could not like ice cream. I don’t particularly care for most dairy. I do NOT eat cheese – ever. (Well, twice to be really! polite.) I don’t drink milk, don’t like whipped cream – give me the Cool Whip any day. I occasionally eat eggs but they don’t rank high on my list of favorites. And ice cream is okay once in awhile. What I do like is when Jim gets a vanilla cone and gives me the very last bite of cone that has some of the ice cream melted in it. Or a little ice cream in a root beer float with lots of root beer. 

I have no idea where these aversions came from. I grew up in a family who’s idea of a great meal was a toasted cheese sandwich with a big glass of milk. And for dessert a trip to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone. So I would have a toasted peanut butter sandwich and a glass of kool-aid or water. What can I say? Jim tells me I’m unique.

 

COOKIES AND ICE CREAM

Helena, MT   High 97   Low 54

My sister’s granddaughter, Courtney, came to visit her grandma. This is a big deal because Courtney just got her driver’s license and a new-to-her car.

To celebrate the occasion, Courtney and Judy made peanut butter cookies. I got to enjoy the fruits of their labors. They were really good.

Courtney is going to be a Sophomore this year and has soccer tryouts next week. She’s sure hoping she makes the varsity squad.

I sure do love this RV lifestyle and all the wonderful people we get to meet. In April of 2010 we met  Paul and Mary in Prescott, AZ. Spent some great times exploring the area with them.

 

We had thought that we were going to meet up with them in Kalispell along with Sue and Doug.  But their air conditioner decided they needed to stay in Colorado for a lot longer and they didn’t make it to Montana this year.

Got an e-mail from them letting us know that friends of theirs were camped in Helena. We hooked up with Steve and Cathy on their last night in town and headed out for dinner at the Windbag Saloon on Last Chance Gulch.

The only way to finish up a great dinner is a stop at the ice cream parlor. Just look at the line on this hot summer night.

Three very happy people.(I’m not an ice cream lover so no cone for me.)

                           Steve, Cathy, and Jim

We then gave them a short tour of the Helena Valley and out to Lake Helena. Really enjoyed our time with them and look forward to seeing them somewhere on the road again.

(Paul and Mary – keep sending new friends our way.)

ONE OF THOSE DAYS

Helena, MT  High 99   Low 58

Jim went fishing this morning. Not much luck catching. On his way home the truck went into power saver mode AGAIN!! This makes the 4th time since June. The dealers have replaced filters and EGR’s and cleaned everything and who knows what all else. So back it goes into the shop tomorrow. So very frustrating. At least he wasn’t towing the fifth wheel, just the boat.

Then he had to take the tire into the Firestone shop to find out why we have a bulge in the tire. While he was doing that our power went out.

Next day updates.

They really don’t know what is wrong with the truck. It could be this, it could be that, or it could be whatever. Jim doesn’t appreciate those kinds of answers so he had them replace the air filter and we’re hoping we can get back to Billings. Then he can take the truck into his old dealership and have people he knows and trusts look at it for us.

Found out that the bulge in the tire is normal. It’s the way radial tires are constructed. So nothing to worry about in that department. I guess they have issued news releases about this issue because so many people were bringing tires back.

Our power is back on. And we are so thankful for our surge guard. The power box we are hooked to is probably 30 years old if not older. We blew a fuse and burned up a wire. The Lord was certainly watching over us, because it could have caused a massive fire in this dry, dry area. Also, without our surge guard, we probably would have burned up the air conditioner as well as who knows what else.

Montana Power came out to check things out and were able to fix everything. I stayed out of the picture so I really don’t know how it all got fixed. All I know is that we have air conditioning again. Since today is going to be record heat, I am really grateful for that.

So all is well in our world again. Jim is back fishing. Tonight we’re going to dinner with new friends that we haven’t met yet.

THE SEELEY SWAN

Helena, MT   High 83   Low 53

The day before we headed back to Helena, Kay and Dan arrived at Rocky Mountain Hi Campground. They are going to spend a month in the area just relaxing and doing some exploring.

We met up with them for dinner at Mackenzie River Pizza. It’s been about seven months since we last saw them at Quartzsite so it was fun to catch up. They just bought a beautiful new motorhome in Boise, ID and are still trying to get all the bugs worked out of it.

When we were visiting the train in Somers, I saw these neat handrails outside the Sliter Hardware Store.

Thursday morning we headed out of Kalispell down The Seeley Swan Highway. This 80 mile long, 30 mile wide region is comprised of two scenic river valleys – the Clearwater and the Swan. The Bob Marshall Wilderness borders it on the north.

There are a chain of lakes along Highway 83 including: Harper’s Lake, Salmon Lake, Placid Lake, Seeley Lake, Lake Inez, Lake Alva, Rainy Lake, Summit Lake, Holland Lake, and Swan Lake.  A truly beautiful drive.

 

We stayed in Seeley Lake Thursday night so we could visit with our friend Evelyn. Strange how life works sometimes. Evelyn also worked for the IRS in Billings, MT. However, that is not where I met her. I actually met her in Washington DC when she came to work for the IRS out there. She ended up sitting at the desk behind me and we became great friends.

