Today was an administrative day because our list of future reservations for RV parks was getting pretty short. Fortunately, we were able to complete phone calls or file reservation requests online to parks in western Montana and Washington so we are plumbed up for the next 30 days. Gotta love having internet access.
We finished our admin stuff and then went shopping for some RV items and some Caesar salads at Costco. Our electrical umbilical has a male end that is looking funky so we purchased a new fitting which I will use to replace the offending unit. We also purchased a new fresh water hose for the trailer because the current unit, which we have been using steadily since 2014, makes a funny noise and squirts water from the end fitting. It just recently started this behavior. The hose itself does not leak but in the past I have had only marginal success replacing end fittings on hoses and chose this time to just replace the hose.
We then popped into Costco for some grub at the food kiosk for immediate consumption and packed away two of their excellent Caesar salads for our food cache at the trailer. We were now free to do a bit of exploring.
Our trailer is parked in the Lincoln Road RV Park north of Helena. We elected to follow Lincoln Road (also MT-279) west. This road runs through about 10 miles of rolling ranch land before sneaking up a beautiful canyon into the surrounding mountains. MT-279 ultimately winds it’s way up a twisty route to Flesher Pass at about 6100′ before diving down the other side of the Continental Divide into western Montana. We turned around at the pass and headed back down the highway past some very nice estates built on nice knolls and in the bottom lands next to what turned out to be Canyon Creek. Canyon Creek crosses back and forth under the road so both driver and passengers can admire the beauty of the crystal-clear water running through the pines.
Once we emerged from the mountainy part on to the prairie below, we noted there was a single railroad track or spur that ran all the way to Helena. This spur was not empty, however. We noted there were rail cars that look like they are used for cargo containers like you see on container ships. They ran in an almost uninterrupted line all the way across the prairie part of the drive or not less than 10 miles. We finally turned away from the track but could see the rail cars parked on the spur running most of the way to Helena. The railroad must store these specialized cars here. They are all empty now but if they were full, there isn’t a series of locomotives that could be assembled to pull a 15 mile long train. Strange.
There are a few pix we got during today’s drive and you can see them if you click here