Packing, Winterizing, and Heading North?

The temperatures were supposed to drop to the low twenties, so it was time to wrap everything up. We loaded the car and Thule, contacted the businrss owner, Josh, who winterizes our park model. This involves blowing all the water out of our park model lines and making sure everything will withstand the bitter cold, (we also have another business shovel the snow off of our Park Model and small pickup camper).

Our goal was to make a quick trip to Hamilton, Montana to visit our daughter Jen and her Husband Eric. The first stretch of Highway was a drive to Idaho Falls, spending the night and then drive the long desolate drive North. This involved among other things, driving through the Idaho National Laboratory and other public lands before reaching Salmon, Idaho. It offered us some great wildlife viewing and we did spot a herd of elk, antelope, deer, and even a moose! The last leg was over Lost Trail Pass, discovered by Lewis and Clark. It’s a good road but we ran into some ice near the top, where the road was in the shade. The car made it fine as we slowed down.

Reaching Jen and Erics’ house we were greeted with the hugs we had come for. Eric and Jen had cooked corn beef and cabbage, a huge pot, and we ate it for three meals, (I love it). After resting from the drive Eric and Jen took us up the Lost Horse Road, finally reaching Bear Creek Trailhead. It was the end of the road and there were vehicles parked all along it as it’s bow hunting season for deer. We both enjoyed the drive on the road, thank goodness Eric’s truck is a four-wheel drive. It’s not a bad road, as far as forest service roads go, and we didn’t have to do any rock crawling.

Another day we walked the trail in Hamilton, along the Bitterroot River. At one point we encountered a bull moose who stood up and watched us pass by, (we were a safe distance). That evening we went out to eat and as we ate, we saw a different bull moose walk into a small alcove where it fed on the plants (provided unintentionally by the restaurant). As we had just finished our dinner we, along with quite a few others, went out to watch the moose.

It was over twenty-five yards away, minimum distance for safety, and while the moose turned and looked at us it didn’t feel threatened and continued to browse, (moose are extremely dangerous, killing more people than bears, especially a cow with a calf). Back at their house we tallied all the wildlife we had seen and the next day, after more hugs, returned to Thayne, Wyoming for more doctors’ appointments. Thanks, Jen and Eric we had a great time!