Spring 2021 Adventure

March 21, 2021

Daughter Jennifer helped me set up the blogging capability and son Charles said that if I am going to do this it needs to be interesting with a limited number of pictures.  So here goes...........

Technically we left on Monday, March 21.  The week prior was in preparation for leaving and there were a lot of things on the list that needed attention.  Two or the most important things were for John and me to receive our second COVID shot.  Now knowing how we would personally be affected by the shot I allowed for a couple of down days.  Fortunately, neither of us had side effects from the vaccine.

I still had tax returns to finish and a couple of small accounting projects to take care of.  John had to take the snow plow off of the tractor and re-install the mower blades for the guy coming to mow the lawn in April.  

One last bit of business was to drive to Sammamish to see Charles, Charli, Max, and Mason.  We decided not to leave from Sammamish because the North Cascade Pass Highway is still closed, and it was faster to drive home Sunday night and leave Monday morning.

Day 1 March 21: So, this is actually the first day of our adventure.  We drove to Carywood, ID., a small community on highway 95 about 25 miles south of Sandpoint. Traveling today was uneventful.  The roads were good, temperature in the 50's, blue skies with rain showers here and there.  

In Carywood we met up with some old friends.  Jim and Jenn Adair.  Jim was the best man at our wedding 52 years ago. Jim's sister, Bonnie (John's first girlfriend) and her husband joined us for dinner and a long overdue visit.   There was reminiscing, laughter and catching up.  The end of a great day.  Tomorrow we head for Kalispell, MT over highway 2, assuming the roads are passable.

Day 2, March 22 - We did not leave Carywood until about 11:30 am but Kalispell is just 175 miles east.  Drove north to Sandpoint and then east to Bonner's Ferry.  It is 16 miles from Bonner's Ferry to the Montana boarder and few miles to Libby, MT.  Our first stop was the visitors center.  We were encouraged to change our route to Kalispell and travel over Highway 37 instead of Highway 2. 

Before leaving Libby, we found a diner where we had lunch.  The special was half a roast beef sandwich with a bowl of vegetable beef soup.  Sysco did not have a hand in making this delicious lunch.

Highway 37 is more scenic even though a bit longer.  We spotted 5 deer and 3 small mountain goats along the way. The rock formations are beautiful to see with so many varied colors. The highway runs along Koocanusa Lake, which is almost 70 miles long.  There is one bridge at the northern end which is the longest and tallest bridge in Montana.

So, day 2 was taking in some beautiful county that we had not seen before.  Temperatures were in the mid 40's, blue skies with high clouds and snow on the mountain tops.

When we arrived in Kalispell we settled in for the night.  John went for a walk and I listened to a Lenten study on Zoom.  Lunch was so filling we had a small bag of popcorn with water (John) and wine.

Our original plan was to travel highway 2 along the upper part of Montana.  After looking at the map in greater detail we decided there would be more interesting things to see and visit if we went south to Helena the state capital of Montana.

Day 3 Kalispell to Helena, MT – Our first stop was Jeff Fleming Art Gallery.  Jeff is quite an artist of what he refers to as whimsical forest animals.  We have two of his wood carved bears at home.  Today I was interested in his paintings.  We found a print of 4 bears in and on an old tree trying to retrieve the honey from a beehive.  It is really cute.  Also picked up some cards and a magnet.

From the art gallery we located several antique stores that were calling us in.  John found an old Heathkit electronic equipment piece with the original instruction book. 

For a late lunch, we found an old soda fountain restaurant after which we fed the truck some fuel and set out for Helena.  By this time, it was 5:00 and Helena is 200 miles east.  The temperature in Kalispell ranged about 40-45 with snow showers every once in a while.

After leaving Kalispell the temperature dropped and the snow flurries were constant.  The lowest was 27 degrees but the highway was warm enough that the snow did not stay on the highway.  We did have to slow down for all the deer along the side of the highway.  The valleys stretch for as far as the eye can see with grazing cattle and horses.  There were several newborn calves in the pastures as well.

We finally arrived in Helena about 8:30 pm and found a local diner for a light dinner.  Our rule on the road is that we do eat at any restaurant we could go to at home.  Sometimes we have to set that rule aside but most of the time are able to find really great homecooked type meals.

John is looking up antique stores in the area for tomorrow’s adventure.  If we find too many for us to cover in a day, we will stay another night.  Whatever we do, at this point we do not know where we will be tomorrow evening.