Hello again everyone! So nice to chat again. I’ll bring you up to date on what we’ve been doing and share some pictures of our time here in Montana. We spent 12 days in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish Montana area, near Glacier National Park. We got in several hikes in the area, and also had our friends Don and Patty come visit us along with their two yellow labs, Hunter and Kody. We were so glad to have visitors, and Gerry could hardly contain himself, having two furry friends for a sleepover! The dogs quickly settled in and everyone was comfortable…. 🙂
Don and Patty have a beautiful place in southern Montana that we’ve had the pleasure of visiting several times, and they have taught us so much through the years about being outdoors, hiking and camping. In fact, it’s the time we spent with them, bringing the kids out on vacations and enjoying the Montana wilderness that was a big influence in our decision to experience the great outdoors so much, living in our RV for part of the year. We went on a couple of hikes while they were visiting, and one of them was one of our favorites yet – here’s a link to pictures of that day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aBStwg1Puim4UbpL8
After our friends left, we tried to spend an afternoon driving through Glacier National Park…we only made it 2 miles into the park and turned around and left. Half of the park is closed, so all visitors were crammed into the one half; they were limiting visitors to prevent overcrowding, and so they closed the roads going further into the park. It was a zoo! So many people, nowhere to go, so we left! Luckily, we’ve been there before and had seen most of what there is to see anyhow. So then it was off to our next stop, Missoula, Montana.
We’ve never been to this part of Montana before, so we’ve been excited to explore. Unfortunately, the weather has had other ideas. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, got a very nice hike in on Sunday, and just as we were returning to the RV on Sunday the rain started, and today is Tuesday and it’s still raining. Here’s the view out our window right now:
Has not stopped since Sunday….it’s 50 degrees, dreary and wet, and has been in the low 40s at night. Good sleeping weather, but that’s about it. So we’re catching up on some chores and grocery shopping and we have driven around Missoula a bit to see what there is to see. Here’s pictures from the one hike we have done here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrFpFLh5izJsKY92A
And then there’s the RV repairs….let me give you an update on that. I know I gave you some background in my last post. We scheduled an RV mobile repair for while we are in Missoula, to get the window latch repaired, and to replace the hot water heater electric element (we’ve been using the propane water heater since the electric heater element is burnt out). Well….I noticed yesterday the carpet in the dining area was very wet. The dining area is in a slide…so I went outside to investigate and figured out the slide seal that runs up and down along the slide is kinda bent, and it is letting water run into the underside of the slide room. And the subfloor of the slide room (dining area) is soaking up the water, and soaking up into the carpet. So that got added to the mobile repair list. But, that is not where it ended….I decided I should walk around the RV to look under the other side. So I walked under the “5th wheel” front end of the RV – where the hitch is that hooks into our truck bed. I do this all the time – you just duck under the hitch and don’t have to walk all the way around the RV – well, it was raining, and I had my rain coat on with the hood up, which was blocking part of my view. I couldn’t see the hitch very well, underestimated the amount of ducking to do, and wham! my forehead ran right into the hitch! It did not feel good, and ended up requiring 7 stitches at the nice Missoula urgent care Steve took me to. Yes I’m ok, just a nice bump on my forehead and some stitches that will come out in a few days. 🤕
So the mobile RV guy came out today, looked everything over and is going to repair the slide seal for us on Thursday. Thursday is our moving day, and our next spot is only a couple hours away, so we have a few extra hours and are taking the RV to his shop so it can get replaced. He’s also going to maintenance the cables that operate the 2 bedroom slides – we noticed some of the cables are looking loose and need tightened. And he’ll put in the electric water heater element then too. So much to learn about maintaining an RV, but it’s all good. The carpet will dry easy enough, and we’ll feel good about having the slides maintained. I always learn a lot spending time with these RV repair guys, and from friendly RV neighbors who are ready to help and pass along what they’ve learned.
So there you have it – a rather boring update, but sometimes it’s just every day life stuff out here too. Hoping for better weather as we meander our way west. We’re moving to St. Regis, Montana on Thursday, near the Idaho border. I’ll be sure to give you the report from there!