Reed Point, MT

Easy day, 183 miles traveled in 3 1/2 hours. The snow covered Rockies are in our rear view mirror & rolling hills through the windshield. We went over the last Rockies Pass doing 35 to 40mph uphill and 30 downhill, the signs warning truckers to do 25mph due to truckers getting killed on the corners got our attention. We crossed the Continental Divide and are going downhill now so our mileage should really improve! This is a one night stand beside the Xway (& railroad tracks for Dave) and tomorrow will be an easier day, a little over 100 miles to Hardin for a 3 night stay. Haven't seen any sheep here yet.

Anaconda, MT

Jeff and Susan went with us to Anaconda, a town formed around copper smelting in the late 1800s. The smelter was closed in 1980 over a labor dispute. The union workers were seeking a raise the company wasn't going to pay so they closed the plant, removed all the equipment and demolished the buildings except "the stack". 8000 jobs were lost but the town is hanging in there. The "stack" is 585 feet tall, 86 feet wide at the bottom and 60 feet wide at the top. It is a dominating structure in the area and can be seen miles away. You can not go near it due to hazardous contamination that the government is now cleaning up. One church from 1896 even has "the stack" in one of it's stained glass windows.

We took another 2 hour bus tour in a 1936 bus made for Glacier National Park. We then drove into the boonies to check out the countryside.

Butte, MT

We explored Butte today. I'm not sure what I expected but Butte is an old mining town. It did surprise me that about a dozen mine shafts were all within a mile of each other scattered inside the old city. If you can enlarge the picture of Butte you can see all the mines among the buildings. A very compact operation. We drove around the city and took a 1 3/4 hour trolley tour which was very informative. You can see the heavily polluted red water in an abandoned open pit copper mine. If you look close in one picture you can see a 90 foot tall statue of Mary (Lady of the Rockies) atop the Contenential Divide overlooking Butte. Of course we did the normal RV thing of stopping at a Wal-Mart on the way home.

Anaconda, MT

Today we traveled 230 miles to Anaconda, MT just outside Butte. A nice easy day once we made it over Lookout Pass. This was the longest mountain we have gone over in our travels. The Ford pulled good and steady at 38 mph for the last 5 miles up a 6% grade after about 6 miles of a much easier grade as a warm up. We are now in Mountain Standard Time. Jeff & Susan Collingwood arrived about 1/2 hour after us and are set up next to us. They are planning on being here 3 nights also so we can go exploring together the next two days.

We saw one bald eagle on todays trip.

Hey Dave, it's warm & SUNNY in MT

Hiawatha Trail

Today we went where the sun never shines, really. We went for a bike ride from Montana to Idaho, really. We rode an old railroad bed, the railroad was built in the early 1900s to support the mining in the region. It was converted a few years ago to a bike trail. It's 14 or 17 miles long and goes through several tunnels, one is 1.7 miles long and pitch black inside. We had to rent lamps to see where we were going, lots of water falling inside and sometimes muddy. We also rode over many trestles, one was 890 feet tall and almost 400 feet long. Lots of pretty scenery and the ride was 3 1/4 hours long. We saw one moose in a marsh. Now, the secret of our trip.......it was ALL downhill. Ya don't think I'd pedal uphill go you?

Wallace, Idaho

Wednesday we spent washing the RV for a few hours (got rid of the salt spray and dirt from driving in the rain) and as we finished Jeff & Susan Collingwood arrived. After they setup we drove into Wallace , 4 miles, for a pizza supper.

Today we returned to Wallace to play tourist in this historic old mining city. We checked out the visitor center and their mining display. We then took a trolley ride from downtown to the Sierra Silver Mine tour. This was a mine opened about 1930 based upon a vein of quartz in a rock outcropping. No precious metals were found to the mine was closed. In the 1950s it was reopened and miners went deeper into the mountain, again without success; the mine is a dud. A few years ago it was opened up to tours which are lead by retired miners. Randy, be glad I wasn't a miner and you followed as a miner. The power air drills, scrappers for dragging the ore from the shafts and wagon loaders were all demonstrated and quite loud. Not an enjoyable profession. After lunch we toured the Oasis Bordello. It was opened in the late 1800's and closed in 1988. It employed 5 working ladies, 1 madam, 2 housekeepers/cooks, and 1 bouncer. Prior to closing it was making over $1M annually. It was closed very fast when the local sheriff called the madam and told her the FBI were on their way over. The dirty dishes, full ashtrays, grocery bags and rooms as they were in 1988. Prices and services are still posted on the walls. We then went through the local train museum hosed in the original depot. If you have seen the movie "Dante's Peak" you have seen Wallace, it was filmed here. The entire town is on the National Historic register.

Osburn, ID

We packed up this morning as the CG sprinkler system came on, sweet, the way we prefer our "rain" after 2 months of it in OR & WA. Dave & Trish.....why are ya still there? We traveled 180 miles out of WA and are in the Rockies near the top of ID about 15 miles from MT. We saw more snow topped mountains. In WA we saw a coyote trotting along and in ID we saw a Moose spashing through a wet area. No photo opportunites because of being on I90 going east. There's a historic old mining town (Wallace, the entire town is a National Historic Site) 5 miles from here that sounds interesting so we'll spend a couple days here. We also found out Jeff & Susan Collingwood will be here tomorrow so we can play together. Dave, we'll have a cold one (or two or....) for you.