Susie and Dwayne entertained me royally

From Missoula, MT to Kalispell, MT, I took a road never travelled during my 3 summers in the National Parks in the West ( Yellowstone, Tetons, Glacier).  The scenery was beautiful.  I hope you enjoy my travelogue.  First stop was at St. Ignatius, MT.  A very old (by Western standards) town settled by a Catholic priest, who was instrumental in getting agriculture started in the area.  The church is beautiful.

Get out your magnifying glass or double click on the sign and learn about this intelligent, capable, knowledgable priest and the influence he had in developing this valley.

The church is quite large for such a small community and its surrounding area.

and quite elaborate and beautiful inside for a frontier church.

That strip of blue between the grass and the Tetons is Flathead Lake...one huge lake.  There is a lot of recreation on Flathead, and the east side grows the most succulent cherries and apricots...other fruits also... but I couldn't get my fill of the cherries and apricots to try the others.

That white dot in the middle of the picture is a sailboat, a large sailboat.  As I said, Flathead Lake is one huge lake.

Good friends Susan and Dwayne on their front porch.  We met in 2005 when I worked at Lake MacDonald gift shop in Glacier National Park, my second Park summer adventure.  We met again in 2006 when we worked in The Tetons.  Susie and I would go into Jackson, poke around, shop, and have a good dinner on the nights Dwayne had to work late.  Dwayne wouldn't have relished the Salmon with Vodka that Susie still remember and talk about; Dwayne is a meat and potatoes guy!!  She and I liked to do lots of the same things, so we became   

 good friends

and have stayed in touch.

Susie put the top down on her convertible and took me for a ride in Glacier National Park to revisit that magnificient scenery.  It was a spectacularly beautiful Western summer day.

Not only did we revisit the mountain scenery, we visited with Bev (above) and Karen, two of the managers we had worked with when we spent the summer in the park...and they are still 'at it'.

As special as our beloved Appalachian Mountains are, the Rocky Mountain chain of the West keeps drawing me back



THE TUNNEL





Notice any differences between these 2 pictures?

They were taken 6 years apart!

"What a difference a day  makes..."

Thursday, August 11

So long to Susie and Dwayne and many thanks for a wonderful visit.

  On the road again to my next  destination: son Warren's in eastern Washington.

Visit with Margie in Missoula, MT

Margie was my manager at Lake MacDonald Gift Shop in Glacier National Park, MT in 2005.  We have stayed in touch and visited a couple of times since then,  She was the consummate hostess, as was Bryson... fed me well, chauffeured me around the area, and shared with me the sights and history.

The old fort has had a varied history from the roots of Missoula's beginning through several military engagements to "the enterment of foreigners" during WW II, and finally made an Historic Site.

The swan and the duck wouldn't cooperate to have

a good shot of both of them in this beautiful

Wildlife Refuge south of Missoula,

surrounded by awesome mountains.

Mama Osprey was more cooperative as she

guarded Junior and the nest, just across the lake from

the swan and duck.

Left Margie's on Tuesday the 9th for Kalispell, a couple of hours up the road from Missoula, and renewing old acquaintances with Susie and Dewayne.

4 states in 2 days

Missed a photo-op in the middle of Nebraska at Aurora, NE.  Son Warren and Beth were headed east as he was driving her to be in Marietta, GA on Saturday evening, and I was headed west to be in Missoula, MT on Saturday afternoon.  We stopped in Aurora and visited for about 30 minutes and then resumed our journeys!  I realized after we parted that I had missed an historic photo-op, since none of us knew the route the other was taking across the country.  If it weren't for cell phones, we would have missed the entire opportunity.

Chimney Rock National Historic Site in western Nebraska

when I took a break from Interstate 80 and took a shortcut

 through Scottsbluff, NE to I-25 N to hook up with I-90 up through

central Wyoming to one of my favorite Western towns,

Sheridan, WY, 23 miles from the Montana line. 

 Had dinner at Oliver's in downtown Sheridan. 

 My third wonderful meal there. 

If you're ever in Sheridan, WY,

that's the place to have dinner.

 

Only wish the Rodeway Inn there could get positive comments.

Westerward Ho on I-90 from Billings to Livingston ( wonderful little Western, artsy town north of Yellowstone ) to Bozeman to Butte to Missoula.  Lots of beautiful mountains in central and western Montana.

The Crazy Mountains near Big Timber, MT

The Elkhorn Mountains between Three Forks and Helena, MT

Arrived at Margie's on Saturday afternoon, August 6...a week on the road.

First Stop in Iowa City, IA

Monday morning, August 1...huge windmill farm in west central Illinois.  Enroute to see Bryson.

Bryson in one of Iowa City's beautiful city parks...with the sun in her eyes. She understood that I had been driving for 2 days and needed to get out and walk.  Bryson not only has driven across the country many times, but also she drove to and from Alaska.  She stopped in Glacier National Park to visit me before she left the lower 48 to live and work in AK for 3 years.  She then came back south, visited me and packed up all her belongings and drove a truck from Greeneville, TN to Iowa City to be near her daughter and her family....and my friends think I'M adventuresome!

Bryson and I met at Toastmasters in Jonesborough 10 or 11 years ago.  I'm a drop-out, but she's still faithfully carrying on in Iowa City.  She took me to the meeting scheduled while I was there.  They put me on the spot and asked me to participate.  Kindly, I wasn't graded.

We toured the Amana Colonies, which I had driven through at dusk when I returned from Yellowstone in 2004 but didn't see much.  We did a day trip and visited all North, South, East, West, Middle (slight exaggeration of their nomenclature) Amanas.  Bryson was the perfect hostess, but Thursday morning was departure time for the next leg of my Western adventure.

On the road...again..just Willie and me

Sunday, July31, 2011

I left Johnson City a couple of hours later than planned but had an uneventful trip across upper East Tennessee, Kentucky via Lexington and Louisville, up to Indianapolis...and "that's where the trouble began".  Even on a Sunday afternoon, road construction had the exit I wanted blocked to change Interstates, and traffic was lined up as far as the eye could see to the next exit to which the signs directed me.  Lots of local Indiana license plates were exiting at the detour sign directing me to the NEXT exit, so I figured they knew something about local routes.  Good thinking.  We exited, made a U-turn at the traffic light at the top of the exit, and went back over the Interstate...and "what to my wondering eyes should appear" but the sign for the Interstate that I wanted!

I spent Sunday night at a nice Comfort Inn in Crawfordsville, IN, about 40 miles west of Indianapolis.  Wanted to get past that Monday morning rush hour in Indy.

Week 1

Picture of granddaughter Wendi, me, and daughter Dawn in front of The Red Pig, famous for North Carolina barbecue in Johnson City.  Picture taken by Dawn's husband Ronnie in honor of my "going away" before I headed out on my 18 day adventure, visiting friends and son Warren en route to 2 1/2 months in Zion National Part, aka "Peg In The Park".

Now that my Instructor Bryan has updated my Blog lesson, I'll see if I can catch up with my adventure and show you, my friends, what I have been experiencing for the past 3 weeks.  In the meantime, there is a Ranger program in an hour and a half that is a 'must see'....titled "Starry Nights'.  They will have a telescope to see the stars and planets like I've never seen before (even better than Warner Park, Nashville, Jennie).  The scuddlebutt is that southern Utah is second only to somewhere in Australian for lack of 'light polution' to see the stars and planets.

Stay tuned...I'm on a whirl...maybe tonight with stars in my eyes and maybe tomorrow before I check in for my first day's employment at Zion Lodge Gift Shop.         Peg