Kalispell is Kalling

We had a great drive from Missoula to Kalispell.  What a beautiful route!  Here are a couple of photos I took from the road on our way.  What majestic mountains.

 

It's unbelievable, but Sadie STILL has not gotten used to traveling in the RV.  All the sounds like creaks and rattles really rile her up!  So she spends most of her time right beneath the front legs of whoever is the passenger.  Can you see the dog hair on my jeans? Of course you can!  My jeans look a little dirty too now that I take a closer look!

And here's my other view when I'm not driving ... map laid out in front of me so I can look at it to identify different mountain ranges, peaks, bodies of water, etc.  We love to know what we're passing along the way and often will follow our drive on a map.

We're starting to get really close to our final destination, Glacier Pines RV Park in Kalispell!  But first, we pulled over to take a few pictures of the beautiful Flathead Lake.

It is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the contiguous United States.  It has a surface area of between 191.5 square miles and 197 square miles and is slightly larger than Lake Tahoe.  The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial.  It is 27.3 miles long and up to 15.5 miles wide.  Flathead Lake has a maximum depth of 370.7 feet and an average depth of 164.7 feet making Flathead Lake deeper than the average depths of the Yellow Sea or the Persian Gulf. Both the Flathead and Swan Rivers provide a continuous supply of fresh water to the lake.  It is one of the cleanest lakes in the populated world for its size and type.

Located along the west shore near the Big Arm is Wildhorse Island, a 2,165-acre state Park.  The park is accessible only by boat and is a public day use and picnic area only.  We are planning to possibly rent a boat with one of the other Workamper couples and driving over to the island to get in a full day of exploration. Recreation around the lake includes sailing, power boating, waterskiing, swimming, fishing, picnicking, and camping.  In the summer, roadside stands along the east shore offer a variety of locally grown huckleberries, cherries, apples, plus and other fruit.

 

 We've arrived!!!

Driving through the RV park entrance ...

 Here's a view of the RV park where we are spending our summer.

We took a drive after church on Sunday to Foys Lake. Once again, the scenery on the way was spectacular.  This valley is hemmed in by magnificent mountain ranges all around.



 What a lovely lake right across from Lone Pine State Park (someplace we plan on exploring later). Notice how crystal clear the water is at the shoreline?

 This is Pleasant Island on Foys Lake and it is accessed from a spit (which you can see in the lower right-hand corner of the photo) out to some residences.  Wonder how much one of those houses cost!!

 Love this buffalo sign cut out of metal for Foys Lake! 

And, here's our site in the park.  You can see our friendly bear by the front wheel and right in front of that is our "Camp Host" sign.  And how about that cool black lamppost?  We bought it at Costco and it is solar powered.  Now, we may not be able to get the stakes out of the ground by the end of summer, but here's hoping we do! 

Because we are only 30 miles from Glacier National Park, in the middle of the summer apparently this place is absolutely crazy and rigs will be lined up down the long driveway waiting to see if they can get in!  Oh boy, oh boy!  Can't wait for summer (ha!ha!).

Matthew 24:32-35
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right  at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. 

Miserable in Missoula

Our main "business" in Missoula (which consumed most of our time which is the main reason why I titled this blog "Miserable in Missoula") was getting the Jeep into the dealership and repaired.  They actually had a great Jeep dealership in Missoula, part of the Lithia group.  I called for an appointment which we got mid-day.  The guy on the phone taking the appointment was excellent!  We didn't get to pick up the Jeep until later the next afternoon, but at least it got done and we have a 3-year warranty on the Mopar parts and any Jeep dealership will honor the warranty.

The other "big" event in Missoula was visiting the Costco and getting me a new phone.  I changed from StraightTalk (Walmart's plan) to Verizon and bought a Galaxy S6 (sorry, can't do an iPhone because you can't Swype type on an iPhone and I have to Swype type).  The other problem changing phones presented was that I lost quite a few photos because I didn't have all my photos on my other phone backed up to the cloud ... so sad!  So, this RV park is the time of transition which means I have a pitiful picture selection!

I made Gary stop outside the RV park and pull over on one of our drives back to the park so I could get a picture of the RV park sign.  And I did.  And it was nice.  And it's ancient history!  Oh well.

So, the few photos I do have are from around the RV park.  I walked every day we were there.  Heck, we didn't have a car so there wasn't much else to do!

How does all that sound?  Like one heck on an exciting, scenic visit, right?

Jim & Mary's RV Park

The next set of pictures are items/statues that are scattered throughout this lovely RV park in Missoula,.  This is where we were doing our sightseeing on this stop of our journey.  We loved our stay there even though we didn't have a car for most of it.  The grounds were beautiful and it was just so lovely.

 Boy-child golfer.

 Boy-child boater.

 These tri-lamp lampposts were scattered throughout the park.

 Here's our rig in our site, sans the Jeep. It was a lovely day and Gary's sitting outside reading while Sadie lovingly looks on.

 A sensational sunset vista from the campground.

And here's our new bear we bought in Philipsburg.  His light is solar so it shines at night. He sits right outside our door.  Love this little guy.

 This tree was right outside our RV door.  The blossoms smelled heavenly.

 

Isaiah 35:2
It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God.

Floundering in Fairmont

Our next stop on the way to Kalispell was Fairmont RV Park.

