Real Time

 

zzzz, sometimes he forgets to lie down

Finally I'm writing this post from where I'm sitting, right now!     We're in Three Forks, Montana until the morning.   It's been a short stop but one we always enjoy.  We took the time to explore the area around the confluence of the three rivers (Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin) that come together here to form the Missouri River (our nation's longest river).     The Missouri ultimately flows into the mighty Mississippi north of St. Louis and then into the Gulf of Mexico.

We didn't feel we had enough time to test out this theory, so we came up with the next best thing....

If you own a Jeep you probably know about the annoying habit some people have of leaving a small rubber ducky on your vehicle when you're not looking (i.e. in parking lots, etc.) We don't know what it means, or why it's done, but we've accumulated a few.   Neither of us are interested in starting a collection so, as a result, we've put them on other people's Jeeps, thus perpetuating the tradition.    Well, here we finally found a logical use!

Ready....set....

Off he goes!      I wonder if he'll end up in New Orleans this fall?

Tomorrow our next stop is in Big Timber, Montana.    There we'll meet up with friends and maybe celebrate our 54th wedding anniversary.    

Before I go, let me show you the last few pictures from our stay in Polson.

We watched this fire from our campground.  It started the day after we arrived in the heavily forested and uninhabited Mission mountains.  At night it shown with an eerie orange glow. 

Our site was under huge blue spruce trees and one large and vigorous Basswood tree.   Basswood blossoms were irresistible to Taos and caused many pukes.  We had to be vigilant and work on "leave it" every time we sat down on our patio.  

Some days are diamonds, some days are stones, sang John Denver.    One day we had a stone day.    "Lake County Fair - rides, animals, food and fun - the area's biggest fair"  touted the campground's handout.     It was running while we were there and wasn't too far away so we decided it would be a good learning experience for Taos.     No, nope, no rides, no food and no fun that we could see.   Pigs and cattle barns but no rides, no food, nothing that looked remotely like fun.    Ah well.    There were two Wildlife Preserves in the area so we were off to see some birds.  Must not be bird season.     Back to Polson then.   I had heard about the Safe Harbor Marsh Preserve on a peninsula along the shores of Flathead Lake.   Sounds like fun!     Google showed a small road to "there" so off we went.   Dave is such a good sport.

  Along the shore turned out to mean, high ABOVE the shore, very high.   Pretty scenery kept me busy and the tiny, rough and twisty road kept Dave busy.   Taos, slept.   

 

 When we got to the spot that dear Google told us to watch for....it wasn't there.  It was on the screen, but not really there.    Ah well, back to Polson we went, down that same rough, twisty high road.   

Perhaps a nice lakeside lunch would be good?   It was late in the day and we'd had no lunch yet.   (Dave had been looking forward to a burger and fries at the fair....) We'd seen a Mexican restaurant with a large, lovely patio right by the bridge.  

  

Turns out the patio was closed that day.     Dave's lunch was yummy and Taos had the experience of lying quietly under a booth inside a restaurant.    I wanted an ice cream cone after lunch but found out that Scoops had turned into a Cannabis shop.  sigh.    We called it a day.   Not quite a Diamond, but not altogether a Stone either.

To end on a sweet note, here's Annie!