Slight Change in Plans

My last Blog indicated that we would be heading toward Great Falls, Montana, and then north to Calgary and return through BC.  Well, we had a slight change in plans.  After an in-depth executive meeting, our truck and RV were given orders to "stay the course", meaning, continue on Hwy 94 through Montana (Hwy 94 becomes Hwy 90), cut across the neck of Idaho, travel through Washington to the Pacific Ocean at Seattle, and then turn north and head home.  Once we get to Missoula, we will be retracing our trip of last Summer into Montana, only going in the opposite direction.  Our decision was based on the fact that we love Montana, things are so much cheaper in the United States, and we are following an awesome highway.

Upon leaving Minneapolis, Minnesota we wanted to get across the "prairies" as quickly as possible.  Therefor we put in 3 solid days of driving


This picture is typical of the Western part of Minnesota, most of North Dakota, and Montana, along Hwy 94.






July 31: Minneapolis to Jamestown, North Dakota   530 kms
Aug 1 : Jamestown, ND to Forsyth, Montana          666 kms
Aug. 2: Forsyth, MT to Butte, MT                           525 kms

After we passed Billings, MT we were quite excited to finally see mountains on the horizon.  It has been months since we have seen, what us Westerners call "mountains".  The only unfortunate part about being in the mountains is that we had to cross a mountain pass and our truck really had to work hard to get us to the summit.  That is the first of numerous summits that we will have in our way to the Pacific Ocean.

We were glad to make it to Butte, Montana (pronounce it as you will??) were we stayed in a KOA for a couple of nights.  In the late 1800s Butte was a major copper mining town and they called it the "Richest Hill on Earth".  Many a fortune was made in this town and miners flocked there to seek work.  The Historic Butte is built on a side of a hill, because that is were the mines were and were the workers wanted to live.

This picture is taken from the top of the hill with a view of old Butte and a mine tower (black) in the foreground.  The towers were used to lift men and materials down into the mines.

Much of the Historic town has been well preserved and it is a beehive of tourist and commercial activity.  There are numerous mansions and historic sites for tourist to visit.  Laurie and I went for lunch in the old "Metal Bank of Butte" which has been rejuvenated as a Sports Bar and Restaurant.  This vault door and frame took a team of 28 horses hours to haul up the hill to the bank when it was under construction.  It did strike me as odd to have the old town built on the side of the hill instead of down in the valley were you will find most towns.

Observation:  * Since we arrived on the Gulf Coast months ago we watch the local news cast, usually at 6pm.  On almost all occassions, the weather portion of the news is named to reflect extreme weather conditions; Storm Watch,  Weather Alert, Severe Storm Tracker, etc.  That is because in the late afternoon it is common for a weather system to create severe thunderstorm conditions including flash flooding.  In Vancouver, we have such calm weather conditions in comparison.