It was conveniently located right next to Fairmont Hot Springs Resort (see Internet photo below) where we had dinner our first night in the park.  Unfortunately we never made it to the Hot Springs pools at the resort and you'll find out why later. 

 

This was really a lovely resort with beautiful outdoor hot springs pools and a nice looking golf course.  All this in the middle of (really) nowhere.  But, it is a "hot spot" (yes, that's a pun) and there were a lot of people at the resort taking advantage of its many amenities.

Here's the rig in our spot at the RV park.  As you can see it isn't loaded with trees, but we did have some beautiful views.  Wish I had pictures of them!

We took a drive over to the town of Philipsburg after church on Sunday (we attended a small church in the small town of Anaconda).  Philipsburg is a charming 19th century mining town that was once voted among the Prettiest Painted Places in America.  The restored buildings are just the beginning of what this town has to offer.  The town has antique stores and charming gift shops, and there was one place in town where you could "mine" for valuable Montana sapphires. 

 

Here are a couple of shots of the main drag.

 

These three sculptures were on a corner of the street and they do have a story!  In July 1878 a band of Nez Perce Indians returning south from Canada after eluding the U.S. Calvary crossed into what is now Granite County.  While passing through they attacked a small mining camp located on a tributary of Rock Creek at McKay Gulch.  Three miners were killed.  A fourth miner, James Jones, escaped in a hail of gunfire.  Although wounded, Jones managed to out maneuver his pursuers by climbing Mt. Emerine (8,629 ft. elevation). He then struggled cross country for 25 miles back to Philipsburg to alert the town about the Indian danger. From that day forward Jones was known as "Nez Perce" Jones. He died in 1926 at the age of 82.  It's hard to see, but there's a second Indian sculpture right behind Jones in the "V" of the tree.

 This was one of the historic, restored buildings.

 Loved the way this restaurant decorated their shutters!

The town of Philipsburg was named after the famous mining engineer Philip Deidesheimer, who designed and supervised the ore smelter around which the town was originally formed.  The surrounding hills still show the scars of mountains that have produced vast deposits of silver, manganese, sapphires, and to a lesser extent gold.  Granite, Tower, Rumsey, Black Pine and other local mines were considered home to thousands of hard working men in the late 19th and early 20th century glory days.  Philipsburg is also home to Granite Ghost Town which we visited.

It was a long, windy dirt road up to Granite Ghost Town, but we were not deterred.  Partway up, we stopped at the ruins of the Bi-Metallic Aerial Tramway.  The tramway was constructed in 1889 to carry ore from the Blaine Shaft in Granite to the Bi-Metallic Mill in Kirkville, near Philipsburg.  The tramway was 9,750 feet long with a vertical drop of 1,225 feet, and was the longest aerial tramway in the United States at that time.  The tramline consisted of wooden towers with rollers and guides on the ends of both arms.  These rollers supported a very large moving cable that the tram cars were attached to.  Here are its remains.

 

 

 

 

 

We saw at least three animal skeletons on this trip.  Here's Sadie contemplating the set of bones at the aerial tramway site.

 

 These next two shots were taken on the road to Granite ... not quite there yet!

 

Granite Ghost Town State Park showcases remnants of this once thriving 1890s silver boomtown that bears stark witness to Montana's boom-and-bust mining history. Hector Horton first discovered silver in the general area in 1865. In the autumn of 1872 the Granite mine was discovered by a prospector named Holland. The mine was relocated in 1875. This was the richest silver mine on the earth, and it might never have been discovered if a telegram from the east hadn't been delayed. The miner's backers thought the venture was hopeless and ordered an end to its operation, but since that message was delayed the miners worked on and the last blast on the last shift uncovered a bonanza, which yielded $40,000,000.

In the silver panic of 1893, word came to shut the mine down. The mine was deserted for three years, never again would it reach the population it once had of 3,000 miners.

 This was the Hyde & Freychlag Bank ... the only bank in Granite.  Notice the snow on the ground?

 All these houses below were on "Main Street" as was the Miner's Union Hall and the rocky jumbles.

Today there is no one living in the camp. The state park preserves the Granite Mine Superintendent's house and ruins of the old miners' Union Hall (below) which have been included in the Historic American Buildings Survey

The three-story Miners Union Hall was built in 1890 and was at one time the social center of the bustling mining town.  The second floor housed union offices, a library and a large hall with an 18' ceiling, wallpaper, and a special maple spring floor for dancing.

 Here's another animal skeleton in Granite.

 The rest of the ruins we saw were basically rock jumbles like these.

 

We had a car calamity while we were up on the mountain in Granite.  The Jeep blew its thermostat and it was hotter than a hot tamale.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the steam coming out of the radiator when Gary removed the radiator cap.  We looked like we were burning up ... and indeed we were burning up.  Muy caliente!  We got it cooled down, added some water and headed back down the mountain.  We had to stop a few more times to cool 'er down and add more water but we finally made it back.  Whew!  The most annoying part of all of this was the fact that we just replaced the thermostat 1-1/2 years ago!

We decided to say goodbye to Fairmont RV Park and drag the Jeep to our next city (Missoula) where we felt we would have a better chance at getting the Jeep fixed.  Because, of course, this happened on a Sunday when everything was closed!  So, THANK YOU.  We're done floundering in Fairmont and we're off to the next town and most likely we won't see you again.

Isaiah 45:7

The One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.