Is Paris Burning?

Perhaps not, but part of Montana is. We had been alerted to fire(s) along I-90 yesterday, and checked with the manager of the RV park where we planned to stay, and were told the fires were 20 miles west of there. But they were right adjacent to the highway, giving us views of lots of smoking spots in burned over areas, lime-colored fire apparatus, firefighters in orange suits, and helicopters with water baskets hanging below.

And lots of smoke. As we sit here in Philipsburg, 20 miles from the fires, the smoke allows visibility of only a mile or so. It reminds us of the big Yellowstone Park fire in 1988, when we spent a week up close and personal with several fires.


I-90 in Montana crosses Clark Fork River many times -- many, many times. Best count we crossed it 23 times! A bridge-builders paradise. A very pretty stream in some very pretty country, zigging back and forth across a narrow valley that the highway has to go straight through. Result? Bridges by the bunch. And many of them getting modified to handle an increased flow as a dam upstream is dismantled.

Philipsburg is a pretty little ghost town that is trying. Nicely painted buildings and many flower baskets. Big deal in this area is sapphire mining. The sapphires are in the loose gravel above bedrock and come in many colors (red ones are rubies). They have to be heated to 2000 degrees to bring out their true colors and be able to be faceted. Some very beautiful jewelry here in the Sapphire Gallery. May have to come back and dig a bit!

Traveled "only" 266 miles and 3 states today.

Too Many Miles

Egad!  How can folks who try for 50 miles a day go almost 300?  Trying to get from one coast to the other in a month is one answer.  So here we go on freeways no less!  But it's easy driving and we do see things we seldom see 'cause we're usually nowhere near a freeway. 

 

Of interest today were a number of "super limited" and unlimited hydroplanes (race boats) going toward Seattle after finishing their races at the Tri-Cities over the weekend; and a bit of a fire in the median between lanes.  Of lesser interest were about a dozen truck-trailer loads of crushed cars presumably enroute to metal recyclers in the Seattle area.   

 

But no crazy drivers or accidents, several longish stops at rest areas to stretch and relax, and a quiet shady spot to stop for the night at the East Spokane Elks lodge.  Tomorrow Anaconda, MT., on a back road.

The Kiss

Hooray for Irene and Richard.

Touching vows, great gathering.

Love deeply, laugh frequently, and forever be happy.

We're off

The RV is packed full of everything we think we may use in the next 8 months! A few more days of visiting with family and friends and a wedding to attend! Then we are heading east.

Plan is to head east to Newfoundland and Labrador, south to DC and Florida, then west thru Texas and Arizona before finally turning north towards Washington.

We'll see how this goes as our plans are ALWAYS firmly set in Jello.

Follow along....

Short & Sweet Southern Summer Sailing Season

Our cruising season was cut short this year because we've decided to head east in the RV to the Canadian maritime provinces and we need to get there before winter sets in.

We spent almost 6 weeks exploring the southern Puget Sound. We rode the currents with the summer extreme tides and had to move from the dock in Olympia as it went aground. One bumpy night we confirmed that the Joemma State Park dock is too exposed! Had great experiences in the dinghy with the newer and much faster outboard and the new and much safer davit to load the motor to the dinghy.

We visited friends in Des Moines, Gig Harbor, Olympia, Oro Bay, and Tacoma. Went to an airshow, farmer's markets, the Olympia Super Saturday fair, and many dinners out.

Worked projects at the yacht club outstation in Oro Bay, beaded hummingbirds, and read lots. Had a great 4th of July at a friend's dock in Gig Harbor. Fantastic and safe vantage point to watch all the harbor comings and goings and the great light shows after dark.

Enjoyed watching wildlife at the state parks. Deer at Hope Island, merganzers at Jarrell Cove, and raccoons at Blake Island. Didn't do any crabbing in this short season but some nice fellow brought us 3 Dungeness crab which we really appreciate.


Had more rain than we wanted. Off the water there were several days in the 90's and even to 100. But weather on the water is a lot cooler. When it was 90 we had a strong cold north wind that cooled us to the low 60's! When it was 100 we had a nice warm breeze and 79 degrees. Great.

Dean got his "boating fix" for the year but wants much longer time out on the water next year.