Some mighty pretty country

September 1, 2015

I hear my humans inside.  I wanna come in.  Look at that little hole in the door.  If I climb up the door, I can squeeze in that hole.  Oh no... my humans are yelling at me!  Oops!  They picked me up!

It was a chilly night, but I decided to sit outside and enjoy my coffee this morning.  Shhhh... listen to that...  It is the total lack of any humans.  No wind... only the sounds of nature.  A bird chirps, a goose honks, a chipmunk squeaks.  No other noises...  No cars, no planes, no boats... NO OTHER HUMAN NOISES!  How often do you have a moment with literally no human noises?  And, what's more, I can smell the trees,  Talk about a sensory treat!  The smell of the woods and the sound of the woods.  Yes!

Rudy has learned that there is a slide over the handle on the screen door and that it moves.  And when it is open, he can fit his tub-o-lard body through it.  He has learned he can climb up the screen.  But we are onto him...

I decided to take my walk through the campground and over the Lake Como dam.  All I could hear was the sound of my feet hitting the ground.  I left my ipod in its pouch.  Lake Como was named after the Italian Lake Como.  The Bitterroot mountains form the backdrop.  The lake is very low, as is evidenced by the fact that the boat ramp is way out of the water.  Across the lake and through the woods is a group campground and a horse camp.  There is nobody here on this side, and only a handful of folks on the side where we are.  I love travelling at this time of year!

Hmmm, where is the water for the launchramp?

When I got back, we readied Hannah and headed north towards Missoula.  We are out of the wilderness, but it is still rural.  There are ranches and farms backing up to the mountains.  A creek runs through some of the valley with reeds and trees defining the contour.  We come to small towns.  Oh my, there is a Taco Bell!  As we approach Missoula, we realize we are in the big city.  We are not sure of the size of Missoula, but we saw 2 Wal-Marts and a Costco.  We stopped to shop and eat.  We got Rudy a new ID tag at the Petco.  He is such a studmuffin with his new tag.  And I got some chocolate... real chocolate... mmmmm. 

We decided to get out of the big city and on some back roads.  We followed 93 north then took 200 north west.  This follows a valley carved by the Clark Fork River.  There are farms and ranches backing up to mountains.  At first the mountains are brown grass, peppered with fir trees.  The fir trees increase, and eventually, the mountains turn rugged and tall.  It is quite a scenic drive.

We ended up in Thompson Falls.  We needed an RV park to transact business with the internet.  It would have been iffy for us to fit in the national forest; the sites were on the smaller side.  There were a couple that might have worked, but since we needed the internet, the decision was made.  Although I am not fond of the trains that pass by blowing their whistles as they pass...