We pulled out of Lincoln Road RV Park this morning and wandered through some back roads and Helena city streets before picking up US-12 west. As soon as we turned onto US-12, it started to climb from about 4000′ elevation and, after some serious uphill grades, crossed McDonald Pass at around 6300′ elevation. All the climbing occurs in about 6 miles so poor Charlotte had to snort some to get our 12,000 pound Barbarian Invader up the hill. At one time we were actually in third gear (of six) so we settled on proceeding up the nasty sections at about 35 mph.
This section of road was originally built by a French guy who charged a toll to cross over the pass. He acquired a wife who ran a hostel in Ellison, part way down the west side of the pass, and charged $2 a night for rooms and $1 per meal, a princely sum in pre-1900 dollars. Between the toll for the road and being charged for sleeping indoors instead of freezing to death outdoors, folks back then probably wished they had taken an alternate route west. Somebody may have been dissatisfied with the rates charged because the French woman was robbed of $6000 in gold dust and murdered. Nobody was ever charged with the robbery or the murder although some suspect the French man because he had moved on to places unknown.
We glided down the west side of the pass through gorgeous mountain scenes until we connected with I-90 west, headed for Missoula. A little over an hour later we passed through Missoula. When I was attempting to make a reservation for an RV space a few weeks ago, there were no available spaces anywhere near Missoula but I left a message on the voice mail for Jim and Mary’s RV Park and they called back to tell me they had one of very few spots within their park that did not have a hookup for sewer. I eagerly snapped it up so today we drove the 5 miles west of Missoula and pulled into their park. The place is beautiful with very pretty landscaping, little streetlights reminiscent of old gaslights throughout the park, a meeting complex and almost all the spaces have sewer hookups, except ours. Fortunately, there is a free RV dump station at the truck stop about half a mile away. The $40 dollar a night charge is slightly higher than other RV parks nearby but is worth it because this park is very pretty. The only drawback is a nearby railroad track that has a hill and a curve not far from the park and considerable high-pitched squealing and keening noises can be heard in the daytime. However, we did not hear any obnoxious railway noises at night. Maybe the trains here don’t run at night.