August 29th - The drive to Missoula, Montana was uneventful; that is how we like it. It took about 3.5 hours and the drive was almost completely along Highway 200. Very scenic and peaceful drive with very little traffic and no significant grades. Getting into the RV park was pretty easy too; very nice. After we set up the RV, we decided to head to Outback Steak House for a nice sirloin steak. We hadn't eaten out in a while so it was nice to not have to cook.
August 30th - Our very dear friends, Martin Perlmutter and Mary Bowles, who live in Tiburon, California, suggested that we stop in and visit with Mel and Carol Powers who live in Seeley Lake, Montana. We made contact with the Powers and they invited us to spend the night with them at their beautiful home. We went to breakfast with them at the Double Arrow Lodge where they meet weekly with several of their friends. They all know each other and have formed a social group that periodically hits the off road trails with their ATVs. What a friendly and social group of people; the breakfast was a blast. We brought our kayaks with us since we planned to find a lake to kayak while there. We had a great visit with Mel and Carol and their hospitality was out of this world. Later we discovered that they had had a bed and breakfast inn for a period of time, so it all began to make sense. The Powers' home is truly beautiful. Sitting on two-and-a-half acres, they have a main house with 2,400 square feet, and two huge garages that house their cars, motorcycles, and RVs. Mel and I flew the drone and took some great photos and videos of Mel and Carol's house and the local area. We then downloaded the photos to Mel's computer; that was fun. Mel and Carol recommended Lake Alva for kayaking since there are no motorboats allowed on the lake. They even drove to the lake as we followed them to show us where to get into the water. How nice is that?
The lake was gorgeous with no wind and calm waters. We kayaked to the far end of the lake exploring the numerous coves and bays. When we arrived at the point that is about as far away from our truck as possible, we were exposed to a flash of lightning and the loudest clap of thunder that we have heard in a while. We "high-tailed it" for shore and I have never see Lisa cover as much water in her kayak as then. We stayed close to shore and worked our way up the shoreline. On two occasions, we got out of the kayaks and sat in the rain; luckily, it was not cold. The storm moved to the east and we did not have many more lightning flashes. While we were working our way back to our truck in a fairly heavy rain, a river otter popped its head out of the water right in front of us. He really looked us over then he dove down. He came up out of the water again about 20 feet in front of us. It clearly was estimating our speed and swimming with us underwater. He came up again for a third time and looked us over, then dove again. This time he came to the surface beside us like a dolphin and swam beside us for a while; clearly wanting to play with us. A pretty neat experience. When we arrived back at our exit point, the winds were again calm and the lake water was like glass. Go figure!
After kayaking, we returned to Mel and Carol's house and Carol prepared a wonderful meal for us. We had a great conversation and learned all about the myriad of entrepreneurial activities that Mel has pursued during his life. The conversation was so much fun, we soon realized that it was 10:00 at night. We decided to call it a night!
August 31st - In the morning, our conversation continued and Carol prepared a fantastic breakfast for us; boy, were we spoiled. Between 10:00 and 2:00, our conversations continued and Mel showed me around his workshops. Mel and Carol own several RVs of which one is a 42 foot diesel pusher; it is one "hell of a rig." It was so fascinating to learn about Mel and Carol and their family members too. That is part of the beauty of being on a road trip like this; you meet so many wonderful and fascinating people. Lisa and I both agree that the people we have met out here in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are real
"down-to-Earth" people who love our country, are patriotic, and display a ton of common sense; extremely refreshing.
After we left Mel and Carol's house, we headed for a place that they had shown us where we could kayak in the Clearwater River. This was section of river between Lake Inez and Seeley Lake that was pretty calm, flat, and marshy. As we were heading there, we realized that we had about $5,000 worth of drones and cameras to leave in the truck. We decided that we did not want to leave these valuables unattended, so we headed back to Missoula. We hope that some time in the future, we can go back and kayak that section of river.
September 1 - We drove north to tour the National Bison Range that was created in 1908 by President Roosevelt in and effort to preserve the bison that were nearly extinct. We walked through the Visitor's Center and learned a lot about the bison. We then began the 19 mile drive on a gravel road through the bison range. We saw several bison, deer, and antelope. We also saw some spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The views were awesome. We were also right "smack-dab" in the middle of what was at one time, Lake Missoula. This was a glacial lake that formed about 15,000 years ago and all of the huge valleys around us were under water. On many occasions, the glacial dam of Lake Missoula would break and the massive amounts of water behind the glacial dam would flow all the way to the Pacific Ocean ocean along the Columbia River course. It is hard to explain how much water was released from these glacial dam failures. If you "Google" "Lake Missoula Flooding," you will get the info that will clearly show what happened. Pretty amazing.