I -90


Before I get on with today’s happenings, I have to talk about the Big Timber KOA.  When we arrived yesterday, we were escorted to a site in the back corner of the park.  Large Poplar (otherwise known as Aspen) trees towered over the site.  The park was not busy.  We are thinking, great find.  That’s when the first train went by.  The campground is located on the side of I -90 and beside a major rail corridor.  The highway was not a problem, being close to the rail line is another story.  From 9:30 last night until 6:00 this morning, 12 trains went through.  How do I know this?  The ‘bloody’ things blew their horns right in front of the campground.  There might have been more, but I doubt it…I was awake all night!  I guess that is all part of the adventure.

Today we were on Interstate 90 for the entire day.  This was the sacrifice we had to make for our route choice yesterday.  Interstates are easy driving but quite boring!

We are in Missoula Montana staying in another KOA.  This one is right in the city and as far as I can tell, not close to any rail lines…let’s hope.  The reason for our stopover in Missoula was to visit the Adventure Cycling Association (ACA).  Anyone who followed our 2014 West Coast bicycle ride will remember us ‘cursing’ at times about the logic of their maps.  ACA is a cycling advocacy organization who produces maps for routes all over the US.  We were treated to a personal tour of the facility.  It is like a touring bicycle museum with old bikes and old pictures hanging everywhere.  They have a staff of 42.  It was nice to see how my membership dollars are being spent.

Distance Traveled = 468 km.  Wildlife Sightings (a grim list all out the truck window) = American Pelicans, Bald Eagle, Common Crow, Yellow Warbler, Magpie, Eurasian-collared Dove, Red-shafted Flicker, Campground Rabbits (tame).


'Big Sky' Montana


Mountains always present


Train...our nemesis last night!


Coal being transported...one wonders if this has anything to do with Trump's reversal of environmental rules?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Family Connection to Plantation/Slave Ownership???

Image
Wednesday June 5, 2019 We were off to visit a sugar cane plantation today and made an interesting discovery…more later. We visited the Destrehan Plantation, a large plantation along the Mississippi River.   We joined a guided tour of the original plantation house built between 1787 and 1790 by only 8 men.   Our tour was with a bus tour…no we were not on the bus tour…we just had to endure the presence of a large group of people…and you know how much I like crowds…not!!!   The plantation has a long and storied history.   It began as an indigo plantation and by 1800 switched to the more profitable sugar cane.   It was large…one mile wide and stretching 8 miles from the banks of the Mississippi River.   By the beginning of the Civil War, it had 200 slaves. It continued growing sugar cane until the early 1920’s when it was sold to a Mexican Oil Refinery.   It then became their headquarters and was abandoned in the late 1950’s and sat vacant for ov...
Read more

Back in Canada

Image
It was strange to pack up the tent trailer for the last time in a campground.  Mixed emotions actually.  We have returned across the border.  It was an uneventful day as we crossed the rest of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. The blog will go quiet for a few days until we get home.  Check back in a few days for a wrap up of our adventure. Distance Traveled = 198 km.  Wildlife Sightings = Chipping Sparrow, Robin, Osprey, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, Sandhill Crane, Crow, Raven, Chipmunk, Deer. Sue put these up again...first night and last!
Read more

A Boat Ride

Image
We took a 30 mile boat excursion today out into Lake Superior.   It could not have been better weather.   The sun shone, the wind was light, and the swales were only small ones, which we suspect is rare when venturing out into Lake Superior. This area, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, is made up of sandstone cliffs that can only be viewed from the water.   The name, ‘Pictured Rocks’, comes from the streaks of mineral stain that decorate the faces of the cliffs.   These streaks are caused by groundwater leaking out of the cracks.   The dripping water contains iron, manganese, limonite, and copper as well as many other minerals.   They are something else.   I hope that our pictures can tell the tale. It is time to move on from here.   Tomorrow we will return to Canada.   We have been on the road since May 12.   We have experienced so many things on this adventure that in many ways it will be a sad day to pack up the ‘little ten...
Read more