Evelyn owns 64 acres of land on a private lake in Seeley which she has put up for sale. She has been a snowbird to Yuma, AZ for many years but has decided that she would prefer to spend most of her time in Yuma with short visits to her son in Helena.

Views from her deck.

We had lunch at The Filling Station which was excellent. Lots of fun stuff.

Then we went back to her cabin on the lake. There is also a big house which she has rented out so she is staying in the cabin this summer. Jim had a great time fishing while Evelyn and I caught up on news and watched a movie.

Friday, on to Helena which is where we are now. We’ll be here for a couple of weeks so Jim can do some more fishing. We also have a small bulge in our trailer tire that needs to get taken care of.

One more picture of this beautiful valley.

And a couple of cloud pictures.

A TRAIN KIND OF DAY

Whitefish, MT   High 87  Low 51

(I started this post four days ago so you can see I’m a little behind. Hope to get caught up shortly.)

Whitefish, MT’s claim to fame is the Whitefish Mountain Resort at Big Mountain. When we lived here it was just called Big Mountain Ski Resort. You can see the ski runs on the mountain.

I should have saved my train picture from Columbia Falls for this post.

There is a small museum in Whitefish that is located in the train depot that I wanted to visit. It was especially neat for me because I grew up with the Great Northern Big Horn logo here in Montana.

The Stumptown Historical Museum is located in the depot which is also used by Amtrack. Stumptown is a nickname that was given to towns when the crews arrived to log the area to build the depot and put in the line.

This building was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1927 for $65,000.

So many wonderful treasures in this museum. Here are pictures of just a few of them.

Remember these?

These were the good old days when they used beautiful china to serve the meals in the dining car.

Thought about Rick when I saw this camera.

There is also a display which recreates the desk of Lucien Gordon Becquart, a telegrapher who worked for the Great Northern Railroad for 40-years. Jim trying to tape out a message (I’m sure it’s a love letter to me.)

Or how about a furry trout?

You can read all about him at: http://www.furbearingtrout.com/montanawildlife.html

This was a fun little museum that is free to visit, however donations are happily accepted.

To continue with the theme of the day we went to lunch at the Great Northern Bar and Grill. (Traffic is terrible on Main Street).

There’s also a train which sits in a park in Somers, MT that has a very “interesting” history.

On October 25, 1908, Engineer A. J. Adams was in poor health, so fireman Otto Fenske went to the round house alone to pick up engin No. 215 to save Adams from the long walk. Fenske ran the engine out onto the mainline and got off to close the switch. The brakes on the old engine were in poor shape, so instead he put the throttle in reverse. But while he was tugging the switch into position, the throttle jumped out of its slot and the train took off backwards towards Somers.

No. 215 was supposed to haul the Sunday morning train to Columbia Falls. Instead it was on a one way trip 11 miles in the wrong direction. The track actually stopped about two car lengths from the edge of the pier on Flathead Lake. Engine No. 215 was not to be stopped. She leaped from the track, ran through a tool house on the dock and flew about 30 feet through the air into Flathead Lake.

A few years later they were able to raise her from the bottom of the lake and she now rests in the park in Somers.

QUICK UPDATE

Kalispell, MT    High 88  Low 52

Scooter is definitely better today. In fact, she let me know in no uncertain terms that she did not appreciate not being fed. She got to eat some egg for breakfast this morning and seems to be doing just fine. She also went for a ride with Dad and I think that was the best medicine ever.

David – the doctors have diagnosed him with Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome. No cure, but they are trying to come up with a drug combination that will ease some of his symptoms. Reading about it on the internet, I learned that it can be very debilitating for days on end. He will need to learn to live with the problem and keep a journal to determine what his triggers are. But it is so wonderful to at least have a name for what is wrong.

Now back to enjoying this almost perfect weather.

QUIET DAYS

Kalispell, MT  High 88  Low 51

Since it’s the week-end, we stayed pretty close to home. Did some laundry, a little grocery shopping, gave the girls baths. Lots of fun stuff. NOT!

We’re so pretty.

Scooter isn’t feeling good today. She’s been throwing up this morning, so we’ll be keeping a close eye on her to see if we need to find a vet.

We made a stop at Depot Park in Columbia Falls. Take a look at this neat old 1904 Shay Locomotive which was used for logging in the Swan Valley.

 

Jim added a new fish decoration to our household. We stopped in Snappy’s Sport Store and ran across this treasure. What fisherman wouldn’t want a fishing rod fly swatter.

Sue and Doug and Paul were all heading for new places this morning. Sue and Doug are headed up to Nelson in Canada to visit good friends and Paul is moving over to the east side of Glacier Park. We needed to have one more get together and I was feeling domestic (I know, I really was sick!) so I fixed dinner at our place. Had a wonderful time. So glad we got to meet Sue and Doug. And Tucker. We’ll be seeing Paul again sometime in Arizona.

David (Jim’s son), Kelly, and Katie Bug were supposed to be back today from Baltimore where Katie was competing in the National Track and Field Championships. But David has ended up in the hospital and we’re not sure when they will be back. David has had stomach problems for years and the doctors here have not been able to determine what is wrong. Hopefully the doctors back East have better luck. David’s Mom lives back there so she is making sure he is getting good care.